CLASSIFICATION, 4*57 



thongli much isolated, will still occupy its proper interme- 

 diate position. The representation of the groups, as here 

 given in the diagram on a flat surface, is much too simple. 

 The branches ought to have diverged in all directions. If 

 the names of the groups had been sim2:)ly written down in 

 a linear series the representation would have been still less 

 natural; and it is notoriously not possible to represent in a 

 series, on a flat surface, the affinities which we discover in 

 nature among the beings of the same group. Thus, the 

 natural system is genealogical in its arrangement, like a 

 pedigree. But the amount of modification which the dif- 

 erent groups have undergone has to be expressed by rank- 

 ing them under different so-called genera^ subfamilies, 

 families, sections, orders and classes. 



It may be worth while to illustrate this view of classifi- 

 cation, by taking the case of languages. If we possessed 

 a perfect pedigree of mankind, a genealogical arrangement 

 of the races of man would afford the best classification of 

 the various languages now sjDoken throughout the world; 

 and if all extinct languages, and all intermediate and 

 slowly changing dialects, were to be included, such an 

 arrangement would be the only possible one. Yet it might 

 be that some ancient languages had altered very little and 

 had given rise to few new languages, while others had 

 altered much owing to the spreading, isolation and state of 

 civilization of the several co-descended races, and had thus 

 given rise to many new dialects and languages. The 

 vanous degrees of difference between the languages of the 

 same stock would have to be expressed by groups sub- 

 ordinate to groups; but the proper or even the only possi- 

 ble arrangement would still be genealogical; and this 

 would be strictly natural, as it would connect together all 

 languages, extinct and recent, by the closest affinities, 

 and would give the filiation and origin of each tongue. 



In confirmation of this view, let us glance at the classifi- 

 cation of varieties, which are known oi believed to be des- 

 cended from a single species. These are grouped under 

 the species, with the subvarieties under the varieties; and 

 in some cases, as with the domestic pigeon, with several 

 other grades of difference. Nearly the same rules are fol- 

 lowed as in classifying species. Authors have insisted on 

 the necessity of arranging varieties on a natural instead of 



