NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION. 203 



a station in the animated families, man alone is com- 

 petent. In him only is to be found that concentration 

 of qualities from all the other groups of his order which 

 has been described as marking the corvidae. That grasp- 

 ing power, which has l)een selected as the leading 

 physical quality of his order, is nowhere so beautifully or 

 so powerfully developed as in his hand. The intelligence 

 and teachableness of the simiadaB rise to a climax in his 

 pre-eminent mental nature. His sub-analogy to the 

 ferae is marked by his canine teeth, and the universality 

 of his rapacity; for where is the department of animated 

 nature which he does not without scruple ravage for his 

 gratification ? With sanguinary, he has also gentle and 

 domesticable dispositions, thus reflecting the characters 

 of the ungulata (the rasorial type of the class), to which 

 we perhaps see a further analogy in the use which he 

 makes of the surface of the earth as a source of food. 

 To the aquatic type his love of maritime adventure very 

 readily assimilates him ; and how far the suctorial is 

 represented in his nature it is hardly necessary to say. 

 As the corvidae, too, are found in every part of the earth 

 — almost the only one of the inferior animals which has 

 been acknowledged as universal — so do we find man. 

 He thrives in all climates, and with regard to style of 

 living, can adapt himself to an infinitely greater diversity 

 of circumstances than any other animated creature. 



Man, then, considered zoologically, and without regard 

 to the distinct character assigned to him by theology, 

 simply takes his place as the type of all types of the 

 animal kingdom, the true and unmistakable head of 

 animated nature upon this earth. It will readily occur 

 that some more particular investigations into the ranks 

 of types might throw additional light on man's status, 

 and perhaps his nature ; and such light we may hope to 



