ON THE NATURAL SYSTEM. xlvii 



of the Horas Entomologies as are the result of synthetical investiga- 

 tion, still less to maintain the theory of quinary divisions, which I now 

 venture, in part, to dispute, but to express my deep sense of the pro- 

 found sagacity of that mind which first demonstrated the existence of 

 circular affinities, and first drew a just and philosophic distinction be- 

 tween analogy and affinity. I have done this, because it seems to me 

 that the reputation of this naturalist, like that of Linnaeus, has suf- 

 fered more from the zeal of his disciples than from the arguments of 

 his opponents, and because I must ever feel grateful to one whose 

 philosophic deductions first drew my attention to these inquiries. As 

 for the rest, " we may all possibly be wrong in part, or even in much 

 of our respective details ; but however this may be, it is difficult not 

 to believe that we are grasping at some great truth, which a short 

 lapse of time will perhaps develope in all its beauty, and at length 

 place in the possession of every observer of nature *." 



Convinced that a zoological system which aimed at illustrating the 

 general laws of creation was that only which deserved to be called 

 Natural, it was in the year 1824 that I endeavoured to apply the 

 circular and quinarian theory to a family group in Ornithology f , deter- 

 mined on ascertaining how far it would illustrate certain affinities and 

 analogies, which to me, at least, appeared unquestionable. I soon found, 

 however, that although this theory would explain much that I desired, 

 it would not explain all ; and the publication of a quinarian arrange- 

 ment of this same family, nearly at the same time, but essentially 

 different from my own J, showed me the necessity of looking much 

 deeper into the subject. Convinced that truth, if it was to be dis- 

 covered, would only result from minute and patient analysis, I entirely 

 abandoned the synthetic method, as the rock upon which others were 

 splitting ; while the mutual dependence of one natural group upon 

 another, led almost insensibly from the analysis of the Laniadce, to that 

 of the vast order of Insessores§, or perching birds. Eight years have 



* Macleay, Linn. Trans., xiv., p. 63. 



t An Inquiry into the Natural Affinities of the Laniadae, Zool. Journ., i., p. 2S9, Oct. 1824. 



% Linn. Trans., xiv., p. 436. 



§ I have adopted this name, because, upon the whole, it is the most expressive of any yet given to 



