TYPICAL FORMS 
 
 AND 
 
 SPECIAL ENDS IN CREATION 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. JAMES M'COSH, LL.D., 
 
 FB0FEB80B OF LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS IN THE QITEEN's tmiVEESITY IN IBKLAND ; 
 
 AirrnoB op "the method of the divine goveenment, 
 
 PHYSICAL AND MOEAL," ETC. ; 
 AND 
 
 GEORGE DICKIE, A.M., M.D., 
 
 PB0FE880K OF NATCTKAL II18T0KY IN THE QUEEN'S TTNITEESITY IN lEELAND; AND 
 AUTHOE OF A NHMBEE OF PAPEB8 ON ZOOLOGY AND liOTANY. 
 
 TTnOS KAI TEA02. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 KOBEIIT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 No. 281 IS ]{ O A D W A Y . 
 1856.
 
 STEREOTYPED BY PRINTED BT 
 
 THOMASB. SMITH, K.O.JENKINS, 
 
 82 & »1 Beekman St., N. Y. 24 Frankfort St. 
 
 * • « • • 
 
 • » > .
 
 CO 
 
 2>'0 
 Mist 
 
 c^ ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 CQ 
 
 UJ BY 
 
 U. 
 
 THE AMERICAN PUBLISHER. 
 
 s^ The principles now fully explained and illustrated in this work 
 
 ^ were first brought before the public in an article on Typical 
 0^ Forms by Dr. McCosh in the " North British Review" for August 
 ^ 1851. Mr. Hugh Miller wrote a lengthened notice of that 
 article, describing it as : 
 
 " An article at once the most suggestive and ingenious which we have 
 
 almost ever perused. The typology of Scripture has formed the subject of 
 
 Kj many a volume and many a discourse. It is one of the most obvious and 
 
 5 rudimental truths of the theologian, that he who spoke in parable and 
 
 '~ allegory when he walked the earth in the flesh, spoke in his previous rev- 
 
 '* elation ere he had yet put on the nature of man, by type and sjnnbol; and 
 
 that there is thus a palpable unity of style maintained between God in 
 
 [^ the Old and God in the New Testament. Nay, some of the profounder 
 
 ^ theologians went further than this; and works such as the "Analogy" of 
 
 Butler may be regarded in one point of view as critical Essays, written to 
 
 estabhsh a yet further identity between the style of Deity in Revelation 
 
 and in Nature. "All things are double one against another," said the 
 
 >• wise son of Sirach ; and the celebrated " Treatise" of the most philosophic 
 
 J of English bishops may bo deemed simply an expansion of the idea. Butler 
 
 5 set himself to seek in the natural world the " double" of the rovclatious of 
 
 C the spiritual one, and to argue from the existence and fitness of the natural 
 
 type the authenticity and genuineness of the spiritual anti-typo. Such, in 
 
 short, seems to be the principle of his "Analogy." It has, however, been 
 
 reserved for our own times, and hitherto at least for a class of men not 
 
 much disposed to conciliate the assertors of the popular theology, whether 
 
 at home or abroad — in Protestant or in Popisli countries — to find in Nature 
 
 analogies wliich, though they tiiemselves have failed to apply tlieni, .seem 
 
 to reach further than even those of Butler ; and which, wo can liavo little 
 
 doubt, will at no distant date form the staple facts of a department of 
 
 theology still very meagerly rfproseutcd in our literature, and internierliate 
 
 in its place and character between the Natural Theology of the Philoso- 
 
 e 
 c 
 
 3
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 phers and the Dogmatic Theology of the Divines. The article in the " North 
 British" on Typical Forms is a vigorous contribution to this middle depart- 
 ment of theology, which, like a central area left unbuUt in a street after 
 the completion of the erections on both sides, seems so necessary to the 
 union of the contiguous fabrics, and to the design of the whole ; and all 
 that its perusal leaves us to regret is, that its accomplished author, in 
 whom the reader will, we believe, recognize a most original thinker — a 
 man already well known in the ethical field, both in our own country and 
 America — should not have expanded it into a volume. But in the special 
 field which he has chosen he need not greatly fear a competitor. The sub- 
 ject is one, too, on which thought ripens slowly ; for, like the agricultural 
 produce of a new colony, it has all to be raised from the seed ; and the 
 deeply interesting, but comparatively brief article of the reviewer, will, we 
 can not doubt, be yet expanded into a separate treatise, which will prove 
 none the less fresh, and all the more soliii, from the circumstance that it 
 should have appeared as an article first." 
 
 Since the time when the article referred to was written, Dr. 
 McCosh, in conjunction with Dr. Dickie, has been prosecuting 
 the subject, and the two have Laid a number of their scientific 
 observations before various learned societies, such as the Bo' 
 tanical Society of Edinburg, the Natural History Society of 
 Belfast, and the British Association for the Promotion of Science 
 at its meetinofs in 1852 and 1854. Summaries of these have 
 appeared in the Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edin- 
 burgh in the Annals of Natural History, in the proceedings of 
 the British Association, and in the Edinburgh New Philosophi- 
 cal Journal. They were referred to by his Grace the Duke 
 of Argyle, the President of the British Association, in his open- 
 ing address in September last in the following language : 
 
 " In physiology, what is the meaning of that great law of adherence to 
 type and pattern, standing behind, as it were, and in reserve, of that other 
 law by which organic structures are specially adapted to special modes of 
 life ? What is the relation between these two laws ; and can any light be 
 cast upon it derived from the history of extinct forms, or from the condi- 
 tions to which we find that existing forms are subject ? In vegetable phy- 
 siology do the same or similar laws prevail, or can we trace others, such as 
 these on the relations between structure, form, and color, of which clear 
 indications have already been established in communications lately made 
 to this Association by Dr. McCosh and Dr. Dickie of Belfast."
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF GENERAL ORDER AXB SPECIAL ADAPTATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NATURE OF THE ORDER PREVAILING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sect. I. — Principles which seem to run through tho Structure of 
 
 the Cosmos, ...... I 
 
 Sect. II. — Analysis of the Order in Nature, ... 10 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 nature op the special adaptations in the MATERIAL WORLD. 
 
 Sect. I. — Need of Special Adjustments in order to the Beneficent 
 
 Operation of the Forces of Nature, . . . .SO 
 
 Sect. II. — The Adjustments are designed, and not Casual. — Na- 
 ture of Chance, ..... 39 
 
 Sect. III. — Tho Obviousness and Completeness of the Special 
 
 Adaptations, . . . . . .56 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 CO-ORDINATED SERIES OF FACTS, GIVING INDICATIONS OF COM- 
 BINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION TIIKOUGUOUT THE 
 VARIOUS KINGDOMS OF NATURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 the MINUTE STRUCTURE OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 
 
 Sect. I.— Order in the Structure of the Cell, ... 69 
 
 Sect. II.— Special Modifications of the Coll, . . .71
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FORMS OF PLANTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sect. I. — ^Traces of Order in the Organs of Plants, . . 81 
 
 Sect. II. — Traces of Special Adaptation in the Organs of the Plant, 130 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE COLOURS OF PLANTS. 
 
 Sect. I. — The Relation of Form and Colour in the Flower, 146 
 
 Sect. II. — Adaptation of the Colours of Plants to the Natural 
 
 Tastes of Man, ..... 152 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 
 
 Sect. I. — The Homologies and Homotypes of the Vertebrate 
 
 Skeleton, ...... 175 
 
 Sect. II. — Special Adaptations in the Structure of the Skeleton, . 192 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 teeth. 
 
 Sect. I. — Order in the Number, Form, and Structure of Teeth, 213 
 
 Sect. II. — Special Adaptations in the Number, Form, and Struc- 
 ture of Teeth, . . . . .215 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ilOLLUSCA. 
 
 Sect. I. — Typical Forms of MoUusca, .... 223 
 
 Sect, n. — Modifications of the Archetype Mollusc, . . 227 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARTICULATA. 
 
 Sect. I. — Homotypal Rings and Appendages, . . . 233 
 
 Sect. II. — Special Modifications of Rings and Appendages, 2?.7
 
 CONTENTS. Til 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RADIATA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sect. I. — Typical Forms of Radiata, . . . .267 
 
 Sect. II. — Adaptation of Radiate Types to Mode of Life, . . 271 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Nervous, vascular, and muscular systems, . . . 280 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Community of plan, with special modifications, in the 
 
 development op organized beings, . . . 299 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 
 Sect. I. — Traces of Plan in Fossil Remains, . . . 309 
 
 Sect. II. — Adaptations of Fossil Organisms to their Functions. — 
 
 Preparations for Man, .... 333 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INORGANIC objects ON THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 
 Sect. I. — Crystalline Forms and Cliemical Proportions, . . 354 
 
 Sect. II. — Adaptations of Inorganic Objects to Animals and Plants 
 
 — Physical Geograpliy, .... 369 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE HEAVENS. 
 
 Sect. I. — Order in the Movements of the Heavenly Bodies, . 388 
 
 Sect. II. — Special Adjimtments needed in order to tho ITarmony 
 
 of Cosmical Bodies, . . . • • 401
 
 Vm CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK THIRD. 
 
 THE INTE«PEETATION OF THE FACTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAOS 
 
 The akoument from combined order and adaptation, . 420 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE LAWS OF THE MATERIAL "WORLD AND THE 
 FACULTIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 Sect. I. — The Fantasy, or Imaging Power of the Mind, . . 440 
 Sect. II. — The Faculties which discover Relations (Correlative), . 449 
 Sect. III. — The Association of Ideas, > . . . 473 
 Sect. IY. — The .(Esthetic Sentiments, .... 481 
 Supplementary Section. — Brief Historical and Critical Review 
 of the Theories of the Continental Philosophers as to the Re- 
 lation between the Laws of the Internal and External Worlds, . 492 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TYPICAL SYSTEMS OF NATURE AND REVELATION. 
 
 Sect. I.-^Old Testament Types, ..... 504 
 Sect. II. — Typical Numbers of Scripture, . . . 518 
 
 Sect. III. — ^Typical System of the New Testament, . . 525 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Selected List of Plants, illustrating Associations of Colour, and the 
 
 Relations of Form and Colour, .... 533 
 
 Index, ........ 53T
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 -♦-»-•- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NATURE OF THE ORDER PREVAILING IN THE MATERIAL 
 
 WORLD. 
 
 SECT. I. PRINCIPLES WHICH SEES! TO EUN THROUGU 
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF THE COS:j^OS. 
 
 In taking an enlarged view of the constitution of the 
 material universe, so far as it falls under our notice, it 
 may be discovered that attention, at once extensive and 
 minute, is paid to two great principles or methods of 
 procedure. The one is the Pkinciple of Order, or a 
 General Plan, Pattern, or Type, to which every given 
 object is made to conform with more or less precision. 
 The other is the Principle of Special Adaptation, or 
 Particular End, by which each object, while constructed 
 after a general model, is, at the same time, accommo- 
 dated to the situation which it has to occupy, and a pur- 
 pose which it is intended to. serve. These two principles 
 are exhibited in not a few inorganic objects, and they 
 meet in the structure of every plant and every animal. 
 
 These two principles are characteristic of intelli- 
 gence ; they must ])roceed fnim intelligence, and they are 
 addressed to intelligence. They may both be discovered, 
 though necessarily to a limited extent, in linman work- 
 
 1
 
 2 PRINCIPLES BUNNIXG THROUGH 
 
 manship. When circumstances admit, man deliglits to 
 construct the instruments or utensils which are designed 
 to serve a common purpose after a common plan, even 
 when this is by no means essential to the immediate 
 purpose to be served. 'Each particular piece of dress or 
 article of furniture in a country is commonly fashioned 
 after some general model, so that we are able to guess 
 its use as soon as we cast our eyes upon it. That there 
 is so much of this figure no way fitted to accomphsh a 
 special end, is evident from the circumstance that articles 
 serving the same purpose take — in different ages and 
 nations, and according to the fashion of the place or time 
 — somewhat different forms, all of which are equally 
 convenient. The farmer builds up his grain in stacks, 
 which have all a like contour, and the merchant packs 
 his goods in vessels of equal size and similar shape, or 
 disposes of them in bales of equal weight. It is only 
 when his possessions are so arranged that man can be 
 said to have the command of them. Were his property 
 not so disposed, were his grain gathered into heaps of all 
 sizes and shapes, were his merchandise scattered in every 
 corner of the apartment, the possessor would become 
 bewildered in proportion to the profusion and variety of 
 his wealth. When things are formed or arranged on 
 some plan tacitly agreed on, man can recognize every 
 object at a distance by its physiognomy, and determine 
 its nature and its end without seeing it in use or ope- 
 ration. 
 
 There are still more frequent and obvious examples 
 in the works of man of the principle of special adap- 
 tation. While there is a general regard, so far as it can 
 be done without immediate inconvenience to the prin- 
 ciple of order, there is a far more constant attention to 
 the other principle. In some cases, indeed, little respect
 
 THE MATEEIAL WORLD. 6 
 
 can be liad to the general model ; the sole end aimed at 
 is the fitting of the instrument to the purpose which it 
 is meant to serve. In nations low in the scale of civili- 
 zation, and among persons who have to engage in a hard 
 struggle to procure the necessaries of life, the general 
 order is apt to be neglected in the exclusive regard 
 which must be had to immediate utility. In such cir- 
 cumstances, individuals care little how an article be con- 
 structed, provided it serves its practical purpose. But 
 as man's industrial treasures increase, and the number 
 of separate works intended to accomplish similar ends 
 are multiplied, he finds it becoming to institute some 
 systematic arrangement among them, or devise some 
 pattern after which to fashion them. 
 
 When hard necessity does not forbid, man feels a 
 pleasure in constructing his works upon a general ^lan. 
 Human intelligence delights to employ itself in forming 
 such models. They seem to have a beauty to the eye, 
 or rather to the mind, which contemplates them. If it 
 is a basket that is to be woven, there will commonly be a 
 regularity in the succession of the plaits, and an aiming 
 after some ideal form in the shape of the whole. If it 
 is a water-jug that is to be fashioned, there will be a 
 general attention paid to symjnetry ; not unfrequently 
 there will be graceful and wa\ang lines in the figure 
 which strikes the eye. The dwelling which the indi- 
 vidual erects for his own special accommodation, will 
 commonly be found to have a door, or some other prom- 
 inent o])jcct, in the center, with a balancing of ])illars, 
 windows, or something else that fixes the attention, on 
 the one side and the other. As man advances in the 
 scale of civihzation, and comes to have superfluous wealth 
 and leisure, he pays an increasing attention to symmetry 
 and ornament. In the urns which lie makes to receive
 
 4 PRINCIPLES RUNNING THROUGH 
 
 the ashes of the dead, in the temples erected by him in 
 honor of the God whom he worships, there is a scrupu- 
 lous regard had to proportion and outline. As wealth 
 accumulates and taste is cultivated, the law of order and 
 ornament comes to he valued for its own sake, and is 
 followed in the construction of every house, and of every 
 article of furniture in that house, in the setting of every 
 jewel, and in the location of every ornament. 
 
 In most articles of human workmanship we may dis- 
 cover a greater or less attention to both of the principles 
 to which we have referred. The farmer's stacks are all 
 formed after a general mould, but we may observe a 
 departure from it on either side to suit the quantity or 
 quality of the grain. The merchant's shop seems to be 
 regulated by forms or weights, but there is special form 
 or average weight for every separate article. In some 
 objects we see a greater regard to general plan, and in 
 others to special purposes, and this according as persons 
 wish to give a greater prominence at the time to orna- 
 ment or to utility. 
 
 Now, if this world proceeds from intelligence, and if 
 it is intended to be contemplated by intelligence, it is 
 surely not unreasonable to suppose that there may be 
 traces in it of the same two modes of procedure. In this 
 treatise we hope to be able to show that there are abun- 
 dant illustrations of both, by an induction reaching over 
 all the kingdoms of nature, and extending even into the 
 kingdoms of grace. Both will be found in the theology 
 of nature to point to the same conclusion ; each furnishes 
 its appropriate proof of the existence and wisdom of a 
 Being who hath constructed every thing on a plan, and 
 made it, at the same time, to serve a purpose. The one, 
 as well as the other, will be found in the dispensations 
 of God, in the kingdom of his Son, and point to a most
 
 THE MATERIAL WORLD. 5 
 
 interesting analogy between nature and revelation. It 
 will be exjiedient to treat of them as so iar different, 
 ^hich tbey really are, but it will be necessary, at the 
 same time, to show, what is equally true, that the two 
 principles are made to correspond the one to the other, 
 that they meet in a higher unity, and that, after all, they 
 are but two aspects — in many respects different indeed — 
 of one Great Truth.* 
 
 In certain sections of this treatise it is proposed to 
 unfold some of the more striking examples of General 
 Plan. In respect of this order of facts, natural theology 
 can now take a step in advance, in consequence of what 
 has been done of late years in the discovery of homologies 
 by the sciences of comparative anatomy and morjiho- 
 logical botany. But the recent discoveries in regard to 
 the homology of parts can never set aside the old doctrine 
 of the teleology of parts, which affirms that every organ 
 is adapted to a special end. Every organic object is con- 
 structed after a type, (tOtioc,) and is, at the same time, 
 
 * In order to remove misapprehension, it may be necessary here to estimate how much 
 truth there is in a statement of Professor Owen, who has done so much to illustrate the 
 subject of general order. " By whatever means or instruments man aids or supersedes 
 his natural locomotive organs, such instruments are adapted expressly and immediately 
 to the end proposed. He docs not fetter himi^elf by the trammels of any common type 
 of locomotive instrument, and increase his pains by having to adjust the parts and com- 
 pensate their proportions so as best to perform the end required without deviating from 
 the pattern previously laid down for all. There is no community of plan or structure 
 between the boat and the balloon, between Stephenson's engine and Brunei's tunnelling 
 machinery; a very remote analogy, if any, can be traced between the instruments de- 
 vised by man to travel in the air and on the sea, through the earth or along its surface." 
 (Owen on the Nature of Limbs, p. 9.) There Is truth in the remark hero made, but it 
 Bccms to US to be overstated, and without the necessary corrections. Man does, in many 
 cases, construct the woiks which are to servo a eonmion end upon a common plan. 
 There i.s a model structure for the boat, for the steam-engine, for our houses, and our 
 t/.-mpIes, In which elegance is more or less attended to. But still it Is to bo admitted 
 that the harmonics, the correspondences, the compensations, are fur more numerous and 
 beautiful, both In kind and degree, In the works of God than In the works of man. It 
 Is certain that the union of the two principles is not so frequently attended to in hnmau 
 as in Divine workmanship. Man Is often obliged to sacrlllcc the one to the other, tho 
 Hymmetry to the convenience, or the utility to tho ornament. It is only in the works 
 of Deity that we llnd the two at all times In harmonious operation.
 
 6 PKINCIPLES KUNNING THROUGH 
 
 made to accomplish a final cause, (ulog.) Throughout 
 the next Book we purpose to exhibit the traces of Greneral 
 Order in one series of sections, and the traces of Special 
 Adaptation in another series of sections, the two being 
 made to run alongside of each other. While both 
 will be illustrated, it wiU be seen, by our adopting this 
 method, that the two are not contradictory, but coin- 
 cident ; that they do not cross, but run parallel to each 
 other. The general conformity to a pattern will be seen 
 to be aU the more curious when contemplated in con- 
 nection with certain singular deviations ; while the special 
 modifications will appear all the more wonderful when 
 exhibited as a departure, and evidently an intentional 
 departure, to efiect a particular end, from a model usually 
 attended to, nay, to some extent attended to, it may be, 
 in the very structure which is thus modified. The de- 
 signed irregularities will thus, by a legitimate reaction, 
 show that the regularities are also designed ; the excep- 
 tions in this case emphatically prove the rule. The 
 nature of the eccentricities demonstrate that, after all, 
 there is a center round which the revolution is per- 
 formed ; the deviations point to a disturbing influence 
 also under the influence c^f law — in much the same way 
 as the deviations of an old planet were shown by living 
 astronomers to point to a previously undiscovered plane- 
 tary body. The nature, the value, and the relation of the 
 two principles, will thus come out to view more strikingly 
 by comparison and contrast when they are placed in 
 juxtaposition. 
 
 The arguments and illustrations adduced by British 
 writers for the last age or two in behalf of the Divine 
 existence, have been taken almost exclusively from the 
 indications in nature of special adaptation of parts. 
 Hence, when traces were discovered within the last age
 
 THE MATERIAL WORLD. 7 
 
 of a general pattern, which had no reference to the com- 
 fort of the animal or the functions of the particular plant, 
 the discovery was represented by some as overturning 
 the whole doctrine of final cause ; not a few viewed the 
 new doctrine with suspicion or alarm, as seemingly 
 adverse to religion, while the great body of scientific 
 men did not know what to make of its religious import. 
 The question is thus started, Have not the writers on the 
 theology of nature been of late most unnecessarily nar- 
 rowing and restricting the argument ? We have found 
 it most interesting to notice that the philosophers of 
 ancient Greece and Rome, and not a few of the earlier 
 writers on the subject in our own country, gave it a 
 much wider range, and reckoned that they had found 
 evidence of the existence of God whenever they detected 
 traces of order and ornament. Let us inquire what 
 instruction we can gather on this subject from some of 
 those great luminaries of the ancient world, which, like 
 stars, send their- light down to us through the wide space 
 which intervenes, and serve, like them, to enlarge and 
 rectify our ideas of magnitude, and to keep us from 
 being imduly impressed with the greatness of the near 
 and the present. 
 
 Plato, in the Fourth Book of the Laws, makes Clinias 
 of Crete, in proving the existence of God from his works, 
 appeal at once to the order and l)eauty of the universe, 
 and does not regard it as at all necessary to dwell on 
 minute instances of adaptation. He refers to the earth, 
 the sun, and all the stars, and to the beautiful arrange- 
 ment of the seasons, divided into months and years, as 
 evidencing that there is a Divine Being.* In the review 
 of the argument in the Twelfth Book, he repeats, that 
 tlic orderly movements of the stars, and other objects, 
 
 * IJ. X. c. 9, where lie also brings In tho argument from universal consent
 
 8 PRINCIFLES KUNNING THROUGH 
 
 prove that all things were arranged and adorned, not 
 by matter or necessity, but according to a Divine fore- 
 thought and will. "■•'=■ According to the sublime philosophy 
 of Plato, all things are formed according to unalterable 
 laws or types, which remain unchanged amidst the flux 
 of individual objects, and that because they proceed from 
 eternal ideas, which had been in or before the Divine 
 mind from all eternity. 
 
 A similar style of argument is adopted in Cicero's 
 Treatise on the Nature of the Gods, the most systematic 
 work on natural theology which has been handed down 
 to us from ancient times. The evidence adduced by 
 Balbus the Stoic, the representative of theism in the 
 dialogue by which the argument is conducted, is derived 
 from four sources : first, from the presages of futurity by 
 gifted men and oracles ; secondly, from the number of 
 things fit and useful ; thirdly, from prodigies ; fourthly, 
 and highest of all, from the equable motions of the 
 heavenly bodies, and from the beauty and order of the 
 sun, moon, and stars, of which the very sight is sufficient 
 to convince us that they are not fortuitous.f Through- 
 out his defence, he dwells on the consenting and conspir- 
 ing motions of the heavenly bodies, on their progressions 
 and other movements, all constant and according to law ; 
 he points to the planets, which are regular in their veiy 
 wanderings ; and shews how, in all this, there is an order 
 and a certain hkeness to art.J When one observes, he 
 says, their defined and equable mot-ions, and all things 
 proceeding in an appointed order, and by a regulated and 
 unchangeable constancy, he is led to understand not only 
 that there is an inhabitant in this celestial and divine 
 dwelling, but a ruler or regulator, and, if we may so 
 
 * B. xlil. c. 13. 
 
 t Cic. De Nat. Deor., Lib. ii. c. v. t I'ib- ii- c. vii. ; xs. ; sxxil.
 
 THE MATEKIAL WORLD. 9 
 
 speak, arcliitect of so great a work and gift.* He speaks 
 of the harmony arising from dissimilar motions ; and 
 after quoting largely from the hymn of Aratus, he says, 
 such order and ornament could not have proceeded from 
 bodies running together hither and tliither, and by 
 accident.f 
 
 Plutarch derives men's general agreement as to the 
 existence of God, from their observation of the constant 
 order and motion of the stars. J 
 
 In modern times, we have the same line of argument 
 seized by the profound mind of Newton. Referring to 
 
 the UNIFORMITY IN THE BODIES OF ANIMALS, he SayS, " It 
 
 must necessarily be confessed that it has been efl'ected 
 by intelligence and counsel."§ Dr. Samuel Clarke quotes 
 this language, and asks — " In all the greater sjjecies of 
 animals, where was the necessity for the conformity we 
 observe in the Number and Lilvcness of all their prin- 
 cipal members ?"\\ 
 
 It is very evident that, down to a comparatively late 
 date, writers on natural theism did not confine their 
 proof to a mere adaptation of parts, but that along with 
 this they introduced other considerations, and in parti- 
 cular, the prevalence of general order. It will not be 
 difficult to defend the legitimacy of the con\T[ction which 
 the order and beauty of the universe have produced in un- 
 sopliisticated minds in all ages. In this, as in many other 
 instances, the philosopher will find it to be his delightful 
 office, not to set aside the spontaneous beliefs of mankind, 
 but rather to vindicate and illustrate them by the new 
 discoveries which advancing science is ever opening. 
 
 ♦ Cic. Do Nat. Door., Lib. ii. c. x.xxv. t Lib. ii. c. xllv. 
 
 % Plut. Do Plao. 1. 0. § optics. 
 
 I Dctnonstration of Being and Attributes of Ood. 
 
 1*
 
 10 ANALYSIS OF THE 
 
 SECT. II. ANALYSIS OF THE ORDER IN NATURE LAWS 
 
 OF NATURE. 
 
 The most careless observer is led tc) notice, that there 
 is a beautiful regularity running through nature as a 
 whole, and through every individual part of it. This 
 was discovered in very early ages of the world's history, 
 by persons who had no very precise ideas as to its nature, 
 or the means by which it was i3roduced. The Greeks, 
 from the time of Pythagoras, embodied their impressions 
 in the word by which they denoted the visible world, 
 which they called Cosmos, to denote at once its order 
 and its beauty, while the Latins styled the world Mundus, 
 to express their sense of its surpassing loveliness. Ever 
 since the time when the philosophic spirit was first 
 awakened, reflecting minds have been speculating as to 
 the sources of this order, and caught, at a very early age, 
 glimpses of the truth. The philosophers of the Ionian 
 School, which arose between 600 B.C. and 500 B.C., re- 
 ferred it to the power and the varied transformations of 
 certain elements, which they did their best to classify, as 
 air, water, earth, and fire, representing the dry, the moist, 
 the solid, the ethereal. In the speculations of this school, 
 we have vague anticipations of modem chemistry, and in 
 particular, of the doctrine of polar forces, in the balanced 
 strife and friendships of Empedocles, and of that of de- 
 finite proportions, in the " homoiomera" or equal parts of 
 Anaxagoras. A rival school arose at a little later date, 
 among the Greeks in Italy, and ascribed the order of 
 nature, in a more profound spirit, to the power of Num- 
 bers. We have no authentic or connected account of 
 the system of the Pythagoreans, but it is evident, from 
 the scattered notices wliich have been handed down to 
 ns, that they represented numbers, the significance of
 
 ORDER IN NATURE. 11 
 
 which is SO clearly seen in music, as in some mysterious 
 sense the principia of the universe. Aristotle tells us, 
 that they considered existing tilings to be a copy of iium- 
 hers,* and we have extracts preserved from the writings 
 of some of the disciples of the school, describing numbers 
 as being in the Divine Mind prior to the existence of 
 things, as being used as a model (^nuQ&deiyfiu) in the 
 formation of objects, and as that by which all things 
 were brought together and linked in order. Among the 
 disciples of the same school, and others who arose at a 
 subsequent date, there was supposed to be a deep mean- 
 ing in forms ; and the firoperties of certain figures, such 
 as the triangle, the square, the parallelogram, the circle, 
 the ellipse, were investigated with great care, giving us 
 the science of geometry as the result. A very special in- 
 terest gathered round certain numbers, such as seven and 
 ten, and certain figures, such as the circle and triangle, 
 which came in consequence to be regarded as perfect, or 
 as sacred. From a still earher date, and as a manifestation 
 of the same intellectual propensity, jjcculiar feelings be- 
 came associated with certain recurring times and perio- 
 dical seasons, such as the revolutions of the moon, the 
 signs of the zodiac, and other cycles, which seemed to 
 have a deep significancy in the economy of nature. De- 
 mocritus, who lived 400 B.C., and the Epicureans, who 
 flourished at a later date, sought for the origin of this 
 order in the formation of all things out of atoms possessed 
 of definite forms. The sublime ij:;enius of Plato ascrilted 
 it to certain patterns after which all things were fash- 
 ioned, which patterns he traced back to the eternal ideas 
 of the Divine Mind. Aristotle, while correcting some of 
 the extravagances of his great master, clung resolutely to 
 the doctrine, that forms were as necessary as matter to 
 
 * Mtittjoiv t(Vai ra ovra tCiv apiOixdi/. — Motapb. of Arls.
 
