88 GRADATION AMONG ANIMALS. 
for the moment, as some naturalists believe, that 
the Mollusks are the inferior type, the Cuttle- 
Fishes are certainly very superior animals to 
most of the Worms; and passing from Articu- 
lates to Vertebrates, not only are there Insects of 
a more complex organization than the lowest 
Fishes, but we bring together two kinds of ani- 
mals so remote from each other in structure that 
the wildest imagination can scarcely fancy a tran- 
sition between them. 
A comparison may make my meaning clearer 
as to the relative standing of these groups. The 
Epic Poem is a higher order of composition than 
the Song,—yet we may have an Epic Poem 
which, from its inferior mode of execution, 
stands lower than a Song that is perfect of its 
kind. So the plan of certain branches is more 
comprehensive and includes higher possibilities 
than that of others, while at the same time there 
may be species in which the higher plan is exe- 
cuted in so simple a manner that it places their 
organization below some more highly developed 
being built on a lower plan. It is a poor com- 
parison, because everything that God has made 
is perfect of its kind and in its place, though rel- 
atively lower or higher ; yet itis only by compar- 
ison of what is, after all, akin, —of mind with 
mind,—even though so far apart as the works 
of the divine and the human reason, that we 
