44 THE FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. 



All these ajiparent anomalies and gradations of 

 structure tend still farther to demonstrate the gene- 

 rality of the plans of nature, and the comprehen- 

 siveness of her design, which embraces the whole 

 series of animated beings. These views are strongly 

 corroborated by the discoveries that are continually 

 being made of species now no longer in existence, 

 but which, in former ages of the world, helped to 

 fill up many of the chasms which now interrupt the 

 continuity of that series. This knowledge has been 

 revealed to us by the examination of their fossil 

 remains, those monuments of former epochs, which 

 have thrown such important light on the most in- 

 teresting questions in Geology as well as in Phy- 

 siology. 



The notion has long prevailed that the beings 

 composing the vegetable and animal kingdoms, 

 might, if we were thoroughly acquainted with their 

 structure and economy, be arranged in a linear 

 series, commencing with the simplest, and regu- 

 larly ascending to the most refined and compli- 

 cated organizations, till it reached its highest point 

 in man, who is unquestionably placed at the sum- 

 mit of the scale. Bonnet, in particular, cherished 

 with enthusiastic ardour the hypothesis that all 

 organic beings formed a continuous gradation, each 

 member of which, like the successive links of a 

 chain, was connected with that which preceded, 

 and with that which followed it; and he pursued 

 this idea by applying it even to the productions of 

 the mineral world. But, divesting ourselves of 

 these hypothetical views and figurative images, we 

 find, on sober observation, that instead of one con- 

 tinuous series, we are presented with only detached 