 12 ANALYSIS OF THE 
 
 the construction of tlie universe. The Platonists of the 
 Alexandrian School literally revelled among numbers 
 and forms, till they lost themselves among their intrica- 
 cies and windings. The Platonizing Jew who wrote the 
 Book of Wisdom, caught for a moment a very clear 
 glimpse of the full truth, when he speaks of God 
 "having arranged all things in measure, number, and 
 weight."* 
 
 Early science, like youth, is ardent, is eager, and not 
 having as yet determined either its strength or its weak- 
 ness, it would attempt every work, and works far beyond 
 its capacity. Like the giants of the early world, it is 
 ambitious, and would heap Ossa on Pelion, and mount 
 to heaven, not by gradual and numerous steps, but by 
 one old bold and presumptuous effort. In following this 
 method of speculation, the sage — as he meditates on 
 the banks of the Euphrates or Nile, along which an 
 early civilisation had sprung up, or in the cities of 
 Miletus, Elea, or Athens, in which the human spirit 
 was sharpened by discussion and the love of enterprise 
 — makes many a shrewd guess ; he anticipates not a 
 few truths which later discovery confirms ; he awakens a 
 spirit of inquiry which craves for a more accurate mode 
 of procedure ; and if he does not settle, he at least starts 
 questions which must sooner or later be settled. But 
 his attempt, though characterized by enlargement of 
 vision and power of vaticination, is, in respect of scien- 
 tific strictness and certainty of result, a failure, and the 
 favourite dogma of one school is ever disputed by tlie 
 disciples of another school. It turns out that the work 
 which one man or one school has attempted, needs, in 
 order to its completion, the combined industry of many 
 investigators continued through long successive ages.
 
 ORDER IN NATURE. 13 
 
 For just as when society makes progress there is a neces- 
 sity for the division of manual labour, (as Adam Smith 
 has shewn in the opening chapter of the Wealth of Na- 
 tions,) so, in order to the advance of science, there is need 
 of a division of intellectual labour. Most important of 
 all, there arises, in the midst of the jealousies of rival 
 schools and the noise of fruitless disputations, a demand 
 for a surer, even though it should be a slower, method of 
 investigation, — a method which wiU give results, be they 
 many or be they few, which are not of the nature of in- 
 genious speculations, to be set aside by other ingenious 
 speculations, but ascertained truths, fixed for ever, and 
 which all inquirers who come after may use, to help them 
 to add to the accumulating stores of knowledge. It is 
 late in the history of the world before such a plan comes 
 to be systematically unfolded ; and it is to the glory of 
 our country, a glory not exceeded even by that of the 
 land which produced Plato and Aristotle, that the first 
 exposition of it was by Lord Bacon. Since his days, 
 scientific inquirers, according to their tastes, talents, and 
 position, have betaken them each to his own field of in- 
 vestigation, with tlie view of thoroughly exploring it ; 
 and as the grand result, we have a settled body of truth, 
 to which additions will be made from age to age. 
 
 But as the deeply-underlying and prompting cause of 
 all this intellectual activity, there is stiU the same crav- 
 ing desire to find out the means by which unily and 
 order are given to the great Cosmos. In tlicse days wc 
 speak of all things being governed by laws ; we lay it 
 down as a maxim, that the end of all science is the dis- 
 cover}'- of law. The language may be more correct than 
 that employed by the ancients, but it is far from being 
 definite or incapable of misinter^jretation. For the ques- 
 tion occurs, What is meant by laws in this application
 
 14 ANALYSIS OF THE 
 
 of the term ? Every one sees that, as thus used, it does 
 not mean the same thing as when we speak of the laws 
 of a country, of the moral law, or of the law of God. It 
 is a term \\ith which we cannot dispense, but it is far 
 from being unambiguous ; it is often used in an unlawful 
 sense, and at times it is turned to the worst of puriDoses, 
 as when it is supposed, that in referring an event to a 
 law of nature, we have placed it beyond the dominion of 
 God. When we speak of things being arranged in a 
 law, or falling out according to a law, we signify, if we 
 know what we mean, that all phenomena take place in 
 a regular manner, that is, according to a rule.* It is 
 the special office of each science to discover what the 
 nature of the law is in its own department. This is the 
 grand aim, so far as it has a grand aim, of all modern 
 physical investigation, — to determine the rule to which 
 the particular classes of objects under contemplation 
 accommodate themselves. But in very proportion as 
 the sciences have become subdivided and narrowed to 
 particular facts, is there a desire waxing stronger, among 
 minds of larger view, to have the light which they have 
 scattered collected into a focus. As the special sciences 
 advance, the old question, which has been from the be- 
 ginning, will anew and anew be started, — What is the 
 general meaning of the laws which reign throughout the 
 visible world ? A correct and adequate answer to this 
 wide question can be given only by a wide induction, 
 and a combination of the results gained by a vast number 
 of separate sciences, each conducted on its own principles. 
 AVe live in the expectation of the approach of a time 
 when science — the division of labour having fulfilled its 
 ends — shall seek to combine its individual truths, and to 
 
 * See a more minute analysis of the laws of nature In the Method of the Divine Govern- 
 ment, Physical and Moral, B. ii. c. 1.
 
 ORDER IN NATURE. 15 
 
 realize the dream of its youth, and, as it were, carry iis 
 to a mountain top, whence we may obtain not only a 
 scattered view of the separate parts, but a connected view 
 of the whole, and of the relative bearing and direction of 
 every part. It appears to us that we are aj)j)roacliing 
 the time when an answer may be given to the old ques- 
 tion, and that this must be something like the following : 
 — All things in this world are subordinated to law, and 
 this law is just the order established in nature by Him 
 who made nature, and is an order in respect of such 
 qualities as number, time, colour, and form. We use 
 the vague languages of such qualities, because science has 
 not arrived at such a stage as to enable it to determine 
 what these qualities are with anything Hke perfect cer- 
 tainty and precision.* 
 
 Every law of nature which can be said to be correctly 
 ascertained is certainly of this description. We shall 
 furnish abundant illustrations in the next Book of this 
 treatise ; in this section we are merely to collect a few 
 striking examples of the attention paid to each of the 
 qualities named, and thus prepare the way for entering 
 upon the separate sciences, when more systematic proof 
 will be oflered. 
 
 First, There is an Order in Nature in Respect 
 OF Number. — Tliis important trutli, long believed in 
 before it could plead any scientific evidence in its favour, 
 was established and brought into prominence when 
 Kepler unfolded the three laws which have formed, his- 
 torically, the foundation of modci-n astronomy. It was 
 
 ♦ A more scientific classification would probably give us active property Instead of 
 colour, and Includinjj colour. There Is a curious combination of active properties con- 
 stltutlni; Individual objects, and enabling us to classify tliom, wliich will be referred to 
 in IJ. ill. c. 1 A. 2, but wbicb cannot be fully cleared up till we know more of the latent 
 forces of nature.
 
 16 OKDER IN RESPECT 
 
 the confident expectation that there would be found 
 some such principle of order which led that ingenious 
 and persevering sage to make calculation upon calcula- 
 tion, and devise one hypothesis after another, till, after 
 nineteen unsuccessful attempts, his fine genius and his 
 industry were rewarded by the discovery of the true 
 laws of the planetary movements. These laws are, — 
 that the planets move in orbits, which are elliptical in 
 shape ; that if you draw a line from the planet to the 
 sun, the areas described by that line in its motion round 
 the sun are proportional to the times employed in the 
 motion ; and that the squares of the periodic times are as 
 the cubes of the distances. The first of these is a law of 
 forms, the other two are laws of numbers. The dis- 
 coveries of Kepler prepared the way for the still more 
 important ones of Sir Isaac Newton. When the immor- 
 tal work of this greatest of inductive philosophers was 
 published, it was seen that the laws of Kepler were 
 not original but derivative ; but the original law now 
 unfolded belonged to the same class ; for the law of 
 gravitation, the best established and the most univer- 
 sally operative law yet determinetl, is a law of numbers. 
 Turning to chemistry, we find that ever since it emerged 
 as a science there has been a constantly renewed attempt 
 to reduce its laws to a numerical expression. The only 
 laws which can be reckoned as certainly determined 
 in this science possess this character. The great law 
 which lies at the basis of all the compositions and 
 decompositions of substances, is that of definite propor- 
 tions for equivalents, as expounded by Dalton. In the 
 same science Gay Lussac discovered an arithmetical law, 
 regulating the combination of gaseous substances, which 
 unite in very simple proportions, according to volumes. 
 Lest it should be thoudit that we are making a fanciful
 
 OF NUMBER. 17 
 
 reduction of the operations of nature, wc are liappy to be 
 able to bring to our aid the name of Sir John Herschel. 
 " Chemistry," says he, " is, in a most pre-eminent degree, 
 a science of quantity, and to enumerate the discoveries 
 which have risen from it from the mere determination 
 of "weiglits and measures, would be nearly to give a 
 synopsis of this branch of knowledge. "We need only 
 mention the law of definite proportions which fixes the 
 composition of every body in nature in determinate pro- 
 portional weights of its ingredients. Indeed, it is a 
 character of all the higher laws of nature to assume the 
 form of a precise quantitative statement. Thus the law 
 of gravitation, the most universal truth at which the 
 human reason has yet arrived, expresses not merely the 
 general fact of the mutual attraction of all matter, not 
 merely the vague statement that its influence decreases 
 as the distance increases, but the exact numerical rate 
 at which that increase takes place, so that when the 
 amount is known at any one distance it may be calcu- 
 lated exactly for any other."* Similar language is used by 
 Humboldt :— " The progress of modern physical science 
 is especially characterized by the attainment and the 
 rectification of the mean values of certain quantities by 
 means of the processes of weighing and measuring. 
 And it may be said that the only remaining and widely 
 diffused hieroglyphic characters still in our writing — 
 numbers, appear to us again as powers of the cosmos, 
 although in a wider sense than that applied to them by 
 the Italian school."f 
 
 In looking at other de-partments of nature, we fii)(l 
 similar examples of numerical order. Thus, ten is the 
 tj'j^ical number of tlio fingers and toes of man, and, 
 
 ♦ Ilcrschcl's Natural Philosophy, Art. IIG. 
 t Cosmos, translated by Otti'i, vol. i. p. C4.
 
 18 ORDER IN RESPECT 
 
 indeed, of the digits of all vertebrate animals. It is 
 also a curious, though perhaps not very significant 
 circumstance, that in mammalia seven is the number of 
 vertebrae in the neck,* and this whether it be long as 
 in the giraflle, or short as in the elephant, whether it be 
 flexible as in the camel, or firm as in the whale. In 
 the vegetable kingdom we find that two is the prevailing 
 number in the lowest division of plants, the acrogenous 
 or flowerless ; thus, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, &c., are the num- 
 ber of teeth in the mouth of the capsule in mosses. 
 Three, or multiples of three, is the typical number of 
 the next class of plants, the monocotyledonous or endo- 
 genous ; and five, with its multiples, is the prevailing 
 number in the highest class, the dicotyledonous or exo- 
 genous plants. We shall shew, as we advance, that a 
 curious series, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, &c., in which any 
 two numbers added together give the succeeding one, 
 regulates the arrangement of the leaf appendages of 
 plants generally, and in particular of the leaves and the 
 scales on the cones of firs and pines. In the inflores- 
 cence of the plant we find that the outer organs, or 
 sepals, always alternate with the petals which are next 
 them, and that the whorl of organs further in, namely, 
 the stamens, is generally either the same in number as 
 the petals, or some multiple of them. When there is 
 an exception to this rule there is reason to believe that 
 there has been some abortion of the stamens ; and the 
 traces of this abortion are not unfrequently visible in the 
 rudiments of the organs undeveloped. 
 
 Secondly, There is an Order in Nature in respect 
 OF Time. — It is obvious that all such laws can be ex- 
 pressed in proportional numbers, taking some fixed time 
 
 * Apparent or real exceptions wiU be referred to afterwards.
 
 OF NUMBER AND TIME. 19 
 
 as a unit. But we are here introduced to a new funda- 
 mental power, deserving of being put under a separate 
 head. For the laws of which we are now to speak imply 
 a peculiar arrangement in reference to time. We see 
 the principle mogt strikingly exhibited in those move- 
 ments of natural objects Avhich are periodical. No doubt, 
 there is some disposition of physical forces necessary to 
 produce this periodicity ; but this just shews all the 
 more clearly that an arrangement has been made to 
 produce the regularity. Tlie ancients were much struck 
 with the order in respect of time of the celestial motions. 
 The stars, the planets, and even the comets, were seen to 
 perform their revolutions in certain fixed times. Some 
 of them seem to depart from this rule only to exemplify 
 it the more strikingly, for their irregularities, which 
 are periodical, are as methodical as their more uniform 
 movements. There have been regular epochs, to all 
 appearance, in the changes on the earth's surface, and in 
 the succession of plants and animals, as disclosed by 
 geological science. The variations of magnetism on the 
 earth's surface seem to be periodical, and attempts have 
 been made of late to cormect this cycle with that which 
 the spots of the sun are known to follow. There is a 
 beautiful progression, as shewn by the science of embry- 
 ology in the growth of the young animal in the womb, 
 and the whole life of every living creature is for an 
 allotted period. The plants of the earth liave their 
 seasons for springing up, for coming to maturity, and 
 bearing flowers and seeds ; and if this order is seriously 
 interfered with, the plant will sooner or later be incapable 
 of fulfilling its function. Thus the hyacinth may be 
 prcnuiturely hastened into flower for one season, but the 
 next year it will be found impossible to make it flower 
 or pnjduce seed. In this way great natural events, and
 
 20 ORDER IN RESPECT 
 
 especially the life of animals and plants, the movements 
 of the heavenly bodies, and the eras of geology, become 
 to us the measurers of time, rearing up prominent land- 
 marks to guide us as we would make excursions into the 
 past or future, and dividing it for our benefit into days 
 and months, and seasons, and years, and epochs. 
 
 Thirdly, There is an Order in respect of Colour 
 RUNNING through Nature.— Colour is not without its 
 significance among the works of man. Every nation, 
 every regiment has its distinctive colours upon its flags, 
 which are its visible symbols and representatives. Colour 
 appears as a peculiar mark on the stamps impressed by 
 the post-office, and on many of our public conveyances. 
 It is used as a signal by sea and by land, in our ships 
 and on our railways ; it announces danger and proclaims 
 safety. It has also, we are convinced, a meaning in 
 nature. It has been far too generally supposed that 
 colour obeys no laws in natural objects. It has been a 
 very common impression, that it is spread indiscrimi- 
 nately over the surface of earth and sky, animal and 
 plant. We are sure that further research will shew that 
 this is a mistake. It is true that colour has not so much 
 value as form and structure in the classification of plants 
 and animals. Still, we find that some tribes of algae are 
 arranged by Harvey according to their colours, and that 
 some fungi are classified by Berkeley according to the 
 colours of their minute seeds. We are convinced that, 
 amidst aU the apparent irregularities, there will be found 
 to be some fixed principles in the distribution of colours 
 in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and, indeed, over 
 the whole surface of nature. Seldom or never, for ex- 
 ample, are the two primaiy colours, blue and red, found 
 on the same organ, or in contact on the same plant.
 
 OF COLOUR AND FORM. 21 
 
 Liable to certain modifications, wliicli are limited, it is 
 probable that there is a fixed distribution of colour for 
 many families of animals and plants, and that this dis- 
 tribution is fixed within still narrower limits for the 
 species. It is certain, whether we are or are not able to 
 seize it, and turn it to any scientific or practical purpose, 
 that there are plan and system in the arrangement of 
 colours throughout both the animal and vegetable worlds. 
 Every dot in the flower comes in at the proper place, 
 every tint and shade and hue is in accordance with all 
 that is contiguous to.it. We shall shew at considerable 
 length as we proceed, that the distribution of colours in 
 the vegetable kingdom is in beautiful accordance with 
 the now established laws of harmonious, and especially 
 of complementar}^ colours. We shall likewise point out 
 some very curious and interesting relations between the 
 forms and colours of plants. The eye testifies, too, that 
 there is an order in respect of colour in the decorations 
 of insects, in the spots and stripes of wild beasts, and in 
 the plumage of birds. "He who," says Field, "can 
 regard nature with the intelligent eye of the colourist, 
 has a boundless source of never-ceasing gratification 
 arisinjr from harmonies and accordances whicli are lost 
 to the untutored eye." 
 
 Fourthly, There is an Order in Nature in respect 
 OF Form. — We use the word form in a large sense, and 
 as including not only figure, in the narrow sense of the 
 term, but structure, which is the relation or connexion of 
 fonns. Great attention is evidently paid to this quality 
 in the construction of natural objects. It appears before 
 us as a significant element in every department of nature. 
 The planets, with their satellites, have a definite spher- 
 oidal shape, and they move in orbits which have a cer-
 
 22 ORDER IN RESPECT 
 
 tain outline in space, namely, the elliptic. It is because 
 strict regard is paid to this principle in the structure of 
 the universe, that the science which treats of forms, that 
 is, geometry, admits of an application to so many of the 
 objects and arrangements of nature. And here it is 
 worthy of being noted that the ancient geometers, from 
 a general idea of the importance of forms, had carefully 
 investigated the properties of those figures called the 
 Conic Sections, (because capable of being produced by 
 sections of the cone,) at a time when no very important 
 application could be made of the propositions established 
 by them. When Kepler discovered that the planets 
 moved in elliptic orbits, the properties of the ellipse, un- 
 folded so many centuries before by Apollonius and others, 
 were ready to be a2)plied to the solution of a host of im- 
 portant questions connected with the movements of the 
 celestial bodies. It is instructive to notice that the 
 clusters of stars revealed by telescopes of great power, 
 shew regular forms, some of them being round, and a 
 number of them having apparently a spiral tendency. 
 ' In the mineral kingdom, we find forms playing an 
 important part. In circumstances admitting of the ope- 
 ration, most (if not all) minerals crystallize — that is, 
 assume regular forms. These forms are mathematically 
 exact in a variety of ways. Every perfect crystal is 
 bounded by plane surfaces, its sides are parallel to each 
 other, and the angles made by its sides are invariable. 
 Each mineral assumes certain crystalline forms, and no 
 others. These forms have now an important place 
 allotted to them in the classification of minerals. They 
 have been expressively designated the geometry of 
 nature. 
 
 But it is among organized objects that we find form 
 assuming the highest significance. Every living object
 
 OF FORM. 23 
 
 composed though it be of a nuraber, commonly a vast 
 number and complication of parts, takes, as a whole, a 
 definite shape, and there is likewise a normal shape for 
 each of its organs. The general or normal form which 
 any particular tribe of plants or animals assumes, is 
 called its type. Animals and vegetables, it is well known, 
 are classified according to type ; and they can be so 
 arranged, because types are really found in nature, and 
 are not the mere creation of human reason or fancy. It 
 is because attention is paid to type, and because it is so 
 fixed and universal, that it is possible to arrange into 
 groups the innumerable natural objects by which we arc 
 surrounded. Without some such princi])les of unity to 
 guide him, man would have felt himself lost, as in a 
 forest, among the works of God, and this because of their 
 very multiplicity and variety. In some cases the forms 
 assumed by organic objects are mathematically regular. 
 A series of beautiful rhomboidal figures, with definite 
 angles, may be observed on tlie surface of the cones of 
 pines and firs. It may be noticed, too, how the leaves 
 and branches of the plant are placed round the axis in 
 sets of spirals. The spiral structure is also very evident 
 both in the turbinated and discoid shells of molluscs. 
 Mr. Mosely has shewn that the size of the whorls, and 
 the distance between contiguous whorls, in these shells, 
 follow a geometrical progression ; and the spiral formed 
 is the logarithmic, of which it is a property, that it has 
 everywhere the same geometrical curvature, and is the 
 only curve, except the circle, which possesses this pro- 
 perty. Following this law, the animal winds its dwell- 
 ing in a uniform direction through the space romid its 
 axis. '' There is traced," says Mr. Mosely, " in the shell, 
 the apjjlication of properties of a geometric curve to a 
 mechanical purpose, by Ilim wlio metes the dimensions
 
 24 OEDER IN RESPECT 
 
 of space, and stretches out the forms of matter according 
 to the rules of a perfect geometiy."--' We are reminded 
 of the ancient Platonic maxim, that Deity proceeds by- 
 geometry. 
 
 The lower tribes of animals and plants often assume 
 mathematically regular forms, such as the triangular, 
 polygonal, cylindrical, spherical, and elliptical. It is 
 seldom, however, that we meet with such rigid mathe- 
 matical figures in the outline of the higher orders of 
 organic beings. Those who have any sense of beauty will 
 be grateful that trees are not triangular, that animals are 
 not circular in their outline ; in short, that they have not 
 taken any such painfully exact shape. Still, the forms 
 of organic objects — such as the sweep of the veins of 
 leaves and the outline of trees — though more flowing and 
 waving, are evidently regular curves. There is truth, we 
 suspect, in a favourite maxim of Oersted, "that inorganic 
 beings constitute the elementary, and organic the higher 
 geometry of nature." 
 
 Besides the typical resemblances which enable us to 
 classify plants and animals, and the beautiful curves 
 which do so gratify the contemplative intellect, there are 
 certain correspondences in the structure of organs which 
 seem to us to be especially illustrative of a plan intelli- 
 gently devised and systematically pursued. At an early 
 date, these struck the attention of persons addicted to 
 deep reflection, but it is only within these few years that 
 they have been scientifically investigated and expounded. 
 Aristotle noticed the corresj^ondence between the hands 
 of man, the fore-hmbs of mammals, and the wings of 
 birds, and between the hmbs of these animals and the 
 fins of fishes, and spoke of it as an interesting species of 
 
 * See Philosophical Transactions for 1838. 
 t Soul of Nature, Uomei's translations, p. 343
 
 OF FORM. 25 
 
 analogy, {>{cti'' uiaUyiav.) The profound mind of New- 
 ton used to muse upon the symmetry of the animal 
 frame : " Similiter posita omnia in omnibus fere anima- 
 libus."' These correspondences, so far as vertebrate and 
 certain portions of invertebrate animals are concerned, 
 have now been examined w^ith great caTe, and we have a 
 set of well-defined phrases to explain them. 
 
 A homologue is defined as the same organ in different 
 animals, under every variety of form and function. Thus 
 the arms and feet of man, the fore and liind feet of 
 quadrupeds, the wings and feet of birds, and the fins of 
 fishes, are said to be all homologous. 
 
 The corresponding or serially repeated parts in the 
 same animal are called homotypes. Thus the fingers 
 and toes of man, indeed the fore and hind limbs of ver- 
 tebrate animals generally, are said to be homotypal. 
 
 The phrase analogue has been reserved for another 
 curious correspondence, found both in the animal and 
 vegetable kingdoms. By an analogue is meant an organ 
 in one animal having the same function as a different 
 organ in a difiercnt animal. The dift'erence between 
 homologue and analogue may be illustrated by the wing 
 of a bird and that of a butterfly ; as the two totally 
 differ in anatomical structure, they cannot be said to be 
 homologous, but they are analogous in function, since 
 they both serve for flight. "•■' 
 
 These phrases, and the ideas on which they are founded, 
 have taken their rise from the animal kingdom. But 
 similar, though by no means identical, correspondences 
 have been detected in the vegetable kingdom. The 
 branch of botanical science which treats of the forms of 
 plants is called morphology, and is now regarded as the 
 
 * Seo Owen on IToinoloi^cs of Vertebrate Skeleton, p. 7 ; and Agassi/, onil Oould's 
 Comiioratlve Pliyslology, j). 5, where the terms are aUlnltles and analogues. 
 
 2
 
 26 ORDER IN RESPECT 
 
 fundamental department of botany. We shall shew, as 
 we proceed, that comparative anatomy and vegetable 
 morphology supply illustrations, at once copious and 
 striking, of an all-prevailing order in nature in respect 
 of form or structure. 
 
 As this order of facts comes before us, we shall see that 
 science, in its latest advances, is fulfilling some of the an- 
 ticipations of large-minded observers and deep thinkers, 
 who, in earlier and unsophisticated times, looked upon 
 nature with a fresh eye, and believed in the existence of 
 a profound plan in it, when they were not able to give 
 a scientific reason for their conviction. Systematic 
 research is only coming up in these later years to the 
 native beliefs and expectations which sages entertained 
 from -the beginning. But there are these important 
 diiferences between the early glimj)ses and the later dis- 
 coveries : — that what was at first guess and vaticination, 
 has become demonstration ; that what was at first a 
 mixture of fact and speculation has become, by the 
 inductive methods of weighing and measuring every 
 phenomenon, unadulterated truth ; and we may add, 
 that the realities disclosed by science far transcend in 
 grandeur and true dignity the loftiest musings of the 
 profoundest sages or the most brilliant speculators. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the recent discoveries as to a 
 harmony of structure running through the whole organic 
 kingdoms have been turned by some to improper pur- 
 poses. The famous German poet, Goethe, who did so 
 much by his doctrine that all the appendages of the 
 plant are leaves, or transformed leaves, (he should have 
 said, formed after the same model as the leaf,) to found 
 a scientific botany, has not defined his religious creed 
 (we rather think he could not define it) ; but it is evident 
 that he was by no means inclined to look upon nature as
 
 OF FORM. 27 
 
 the work of a personal God. The celebrated French com- 
 parative anatomist, Geoffrey St. Hilaire, who laboured 
 so effectually to prove that there is a unity of composi- 
 tion in the animal structure, unfortunately (though no 
 atheist) speaks in a contemptuous manner of final cause.* 
 Lorenz Okeu, who pro})ounded the idea that the skull is 
 a vertebrate column, (he should have said that the skull 
 is formed after the same model as the back-bone,) was a 
 pantheist, and sought, in a mystical rhapsodical manner, 
 to find the beginnings of existence and of life without 
 calling in a living or a personal God.f Yet the ideas 
 which these men expounded, after being first denied and 
 then modified and improved, have received the all but 
 universal consent of scientific inquirers. Admitted, as 
 they now are, among the establislied generalizations of 
 science, and constituting, as they do, the most brilliant 
 discoveries in natural history of the past age, they cannot 
 be overlooked in a natural theology suited to the middle 
 of the nineteenth century. If they are hostile — as we 
 believe they are not — to the cause of religion, then let 
 their exact force and bearing be measured ; and if they 
 are favourable to theology, natural and revealed, — as we 
 hope to be able to shew that they are, when properly 
 interpreted, — then they require from their number and 
 value, to have a very prominent place allotted to them. 
 We have here a class of i)lienomena to wliich Paley has 
 never once alluded in lii.s Natural Tlieology, and whicli 
 are referred to only in an incidental manner, and with- 
 out their meaning being apprehended, in one or two pas- 
 sages of the Bridgewater Treatises.:}: The autliors of 
 
 • See Vio, Travaux, ot Doctrine Scleiitinijuc (i"E. Geoffrey St. Ililalro, par .son Fil*, 
 0. Ix. 
 
 t 8co Ph'. slo-Phllosophy, piisftim. 
 
 t Dr. M'Cosh nttcniptiMl tliis In an article In the North lirltlsb Kevlow, for August 
 1851, of which this treatise may bo conslJored as an expansion.
 
