140 



M AXLE AY SYSTEM OF 



ted families, man alone is competent. In him only is tt 

 be found that concentration of qualities from all the other 

 groups of his order which has been described as marking 

 the corvidae. That grasping power, which has been se- 

 lected as the leading physical quality of his order, is no- 

 where so beautifully or so powerfully developed as in hi9 

 hand. The intelligence and teachableness of the simiadae 

 rise to a climax in his pre-eminent mental nature. His 

 sub-analogy to the ferae is marked by his canine teeth, and 

 the universality of his rapacity, for where is the depart- 

 ment of animated nature which he does not without scru- 

 ple sacrifice to his convenience ? With sanguinary, he 

 has also gentle and domesticable dispositions, thus reflect- 

 ing the characters of the ungulata (the rasorial type of the 

 class,) to which we perhaps see a further analogy in the 

 use which he makes of the surface of the earth as a source 

 of food. To the aquatic type his love of maritime adven- 

 ture very readily assimilates him ; and how far the sucto- 

 rial is represented in his nature, it is hardly necessary to 

 say. As the corvidae, too, are found in every part of the 

 earth — almost the only one of the inferior animals which 

 has been acknowledged as universal — so do we find man. 

 He thrives in all climates, and with regard to style of liv- 

 ing can adapt himself to an infinitely greater diversity of 

 circumstances than any other animated creature. 



Man, then, considered zoologically, and without regard 

 to the distinct characters assigned to him by theology, 

 simply takes his place as the type of all types of the ani- 

 mal kindom, the true and unmistakable head of animated 

 nature upon this earth. It will readily occur, that some 

 more particular investigations into the ranks of types 

 might throw additional light on man's status, and perhaps 

 his nature ; and such light we may hope to obtain when 

 the philosophy of zoology shall have been studied as it 

 deserves Perhaps some such diagram as the one given on 

 the next page will be found to be an approximation to 

 the expression of the merely natural or secular grade ol 

 man in comparison with other animals. 



