I  may  seem  in  this,  as  in  some  earlier  lectures,  to  have  been  discuss-
ing doctrines  that  can  hardly  be  applicable  to  our  daily  practice,  and
with  illustrations  drawn  from  objects  in  which  surgeons  may  have  but
little  interest.  Let  me,  then,  if  only  in  apology,  refer  to  some  of  the
considerations  which  are  suggested  by  studies  such  as  these.  Let  me,
first,  express  my  belief  that,  if  we  are  ever  to  escape  from  the  obscurities
and  uncertainties  of  our  art,  it  must  be  through  the  study  of  those
highest  laws  of  our  science,  which  are  expressed  in  the  simplest  terms
in  the  lives  of  the  lowest  orders  of  creation.  It  was  in  the  search  after
the  mysteries — that  is,  after  the  unknown  highest  laws — of  generation,
that  the  first  glance  was  gained  of  the  largest  truth  in  physiology ;  the
truth  of  the  development  of  ova  through  subdivision  and  multiplication
of  the  embryo- cells.  So  may  the  study  of  the  repair  of  injuries  sus-
tained by  the  lowest  polypes  lead  us  to  the  clearer  knowledge  of  that
law,  in  reliance  upon  which  alone  we  dare  to  practise  our  profession  ;
the  law,  that  lost  perfection  may  be  recovered  by  the  operation  of  the
powers  by  which  it  was  once  achieved.  Already,  in  the  facts  that  I
have  quoted  from  Sir  J.  Graham  Dalyell,  we  seem  to  have  the  foresha-
dowing of  those  through  which  the  discovery  maj'  be  made.
