214 CLASSIFICATION. [Chap. XIV. 



supposed to have been but little modified, and they form 

 a single genus. But this genus, though much isolated, 

 will still occupy its proper intermediate position. The 

 representation of the groups, as here given in the diagram 

 on a flat surface, is much too simple. The branches 

 ought to have diverged in all directions. If the names 

 of the groups had been simply written down in a linear 

 series, the representation would have been still less 

 natural ; and it is notoriously not possible to represent 

 in a series, on a flat surface, the affinities which we 

 discover in nature amongst the beings of the same 

 group. Thus, the natural system is genealogical in its 

 arrangement, like a pedigree : but the amount of modifi- 

 cation which the different groups have undergone has to 

 be expressed by ranking them under different so-called 

 genera, sub-families, families, sections, orders, and 

 classes. 



It may be worth while to illustrate this view of 

 classification, by taking the case of languages. If we 

 possessed a perfect pedigree of mankind, a genealogical 

 arrangement of the races of man would afford the best 

 classification of the various languages now spoken 

 throughout the world ; and if all extinct languages, and 

 all intermediate and slowly changing dialects, were to 

 be included, such an arrangement would be the only 

 possible one. Yet it might be that some ancient 

 languages had altered very little and had given rise to 

 few new languages, whilst others had altered much 

 owing to the spreading, isolation, and state of civilisation 

 of the several co-descended races, and had thus given 

 rise to many new dialects and languages. The various 

 degrees of difference between the languages of the same 

 stock, would have to be expressed by groups subordinate 