 28 ORDER IN RESPECT 
 
 these works are not to be blamed for this omission, for 
 in their day the facts had not been discovered, or, at 
 least, admitted into acknowledged science. But now 
 that they have taken their place, and that a very high 
 place, among settled doctrines, it is time to examine 
 their religious imjjort and tendency. They will be 
 found not to be isolated or exceptional in their character, 
 but to belong to a large and wide-spread class, possessing 
 a deep theological signification. 
 
 It is not pretended that these facts do of themselves 
 prove that there is a living and personal God, clothed 
 with every perfection. But they are fitted to deliver us 
 from several painful and degrading notions, which may 
 be suggested by the human heart in times of unbelief, 
 or by persons who have been lost in a labyrinth built by 
 themselves, and who are not unwilling that others should 
 become as bewildered as they are. They prevent us 
 from feeling that we, and all tilings else, are the mere 
 sport of chance, ever changing its procedure, without 
 reason and without notice, or, what is still more dreadful, 
 that we may be crushed beneath the chariot wheels of a 
 stem and relentless fate, moving on without design and 
 without end. They shew us what certainly looks very 
 like a method pursued dihgently and systematically — 
 very like a plan designed for some grand end, so very 
 like it that it behoves the sceptic to take upon himself 
 the burden of demonstrating that it can be anything 
 else. Taken along with their proper comjilement, the 
 special adaptation of parts, they exhibit to us an enlarged 
 wisdom, which prosecutes its plans methodically, com- 
 bined with a minute care, which provides for every 
 object and every part of that object. Conjoined with 
 higher considerations, and, in particular, with certain 
 internal principles, which have the sanction of the very
 
 OF FORM, 29 
 
 constitiitiou of our minds,'* they disclose to our faith a 
 God wlio sees the end from the beginning, and who 
 liath from the first instituted the plan to which all indi- 
 vidual things and events have ever since been conformed. 
 These objects so regularly constructed, and modes of 
 procedure so systematic, fiU the mind, and prepare us, if 
 they do no more, to wait for the disclosure of a loving 
 being who may till the heart. For the intellect is not 
 satisfied with contemplating, unless the heart be at the 
 same time satisfied with loving. It is the grand mistake 
 o^not a few gifted men, in these latter ages when physical 
 nature is so much studied, to imagine that the order and 
 loveliness of the universe, its forces, its mechanism, its 
 laws, its weU-fitted proportions, will of themselves satisfy 
 the soul. It will be found that all these, however fondly 
 dwelt on, must, in the end, leave the same melancholy 
 and disappointed feeling as the sight of a noble mansion 
 doomed to remain for ever tcnantless — unless they lead 
 on to love, and such love as can only be felt towards a 
 living and loving Grod. 
 
 * See article on Thelstlc Argument, in Appendix to Method of Divine Government, 
 fourth edition.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NATURE OF THE SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS. 
 
 SECT. I. NEED OF SPECIAL ADJUST3IENTS IN ORDER TO THE 
 
 BENEFICENT OPERATION OF THE FORCES OF NATURE. . 
 
 '' Order is Heaven's first law," and the second is like 
 unto it, that everything serves an end. This is the sum 
 of all science. These are the two mites, even all that 
 she hath, which she throws into the treasury of the Lord ; 
 and as she does so in faith. Eternal Wisdom looks on 
 and commends the deed. As the separate physical 
 sciences advance, they will necessitate the rise of com- 
 bining sciences to collect their separate truths ; and this 
 they may best be able to do under the two heads of order 
 and special end. The science which treats of a certam 
 important department of the first of these has already a 
 suitable name allotted to it, and is called Homology. 
 But we need a word to embrace the whole, and we pro- 
 pose that this be Cosmology— that is, the Science of the 
 Order in the Universe. We are aware that this term has 
 been unfortunately devoted to an unattainable inquiry, 
 which would penetrate into the origin of worlds ; but 
 this makes us the more anxious to rescue so excellent a 
 phrase from so degraded a use, and give it a profitable 
 application. The other general science has already an 
 admirable name appropriated to it in Teleology, or the 
 Science of Special Ends.
 
 NEED OF SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS. 31 
 
 Physical science, at its present advanced stage, seems 
 to be at one with the Word of God, in representing all 
 nature as in a state of constant change, but with prin- 
 ciples of order instituted in order to secure its stability. 
 
 " One CfENERATION PASSETH AWAY, AND ANOTHER GENE- 
 ration cometh : but the earth abideth for ever. 
 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and 
 
 HASTETH TO HIS PLACE WHERE HE AROSE. ThE WIND 
 goeth toward the south, AND TURNETH ABOUT UNTO 
 
 the north ; it whirleth about continually, and 
 the wind returneth again according to his circuits. 
 All the rivers run into the sea : yet the sea is not 
 
 FULL ; UNTO the PLACE FROM 'WHENCE THE RIVERS COME, 
 THITHER THEY RETURN AGAIN. AlL THINGS ARE FULL 
 OF LABOUR ; MAN CANNOT UTTER IT : THE EYE IS NOT SA- 
 TISFIED WITH SEEING, NOR THE EAR FILLED WITH HEAR- 
 ING." There seems to be no such thing as absolute rest 
 in nature. ^Ve are impressed with the ficldcness of the 
 winds and the restlessness of the waves ; but the truth 
 is, every other object is infected with the same love of 
 change. There is probably no one body in precisely the 
 same state in every respect for two successive instants. 
 We think that we are stationary, but, in fact, we are being 
 swept through space at a rate which it dizzies the ima- 
 gination to contemplate. Every object in nature seems 
 to have a work to do, and it lingers not, as it moves on, 
 in tlic execution of its office. It exists in one state and 
 in one place this instant, but it is changing meanwhile, 
 and next instant it is found in another state or in another 
 place. But there is an equilibrium established among 
 these ever moving forces, and the i)rocesses of nature are 
 made like the wind, to return according to their circuits. 
 So iar as inductive science has been able to penetrate, 
 it would appear that the active physical powers of the
 
 32 NEED OF SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS 
 
 universe consist of a number of forces, or rather, we 
 should say, properties, each with its own tendency or rule 
 of action, and yet all intimately connected the one with 
 the other, that is, correlated. I wave my hand in the 
 air, and in doing so, I set mechanical power a-working. 
 " The motion," says Mr. Grove, " which has apparently 
 ceased, is taken up by the air, from tlie air by the walls 
 of the room, &c., and so, by direct and reacting waves, con- 
 tinually comminuted but never destroyed."* The produc- 
 tion of mechanical power may be more distinctly seen if 
 the hand is employed to move a machine. Mechanical 
 power, it is well known, generates heat, and this heat, 
 according to Mr. Joule, is in proportion to the mechanical 
 power exercised. Heat may lead to chemical action, as 
 when bodies are decomposed by a rise in the temperature. 
 Chemical action is always accompanied by electricity, 
 and electricity may produce light or galvanism or mag- 
 netism. Gralvanism, again, may have an effect on nervous 
 or muscular action, and muscular action may produce 
 mechanical power. Thus we have the various known 
 (or rather, perhaps we should say, unknown) forces pro- 
 ducino: or exciting each other, accordino; to laws which 
 have not yet been fuUy determined. Nay, if we turn in 
 upon the organism itself we shall find traces of a similar 
 circuit. For whence the muscular action that origi- 
 nated the actions which we have mentioned ? Tracing it 
 inwards, we find it conducting us to the nerves and the 
 brain. But the brain is not an inexhaustible, nor is it a 
 self-filled fountain of physical power ; on the contrary, 
 if exercised in excess it becomes deranged in all its func- 
 tions, or exhausted. In order to restoration of power, it 
 needs, as every one knows, nightly rest, and also suste- 
 nance ; and, on inquiring into the source of this suste- 
 
 * Grove's Correlation of Physical Forces, 2d edit, p. IT.
 
 IN ORDER TO THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE. 33 
 
 nance, we find that it is derived from witliout, from 
 animals and plants. Again, animals are fed by other 
 animals and by i)lants, and plants by unorganized matter. 
 The circuits are thus made to include all physical powers, 
 oreranic and inorsranic. All these forces, distinct from 
 each other, (so far as we know,) but intimately correlated, 
 are made to balance each other, and to run in circles.* 
 
 "We have introduced these generalized facts, which are 
 indejiendent of all speculations as to the nature of the 
 physical forces, for the purpose of shewing that these 
 natural powers are all blind in themselves, and require an 
 arrangement to be made — and this arrangement must 
 jiroceed from intelligence — in order to their beneficial 
 action. Heat, light, electric action, chemical composi- 
 tion and dccompo.sition, organic affection — these are 
 among the most powerful instruments of good in our 
 world, but they become the most potent means of inflict- 
 ing evil. In their bearings towards animate objects 
 capable of j^leasure and pain, they may all be benignant, 
 but they also spread misery and destruction. There is 
 obvious need of a disposing mind to cause these various 
 forces to act in harmony, and to issue in wise and bene- 
 volent results. "Elements," says Faraday, "the most 
 seemin<r]v unmanai^eable and discordant, are made to 
 watch like ministering angels around us — each perform- 
 ing tranquilly its destined function, moving through all 
 
 • It Is to be specially notlccMl, liowevcr, that tlierc lias been a power lien; exercise<l 
 which Is not thus Jepemlent on the others. We refer to the mental power whlcli willed 
 the ho'lil y action. The olile>t ilelinitioii of irilnd reincsents it as essuntially a Self-niovini; 
 power. We iiiiist ever 8et ourselves a;,'ainst the idea inainlaiiicd by some, that mental 
 jiowcr U correlated to the pliyslcal and vital forces, as these arc correlated to eacli other. 
 Wc never ean believe tliat the devotedness of the patriot, the se!f-sacrlllclnf{ spirit of the 
 martyr, or the heroism which resists biibe and temptation, are eiijiable of beln;.; excited 
 by heat, licht, and ma^'netlsin. In the same way as these can be excited by eaeh oilier. 
 Uiit still It Is true that mind, we mean the human mind, can merely direct jihysieal 
 force: It cannot create or orlu'innte it, it can merely turn it this way or that; but the 
 power cxUts prior to any mental effort belnt; directed towarrls It, and when It is Set 
 a-working, by the needful conditions being supijlled, it follows It own laws. 
 
 2*
 
 34 NEED OF SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS 
 
 the varying phases of decomposition, decay, and death — 
 then springing into new hfe, assuming new forms, resting 
 in passive inactivity, or assuming the extreme of violence, 
 according as either may be suited to accomplish the ap- 
 pointed end."* 
 
 It will be necessary at this place to state an important 
 distinction which Dr. Chalmers had the merit of intro- 
 ducing into natural theology in a formal manner. f He 
 calls on us to notice how, the laws of matter being as they 
 are, the results might have been different if a different 
 set of collocations had been made of the bodies obeying 
 these laws. Thus the law of gravitation still beino: as it 
 is, the planetary bodies would have been moving in a 
 very diflerent manner from what they do, had they been 
 differently situated in reference to the sun and to one 
 another. Had they not, for example, revolved in nearly 
 one plane, they might in their revolutions have come into 
 violent and destructive collision with each other. This 
 is prevented by their being so disposed that their spheres 
 can never intersect each other, that is, by their slrilful 
 collocation. Dr. Chalmers thinks that the argument in 
 favour of the existence of God should be founded on the 
 collocations of matter rather than the laws of matter. 
 
 The distinction is undoubtedly a sound one. In all 
 discussions as to the material universe, we must set out 
 with assuming the existence of body occupying space 
 and exercising force, or rather active property. Now, it 
 may be admitted that it is doubtful, to say the least of 
 
 * Faraday's Lectures on Non-Metallic Elements. 
 
 t Keference had no doubt been made to it before, as when Paley (Nat. Theol., c. iii.) 
 fays, " I spe.ik not of the laws themselves, but such laws being fixed, the construction in 
 both cases is adapted to them." But we owe tlie systematic announcement and expo- 
 sition of it to the eminent Christian philosopher we have named. It is developed with his 
 usual .vjiplitude of illustration in his Bridgewater Treatise and in his Natural Theology. 
 A distinguished living writer who has done much towards introducing clearness into the 
 logic of physical science, h.a3 adopted it, and made some new applications of it See 
 Ullirs Logic, vol. i. p. 529, 2d edit.
 
 IN ORDER TO THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE. 35 
 
 it, whether we are entitled to argue that the. mere exten- 
 sion of matter, that is, the circumstance that it occupies 
 space, implies that it has been created. It might be 
 further allowed, witliout any prejudice to the argument 
 in behalf of the Divine existence, that the mere posses- 
 sion of active properties does not prove, in a manner 
 convincing to every one, that matter has been formed by 
 an intelligent behig. The opponent, whether inclined to 
 materialism or pantheism, might urge that in contem- 
 plating the material world merely as exercising force and 
 capable of motion, we are not imperatively called to sup- 
 pose anything else than that power, be it a material thing, 
 or be it a sjjiritual thing (as the pantheist maintains), 
 resides in the bodily substance itself The argument of 
 the pantheist, as against the materialist, would no doubt 
 be overwhelming in such a case. The pantheist would 
 be able to shew without difficulty that in the exercise of 
 chemical, electric, luminiferous, calorific, and vital force, 
 there is vastly more than mere extension or dead matter, 
 and this he would call spiritual })owcr. But all this does 
 not tend to prove that this spiritual power (so called) is 
 of the nature of Intelligence, compassing an end by 
 means employed for the purpose. When we have estab- 
 lished on other grounds, the existence of a Divine or 
 even of a s])iritual being, it might then be reasonably 
 maintained that these physical powers, which have been 
 shewn of late years to be more wonderful than men ever 
 supposed them to be before, are not independent of the 
 Divine Power, but arc rather one of the expressions of it. 
 But when we are j)roving the being of a God, it might 
 not be prudent to j)eril the whole argument on the prin- 
 ciple that the exercise of active j)C)Wcr implies an intelli- 
 gent and a personal God. It might be safer, to say the 
 least of it, to argue the existence of Intelligence, not from
 
 36 NEED OF SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS 
 
 matter considered simply as extended or as possessed of 
 force, but from the material universe as it actually pre- 
 sents itself, with its graceful forms, its lovely colours, its 
 skilful adjustments, and harmonious laws. There are 
 questions agitated in the present day in regard to the 
 precise nature of the physical forces which strict induc- 
 tive science is not yet prepared to settle, and there have 
 been questions started as to the potency of matter in 
 itself, which, in our opinion, the human intellect cannot 
 very satisfactorily answer, and which may at least be 
 answered in more than one way by different parties, with 
 views and principles all equally favourable to religion. 
 
 It seems more than probable that the very original 
 properties of matter, whatever they be, have a rule, a law, 
 so constituted as to suit them admirably to the purposes 
 to be served by them in the universe. But this cannot 
 be conclusively demonstrated till we have reached the 
 ultimate properties of matter ; and we are not certain 
 that we have found any one of the original forces of na- 
 ture. The law of universal gravitation and the law of 
 chemical affinity might seem to approach the nearest to 
 simple and unresolvable powers ; but the illustrious dis- 
 coverer of gravitation did not look upon it as an essential 
 or ultimate property of matter, and Dalton represented 
 chemical proportions as resulting from the size of the 
 elementary atoms, and in the present day an eminent 
 scientific man has proposed to resolve gravitation into a 
 simpler property with a collocation suited to it ; while 
 chemists generally are by no means inclined to affirm 
 dogmatically that we know the original power from which 
 the phenomena of the combination of bodies proceed. 
 Were we at liberty to assume that these are ultimate 
 properties, it might not be difficult to shew that there is 
 a beautiful correspondence between the law of gravitation
 
 IN ORDER TO THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE. 37 
 
 and the mundane system through which it operates, and 
 between the relations of the various chemical equivalents. 
 But as we are not sure that we have gone down to the 
 fundamental properties of matter, all that we can argue 
 is, that if the adaptations do not consist in the adjustment 
 of the original law to the objects, they must consist in 
 the adjustment of the objects to that law. The truth 
 seems to be, that they consist in the adjustment of the 
 one to the other by Him who instituted both. 
 
 But by no process can we get rid of these original 
 adjustments. There is need, as Mr. J. S. Mill says, not 
 only of a law of causation, but of a collocation of causes, 
 and this collocation he shews " cannot be reduced to any 
 law," that is, any natural law. With him, therefore, it 
 is an ultimate fact of which he can make nothing. 
 " We not only," he says,* " do not know of any reason 
 why the sun's attraction and the tangential force co-exist 
 in the exact proportion they do, but we can trace no co- 
 incidence between it and the proportions in which any 
 other elementar}^ powers in the universe are intermingled." 
 But this we can clearly perceive, that if these proportions 
 and coincidences had been different, there would have 
 been confusion throughout the universe ; that if the cen- 
 tripetal force had been proportionally greater, the earth 
 and all the planets would have been drawn into the body 
 of the sun ; and that if the centrifugal force had been 
 much increased, the earth would have wandered into 
 regions so far from the sun that all living beings must 
 have perished. The beauty and fitness of these coinci- 
 dences and proportions compel us to see, that though 
 they do not proceed from natural law, they must proceed 
 from an Intelligence jjlamiing all things, and the rela- 
 tions of things, from the beginning. 
 
 ♦ Mlirs Logic, vol. IL p. 44. 
 
 4
 
 38 NEED OF SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS 
 
 Taking these principles along with us, we are entitled 
 to say that mutual adjustments are necessary in order 
 not only to individual effects of a beneficent character, 
 but also to those general results of an orderly description, 
 which are very commonly and very properly CiiUed laws 
 of nature. We call the general facts observed by Kepler 
 laws, but they are evidently the result of the relation of 
 the planets to the sun, and of their centripetal to their 
 centrifugal tendency. We talk of the law of the plant 
 according to which it springs up, assumes certain forms, 
 bears leaves and seed ; but every one sees that we have 
 here a complex effect proceeding from a vast number of 
 arrangements, in which the laws of vitality, whatever 
 they be, with the laws of moisture, heat, light, and elec- 
 tricity, are all made to act in unison. It seems to be a 
 law of the ai:)pendages of the plant, of branches, leaves, 
 and scales, that they are arranged in a spiral manner 
 round the axis ; but no one looks on this as a simple law ; 
 it is obviously the result of certain methodical disposi- 
 tions. We suspect that most of what we call laws of 
 nature, that most of the principles of order observable in 
 nature, are of this compound or derivative character. 
 They are the harmonious result of adjustments many 
 and varied among a vast number of bodies and of forces, 
 which, in our present state of knowledge, we must regard 
 as different from each other, and which at least require 
 adai)tations to be constituted in order to their operation 
 in a beneficent manner. 
 
 If these remarks be just, we are entitled to argue, that 
 there has been adaptation not only in two or more bodies 
 being so arranged as to jiroduce an isolated effect of a 
 benign character, but also in their being so disposed as 
 to produce general laws or general results, these being 
 wide-spread and continuous, stretching through extensive
 
 IN ORDER TO THE OPERATIONS OF NATURE. 39 
 
 regions of space, and prolonged through many successive 
 ages, such as tlie seasons, and the regular forms and 
 periods of plants and animals. These — indeed all the 
 j)rinciples of order in respect of numher, time, colour, 
 and form — are entitled to he called laws. But they are 
 not original, they are derivative laws, not simple hut 
 composite, and the result of arrangements. We are thus 
 enahled to connect the principle of order with the prin- 
 ciple of special adaptation ; for it is required in order to 
 the existence of general order, that there should be adap- 
 tation upon adaptation, and these necessarily of a most 
 ingenious and far-reaching character.* We shall have 
 occasion to return, as we proceed, to this subject, as serv- 
 ing to combine general law and special use in a higher 
 imity. 
 
 SECT. II. THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED, AND NOT CASUAL. 
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 
 
 The argument from design in behalf of the Divine 
 existence, has sometimes been so stated as to make its 
 main premiss a mere truism, and the whole argument a 
 begging of the question. It sets out witli tlie maxim, 
 that whatever exhibits marks of design must have pro- 
 ceeded from a designing mind ; but by exhibiting marks 
 of design, is meant proceeding from a designing mind, 
 and thus the whole ratiocination is nothing but the 
 pompous repetition of the same proposition. When put 
 
 ♦ As the arranseiiK-nts needful are not only very numerous but very v.iried, It is pro- 
 posed that tlie word adaptation or adjustment should be substituted for colluention— a 
 phnuio which scoms to conflno the arrangements to those of place, whereas Ihcy may 
 also include time, number, active property, &c. As these adjustments are necessary 
 even to the production of those uniform results whicli we call laws of nature, the proper 
 distinction is not between tlic laws of matter .iiid the collonillon of mutter, but be- 
 tween the properties of matter aud Iho adjustments re(iulred in order to th<ir beneficent 
 octlon. See Method of Divine Government, Book II. < Imp. 1. sect. II. and III., 4th edit.
 
 ^;.' 
 
 ■40 THE ADJUSTMENTS AKE DESIGNED. 
 
 in this way, the argument is easily repelled and turned 
 against him who urges it. But it is not thus that it 
 has been propounded by any skilful defender of religion. 
 
 The argument from final cause, properly understood, 
 is derived from those concurrences and correspondences 
 of agents to produce a given end, which everywhere fall 
 under our notice. These mutual adaptations of different 
 and independent powers are so numerous, so curious, and 
 so beneficent, that they clearly shew that there has been 
 an Intelligent Being arranging them beforehand. They 
 cannot proceed from chance, and we therefore conclude 
 that they must proceed from design. 
 
 And this leads us to inquire what is meant by the 
 word Chance, what is usually meant by it, and what is 
 the proper meaning of the phrase. A thousand errors 
 have been Im-king in the confused ideas afloat on this 
 subject, and we must be allowed to say that we have 
 seldom found the nature of chance thoroughly expounded, 
 or the various meanings of the word distinctly stated. 
 The ancient atheists argued that there was such a thing 
 as chance, and ascribed to it the formation of the uni- 
 verse. Modern materialists and pantheists maintain that 
 there is no such thing as chance, that there can be no 
 such thing, and thence argue that there can be no traces 
 of design, since aU things proceed from a chain of phy- 
 sical or metaphysical causes. We are convinced that 
 the one as well as the other of these parties is mistaken. 
 We mean to shew, in opposition to the modern, that 
 there is such a thing as chance, and, in op2)osition to the 
 ancient, that there are adjustments in nature which can- 
 not proceed from chance. 
 
 In maintaining, however, that there is really such a 
 thing as chance, it is proper to announce that there can- 
 not be chance in this sense, that there is an event without
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 41 
 
 a cause. It is not necessary in the present day to insti- 
 tute any proof of this ; there is no principle more firmly 
 established or more universally admitted. There may be 
 a difference of 02)inion as to the nature of cause and eifect, 
 and a still greater diversity of view as to the nature of 
 the belief in causation, whether it is derived from internal 
 or external sources, but there is none as to the law oi- the 
 fact itself It is admitted that in our world no event 
 happens without a cause. In this sense chance does not 
 exist. " There is no such thing as chance," says Hume. 
 Some would say that it cannot so much as be conceived 
 to exist. 
 
 But still there are senses, and these most important 
 senses, in w^hich there may be said to be chance in our 
 world. The word chance, and the corresponding words 
 accident, casualty, fortuity, may be used, and have an 
 intelligible meaning when used in two diffey-ent senses. 
 
 First, To use the language of Professor De Morgan, 
 •' the word chance, in the acceptation of probability, refers 
 to events of which the law or purpose is not visible ;" 
 and elsewhere, " events do happen by chance, for they cer- 
 tainly do happen so that we can see no reason why they 
 should not have been otherwise." "••' In this sense, wlicther 
 looking forward to the future, ever dimly seen, or to the 
 present or the past as so far unknown, we may speak of 
 chance, that is, of events of which we do not see the 
 cause or purpose. As thus used, however, the word is 
 significant merely of our ignorance, or rather of the ne- 
 cessary limits set to our knowledge. In tliis sense it 
 can have no application to the Divine mind, which is ever 
 cognizant, of the antecedents and conserpients, of the in- 
 tention and the issue, of all that has occurred, or that is 
 occurring, or that will occur. As thus oni]»lnycd, the 
 
 • De Morgan on Troljablllf y, p. 28 ; and Tluory of rrobubllltles In Ency. Metrop.
 
 42 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED. 
 
 word can liave no place for or against us in the argument 
 which we arc now advancing. The limit of our know- 
 ledge cannot settle the question as to whether the adjust- 
 ments in nature are or are not designed. 
 
 Secondly, Things may he said to he casually related to 
 each other lolien the relation hetiueen them is not that of 
 cause and effect, nor designed hy the 2:>erson producing 
 them. Every event has a cause, but every event is not 
 causally connected with every other which may happen 
 about the same time or place, or have some relation to it 
 of property or number. This part of the truth is ex- 
 pressed by Mr. J. S. Mill, — " Facts causally conjoined are 
 separately the effects of causes, and therefore of laws, but 
 of different causes, and causes not connected by any law. 
 It is incorrect, then, to say, that any phenomenon is pro- 
 duced by chance ; but we may say that two or more phe- 
 nomena are conjoined by chance, meaning that they are 
 in no way related through causation, that they are neither 
 cause and efiect, nor effects of the same cause, nor effects 
 of causes between which there subsists any law of co-ex- 
 istence, nor even effects of the same original law of colloca- 
 tion."* The meaning of the phrase, " law of collocation," 
 and the use to which it may be turned in the theistic 
 argument, as pointing to a designed adjustment in the 
 original constitution of things, have already been noticed. 
 
 So much, then, for casual as distinguished from causal 
 connexion. But casual connexion may also be opposed 
 to contrived connexion. It is needful to illustrate this, 
 for it is a position of great importance in our argument. 
 An agriculturist, let us suppose, is using the means ne- 
 cessary to secure a crop from his ground. Every step 
 which he takes must have a causal connexion with some- 
 thing going before and something coming after ; to this 
 
 * Mill's Logic, Book III. chap. xvii.
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 43 
 
 there can be no exceptions whatsoever. But among the 
 nianv ao-encies he sets a-movino; there will be some which 
 have no discoverable mutual relation, while there will be 
 others which very visibly have such a relation, which, we 
 would have it observed, may either be casual or designed. 
 Thus it may be by accident that he began to plough the 
 land on the same day as he did the previous year ; by 
 chance that the two horses in a particular plough are of 
 the same age ; that his harrows, constructed by different 
 makers, are painted thq same colour ; that the workmen 
 employed by him have the same Christian name ; and 
 that he has precisely the same extent of land in crop as 
 in the previous year. There may be many such relations 
 and corresi^ondences which jiersons of a particular turn 
 of mind find pleasure in noticing, and this because they 
 are purely casual. But there are other connexions which 
 are not of this fortuitous character. It is not by accident 
 that he begins his work about the same season as he did 
 the previous year ; that he has put two horses into his 
 plough ; that the ploughing has been followed by sowing 
 and harrowingr ; that he has workmen enira"^ed in tillin<2; 
 his ground, and a certain portion of his whole ground 
 under cultivation. There is here an evident distinction 
 between two sets of events, and this distinction does not 
 arise from the one class having causes, wliereas the 
 others have not, nor from the two i)roceeding from alto- 
 gether unconnected laws of collocation, but from the one 
 being designed as a mean toward an end, and the other 
 not being so designed, as having no reference to that end. 
 This distinction between the concurrence of inde])endent 
 means intended to produce an end, and mere coincidences 
 whicli })romote no s])ecial end, is an all-important one in 
 the argument from design or final cause. 
 
