8268 



Notices of New Books. 



Hunter, and has been thus expressed : — 1 Each stage in the develop- 

 ment of the highest corresponds with the permanent form of some one 

 of the inferior orders.' Or in other words : — ' In the earliest period 

 of existence all animals display one uniform condition, but after the 

 first appearance of special development uniformity is only met with 

 amongst the numbers of the same primary division, and with each suc- 

 ceeding step it is more and more restricted. The mammal exhibits 

 no likeness to the Invertebrata, except in the ovarian stage of the 

 latter.' Thus, in the animal kingdom, the creature passes through a 

 series of changes which are permanent in all creatures below it in rank, 

 and the various structures of the latter are all combined in the organ- 

 ization of the former. There are no direct degrees of perfection, and 

 the elaboration of every creature does not raise it or bring it nearer to 

 a higher form, but the development is lateral or deviating, and there- 

 fore recedes in some degree from the next superior state." — (P. 19). 



This cannot well be otherwise : we are agreed on two facts ; first, 

 that some animals are more highly developed than others, as for instance 

 a bird than an oyster ; secondly, that the same individual advances in 

 development as it advances in age, thus the egg of a sparrow is gradu- 

 ally developed into a blind naked bird, and that blind naked bird 

 acquires sight and feathers and powers of locomotion. The acorn is 

 less developed than the oak, and supposing there to be a mature plant 

 resembling an acorn it follows that the plant, viz., the oak, has passed 

 through the permanent form of that lower plant which resembles an 

 acorn. These are simply facts, and I do not see how they could well 

 be otherwise. Either every animal must come into the world perfect 

 and mature, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, or must rise to 

 maturity by progressive steps. The latter is the course appointed by 

 an allwise Creator. In these progressive steps it will of necessity 

 more or less resemble some inferior or less developed animal. To 

 proceed. 



" The variety effected by transfer. — The one spirit effects all the 

 variety of creation, by transferring a part or a degree to another part 

 or degree. The power of life is to some extent withdrawn from one 

 part .of the structure, and is directed to another part, or is removed 

 from one organ or limb or faculty, which then becomes slight and in- 

 effective, while another organ is developed in proportion. The forms 

 of this transfer are collectiv ely a set of examples of the universal system 

 of progress, by the process from the outward to the inward, or from the 

 figure to the substance. 



