

r -30 



THE 



THIRD ORDER 



OF THE 



MAMMALIA, 



CONTINUED. 



SUPPLEMENT ON THE MARSUPIATA. 



It is a great misfortune to science that zoological systems 

 are necessarily not merely the creatures of human inven- 

 tions, but, to a certain extent also, of human fancy and 

 caprice : they have none of the certainty of mathematics, 

 but partake more of that indefinite point of excellence 

 "which belongs to painting ; the chef d'osuvres of a Raphael 

 might be better, and the best zoological arrangement will 

 ever be capable of improvement. 



It is painful to observe the defects which are, and ever 

 will be, found in artificial systems of' the most acknow- 

 ledged merit ; but it is still more so to contemplate the 

 endless efforts of naturalists to ameliorate and improve 

 them : so long, indeed, as there is no acknowledged 

 standard, it is extremely difficult to fix the arbitrary rovings 

 of fancy ; though in natural science, as in political eco- 

 nomy, attempts at reformation are dangerous in practice, 

 and uncertain in the result. 



Hence the great deference which has long been paid, 

 more especially in this country, to the scientific works of 

 the great Linnaeus, may not have been without its beneficial 

 effects ; nor are the fashionable, though as we firmly 

 believe necessary and proper, departures from his ortho- 

 doxy without their inconvenient consequences. 



Such reflections naturally suggest themselves on entering 



Vol. III. B 



