THE HISTORY OF ANATOMICAL SCIENCE 283 
nected groups of phenomena. 1 he most useful of 
servants to the man of science, they are the worst 
of masters. And when the establishment of the 
hypothesis becomes the end, and fact is alluded 
to only so far as it suits the ‘ Idee,’ science has 
no longer anything to do with the business. 
The nature of plants and animals, on the one 
hand, and of the human mind on the other, is 
such that the process of generalisation and that 
of classification, which is the correlate of generali- 
sation, take place instinctively and find expres- 
sion in common language. The terms ‘ bea.sts, 
‘ birds,’ ‘ fishes,’ are the names of certain groups 
of animals in the popular classification ; and, 
though the user of them may not be able to put 
his thoughts into words, they imply that he has 
perceived that the things he calls by these 
several names have certain common and dis- 
tinctive characters. And that perception, when it 
is put into words, is a generalisation, which, in so 
far as it is accurate, also expresses an empirical 
Taw of Nature.’ 
The classifications of the scientific taxonomist 
are of two kinds. Those of the one sort are 
merely handy reference catalogues. Such are the 
‘ artificial ’ systems, useful in their day and for 
their particular purpose, but of no other value. 
The others, known as ‘ natural ’ classifications, 
are arrangements of objects according to the sum 
of their likenesses and unlikenesses, in respect 
