CLASSIFICATION AND CREATION. 41 



CHAPTER IY. 







CLASSIFICATION AND CREATION. 



So close is the connection between classifica- 

 tion and the plan of creation, the former being, so 

 far as it is accurate, the literal interpreter of 

 the latter, that the efforts of men to detect the 

 natural affinities among animals, and to express 

 them in clear, condensed forms, have always been 

 recognized as the highest creations of scientific 

 genius. Creations they were not, since the only 

 valid classification is already recorded in organic 

 forms, and a classification which is true to nature 

 cannot be original ; but works of genius some of 

 them have unquestionably been, embodying the 

 laborious, life-long investigations of men whose 

 powerful imaginations vitalized anew the dead 

 facts they collected. Such are the systems of 

 classification of Linnaeus, of Cuvier, of von Baer. 

 And while in presenting classification as the 

 subject of a series of papers in the " Atlantic 

 Monthly," I am aware that I am drawing largely 

 upon the patience of its readers, since the tech- 

 nical nature of the topic renders many details 



