204 VESTIGES OE THE 



obtain when the philosophy of zoology shall have been 

 studied as it deserves. Perhaps some such diagram as 

 the one given on the next page will be found to be an 

 approximation to the expression of the merely natural 

 or secular grade of man in comparison with other 

 animals. 



Here the upright lines, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, may represent 

 the comparative height and grade of organisation of 

 both the five sub-kingdoms, and the five classes of 

 each of these; 5 being the vertebrata in the one case 

 and the mammalia in the other. The difference between 

 the height of the line i and the line 5 gives an idea 

 of the difference of being the head type of the aves 

 (corvida^), and the head type of the mammalia (bimana) ; 

 a, b, c, d, 5, again, represent the five groups of the first 

 order of the mammalia; d, being the organic structure 

 of the highest simia, and 5, that of man. A set of 

 tangent lines of this kind may yet prove one of the most 

 satisfactory means of ascertaining the height and breadth 

 of the psychology of our species. 



It may be asked — Is the existing human race the 

 only species designed to occupy the grade to which it is 

 here referred 1 Such a question evidently ought not to 

 be answered rashly ; and I shall therefore confine myself 

 to the admission that, judging by analogy, we might 

 expect to see several varieties of the being, homo. 

 There is no other family approaching to this in impor- 

 tance, which presents but one species. The corvidcT, our 

 parallel in aves, consist of several distinct genera and 

 sub-genera. It is startling to find such an appearance of 

 imperfection in the circle to which man belongs, and the 

 ideas which rise in consequence are not less startling. 

 Is our race but the initial of the grand crowning type 1 

 Are there yet to be species superior to us in organisation, 



