Chap. I. CONCLUSIONS. 315 



as arising from the confluence of the innumerable hairs or feathers which cover 

 the backs of Birds or Mammaha, — would this not be doing, for the muscular 

 system or for the external coverings, what is now doing, on so broad a scale, for 

 every isolated point of ossification in the skeleton ? Let us rather be satisfied 

 to recognize the fact, that Vertebrates have a plan of their own; that this plan is 

 carried out in one way for Fishes, in another for Reptiles, in yet another for Birds, 

 and again in another for Mammalia. It is true, grand traits of resemblance pre- 

 vail through all, showing that the same thought is variously expressed in these 

 different classes, and that this thought has found utterance in an endless diversity 

 of distinct beings ; but this resemblance lies chiefly in the unity of the conception, 

 and not in the similarity of the execution. The various complications introduced 

 in this execution constitute the typical peculiarities of the orders, while the forms 

 in which they are inclosed constitute the typical peculiarities of the families, and 

 the finish of the execution constitutes the typical peculiarities of the genera, while 

 the relations to one another, and to the surrounding world, of the living individ- 

 uals in which these thoughts are manifested, generation after generation, constitute 

 the typical peculiarities of the species. Then, and then only, shall we grasp 

 at the same time the grandeur of the conception of the plan according to 

 which the animal kincrdom is framed without losina; sig-ht of the admirable com- 

 pUcation of its execution, and the infinite variety of conditions under which life 

 is maintained. 



There is hardly any other type in the whole animal kingdom, in which the 

 direct intervention of thought, as the first cause of its characteristic features, can be 

 so fully and so easily illustrated as in the order of Testudinata. In the first place, 

 these animals are so peculiar in their form and in their structure, that they strike, 

 at first sight, every observer as belonging almost to another creation. They have 

 been represented as inverted Vertebrata ; and the peculiarity in the position and 

 connection of their limbs has been so magnified, even to the rank of a class charac- 

 ter, that very special conditions woidd seem necessary to their existence ; and j-et 

 they are so extensively scattered upon the whole surface of the globe, among other 

 animals of entirely diflerent form and structure, iipon land, in the fresh water!*, and 

 in the ocean, that, unless it can be shown that, besides its known properties, matter 

 possesses also a turtle-making property, it must be granted that there are special 

 thoughts expressed both in their structure and in their forms, and that the plan to 

 which they belong, notwithstanding their striking differences, must have been devised 

 and executed by a thinking being. In the next place, the different representa- 

 tives of this order are allied to one another in such a manner, that every feat- 

 ure of their organization appears to have been minutely considered ; for, while 

 some of their genera are closely linked, and constitute extensive families with 



