ANIMAL KINGDOM. 337 



to be improperly drawn ; in which opinion we shall soon 

 see that they were perfectly right. It remains however to 

 be questioned, whether their own conclusion be less ex- 

 ceptionable : for instance, they admit the truth of the three 

 first parts of the argument, and say that, consequently, 

 there is an ascending scale of being from the lowest point of 

 animal life to M an, the king of all, but that this scale is not 

 necessarily simple. Indeed they most ingeniously prove 

 the scale to be not necessarily simple, by supposing it to 

 resemble the surface of a cone, the base of which is com- 

 posed of innumerable species possessing an infinitely small 

 degree of animal life. These species they further suppose 

 gradually to diminish in number, and increase in compli- 

 cation of structure, as they spirally ascend the cone, till 

 they terminate in unity and perfection at the point, — which 

 is Man. Here we have an ascending scale which is cer- 

 tainly any thing but simple. Before however it is possi- 

 ble to do more than admire the ingenuity of its inventor, 

 we must be fully convinced of the solidity of the base upon 

 which this cone is constructed. Now it is by no means 

 sure that the higher classes of animals, in proportion to 

 the complexity of their organization, always consist of a 

 fewer number of species than the lower. To take the 

 first example that occurs at the top of the cone; the nume- 

 merous Quadrumanes would thus be widely separated 

 from Man by animals unlike to either. Nay, were it true 

 that the group which comprises the greatest number of 

 species is the lowest in the scale of perfection, there is 

 reason to fear that the Acrita would not form the base of 

 the cone, and that L should not be the only person to la- 

 ment the place which must then be allotted to the innu- 

 merable Annulosa. 