 According to these views we cannot speak of an event
 
 44 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED. 
 
 "being produced by chance. Such language has either no 
 meaning, or a meaning opposed to the universally acknow- 
 ledged principles of all science and all philosophy. In 
 respect of causal connexion, chance has and can have no 
 place ; it is absolutely excluded. But in respect of other 
 connexions of co-existence or succession, of number and 
 property, there is room for chance, and, as opposed to 
 chance, of designed coincidences and correspondences, 
 and a co-operation of associated means for the production 
 of a given end. In respect of production there can be 
 no such thing as chance, but in respect of disposition 
 there may. There are mutual relations which are not 
 designed, even as there are relations which are designed. 
 We cannot speak of accidental occurrences, but we may 
 speak of accidental concurrences. We are to shew that 
 in the place where there is room for chance, there we 
 have the most striking examples of design. 
 
 It may be difficult at times to determine whether 
 certain events or phenomena are conjoined by chance, 
 or whether an arrangement has been made to produce 
 the conjunction. It is no proof of an intended connexion 
 that they have been conjoined once or twice, or a few 
 times. Nor can any absolute rule be laid down as to fre- 
 quency of co-existence, which shall decide every supposable 
 case that may arise. But there are cases of designed con- 
 currence so clear that they do not admit of a moment's 
 hesitation. When we see independent agents all moving 
 towards one end — when we see stone, lime, wood, glass, 
 slate, and lead, all combined in a house — when we find 
 various kinds of metals, and wheels, pulleys, cylinders, of 
 various shapes and sizes, conjoined to jiroduce a machine, 
 we at once say the connexion cannot be accidental, but 
 is the result of arrangements made to secure a contem- 
 l^lated end.
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE, 45 
 
 Let US suppose that, on entering a room, we discover 
 on a table before us five or six balls formed into a ring- 
 like fiffure, we do not allow ourselves for one instant to 
 imajrine that the balls came hither of their oviTi accord, 
 and without any one placing them there ; but it may be 
 a question whether the mutual arrangements involved 
 in the figure are accidental or designed. This question 
 would at once be settled if avo saw other five balls on 
 the same table formed into a similar figure. We would 
 then acknowledge at once that there can be as little of 
 accident in the mutual arrangement of the balls as in 
 their Ijeing brought to this particular place. 
 
 These distinctions and exjdanations enable us to bring 
 out very distinctly the nature of the argument derived 
 from adaptation of parts in favour of the existence of God. 
 
 In physical nature we have the universal reign of 
 causation, or every event connected with at least one 
 other event as its cause, and yet another event as its con- 
 sequence. In regard to this point there is no difference 
 of opinion. But in perfect consistency with this doc- 
 trine we may find a number of events occurring at the 
 same time or place, or nearly at the same time or place, 
 or having some sort of bearing towards each other of a 
 purely accidental character. In this sense there is no 
 doubt much of chance in this world, that is, many events 
 have some sort of discoverable relation, which may yet 
 have no intended connexion. The year in which a 
 comet blazes in the heavens may be a year of famine or of 
 fearful wars and intestine feuds, but this does not go to 
 prove that the one was meant to forebode the other. We 
 are quite willing to admit that all these phenomena can 
 be traced uj) to God — we arc sure that God foreordaiiiL'd 
 both the c<jmet and the famine ; but it is quite a diflbrent 
 thing to affirm tliat the two have a designed connexion
 
 46 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED, 
 
 with each other. Every scar upon the rocks of our 
 earth may have been produced by causes set in opera- 
 tion by God, but this will not convince us that there is 
 deep design on the part of God in presenting to us, here 
 and there, on these rocks, a figure, which men discover 
 to bear a rude resemblance to the face of George III., of 
 Nelson, or Napoleon Bonaparte. The fact that there are 
 accidental concurrences, in the sense now explained, will 
 not be urged, by any one who seriously reflects upon the 
 subject, as proving this world is not the jjroduct of 
 design, and that there is not design in every department 
 of it. In the works of man which exhibit the clearest 
 signs of contrivance, it is not found that every one part 
 of the work has an intended relation to every other. In 
 the construction of the walls of a church there may be 
 the most careful attention implied in the way in which 
 the stones are made to fit into each other, but it may all 
 the while be purely accidental that two stones of much 
 the same size, weight, or colour, are placed exactly 
 opposite each other. 
 
 But wherever there may be chance, there may surely 
 be design likewise. If there may be coincidences which 
 are casual, there may also be concurrences which are 
 contemplated. It is in the very place where there might be 
 accident that we discover the clearest and most con- 
 vincing evidences of design. Upon observing a number 
 of separate forces acting in union and harmony, we must 
 believe that there has been a designing mind bringing 
 them together and causing them to co-operate. When 
 we see these agencies working in happiest association to 
 produce innumerable effects of a beneficent character- 
 when we find them consenting; and consortinci; through- 
 out thousands or myriads of years or geological ages, 
 the evidence is felt to be overwhelming beyond the
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 47 
 
 power of human calculation. Yet this is the sort of 
 conjunctions and co-operations which is constantly pre- 
 senting itself to our view. We observe ever}'where a 
 host of separate bodies and powers, all tending towards 
 a particular end ; — say a number of material substances 
 with the vital agency, the heat agency, the light agency, 
 the electric agency, all conspiring to the production of 
 a living plant or animal ; or bone, nerves, and muscles, 
 meeting to give an easy motion to a limb. " How often," 
 asks Tillotson, " might a man, after he had jumbled a 
 set of letters in a bag, tling them out upon the ground 
 before they would fall into an exact poem, yea, or so 
 much as make a good discourse in prose ? And may not 
 a little book be as easily made by chance as this great 
 volume of the world ? How long might a man bo 
 sprinkling colours upon canvas, with a careless hand, 
 before they would happen to make the exact picture of 
 a man ? And is a man easier made by chance than this 
 picture ? How long might twenty thousand blind men, 
 which should be sent out from the several remote parts 
 of England, wander up and down before they would all 
 meet upon Salisbury Plains, and fall into rank and file 
 in the exact order of an army ? And yet this is much 
 more easy to be imagined than that the innumerable 
 blind parts of matter should rendezvous tlicmsclves into 
 a world." 
 
 We liave tlie mathematical theory on this subject, 
 with a most important application, laid down by an 
 eminent living mathematician. After stating that when 
 we have a question of pure numbers we can absolutely try 
 the question witli chance in precisely the same manner 
 in natural theology as we try it in (ho common affairs 
 of life, Professor Dc Morgan thns proceeds :*' — *' Let us 
 
 • Do Morgan's Easny on riobablllty, p. 25.
 
 48 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED, 
 
 assume, as we must, that a number produced bj chance 
 alone, (in the anti-deistical sense of the word,) might as 
 well have been any other as what it is. And further, let 
 us require, before we grant intelligence and contrivance, 
 not merely the presence of an adaptation, which would 
 have been unlikely from chance alone, but two such 
 phenomena perfectly distinct from each other considered 
 as phenomena, each of which might have existed with- 
 out the other, and both tending to the same object, which 
 would have been defeated by the absence of either. Let 
 it be also granted, to fix our ideas, that we admit as 
 proved a proposition which has a hundred million to one 
 in its favour. This being premised, and laying it down 
 as our object to shew that the necessary result of the 
 theoiy of probabilities lead to the conclusion that the 
 existence of contrivance is made at least as certain, bv 
 means of it, as any other result which can come from it, 
 we proceed to state a consequence. The action of the 
 planets upon each other, and that of the sun upon all, 
 (the most certain law of the universe,) would not produce 
 a permanent system, unless certain other conditions were 
 fulfilled which do not necessarily follow from the law of 
 attraction. The latter might have existed without the 
 former, or the former without the latter, for anything 
 we know to the contrary.* Two of these conditions are, 
 that the orbital motions must be all in the same direc- 
 tion, and also that the inclinations of the planes of these 
 orbits must not be considerable. Granting a planetary 
 system, which is what ours is in every respect, except 
 either of these two, and it is mathematically shewn that 
 
 * An important note is here appended : — "The only way in which we can guess any 
 two things to he independent. It must he reinenihered as a result of the theory, that of 
 DiiMLCs perfectly unknown, the probability of their coming to act, when known, against 
 an argument is counterbalanced by the equal probability of the future discovery being 
 on the oLhcr side."
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 49 
 
 sucli a system must go to ruin ; its planets would not 
 preserve their distances from the sun. Neither of these 
 phenomena can be shewn to depend necessarily on the 
 other, or on any law which regulates the system in 
 general. For anything we Imow to the contrary, then, 
 they are distinct and independent circumstances of the 
 orscanization of the whole. Now, let us see what are the 
 phenomena in question. 
 
 "1. All the eleven planets yet discovered" [that is, 
 when the work was written] " move in one direction 
 round the sun. 2. Talcing one of them (the earth) as a 
 standard, the sum of all the angles made by the planes 
 of the orbits of the remaining ten, with the plane of the 
 earth's orbit, is less than a right angle, whereas it might 
 by possibility have been ten right angles. 
 
 " Now, it will hereafter be shewn that causes are likely 
 or unlikely, just in the same proportion that it is likely 
 or unlikely that observed events should follow from 
 them. Tlie most probable cause is that from which the 
 observed event could most easily have arisen. Taking 
 it, then, as certain that the preceding phenomena would 
 have followed from design, if such had existed, seeing 
 that they are absolutely necessary, ceteris manentihus, to 
 the maintenance of a system which that design, if it 
 exist, actually has organized, Ave proceed to inquire what 
 prospect there would have been of such a concurrence of 
 circumstances if a state of chance had been the only 
 antecedent. With regard to the sameness of the direc- 
 tions, either of which might have been from west to cast, 
 or from east to west, the case is i:)recisely similar to tlic 
 following : — There is a lottery containing black and 
 white balls, from each drawing of which it is as likely 
 a Idack ball shall iirise as a white one, what is the 
 chance of drawing eleven balls all wliite ? — Answer, 2047 
 
 3
 
 50 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED. 
 
 to one against it. With regard to the other question, our 
 position is this : — There is a lottery containing an infinite 
 number of counters, marked with all possible different 
 angles less than a right angle, in such a manner that 
 any angle is as likely to be drawn as another, so that in 
 10 drawings the sum of the angles drawn may be any- 
 thing under 10 right angles. Now, what is the chance 
 of ten drawings gi'V'ing collectively less than one right 
 angle ? — Answer, 10,000,000 to one against it. Now, 
 what is the chance of both these events coming together ? 
 — Answer, more than 20,000,000,000 to one against it. 
 It is consequently of the same degree of probability that 
 there has been something at work which is not chance in 
 the formation of the solar system. And the preceding 
 does not involve a line of argument addressed to our 
 perception of beauty or utility, but one which is applied 
 every day, numerically or not, to the common business of 
 life." 
 
 We have quoted this passage mainly for the mathe- 
 matical i)rinciples which it unfolds. Since the treatise 
 was written a great number of small planets have been 
 discovered. These all run in the same direction as the 
 planets previously discovered, and so add enormously to 
 the weight of the argument. It is true that the incli- 
 nation of some of them is considerable, but their mass 
 is so diminutive that this circumstance is not fitted to 
 produce any permanent disturbance.* 
 
 This is the argument from "Final Cause," as it is 
 commonly called. At the same time we are inclined to 
 
 * See nerscheVs " Outlines of Astronomy," p. 453. Sliould it be said all these con- 
 ditions can be accounted for by the hypothesis of the cooling and shrinking of a rotating 
 masa of heated cosmical matter, the answer is, that in order to the production of a world- 
 like ours out of such matter, there is need of a whole host of adjustments or collocations. 
 This subject will be formally taken up In the chapter of next Book which treats of the 
 Adjustments of Celestial Phenomena.
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 51 
 
 look upon the phrase as rather an unhappy one. The 
 word, according to the all but invariable usage of our 
 tongue, points to that which has efficiency ; and there is 
 nothing of the nature of power implied in the great class 
 of facts which we are now advancing. In this branch 
 of investigation we are contemplating not so much a 
 cause, as an end aimed at, by a combination of means, 
 by a concurrence of causes. The science which treats of 
 the relation of means and ends has an unexceptionable 
 name applied to it, and is called teleology. It would 
 serve several important ends to have an equally good 
 phrase to denote the class of facts wliich it is the business 
 of that science to explore. As "typos" and "cosmos" 
 have been naturalized into our language, we wish that 
 Bome high authority would introduce " telos" likewise. 
 In the absence of any such authorized phrase we shall 
 be obliged to employ final cause, or, in lieu of it, such 
 terms as aim and purpose, end and special end. We 
 are to shew that throughout the whole of nature there is 
 a union and co-operation of means for the production of 
 what are evidently ends, and such special ends as argue 
 a living being arranging the means in order to their 
 accomplishment. 
 
 It is not necessary, in order to the conclusiveness of 
 such an argument, that we should be able to say that 
 we have discovered the ultimate end aimed at in all 
 these concurrences of means to produce anterior or inter- 
 mediate ends. There are persons who seek to cloak the 
 hideousness of their atlieism under the guise of an 
 affected humility, urging it is not for them to be so 
 presumptuous as to pretend to detect the purposes of 
 Deity. And there might have been some plausibility in 
 this [)retext, provided it had been necessary, in order 
 to the validity of the argument, to determine the grand
 
 52 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED. 
 
 ultimate design of creation. But it is by no means 
 requisite in order to prove the existence of design that 
 we should be able to fathom all the depths of the Divine 
 counsels, and settle what is the last end of the Creator's 
 work. On seeing Napoleon Bonaparte gathering his 
 army to a given point — on finding one battalion coming 
 from one province and other battalions collecting from 
 other provinces, distant from the first and from each 
 other, persons would have been entitled to conclude that 
 these were means, and well-devised means, to an end, 
 and this though entirely ignorant of the ultimate pur- 
 pose to be efiected by the subordinate ends ; it would 
 be enough for them that they discovered the immediate 
 end and the means employed to accomplish it. On 
 precisely the same grounds are we justified in maintain- 
 ing that we observe in nature a singular combination of 
 means towards the production of an end. This end may 
 not be the final end of creation, but still it is an end — 
 a subordinate end, aimed at by a combination of means 
 arranged by intelligence. Nor can this inference be at 
 all affected by the circumstance that these ends are com- 
 monly found to be means towards some other, and a higher 
 end. In God's works all the means are ends, and all the 
 ends are means, and all means and subordinate ends are 
 obviously concurring towards a final consummation, which 
 man can not fully compass, but which he has abundant 
 reason — from the tendency of the inferior ends — to regard 
 as at once grand and beneficent. 
 
 The argument advanced under this head seems a 
 complete one in itself It does not require in order to 
 its conclusiveness that it should be proven that this 
 world has had a beginning, nor to look to any physical 
 facts except those adduced in the premises. The adjust- 
 ment of the bodies and forces of nature so as to produce
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. ' 53 
 
 harmonious and useful results, is in itself a proof of an 
 arrangement not casual but planned by intelligence. 
 "We require not, in order to its conclusiveness, to specify 
 the time when the adjustments were constituted, nor to 
 shew that God has created matter as well as arranged 
 it, nor even so much as that matter has had a beginning. 
 These other truths may be established more satisfactorily 
 after it has been demonstrated, from the design mani- 
 fested in the universe, that there is a God the author of 
 the design. 
 
 The force of the argument now adduced is not to be 
 turned aside by going back in the chain of causation, 
 and shewing how each of the combined circumstances, 
 which form this means towards an end, has proceeded 
 from a cause. We are not to discard final causes, as 
 Laplace used to do so summarily, as soon as the physical 
 cause of the individual circumstance is pointed out. 
 Nor are we, with Kant, to lay down the principle that 
 we are at liberty to call in final cause only when mecha- 
 nical cause fails to account for each particular fact. 
 The argument which we adduce in favour of final cause 
 is derived from the wonderful combination of physical 
 causes. It is freely admitted, that in the material uni- 
 verse every phenomenon has had a cause, but this does 
 not weaken the argument founded on the correspondence 
 between a number of associated phenomena, proceeding 
 from different and independent causes. No doubt it 
 forces us to acknowledge that there has been a correspon- 
 dence in the causes producing such concordant results, 
 but in carrying us back thus far it only opens uj) larger 
 views of the wisdom and foresight involved in a })laii 
 which contemplated such far-reaching conserpiences. In 
 Divine worknianshij), as also in the higher kinds of 
 human worknianHhiji, order and utility are commonly
 
 54 THE ADJUSTMENTS ARE DESIGNED. 
 
 produced by a long previously arranged consortment of 
 means or causes. For example, the crop whick the 
 cultivated ground yields is the result of a vast number of 
 preparations, human and Divine too, made long before. 
 It is the peculiarity of the Divine workmanship that we 
 can see in it a set of causes so ordered that they can pro- 
 duce a series or succession of orderly and benign results 
 going on from age to age. The plants and animals now 
 on the earth have all proceeded from progenitors created 
 many thousand years ago, and which were so constituted 
 as to produce an offspring after their kind. To argue 
 from the succession of such effects that they are not 
 designed, is to make the very beauty and perfection of 
 the work a proof that it has not proceeded from an intel- 
 lio;ent beino-. 
 
 Nor is the force of the argument to be weakened by 
 the attempt to discover an alleged contradiction ; if 
 everything, it is said, comes from God, there can be no- 
 thing casual, there is no room for chance, and therefore 
 no room for design as distinguished from chance. Now, 
 it is at once admitted that every physical occurrence may 
 be regarded as proceeding from! God ; at this point, that 
 is, in regard to the production of the event, there is no 
 room for accident. But while every event comes from 
 God, this does not prove that the coincidences between 
 every two events were designed by Him to produce a 
 specific end. God has no doubt appointed both the 
 eclipse and plague which may have happened the same 
 year, but this does not prove that He designed the one 
 dark event to foreshadow the other. As there may be 
 casual relations in nature, so there may be, so there are, 
 in nature designed concurrences, as distinguished from 
 accidental coincidences. All that is now occurring is 
 doubtless the result of collocations previously made, and
 
 NATURE OF CHANCE. 55 
 
 in tracing it back we must come to certain original col- 
 locations. At this point physical research stops, but all 
 inquiry is not arrested. The mind asks, whence this 
 systematic collocation of agents and forces which has 
 produced such good and useful results for thousands, or 
 it may be, milUons of years .^ The present so full of order 
 carries us- back to the past as also full of order, and shews 
 that the system now in operation had been planned from 
 the be2;inninij;. 
 
 Still less is the force of the argument to be evaded by 
 the miserable subterfuge of certain French materialists, 
 who tell us that this consorting of means and end is the 
 mere condition of existence. When it is found, for ex- 
 ample, that certain independent members of carnivorous 
 animals are in admirable harmony, the limbs for running 
 after the prey, the claws for seizing it, the muscles for 
 keeping hold of it, the teeth for tearing it, and the sto- 
 mach for digesting it, an attempt is made to avoid the 
 force of the appeal by urging that these are the condi- 
 tions of the existence of the animal. True, we reply, but 
 the argument is derived from the circumstance that these 
 independent conditions should meet so as to enable the 
 animal to exist and to enjoy existence. He who brings 
 in the principle of the conditions of existence will find 
 it, if legitimately followed out, landing him in a design- 
 ing intelligence no less certainly tlian tlie principle of 
 final cause does. The argument, wliether tor or against 
 theism, is not to be made to depend on a word or tlie 
 sliif'ting of a word. It is not to be established on the one 
 side by a verbal sophism about design implying a de- 
 signer, but neither is its overwhehiiing force to be turned 
 aside Ijy changing the word final cause for conditions of 
 existence. It seems that conditions are necessary to cer- 
 tain existences, and it is the concurrence of tliese condi-
 
 56 THE OBVIOUSNESS AND COMPLETENESS 
 
 tions, proceeding from various and independent quarters, 
 which proves so irresistibly that there must have been 
 design in their arrangement and collocation. 
 
 SECT. in. THE OBVIOUSNESS AND COMPLETENESS OF THE 
 
 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 
 
 The argument from adaptation to a particular end is 
 one which addresses itself to every human being. It is 
 suited to every intellect, and comes home to every man's 
 experience. 
 
 1. Every manual labourer may see something analo- 
 gous to the art by which he earns his livelihood operat- 
 ing among the natural objects by which he is surrounded. 
 
 The sailor may discover the peculiarities of his craft 
 among marine animals. Thus, among the lower tribes, 
 he has observed a jelly-fish — called by him the Portu- 
 guese man-of-war — setting up a sail which consists of a 
 crest surmounting the bladder. He may notice, too, how 
 the mussel and pinna anchor themselves by means of 
 threads of a horny material. The tail of the fish, it is 
 well known, acts as a scuttle, enabling its possessor to 
 plough its way through the deep. The web-foot of the 
 swimmers is an example of what is called "feathering 
 the oar ;" when advanced forward the web and toes col- 
 lapse ; the leg (usually so called) of the gillemot and 
 divers is compressed laterally, presenting a knife edge 
 before and behind, and thus gives resistance in the fore 
 and back stroke. It is also worthy of being mentioned, 
 as illustrating the same point, that the whale's tail col- 
 lapses in the upward but expands in the downward stroke. 
 
 The fisher, as he prepares the bladder to make the 
 edges of his net float on the water, may observe that the
 
 OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 57 
 
 sea-weed is buoyed on the surface of the deep by a con- 
 trivance more ingenious than his own, that is, by vesicjes 
 which act as floats. Most fishes have one or more blad- 
 ders filled with air, the amount of which is regulated by 
 the will of the animal, so that it can vary its depth, sink 
 or rise to the surface, as may suit its purposes. The 
 fisher, too, may see that if he has nets to catch the food 
 needful for his sustenance, so also have spiders and other 
 species of animals. 
 
 The shepherd knows how much care and watchfulness 
 are necessary in order to protect his flocks from the wild 
 beasts which attack them, and is thus led to admire the 
 instincts of those animals, such as the deer, which set a 
 watch to give a signal of danger. The hunter knows how 
 much cunning he must exercise in order to come within 
 reach of the wild animals pursued by him, and should not 
 withhold a feeling of wonder when he observes how their 
 instincts lead the brutes to shew such dexterity in avoid- 
 ing their natural enemies. The weapons with which he 
 and the fisher attack the animals which they wish to 
 .seize or kill, do not point more clearly to a purpose, than 
 the instruments, whether claws or teeth, with which they 
 defend themselves. The Aphrodite hispida, for example, 
 is furnished with very curious weapons of defence ; they 
 are harpoons with a double series of barbs, these are re- 
 tractile, and the animal can draw them into the body by 
 a muscular apparatus, and in order to prevent them, when 
 drawn in, from injuring the animal itself, each barbed 
 spine is furnished with a two-bladed horny sheath, wliich 
 closes on the barbs in the act of retraction. Some of these 
 provisi<ins have a reference to the native instincts of the 
 animals, others have rather a regard to the position of the 
 species. Thus we find that those liable to be chased as prey 
 often take the colour of the ground on wliidi Ihey habi- 
 
 3*
 
 58 THE OBVIOUSNESS AND. COMPLETENESS 
 
 tually feed. The riflemen of our army are dressed in the 
 hii^ which is deemed least conspicuous, and which is best 
 fitted for concealment ; and is there not an equally clear 
 23roof of design furnished by the circumstance that fishes 
 are often of the colour of the ground over which they 
 swim, and that wild animals are not unfrequently of the 
 colour of the covert in which they hide themselves ? 
 Thus the back of the young turbot may be seen of the 
 same colour as the sand on which it lies. The red grouse 
 and red defer are of the colour of the heath on which they 
 feed, whereas the lapwing and curlew, themselves and 
 their eggs, take the grey hue of the pasture among which 
 they are usually found. 
 
 The horticulturist and agriculturist regulate their 
 plans in accordance with the seasons, and in doing so 
 they should observe that the plants of the ground suit 
 themselves in regard to the time of budding, bearing 
 leaves and fruit, to the same seasons, which are all deter- 
 mined by the movements of the celestial bodies. The 
 builder may easily perceive that the woody structure of 
 plants and the bones of animals are constructed on archi- 
 tectural principles, being strengthened where weight has 
 to be suj)ported and pressure resisted, and becoming more 
 slender where lightness is required. The form of the 
 bole of a tree, and the manner in which it fixes itself into 
 the ground, so as to be able to face the storms of a hun- 
 dred winters, is said to have yielded some suggestions to 
 the celebrated engineer, Smeaton, in the construction of 
 the Eddystone Lighthouse. The architect of the Crystal 
 Palace confesses that he derived some of the ideas em- 
 bodied in that structure from observing the wonderful 
 provision made for bearing up the very broad leaf of the 
 beautiful lily which has been brought within these few 
 years from the marshes of Guiana to adorn our conser-
 
 OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 59 
 
 vatories. The weaver cannot but notice tliat there are 
 certain tribes of insects which fashion a web of finer tex- 
 ture than his own. The clothmaker obtains not a little 
 of the material of the fabrics with which he clothes the 
 human frame, from the covering provided for the lower 
 animals, and he derives it all from natural products. 
 When man wishes to protect his body from severe cold, 
 he steals their covering from the lower animals, and by 
 no means of his own devising 'can he furnish clothing so 
 warm as that which has been provided for the brutes in 
 the Arctic regions. The dyer and calico-printer, with 
 all the aids of modern chemistry, cannot produce such 
 rich and agreeable colours as are made to aj^pear for our 
 gratification in the flowers of plants and the plumage of 
 birds ; no doubt through the influence of j^rinciples wliich 
 have not been detected by the very deepest scientific re- 
 searcli. Rising higher in the arts we find the painter 
 taking credit to himself for the beauty of his figures and 
 colours ; but he cannot, w^itli all his skill and genius, 
 match tliose lovely ideal forms and exquisite tints which 
 everywhere fall under our eye in nature. 
 
 " Who can paint 
 Like nature? Can imagination boast, 
 Amid her gay creation, hues like these ? 
 What hand can mix them with that matchless skill, 
 And lay them on so delicately fine, 
 And lose them in each other, as appears 
 In every bud that blows?" 
 
 2. Every kind of contrivance, every principle of me- 
 chanism used ]jy man, is visibly employed in the opera- 
 tions of nature. The lamp ])laced in a window to direct 
 the benighted traveller, the lightliouse erected on the 
 harbour to guide the mariner io a i)lace of safety, are not 
 clearer and more decided illuHtrations of jKupose than
 
 60 THE OBVIOUSNESS AND COMPLETENESS 
 
 the phospliorescent spark by which the glowAvorm allures 
 its mate in the darkness of night. What contrivances- 
 does man resort to in order to keep his dwelling warm 
 and comfortable, but the physiologist will tell him that 
 there are still more wonderful schemes devised for keep- 
 ing up the heat of the bodily frame. 
 
 Every mechanical power employed by man is at work 
 in nature. There is as much skilful leverage in the 
 human frame as in the most ingenious human machine. 
 The pulleys by which heavy bodies are lifted from the 
 ground do not give such clear indications of means and 
 end, as the tendons and muscles by which the bones are 
 moved. The mechanician has often a large cylinder 
 running across or through his works, and to this he at- 
 taches the lesser parts of his machinery. Have we not a 
 similar contrivance in the backbone of the higher ani- 
 mals, and the axis of the plant, constituting the support 
 of all the appendages ^ Every one who has seen the 
 cord of plaited iron by which a carriage is dragged up 
 an inclined plane, and has noticed how in it strength and 
 flexibility are combined, should be prepared to admire 
 the different means by which the same end is effected in 
 the backbone of all animals, but especially in that of such 
 animals as the eel and the serpent. The mechanician 
 who wishes to combine the saving of materials and light- 
 ness with strength, makes his cylinder a hollow tube : it 
 is on this principle that Messrs. Stephenson and Fairbairn 
 have spanned the Mersey by a tubular bridge ; but the 
 principle was in operation before man adopted it, or was 
 created to observe it, in many of the bones of animals 
 which are hollow. Found in the bones of all grades of 
 living creatures, it is carried out to the greatest extent 
 where most needed in the bones of birds, so as to allow 
 them to float in the air. In the case of birds, too, the air
 
 OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. Gl 
 
 from the lungs permeates the larger bones as well as 
 the smaller parts, the higher temperature of the body 
 (10S°-112° F.) rarefies it, and imparts an increased 
 buoyancy to the whole frame. 
 
