20 MEMOIR OF 



of creatures, we should no doubt find in their 

 names, when primitive and original, very descrip- 

 tive and apt epithets." 



In the account of the creation by Moses, there 

 is an orderly arrangement of the objects of 

 Natural History, perfectly simple, yet strikingly 

 systematic, rising from inert matter, through 

 vegetation and animal life, up to intellectual 

 being ; of these severally, it is said, that they 

 were each made " after its own kind" or species. 



It may be permitted here to insert the 

 zoological classification of the ancient Jews, in a 

 systematic form, taken from the interesting 

 work to which obligations have been already 

 acknowledged. 



The system of Moses, derived from the first 

 chapter of Genesis, verses 20, 21, 24, 25, &c. 

 It is disposed in triads. 1. Earth; 2. Air; 

 3. Water. 



1. EARTH. 



1. Des/ia, translated " grass," including small 

 herbs of every order. 



2^ Osheb, " the herb yielding seed," including 

 all larger plants, whose seeds are conspi- 

 cuous, rising higher than the grass, having 

 stalks, not ligneous, of annual growth. 



3. Otz, or tree, including shrubs and large trees 

 of every description and species ; Peren- 

 nials, " fruit bearing, whose seed is in them," 

 that is, in the fruit, whether the fruit or nut 

 be proper for the use of animals or not 



