70 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



sisted upon these important considerations; nor has 

 he scrupled to express in the following terms the 

 consequences to which he was led by the result of 

 his remarkable investigations. " The most natural 

 zoological arrangement is the most general expres- 

 sion of geological order, and vice versa, the order of 

 succession of beings is the most certain indication of 

 true natural affinities." In glancing in the preceding 

 pages at some of the leading problems which zoolo- 

 gists of the present day are endeavouring to solve* 

 we have expounded the doctrines of that physio- 

 logical school to which we are proud to belong. In 

 order to arrive at the solution of these problems, we 

 have successively interrogated the anatomy of adult 

 animals, embryological phenomena, and geological 

 facts, and everywhere the reply has been one and 

 the same. We may, therefore, confidently assert 

 that the past and the present of our globe agree in 

 sanctioning the fundamental ideas which lead us to 

 the ultimate aim of all our inquiries truth. 



