■262 



THE MUSEUM. 



agreed to class it as a tish, instead of 

 a mammal, what would the world have 

 been the worse off for such an agree- 

 ment? About the most that could be 

 said would be, here is a term generally 

 agreed on, which, by the use of lan- 

 guage, means a creature that brings 

 forth its young alive and for some time 

 suckles it; and as we know whales do 

 this and fish do not, it had been im- 

 properly left out of its right place in 

 classifying. But it may yet be found 

 that other animals that pass current as 

 fish do the same and may for the same 

 reason have to submit to a like remov- 

 al. 



Thus, it seems perfect and complete 

 classification in science can only result 

 from a perfect and complete knowl- 

 edge of nature, and this will never be 

 attainable. This ought not to destroy 

 or even very greatly lessen our estima- 

 tion of the value and importance to 

 the world of the labor of those who 

 zealously are aiming to map off nature 

 as correctly as the geographer is striv- 

 ing to show the correct location of 

 places and the features of all parts of 

 the earth's surface on his map. Many 

 places must of necessity be excluded 

 and some not precisely located as to 

 their relative position with other ob- 

 jects and places, yet the traveler and 

 mariner] can confidently go forward 

 with his map and chart in hand, with 

 an abiding confidence of a safe arrival 

 at the destined spot. 



Classification is as old as the race. 

 Every beast of the field, and every 

 fowl of the air was brought unto Adam 

 "To see what he would call them; and 

 whatsoever Adam called every living 

 creature, that was the name thereof." 

 (Gen. 11:19.) No doubt he was di- 

 vinly assisted in giving names corres- 



ponding to their appearance and hab- 

 its, though chese may have been part- 

 ly or wholly unknown to him, as we 

 infer from his naming Eve. No doubt 

 the classification was satisfactory to 

 himself and met with no objectors or 

 adverse criticism, and such a one 

 would pass current in any age of the 

 world. From that to the present day 

 it has been continually undergoing 

 change. 



There must in very early ages have 

 been some things noticed in common 

 to groups of living things, while indi- 

 viduals in these groups may have dif- 

 fered in many other particulars. No 

 doubt external resemblance in form, 

 voice, gait and habits would be most 

 readily noticed by the unlearned, and 

 would furnish a basis for grouping to- 

 gether and for separation; for both 

 separation, which implies a difference 

 from another, and grouping together, 

 which implies uniformity with others, 

 must enter into the idea of scientific 

 classification. 



Structural characters would be no- 

 ticed by those who did not give it 

 deeper study. The straight bill, flat 

 back and stiff tail of the woodpecker 

 tribe, among birds; the flat, long snout 

 and slender, nearly cylindrical body of 

 the pickerel tribe, among fish; the 

 bark and howl of the whole dog, wolf 

 and fox tribe; the miau of the whole 

 cat, lion, tiger and panther tribe; the 

 neigh of the whole horse, donkey and 

 ass tribe; the low of the whole cow, 

 buffalo and musk ox tribe; the web 

 foot, quack and waddling gait of the 

 goose and duck tribe; the cawing of 

 the crow tribe; the hooked beak and 

 talons and soaring of the whole tribe 

 of birds of prey; would be common 

 traits and peculiarities not apt to go 



