COMPENDIUM. 263 



seem pure, as when first originating from the Jiat of their Divine Author, 

 having never intermixed ; and it seems his will that they shall thus continue 

 to eternity. 



To bring the vast multitude the nearer human comprehension, we 

 endeavour to concentrate certain portions within a narrower circle, by such 

 subdivisions as to our faculties include those individuals allied by external 

 or internal form and habits. 



By this means the diffusion and the refinement of knowledge are 

 more speedily promoted. 



Nevertheless, in allotting to many products an inferior rank in the 

 scale, it is not from admitted imperfection, because nothing unfitted for 

 its own proper condition can have come from the Author of the universe. 



An explanation has been attempted here of the nature of some of 

 the objects, whose history at present seems the most obscure. Therefore, 

 after having been so long occupied with special details on the properties 

 of zoophytes, it may not be inexpedient to terminate the subject by a few 

 abbreviated general conclusions, as a compendium explanatory of their 

 nature. 



But, instead of descending to the regular detail of those minutiae 

 which would lead to that elaborate discussion, truly merited by so inte- 

 resting a topic, and which could be expected only from a naturalist of 

 the highest qualifications, experienced in practical observation, compara- 

 tive anatomy, and systematic arrangement, I must confine myself to a 

 narrative of humbler description. 



]. Zoophytes are animated products, simple or compound, resem- 

 bling the form and the efflorescence of plants. They constitute an im- 

 mense proportion of the organic world, that which has received the small- 

 est share of notice, and which is perhaps the least understood. It is only 

 now that a ray of light begins to break upon them, disclosing their admi- 

 rable beauty, their strange peculiarities, and unexampled properties all 



calculated to astonish mankind, with yet another work flowing from the 

 stupendous design of the universe. 



As if appalled by the difficulty of the task, by the nicety of investiga- 



