192 Nature and Origin of the 



orders in all departments of organic nature may be compared, 

 and the same result obtained, 



3, Since the subtypes of species are distributed with great 

 regard to locality, it is obvious that much of the perplexity 

 which results from the graduation of species into each other, 

 is avoided by those travellers who take but a few specimens 

 from distant localities and by those collectors who are satisfied 

 with a single well-characterized specimen of each species. 

 Such collections are valuable as exhibiting types ; but they 

 very imperfectly represent the relations of types : as a small 

 group of human figures, of which one should be an Apollo, 

 another a Congo negro, with two or three other as well cha- 

 racterized specimens of distinct races, would very inade- 

 quately illustrate the natural history of mankind. 



It is obvious, also, that a difference of opinion between any 

 two naturalists on the question, whether a given species is a 

 good species, does not necessarily indicate a want of discrimi- 

 nation in the observers. It rather indicates that the type in 

 question is a little above or below the rank into which it is 

 attempted to force it. 



What shall we say now of the logical notion of infimce 

 species, which would not only hypothetically characterize a 

 species by unity of origin, but require us to find an impass- 

 able gulf between those species which are most closely allied I 

 Such a doctrine only shows how the world would have been 

 constructed, if the philosophers had made it. We will ven- 

 ture to affirm that the facility of discovering such species will 

 be inversely as the knowledge of the facts. 



II. Origin of the Species. 



The common notion of infimce species settles the question 

 of unity or plurality of origin by definition! But facts con- 

 duct to the inference, that the existing species were introduced 

 by the creation of many individuals, which were modelled 



