20 



GENERAL REVIEW OF LIVING BEINGS. 



primary organ of the body; and as this delicate system of nervous matter requires for 

 its protection a bony column of vertebra;, it is necessary to assume the existence or 

 absence of a vertebrated column as the foundation of our primary divisions of the 

 Animal Kingdom. 



We shall defer the greater part of our observations upon systems in general, until 

 we come to treat of the history of Zoology. At present ourremarl<s will be confined 

 to the theoi'y of one universal chain of existence, which may not improperly be termed 

 the theory of the straight line; and we believe it to have as little foundation in Nature 

 as the corresponding theories of the circle. 



On contemplating the long chain of organized beings, we observe them to be- 

 come complicated by degrees, without sudden brealcs and transitions. The lowest 

 have nothing but a simple root ; — the highest possess an exceedingly complicated 

 brain. In passing from one extreme to the other, we first find imperfect plants, or 

 we should rather say, plants of very simple structure ; some of which are composed 

 of an umbrella- shaped covering attached to a root, — that essential organ of every 

 plant, excepting perhaps the Krubut ; others apparently consist but of simple leaves ; 

 and some have only pediculated flowers without leaves. On the other hand, we find 

 plants composed at once of a root, leaves, stem, and flowers ; while the flowers either 

 simply present only an ovarium, stamens, and pistils — organs essential to the produc- 

 tion of seed — or, besides these indispensable organs, they also exhibit petals and a calyx, 

 more or less complicated. 



In the Animal Kingdom, the successive gradations in the complication of structure 

 are much more numerous. To the stomach, which we have aVeady mentioned as 

 composin"- the most simple of animals, we see added, in succession, various appendages, 

 moveable tentacula, and afterwards some rudimentary appearances of vessels filled with 

 white blood. Continuing our observations further, we begin to perceive some scat- 

 tered nervous filaments, and then some colourless muscular fibres. Soon after, we 

 find that the digestive canal becomes more comphcated ; instead of one orifice, we now 

 find two ; at length we arrive at an elongated and convoluted intestine. In yet 

 hio-her gradations than these, we perceive lungs, tracheae, and gills, with complicated 

 muscles, destined to move particular members, connected by joints of an elaborate 

 mechanism. Further upwards, we perceive hearts of a simple construction, evident 

 or"-ans of sensation, distinct arrangements already of a complicated character, for 

 continuing the species, ganglions or knots of nerves, with a marrow dilated at one ex- 

 tremity. Finally, we arrive at a vertebrated column, perfect senses, a spinal marrow 

 enclosed in a bony tube, a skull, and, to crown the whole, a beautifully-organized 

 brain. 



However perfect this chain of animated existence may at first sight appear, we must 

 admit that many objections may be made to its details. The transitions are often 

 }iarsh, and by no means always very obvious, from one link to another ; and if it be 

 true that, whatever fractures a link, 



" Tenth or ten-thousandth breaks the chain alike," 



we fear that the advocates for one uninterrupted chain of existence, from the minutest 

 conferva or hchen, to the throne of the Eternal, will find many chasms which cannot 

 be united oven in the most fertile imagination. 



In attempting to trace this supposed chain between the lowest animals and the Ver- 

 tebrata, we find that the progressive development of the organs of nutrition and of 

 sensation greatly disturb its uniformity. The organs of sensation and motion have 

 already arrived at a great degree of perfection in animals, in which we can find no 

 heart, no evident circulation, or observable respiration. On the contrary, in other 

 beings, an opposite result may be observed ; and while some have a heart ah*eady mani- 

 fest, with vessels and complicated respiratory organs, we find that the organs of sen- 

 sation have but a very slight degree of development. 



