6 EARLY PROGRESS 



He was not one of those superficial observers 

 who are in haste to announce every new fact that 

 they chance to find, and his first paper* special- 

 ly devoted to classification gave to the world the 

 ripe fruit of years of study. This was followed 

 by his great work, " Le Regne Animal." He 

 said that animals were united in their most 

 comprehensive groups, not on special characters, 

 but on different plans of structure, — moulds, he 

 called them, in which all animals had been cast. 

 He tells us this in such admirable language, that 

 I must, to do justice to his thought, give it in his 

 own words : — 



" Si Ton considere le regne animal d'apr&s les 

 principes que nous venous de poser en se de"bar- 

 rassant des prejugds e"tablis sur les divisions an- 

 ciennement admises, en n'ayant e*gard qu'a l'or- 

 ganisation et a la nature des animaux, et non 

 pas a leur grandeur, a leur utilite, au plus ou 

 moins de connaissance que nous en avons, ni a 

 toutes les autres circonstances accessoires, on 

 trouvera qu'il existe quatre formes principales, 

 quatre plans generaux, si Ton peut s'exprimer 

 ainsi, d'apres lesquels tous les animaux semblent 

 avoir ete modeles, et dont les divisions ultdrieures, 

 de quelque titre que les naturalistes les aient de- 

 corees, ne sont que des modifications assez legerer 



* " Sur un nouveau rapprochement h e'tablir entre les Classes 

 |ui coroposent le Regne Animal." — Ami. Mus., Vol. XIX. 



