ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MAMMALIA. 193 



result of instinct ; organization is adapted to instinct ; and it is thus that 

 instinct and organization become concomitants. Galen says, " It is not 

 because Man has hands that he is, therefore, the wisest of animals ; but, 

 because he is the wisest, therefore he has hands." The Duck is adapted for 

 swimming ; let the webs of its feet be removed, and still it will betake itself 

 to the water. The tail of the Monkey aids it in leaping with precision, and 

 acts as a balancer among the branches ; but, if its tail be removed, its 

 habits are not perceptibly altered ; it is still arboreal, and still leaps with 

 address. The Squirrel, because it has clavicles and digitated paws, is not, 

 therefore, to be regarded as higher in the scale of being than the Elephant ; 

 it is thus organized only that it may climb ; and, hence, to lay so paramount 

 a stress upon the adaptive form of the organs of locomotion, exclusive^ of 

 other considerations, as to make them the test of elevation or depression in 

 the scale, is to attach to them an importance beyond what is their due, or 

 what sound philosophy dictates. The division of mammals into unguicu- 

 late and ungulate is, therefore, worse than useless as leading to erroneous 

 conclusions : upon such a principle, we must separate the Hyrax from the 

 Pachydermata, and restore it to its old position, among the Rodentia. 



It is laid down as an axiom, by some highly-talented naturalists, that, 

 in animals, the common possession of organic modifications, having a 

 marked and influential bearing on the habits and economy of life (or, in 

 other words, being the cause, and not the consequence, of their instincts 

 and habits) is the only philosophical principle of zoological classification. 

 That we are to be guided by organic modifications, in zoological arrange- 

 ment, no one will presume to deny ; and, cceteris paribus, it is also 

 granted, that a group, characterized by the common possession of cer- 

 tain structural peculiarities, " should present numerous important coin- 

 cidences, not only in other parts of the physical structure, but likewise 

 in the mental resources, habits, manners, and, what may be not improperly 

 denominated, the moral character of the animals which compose it." 

 But if, on this principle, carried ad extremum, some isolated adaptive 

 character is to be taken as the standard, without considering the bearing 

 of other characters, of more predominance as affecting the totality of an 

 animal's economy, the naturalist will, assuredly, be in danger of mistaking 

 analogy for affinity : and hence have arisen many of the unnatural colloca- 

 tions in what are termed artificial systems. 



Cuvier observes : " Les caracteres variables qui etablissent les diver- 

 sites essentielles des mammiferes entre eux, sont pris des organes du 

 toucher, d'ou depend leur plus au moins d'habilite ou d'adresse, et des 

 organes de la manducation qui determinent la nature de leurs alimens, et 

 entrainent apres eux, non seulement tout ce qui a rapport a la fonction 

 digestive, mais encore une foule d'autres differences relatives meme a 

 1'intelligence." 



VOL. I. 2 C 



