CLASSIFICATION AND CREATION. 41 
CHAPTER IV. 
CLASSIFICATION AND CREATION. 
So close is the connection between classifica- 
tion and the plan of creation, the former being, so 
far as it is accurate, the literal interpreter of 
the latter, that the efforts of men to detect the 
natural affinities among animals, and to express 
them in clear, condensed forms, have always been 
recognized .as the highest creations of scientific , 
genius. Creations they were not, since the only 
valid classification is already recorded in organic 
forms, and a classification which is true to nature 
cannot be original; but works of genius some of 
them have unquestionably been, embodying the 
laborious, life-long investigations of men whose 
powerful imaginations vitalized anew the dead 
facts they collected. Such are the systems of 
classification of Linnzus, of Cuvier, of von Baer. 
And while in presenting classification as the 
subject of a series of papers in the “ Atlantic 
Monthly,” I am aware that I am drawing largely 
upon the patience of its readers, since the tech- 
nical nature of the topic renders many details 
