xlii 
THE QUINARY SYSTEM. 
have too many, developing more feeding organs if they have too 
few, and the like. The disciples of Mr. MacLeay, I am well con- 
vinced, have no such notions ; but why then do they use the very 
words of those who have, and which are not, without twistings, 
capable of any other meaning ? To say this is metaphorical, and 
refers not to the progress of the animals, but to the progress of 
the mind of the observer, is at once confessing the fanciful basis of 
the whole system. Considered either in this light, or in that of the 
Creator forming animals at first, more or less typical^ or degraded^ 
it seems to me as unphilosophical as it is derogatory to the Deity. 
In the latter view, the language employed must, I think, strike 
every body who reads it, as highly objectionable and improper; 
whether it be considered literal or metaphorical ; whether, for 
example, we take Nature as an imaginary personage, or as a 
synonime or a personification of the Creator, the following 
passage will appear nearly the same. ‘‘ In passing,” it is said, 
from one leading form to another, nature seems to advance 
with greater caution and a slower pace than usual ; she appears 
to fluctuate between a manifest reluctance to relinquish the 
tracts which she has left behind, and an anxiety to anticipate 
those upon which she is about to enter; alternately retracing 
or advancing her steps, and nearing, with somewhat of an appa- 
rently wayward indecision^ the different points of each. But 
when once she has cleared the narrow windings of these inter- 
vening passages, and has ascended the typical heights, she seems 
to have gained, as it were, a table land, where she can expatiate 
with a wider range, and indulge herself with more excursive 
freedom.”* Surely I may in all fairness ask, who is this Nature ? 
If the Creator is not meant, who is it that sometimes appears to ” 
fluctuate with wayward indecision,” and sometimes seems to 
indulge a “more excursive freedom?” Not He, I should hope, 
“ with whom is no variableness nor the least shadow of turning.”f 
The indefiniteness of this term. Nature, was perceived even by 
the heathen moralist, Seneca : — “ A man says, ‘ Nature gives me 
these things.’ Do you understand, that when you say this you 
are only changing the name of God? For what else is Nature 
* 
Zool. Journ. ii, 66. 
t James i. 17. 
