BARON CUVIER. 51 



clear and simple system, and by this, and by his 

 ingenious binary nomenclature, not only accom- 

 plished tlie great object of natural history, which 

 is to make us acquainted with the beings them- 

 selves, but by thus collecting them together, 

 greatly contributed to our knowledge of their 

 affinities. It was easy to be seen, however, that 

 in proportion as our knowledge of nature in- 

 creased, this artificial classification would scatter 

 so many groups that were intended to remain 

 united among themselves, that it would be 

 found insufficient for the enlarged scale which 

 the discoveries of every year presented to us. 

 The Systema Natural then of Linnaeus became 

 a mere sketch of what was to be done after- 

 wards ; even more recent naturalists touched 

 with a timid hand upon the natural grouping of 

 the highest branches of the science, and it was 

 reserved for a mighty genius of our own time to 

 open the path to us, and to smooth the diffi- 

 culties of" that path, by precisely determining 

 the limits of the great divisions, hy exactly 

 defining the lesser groups, by placing them all 

 according to the invariable cliaracters of their 

 internal structure, and by ridding them of the 

 accumulations of synonymes and absurdities 

 E 2 



