232 THE HISTORY OF CREATIOjST. 



morphological point of view, belongs to the class of Mam- 

 mals. From this there directly follows the exceedingly 

 important inference that man, by consanguinity also, is a 

 member of this class of animals, and has historically 

 developed out of long since extinct forms of Mammals. 

 This circumstance alone justifies us here in turning our 

 especial attention to the history and the pedigree of 

 Mammals. Let us, therefore, for this purpose first examine 

 the groups of this class of animals. 



Older naturalists, especially considering the formation of 

 the jaw and feet, divided the class of Mammals into a 

 series of from eight to sixteen orders. The lowest stage of 

 the series was occupied by the whales, which seemed to differ 

 most from man, who stands at the highest stage, by their 

 fish-like form of body. Thus Linneeus distinguished the 

 following eight orders : (1) Cetse (whales) ; (2) Belluse 

 (hippopotami and horses) ; (3) Pecora (ruminating animals) ; 



(4) Glires (gnawing animals and rhinoceroses) ; (5) Bestise 

 (insectivora, marsupials, and various others) ; (6) Feras 

 (beasts of prey) ; (7) Bruta (toothless animals and 

 elephants) ; (8) Primates (bats, semi-apes, apes, and men). 

 Cuvier's classification, which became the standard of most 

 subsequent zoologists, did not rise much above that of 

 Linnaeus. Cuvier distinguished the following eight orders : 

 (1) Cetacea (whales) ; (2) Ruminantia (ruminating animals) ; 

 (3) Pachyderma (hoofed animals, with the exclusion of 

 ruminating animals) ; (4) Edentata (animals poor in teeth) ; 



(5) Rodentia (gnawing animals) ; (6) Carnassia (marsupials, 

 beasts of prey, insectivora, and bats); (7) Quadrumana 

 (semi-apes and apes) ; (8) Bimana (man). 



The most important advance in the classification of 



