1946 Classification. 



and the puerile observations in some cases brought forward to esta- 

 blish the " analogies," seem almost enough, in the present state of 

 science, to discountenance the whole idea. But the species, so far 

 from being the only division which Nature does not warrant, is in fact 

 that of all others whose limits are most clearly marked : we see, in 

 very many cases, class united to class, order to order, family to family, 

 genus to genus, by links of union, while no species, whatever its 

 range of variation, even though its varieties appear more different 

 from each other than do two other distinct species, has been ever seen 

 to blend into another species ; and although the law of sterile hybrids 

 has been shown to be not without exception, the difficulty of obtain- 

 ing crosses between species truly different, and their usual incapa- 

 bility of further propagation, renders it most highly probable that 

 Nature has placed a limit of her own, though she may occasionally 

 allow it to be overstepped. Another absurdity, which it now seems 

 almost waste of words to endeavour to refute, was the notion enter- 

 tained that Comparative Anatomy, a science which the labours of 

 Hunter and of Cuvier had just raised to great importance, had no 

 connexion with Natural History, and did not in any way concern 

 classification, the external peculiarities being quite sufficient in them- 

 selves to make out the whole details of the so-called " natural system." 

 It may perhaps be here sufficient to observe, that so long as the ob- 

 servations of the naturalist are confined exclusively to the external 

 appearances presented by the object before him, however useful they 

 may be as forming part of the series necessary to be made, from their 

 manifest incompleteness, referring only to a very small portion of the 

 subject to which they relate, can never give rise to generalizations of 

 sufficient value to constitute anything worthy to be called a science. 

 It is true that, when a natural affinity is once established, there will 

 in many instances be connected with it certain external peculiarities 

 by which it may be recognized, but such is by no means universally 

 the case; and the erroneous nature of many of the supposed affinities 

 indicated in older classifications, which depended on the external pe- 

 culiarities alone, together with the disagreement between the different 

 systems adopted, shows abundantly that the characters on which they 

 rested were arbitrarily chosen, and therefore could not be safely de- 

 pended on. I hope that, in making these remarks, I may not be 

 supposed in any degree to undervalue the exertions of many a talented 

 and industrious pursuer of Natural History, who may not happen to 

 have made the anatomy of the creatures on which his observations 

 have been made a portion of his study ; but should such a one 



