338 Mr. Burnett's arrangement of the Quadrupeda, 



tive developement of each ; and the outward manifestation of 

 the one is, in general, a sign of the inward developement 

 of the other. The resources of nature are, it is true, so 

 mighty, and our knowledge of her scheme, at best, so limited, 

 that this index is not unfrequently mistaken, and on some 

 occasions has been imprudently propounded as a necessary 

 condition of existence. Even the illustrious Cuvier would seem 

 to have been too much dazzled with the brilliant theory of this 

 mutual interdependence of the various internal and external 

 organs ; not sufficiently calculating our ignorance of the com- 

 pensating means by which, as Flemming observes, a state of 

 mutual dependence and reciprocity is maintained, in the midst 

 of a diversity of combinations which display, in the most asto- 

 nishing manner, the endless resources of the wisdom and 

 power of the Great Creator, " whose ways are not as our ways, 

 neither are our thoughts his thoughts." This frequent har- 

 mony between the various organs that act upon each other, 

 and this reciprocity which we can often trace between the 

 inner structure and the outer form, has been admirably illus- 

 trated by the first-named writer ; who observes, " an animal 

 which can only digest flesh, must, to preserve its species, have 

 the power of discovering its prey, of pursuing, of seizing, of 

 overcoming and of tearing it to pieces. It is necessary, then, 

 that this animal should have a penetrating eye, a quick smell, 

 a swift motion, address and strength in the talons and the 

 jaws. Agreeably to this necessity, a sharp tooth fitted for 

 cutting, is never coexistent in the same species with a foot 

 covered with horn, which can only support the animal, but 

 with which it cannot grasp anything ; hence the law by which 

 all hoofed animals are herbivorous ; arid also those still more 

 detailed laws, which are but corollaries of the first, viz. that 

 hoofs indicate dentes molares with flat crowns, a very long 

 alimentary canal, a capacious or multiplied stomach, and 

 several other relations of the same kind." Not to dilate on 

 the many, perhaps, only apparent exceptions to this law, which, 

 in the present imperfect state of our knowledge, certainly do 

 exist, enough has been already done to shew that these reci- 

 procal indications abound ; and as far as may be, they should 

 always be sought after : still they are not always to be traced, 

 and when they cannot, although an important point of internal 



