35 



Among all the different genera of quadru- 

 peds with which we are acquainted, a more 

 striking dissimilarity prevails between their 

 heads than any other parts ; and the reason is 

 obvious: members that are to answer exactly 

 the same purpose, in different animals, never 

 differ -, but an appropriate form of bone always 

 accompanies peculiar modes of action and 

 habits of repose, which by constant use are 

 more and more confirmed: hence, animals 

 wholly different from each other, except in a 

 few instances, are more immediately distin- 

 guished by the heads than any other part ; not 

 only because their forms are more decidedly 

 peculiar, but because the inexperienced eye 

 can better remark them than such as may exist 

 in other bones which are of more difficult com- 

 parison, and more multiform in their parts : 

 for to judge correctly in osteological compari- 

 sons requires not so much the knowledge of 

 the anatomist as the eye of the artist : — and 

 I maintain it as a fact, in which every candid 

 anatomist and every artist will join with me, 

 that the mere artist, by a little attention to 

 the variations of form, will sooner, and with 

 jnore certainty, establish the characters of 



