16 ESSAY ON CLASSIFICATION 



all answer that they are. Let us further inquire of them, what evi- 

 dence there is, in the present state of our knowledge, that at any 

 time these physical agents have produced anything they no longer 

 do produce, and what probability there is that they may ever have 

 produced any organized being? If I am not greatly mistaken, the 

 masters in that department of science will, one and all, answer, none 

 whatever. 



But the character of the connections between organized beings 

 and the physical conditions under which they live is such as to dis- 

 play thought; ^^ these connections are therefore to be considered as 

 established, determined, and regulated by a thinking being. They 

 must have been fixed for each species at its beginning, while the fact 

 of their permanency through successive generations^^ is further evi- 

 dence that with their natural relations to the surrounding world 

 were also determined the relations of individuals to one another;^" 

 their generic as well as their family relations, and every higher grade 

 of affinity;^^ showing, therefore, not only thought, in reference to 

 the physical conditions of existence, but such comprehensive 

 thoughts as would embrace simultaneously every characteristic of 

 each species. 



Every fact relating to the geographical distribution of animals and 

 plants might be alluded to in confirmation of this argument, but 

 especially the character of every fauna and every flora upon the sur- 

 face of the globe. How great the diversity of animals and plants liv- 

 ing together in the same region may be can be ascertained by the 

 perusal of special works upon the Zoology and Botany of different 

 countries, or from special treatises upon the geographical distribu- 

 tion of animals and plants.^- I need, therefore, not enter into further 



" See below, Sect. xvi. 



" See below, Sect. xv. 



-" See below. Sect. xvii. 



^ See below, Sect. vi. 



°^ L. K. Schmarda, Die geographische Verbreittmg der Thiere (3 vols., Vienna, 1853); 

 William Swainson, A Treatise on the Geography ajtd Chissifiration of Ani7nals (London, 

 1835); E. A. G. Zimmerman, Specimen Zoologize geographicce, Qnadriipedum domic- 

 cilia et migrationes sistens (Leiden, 1777); Alexander von Humboldt, Essai 

 sur la geographic des plarites (Paris, 1805) and Ansichte?i der Natur (3d ed., Stuttgart 

 and Tubingen, 1849); Robert Brown, General Remarks on the Botany of Terra Aus- 

 tralis (London, 1814); Joachim F. Schouw, Grundziige einer allgemeiyien Pflanzengeo- 

 graphie (Berlin, 1823); Alphonse de Candolle, Geographie botanique raisonnee (2 vols., 

 Paris, 1855). 



