FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONS OF ANIMALS 137 



agency of physical causes, but have made their successive appearance 

 upon earth by the immediate intervention of the Creator. As proof 

 I may sum up my argument in the following manner: 



The products of what are commonly called physical agents are 

 everywhere the same (that is, upon the whole surface of the globe) 

 and have always been the same (that is, during all geological peri- 

 ods); while organized beings are everywhere different and have dif- 

 fered in all ages. Between two such series of phenomena there can 

 be no causal or genetic connection. 



3 1 St. The combination in time and space of all these thoughtful 

 conceptions exhibits not only thought, it sho^vs also premeditation, 

 power, wisdom, greatness, prescience, omniscience, providence. In 

 one word, all these facts in their natural connection proclaim aloud 

 the One God, whom man may know, adore, and love; and Natural 

 History must in good time become the analysis of the thoughts of 

 the Creator of the Universe, as manifested in the animal and vege- 

 table kingdoms, as well as in the inorganic world. 



It may appear strange that I should have included the preceding 

 disquisition under the title of an "Essay on Classification." Yet it has 

 been done deliberately. In the beginning of this chapter I have al- 

 ready stated that Classification seems to me to rest upon too narrow a 

 foundation when it is chiefly based upon structure. Animals are linked 

 together as closely by their mode of development, by their relative 

 standing in their respective classes, by the order in which they have 

 made their appearance upon earth, by their geographical distribu- 

 tion, and generally by their connection with the world in which they 

 live, as by their anatomy. All these relations should therefore be fully 

 expressed in a natural classification; and though structure furnishes 

 the most direct indication of some of these relations, always appre- 

 ciable under every circumstance, other considerations should not be 

 neglected which may complete our insight into the general plan of 

 creation. 



In characterizing the great branches of the animal kingdom it is 

 not enough to indicate the plan of their structure in all its peculiari- 

 ties; there are possibilities of execution which are at once suggested 

 to the exclusion of others, and which should also be considered and 

 so fully analyzed, that the various modes in which such a plan may 



