128 



MACLEAY SYSTEM OF 



the most social, intelligent, and in the latter case, the mos* 

 useful to man, of all the annulose animals.'' 



As yet the speculations on representation are imperfect, 

 in consequence of the novelty of the doctrine, and the de- 

 fective state of our knowledge of animated nature. It has, 

 however, been so fully proved in the aves, and traced so 

 clearly in other parts of the animal kingdom, and as a ge- 

 neral feature of that part of nature, that hardly a doubt can 

 exist of its being universally applicable. Even in the 

 lowly forms of the acrita, (polypes,) the suctorial type of 

 the animal kingdom, representation has been discerned, 

 and with some remarkable results as to the history of our 

 world. The acrita were the first forms of animal life 

 upon earth, the starting point of that great branch of or- 

 ganization. Now, this sub-kingdom consists, like the 

 rest, of five groups, (classes,) and these are respectively 

 representations of the acrita itself, and the other four sub- 

 kingdoms, which had not come into existence w r hen the 

 acrita were formed. . The polypi vaginati, in the crusta- 

 ceous covering of the living mass, and their more or less 

 articulated structure, represent the annulosa. In the ra- 

 diated forms of the rotifera, and the simple structure of 

 the polypi, rudes, we are reminded of the radiata. The 

 mollusca are typified in the soft, mucous, sluggish intes- 

 tina. And, finally, in the fleshy living mass which sur- 

 rounds the bony and hollow axis of the polypi natantes, 

 we have a sketch of the vertebrata. The acrita thus ap- 

 pear as a prophecy of the higher events of animal deve- 

 lopment. They show that the nobler orders of being, 

 including man himself, were contemplated from the first, 

 and came into existence by virtue of a law, the opera- 

 tion, of which had commenced ages before their forms 

 were realized. 



The system of representation is therefore to be regarded 

 as a powerful additional proof of the hypothesis of organic 

 progress by virtue of law. It establishes the unity of ani- 

 mated nature and the definite character of its entire con- 

 stitution. It enables us to see how, under the flowing 

 robes of nature, where all looks arbitrary and accidental, 

 there is an artificiality of the most rigid kind. The natu- 

 ral, we now perceive, sinks into and merges in a Higher 

 Artificial. To adopt a comparison more apt than dignified, 

 we may be said to be placed here as insects are in a gar- 

 den of old style. Our first unassisted view is limited, and 



