en. ix.] SPECIAL-CREATION, OR DERIVATION. 449 



naturalists endeavoured to arrange the animal kingdom in a 

 series of lineally ascending groups. The illustrious Lamarck 

 did so ; and the result was that he placed oysters and snails 

 higher up than bees and butterflies. Blainville did better, 

 having come as near as possible to surmounting insurmount- 

 able obstacles; but he nevertheless is forced to put cirrhipeds 

 and myriapoda above the cuttle-fish. It was a great step in 

 advance when Cuvier showed that there are at least four 

 distinct types of animal structure, and that no linear series 

 can be framed ; although Prof. Agassiz undoubtedly trans- 

 gressed the limits of scientific inquiry, when he attempted to 

 explain the coexistence of these distinct types by resusci- 

 tating from its moss-covered tomb the Platonic theory of 

 Ideas, and impressing it into the service of natural theology. 

 Nevertheless in his remarkable "Essay on Classification," 

 Prof. Agassiz more than atones for these metaphysical aberra- 

 tions by the conclusiveness with which he shows the impossi- 

 bility of making a linear classification of animals. In such a 

 series, the lowest of vertebrates, the unintelligent amphioxus, 

 would rank above the wonderfully-organized crabs, ants, and 

 butterflies. The degraded lepidosiren would take precedence 

 of the salmon ; and the lowly-organized duck-bill, as being a 

 mammal, would be placed above the parrot and the falcon. 

 Or if we attempted to escape these difficulties by ranking 

 our animals in a series according to their general complexity 

 of organization, neglecting their typical differences of struc- 

 ture, our whole classification would be thrown into senseless 

 confusion. Parrots and honey-bees would be thrust in among 

 mammals, and not only classes, but even orders, and perhaps 

 families, of annulosa would have to be divided, to make room 

 for intrusive echinoderms and mollusks. 



In view of these difficulties, as Prof. Huxley and Prof. 

 Haeckel have shown, the only feasible manner of arranging 

 the animal kingdom is in a number of diverging or branching 

 lines, like the boughs and twigs of a tree. Starting from the 



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