26 SPHERE AND FUNDAMENTAL 



Being made in the spiritual image of God, he is competent to 

 rise to the conception of His plan and purpose in the works 

 of Creation. Having also a material body, like that of 

 other animals, he is also in a condition to understand the 

 mechanism of organs, and to appreciate the necessities of 

 matter, as well as the influence which it exerts over the in- 

 tellectual element throughout the domain of Nature. 



4. The spirit and preparation we bring to the study of 

 Nature, is a matter of no little consequence. When we would 

 study with profit a work of literature, we first endeavor to 

 make ourselves acquainted with the genius of the author ; 

 and in order to know what end he had in view, we must 

 have regard to his previous labors, and to the circumstances 

 under which the work was executed. Without this, although 

 we may perhaps enjoy its perfection as a whole, and ad- 

 mire the beauty of its details, yet the spirit which pervades 

 it will escape us, and many passages may even remain un- 

 intelligible. 



5. So, in the study of Nature, we may be astonished at 

 the infinite variety of her products ; we may even study 

 some portion of her works with enthusiasm, and neverthe- 

 less remain strangers to the spirit of the whole, ignorant of 

 the plan on which it is based, and fail to acquire a proper 

 conception of the varied affinities which combine beings 

 together, so as to make of them that vast picture in which 

 each animal, each plant, each group, each class, has its 

 place, and from which nothing could be removed without 

 destroying the proper meaning of the whole, 



6. Besides the beings which inhabit the earth at the pres- 

 ent time, this picture also embraces the extinct races which 

 are now known to us by their fossil remains only. And 

 these are of the greatest importance, since they furnish us 

 with the means of ascertaining the changes and modifica- 

 tions which the Animal Kingdom has undergone in the sue- 



