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CUEIOSITIES OF VEOETABLE MOKPHOLGOY. 
By henry .T. slack, F.G.S., Sec. R.M.S. 
[PLATE XCVI.] 
O NE of the most important sciences of quite modern growth 
is that of Morjphology^ the object of which is to trace the 
series of growth and development processes by which organs 
or structures are brought to their final form. This is done in 
both the vegetable and the animal kingdoms, and also in that 
border-land to which no definite name can be given, and in 
which organization appears in its simplest forms. The mor- 
phology of plants and animals is intimately connected with 
the comparative anatomy of the two groups, and the investi- 
gator traces step by step the formation of particular structures, 
notes the points at which they diverge to carry out the plan 
on which different types are built up, and the extent as 
well as the direction to which development is carried. By 
researches of this description — lower groups and higher ones — 
are shown to be intimately connected, so that, as discovery 
follows discovery, the apparent gaps in the great scheme are 
gradually filled in, and little doubt left of the two great 
scientific doctrines — unity of design and gradual transforma- 
tion of so-called species. The extinct forms preserved in a 
fossil state often help the morphologist as well as the com- 
parative anatomist to a missing link, and no branch of enquiry 
is more intimately connected with speculative thought, or con- 
tributes more to a philosophical conception of Nature as a 
whole. As an illustration of the curious results arrived at, 
it may be mentioned that our great English morphologist, 
Mr. W. K. Parker, finds in the tadpole, in a rudimentary form, 
a structure belonging to the human ear. 
There is of course very much in such a science as morpho- 
logy that is beyond the reach of the student of popular science, 
but a good deal may he learned from plants, without much 
trouble, especially with the help of a microscope. The most 
agreeable and easy way of laying a foundation for further 
