GRADATION AMONG ANIMALS. 



89 



may arrive at some idea, however dim, of the 

 mental operations of the Creative Intellect. 

 . It is, then, in their whole bulk that any of 

 these groups is above any other. We may repre- 

 sent the relative positions of the classes by a dia- 

 gram in which each successive class in every type 

 starts at a lower point than that at which the 

 preceding class closes. Taking the Polyps as the 

 lowest class of Radiates, for instance, its highest 

 animals rise above the lowest members of the 

 Acalephs, but then the higher members of the 

 class of Acalephs reach a point far above any of 

 the Polyps, and so on. 



RADIATES. MOLLUSKS. ARTICULATES. VERTEBRATES. 



Echino- 

 derms. 



Acalephs. 

 Polyps. Acephala. 



Cephalo- 

 poda. 



Gastero- 

 poda. 



Insects. 

 Crustacea. 



Worms. 



Mammalia. 



Birds. 



Reptiles. 



Fishes. 



If this view be correct, it sets aside the possi- 

 bility of any uninterrupted series based on abso- 

 lute superiority or inferiority of structure, on 

 which so much ingenuity and intellectual power 

 have been wasted. 



But it is not merely upon the structural rela- 

 tions established between these groups by ana- 



