The Descent of Man

In the last set, not one body out of the thirty-six
was "found totally wanting in departures from
the standard descriptions of the muscular system
given in anatomical text books." A single
body presented the extraordinary number of
twenty-five distinct abnormalities. The same
muscle sometimes varies in many ways: thus
Prof. Macalister describes (6. 'Proc. R. Irish
Academy,' vol. x. 1868, p. 141.) no less than
twenty distinct variations in the palmaris accessorius.
The famous old anatomist, Wolff (7. 'Act. Acad.
St. Petersburg,' 1778, part ii. p. 217.), insists that
the internal viscera are more variable than the
external parts: Nulla particula est quae non
aliter et aliter in aliis se habeat hominibus. He
has even written a treatise on the choice of typical
examples of the viscera for representation.
A discussion on the beau-ideal of the liver,
lungs, kidneys, etc., as of the human face divine,
sounds strange in our ears.