8 TUoSDAMEXTAL PEIXCIPLES OF ZOOLOGY. 



the simple impulse in the polyps to receive the food which is 

 brought within their reach through the higher manifestations, 

 as observed in the cunning fox, the sagacious elephant, the 

 faithful dog, and the exalted intellect of man, which is capable 

 of indefinite expansion. 



27. Such are some of the general aspects in which we 

 shall contemplate the animal creation. Two points of view 

 should never be lost sight of, or disconnected, namely, the 

 animal in respect to its own organism, and the animal in its 

 relations to creation as a whole. By adopting too exclusively 

 either of these points of view, we are in danger of falling 

 either into gross materialism, or into a vague pantheism. He 

 who beholds nothing in Nature besides organs and their 

 functions, may persuade himself that the animal is merely a 

 combination of chemical and mechanical actions and reactions, 

 and thus becomes a materialist. 



28. On the contrary, he who considers only the manifes- 

 tations of intelligence and of creative will, without taking into 

 account the means by which they are executed, and the phy- 

 sical laws, by virtue of which all beings preserve their charac- 

 teristics, will be very likely to confound the Creator with the 

 creature. 



29. It is only by a simultaneous contemplation of matter 

 and mind, that Natural History rises to its true character and 

 dignity, and attains its noblest end, namely, the indication 

 throughout the whole of creation of a plan fully matured in 

 the beginning, and invariably pursued ; the work of a God 

 infinitely wise, regulating Nature according to the immutable 

 laws which He has himself imposed on her. 



