136 On the Quinary System 



vantage : it was then an impetus ; it would now be a bane to 

 the advance of natural history. 



The principal fault, then, of the Linnaean classification, viewed 

 in a modern light, consists in the paucity of divisions and sub- 

 divisions. Linnaeus formed but six orders : he was therefore 

 necessarily compelled to arrange under one order animals 

 which have no true affinity to each other. Cuvier was aware 

 of these anomalies : in his Regne Animal, therefore, he recti- 

 fied them, as far as he was able, by constituting new orders, for 

 the reception of such animals as were artificially joined with 

 others in the Linnaean method, and for such as had been dis- 

 covered since the time of Linnaeus. Swainson, however, 

 characterises all this great naturalist's endeavours as being 

 preeminently unsuccessful ; and, in order to improve them, we 

 find in his own system o\\\y Jive orders, that being one less in 

 number than Linnaeus had. Mr. Swainson, therefore, instead 

 of improving that author's method, has actually published a 

 worse, and more artificial one, in which the laws of natural 

 affinity (a subject on which he has written much, and should, 

 therefore, understand) are broken in cases far too numerous 

 to recount. In his first order (Quadrumana), true quadru- 

 manous animals are joined in close affinity with animals 

 which are not only not quadrumanous, but are also what may 

 be termed flying animals, being provided with wings : in the 

 second (Ferae), carnivorous, with animals subsisting entirely 

 upon insects, and presenting reciprocal differences as great 

 as those which separate rapacious from insessorial birds ; and 

 in the fourth (Ungulata), semi-unguiculated animals, without 

 incisor, and, in some cases, wholly destitute of any teeth, are 

 united with animals possessing both teeth and true hoofs ; pro- 

 vided, also, with the peculiar property of masticating their food 

 a second time, by bringing it back into their mouths after it 

 had passed the first deglutition ! In one order we have the 

 bulky elephant, and the graceful antelope ; the awkwardly 

 formed sloth, and the fleet reindeer ; the massive, thick, heavy, 

 short-legged i/ippopotamus, and the tall, slender-made ca- 

 meleopard ; joined together with the bands of this highly 

 "natural" arrangement ! ! 



What is the cause of Mr. Swainson so transgressing the 

 laws of natural affinity ? Why has he not constructed more 

 orders, and, by that means, produced a system more in accor- 

 dance with nature? These are questions which might arise 

 in the minds of some : as such, we will attempt to answer 

 them. 



We are all aware that no man can be perfect in this world. 

 How numerous his talents ; how extensive his learning; how 



