324- On the Impediments to the Study of Natural History. 



express myself, one uniting pentagonal circle. 2ndly, Each of 

 these contributory circles is formed precisely of five groups ; 

 each of which is again resolvable into five other smaller 

 groups ; and so on, to more minute and almost indefinite sub- 

 divisions. Srdly, That proximate circles, or larger groups, 

 are connected by the intervention of still lesser osculating 

 groups : and, 4-thly, That there are relations of analogy be- 

 tween the corresponding points of contiguous circles. Of the 

 truth or error included in these mysterious circles I withhold 

 the expression of opinion. But I cannot but think that the . 

 aspirant encountering them on the threshold, deserves super- 

 human praise if he has the courage to persevere, at the ha- 

 zard of exposing himself to the fate anticipated by Linnaeus, 

 of overturning the commodious and well-covered house of an 

 artificial system, in order to build another in its place, the roof 

 of which he may be incompetent to complete. 



As a practical illustration of the comparative merits of these 

 systems, let two travellers be supposed landing on a newly 

 discovered island, abounding in rare and curious subjects of 

 natural history ; the one depending entirely on his knowledge 

 of a natural system, the other altogether ignorant of the deeper 

 lore of science, but possessed of a set of applicable rules, 

 founded on a system purely artificial. I suspect, that while 

 the former was buried in the endless and too often hopeless 

 task of drawing conclusions from comparing a lepidopterous 

 insect, for instance, under its trifold existence of larva, pupa, 

 and imago, observing with unwearied attention and devotion 

 of time its habits, propensities, and modes of life; his less 

 gifted companion would, by a simple adherence to his me- 

 chanical nomenclature, have collected and arranged his spe- 

 cimens satisfactorily, and without difficulty to himself assigned 

 class, order and genus, to each individual insect he had cap- 

 tured ; thus preparing an ample store of interesting contribu- 

 tions for the cabinets of those more competent to appreciate 

 their value. 



I would in the next place briefly touch upon the impedi- 

 ments arising from the rapidly increasing attachment to ex- 

 cessive analysis. There was a time when a simple and intel- 

 ligible division into class, order, genus and species, was deemed 

 amply sufficient for all practical purposes ; but those happy 

 days have long gone by, and these primary divisions can 

 scarcely be traced under an overwhelming accumulation of 

 minor groupings. The trisection of an order into subsections, 

 families and tribes, was soon succeeded by further decimations, 

 till classification now frequently stands under the following 



appalling 