 Eveiy joint in the animal frame can be shewn to be 
 exactly suited to the function which it has to perform. 
 Where motion backward and forward in one direction is 
 all that is required, we have a common joint ; where mo- 
 tion all round is necessary, we have, as at the shoulder 
 and hip, the ball and socket-joint admitting of a rotatory 
 motion round a ball. We have a beautiful example of 
 ball and socket-joint in the sea-urchin, the spines of 
 which have a cuplike cavity at the base, which is fitted 
 to a converse tubercle on the shell, fixed by ligaments, 
 and combining strength and great freedom of motion. 
 In some parts of the animal frame, a single bone is all 
 that is required, and more would injure the strength ; in 
 other parts, as in the fore-arm, a kind of rotatory motion 
 is furnislied by two bones, a radius and an ulna, so ad- 
 justed as to move to some extent round each other. 
 
 Almost every sort of instrument employed by man has 
 something resembling it in the operations of nature. 
 The parts of the mouth of insects are made according to 
 the instincts and habits of the animal, to act now as saws, 
 now as knives, and, in the case of the leaf-cutting bees, 
 the mandibles become scissors. The hyena is led by its 
 instincts to crush the bones of carcases and feed on them ; 
 and when certain teeth of that animal were shewn by 
 I'rofcssor Owen to an engineer, they were declared by 
 him to l)e admirable models of hammers to break stones 
 for roads. The tongue of many shell-fish, tliat of the 
 common limpet for instance, has numerous siliceous 
 spines, and the organ is used as a rasp or drill. One end 
 of the shell of I'liolas resembles a file, and, by varied
 
 62 THE OBVIOUSNESS AND COMPLETENESS 
 
 motions, the animal makes for itself tunnels in clay and 
 in other substances. The foot of the mole is an admir- 
 able tunnellins; instrument, and enables it to construct 
 for itself those subterranean passages through which it 
 is led, by its instincts, to wend its way in search of food. 
 
 Instruments of a more peculiar nature, and instru- 
 ments invented by man only at a late date in the history 
 of the race, have all along had their analogues in nature. 
 Millstones are selected because they have gritty mate- 
 rials in the midst of softer substances ; and we find that, 
 on a like principle, soft and hard matters are mixed in 
 the grinding-teeth of mammals. The cupping instru- 
 ments of surgery were anticipated in the animal king- 
 dom ; the mouth of the leech combines in itself the offices 
 of cupping-glass and scarificator ; hence the import- 
 ance of the animal, as a remedial agent. It is also 
 worthy of notice in regard to this animal, that the 
 capacious stomach, with its lateral appendages or reser- 
 voirs, enables it to extract a very considerable quan- 
 tity of blood before being detached. Some of the feet 
 of argulus foliaceus, a jjarasite on various fresh-water 
 fishes, are so modified that they act as real suckers or 
 cupping-glasses ; by a certain arrangement of muscles 
 the animal can exhaust the cavity of its disc-like feet, and 
 produce a vacuum, and is thus enabled to stick closely 
 to the body of the fish. 
 
 The tubes and pipes which conduct water and gas 
 through all the streets and dwellings of a great city, are 
 not such ingenious contrivances as the veins and ai'teries 
 which convey the blood to every extremity of the frame. 
 The means by which water is forced to rise in a pump 
 are not so wonderful as those by which, proceeding on a 
 different principle, fluid is made to mount in the plant 
 to the most distant twig and leaf We construct valves
 
 OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 63 
 
 to allow fluids to pass in one direction, but to prevent 
 tliem from flowing back in the opposite direction ; but 
 before man devised such agency they were already in his 
 own veins ; and it was upon noticing them that Harvey, 
 l)roceeding, as he tells us, on the principle that they were 
 there to serve a purpose, was led to the discovery of the 
 circulation of the blood. In the back of the mouth of 
 the crocodile are two cartilaginous plates or valves, one 
 above, the other below ; these, acting as floodgates, cut 
 off communication between the mouth and throat, so 
 that the animal can hold its prey underneatli tlie water 
 till dead, and itself continue all the while to breathe by 
 its nostrils. 
 
 3. Among the most curious special modifications are 
 those in which there is a j^rovision made beforehand for 
 the support of living creatures not yet in existence. 
 Every one sees that there is foresight implied in parents 
 laying up wealth to promote the future comfort of tjieir 
 children ; but there are equally clear evidences of fore- 
 thought in the anticipations found among natural objects. 
 In expectation of the birth of her child the mother makes 
 preparation for its clothing and comfort ; but there has 
 been a preparation by another Designing Mind, so as to 
 cause the milk to flow at the very time at which it is 
 required for the sustenance of the infant. In the case 
 of animals developed from the egg, we find a store of 
 nourishment laid up beforehand in the yolk, part of 
 which is absorbed as food by the young chick or reptile. 
 In the egg-cases of the common wliite whelk of our coasts 
 there is a farther provision made for the sustenance of 
 the young animal, in the form of a supplemental yolk, as 
 it might be called. Each case, or capsule, contains several 
 hundred bodies having the apjjcarance of embryo, but 
 only a small niiiiii)iT in each capsule becomes living
 
 64 THE OBVIOUSNESS AND COMPLETENESS 
 
 creatures. There can be no doubt, from Dr. Carpenter's 
 observations, that these few are developed by the meta- 
 morphosis of the contents of their own yolks, but their 
 growth or increase in the size depends on the fact that 
 they swallow and feed upon the additional or supple- 
 mental yolk." 
 
 4. Not only are the different parts of the animal and 
 plant suited to each other, but there is a perfectibility 
 about them — they are better adapted than anything else 
 to the accomplishment of their end. There are examples 
 of this which have now become commonplace by the 
 eloquent expositions of them by Lord Brougham and 
 others. Every principle followed by the skilful optician 
 in the construction of artificial glasses has been attended 
 to in the formation of the eye, and difficulties which long 
 impeded the formation of perfect glasses were obviated 
 all along in the structure of the natural organ. Every 
 one interested in such investigations knows that bees 
 economize, on mathematical principles, the space which 
 they occupy and the wax which they emj)loy, by build- 
 ing their honeycombs of double layers of hexagonal 
 cells, and by having the floor of their cells made of 
 three square planes meeting at a point and at a par- 
 ticular angle. It is now said that this is produced by 
 the compound eye of the bee being divided by hexagonal 
 marks ; " and as the motions of the muscles of animals 
 are directed very mucli by the mode of admission of 
 light, the shape of the cells may be in accordance with 
 that of the surface of the eyes." f Be it so, it is only a 
 new illustration of the adjustment of natural instinct 
 and the structure of an organ to produce an end which 
 
 * Journal of Microscopical Science, April, 1855. 
 
 t Swan on the Brain in Relation to the Mind, p. 29. We are not convinced that the 
 explanation given by Swsin meets all the phenomena.
 
 OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 65 
 
 must have been contemplated, not by the intelligence of 
 the bee, but of Him who gave to the bee its endowments. 
 It has been shewn by mathematical investigation, that 
 the shape of fishes is that which is best fitted to enable 
 them to cleave their way through their native element. 
 At the time wlien it was disputed whether Newton or 
 Leibnitz was tlie inventor of that calculus which hay 
 opened the way to such splendid results in various 
 branches of science, John Bcrnouilli addressed a letter 
 to the most distinguished mathematicians of Europe, 
 challenging them to solve two difficult problems, one of 
 which was to determine the line through which a falling 
 body would descend most swiftly. Both of the distin- 
 guished men referred to, (and also M. de L'Hopital,) were 
 able to solve the problem, and declared the line of 
 swiftest descent to be not a straight line but a particular 
 curve called the cycloid. Now, it is believed that it is 
 by this very swoop that the eagle descends upon its ])rey. 
 Tlie question presses itself upon us. Who taught the biids 
 of the air the line of swiftest descent, the discovery of 
 which was believed to test the highest mathematical 
 skill ? 
 
 We have already referred to the univalve shells of mol- 
 luscs as illustrative of the principle of order,* There is 
 another circumstance in connection with these shells 
 worthy of being mentioned here, as connecting the prin- 
 ciple of general order with that of special adaptation. In 
 aquatic molluscs, the shell must not only be a habitation 
 f )r the animal, but a float, which it becomes, by tlie ])or- 
 tion of the narrower extremity of its chamber left unoc- 
 cupied, lint in order to preserve its buoyancy, and en- 
 able the animal to ascend and descend the water at wiM, 
 it is necessary that the increment of the capacity of its 
 
 ♦ Above, p. 23.
 
 66 THE OBVIOUSNESS AND COMPLETENESS 
 
 float should bear a constant ratio to the corresponding 
 increment of its body — a ratio which always assigns a 
 jjreater amount to the increment of the shell than to the 
 corresponding increment of the animal bulk. Now, it is 
 in accordance with the geometrical character of the form 
 assumed, that the capacity of the shell and the dimen- 
 sions of the animal do increase in a constant ratio, caus- 
 ing the whole bulk of the animal to bear a relation of 
 constantly increasing inequality to the whole capacity of 
 the shell. " God," says Mr. Mosely, " hath bestowed 
 upon this humble architect the practical skill of a learned 
 mathematician." * 
 
 5. It is a circumstance of great significance, that parts 
 of animals which, to superficial observers, might seem 
 useless, or even cumbersome and inconvenient, have been 
 found, in the progress of discovery, to serve most import- 
 ant ends in the economy of life. The hump of the 
 camel might readily be regarded as a very unseemly 
 encumbrance, and we find even the distinguished natural- 
 ist, BufPon, speaking of these humps, and of the callous 
 pads on the legs of that animal, as mere marks of degrad- 
 ation and servitude. A little patient investigation, how- 
 ever, suffices to shew that these parts of their frame, like 
 every other, fit these useful creatures for the purposes 
 served by them in the regions which they inhabit. It 
 has often been remarked that the abundant supply of 
 fluid laid up in the cells of one of the stomachs, is a beau- 
 tiful provision for enabling the animal to endure a long 
 continuance of thirst ; and it can be shewn that the en- 
 largement of their feet, with their convex soles, allows 
 them to tread easily on the loose, yielding sand of the 
 desert ; that the callosities or pads on their legs permit 
 them to lie down and repose on scorching surfaces ; and 
 
 * Philosophical Transactions, 1838.
 
 OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 67 
 
 that their humps arc supphes of superabundant nourish- 
 ment })rovided for their long journeys, so that, when 
 deprived of other food, their frames feed on this nutri- 
 ment ; and it has been observed that, at the close of a long 
 journey, their humps have been much diminished in size. 
 We are not surprised to find a man so proverbially 
 vain as BufFon failing to discover marks of desim in the 
 hump of the camel, but it is rather wonderful to tind 
 Cuvier, whose heart was so filled with admiration of the 
 Divine wisdom, speaking somewhat doubtfully of the 
 sloth. ■'•^ Its peculiar structure would, to use his language, 
 have been inconvenient if it had been intended that it 
 should support itself on its limbs, like most vertebrated 
 animals. But however incapable of walking, its frame 
 is admirably constructed for enabling it to hang by its 
 limbs on the branches of trees. Amid the great inter- 
 tangled forests of South America, stretching; for hundreds 
 
 O 7 O 
 
 of miles, it is by no means so slow in its movements ; at 
 least its motion is sufficiently quick to admit of its gather- 
 ing its sustenance. It has long, coarse, shaggy hairs to 
 protect it from insects ; it clings to the bough of the tree 
 by its two hinder claws, and commonly also by one of 
 the fore-limbs, and it employs its other arm in hooldng 
 in the foliage on which it browses. It can fling itself 
 from one branch of a tree to another ; and in the more 
 open parts of the forest, it can take advantage of windy 
 weather to throw itself from the tree which it has stript 
 to another covered with rich and tempting foliage. Such 
 facts as these go to prove that it is our own ignorance 
 and presumption which lead us to complain of the incon- 
 veniences of nature, and that a little more knowledge, 
 and, better still, a little more humility and ])atience, 
 would lead us to discover and acknowledge, that there 
 
 • Rigae Animal, voL I p. 224.
 
 68 OBVIOUSNESS OF THE SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 
 
 are admirable wisdom and benevolence even in those 
 parts of God's works which may seem to be useless, or 
 even injurious. 
 
 The problem which we are seeking to help to solve, is 
 stated so aptly and felicitously in the opening address of 
 the President at the last meeting of the British Associa- 
 tion for the Promotion of Science,* that we cannot refrain 
 from quoting the language, " In physiology, what is the 
 meaning of that great law of adherence to type and pat- 
 tern, standing behind, as it were, and in reserve, of that 
 other law by which organic structures are specially 
 adapted to special modes of life ? What is the relation 
 between these two laws ; and can any light be cast upon 
 it derived from the history of extinct forms, or from the 
 conditions to which we find that existing forms are sub- 
 jected ? In vegetable physiology do the same or similar 
 laws prevail ; or can we trace others, such as these on 
 the relations between structure, form, and colour, of which 
 clear indications have already been established ?" These 
 questions may best be answered by going round the vari- 
 ous kingdoms of nature, and placing examples of the two 
 governing laws alongside of each other. 
 
 * Duke of Argyle's Address as President of the British Association.
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 CO-ORDINATE SERIES OF FACTS, GIVING INDICATIONS 
 OF COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION THROUGH- 
 OUT THE VARIOUS KINGDOMS OF NATURE. 
 
 ^« ♦ ■» 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 
 SECT. I. ORDER IX THE STRUCTURE OF THE CIU.L, 
 
 Wp: are to be chiefly occupied in these chapters in 
 displaying the skill to be found in the j)lant and animal, 
 as built up into their finished forms, with all their har- 
 monious projiortions and varied fitnesses. But before 
 inspecting the finished temple, we may take a look at 
 the materials of which it is built, and these we shall find 
 to be like the stone of Solomon's temple, which "was 
 made ready before it was l)rought thither, so that there 
 was neither hanmicr nor axe nor any tool of iron heard 
 in the house wliile it was building." 
 
 It has long been admitted among botanists, that tlie 
 cell is the typical clement in the structure of the plant, 
 that the lower forms of plants actually consist of cells 
 separate and indej)endent, and that the higher are built 
 of 111*! same material, compacted into masses of varied 
 texture. •
 
 70 
 
 ORDER IN THE STRUCTURE 
 
 The general structure of the vegetable cell is very sim- 
 ple. On the outside there is a transparent membrane, 
 called cell- wall, enclosing another part which has received 
 A'arious names, as endochrome, or internal utricle. In 
 
 the fresh cell the cell-wall and 
 internal utricle are often in such 
 close contact that the presence 
 of the internal layer may be 
 overlooked ; but the action of 
 various chemical agents pro- 
 duces shrinking of the inner 
 layer, and thus its presence may 
 be demonstrated. The primary 
 form of the entire cell is stated by some authors to be 
 spherical ; the principal modifications in shape are gene- 
 rally regarded as departures from that type. We are 
 inclined to direct attention to the typical structure, rather 
 than to insist on a unity of primary form, since the latter 
 may depend on the original development of the cell. The 
 most usual structure of the animal cell is essentially the 
 same as that of the vegetable cell.f The question of this 
 identity, in other words, as to their being referrible to a 
 common type, has been recently examined by Professor 
 Huxley, who has proj^osed a new and convenient nomen- 
 clature. The outer part, or ceU-wall, he calls loeriplast, 
 or periplastic substance, and the contents he calls endo- 
 plast. The homologies of the parts of the animal and of 
 the vegetable cell had been the subject of discussion ; 
 Professor Huxley has arrived at the general result, that 
 "in all animal tissues, the internal part called nucleus is 
 the homologue of the contents or internal utricle of the 
 
 * Fig. 1. Section of leaf of Agave, shewing the cell-wall and contents. 
 t Sometimes that wliich corresponds to the internal part is alone present, in some of 
 the lower forms of both animals and plants.
 
 OF THE CELL. 
 
 71 
 
 plant, the other elements being invariably modifications 
 of the cell-wall or periplast." 
 
 The elements, therefore, of all animals and plants arc 
 referrible to a common tyi)e. 
 
 Animal-cells and plant-cells are microscopical, and 
 this is true whatever be the size of the entire animal 
 or plant. These minute cells bear the same relation to 
 the entire organism as the component materials of a 
 buildinsj; to the whole fabric. 
 
 SECT. II. SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS OF THE CELL. 
 
 1. In Plants. — Havmg found traces of unity in the 
 elementary structures of the plant, we proceed to inquire 
 into the relation between modifications of such and the 
 performance of certain functions necessary in the eco- 
 nomy of the plant, and essential to its existence and 
 increase. 
 
 Modifications of the cell have generally an evident 
 relation to some particular end to be accomplished, as„ 
 for examjile, to increase the density, the tenacity, or the 
 resisting power, or to furnish a passage to the fluids 
 needful to the life of the plant. The stone of a cherry 
 presents an example of cells 
 specially modified with the 
 view of increasing the power 
 of resistance. This is ac- 
 complished by additional 
 layers to the cell- wall, whicli 
 thus becomes very much in- 
 creased iu thickness. Similar 
 iniKlifications are met with in certain fruits — nuts, for 
 
 Fio. 2.* 
 
 • Fio. 2. Gritty matter of pear, longitudinal iind transvorso sections; innglilftcd. 
 The stone of a cborry or pcacb presents the same structure.
 
 72 
 
 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 instance, and in the skin of some seeds. We need scarcely 
 add how admirably snch tissues are fitted to give pro- 
 tection to the important parts within. The so-called 
 wood or woody fibre consists of elongated cells, 
 the walls of which are often thickened by secon- 
 dary deposits, thus adding great tenacity and 
 durability to the material. The woody part of 
 trees, as well as of smaller plants, consists mainly 
 of this substance ; it abounds where firmness, 
 tenacity, and elasticity are needful in the eco- 
 nomy of the plant ; and in the form of flax, 
 hemp, &c., man turns it to good account for his 
 own purposes. 
 
 Again, when free circulation of fluid is ne- 
 cessary, we find a tubular structure provided ; 
 the different modifications of vascular tissue, 
 known under the names of 
 ducts, spiral vessels, &c., 
 are examples. The pecu- 
 liar vessels admitted to 
 exist in certain plants hav- 
 ing a milky sap, are modifications 
 of cells for a special purpose ; they 
 are so constituted as to give free 
 passage to fluids by longitudinal as 
 well as lateral channels, the adjoin- 
 ing tubes having usually free com- 
 munication. It may not be easy 
 to recognise the cell type in such 
 a modification, but its nature be- 
 comes patent, if we suppose that a number of cells, of 
 whatever form, are attached in linear scries, and that the 
 
 Fig. 3.* 
 
 Fio. 4.t 
 
 * Fio. 3. Wood or woody tissue, composed of spindle-shaped cells, 
 t Fio, 4. Milk-vessels from dandelion.
 
 OF THE CELL. 73 
 
 partitions between them become obliterated ; it is obvi- 
 ous that a continuous tube or duct will be the result. 
 
 The pollen or fecundating matter of the plant, so 
 essential to the continuance of the species, consists of 
 transformed cells, and the first trace of the new plant is 
 also a cell, which is stimulated to full development by 
 the contents of the pollen cell. 
 
 These are some of the principal modifications of the 
 vegetable fabric ; a general plan prevails, which plan is 
 made to accommodate itself to some particular purpose, 
 whether this be to produce a tough or elastic fibre, a 
 hard structure for defence, or a tube required for the 
 passage of fluids. In the absence of such special and 
 evidently designed adaptations it seems evident that the 
 plants which have been so bountifully disseminated over 
 the surface of our world, would be unavailable for vari- 
 ous economic purposes, man could not derive from them 
 food and clothing for his person, nor covering and furni- 
 ture to his dwelling ; nay more, the very existence of 
 many vegetable forms is dependent on the special modi- 
 fications of their simple elements. 
 
 2. In Animals. — The higher endowments of the animal 
 organism imply, in the way of final cause, greater depar- 
 tures from the primitive cell structure, and, accordingly, 
 we meet with a greater number of more widely diverg- 
 ing modifications. The researches of difierent observers 
 liave, however, tended to shew that a common plan re- 
 gulates the nature of the primary tissues. We may now 
 proceed to inquire into modifications bearing a relation 
 to some necessary end in the economy of the animal. 
 
 The tliin pellicle wliicli is separated from tlio skiu in 
 consequence of a scald, or the application of a blistering 
 plaster, is called Epidermis ; in its different layers wc 
 can distinctly trace transitional forms of the typical cell. 
 
 4
 
 74 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 This part, thin and delicate although it be, is admirably 
 fitted to give protection to the tender and sensitive true 
 
 skin which lies beneath it, with- 
 ^=5^^^^^g out at the same time interfering 
 %Wf^ "^^^M^ ^^"^ "^^ function of sensation or 
 ^y^^ ^'^ ■ touch exercised by the latter. It 
 is specially worthy of notice that 
 where protection is more essential 
 than sensation, there is frequently a 
 very evident increase in the thick- 
 ness of the cuticle, as in the soles 
 of the feet and other parts. 
 
 Over all the internal free sur- 
 Fio. 0.* fices of the animal body, such as 
 
 the digestive canal, &c., there is a covering, denominated 
 Epithelium^ essentially of the same nature as the Epider- 
 mis ; the two are, in fact, continuous, and there is a gradual 
 transition from the one to the other. There are two 
 principal forms of epithelium ; the first consists of flat 
 polygonal cells, the second is composed of others almost 
 cylindrical, the free surface of the latter often shewing a 
 fringe of minute filaments, called cilia. Both these kinds 
 serve to protect the delicate surfaces on which they lie, 
 and doubtless act as secreting organs. The cilia of the 
 second form of epithelium, by their rapid motion, propel 
 over the surfaces fluids necessary for lubrication and other 
 
 purposes, and, no doubt, aid in 
 the expulsion of foreign bodies 
 of small size. 
 
 The Adipose Tissue, or Fat, as 
 Fig. gj^'^'^'™" j^ jg commonly called, presents 
 a very fine example of the cell type. The fat-cells may 
 
 * Fig. 5. Oblique section of epidermis, shewing its cellular structure, 
 + Fig. G. Cells of fat, or fatty tissue
 
 OF THE CELL. 75 
 
 1)C either spherical or polygonal, the latter being pro- 
 duced by the mutual pressure of aggregated cells. The 
 contents consist of oily matter, which each ceU has the 
 peculiar power of forming. The masses of fat thus 
 constituted arQ reservoirs of nourishment, to be used 
 up as occasion requires, and in some cases serve as 
 a soft bed for delicate organs, such as the eye. The 
 rounded contour of the body depends in a great mea- 
 sure on the presence and regular distribution of this 
 material. Where it is needed we find it, and where 
 its presence would be inconvenient it is never formed. 
 Thus, in the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, &c., 
 it is generally abundant, and serves as a protection 
 against pressure ; it is never deposited in the eyelids, 
 where its accumulation would undoubtedly be an ob- 
 stacle to the action of those important appendages of 
 the organ of vision. Further, being a bad conductor 
 of caloric, its abundance in certain animals of cold 
 regions, tends to prevent loss of animal heat ; and in 
 some aquatic species, as the seal, its presence diminishes 
 the specific gravity of the whole body, and thus facilitates 
 certain movements of the animal. 
 
 The Tendons^ Ligaments, &c., ard examples of fibres 
 knit together, and occupying certain parts of the body 
 for the performance of special functions. It is admitted 
 that all varieties of these may originate from cells, whicli 
 are skilfid modificati(ms of the t}q3e, admirably fitted to 
 accomplish tlie end they are made to serve. Tliere are 
 two difierent kinds of fibre, tlie wliite and yellow. The 
 white is inelastic, the yellow is highly elastic. The 
 former is present in the animal budy wherever strength 
 and economy of space are recpiisitc, and wherever ini- 
 ])ortant organs require protection and support. Tendons 
 and ligaments, the mem]>ranes which cover the brain
 
 76 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 and soft parts of the eye, &c., consist of inelastic fibre. 
 By means of the yellow elastic fibre the claws of the 
 feline tribe are kept retracted when not in use, and a 
 strong band of the same material, stretching between 
 the head, neck, and back, and acting as a, natural spring, 
 enables many animals to keep their heads up without 
 any active efTort on their part. 
 
 Cartilage, or Gristle, consists mainly of cells, with in- 
 tervening connecting substance, which may be homoge- 
 neous, as in the purer forms of cartilage, properly so called, 
 or the ceUs may have in the interstices white or yellow 
 fibre besides. Elasticity, flexibility, as well as solidity, 
 are properties possessed in an eminent degree by carti- 
 lage. 
 
 The cartilao-inous and fibro-cartilaginous modifica- 
 tions of the cell type are produced in parts of the body 
 where a solid material possessed of the properties above 
 mentioned is required. The flexibility and strength of 
 the soft part of the nose and of the external ear are ow- 
 ing to the combination of cartilage and fibre. The ends 
 of the bones forming the joints, have a covering of carti- 
 lage, and being thus padded, they are less liable to injury 
 by sudden shocks. The peculiar properties of the mate- 
 rials in question perform an all-important function in 
 the economy of the parts concerned in the formation of 
 the voice. The strength and elasticity of the entire 
 spinal column or back-bone depend chiefly on the inter- 
 vening cartilages by which the entire series of pieces is 
 connected. 
 
 Muscular Tissue or Muscle, constituting the flesh, com- 
 monly so called, presents, on careful examination, no 
 very remote departure from the cell type ; in fact, the 
 muscular tissue is essentially composed of modified cells, 
 which, being first arranged in linear series, with greater
 
 OF THE CELL. 
 
 77 
 
 Fig. 7.* 
 
 or less regularity, subsequently unite to constitute the 
 elementary fibres. It is unnecessary in such a work as 
 this, to enter into details regarding the 
 two varieties of muscular tissue, called 
 striped and smooth, and their respec- 
 tive properties ; suffice it to say, that 
 both perform most important functions 
 in the animal economy. The active 
 motions under the control of the will 
 present the greatest possible variety in 
 the amount of force exercised and the 
 resulting effect. How diflerent the 
 enormous muscular power exerted by 
 the whale, when it throws itself entirely 
 out of tlie water, from that put forth in the motions of 
 the eyelids, or of the little muscles which are concerned 
 in the modulation of the voice, and yet both are formed 
 by the same tissue ! The giant steam-hammer which can 
 weld a mass of iron, or simply crack the shell of a nut, 
 is not more capable of control, and exercises no greatea: 
 comparative range of force, than docs the muscular ap- 
 paratus of the animal frame. In singular contrast with 
 those masses of muscular matter subject to the control 
 of tlie will, are those over which we have no control, 
 fiucli as those of the heart, alimentary canal, &c. But 
 wliercver voluntary or involuntary muscles occur, they 
 are found precisely where each is most necessary in the 
 aiiimiil ecunomy. 
 
 Tim Bones. — But organs of a harder texture than any 
 of those ah-eady descriljud, are required in the annual 
 frame, eitlier to protect important parts, or to serve as 
 levers for the active functions of certain muscles. With- 
 out the bones the goodly frame of animals would be use- 
 
 • Fio. 7. Smooth muscular flbro from the renal vtln In inivn ; shows coll typo.
 
