Chap. I. 



FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



11 



my conviction that as long as it cannot be shown that matter or physical forces do 

 actually reason, I shall consider any manifestation of thought as eAddence of the 

 existence of a thinking being as the author of such thought, and slndl look upon an 

 intelligent and intelligible connection between the ficts of nature as direct proof of 

 the existence of a thinking God,^ as certainly as man exhibits the power of thinking 

 when he recognizes their natural relations. 



As I am not writing a didactic work, I will not enter here into a detailed illus- 

 tration of the facts relating to the varioiis subjects submitted to the consideration of 

 my reader, beyond what is absolutely necessary to follow the argument, nor dwell at 

 any length upon the conclusions to which they lead, but simply recall the leading 

 features of the evidence, assuming in the argument a full acquaintance with the 

 whole range of data upon which it is founded, whether derived from the aflftnities or 

 the anatomical structure of animals, or from their habits and their geographical distri- 

 bution, from their embryology, or from their succession in past geological ages, and 

 the peculiarities they have exhibited during each,^ believing, as I do, that isolated and 

 disconnected flicts are of little consequence in the contemplation of the whole plan 



^ I am well aware that even the most eminent 

 investigators consider the task of science at an end, 

 as soon as the most general relations of natural phe- 

 nomena liave been ascertained. To many the in- 

 quiry into the primitive cause of their existence 

 seems either beyond the reach of man, or as be- 

 longing rather to philosophy tlian to physics. To 

 these the name of God apj)ears out of jihice in a 

 scientific work, as if the knowledge of secondary 

 agencies constituted alone a worthy subject for their 

 investigations, and as if nature could teach notliing 

 about its Autlior. iNIany, again, are no doubt ])re- 

 vented from expressing tiieir conviction that the 

 world wiis called into existence and is regulated by 

 an intelligent God, either by the fear of being sup- 

 j)(>-cd to share clerical or sectarian prejudices; or 

 because it may be dangerous for tliem to discuss 

 freely such questions without acknowledging at the 

 same time the obligation of taking the Old Testament 

 as the standard by which tlic vaiidilv of tlii'ir re- 

 sults is to be measurccl. SciiMice, however, can only 

 pro-per when confining itself within its legitimate 

 sphere; and notliing can be more detrimental to its 

 true dignity than discussions like tiiose which took 

 place at the last meeting of the German association 



of naturalists, in Gijttingen, and which have since 

 then been carried on in several pamphlets in which 

 bigotry vies with personality and invective. 



^ Many points little investigated thus far by most 

 naturalists, but to which I have of late years paid 

 particular attention, are here presented only in an 

 aphoristic form, as results established by extensive 

 investigations, though unpublisiied, most of whicii will 

 be fully illustrated in my following volumes, or in a 

 special work upon the plan of the creation. (See 

 Agassiz, (L.,) On the Difference between Progres- 

 sive, Embryonic, and Proi)hetic Types in the Succes- 

 sion of Organized Beings, Proceed. 2d Jleeting Amer. 

 Assoc, for tlie Advancement of Science, held at Cam- 

 bridge in 1849, Boston, 1850, 1 vol 8vo., p. 432.) 

 Jleanwliilc 1 refer in loot notes to sudi works as con- 

 tain the materials already on hand for the discussiim 

 of those sulyects, even when presented in a difl'erent 

 light. I would only beg leave to add, that in these 

 references I have by no means attempted to quote all 

 the writers upon the various topics under consider- 

 ation, but only the most prominent and most instruc- 

 tive, and here and there some condensed accounts 

 of tlie facts in more elementary works, by tlie side 

 of the original papers. 



