qfM'Leay, Swainson, Vigors, S?c. 131 



throw it, or at least in a great measure to prevent the exten- 

 sion of the deceptive influence necessarily connected with, 

 and radiated by, it. 



It appears to us, therefore, highly important to devote a 

 considerable portion of our study to, and reflection on, this 

 subject, in order to arrive at a just conclusion respecting its 

 merits, and the claims it has upon our notice. 



It must, however, be premised, that what we shall advance 

 on this topic, is not intended to be what is generally termed 

 an " impartial survey ;" for, having duly considered it, we find 

 that, so far from being the natural, it must rank amongst the 

 lowest of artificial methods ; we shall therefore rest content 

 with pointing out to our readers the anomalies connected 

 with, or contained in it, the discovery of which has been the 

 result of our investigation. We perfectly agree with Pro- 

 fessor Rennie, in considering it not a little singular that, while 

 hypothetical theories such as this are, in a great measure, 

 banished from other sciences, they should now reign as pa- 

 ramount in this department as al enemy and astrology did in 

 the dark ages. 



Mr. M'Leay has " the high and undoubted honour " of 

 having discovered this system; but, as his work (Horce Ento- 

 mologicce) is now so scarce, " that few can hope to consult 

 its philosophic pages," Mr. Swainson, in three late volumes 

 of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, has published, in a 

 connected series, a detailed account of the first principles and 

 fundamental rules of the u quinary " (for we think this a much 

 more suitable appellation for it than " the natural ") system : 

 these will form the basis on which we shall construct our 

 remarks. 



At page 225, of his " Treatise on the Geography and Clas- 

 sification of Animals," forming vol. 66. of Lardner's Cabinet 

 Cyclopaedia, Mr. Swainson gives the elements of the quinary 

 system in the form of the five propositions following : — 



" 1. That every natural series of beings, in its progress 

 from a given point, either actually returns, or evinces a ten- 

 dency to return, again to that point, thereby forming a 

 circle, 



" 2. The primary circular divisions of every group are 

 three actually, or five apparently, 



" 3. The contents of such a circular group are symboli- 

 cally (or analogically) represented by the contents of all 

 other circles in the animal kingdom. 



" 4. That these primary divisions of every group are 

 characterised by definite peculiarities of form, structure, and 

 economy, which, under deversified modifications, are uniform 



l 2 



