cuvikr's classification. 53 



from the functions they discharge, and from 

 the mental habits which peculiarities of struc- 

 ture merely represent, embody, and subserve. 

 Although the resemblances which hive been 

 seized upon for the purpose of grt)uping 

 together a certain number of animals into 

 Classes, or Families, or Orders, have been 

 for the most part resemblances arbitrarily 

 selected, and have borne no consistent refer- 

 ence to any one standard of comparison 

 throughout the creatures to be arranged, 

 yet those resemblances have not been so 

 arbitrary nor so fallacious as to join 

 together in one common *' Order" animals 

 separated from each other in powers and 

 habits by an impassable gulf Of the eight 

 "Orders" (exclusive of Man) Into which Cuvier 



