ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATIONS. 201 



men that he gives to his parent, yet he does not confound the 

 individuals ; and, in a word, it may be said that this tendency 

 to classify extends throughout the whole range of our intel- 

 lectuality. 



This necessity to reunite in our minds similar objects, and 

 to give to each of the groups thus formed an ideal repre- 

 sentative, is in fact the basis of all classification, and its 

 necessity is in the direct ratio of the number of objects 

 observed. An abstract type must represent every group. 

 Thus we speak of man in general, the horse, the oak, mean- 

 ing no man in particular, no horse, no oak; and to this 

 ideal representative we give the name of man, horse, oak. 

 But we do not stop here. Generalizing still higher, we re- 

 present by the word bird a vast group of living beings ; and 

 the terms animal or plant embrace a still higher range of 

 generalization ; and thus, from the remotest antiquity, men 

 have divided all natural bodies into three kingdoms, namely, 

 minerals, vegetables, and animals ; have spoken in a general 

 way of fishes, reptiles, &c. ; and have given to each species a 

 proper name. 



360. As science grew in its dimensions, the language of 

 naturalists of necessity became more precise ; for without a 

 precise definition there could be no science. To write the 

 natural history of animals, it became necessary not only to 

 form a great catalogue, in which each being should be desig- 

 nated by its proper name, but also to indicate for each of them 

 the characters by which they could be recognised and distin- 

 guished from all others. Now it was evident that, from the 

 conformation alone of these beings could such characters bo 

 drawn, those alone being constant. But there is no animal 

 which can be recognised by a single character, but by a re- 

 union of several a reunion not to be found in any other. But 

 the number of animals being immense, the definition soon 

 degenerated into a description of the animals, to which no 

 memory was equal; and if we possess not the means of 

 arriving at this end by an easier route, the study of natural 

 history would for ever remain in its infancy. By establishing 

 among animals divisions and successive subdivisions, which 

 themselves are named and characterized, a great part of this 

 difficulty is overcome. With the assistance of a small num- 

 ber of characters and names, we so circumscribe the field of 

 comparison, that to distinguish the object before us we have 

 only to observe its differences from those most allied to it. 