 78 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 less ; a due combination of soft and of "hard parts is 
 necessary ; active organs of motion must have relation to 
 others which are passive ; levers must be provided to 
 sustain and direct the force exercised by the muscular 
 system. 
 
 In a subsequent part of this work we shall have occa- 
 sion to speak of types and modifications in the general 
 arrangement of the animpJ skeleton ; it may be sufficient 
 to state here that in minute structure the skeleton con- 
 forms itself to the same type as the soft parts. But 
 since hardness is requisite, there is superadded to the 
 cellular element a very large proportion of earthy matter, 
 consisting chiefly of phosphate of lime. 
 
 Nervous Tissue is another modification of the cell 
 type, for a very important function in the animal frame. 
 The presence and peculiar functions of the nervous sys- 
 tem specially distinguished the animal from the vegetable 
 kingdom. The intercourse of animals with their fellows, 
 and with the external world, depends on the presence of 
 a system of nerves, which are necessary to sensation and 
 to the exercise of every mental endowment. Whatever 
 may be the form under which nervous matter appears in 
 the animal body, whether fibres or ganglia, the modi- 
 fication of the cell type can be traced in course of the 
 development. 
 
 Not only, however, do cells, or their modifications, act 
 an important part in the protection of surfaces, the sup- 
 port and strengthening of organs, and the performance 
 of various active motions, they are also the chief instru- 
 ments in other functions of the animal economy. With 
 the exception of the simplest or very lowest tribes, there 
 is in all animals a system of Vessels for the conveyance of 
 fluid ; these owe their primary origin to cells arranged in 
 linear series. In all animals havins: a true circulation,
 
 OF THE CELL. 79 
 
 simple isolated cells form an important part of the circu- 
 lating fluid ; the Blood-Corpuscles — as they are com- 
 monly called — to which that fluid owes its colour, are 
 truly refeiTihle to the cell type. The food, after under- 
 going certain changes in the stomach and alimentary 
 canal, constitutes tlie fluid called chyle ; it is admitted 
 that certain Epithelial cells select and absorb the mate- 
 rials of the chyle, and, becoming turgid with them, 
 subsequently transfer them to minute vessels — the lac- 
 teals, which convey them to the blood-vessels. In the 
 stomach and alimentary canal, certain cells are actively 
 engaged in pouring out some peculiar and useful secre- 
 tion. In the stomach such cells arc continually form- 
 ing new broods, which pass out in great numbers, their 
 contents yielding matters necessary in the process of 
 digestion. 
 
 There are organs whose function it is to separate 
 matters for some special use, as the milk for the nour- 
 ishment of the young, or to remove substances whose 
 l»resence would be injurious if retained. It is unneces- 
 sary here to enter into details regarding these various 
 organs ; suffice it to say that their essentially important 
 l)arts belong to the cell type. In short, we find that in 
 the animal body sonic special modification of the cell 
 is concerned in every important function. Cartilage, 
 bone, muscle, nerve, serve different ends in the animal 
 economy, but the cell is the essential element in each. 
 The formation of an image in the eye is mainly effected 
 by the ()])tical ])ropertics of parts having a cellular 
 origin, and the impression is conveyed by another tissue, 
 which, as we have already stated, may be referred to the 
 Kamc general type. 
 
 In a subsequent section we sliall have occasion to 
 allude to tlie general structure as well as modifications
 
 80 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS OF THE CELL. 
 
 of Teeth. Details respecting their mode of development 
 would be out of place here ; it may be sufficient to state 
 that cells perform an essential part in the formation of 
 every tooth. 
 
 Nails, Hoofs, Horn, are all essentially Epidermic pro- 
 ducts, and necessarily partake of the nature of that part 
 of the skin, that is, are modilications of the cell. Their 
 importance in the animal economy is too obvious to re- 
 quire discussion, serving as they do to protect delicate 
 parts, and to act as means of defence and offence. 
 
 Hairs and Feathers, notwithstanding their variety in 
 color and texture, have a common origin in cells. The 
 thick and warm fur of the hare, the smooth and silky 
 coat of the mole, the spines of the hedgehog, the quills 
 of the porcupine, and the coarse hairs — resembling split 
 whalebone — of the elephant and ant-bear, are all mere 
 modifications of the elemental cell, and each has a re- 
 ference more or less obvious to the habits of the animal. 
 The hairs of the mole are closely set, they stand out per- 
 pendicularly ; in other words, have no particular shed, 
 and thus present no obstacle to the rapid movements of 
 this burrower when traversing its narrow and intricate 
 subterranean tunnels. The spines of the hedgehog and 
 the shar}3 quills of the porcupine are respectively admir- 
 able means of protection to these otherwise defenceless 
 animals. Feathers, constructed, as we have said, after 
 the same cellular type as hairs, present similar modifica- 
 tions in character, varying with the habits of particular 
 birds. The soft plumage of owls enables them noise- 
 lessly to steal on their agile prey. The thick-set feathers 
 and down of divers and other aquatic birds, effectually 
 repel the water and prevent soiling of surface, as well as 
 loss of animal heat.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FORMS OF PLANTS. 
 SECT. I. ^TRACES OF ORDER IX THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 " When Jupiter," says Herder, "was summoning the 
 creation, which he meditated in ideal form before him, 
 he beckoned, and Flora appeared among the rest. Who 
 can describe her charms, who can image forth her beauty.^ 
 Whatever the earth showers from lier virgin-lap was 
 mingled in her shape, her colour, her drapery." We are 
 to attempt no description of her beauty, which can bo 
 appreciated only by those who look upon her charms di- 
 rectly, and not through any representation of them. But 
 we are to attempt to give something like a scientific ac- 
 count of that development and structure, of that disposi- 
 tion of parts and distribution of colours, which mainly 
 contribute to give to the plant its graceful proportions and 
 its loveliness. Our present aim is to show that there arc 
 system and design in the progress of the plant, from tlio 
 time it sjirings from the seed to the time when it yields 
 seed, and tliat there are determined types to wliich all its 
 organs are made to conform themselves.'^ 
 
 Botanists describe two modifications in the structure 
 of the seeds of the liigher forms of plants. In a })ca or 
 
 • W« aro to conHno our illustratlona lo flowering plants, pnrlly bocouso tlio ordor in 
 thcBo cln-w'.^ ufplniiln Is inont vastly cxplulnud, but inolnly bcciiusc tlio morphology of 
 the lower trlbfs of plant-i li;\t not been ho fully Invcatlgatod.
 
 82 
 
 TRACES OF OEDER 
 
 Fig. S.* 
 
 bean, we observe that the principal bulk of the seed con- 
 sists of two large bodies in close contact ; they are called 
 seed-lobes, or seed-leaves, and, technically. Cotyledons. 
 
 When two are present, the 
 plant is a Dicotyledon. Be- 
 tween these organs we ob- 
 serve the rudiments of the 
 future stem and leaves. In 
 other plants, such as the 
 oat, wheat, Indian corn, etc., 
 there appears to be only one 
 cotyledon, and such plants are called Monocotyledons. 
 There is a difference between these two kinds of seeds as 
 regards the process of germination ; but it 
 will suffice for our purpose, to state that in 
 both there is a general tendency in one part 
 to fix itself in the soil, while the other tends 
 to raise above it into the air ; the former is 
 the root or descending axis, the latter the stem 
 or ascending axis. Mere position in reference 
 to the soil is not, however, an invariable test 
 of the nature of a part whether stem or root ; 
 fur there are not a few instances in which 
 the true permanent stem is underground, as 
 well as the proper root. But whatever be the position of 
 these organs, we may see in the plant a continuous prin- 
 cipal axis, one part of which constitutes the root, and the 
 other the stem. Attached to the latter there are various 
 appendages. 
 
 * Fig. 8. Embryo of Poa, sbewint; the point where the young root arises, r; the 
 young stem or plumule, g ; the stalk, t ; connected with the cotylcdoiis, c c, which are 
 separated and laid open ; f, the depression in which the plumule lay. 
 
 t Fia. 9. Vertical section of grain of oats, .shewing the embryo plant at the lower 
 part, consisting of r , the parts whence the roots proceed ; g, the young stem ; c, the 
 single cotyledon. The covering of the entire gniin, o ; covering of the seed proper, t; 
 the nourishing mattei', or albumen, a.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 83 
 
 On the ascending axis of the plant, "we observe two 
 kinds of appendages, leaves and huds. These last, how- 
 ever, are mere repetitions of the plant ; each bud con- 
 sisting of a short axis, and of lateral organs — the yoimg 
 leaves. 
 
 The Leaf, therefore, is the only essential typical appen- 
 dage of the vegetable organism. It requires no minute 
 description here ; the most inexperienced observer can 
 
 recognize it 
 
 it belongs to the class of " common things. 
 
 The study of its many forms lies within the province of 
 the botanist. 
 
 While this typical appendage varies in outline, its 
 general structure is simple enough. The outer surface 
 
 Fig. 10.* 
 
 Fig. ll.t 
 
 Fio. 124 
 
 has a covering called cuticle or skin; the internal portion, 
 parenchyma, as it is technically called, has ramifying 
 
 ♦ Fio. 10. To shew curved venntlon of Kiulofren. 
 
 t Fio. 11. To kIicw ilivcr(,'ent venatiun of Kiidoficn. 
 
 % Fw. 12. To shew netted venation of Exogen— cherry leaf.
 
 84 
 
 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 througli it the parts called veins.* These different parts, 
 of which the leaf is made up, are all modifications of the 
 typical cell, already described. Botanists have described 
 a difference of the arrangement of the leaf-veins, between 
 monocotyledons and dicotyledons. In the first of these two 
 classes, there may be simple veins running more or less 
 parallel to each other from end to end of the leaf {Fig. 10), 
 or there may be only one principal vein (midrib) giving off 
 lateral veins, all of which run parallel to each other {Fig. 
 11). In dicotyledons, on the other hand, there may be one 
 or more principal veins giving off numerous branches and 
 branchlets on each side, thus constituting a more or less 
 complicated network {Fig. 12). Lilies, pahns, bananas, 
 &c., present examples of parallel venation; the oak, beech, 
 &c., have the netted form. But it may further be observed, 
 that there is a relation between the structure of the stem 
 and of the seed, and the venation. Dicotyledons have 
 
 Fig. 13.* 
 
 Fig. 14.t 
 
 the stem conposed of concentric annual zones, as may be 
 seen on a transverse section. Monocotyledons present 
 no such appearance, the vascular parts do not form con- 
 centric zones, but are broken up into bundles, giving a 
 
 * Skeleton leaves, either prepared artificially or found among fallen leaves after long 
 exposure to the weather, consist of these alone, skin and parenchyma having disap- 
 peared. 
 
 * Fig. 13. Transverse section, stem of oak, an F.vogen, or dicotyledon. 
 
 t Fig. 14. Transverse section, stem of palm, an Endogen, or monocotyledon.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 85 
 
 dotted appearance to the stem when cut across. We may 
 now proceed to examine certain appendages of the stem, 
 in order to shew that although they are named as if dif- 
 ferent in nature from stem and leaf, they are in reality 
 modifications of one or other of these. 
 
 Stipules are leaf-like organs, situated on either side of 
 the point at which the leaf is attached to the stem, some- 
 times adhering to the stalk of the leaf, at other times 
 free. They have various forms, and differ also in size 
 and texture, according to the plant in which we examine 
 them. It may be observed, however, that they are not 
 always present, and are not therefore necessary organs. 
 They are evidently modifications of the leaf, and have 
 the same general structure and functions. 
 
 Pitchers. — These remarkable and beautiful appendages 
 might afford models to the potter in the construction of 
 vases for ornamental and useful purposes. Those of the 
 Sarracenia of North America, usually called Indian-cups, 
 and the still more remarkable and elegant organs of 
 Nepenthes, or true pitcher-plant, are examples. They 
 are all admitted by botanists to be merely modifications 
 of the leaf type. 
 
 FlajUodia, so called from their leaf-like appearance, 
 are present in not a few plants. In some Australian 
 acacias they are flattened leaf-stalks ; when young, they 
 arc of narrow dimensions, and actually bear true leaves 
 of small size ; when the true leaves droj) off, these modi- 
 fied leaf-stalks increase in breadth. In some shrubby 
 species of wood-sorrel, the transition from leaf-bearing to 
 leafless flattened stalks can be clearly traced.* 
 
 Hairs, scurfs or scales, glands, stings, and prickles, &c., 
 
 * The phyllodia of Butcher'B-broom, of Xylopliylla, and of rhyllocliuliis, usually con- 
 sidered to be flattened and leaf-like branches, may be taken as proof of the relation 
 between branch and leaf.
 
 86 TKACES OF ORDER 
 
 are simple prolongations and modifications of the cells 
 which form the external covering of the leaf or stem. In 
 dandelion, and numerous other jjlants of the family 
 Composita), as well as of some other natural orders, the 
 divisions of the calyx become transformed into hairs or 
 hair-like organs. Lenticular glands or lenticels, sup- 
 posed to be connected with the formation of new or 
 adventitious roots, and jDeculiar in their nature, are 
 now known to be the homologues of cuticular appen- 
 dages. They present, in different cases, a gradation to 
 hairs, glands, &c. (See Comptes Rendus, August 
 1855.) 
 
 Spines are abortive branches ending in sharp points. 
 That this is their nature is evident from such cases 
 as the following : first, they often produce buds and 
 leaves, as in the hawthorn ; second, they have the same 
 general structure as the stem and ordinary branches, 
 and are therefore not appendages of the surface merely ; 
 third, they occasionally become branched, as in Gle- 
 ditschia. 
 
 Tendrils are thread-like organs, which have the same 
 properties as twining stems. They vary in their true 
 nature. In Gloriosa superba, the midrib or principal 
 vein of the leaf becomes lengthened, and assumes the 
 appearance and functions of a tendril. In the Vanilla 
 plant, the whole leaf sometimes undergoes a similar 
 transformation. In the pea, vetch, &c., which have com- 
 pound leaves, the end of the common footstalk forms the 
 tendril. In Lathyrus aphaca, not merely the end, but 
 the entire stalk of the compound leaf assumes a similar 
 form. That such is the nature of the tendril in this 
 plant is evident from the fact that occasionally a small 
 leaf is developed upon it. In Smilax, the two tendrils at 
 the base of the leaf are the homologues of the two sti-
 
 IN THE ORGANS .OF PLANTS. 87 
 
 pules, and the solitary tliread-Kke appendage or tendril 
 at the point of attachment of the cucumber leaf, is also 
 the representative of a stipide. The tendrils in passion- 
 flower are the homologues of terminal, and in the vine, 
 of lateral leaf-buds. 
 
 The tasteful eye cannot fail to be delighted with the 
 liveliness and freshness of summer tints, and the gorge- 
 ousness of autumnal colouring, in the foliage of our forest 
 trees. Variety of form ^nd diversity of size add to the 
 assthetic feelings called forth by the umbrageous canopy 
 of the vegetable world. Our pleasure and admiration 
 are greatly enhanced when we proceed to examine more 
 closely tlie disposition of the several j^arts. A casual 
 glance, indeed, at a tree in full leaf, might leave upon 
 the mind the impression that its parts were arranged 
 according to no law, but this arises from the exuberance 
 of the leafy covering hiding the wonderful method in the 
 structure. A careful examination will soon reveal to us 
 that vegetable arrangements are subject to mathema- 
 tical laws, not less exact in themselves (though ad- 
 mitting, for sfiecial ends, of wider deviations) than those 
 which regulate the movements of the planets in their 
 spheres. 
 
 The arrangement of the typical appendages has been 
 fully examined by Braun, Henslow, and others. The 
 former has endeavoured to shew mathematically, not 
 only that the spiral regulates the position of the appen- 
 dages of the stem, but tliat each species is subject to fixed 
 laws, by wliich tlie nature of the spires, and in many 
 cases their number, is determined. 
 
 The part of the stem or branch from which a leaf ori- 
 ginates, is called a node, the intervening space an inter- 
 node. Leaves are said to be alternate, when eacli node 
 produces a single leaf, and when the successive leaves
 
 88 
 
 TRACES. OF ORDER 
 
 occupy alternately different sides of the stem. When 
 there is such an arrangement, a line commencing at the 
 first leaf, passing round the stem, and touching 
 the point of attachment of each succeeding leaf, 
 forms a sj^iral, the cycle ending with the leaf 
 placed directly above the one from which we set 
 out. When two leaves originate from a node, 
 and are placed face to face, they are called 
 /jVZ' opposite, and such position has been explained 
 ^^^^ by some, on the supposition of two spirals pass- 
 ing simultaneously up the stem. Three or 
 more leaves springing from a 
 node form a whorl; such po- 
 sition may be owing to the 
 ^^Jj::'r"f non-development of the inter- 
 L'^ nodes of an entire cycle, each 
 ^®' ^^■* spiral being thus reduced to a 
 circle. In opposite and whorled leaves, 
 we find not less evident traces of order 
 as regards the individual leaves of suc- 
 cessive nodes. In opposite leaves, for 
 example, the pairs of leaves stand at 
 right angles to each other; and in the 
 whorled, the leaves of each often stand 
 opposite to the spaces between those of 
 the next. 
 
 The beauty and simplicity of such an aiTangement as 
 the spiral can be clearly seen and appreciated by exa- 
 mining a branch of an Araucaria, or the cone of any fir.| 
 
 Fio. 16.t 
 
 * Fio. 15. A stem with alternato leaves jjrranged in aquinciincial manner. The sixth 
 teaf is directly above the first, and commences the second cycle, expressed by fraction f . 
 
 t Fio. 16. A stem with opposite leaves. The pairs aro placed at right angles alter- 
 nately. 
 
 t The spiral twisting of an entire organism, or of some of its parts, is worthy of notice 
 here : for Instance, the stems of twinin?; plants, as honeysuckle, convolvulus, &c. The
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 89 
 
 In the spiral, the number of turns made round the 
 stem in completing the cycle is different, and we cannot 
 do better than introduce here the following demonstra- 
 tions and examples, as given in Professor Balfour's 
 " Class-Book of Botany." 
 
 Suppose that, commencing with a leaf No. 1, we reach 
 leaf No. 8 directly above No, 1, after making three turns 
 round the stem, the fraction indicating such an arrange- 
 ment would be J. In another case we may reach No. 8 
 after one turn ; the fraction would then be 4. The frac- 
 tions mark the angular divergence between any two 
 leaves of the cycle, as represented in the divided circles 
 
 Fig. it. 
 
 Fig. 18. 
 
 at the upper part of the stems. In Fig. 17, between 1 
 and 2, tlie angular divergence is obviously f of a circle, 
 or ^ of 360° = 154^°. In Fig. 18, the divergence is 4 of 
 the circle, or ^ of 360° == 51f. 
 
 leaves of many plants while in tlie bud, of banana, for instance, and some ini)<lifications 
 of loaves and branches, follow the same law, such as tendrils, the flower-stalk of Cycla- 
 men, the seed-vessel of Streptocarpus, itc. Anions the lower tribes we observe similar 
 instaiice.s, as in the sea-weed Cliorda flluin; in species of Dcstnidium found In fresh 
 water; the teeth surrounding the mouth of the capsule of some mosses, and in others 
 besides. The "winding of leaves" has been recently examined by Wicluira, " Flora, 
 1852."
 
 90 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 The following are some of the usual modes of diver- 
 gence of leaves, and of their modifications : — 
 
 Distichous ; 4, as in lime-tree, &c. 
 Tristiebous ; i as in Cereus triangularis, &c. 
 Quincunx ; |, as in apple, cherry, &c. 
 §, as in holly, laurel, &c. 
 
 y^3, as in wormwood, &c. 
 
 -gy, as in cones of Pinus Pinea, &c. 
 
 W, as in Plantago medica, &c. 
 
 §i, as in cones of some pines. 
 
 AU these fractions embrace common arrangements ; 
 each bears a constant relation to the other ; the numera- 
 tor of each fraction is equal to the sum of the numerators 
 of the two preceding fractions, while the denominator is 
 the sum of the two preceding denominators, and the nu- 
 merator of each is likewise the denominator of- the next 
 but one preceding.* Such arrangements in regard to 
 position and number may possess little interest in the 
 estimation of some, and may seem of minor import, but 
 they awaken profound reflections in the minds of all 
 who are disposed to trace the indications of intelligence 
 in the works of natm-e. 
 
 Organs of Bej^roduction. — The stem and its append- 
 ages present us with almost innumerable phases of de- 
 parture from the primitive type, thus giving a variety of 
 aspect to the vegetable world, pleasing to the eye and 
 instructive to the mind. The production of flowers and 
 fruit, whicli is the final effort of every plant, immeasur- 
 ably enhances its value, and adds much to the variety 
 and the pleasing effects produced by it. In order to the 
 " herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after 
 his kind," that is, fulfilling one of the very obvious ends 
 of their existence, there must be superadded an endless 
 diversity and combination of contrivances. These con- 
 
 * Balfour's Class-Book of Botany, p. 99.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 91 
 
 . trivances, while they enable the plant to fulfil its func- 
 tions, are made by Him who accomplishes several ends 
 by one and the same means, to minister to the pleasm'e 
 of man by the aesthetic feelings stirred up. These parts 
 were described hj Linnreus, in one of his few poetical 
 fits, as the "nuptial dress:" — they are "In glory gar- 
 mented, each in its own." 
 
 Bracts are parts intervening between the ordinary 
 leaves and the flower, properly so called. They usually 
 have a flower in the angle formed between them and the 
 stem. So closely do they resemble leaves in most plants 
 that it is not easy to define the difference. In many 
 cases they have the same colour as leaves, but differ from 
 them in size and form. In other cases their colour is 
 materially diflerent ; in certain species of Salvia, for in- 
 stance, they are as biilliant as the flower. There are 
 plants in which they exceed the flower itself in size and 
 beauty, as, for example. Euphorbia splendens. When 
 very numerous, as in the daisy, the cup of the acorn, 
 &c., it is very obvious that, like leaves, they obey the law 
 of the spiral. It is worthy of notice, that in Marc- 
 graavia and Norantea tliey resemble pitchers, just as 
 leaves become transformed into similarly modified ap- 
 pendages. Bracts, therefore, present us with examples of 
 transition between true leaves and the parts of the flower. 
 
 Inflorescence, or arrangement of flowers on the stem. 
 There is evidently a plan running througli all such 
 arrangements, just as the spiral law regulates the j^osi- 
 tion of the typical appendages. As we shall presently 
 shew, flowers consist of parts essentially of the same 
 nature as leaves, and flower-buds may, thci-efore, be 
 expected to follow the same law of position as leaf-buds. 
 
 The Floioer and its jmrts. — The idea that tlie leaf is 
 the type of all the floral organs originated witli Linna3us.
 
 92 
 
 TKACES OF ORDER 
 
 A clearer enunciation of this theoiy, and a fuller develop- 
 ment of the whole, were made by the poet Goethe, We 
 now proceed to an examination of this interesting subject. 
 
 A complete flower, usually so called, consists of four 
 series of organs, succeeding each other from below up- 
 wards, viz., calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. The 
 two first of these, usually so ornamental, are not unfre- 
 quently absent ; the two last are, properly speaking, the 
 only essential parts of a flower. If all these organs are 
 of the same nature as leaves, we ought to find similarity 
 of general structure, and like obedience to the law of 
 position. 
 
 Calyx. — This, which constitutes the outermost of the 
 parts which enter into the formation of a complete flower, 
 consists naturally of separate pieces, called sepals ; these 
 
 
 Fio. 19.* 
 
 Fig. 20.t 
 
 have usually the appearance of leaves, and exactly re- 
 semble them in structure. In the common bugle (Ajuga 
 reptans) we find a gradual transition from below upwards, 
 from leaf to hract, the lower bracts being of the same 
 colour and form as leaves, while further up they gradu- 
 
 ♦ Fig. 19. Diagram of symmetrical pentaraerous flower, sliewing four whorls or con- 
 centric series of organs, viz. outer row of five sepals, the calyx ; second row of five 
 petals, the corolla; third row, the five stamens; fourth row, the five pistils. (Flower 
 of a Dicotyledon.) 
 
 t Fio. 20. Diaijiam of (he symmetrical trimcrous flower of Frifillar.v, having three 
 divisions of calyx, and three of corolla; six stamens In two rows; and a pistil composed 
 of three united. (Flower of a Monocotyledon.)
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 93 
 
 ally assume a bluish purple tint, while their venation is 
 also modified, in both which respects they resemble the 
 calyx. But this is only one of the many instances in 
 which we can trace upon the same plant a transition from 
 leaf to bract, and from bract to sepal. 
 
 Corolla. — The term flower is, in common language, 
 employed to express that part which is most brilliant in 
 colour ; this, in botanical language, is the corolla, and 
 the pieces of it are called petals. In fuchsia the calyx 
 and corolla are equally conspicuous in colour ; nay, in 
 gome varieties the former is the more splendid of the 
 two. In monocotyledons, the two whorls, that of the 
 calyx and corolla, generally resemble each other both in 
 form and colour ; thus, in Herb Paris there is a striking 
 similarity between them. Magnolia, certain species of 
 water-lily, and other plants, present in the same flower a 
 decided transition from calyx to corolla, and the converse. 
 In general structure the two organs are little different. 
 We have already seen that the transition from leaves to 
 bracts, and from the latter to sepals, is obvious enough ; 
 and as the two first are evidently of the same nature, so 
 it may be inferred that sepals and petals are really con- 
 structed after the leaf type ; and the highest authorities 
 are agreed on tliis point. 
 
 Stamens. — These, which form the third series of floral 
 organs, from without inwards (see Fig. 19), present the 
 greatest departure from the type of the leaf, there being 
 a general diminution of superticial extent, with an in- 
 crease of thickness at the extremity. A jjerfect stamen 
 consists of two parts, autlier and filament, the latter 
 corresponding to the leaf-stalk, the former to the blade. 
 The filament is no more essential to the anther than the 
 stalk is to tlio blade of the leaf, and is often absent. 
 In many double flowers we observe a series of changes,
 
 94 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 which iUustrate the true nature of the stamen. It is 
 clearly demonstrable in some double roses, the stamen 
 
 Fig. 21 * 
 
 passing from its normal condition into a petal, and this 
 again into a sepal. The common white water-lily pre- 
 sents us with the same transition as its natural structure. 
 
 Since, then, bracts are of the same nature as the leaf, 
 and bracts are allied to sepals, and sepals to petals, and 
 all this in more than one particular ; and as petals pass 
 into stamens, and the converse, all may be regarded as 
 formed after the same type. 
 
 The part of the stamen called anther corresponds to 
 the blade of a leaf ; its two halves represent the two por- 
 tions of the leaf divided by the midrib, and the whole 
 surrounded by cuticle, and containing cellular tissue or 
 parenchima, some part of which becomes transformed 
 into the pollen or fecundating powder of the plant, so es- 
 sential to the formation of the seed. 
 
 Pistil. — This central organ of the flower more resem- 
 bles the tyi^ical leaf than the stamen. It differs from 
 the three outer whorls of the flower in this respect, that 
 when simple it is generally the representative of a leaf 
 folded upon itself, and with some of its parts adhering 
 more or less together ; the same is true of its individual 
 pieces when it is compound.* This folding and adhe- 
 sion of the seed-vessel is not always complete, as we may 
 
 * Fio. 21. Transformalions in thfi stamens of the rose. The complete stamen is altered, 
 gradually passing tlirough different states, until It becomes a petal, and the petal resem- 
 bles a sepal with a midrib. 
 
 t Schlciden believes some pistils to be really hollow stems.
 
 IX THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 95 
 
 see in the common mignonette of gardens. The leaf- 
 like structure of the seed-vessel or ])istil, as its natural 
 condition, is very obvious in many plants ; for instance, 
 in the pod of the pea or bean, and in that of hellebore 
 and marsh-marigold. In some cases we see it reverting 
 to the general type ; for example, in the 
 cherry with double flowers, the fruit of 
 which is abortive, and in its stead we ob- 
 serve one or two green leaves, resembling in 
 miniature those of the tree. 
 
