88 GRADATION AMONG ANIMALS. 



for the moment, as some naturalists believe, that 

 the Mollusks are the inferior type, the Cuttle- 

 Fishes are certainly very superior animals to 

 most of the Worms ; and passing from Articu- 

 lates to Vertebrates, not only are there Insects of 

 a more complex organization than the lowest 

 Fishes, but we bring together two kinds of ani- 

 mals so remote from each other in structure that 

 the wildest imagination can scarcely fancy a tran- 

 sition between them. 



A comparison may make my meaning clearer 

 as to the relative standing of these groups. The 

 Epic Poem is a higher order of composition than 

 the Song, — yet we may have an Epic Poem 

 which, from its inferior mode of execution, 

 stands lower than a Song that is perfect of its 

 kind. So the plan of certain branches is more 

 comprehensive and includes higher possibilities 

 than that of others, while at the same time there 

 may be species in which the higher plan is exe- 

 cuted in so simple a manner that it places their 

 organization below some more highly developed 

 being built on a lower plan. It is a poor com- 

 parison, because everything that God has made 

 is perfect of its kind and in its place, though rel- 

 atively lower or higher ; yet it is only by compar- 

 ison of what is, after all, akin, — of mind with 

 mind, — even though so far apart as the works 

 of the divine and the human reason, that we 



