161 



chain which is itself composed of separate, though dif- 

 ferently shaped, links? The links (or the actual, inde- 

 pendent bodies which constitute the chain) are the 

 species ; but the knobs, or swellings, which their several 

 forms may tend, by degrees, to establish along its course 

 (through the slight disparity which each of them pre- 

 sents from that which is next in succession to it; and 

 therefore through the gradual manner in which the 

 bulbs, or nodules, may be said, on the whole, to be pro- 

 duced), are the groups into which those species naturally 

 fall. It matters not a straw whether these assemblages 

 be primary, secondary, tertiary, &c., in other words, 

 whether they be departments, families, or genera, as 

 usually understood, the principle is in every instance 

 the same ; the difference being merely relative, and not 

 absolute. 



Or, if we choose to vary the simile, we may compare 

 the whole system to a cord, upon which beads, of innu- 

 merable sizes, patterns, and colours, have been densely 

 strung. Now, if there were no such things as natural 

 divisions in the organic world, these beads (which repre- 

 sent the separate species) might have been disposed of 

 anyhow, their positions, with respect to each other, 

 would under those circumstances have been of no im- 

 portance. But such is not the case : there is an order 

 and method throughout Nature, which shows that every 

 individual portion of it has been adjusted by the Master's 

 hand, and that nothing has been left to chance. Those 

 beads (to follow up the metaphor) of countless magni- 