 In order to understand the nature of 
 this part of the flower, let us imagine a 
 leaf such as that of the cherry or laurel, to '^— ^lo. 22.*— 6 
 be so folded that the two edges are brought in contact, 
 the two halves of the upper surface being opposed to each 
 other, and the whole in a vertical position ; the lower 
 surface of such leaf will correspond to the outer surface 
 of the pistil, and the upper to its lining or inner surface. 
 Such, in fact, is the real nature of a simple leaf-pistil. 
 
 The seed. — We may now inquire into the nature of 
 the seeds, called, technically, when young, ovules or little 
 eggs. It is well known that the leaves of some plants 
 bear buds on their edges ; for example, Malaxis and 
 Bryophyllum ; the ovules are representatives of such 
 buds. Suppose a leaf of one of these plants folded on 
 itself, and the edges also folded inwards and adherent, 
 we have in this way an exact representative of the seed 
 vessel and seeds of not a few plants. Some abnormal 
 cases illustrate the same truth ; thus. Professor Henslow 
 has shewn that in mignonette the ovules sometimes 
 become transformed into small leaves attached to a short 
 axis, jtreciscly the structure of a bud. Whether, there- 
 
 • Fio. 22. Seed-vessel of doublc-flowerlng cherry converted iiilo a small leaf, in two 
 Btatcs ; unfolded, a; folded, b.
 
 96 TRACES OF OEDER 
 
 fore, we adopt Scliimper's view, tliat " ovules are buds 
 of a higher order, their integuments leaves, and their 
 stalk the axis," or Lindley's, that they are "leaf-buds in 
 a particular state, and their integuments composed of 
 scales or rudimentary leaves," we are still constrained to 
 admit that they are formed after the same type as the 
 other parts.* 
 
 But if the different series of organs which we have 
 been describing as entering into the formation of a perfect 
 flower, are really of the same nature as the leaves or typical 
 appendages, they ought to have their position regulated 
 by the same law. Such, in fact, is the case. 
 
 We have already had occasion to allude to the whorled 
 arrangement of leaves on the stem, and in these instances 
 we have a type of any of the four whorls of the flower 
 already described. Farther, the relative position of the 
 leaves in successive whorls, represents also that of the 
 parts of the flower ; for as the leaves in successive whorls 
 are, generally speaking, alternate, the same holds in the 
 flower. This comparison is admitted by all authorities. 
 
 The whorled arrangement of leaves is but a modifica- 
 tion of the spiral, and the same law regulates the position 
 and mutual relations of sepals, petals, stamens, and pis- 
 tils. The parts of succeeding whorls, in both cases, 
 occupy the same relative position as in whorls of leaves — 
 that is, each is placed opposite the space between two in 
 the next series ; in other words, the parts of the flower 
 alternate with each other. (See Fig. 19). But the law 
 of the spiral extends also to the individual pieces of each 
 whorl, though it is frequently not very obvious, and is 
 
 * It may be \yorthy of notice hero, as connected with this subject, that In some plants 
 called viviparous, we observe mixed up with the flowers and flower-buds small bulbs, 
 which, when mature, drop ofT and take root ; thoy are, in fact, niiniature buds. Poly- 
 gonum viviparum, Saxifraga ternua, and others are examples. In some of these the 
 true flowers are reduced to two or throe at tlie upper part of the stem,
 
 J ■> 
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 97 
 
 liable to be overlooked by a careless observer. In some 
 species of rock-rose, and in Polygala, as well as in many 
 other plants besides, some of the sejjals, or j^ieces of 
 the calycine whorl, are lower or more external than the 
 others, which are higher and Avithin the former. This 
 prevalence of the spiral is especially obvious in the pistil 
 or central part of the flower. The common strawberrj 
 when ripe, illustrates this ; the numerous small pistih 
 (or seeds, as they are commonly but improperly called) 
 dotted over its surface, will be found, on clo.se examina- 
 tion, to follow the sphal arrangement. The soft, juicy 
 part of the strawberry is just an enlarged fruit-stalk, 
 axis, or stem (receptacle of botanists), and the numerous 
 minute pistils or seed-vessels which it supports, arc ar- 
 ranged according to the same law which regulates the 
 position of leaves, of which they are homotypes. 
 
 Adolpho Brougniart long since showed, that what arc 
 called floral whorls are not strictly such in many cases, but 
 merely a series of organs closely approximated, and occu- 
 pying different heights on the short axis. Tliis, as we 
 have shown, is often sufficiently obvious as the natural 
 condition of the parts, but it is at times more palpable 
 in monstrous flowers. 
 
 We have stated that ovules are of the same nature as 
 buds. Since these latter, growing usually in the angle 
 between stem and leaves, necessarily follow the law of the 
 spiral in regard to position, the same ought to be true of 
 ovules, and examples of this are easily found. Even 
 when the ovules or young seeds are very numerous in a 
 seed-vessel, there is no confusion, but the utmost regu- 
 larity in their arrangement. Thus in the pod of a i)ea, 
 where they form two rows, corresponding to the infolded 
 edges of the typical leaf, those on one side alternate witli 
 those on the otlier. In the seed-vessel of the Avall-flower, 
 where they are more numerous, they follow the same law.
 
 98 TKACES OF OEDER 
 
 The regularity is not less obvious when we examine cases 
 in which they are more abundant still, as, for example, 
 in the seed-vessel of the common foxglove. It is worthy 
 of notice, as an illustration of the same law, that the two 
 seeds usually found at the base of each scale in the cone 
 of a fir, are often not exactly on the same level, one being 
 generally a little higher than the other. 
 
 Not only are there relations of structure and position 
 in the parts of the flowers, but we also observe relations 
 in number. 
 
 The typical flower in plants, having the dicotyledon- 
 ous structure of seed, has its parts regulated by the num- 
 bers four or five, or some multiples of them ; in flowers 
 of monocotyledons, the number three, or some multi- 
 ple of it, prevails. "••'■■ The fundamental structure in both 
 may be modified in three ways ; 1st, by lateral adhesion 
 of the pieces of the same series, or of organs of diiferent 
 series ; 2d, by increase or diminution in the number of 
 the parts ; Sd, by inequality of size and form, or union 
 of the diiferent parts, or peculiarities in the development 
 of the axis which supports them. Some botanical author- 
 ities admit the existence of nine thousand genera, and 
 about one hundred thousand species of the higher forms 
 of plants.^ The characters of the former being founded 
 
 * Linnaeus, in classifying plants according to the number of stamens, attached, prob- 
 ably without being aware of tlae importance of the principle, a greater weight to num- 
 bers than has been assigned to them by more modern observers. In Geraniums we 
 may often observe five stems, five leaves divided into five parts, five flower-stalks, five 
 sepals, five petals, and the stamens in multiples of five. In the natural family Umbel- 
 liferae (carrot and hemlock are examples), the number five prevails not only in the 
 flower, but it also seems to regulate the inflorescence, five or some multiple of it occur- 
 ing very frequently in that part. The common elder-tree belonging to the Honey- 
 suckle family, has five leaflets on a common stalk, the inflorescence or flower-.stem has 
 five primary branches, each of these has in turn five secondary, and so on repeatedly ; 
 five being also the typical number in the flower. In the true heaths, four is the typical 
 number in the parts of the flower, but it (or its multiples) often appears also to regulate 
 the number of leaves which appear together, as well as the number of flowers which are 
 grouped together. 
 
 t These numbers are doubtless fer above the mark, as regards plants actually dlscov- 
 erod.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 99 
 
 on differences in the organs of reproduction, there are 
 therefore numerous modifications of the typical flower. 
 All parts of the plant furnish characters of species, and 
 there are therefore many thousand modifications of the 
 typical plant. Amid so much variety, it is pleasing to 
 contemplate the common plan which regulates all ; and 
 kno^nng that plan, we possess a key to explain those re- 
 markable forms which are so common in the vegetable 
 kingdom, whether the coronet-like flower of Napoleona 
 imperiahs, the irregular flower of Aristolochia, or of the 
 Balsams, or that peculiar slipper-shaped corolla from 
 which Calceolaria derives its name. Tlie gaping flower 
 of Mimulus, and the irregular mask-like flower of Lina- 
 ria, are all referable to a common type. A knowledge 
 of the typical flower in the Endogens enables us to ascer- 
 tain the true nature of those modifications which render 
 the grotesque flowers of the Orchids so remarkable ; in 
 some it resembles an insect, in others a spider, and in a 
 third case, a helmet with the visor up, indeed there is 
 scarcely a common insect or reptile to which some of them 
 have not been likened.* The flowers of the bee and 
 spider orchis, the toad-like Megaclinium Bufo, and the 
 Caleana nigrita of Swan River, whose flowers capture in- 
 sects, and all the anomalous Cape species, can be inter- 
 preted when we know the type. 
 
 Having gone over the organs of the plant indivi- 
 dually, we are now to inquire whether there may not be 
 indications of a unity running through all classes of 
 plants. 
 
 Allusion has been made to two great classes of flower- 
 ing plants called Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, each 
 characterized by peculiarities in the structure of seed, of 
 stem, and of leaf (and also by a difference in the mode 
 
 * Llndley'8 VcgcUble Kingdom, p. 170.
 
 100 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 of germination of the seeds). Eacli also has, generally 
 speaking, a certain number or its multiples regulating 
 the number of parts in the flower. There seem, however, 
 to be evidences that these two great classes, thus usually- 
 distinguished, really possess much that is common. Ac- 
 cordin*'- to Mohl, the structure of the stem of an Endo- 
 gen and of an Exogen, during the first year of their 
 growth, is altogether the same. Dutrochet indicates the 
 Bryony as an example of such identity. As to the seed, 
 Professor Lindley remarks, ■'•'• "It is apparent that dicoty- 
 ledons are not absolutely characterized by having two 
 cotyledons, nor monocotyledons by having only one. 
 The real distinction between them consists in the mode 
 of germination, and in the cotyledons of dicotyledons 
 being opposite or in whorls, while in the monocotyledons 
 tbey are sohtary or alternate." 
 
 The difference in the arrangement of the veins of the 
 leaves in these two classes present not a few exceptions ; 
 thus, on the one hand, among monocotyledons we have 
 examples of netted venation, as in Arum, Calla, Lilium 
 giganteum, &c., and on the other, examples of parallel 
 venation among dicotyledons, as in Nerium. There seem, 
 therefore, to be transitional forms between the two great 
 classes into which the largest proportion of the higher 
 plants has been divided by botanists. 
 
 There are indications, too, of a unity of structure run- 
 ning through all the organs of the individual plant. We 
 think it of importance to illustrate this at considerable 
 length. 
 
 It will not be reckoned by any scientific botanist, in 
 the present day, as an excess of refinement to represent 
 the developed organs of the plant as all formed after one 
 or other of two different types or models, the Stem and 
 the Leaf. 
 
 * Introduction to Botany, vol. li, p, 26T,
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 101 
 
 First, The more solid parts of the plant are composed 
 of a number of stems, proceeding the one from the other 
 in linear succession. Springing from the embryo, or 
 seed, there is the axis mounting upward and becoming 
 the aerial stem, and growing downward and becoming the 
 root. From the former of these, or the ascending axis, 
 there go off lateral stems, which we may call branches, 
 and from these, other stems, which we may call branch- 
 lets. There proceed, in like manner, from the descending 
 axis, or top root, lateral branches which also ramify 
 through the soil. There are important differences be- 
 tween the aerial and the subterranean stems to fit them 
 for their different functions. Boots, for example, have 
 no pith, no scales or leaves, and, in ordinary circum- 
 stances, no leaf-buds like the upward axis. Still the two 
 are alike in the general character ; the branched plant is 
 found to have a branched root. The tendencies of the 
 underground ramification have not, so far as we know, 
 been carefully determined ; l)ut above ground, it is very 
 evident that the stem, branch, and branchlet obey the 
 same laws. ''If a thousand branches from the same 
 tree," says Lindley, " are compared together, they will be 
 found to be formed upon the same uniform plan, and to 
 accord in every essential particular. Each branch is 
 also, under favorable circumstances, capable of itself 
 becoming a separate individual, as is found by cuttings, 
 buddings, graftings, and other horticultural i)rocesses. 
 This being the case, it follows that what is proved of one 
 branch is true of all the others." AVe have seen a pear- 
 tree laid prostrate on the ground by storms, but, with its 
 roots still fixed in the soil, sending out a branch from its 
 side, which mounted upward, and took a foim precisely 
 like that of the parent tree. 
 
 The other typical or model form is the leaf. We have
 
 102 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 sliewii that all the appendages of the plant are constructed 
 on this type. " Linnasus had a presentiment of some- 
 thing of this kind, and, in his Prolepsis Plantarum, 
 carried it out in such a way that, starting from the con- 
 sideration of a perennial plant v/ith regular periodicity 
 of vegetation, as in our forest trees, he explained the col- 
 lective floral plants, from the bracts onward, as the collec- 
 tive foliar produce of a five-year-old shoot, which, by 
 anticipation and modification, was developed in one year. 
 This view is, in the first instance, taken from the most 
 limited point possible, from the examination of a plant 
 of our climate ; and secondly, imagined and carried out 
 with great want of clearness." '■•• The true doctrine was 
 first propounded by C. F. Wolff (Theoria aenerationis, 
 1764), but his treatise lay buried in neglect till the doc- 
 trine became established by the influence of others. It 
 was first presented to the world by the great German 
 poet, Goethe, who, though not learned in the artificial 
 botany at that time taught in the schools, had a fine eye 
 for the objective world. We are not willing, indeed, 
 to admit that the form in which Goethe expounded the 
 doctrine is in every respect correct. It is wrong to repre- 
 sent floral organs as metamorphosed leaves, for they 
 never have been leaves in fact ; the accurate statement 
 is, that these organs and leaves are formed after the same 
 general plan. Nor are we to represent nature as striving 
 after a model form, which she fails to reach, in the va- 
 rious modifications of organs ; for the modifications are 
 as much an end and intended, as the parts which may 
 be pointed to as patterns. Still, Goethe may be regarded 
 as having seized the great law of vegetable morphology. 
 His Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklaren, 
 was published in 1790, and has furnished the foundation 
 
 * Schleiden's Principles of Scientiflc Botany, translated by Lankester.
 
 IN THE OEGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 103 
 
 to scientific botany. But as Goethe had no name among 
 the initiated, little attention was paid by botanists gene- 
 rally to his spccnlations 
 till long after, when they 
 were mentioned by Jus- 
 sieu, and brought into 
 general" notice by De Can- 
 dolle, in his " Organogra- 
 phie," published in 1827. 
 The doctrine, somewhat 
 modified, is now acknow- 
 ledged by the great doctors, 
 and has been sanctioned 
 by the great councils of 
 science. 
 
 According to this idea, 
 a plant is composed of two 
 essentially distinct parts, 
 the stem and leaf. The 
 leaf is attached to the 
 ascending stem, and be- 
 sides its common form, it 
 takes, while obeying the 
 same fundamental laws, 
 certain other forms, as 
 scales, bracts, sepals, pe- 
 tals, stamens, and pistils. 
 Schleiden, who has deve- 
 loped this view, gives, in 
 his " Plant, a Biography," a picture of a typical plant con- 
 structed on this principle. This makes a plant a dual. 
 
 ♦ Fir.. 23. The typical plant— 1 to 7. Axis. 
 
 I. to VI. Appendages.— I. Cotyledon; II. Leaves; IIL Calyx; IV. Corolla; V. Sta- 
 men ; VI. Pistil. 
 
 II. Typical appendaRes. I. III. IV. V VI. Modified appendnfcca 
 
 i b, Buds composed of nhortened axes, with rudimentary ui)pendages. 
 
 Fio. 23.*
 
 104 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 But it appears to us possible to reduce a plant by a 
 more enlarged conception of its nature to a unity, that 
 is, to shew that there is a unity of plan running through- 
 out the whole.* 
 
 Looking first at the ramification of the stems, we may 
 observe a central stem, or central stems, sending out 
 other stems at definite angles, and of a normal length, 
 and altogether in so regular a manner that the whole 
 plant is made to take a predetermined form. Looking 
 next at the venation of the leaf we perceive (see Figs. 
 12, 24, 25, 26) that it too has a ramified character, that 
 it has in the centre a main rib, or ribs, from which pro- 
 ceed other ribs or veins in so definite a manner that the 
 whole skeleton assumes a regular shape. Now, we main- 
 tain that a number of correspondences can be detected 
 between the ramification of the stems and the ramifica- 
 tion of the leaf- veins. 
 
 In prosecuting this inquiry, let us first inspect, in a 
 general way, the leaf of a tree, with its central vein, or 
 veins, and its side veins. (See Figs. 12, 24, 25, 26.) 
 On the most cursory inspection the impression will be 
 left on the mind that the central vein, or midrib, as it is 
 called, corresponds to the central stem or axis of the 
 tree, and its side veins to the branches. Having seized 
 the figure of the leaf-venation in the first instance, let us 
 now look at the skeleton of the tree, say a tree stripped 
 of its leaves in winter, and we may notice how like it is 
 in its disc and the arrangement of its parts to the skele- 
 ton and outline of a leaf. We shall be particularly 
 struck with this if we view the tree in the dim twilight, 
 
 * Dr. M'Cosh has here to express his obligations to Professor Balfour of Edinburgh 
 who, without prematurely committing liiinself to these views, has kindly helped to give 
 them publicity and bring them under discussion. See Transactions of Botanical Society 
 of Edinburgh, July 18S1, and Balfour's Class-Book of Botany, 2d edit. p. 113; see also 
 Sectional Reports, for 1852 and 1854, of British Association for Tromotiou of Science.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 105 
 
 or " pale moonlight/' between us and a clear sky, as we 
 may conceive Wordsworth to have viewed it. 
 
 " Often have I stood, 
 Foot-bound, uplooking at this lovely tree, 
 Beneath a frosty moon." 
 
 We are quite aware that, in the tree, the branches go off 
 all round the axis, and give to the whole figure a sphe- 
 rical form, whereas in the leaf the fibrous veins all lie 
 in one plane. But then we have a transition from the 
 one to the other, and a point of connexion in the branch, 
 the branchlets of which- — as, for example, visibly in the 
 beech — often lie in one plane, and, if filled up, would 
 make the figure bear a resemblance to the leaf. The 
 principal difference between the tree and leaf may pos- 
 sibly be found to consist in this, that for special ends the 
 cellular tissue which, in the tree and its branches, is col- 
 lected into the pith and bark, (which are connected by 
 the medullary rays,) is in the leaf spread out so as to fill 
 up the interstices in the fibrous matter which forms the 
 veins. The general impression produced by the first 
 thoughtful survey of a morphological correspondence 
 between stem ramification and leaf ramification will be 
 confirmed by a more searching and scientific investiga- 
 tion. In maintaining tliis, we always assume that in the 
 cases subjected to examination both stem and leaf are 
 fully and fairly developed. 
 
 But here it will be necessary to have it settled, at the 
 outset, that every species of plant tends, if allowed to 
 grow freely and in favorable circumstances, to take a 
 particular f)rm, and that the same is also true of the 
 leaf This statement will be allowed, after a moment's 
 recollection and thought, as to the leaf. Tlie cherry 
 leaf {F'kj. 12) obviously assumes one sliape, the beech 
 leaf {FUj. 24) anotlier shape, the lime leaf {F'kj. 25) a 
 
 6*
 
 106 TRACES OF OKDER 
 
 third shcape, and the poiDlar leaf {Fig. 26) yet a different 
 shape. Every one who has used his eyes will remember 
 that the oak leaf has its peculiar figure, and the thorn 
 leaf its own conformation, and the birch leaf its specific 
 outline, by which we at once recognise them and distin- 
 guish them the one from the other. A very little patient 
 observation of trees growing freely — of lawn-trees, for 
 example — may satisfy any one, that what is true of the 
 leaf is also true of the tree. Every species of tree, ac- 
 cording to naturalists, has its own habit ; and this gives 
 to it a peculiar physiognomy by which the practised eye 
 will at once recognise it. We have often found it in- 
 teresting, (when we had nothing else to interest us,) in 
 passing along a road, to detect, by their configuration, 
 the various species of trees which met the eye, and 
 this when they were bared in winter, and there was no 
 foliage to aid us. Towards this normal shape of its 
 species every individual tree tends. No doubt it is 
 greatly interfered with, and much thwarted in its efforts 
 by prevailing winds which bend it, or violent storms 
 which break it, by too much cold at one side, or too 
 much sunshine at another side, by a niggard soil denying 
 nourishment, or officious neighbours jostling it, by cattle 
 browsing on it, or men cutting it ; still we can see the 
 native tendency in the most unfavourable circumstances, 
 while, in more favoured positions, we see the tree grow- 
 ing up to its beau-ideal. 
 
 And here it may be laid down as a general rule, that 
 every plant takes the fairest shape when allowed to 
 assume its natural form. True, there are trees which 
 have been rendered picturesque by being torn or twisted 
 by the storm, or venerable by the marks of age ; but 
 being unaided by associated feelings produced by such 
 causes, the plant is always injured when attempts are
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 107 
 
 made by man to give it an artificial shape. Every tree 
 should be allowed fairly to develop itself, protected only 
 from rude Avinds, and interfering neighbours, and graz- 
 ings of cattle, and prunings of man, who so often ]nars 
 in attempting to mend. All ornamental pruning should 
 aim, not at improving, but aiding nature — nay, not so 
 much at aiding it, as cutting off unnatural additions and 
 removing artificial imperfections. Thus left to their 
 innate tendencies, all plants will grow into a form more 
 or less beautiful. A tree growing freely and fairly in a 
 lawn, where it has soil to feed it, and space to develop 
 itself, and air to breathe in, and sun to warm it, and 
 fences to shelter it, stands before us a most interesting 
 object of contemplation. The parallel branches, and 
 their spiral arrangement round the axis, their sweep of 
 curve, and the methodical way in which they first 
 lengthen and then shorten as they ascend the trunk, and 
 the graceful rotundity and elegant outline of the whole 
 between us and the sky, all combine to fix the eye, and 
 unconsciously excite and engage the musing intellect. 
 And there is another beauty ])roduced by a number of 
 differently-formed trees standing on the same lawn, and 
 each shewing its separate mould and featiu-es. For as 
 one star differeth from another in glory, and as one saint 
 in heaven differctli from another in glory, so one tree 
 differeth from another in glory. There is one glory of 
 the oak, which looks as ii' it had faced a hundred storms, 
 and having stood them all, were ready to face as many 
 more ; another glory of the sycamore, that " spreads in 
 gentle pomp it honeyed shade I" another glory of the 
 bircli, so graceful in the midst of its maiden tresses ; an- 
 other glory of the elm, throwing out its wide arms as if 
 rejoicing in its strength ; and another glory of the lime, 
 with its sheltering shade inviting us to enter and to linger.
 
 108 
 
 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 Each has its own glory, of which it would be shorn were 
 it to make an ambitious attempt to usurp the glory of 
 its neighbour. 
 
 It being allowed that there is a pattern form for the 
 whole plant and for its leaf, we are now to trace certain 
 interesting correspondences which we have noticed be- 
 tween the two.* 
 
 1. In plants with looody structure, there seems to he a 
 correspondence hetween the tree and leaf in this 7'espect, 
 that a leaf ivithout a leaf-stalk implies a trunk naturally 
 branched from the ground, and a leaf luith a leafstalk 
 implies that the species of tree on lohich it groios has 
 naturally a hare stalk. — In order to the settlement of 
 this point, it is necessary to have it admitted that there 
 are trees which are naturally feathered from the base, 
 
 whereas there are others wliich 
 have less or more of an unbranched 
 trunk. Belonging to the former 
 class we may name the greater 
 number of our ornamental lawn 
 shrubs, as the box, the holly, the 
 laurels, bay and Portugal, the ar- 
 butus, the laurustinus, the privet, 
 the snowbcrry. All of these cover 
 the lawn from near the base, and it 
 may be observed of the leaves of all 
 of them, that they have no petiole, 
 or a very short petiole. To this 
 same class belong many of the common forest trees, such 
 
 * Oiir observations have been extensive and varied, but (hey are limited when com- 
 pared witli the whole vegetable kingdom, and so we are prepared to expect that curious 
 modifications and anomalies will cast up, which, while not setting aside these general 
 views, will open new views, and enable science, in the end, to rise to a more thorough 
 conception of the plant. 
 
 + Fk;. 24. Beech leaf, as an example of leaf with little or no leaf-stalk; shewing nearly 
 parallel veins; angle of venation, 45° to 50°; the midrib zigzag. 
 
 Fio. 24t
 
 IX THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 109 
 
 as the oak, the chn, the beech. The leaves of these 
 trees have little or no leaf-stalk, and we are able, from a 
 ratlicr extensive observation, to affirm that these trees 
 incline to send out branches from the base. At times, 
 indeed, this tendency is interfered with. In fields, the 
 lower branches are frequently eaten by cattle, and in 
 thick woods they often fail from want of air. The lower 
 branches of the young oak are studiously cut off by 
 woodmen, in order to get a tall, unbranched trunk for 
 timber. The beech is not unfrequently cut over before 
 being planted out in lawns, and a whorl of brandies is 
 made, in consequence, to spring out some few feet above 
 the ground. In England, the favorite elm is often 
 pruned near the base, in order to lessen the shade upon 
 the field or highway. But when allowed to grow unmo- 
 lested, and in favourable circumstances, these trees are 
 all bushy from the base. The very circumstance that 
 the oak requires pruning in order to its having a bare 
 trunk, proves that its own tendency is otherwise. The 
 beech shews that it is naturally branched from the roots, 
 by the closeness of the hedges which it forms. The 
 pruned elm is ever displaying its native disposition, by 
 the little branches that crop out from its trunk in spite 
 of all the cutting to which it is subjected. 
 
 Other trees, again, have less or more of a bare trunk, 
 and the leaves of these have less or more of a leaf-stalk. 
 To this belong the cherry, {Fig. 12,) the lime, {F'i<j. 2'),) 
 the poplar, {Fi(j. 2G,) the ap})le, the pear, the birch, the 
 chestnut, the sycamore. These cannot be induced, exce])ti 
 by constant cutting, to grow bushy, or to afford shelter, 
 from their base in rows or fences. The thorn may seem 
 to furnish a disproof, by its being so commonly employed 
 in liedgos. I'ut every one who has bestowed the least 
 attention upon the su]>ject, knows that thorns need con-
 
 110 
 
 TEACES OF OKDER 
 
 stant cutting to keep them from becoming bare near the 
 root, and their native habits are seen when they are 
 planted out in lawns, where they have invariably (as the 
 beautiful thorns in Phoenix Park, Dublin, can testify) an 
 unbranched trunk. 
 
 2. TJiere is a correspondence between the disjjosition 
 and distribution of the branches, and the disposition and 
 distribution of the leaf veins. — Some trees, such as the 
 beecli, the poplar, the birch, the oak, have one main 
 axis, from which there proceed comparatively small side 
 branches, pretty equably along its length ; and it will be 
 found in such cases that the leaf (see Figs. 12, 25) has one 
 
 central vein, with pretty 
 equally disposed veins on 
 either side. Other trees 
 again, incline rather to 
 send off, at a particular 
 height, for each species, 
 a number of branches at 
 once. This is the case with 
 the lime, the common 
 sycamore, and the horse- 
 chestnut. The lime has 
 a few feet of unbranched 
 trunk, and at the place at 
 which it begins to branch 
 there will commonly be 
 noticed a cluster of branches, which, as they droop down 
 give to that tree its attractive shade, and, in correspond- 
 ence with this, we may observe that the leaf has a petiole, 
 
 * Lime leaf, as example of a leaf with a leaf-stalk, shewing a clustering or whorling 
 of veins at the point at which the veins begin to come otf, and a nearly paiallel venation. 
 The angles made by the lateral veins from tlie midrib are 42°, those made by the veins 
 procce.Iing from these main lateral veins are 50°. The angle a a corresponds to the 
 angle of the peduncle upon the branch. 
 
