344 
PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 
ships, and make a sort of artificial memory out of the signs 
presented to us. The acquisitions of anatomy and physiology 
have favoured the study of zoology in connection with 
the homologies of internal structure, and rendered zo¬ 
ology more recondite in the exact proportion in which 
its tests and comparisons have been removed from 
popular eyesight; but it has yet to be proved that structure 
and function are alone sufficient to afford satisfactory evidence 
of relationship for the purpose of grouping the subjects of 
the science into families and classes. There is a tendency 
in the modern school of zoologists to consider form as 
an accident of life, and as very remotely connected with 
organisation, whereas, though it be very objective, it is 
certainly the true key to structure and function. The 
botanists have the best of it in a choice between two systems; 
they are neither tied to Linnaeus nor Jussien : and while the 
system of the first is a mere aid to memory, and as such 
invaluable, the other is self-expounding, and conveys infor¬ 
mation in its very terms, yet becomes entirely artificial 
under false pretences, when its assumed “natural” prin¬ 
ciple fails in the application. 
It has never been attempted yet to establish a parallel 
between Bacon and Linnaeus, and show how the inductive 
method so differently dealt with by such became the sub¬ 
stantial basis on which their successors in the several 
departments of physics and natural history have built up 
the edifice of modern science. The Novum Organon and the 
Systerna Natures are the two great pillars which sustain the 
portico of the temple for the completion and embellishment 
of which so many energies have been evoked, and so many 
splendid abilities combined. When we compare the classi¬ 
fication now generally adopted with the scheme of the 
mammalia which Linnaeus so patiently elaborated, we are 
astonished at the few departures from it which have been 
found necessary in modern times. Cuvier found ready to 
his hand a magnificient framework, and he did well in 
boldly clothing it, to hold in reverence the genius of his 
Swedish predecessor, who had determined the true elements 
of zoology so accurately, and had invented a language so 
well adapted to a compehensive natural system, that the 
supply of deficiencies was almost all that remained to be done. 
But the deficiencies were many, and in none of the groups 
has rectification been more necessary than in the section to 
which Linnaeus assigned the opossums, in the order Feroe, 
placing them between the bears, badgers, and racoons. 
Cuvier had the advantage of knowing most of the mar- 
