62 THE REALM OF ORGANISMS CONTRASTED 



Albe they endlesse seem in estimation, 

 Than to recount the seas posterity; 



tnat they represent discontinuous 

 le y than the earHer Darwinian, , 



there 



said " There are as many species as 

 ideas m the Dmne Mind ", and there is no doubt that a good 

 species is like a clear-cut idea. At the other extreme o 

 comparison, it is like a chemical element, but on a higher 

 Ine As Goethe said, "The one thing Nature seems to 

 aim at is Individuality; yet she cares nothing for , 

 uals " If we personify ' Animate Nature ', it must at 1 

 be as an artist with inexhaustible imaginative reso 

 with extraordinary mastery of materials. 



But in the prodigal wealth of individuality, it not a 

 demonic confusion, but a rational order that we see. The 

 species are remarkably unique and discontinuous, each w.tl 

 a character of its own, yet they are often like stages 

 dividual development, and they can often be classified 

 logical series. Linn*us established his Systema Nature 

 quite apart from any evolutionist conception, and though 

 fact of genetic relationship lies behind every so-called nat- 

 ural classification, our present point is simply that " Each 

 her works has an essence of its own; each of her phenomena 

 a special characterisation; and yet their diversity I 

 unity ". 



