MAN. 



445 



Thus placed above the brute creation, Man forms the culmi- 

 nating point of the great scheme of Nature here below, while his 

 intellectual superiority, and, much more, his immortal destiny, 

 ally him closely with higher and unseen existences. 



Our task is ended ; and yet, before bidding adieu to the reader 

 who has accompanied us through this long journey, let us pause 

 to cast one parting look upon the wondrous spectacle presented 

 to our contemplation. Earth, and air, and water, filled with life 

 in infinite abundance, life in innumerable forms, equally beautiful, 

 and yet so diverse ! In reviewing the multitudinous races com- 

 posing the Animal Kingdom, it has of course been necessary to 

 describe consecutively the different Classes and Orders in which 

 they are grouped by naturalists, as though they formed but one 

 extended line, and thus in a somewhat arbitrary manner to assign 

 to each a place in the lengthy procession. To suppose that such 

 is their natural arrangement would, however, be to fall into a very 

 serious error. Although widely separated in our pages, the 

 tiger-beetle and the tiger are, in their respective spheres of action, 

 pretty much of equal rank, and we are inclined to think that in 

 its own element the cuttle-fish holds as high a place among the 

 Mollusca as the lion does among Quadrupeds. The "vast chain 

 of being," therefore, composed of numerous successive links, exists 

 only in the imagination of the poet, and the young naturalist 

 would be greviously misled by the adoption of such an idea. 

 The Animal Creation may be more properly compared to some 

 vast city, from the gate of which several main thoroughfares di- 

 verge, each leading to a different part of the town, but all dividing 

 into labyrinths of streets, inhabited by artisans of various occu- 

 pations busily labouring for the general welfare. It is only by 

 such a view as this that we can at all understand the intricate 

 dependencies whereby so many creatures are linked together in 

 one vast system, carrying out harmoniously the laws imposed 

 upon them by their GREAT CREATOR. 



