.•:u ANIMAL kingdom:' r.289 



certain ahalogiesxespecting the osteology oHhef'^ertibmta, 

 whi(;h would, if correct, reduce their skeleitons to one t^fpe, 

 as well with respect to the appendages of the spine as:- to 

 the spine itself. How far these analogies may beiJacca- 

 rate, it ia for persons more skilled in anatomythanLam-to 

 determine; but the PkiloiOphie Amiomique is evidently 

 a book on which it may hereafter be well worth- the trou- 

 ble of those who would devfilojSethe natural place of Man, 

 to bestow some attention.'^3bi' the intoxication however 

 which proceeded from the disiad^^ryi.of so much unity 

 among those animals which h© had .bSSn in the habit of 

 studying, M. GeofTroy hastiiyfiaiagindcC that all those with 

 whiqh hewas unacquainted must be vertebrated likewise; 

 and thns gave, with the impetuosity so- proverbial in bis 

 cpuntrymen^ran example to the. wOrld of a professor iirst 

 publishing an assertion on a subjectofwhicli he was. .to- 

 tally ignorant, and then sitting dowatoratudy this. sviS^et 

 in order that he might. prove his assertion. It ishosv^er 

 in justice due to the talents of :M. Geoffroy to: statfe, iitfeat 

 each succeeding Memoire seems, to glipw/that<|i&sbe5firb-' 

 ceeds deeper into the science.of unyeEtebratessLaiDiimiifehe 

 gets further from the scope of his of igin?tl propositoiais,: and 

 approaches nearer to those notions which axe.omoretjC&BE^ 

 iponly received. Nor ought it to , paSs ;ujlobserved;<?tJ»t 

 some of the secondary positions laid dowo in theu,<j'Q'ucse 

 of his third Memoire are such as require much .delibfsrae 

 tion on the part of that Entomologist who may bBi inclined 

 to dispute them. We however, in this place, bav§ ^niy 

 to do with the principal points of his doctrinev,a&, thf y afe 

 connected with the subject now in hand. vtvjt^isO JM. ' 

 ..^ That every animal is vertebrated is an assuniption so 

 contrary to well-established facts, and so demonstrative of 



