18 



GENERAL REVIEW OF LIVING BEINGS. 



must unite their labours "before we can form a satisfactory system of Classifica- 

 tion. 



After examining the internal structure of every knowTi animal, it has been found 

 that some of them have vertebrae, and others have none: this is a fundamental fact. 

 Again, on examining further, it is found that all those having vertebrx are also possessed 

 of a spinal marrow and a complicated brain ; that they have always four organs of 

 sense, of various degrees of perfection, with horizontal jaws placed in the head; and 

 that they have never more than four limbs, and always red blood. On the contrary, 

 when tlie Invertebrated animals ai'e examined, they are never found to possess either a 

 brain or spinal marrow; their senses are not so distinctly marked, their blood is white, 

 or not so red, and they all have more than four limbs, or none whatever. Proceed- 

 ing further, when the Vertebrated animals are more closely examined, some of them 

 ai'e found to continue their species by eggs — they are oviparous; others, on the con- 

 trary, produce their young alive — they are viviparous. The latter are found to 

 be alone possessed of mammse, for suckling their young, and hence they are called 

 Mammalia. 



Whenever, therefore, we find an animal with a bony skeleton, we know that it 

 must either belong to the Mammalia, or to one of the three classes of oviparous Vcr- 

 tebrata. If it have feathers and lungs, it is a Bird; if it have lungs and no feathers, 

 it is a Reptile; if it have gills and not lungs, it is a Fish. On looking further into 

 the details of the structure, there are found other varieties, yet ever co-existing with 

 certain essential differences. We are thus enabled to assign precisely the rank of an 

 animal from knowing the smallest part of one of these essential organs ; and we can 

 even discover the most curious relations between these differences in the structure of 

 animals, and their habits or instincts. All the Carnassiers, or beasts of prey, for 

 example, have the digestive canal more simple, shorter, less powerful, and consequently 

 their body more slender ; on the contrary, they have the canine teeth, or parts analogous 

 to them, much longer, stronger, better armed, and moved by muscles of great eneigy. 

 Birds of prey have the nails of their claws more fitted for tearing, the beak strong and 

 hooked. The Lion, and all others of the Cat genus, are similarly armed with formi- 

 dable retractile claws, with alternate and sharp teeth, and with a solid jaw-bone, moved 

 by powerful muscles. These fundamental characters ai-e in a manner reflected through- 

 out the whole structure, in such a manner that, upon examining a process or projection 

 in one of the teeth of a Carnivorous Quadruped, or the condyle of its jaw-bone, we 

 can describe the remainder of its frame-work, and write the history of its habits. In 

 the same manner, we can form an estimate of the force with which a bird flies, by 

 examining the formation of its sternum or breast-bone, to which the muscles of the 

 wings are attached. Whenever we find those two small bones, called Marsupial, in the 



pelvis of an animal, we may be certain that its young are produced before their time ; 

 that they are received and protected in a ventral pouch or bag. Finally, we know that 

 the Ruminantia, or ruminating animals, all have a cloven hoof; that they all have four 

 stomachs, and no incisive teeth in the upper jaw ; and that all which carry antlers or 

 horns on their front, have no canine teeth in the upper jaw. The history of the 

 Animal Kingdom offers many facts analogous to these, which will be pointed out in the 

 course of this work. 



But we must remark, that all the organs of each being have the most perfect agree- 

 ment among themselves. Never does Nature unite among them characters of an oppo- 

 site kind: we never find the teeth and jaw-bone of the Carnassier, with the cIovch 

 foot of an herbivorous quadriiped. The poets, painters, and statuaries of former 

 times, loved to blend these distinctive characters into imaginary and fantastic forms. 

 Deceived by their fertile imaginations, they knew not the laws regulating their co- 

 existence. Sometimes we see enormous wings that no muscle can move; sometimes 

 the heads of many animals of different species, united to a trunk which belongs to one 

 of them, or perhaps to a different animal. Nature disdains to present the discordant 

 characters of the Cerberus, Demon, or Angels, of our painters and our poets. One 

 imiversal harmony characterises all her works, and every part of her perfect mechanism 

 corresponds to the whole. 



These, then, are the principles of our Classification, founded on the comparative 

 importance of the organs, their constancy, and the laws of their subordination. 



A Stomach represents the Animal Kingdom, and a R.00T the Vegetable King- 

 dom. As these can exist isolated from every other part, we must seek for other 

 organs, to form the secondary divisions in the two Kingdoms. 



