474 Mr. N. A. Vicors on the Natural Affinities 
the highest authority, that of M. Cuvier*, to offer no decidedly 
distinctive characters by which they may be kept apart; and 
certainly, on considering the two divisions as they are distin- 
guished from each other, the Linnean mode of grouping them 
appears at first sight to be perfectly arbitrary. Is it then to an 
accidental coincidence that we have to ascribe the singular con- 
formity that thus presents itself between the views of Linnæus 
and those which are disclosed in the foregoing table of affinities ? 
Or may we infer that this great inquirer into Nature had on this 
occasion pursued somewhat of a similar mode of consulting 
her, had obtained a glimpse of the same affinities by which 
she unites her groups, and of the same contiguous stations in 
which she disposes them—and that he drew his line of demarca- 
tion accordingly? I dwell with the more satisfaction on this 
point, as it confirms the views which I entertained when I ven- 
tured to differ from that great authority in uniting his two orders 
into one ; and proves that my decision originated in no theo- 
retical desire of limiting the orders of the class to five. I re- 
frained, at the time I originally hazarded that opinion, from 
dwelling with any particularity on the chief reason that swayed 
me; I mean the necessity of preserving in one inviolate series 
the relations of affinity by which the entire of the group seemed 
united. I may now urge that argument with more consistency 
and more effect. What would then have been but mere asser- 
tion, has now somewhat of the authority of proof. And the 
reader who casts his eye over the foregoing table will acknow- 
ledge, that to withdraw any important department from the 
group, to make any material subdivision that would affect its 
integrity, would create a chasm in the now uninterrupted chain 
of affinities by which Nature seems to have brought her families 
together—would disturb the beautiful symmetry in which she 
| * See p. 403, Note *. 
has 
