146 
TENTH REPORT. 
characters in the least variable degree that may stand for the type of the 
class. It will be seen then, that the selection of an individual to stand as 
the type of a group is a matter demanding considerable care. It certainly 
would be very unwise to select as the type for study one of the most aberrant 
or divergent forms in the group. 
It is evident that the selection of an individual to stand as a type will 
depend upon what it typifies. An individual is not a type unless it stands 
in the mind for a class, or stands as the representative of a group all of which 
have common characteristics. We come at once then to classification as 
an element in scientific study. Classification is implied in almost every 
operation of the mind above the simplest. It is implied in every act of 
judgment. Whenever we use a common noun we make use of classification 
or its results. Every catalogue, every index, every table of contents, the 
arrangements of our houses and streets attests the necessity we feel ourselves 
under for classifying objects. It is a universal process of thought, and is 
common to all human minds. It is this process of classification that con- 
stitutes science and renders possible scientific knowledge. 
Classification of a series of objects is the ideal or the actual arrangement 
of those together that are alike and the separation of those that are unlike. 
It enables us to do two things, First, it enables us to retain in mind the 
characters of many objects at once, as well as to infer from things known, 
unknown correlative characteristics. It is a labor saving process. It con- 
serves mental effort, and this economy of mental effort is perhaps the most 
important principle of education. It is the thing that largely constitutes 
the difference between a mind of great power and one of little power. 
But classification does something more than this. Classification dis- 
closes to us the correlations or laws of union of properties and circumstances. 
It is only when we make a proper classification that these laws appear. We 
are inclined to think that for every series of objects there is one system of 
classification that is best, which we call the natural system, and much energy 
is devoted to the discovery of that system. The so-called natural system 
of classification in animals and plants is a genealogical system intended to 
show the relationship by descent of the individuals classified. It discloses 
the general law of descent and the kinship existing among the different 
plants and animals. This system is not yet complete. We do not know 
enough about animals and plants to adjust them satisfactorily in their places. 
But there is no question that the arrangement of organized beings in the 
natural system of classification has been productive of the greatest good in 
the development of our scientific knowledge, and in disclosing some of the 
profoundest and most far-reaching truths. 
But the natural system of classification is not the only one that may be 
used to advantage, nor the only one that is still employed in classifying 
animals and plants. Other systems of classification disclose other laws 
than those of descent. We still have and still heed the classifications of 
geographical regions, of temperature zones, of life habits, of geological 
horizons, of physiological functions. Each of these classifications is ne- 
cessary and will always be used because each discloses natural laws that 
constitute an essential part of scientific knowledge. 
I think 1 do not overestimate the importance of the study of classification 
as an element in education. There are certain elements of dynamic thought 
involved in classification that are positively fundamental. Somewhere 
in the life of a student there must be a place in which the processes and 
methods of classification are consciously worked out. If this can be done 
