LIFE ON THE EAETH. 195 



times to wander into general contemplation of the 

 origin of the large series of living beings which he 

 had subjected to classification. Perhaps no man who 

 ever lived was more entitled to pronounce an opinion 

 on the affinities and sequences of the hosts of 

 'specific' forms which he had characterized. His 

 Natural Orders of Plants are among the most real 

 and consistent groups yet assembled; many of his 

 divisions of plants and animals are the clearest and 

 most satisfactory. What was the deliberate opinion 

 of this gifted man? I take it from the 13th and 

 best edition of his great work, 1767. It applies to 

 plants only. 



' Suppose that in the beginning the Almighty 

 proceeded from the simple to the compound; from 

 few to many; and thus from a primary vegetable 

 principle, created so many different plants as there 

 are natural orders. Then that HE mixed these 

 orders of plants in generation, so that as many plants 

 should arise as now are distinct genera. Next that 

 nature mixed these generic plants, by ambigenous 

 generations (which change not the structure of the 

 flower), and multiplied them into species, as many as 

 possible, excluding however hybrids, as sterile.' 



Without too minutely criticising the distinction 

 here drawn between the work of the Almighty, and 

 the performance of nature, which apparently may 



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