COOPER 



conveys his ideas to man, and natural history 

 the discipline by which men interpret that 

 language. • Thus he says, in the Essay on 

 Classification: 'To me it appears indisputable 

 that this order and arrangement of our studies 

 are based upon the natural, primitive relations 

 of animal life — those systems, to which we have 

 given the names of the great leaders of our 

 science who first proposed them, being in 

 truth but translations into human language of 

 the thoughts of the Creator. And if this is in- 

 deed so, do we not find in this adaptability of 

 the human intellect to the facts of creation, 

 by which we become instinctively, and, as I 

 have said, unconsciously, the translators of the 

 thoughts of God, the most conclusive proof of 

 our affinity with the Divine mind? And is 

 not this intellectual and spiritual connection 

 with the Almighty worthy of our deepest con- 

 sideration? If there is any truth in the belief 

 that man is made in the image of God, it is 

 surely not amiss for the philosopher to endeavor, 

 by the study of his own mental operations, to 

 approximate the workings of the Divine Reason, 

 learning from the nature of his own mind better 

 [60] 



