DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 3 



is he rewarded who obeys her call. The votary of Nature deems no 

 object unworthy of examination, none destitute of interest ; nor does the 

 spirit of philosophic inquiry suffer him to rest satisfied with a casual 

 glance at the multitudinous phenomena around him : he is not content 

 merely to wonder and admire ; but, urged onward, he attempts to 

 trace % back effects to their causes ; he investigates, he discriminates, he 

 analyzes, he combines, and, still proceeding in his course, endeavours to 

 obtain a glimpse (imperfect it may be) of the mighty plan of creation, 

 a knowledge of the grand scheme, by which the whole is blended into 

 unity. 



So various and manifold are the subjects of Nature's empire, 

 that, were the life of one man, however zealous and indefatigable he 

 might be, lengthened out to twenty, nay, a hundred times beyond the 

 allotted term, his materials would be unexhausted ; he would still 

 have much to study, and, after all, leave a systema nature to be en- 

 larged and corrected by those who should come after him. Hence 

 the advantage of co-operating numbers, each working in his favourite 

 department, and contributing his portion of labour to the public good. 

 The result is an accumulated mass of riches, which, transmitted to our 

 immediate successors, may be by them assayed, refined, and increased, 

 and, in due order, passed on to generations following. The wisdom, then, 

 of selecting a portion of Nature's empire, on which to concentrate our 

 energies, is very apparent. We may nay, we must survey the whole, 

 in order to study a portion to advantage ; but while in the one case we 

 content ourselves with a general outline, in the other we follow out the 

 minutest lines, tracing them through all their several curves and ramifi- 

 cations. 



Cuvier, whose philosophic labours are appreciated by every lover of 

 science, has divided the ANIMAL KINGDOM into four grand Divisions, or 

 Sub-kingdoms, viz : 



1. Animalia Vertebrata. 



2. Animalia Mollusca. 



3. Animalia Articulata. 



4. Animalia Radiata. 



These divisions answer to the Spini-cerebrata, Cyclo-gangliata, 

 Diplo-neura, and Cyclo-neura of Dr. Grant terms, which this celebrated 

 anatomist has adopted in reference to the development of the nervous 

 system, and as being, from the importance of that system in the economy 

 of animal life, more definite and, philosophical than those usually em- 

 ployed. It is with the first Sub-kingdom, or Subregnum, namely, Animalia 



