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ceases ; but the higlier tribes of animals and plants have two distinct 

 poles, those of the fonner, however, being the reverse of those of the lat- 

 ter, — that is, the inferior or negative pole of the animal represents the 

 superior pole of the plant, and the inferior pole of the plant rej)resents 

 the superior or positive pole of the animal. This law is the same 

 with the animal kingdom alone (of which the higher classes approach 

 the positive pole, and the lower classes the negative pole), and with 

 its successive divisions and subdivisions, and extends even to the spe- 

 cies and to the individual, and thus a single animal is an epitome of all 

 creation. It extends to the species, of which the female and the young 

 incline to the inferior ]3ole, but the full grown and the male belong 

 rather to the superior pole ; and to the individual, of whose body the 

 positive pole governs the fore part, and the negative pole governs the 

 hind part. 



The geography of insects is connected with this subject, for hot 

 countries compared witli temperate or cold regions contain a greater 

 proportion of the lower animals, or those that tend to the negative 

 pole, than of the higher tribes that tend rather to the positive pole ; 

 however, the individual species of ti'opical countiies, especially when 

 the climate is dry as well as hot, have the greatest development of or- 

 ganization adjoining the superior pole. 



It refers to the periods or epochs of creation, as manifested by the 

 discovery of remains of animals in beds or strata of earth succes- 

 sively formed and overlaid, and in each of which peculiar tribes of 

 animals are imbedded, the deepest layers containing the lower classes 

 of animals, while the higher classes are found exclusively in the most 

 recent formations ; thus creation rises from the negative to the positive 

 pole. It applies also to the systematic divisions of animals called 

 warm-blooded or cold-blooded, red-blooded or white-blooded, verte- 

 brate or invertebrate, intellectual or instinctive, sensible or apathetic, 

 the former having most development of the organs toward the superior 

 pole, the latter of those toward the inferior pole. It has been repre- 

 sented under the figure of a ladder, of which creation forms the suc- 

 cessive steps, beginning with inert substance, and having fire and 

 more subtle matter at its summit. Animals and plants have also been 

 an-anged in two series approximating at their base, for they approach 

 most to each other in their lowest forms where the poles are not ma- 

 nifest. The greater development toward the superior pole often cor- 

 responds with what are called typical or central forms, or normal 

 tribes, while the greater development toward the inferior pole is then 

 named an oscillating or transition form, or an aberrant tribe. We 