If we bo desirous of forming in the imagination one of these universal chains of 

 existence, we have but to assign to the mountain rocks, or to the filaments of the as- 

 bestos, the faculty of absorbing nourishment and of growing, and we have formed the 

 idea of a being resembling a plant, which possesses two orders of functions, — the one 

 essential to the preservation of the individual, and the other necessary for the conti- 

 nuation of the species. To these two subordinate, yet well-defined functions, let us 

 add the powers of voluntary motion and sensation, — let us add a central cavity for di- 

 gesting the aliment; and we thus produce an animal of the lowest possible degree. To 

 this moving, sensitive, and instinctive mass, let us join nmnerous nerves traversing 

 every part, senses of a complex form circumscribed in special organs, a central brain, 

 the instrmnent of perception and volition ; let us add to these, muscles for obeying the 

 determinations of the "Will, with a skeleton for affording a support to the muscles, and 

 firmness to the whole fabric, and an animal is constructed of the highest order and of 

 the most complicated form. On the summit of this series of superior beings, let us 



place Man a being remarkable for the vertical situation of his body, the volume of 



his brain, the perfect adjustment of his senses ; for his Prudence, Curiosity, and Wis- 

 dom ; for the energy of his Will, the lights of his Reason, and the sublimity of his 

 Genius. 



Many philosophers, but especially Donati and Charles Bonnet, have ingeniously at- 

 tempted to arrange all the bodies in nature, in a manner similar to what we have here 

 attempted to explain, according to the progressive analogies which they offer to the 

 observer. They have endeavoured to pass by msensible gradations from one natural 

 production to another, just as in the rainbow or solar spectrum we arrive, by unper- 

 ceived transitions, from colour to colour, from the violet ray to the blue, from the 

 blue to the indigo, from this to the green, yellow, orange, and red, and finally, from 

 the red, by a new cii'cle, round again to the violet. The philosophers whom we have 

 just named thought that every thing in nature formed one long chain, without break 

 or interruption, and Bonnet illustrated his views in the following manner: — 



He thought that the talcs, the slates, the schists, but especially the amyanthus, 

 formed a natural and easy transition from the Mineral to the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 Again, the Sensitive Plant, as well as many species of AlgK and Fuci, formed a 

 natural link between plants and the most simple kinds of animals. After that, 

 a thousand different shades and nice transitions presented themselves in the Ani- 

 mal Kingdom. If certain spo.rics of simple Pi'lj'pi form the connecting link be- 



tween the two great Kingdoms of organized Nature, they serve, at the same firae, 

 to unite the Infusoria, those microscopic inhabitants of fluids, with the Acalephs, 

 Sea-nettlei5, or Medusse. Again, these last-mentioned animals conduct us gradu- 

 ally to the Worms and Mollusca, on the one hand, and. for different reasons, to the 

 Insects, the Arachnides or Spiders, and the Crustacea, on the other. Proceeding 

 further, we are led from the aquatic Worms to the Mollusca, by means of the Hiru- 

 dinccB or Leeches, and from the Mollusca to the Reptiles, by the Limax or Snail. 

 The Reptiles, in their turn, form the bond of connexion with the Fishes, by means of 

 the tadpoles, the young of the Frog, in the same manner as the Insects, by another 

 circle, merge successively into the Worms, Mollusca, and Reptiles, by their Larvge 

 and Caterpillars. Water-serpents are not very different from Eels. The Fishes 

 are related to the Birds by means of the Flying Fish, the Trigla or Gurnard, and the 

 Exocetus ; and, finally, the Birds are linked to the IMamraalia by the Ornithorynchus 

 in one sense, and by the Bats and Flying Squirrels in another. 



Many analogies of a similar kind are traced by the ingenious Bonnet. Thus, the 

 Palmipedes, or Web-Footed Birds, are said to lead us, by a gentle transition, to the 

 Fishes, just as the Penguins and Ostriches merge gradually into the Mammalia. Wc 

 are conducted from the Mammalia to the Fishes by the Otters and Whales, to the 

 Reptiles by the Seals, and to the Birds by the Bats and the spiny Echidnae. The 

 transition is not abrupt, according to Bonnet, from the Monkey to IMan, and Man 

 himself is formed after the image of his Creator. He adds, with his usual elegance, 

 " Un seul ctre est place hors de la chaine, et c'est celui qui I'a creee." (One being 

 alone is placed without the chain, and that is — The Creator.) 



We should not have dwelt thus at length upon these analogies, many of which ?je 

 altogether imaginary, were we not fully persuaded that even these imperfect compari- 

 sons are useful in giving a general idea of hving beings to persons ignorant altogether 

 of Zoology, and consequently are appropriate for these Introductory pages. 



