94 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



ing published a series of "Zoological Illustrations" that 

 seem to have been well received. Moreover, as early as 

 1824, he had adopted the notorious "Circular System" 

 of the classification of animals, and at this time was 

 its most zealous advocate in England. The tenets of 

 this curious doctrine, often called "Quinarianism" from 

 the recurrence of the number 5, was confused in a mysti- 

 cal jargon which conveys little meaning to a reader of 

 today; it was derived from William Sharp MacLeay, 

 who had advocated a similar system in his Horae Ento- 

 mologicae, published in 1821. According to Swainson's 

 creed, "all things that have life have been created upon 

 one plan, and this plan is founded on the principle of a 

 series of affinities returning into themselves ; which can 

 only be represented by a circle." "This sublime discov- 

 ery," which, as Swainson thought, was sufficient "to im- 

 mortalize a name," was duly attributed to his "illustri- 

 ous countryman." 2 



In the summer of 1830, when Audubon was ready 

 to prepare the letterpress of his mammoth plates and 

 needed assistance in its technical details, he applied to 

 his friend Swainson, who, as we have seen, was then 

 living at a farmstead in the Hertfordshire country, not 

 far from St. Albans. 3 Some of the letters which passed 

 between the two naturalists after the return of the for- 

 mer to England, in the spring of that year, will now 

 be given, without amelioration or change of any sort. It 

 should be remembered that Swainson at this time was 

 in an overwrought state, si nce he was dependent mainly 



2 Swainson expounded the Quinarian or Circular System in the Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana; or the zoology of the northern parts of British 

 America, published in collaboration with John Richardson, and the 

 first zoological publication issued by the British Government; but A 

 Treatise on the Geography and Classification of Animals contained his 

 most authoritative thesis upon this grotesque concept. 



3 See Vol. I, p. 403. 



