701 



It was left for the master mind of a Cuvier to divide the Animal 

 Kingdom into four provinces, all of them distinguished by positive 

 characters only ; and although several attempts have subsequently 

 been made to alter and amend these provinces, they are so based on 

 real structural character as to meet with universal acceptation : these 

 provinces are Vertebrata, MoUusca, Articulata and Radiata. Now 

 without pausing to investigate the methods which have succeeded 

 the binary or dichotomous division of vegetables, let us pass at once 

 to the most recent and most extensively known classification of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom ; I allude to that by Professor Lindley : we 

 shall there find four vast comprehensive classes called Exogens, 

 Endogens, Thallogens and Acrogcns, and we shall find no botanist 

 expressing a doubt as to the naturalness of each of these. They 

 include nearly the whole of the Vegetable Kingdom ; but Professor 

 Lindley has separated three minor groups, and given them a stand- 

 ing equal to the four comprehensive classes, i. e., he has called all 

 of them classes. The three minor classes are Rhizogens, constructed 

 for the reception of the Rafflesiacese, &c,; Dictyogens, comprising Ta- 

 mus, Paris, &c. ; Gymnogens, including the pines, the yew, the juniper. 

 Without attempting to influence the reader in his judgment of the dis- 

 tinctness of these minor classes, the almost immeasurable superi- 

 ority of the major classes as regards the number of species they 

 contain, is sufficient to warrant our giving them precedence in an in- 

 quiry like the present. We have thus four primary divisions in each 

 kingdom : in animals. Vertebrates, Articulates, Molluscates and 

 Radiates ; in plants, Exogens, Endogens, Acrogens and Thallogens : 

 each of the two kingdoms, in fine, possesses what Cuvier has called 

 four " general plans after which the individuals appear to have been 

 modelled." 



Having thus shown that a numerical correspondence exists between 

 the primary divisions of the two kingdoms, the next task is to exhibit 

 a correspondence between the classes themselves, i. e., to show that 

 each of the four divisions of the Vegetable Kingdom corresponds 

 with a division of the Animal Kingdom. The idea of the existence 

 of parallels between the divisions of the two kingdoms is of a very early 

 date, and more recently M. Virey has laid great stress on these pa- 

 rallels, and has shown a very marked correspondence between the two 

 kingdoms. At present I have only to touch on this subject as acces- 

 sary to the development of the System of Nature. 



The analogy existing between the exogens among plants and the 

 vertebrates among animals, seems too obvious to require comment : 

 Vol II. 4 t 