With Animals, we must first examine whether they are Vertebrated ; and in that 

 case, whether they are Viviparous or Oviparous ; that is, whether they have raammee or 

 not. If they have none, we must next inquire whether they breathe through lunn-s 

 or gills ; and we may further examine whether they are or are not cai'nivorous, whether 

 they fly, v/alk, swim, or crawl. 



If, on the contrary, the animals under examination be without vertebrEe. we 

 examine the general arrangement of their body, their movements, whether they 

 breathe through branchiae, tracheae, or simply through the skin; whether they have 

 one or m.ore hearts, or none whatever ; whether they have wings, feet, antenna', 

 or tcntacula; whether they have testaceous coverings, shells, or elytra ; or whether they 

 have nerves, nervous cords, swelling into knots, or an imperfect brain: we may inves- 

 tigate their intestines, or their metamorphoses. In this way, we are conducted by 

 degrees from those first great divisions, which overwhelm us by their magnitude, 

 into the more circumscribed gi'oups of genera and species. 



THE AiS'IMAL KINGDOM, 



CONTAINING LIVING BEINGS WITH STOMACHS, ENDOWED WITH SENSATION AND VOLUNTARY MOTION. 



Dtvhions. 



I. VEIITEBRATA 



r 



II. MOLLUSCA... 



Animals with a bony skeleton, consisting of a cranium, spinal column, and generally also of limbs; 

 the muscles attached to the skeleton ; distinct organs of sight, hearing, smell, and taste, in the cavities < 

 of tlic face ; never more than four limbs ; sexes separate ; blood always red. 



3. 



L4. 



Animals without a skeleton, the nmscles being attached to the skin; body almost always covered fl. 



2. 

 3. 

 4. 

 5. 



III. ARTICULATA J 



with a mantle, which is either membraneous, fleshy, or secreting a shell; nervous system composed of 

 scattered masses, or ganglions, connected by filaments; with distinct organs of digestion, circulation, 

 and respiration; never with five senses, and generally without sight and hearing; blood white or 

 blueish ; sexes separate ; hermaphrodites, perfect or reciprocal ; oviparous or viviparous ; eggs some- 

 times without shells. 



'Animals without a skeleton, divided into a number of ring-like segments, having their integuments ("1. 

 sometimes hard, sometimes soft, and the muscles always attached to the envelope ; with or without I 2. 



limbs ; respiring through trachea; or air-vessels, sometimes through branchiae ; nervous system com- 1 3. 



posed of two long cords, swelling at intervals into knots or ganglions. 



L4. 



f . . . . . rl- 



I Animals having the organs of sensation and motion, arranged around a common axis in two or more I 2. 



IV. RADIATA <| rays, or in two or more lines extending from one extremity to the other; approaching nearly to the <j 3. 



uniform structure of Plants. No circulation in vessels ; nervous system obscure. I 4. 



L 1-5. 



Classes, 

 Mammalia. 



AVE3. 



Reptilia. 



Pisces. 



Ceph-alopoda. 

 Pteropoda. 

 G.asterofoda. 



AcEPHALA. 



Buachiopoda. 



Cirehopoda. 



Annelides. 



Crustacea. 



Arachnides. 



Insect.a. 



Echinoderjiat.\. 

 Entozoa. 



AcALEPH.E. 



Polypi. 

 Infusoria. 



THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM, 



containing living beings with roots, without sensation or voluntary motion. 



Uivisions. 

 I. A-COTYLEDONES... 



• -; Agamous, or rather cryptogamous Plants, without stamens or pistils 



(. 



r Plants, having the embryo with only one cotyledon perianth simple, consisting of a calyx 



II. MONO-COTYLEDONES < only; floral organs generally three, or multiples of three; nerves of the leaves generally 



V longitudinal ; stem composed of cellular tissue, with scattered vascular fasciculi. 



1 Plants, having their embryo with two cotyledons, excepting the Conifers, where there 



- J are often from three to ten verticillate cotyledons; all the parts of the stem disposed in 



concentnc layers ; flowers generally with a calyx and corolla, the parts ol which are 



I usually five, or some multiple of five; nerves of the leaves generally ramified. 



{I 



V 



Classes. 

 Aphyll.*:. 

 foliace^e. 

 hvpogynia. 

 Perigynia. 

 Epigynia. 

 Mono-chlamyde^. 

 Di-chlamvde.?!. 



a. CoROLLlrLOR.T! 

 h. CALYCIFLORi'. 



c. Thalamiflor.e. 



