1 168 The System of Nature. 



praise must be awarded to the seventh chapter, which extends the 

 classification to the utmost bounds of the Animal Kingdom ; express- 

 ing however our regret that the author has passed over with so slight 

 a notice the Mollusca and Echinodermata, and that he had not, at 

 least in our opinion, made good his position of the latter, which are 

 placed at an equal distance with the former from the centre, although 

 among the mollusks are animals endowed with highly developed or- 

 gans. May not the love of symmetry have influenced this arrange- 

 ment? Entomologists, however, cannot thus complain: Mr. Newman 

 has devoted an entire chapter to the application of his views to insects, 

 and it is with reason that he remarks, — " If there is truth in any pro- 

 position as applied to the Animal Kingdom, J conceive it should also 

 be true when applied to an integral portion of that kingdom." For 

 the execution of this part of his task, we feel assured that Mr. New- 

 man has received from entomologists that commendation which he so 

 uniformly deserves at their hands. 



Lastly, having resumed the subject of general arrangement, and 

 having further illustrated it by means of the concentric circles to 

 which we have already alluded, Mr. Newman adds, " as explanatory 

 of this grouping, I now offer some general observations on the princi- 

 ciples which seem to have been employed more or less directly as 

 accessories ; " and this explanation he makes the subject of a ninth 

 chapter, which is extremely clear, highly interesting and replete with 

 original ideas. 



The remaining chapters treat of the unity of the System of Nature, 

 and contain noble and profound philosophical reflections. In order 

 to give an adequate idea of them, extracts would be requisite too ex- 

 tensive for the limits of ' The Zoologist.' 



And now let us ask, what will be the influence of this book ? Why, 

 far less than it deserves; — altogether inadequate to the sterling value 

 it contains. Indeed, it is the universal fate of works that contain 

 ideas not sufficiently developed to be available for the arrangement of 

 collections or the compiling of monographs — and such is the work 

 we have been reviewing — to lie dormant until some compiler, some 

 classifier, adopts the great fundamental principles, modifies some mi- 

 nor details, boldly applies it to some group of the Animal Kingdom, 

 and publishes it as his own, forgetting to acknowledge to whom he 

 owes the original idea. May we then urge on Mr. Newman the im- 

 portance of developing his system, and applying it in detail to every 

 branch of the Animal Kingdom ? But even supposing this applica- 

 tion to be made, and made successfully, still, Mr. Newman's system 



