32 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [XOV. 16, 



wonderful relief when contrasted with the action of some eminent 

 authors who came after him, and who hundi-eds of yeai-s later 

 reclaimed the mass of untruthful and ahominable fiction to 

 send it down tlirough later i)eriods, to become the blemish of 

 otherwise creditable books. The establishment of the Alexan- 

 drian Museum, including- the nuiintenunce of a botanical and 

 zoological garden, was the occasion of the i)ublication of the 

 philosophy of Aristotle as its cornerstone. The Natural History 

 of the philosopher was then being published under the ])atronage 

 of King Philip, whose son, Alexander, became an illustrious stu- 

 dent of the school. The doctrine has taught that all nature was 

 an unbroken chain, the various groups merging insensibly in 

 each other. 



After the lapse of four hundred years, the elder Pliny 

 attem])ted the same illustrious course, but it is the unanimous 

 verdict of science that he was not the genius to add essen- 

 tially to the glory of his master. His works are numerous, but 

 they are compiled from the archives of ]>revious time, with 

 little that can l)e regarded as the result of original thought 

 and reseai'ch. The blessings of all that came after him would 

 liave been his, had he eliminated the chaff that had come 

 down to his day, loading great folios and quartos, and serv- 

 ing no jiossible good. We have seen that Aristotle distin- 

 guished only genus and species. Linntens enlai-ged upon tiiis, 

 and gave specific names to other groups, of varying weight 

 and value. He recognized classes and orders, but somewhat 

 Viiguely. according to tlie estimate now had of them. He made 

 the distinction of classes, which were natural enough, within the 

 bounds of the vertebrates, as mammalia, birds, reptiles, and 

 lishes; but his class Vernics included s\\(i\\&{MoUusca), sea-stars, 

 sea-jellies, sea-urchins, corals, etc. 



The first attempt to classify animals according to common 

 structural chai'acteristics was made by Linnaeus; but it was not 

 until Cuvier had become established as an authority, that any- 

 thing like great principles of classification were introduced. 

 Cuvier discovered the key at last. His extensive anatomical 

 investigations enabled him to ]ierceive something like the true 

 relation of animals. His favorite idea, as is well known, is that 

 iie had discovei'ed plans or ty})es of structure — four well-defined 

 gi'(Uips, having each its characteristic structure. The Verte- 

 brata were ccriainly well-defined; so the Molhisca, a group which 

 yet holds its own as a grand division. His Artictdata stands in 

 the same relative rank, but under another term, which simply 

 means much the same, Arthropoda — both indicating the pe- 

 culiarity of the class, the jointed or articulated character of 

 the parts that crabs, lobsters, insects, and spidci'S exhibit in 



