THE HISTORY OF ANATOMICAL SCIENCE 319 
the theory of the vertebrate skeleton had been so 
elaborately worked out by Spix (1815), Carus 
(1828), and others, that the vein might well seem 
to be exhausted. Carus, especially, had visualized 
his hypotheses in diagrams, to which he gave the 
names of ‘ Grundform ’ and ‘ Schema ; ’ and which 
are the equivalents of the ‘ Archetype ’ and its 
derivatives. Thus, when Owen took up the 
subject, many years after Carus, there really was 
nothing new in principle to be done, so long as 
the method of his predecessors was followed. All 
that could be hoped from renewed investigation, 
along the same lines, was the rectification of erro- 
neous, and the suggestion of unsuspected, homo- 
logies. And this is what we find ; new homologies 
for the cranial bones ; original speculations re- 
specting the nature of the bony walls of the inferior 
cavities of the skull ; as to the proper connections 
and homology of the pectoral arch ; and so on. 
I believe I am right in saying that hardly any 
of these speculations and determinations have 
stood the test of investigation, or, indeed, that any 
of them were ever widely accepted. I am not sure 
that any one but the historian of anatomical science 
is ever likely to recur to them ; and considering 
Owen’s great capacity, extensive learning, and 
tireless industry, that seems a singular result of 
years of strenuous labour. 
But it will cease to be so remarkable to those 
who reflect that the ablest of us is a child of his 