But if Naturahsts have failed in attempting to resolve the intricate dispositions of 

 Natm-e by the straight line, they are equally at fault in proposing Circular theories. 

 In vain do they attempt tho solution of problems, which even the highest geometry 

 cannot resolve, by the simple theories of the straight line, and circle. Seduced by 

 an excessive love of simpUcity, they depart from those physiological views which should 

 form the basis of a sound system of classification. 



Mr W. S. Macleay was the first proposer of the circulai- system. He thought that 

 the several kingdoms of Nature, as well as their various subdivisionsj returned into 

 themselves, and may therefore be represented by circles. He considered the number 

 Five as the basis of this system. Each circle formed precisely five groups ; each of 

 these composed other five, and so on, until we arrived at the extreme limit of the sys- 

 tem. The proximate circles were thought to be connected by the intervention of lessor 

 groups, to which the term osculant was assigned; and relations of analogy weie 

 pointed out between certain corresponding points in the circumferences of contifi-uous 

 circles. We must admit that this theory has been applied with some deo^ree of success 

 to two of the branches of Natural History — Ornithology and Entomology; and the 

 reason of this evidently arises from the great number of objects included in these 

 branches, which gives an unusual facility to the circular theorist. 



The objects of Natural History are infinite in number; that is to say, their number 

 is so vast that no individual, however industrious, can possibly, within the usual period 

 of a lifetime, comprehend their various phenomena and relations. Again, these phe- 

 nomena themselves are innumerable ; the connexion of their properties is absolufcely 

 overwhelming, by their intricacy and the closeness of their approximation. If, then, 

 we are willing to form a Circular theory, the basis of which is intended to be three, 

 five, seven, or any other number, arbitrarily assumed, we have but to lake some one 

 leading group ; and, casting about for some other leading group which can join on to 

 this first one, and a third on to the second, we must necessarily fall in with some 

 other leading group which will join on to the first, and thus a circle will be formed. 

 We have said necessarily, because, according to the common theory of probabilities, 

 the number of objects being infinite, and the number of groups, and the relations of 

 groups, also infinite, we must necessai'ily, without the aid of any very fertile imagina- 

 tion, fall in with some leading property which will conduct us to the spot whence we 

 started. 



This caiMbility of arrangement in circles is not exclusively a law of Nature, as the 

 advocates of the circular theories would lead us to suppose. Works of Art may be 

 arranged in a similar manner. The merchant may arrange his goods, or the librarian 

 his books, in circles, according to the most approved principles. Commencing- with 

 folios bound in morocco, and passing tla-ough all the gradations of binding-, size, and 

 colour, he might be easily conducted, by these and other relations, to the unbound 

 folio, stitched in red cloth, which would lead him, by a nice transition, back acain to 

 his original starting place; and if any difficulty attached to this arrangement, it might 

 easily be remedied by the invention of groups normal or aberrant. 



We are apt to imagine, on falling in by accident with any of the recent works pro- 

 posing Circular theories, that we have mistaken treatises on Geometry or Mechanics 

 for volumes of Natural History. Considering internal organization and laws of co- 

 existence, as subjects irrelevant to Natural History, they substitute (what a distin- 

 guished circular theorist of the present day rightly terms) the " wheels within wheels" 

 of a fertile imagination. They may not be unaptly compared to the Piolemaic system 

 of Astronomy ; and like it, could only be tolerated in the infancy of science. 



" With cycle on epicycle, — orb on orb," 



they almost call from us the just, though somewhat startling, observation of Alphonso 

 X. king of Castile. 



The combinations of properties among natural objects are so numerous, that many 

 beings must necessarily have the same parts, and there must always be a great number 

 presenting very slight differences. On comparing those resembling each other, it is 

 easy to form series, which will appear to descend gradually from a primitive type 

 These considerations have accordingly given rise to the formation of a Scale of Being, 

 and to Circular Theories; the object of the former being to exhibit the whole in one 

 series, commencing with the most complicated, and ending with the most simple of- 

 ganization, — and that of the latter to form two scriee, whichj like two semi-circles. 



