136 SPECIES AND BREEDS. 



and Genus as much as of its Species. Specific 

 characters are only those determining size, pro- 

 portion, color, habits, and relations to surround- 

 ing circumstances and external objects. How 

 superficial, then, must be any one's knowledge of 

 an animal who studies it only with relation to its 

 specific characters ! He will know nothing of the 

 finish of special parts of the body, nothing of 

 the relations between its form and its structure, 



nothing of the relative complication of its or- 

 ganization as compared with other allied animals, 



nothing of the general mode of execution of 

 its structure, nothing of the general plan of 

 structure expressed in that mode of execution. 

 Yet, with the exception of the ordinal charac- 

 ters, which, since they imply relative superiority 

 and inferiority, require, of course, a number of 

 specimens for comparison, his one animal would 

 tell him all this as well as the specific characters. 



All the more comprehensive groups, equally 

 with Species, are based upon a positive, perma- 

 nent, specific principle, maintained generation 

 after generation with all its essential characteris- 

 tics. Individuals are the transient representa- 

 tives of all these organic principles, which cer- 

 tainly have an independent, immaterial existence, 

 since they outlive the individuals that embody 

 them, and are no less real after the generation 

 that has represented them for a time has passed 

 away, than they were before. 



