"The attempt at representing graphically the complicated rela- 

 tions which exist among animals has, however, had one good result : 

 it has checked, more and more, the confidence in the uniserial ar- 

 rangement of animals, and led to the construction of many valuable 

 maps exhibiting the multifarious relations which natural groups, of 

 any rank, bear to one another." 



AGASSIZ on MCLEAT. 



"Let it, therefore, never be supposed, that because one genus, or 

 one family, is placed before another, we consider it more perfect or 

 superior to the others in the system of beings. He alone could build 

 up such a pretension, who would attempt to place animal nature on 

 a single line ; such a project we have long since renounced as one of 

 the most false that can be entertained in natural history. We should, 

 on the contrary, consider each being, each group of beings, in itself 

 and in the character it sustains by its properties and organization, 

 and abstract none of its relations or connections with other beings, 

 whether they be near or remote." 



HAMILTON SMITH on BAKON CUVIER. 



283 



