234 FUNCTIONS AND INSTINCTS. 



The term Molluscan 1 was employed by Linne 

 to designate his second class of worms, 2 which 

 excluded all the shell-fish, and amongst real 

 Molluscans included both Radiaries, Tunicaries, 

 and Worms ; it literally signifies a nut or walnut, 

 and therefore seems more properly applied to 

 shell-fish, than to animals which are defined as 

 simple and naked. As now understood, it still 

 comprehends a very wide range of animal forms, 

 and it seems difficult to describe them by any 

 character common to them all. Their Almighty 

 Author, in the progress of his work of creation, 

 linked form to form in various ways ; he not only 

 made an animal of a lower grade a stepping- 

 stone towards one of a higher, and which formed 

 a part of the ascent to man, the highest of all ; but 

 as the mighty work proceeded, he threw out on 

 each side collateral forms that ascend by a 

 different route, or begin one to a different order 

 of beings. And this circumstance it is that has 

 opened the door for so many systems and that 

 diversity of sentiment with respect to the 

 grouping of animals, which we meet with in the 

 writings of the most eminent naturalists. Some 

 proceed by one path and some by another, 

 though the object of all is the same, unless some 

 bias from a favourite hypothesis interferes and 

 diverts them from a right judgment. 



The organization of the animals of the Class 



1 Mollusca. 2 Vermes. 



