CHAPTER II 



DIVISIONS OF LIFE AND TIME 



THE history of modern times can not be 

 taught without mentioning dates, or giving the 

 names of nations or of men ; nor can the his- 

 tory of the past be discussed without frequent 

 reference to periods of time, groups of rocks, or 

 animals, or even particular individuals among 

 them. 



So, at the outset, it will be necessary to say 

 something of the principal divisions of animals, 

 rocks, and time, and of the methods by which 

 they are arranged or classified ; for classifica- 

 tion is merely setting things in order, placing 

 together related objects, be they animals, plants, 

 or rocks, just as we might arrange books in a 

 library. We would hardly put books on the 

 shelves just as they came to hand, nor would 

 we place books of various kinds side by side, 

 merely because they were bound alike. We 



28 



