978 



concern with anything else :" — then indeed "stale and unprofitable" 

 would be the information gained ; but can we disconnect the know- 

 ing the class and order from knowing the genus and species ? The 

 one is a means to the other, and is valueless by itself. The simple 

 difference between the modus operandi of the two systems is this ; by 

 the Linnsean you are conducted by easy stages to the knowledge of 

 the species, by the other you are immediately, or nearly so, brought 

 into contact with what should have been your last step. 



Dr. Ayres seems to ground his defence of the natural system on a 

 most extraordinary hypothesis, viz., the assumption that all the ab- 

 stractions we term classes, orders, genera, &c., have as much a " local 

 habitation and a name " as the abstraction we term species, and he 

 doubtless thinks himself triumphant in naming them all " inductions 

 from individuals ; " Dr. Ayres at the same time, however, makes men- 

 tion of the particular point in which species differ from every other 

 " induction," namely, their " capability of propagating their like." Is 

 not this an essential difference from all other inductions ? Do genera, 

 or classes, or orders, " propagate their like ? " What sort of a hybrid 

 would the two abstractions Kanunculacese and Cruciferag produce ? 

 Yet if they are all alike inductions from a beginning, then they must 

 all have analogous properties, and two genera, or two orders, must 

 produce hybrids, and " propagate their like " in the same way as two 

 species. It is obvious to every unprejudiced mind, that Nature has 

 created individuals having certain common peculiarities which no 

 other induction from individuals possesses, and to these we give the 

 name of species. Where the line is drawn we cannot often tell, and 

 wofully shall we find philology to fail us in endeavouring to thi-ead 

 the mysterious mazes of Nature's labyrinth. We must be content to 

 descend from the high pinnacle of metaphysics, and take the more 

 homely guidance of experience and analogy, in viewing with our 

 finite and imperfect vision the infinite and perfect works of the Eter- 

 nal. But a more unfortunate line of argument could scarcely be 

 pitched on for the feasibility of a natural system, than that which al- 

 leges that all our groupings have actually an existence in the scheme 

 of Nature. It assumes that every plant has its proper niche, and that 

 there is a regular gradation of affinity between the highest and the 

 lowest forms of vegetable life. Now we are perhaps acquainted with 

 two thirds of the plants on the globe, say three fourths, and in all pro- 

 bability not more are known to science. What a faint and indistinct 

 glimmering of the true System of Nature must we have ! How many 

 gaps to be filled up ! How many erroneous affinities to be corrected ! 