 Fig. 25.*
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. Ill 
 
 at the top of which there is a chistering of lateral veins. 
 The trunk of the sycamore, about eight or ten feet above 
 the surface of the ground, commonly divides itself into 
 four or five large branches, and, in precise analogy, we 
 find a pretty long leal-stalk dividing into five midribs. 
 Tlie horse-chestnut often sends off at the top of its bare 
 trunk (as may be seen in hundreds of trees in Bushy 
 Park) a still greater number of branches, and in corre- 
 spondence with this its leaf is commonly divided into 
 seven leaflets. This correspondence between branching 
 and venation is very strikingly displayed in those' j)lants 
 which have triplet leaves, such as broom and laburnum ; 
 a careful observation of a number of such will satisfy 
 any one that the axis, in the one a few inches, and in 
 the other a few feet, above the ground, inclines to divide 
 into three main branches. In some j)lants there is a 
 whorling (approximately in the sense explained, p. 96) of 
 leaves at the point at which they issue from the stem ; 
 this may be seen in rliododendrons, the common barber- 
 ries, and azelias. In these plants the branches also go 
 off in whorls, as any one may satisfy himself by the most 
 cursory inspection. 
 
 This morphological correspondence may be seen in her- 
 baceous plants as well as in plants with woody structure. 
 We have the triplet leaf and triplet stalk in marsh-trefoil, 
 in wood-sorrel, and clover, and the whorled stalks, with 
 a clustering of leaves or midribs, in lady's-mantle, gera- 
 nium, mallow, and lupin. In common lady's-mantle there 
 are several midribs, and, in the mountain species, a 
 whorling of leaves, and in both a tendency to wh(jrl in the 
 stalks. 
 
 So far as we have been able to generalize a very exten- 
 sive series of facts before us, we are inclined to lay down 
 the provisional law, that the whole leafage coming <»ut at
 
 112 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 one place on the stem corresponds to the whole plant, 
 and that the venation of each single leaf corresponds to 
 the ramification of a branch. We state the general 
 axiom in this form, because in many plants more leaves 
 than one issue from one point, and in such cases it seems 
 t(~» be not the single leaf but the whole leafage which is 
 the type of the tree. 
 
 3. There is a correspondence between the angle at 
 ivhich the branch goes off and that at ivhich the lateral 
 veins go off. — And here, again, it will be needful to have 
 it admitted that there is a normal angle both for the 
 lateral leaf veins and the lateral branches. So far as 
 the lateral veins are concerned, it will be acknowledged, 
 by every one who has ever looked with care at the form 
 of a leaf, that there is a normal angle for every species 
 of plant. An inspection of any leaf picked up at random 
 will shew that the lateral veins run nearly parallel to 
 each other (see cherry leaf. Fig. 12, beech leaf. Fig. 24, 
 lime leaf, Fig. 25), and that in certain plants, as at the 
 base of the poplar leaf, for example (see Fig. 26), the 
 veins go oif at a much more obtuse angle than in certain 
 other plants, as, for instance, the lime (see Fig. 25). The 
 leaves of the elm and hazel have some resemblance to 
 each other, but may at once be distinguished by their 
 angle of venation, which in the former is 55°, and in the 
 latter 40''. It will not be so readily allowed that there 
 is a normal angle at Avhich tlie branch goes off in every 
 species of tree. We have heard it maintained that a 
 branch sets off from the axis as best it can, taking any 
 empty space available to it, and in search of air to 
 breathe in and sun to warm it. But a very little careful 
 observation, with this special object in view, may satisfy- 
 any candid mind that this is not the case, and that the 
 branches tend to go out very much parallel to each other,
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 113 
 
 and at a normal angle, for every species. Any one may 
 see at a glance that tlie elm and oak branch goes off at 
 a wider angle than that of the birch or beech. No doubt 
 many external circumstances tend to interfere v.dtli this 
 internal tendency. A branch will often be bent down 
 by its own weight, or turned u})ward by another branch, 
 or by want of room and an, or spoiled by cattle or chil- 
 dren, or men, still the tendency will manifest itself, even 
 when thwarted ; and in every open lawn, duly sheltered, 
 there will be trees whose skeleton beautifully displays the 
 native direction of the branches, which will be seen, like 
 the leaf veins, to run very much parallel to each other, 
 and within a few deorrees — now on the one side and now 
 on the other side — of an average or normal angle, which 
 may be ascertained by a number of measurements. 
 
 When it is acknowledged that there is a normal 
 angle both for vein and branch, what we may call the 
 angle of venation and tlie angle of ramification, the 
 question is started, and admits of being answered. Is 
 there a correspondence between the two ? We may 
 satisfy ourselves that there is, in a general way, by a 
 bare inspection, or by taking a leaf, abstracting its soft 
 matter, and then looking through the skeleton venation 
 upon the ramification of the branches, and comparing 
 the two. Or the point may be settled more scientifically 
 by using a goniometer, consisting of a graduated semi- 
 circle with a movable index, and measuring the angle 
 both of vein and brancli. The angle of the vein is easily 
 ascertained, and the angle of the branch may also be 
 obtained approximately by taking a series of measure- 
 ments and striking the average. By such means it can 
 be proven that there is a correspondence between the 
 angle of venation and ramification of each species of 
 plants. In most plants with v,roody structure the angle
 
 114 
 
 TKACES OF OEDER 
 
 of both vein and branch ranges between 45° and 60°. 
 In the greater number of herbaceous plants* the angle 
 varies from 25° to 40°. But both in, trees and herba- 
 ceous plants there are angles so acute as 10° or 15°, and 
 so obtuse as 70° or 75°. So far as we have observed 
 there are no normal angles more obtuse than the number 
 last named, though branches are often bent down by their 
 own weight, so as to stand perpendicular to the axis, or 
 are even inclined at an acute angle to the part of the 
 trunk below the point from which the branch springs. 
 
 For every species of plant which we have examined 
 there is a definite normal angle or angles. We say 
 
 angles, for the angles may 
 diifer at difierent parts of the 
 venation and ramification of 
 the same plant. Thus, in 
 some plants the angle of ve- 
 nation is widest at the base, 
 and gradually narrows as we 
 ascend. Whenever this is 
 the case in the leaf there is 
 a similar narrowing in the 
 angle of the ramification of 
 the branches. It is seen in 
 a marked manner in the pop- 
 lar and the beech, and helps 
 to give to the leaves and coma 
 ^'<'- 26+ of these trees that rounded 
 
 pyramidal form by which they are distinguished. More 
 frequently there is a difference between the angle at 
 
 * Dr. M'Cosh has hore to cxpross his obligation to a most excellent but extremely 
 modest man, Mr. Mitchell, formerly schooliiiastor at Edzcll, now ia the City Mission. 
 Kdinbnrgh, for help in applying his theory to herbaceous plants. 
 
 I Fig. 26. Poplar leaf, as an example of leaf with leaf-stalk. The primary angle of 
 venation begins at 70", and lessens as we ascend llie midrib.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS, 115 
 
 which the main lateral veins and main lateral branches 
 go off from the midrib or axis, and that at which the 
 lesser veins and branches go off either from the midrib 
 or axis, or from the main lateral veins and branches. 
 We may call the former of these, that is, the angle made 
 by main veins and branches, the primary angle, and that 
 made by lesser branches and veins, the secondary angle. 
 In looking at the lime leaf, {Fig. 2.5,) we may notice 
 that the main veins (primary) go off at a much more 
 acute angle than certain smaller veins (secondary). 
 Using this nomenclature, we have found that the primary 
 angle of the venation of the leaf is the same with the 
 primary angle of the ramification of the stem, and that 
 the secondary angle of venation is the same as the secon- 
 dary angle of ramification. 
 
 In measuring angles, then, it will be necessary to dis- 
 tinguish between the primary and secondary angles of 
 ramification and venation. In applying this distinction 
 to herbaceous plants, we found that the angle at which 
 the peduncle, that is, the flower-stalk, goes off, corresponds 
 not to the primary, but secondary, angle of venation. In 
 following out this system, however, we often experience 
 a difficulty in ascertaining whether we arc measuring the 
 angle of a true branch, or peduncle, as botanists do not 
 seem to have laid down any rules to enable us to distin- 
 guish between these organs. 
 
 It appears, then, that on inspecting the ramification 
 and venation of any given plant, we may observe a nor- 
 mal primary angle which is the same both for main 
 lateral vein and main lateral branch, and also a secondary 
 normal angle for the lesser veins, (whether proceeding 
 from the lateral veins or from the midrib,) and for the 
 lesser branches, including the peduncle. This secondary 
 angle is in some few plants more acute than the primary.
 
 116 
 
 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 Thus in tlie common dock the primary angle is 60°, and 
 the secondary angle of flower-stalk and lesser veins about 
 40°. But in most plants the secondary angle is the more 
 obtuse, and helps, when it is so, to give to the tree its out- 
 spreading ajjpearance. Thus in the lime (see Fig. 25) 
 this primary angle is 42 ', and the secondary about 50 ', 
 and in the oak the primary is 50', and the secondary 
 angle about Q5°. The following may serve as examples 
 of the angles of venation and ramification in some of our 
 common plants :* — 
 
 Plants witu Woody Steuctuee. 
 
 Deg. Deg. 
 
 Alder, . . . .50 LaurustLnus, . . . 50-55 
 
 Ash, 60 Lime, 42 
 
 Bay Laurel, . . . 50-60 Small yeins and branches, 50-55 
 
 Beech, . . . 45-48 Maple 40-45 
 
 Birch, 30-48 Lesser veins and branches, 55 
 
 Box, • .... 60 Mountain Ash, . . .45 
 
 Cherry, . . . .50 Oak, large branches, . . 50 
 
 Elm, 50-55 Smaller veins and branches, 65-10 
 
 Hazel, . . . .42 Rhododendron, ... 60 
 
 Holly, 55 Rose, . . . . . 60 
 
 Horse Chestnut, . . .50 Sycamore, .... 50-55 
 
 Laburnum, . . . .60 Willow, angle varies in each species. 
 
 
 Serbaceous Plants. 
 
 
 
 Primary Angle. 
 
 Secondary Angle. 
 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Deg. 
 
 Chenopodium glaucum, 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 urbicum, . 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 Geranium, . 
 
 35 
 
 j varies in each species, 
 ( in some, 60 
 
 
 
 Geum intermedium, 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 montanum, 
 
 35-38 
 
 50 
 
 Ranunculus, 
 
 25-28 
 
 differs in each species. 
 
 Scrophularia aquatica, . 
 
 40 
 
 50-60 
 
 nodosa. 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 Sinapsis nigra. 
 
 40-45 
 
 50-55 
 
 Valeriana officinalis. 
 
 30 (vein) 
 
 45 
 
 ♦ We are -wllIiDg to admit that in following out these views, anomalies will present
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 117 
 
 We have found that the angle of the peduncle seems 
 specially to correspond to the angle made by a vein 
 coming forth near the top of the main lateral veins. 
 (See a in Fig. 25.) Let us here recall the doctrine pre- 
 viously enunciated, (see p. 95,) that the pistil is a leaf 
 folded on itself, as may be seen very evidently in a pea- 
 jwd.* If we inspect the interior of such a pea-pod, we 
 shall find the seed coming off very obviously from the 
 top of a lateral vein. We now see that in the leaf a 
 lesser vein, bearing seed in the pea-pod, corresponds in 
 the ramification to the peduncle bearing the flower. 
 This completes the correspondence between the leaf and 
 the plant on which it grows. 
 
 4. Tliere is a correspotidence heticeen the curve of 
 the vein and the curve of the corresponding branches. — 
 Here we must once more insist that every vein and 
 every branch has its normal curve. We have not been 
 able to express this curve in a mathematical formula, but 
 the eye testifies that it has a mathematical regularity, 
 and that there is a correspondence between the curve of 
 the vein and that of the branch. 
 
 The parts whoso disposition and direction we have 
 been examining, are those which are chiefly instrumental 
 in giving their normal figure to the plant and its leaf ; 
 and as the part in the leaf has a correspondence witli the 
 part in the branch, it follows that there may be a certain 
 correspondence between the form assumed by the leaf 
 and that towards which the whole tree tends. We use 
 
 themselves. Thus, in plants with decunent leaves, such as thistles, the dccurrcncy of 
 the leaf seems often to make the angle of the vein wider than that of tlie branch. In 
 the Lomhardy poplar the anfrle of the branches seems to correspond not to the prim.iry 
 but secondary angle of venation. These anomalies will turn out to be as instructive as 
 the more regular phenomena. 
 
 * Schleldcn, it m,iy be proper to mention, considers this to be a stem pistil. There 1» 
 a point liere, a transition point, at which the correspondence between leaf and brancli 
 becomes very close and visible.
 
 118 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 the restricted language, may he a certain correspondence, 
 for there are special circumstances which may modify 
 the forms of leaf or plant, and make them differ from 
 each other. Where the leaves are pinnate — that is, 
 arranged hke the barbs of a feather along a common 
 axis, there is no resemblance between the leafage and 
 whole plant.* This does not prove that leaf venation 
 and branch are not homotypal, any more than the differ- 
 ence between the fore and hind limbs in animals shews 
 that these two parts are not homotypal. And in not a 
 few cases the general resemblance between plant and 
 tree is very visible, as — to take the trees whose outline 
 strikes the eye, and prints itself on the fancy in all our 
 landscapes — in the swelhng lime, and the spreading elm, 
 and the heavy-topped oak ; and trees which stand upon 
 an unbranched stalk, as the sycamore, with sturdy ribs 
 and swelhng chest, and the birch and poplar, with theh 
 coma first rotund, and then tapering gracefully to a 
 point. In not a few plants the correspondence becomes 
 minutely, we had almost said ludicrously, exact, and may 
 be detected in the most trivial particulars. Thus the 
 stems of some trees, such as the thorn and laburnum, are 
 not straight, and the branches have a twisted form ; and 
 in these plants the venation is not straight, and the 
 leafage is not in one plane — in this respect very unlike 
 the beech. But in the beech there is a no less curious 
 correspondence, for the stems take a turn at every 
 node at which they send off a branch, and the mid- 
 
 * Wo would not speak on this subject wilh confidence, but it seems to us that when 
 the leaf is pinnate, the tree i» decomposite— fh^t is, instead of sending up one main axis 
 (like the beech, the poplar, &c.) fiom bottom to top, it sends oflf in a scattered way, as it 
 ascends branch after branch, till the axis is lost. We have noticed this in ash, mountain 
 ash, walnut, Mahonias, Acacias, and also Ailanthus glandnlosus, Gymnocladus Canad- 
 ensis, Koelcreuteria, Sophora Japonica, and Robinias, (R. pseudo-acacia and R. viscosa,) 
 &c. We have also noticed a frequent, though, we suspect, by no means invaiiable, 
 connexion between the doubly pinnate leaf and the umbelliferous structure.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 119 
 
 rib of the leaf has a simihir zigzag appearance. (See 
 Fig. 2^.) 
 
 Such points as these should be carefully noticed and 
 attended to by the landscape painter and by the pruner. 
 When the commonwealth of taste is properly constituted, 
 one of its first laws will be passed against the common 
 mode of pruning, which cuts trees into all sorts of un- 
 natural shapes, and in particular, pays no regard to each 
 plant's peculiarity of beauty. We can excuse the old 
 Scotch Earl who planted his trees in groups, to represent 
 the position of the troops which gained a victory under 
 him, for if he thereby spoiled the beauties of nature, he 
 at least imparted some knowledge of military art ; but 
 those who, in ornamental lawns, form spherical yews and 
 conical laurels— those who force plants to resemble beasts, 
 birds, or fishes — those who give the oak or elm a bare 
 stalk — those who cut over a poplar to make it bushy from 
 the base — those who break off the triplet from the broom 
 or laburnum, or deprive the lime, or the chestnut, or the 
 sycamore of its whorl, should themselves, on the prin- 
 ciple of exacting one member for another, be subjected 
 to a similar pruning process, and this because of the 
 ofience which they commit against nature without and 
 nature within them. 
 
 These observations apply to plants which have leaves 
 veined, unfolded, and presenting a surfiice to the eye. 
 We now turn to plants which have ncedle-sha])ed or 
 linear leaves. Such leaves correspond, we believe, to the 
 individual stems proceeding from the axis or branches. 
 But our observations have been confined to the great 
 family of the Coniferae, so called because their seed- 
 vessels are cone-shaped. In what follows, our illustra- 
 tions are to be taken chiefly from pines and lirs, the
 
 120 
 
 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 only portions of the large family of cone-bearers which 
 we have had an oi^j^ortunity of carefully inspecting. 
 
 It is obvious, on the most cursory observation, that a 
 unity runs through the whole of the structure of each of 
 tliis tribe of plants. We may notice first, how the ap- 
 pendages are regularly arranged in a series of whorls 
 (usuig this phrase in the loose sense previously explained) 
 along the whole axis. There is, first of all, a whorling 
 in the arrangement of the cotyledons, or first springing 
 leaves. Some botanists have represented the cotyledons 
 of the Conifera3 as numerous ; others are inclined to 
 think that there are only two cotyledons, and that each 
 of these is cleft into a number of parts ; all agree that 
 the parts are wdiorled. Looking to the axis above ground, 
 we observe the same arrangement repeated in the 
 branches, which come out at the nodes in a succession of 
 whorls from the base to the top of the axis. Every node 
 and internode of the pine is of the same construction as 
 every other. 
 
 We may notice further, how the whole tree, composed 
 of stem and branches, is made, by the evidently prede- 
 termined arrangement of these parts, to assume in its 
 outlme a most elegant figure. The form is that of the 
 cone, rounded off gracefully at the base. We are aware 
 that in many cases the lower branches, especially if eaten 
 by cattle, fall off as the tree grows old, and show a bare 
 trunk surmounted by a bushy top : thus, when the lower 
 branches of the broad-topped stone pine fall away, we 
 have that picturesque, umbrella-shaped figure, which so 
 often appears in Italian scenery and Italian paintings. 
 But, in its natural and normal shape, every cone-bearer 
 seems to be feathered from near the root. It is interest- 
 ing to notice, that if we were to intersect the tree hori- 
 zontally at any one node, the part cut off above would
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 121 
 
 always be a cone, somewhat similar in shape to the whole 
 tree. This, no doubt, results from the nature of the 
 cone as a mathematical fiu-ure ; but on noticino- the fact, 
 we are the more impressed "udtli the peculiar fitness of 
 the pre-arrangement which makes stem and branches 
 produce so perfect a figure. While the whole family 
 affect this general form, we may observe that every spe- 
 cies takes a shape of its own, so that we can at once 
 determine what it is at a considerable distance. Some, 
 like the common spruce fir, have a sharp apex, and look 
 as if they jjointed to heaven ; while others, like the stone 
 jnne, are broad and bushy, and look as if they delighted 
 to embrace and shelter the earth. There is one beauty 
 of the finely-proportioned cluster pine, another beauty of 
 the sturdy Scotch fir, another beauty of the tapering 
 Douglas fir, another beauty of the graceful Weymouth, 
 another beauty of the shaggy Montezuma, and another 
 beauty of the brawny Coulter pine, as he flings out his 
 arms so powerfully. No attempt should be made, by 
 cutting or bending, to make any one species take the 
 form of any other ; all such officious meddling, on the 
 part of man, will only mar the beauty of the Divine 
 workmanship. A lawn is fairest to look on when differ- 
 ent species are planted on it, when each is allowed to 
 grow naturally, and has room allotted to it to shew its 
 peculiar type and beauty. 
 
 Turning now to the inspection of the seed-vessels, we 
 find them, as their name (cones) denotes, moulded after 
 the same form ; nay, the very clusters or bunches of 
 stamens (amenta) arc made to assume a conical shape. 
 It is evident that, in this tribe of plants, there is a sig- 
 nificancy in this beautiful mathematical figure ; and we 
 are inclined to ask whether it was not some mystic ])Qv- 
 ception of tliis which led the ancient Assyrians to assign 
 
 G
 
 122 
 
 TRACES OF OEDER 
 
 SO important a j^lace to the cone in those sacred symbols 
 which have become so famihar to us by the researches of 
 Dr. Layard ? But without insisting on this, we think 
 we are justified in affirming that the circumstance that 
 the cones, formed of scales, which are modified leaves, 
 and amenta, which are also formed of modified leaves, 
 taking the same shape as the tree, formed of branches, is 
 another illustration of the tendency of leaf and branch to 
 obey the same laws and follow the same dispositions. 
 
 Not only is there a general resemblance between cone 
 and tree ; we are inclined to think, from a pretty exten- 
 sive observation, that the full-grown and expanded cone 
 not unfrequently tends to take the shape of the particular 
 species of tree on which it grows. It would require a 
 series of measurements, such as we have not had it in our 
 power to make, to establish this truth scientifically, but a 
 general correspondence is often obvious 
 to the eye. Thus, to take some of the 
 species most marked in themselves, and 
 best known among us. The common 
 Norway spruce is tall in proportion to 
 its width, and so also its cone. (See 
 Fig. 27.) The same may be said of 
 Abies Douglasii, which, moreover, has 
 a sharp apex ; the cone tends to assume 
 the same shape. In striking contrast 
 is the stone pine, (Pinus Pinea, see 
 Fig. 28,) in which both cone and tree 
 are wide in proportion to their height. 
 The cluster pine (P. Pinaster) is beau- 
 tifully proportioned in its length and breadth, both in 
 
 Fig. 2T.* 
 
 * Fig. 2T. Cone of Abies excelsa, bearing a resemblance to a tree, and shewing a set 
 of spirals from right to left, ami anotlier set from left to right. These sets of spirals, 
 crossing each other, produce on the surface of the cono rhoni! oi !;il figures.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 
 
 123 
 
 tree and cone. (See Fig. 29.) Contrasted with this, both 
 the tree and cone of Piuus puniila have a crushed ap- 
 
 !?^ 
 
 (f-^^Sk 
 
 
 Fig. 28.* 
 
 FiG. 29.+ 
 
 pearance. Coulter's pine has heavy, wide-spreading 
 branches, and its cone is of a rotund, bulky sliape. The 
 cone of the Labrador pine (P. Banksiana) is often bulged 
 at one of the sides, and any of the trees which we have 
 seen have a straggling, misshapen appearance. 
 
 We now proceed to give the result of a scries of obser- 
 vations:!: in regard to the dispositions of the scales of the 
 cone and the leaves of the tree. 
 
 (1.) The scales are arranged along the axis of the cone 
 
 * Fig. 28. Cone of Pinus Pinea; (lanii>y like tlio tree, shewing tlio two sets of spirals 
 crossing each other, and jiroducing rhoiiiboidal tigures, whoso angles are approxiniulely 
 above and below 120° and 60° at each of the sides. 
 
 + Fio. 29. Cone of Pinus Pinaster, shewing the two sets of spirals, and rhomboids 
 with deflnlte angles. 
 
 X In making these observations, T)r. M'(jos1i has examined, willi moiu or less care, 
 nearly every cone Intho Museums of Kew, of tlie I.innaan Society, and of tho Edin- 
 burgh Botanic Garden, all of which liavo been kindly thrown open to him.
 
 124 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 in a spiral manner. As the basis of the whole, there 
 seems to be a governing spiral — that is, the scales are 
 attached to the axis in a regular spiral. This spiral is 
 at times from right to left, and at other times from left 
 to right, and we have not been able to discover any law 
 determining which of these courses it should pursue ; it 
 certainly is not determined by its position on the tree, or 
 by the course of the sun in the heavens. The scales in 
 this spiral being at equal distances, necessitate mathe- 
 matically other three spirals, or four spirals in all — one 
 of these, the governing spiral, and another, running in 
 the same direction, and other two in the opposite direc- 
 tion. Sometimes all of these spirals can be noticed ; in 
 all cases two are very visible, one from right to left, the 
 other from left to right. (See Figs. 27, 28, 29.) 
 
 On comparing the cone with the branch, we find a dis- 
 position in the appendages of the latter similar to those 
 of the former. The leaves on the young stem and the 
 scars left when these leaves fall off, form invariably two 
 sets of visible spirals, one from right to left, and the other 
 from left to right. 
 
 (2.) The two sets of visible spirals form, by their in- 
 tersection, a series of very beautiful and mathematically 
 regular rhomboidal figures on the surface of the cone. 
 (See Figs. 27, 28, 29.) 
 
 The elegance of the whole figure, with these spiral 
 gyrations, which allure on the eye, and these well-defined 
 lozenge shapes on the surface, form the ground, if we do 
 not mistake, of children's predilection for cones. When 
 they gather these so eagerly and industriously, when they 
 play with them for such a length of time, it must be be- 
 cause of some unconscious perception of the visible har- 
 monies — a perception which they could not of course 
 scientifically expound, or even express to others. And it
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS, 125 
 
 would "be well for us in this, as in many otlier cases, not 
 contemptuously to cast away the simple tastes of our 
 childhood, hut rather to cherish them, and put them 
 meanwhile under the guidance of a matured understand- 
 ing. A pine-cone will reward the study for hours toge- 
 ther of the very highest intellect. Here, as in numerous 
 other instances, science, in following up our spontaneous 
 tastes, will unfold wonders on which the reason gazes Avith 
 profound interest. 
 
 If we measure these rhomboidal fio-ures on the surface 
 of the cones of pines and firs, we find that the angles are 
 definite, being approximately 120° above and below, and 
 60° at the sides. (See Figs. 27, 28, 29.) We use the 
 language approximately, because there is often, as might 
 be expected, a departure from the normal angle on the 
 one side or the other, but the actual angles stick so 
 closely, on the one side or other, to the numbers given, 
 that we may regard these as the normal ones. The 
 eye, or rather the intellect, feels a pleasure in contem- 
 plating such a figure, made up of two equilateral triangles, 
 and in every respect so beautifully proportioned, and com- 
 bining an easily observable unity with an easily observable 
 variety. 
 
 On the stems likewise, the intersection of the two spi- 
 rals formed by leaves, and the scars of fallen leaves, forms 
 a scries of rhomboids. We cannot speak so confidently 
 of the angles of these rhomboids as of those of the cone, 
 but we have found in many cases that when the leaves 
 have fallen oif and the scars are visible, tlie angles at two 
 of the opposite corners are approximately 120", and at the 
 other two opposite corners 60°. But there is this difier- 
 ence between the rhomboids on the cone and the rhom- 
 boids on the stem, that wliereas in the former the angle 
 is 120° above and below, and 60° at the sides, in the
 
 126 TRACES OF ORDEE 
 
 latter the angle is 120° at the sides, and 60° above and 
 below. We have found these numbers very often on the 
 stem of a few years old ; as it becomes older the rhom- 
 boid is less elongated, but by this time the scars are be- 
 ginning to disappear, being covered up with the bark. 
 
 This arrangement produces on the surface of the cone 
 a series of quincunxes, a figure which has long been re- 
 garded as possessing many virtues. Virgil, in his Georgics, 
 in giving directions for planting trees, says, " Indulge or 
 dinibus," and recommends the quincunx. 
 
 " Omnia sint paribus numeris dimensa viarum, 
 Non animum modo uti pascat prospectus inanem, 
 Sed quia non aliter vires dabit omnibus sequas 
 Terra." 
 
 ViRG. Georg. II., 284-286. 
 
 Speaking of the same figure, Quintilian says, " Quid 
 quincunce speciosius qui in quamcunque partem specta- 
 veris rectus est." Sir Thomas Browne, in his ingenious 
 though fanciful work, entitled " The Quincunx Mystically 
 Considered," seems to have had pleasant glimpses of the 
 truths to be discovered by the study of the cone-bearers, 
 " Now, if for this order we affect coniferous and tapering 
 trees, particularly the cypress, which grows in a conical 
 figure, we have found a tree not only of great ornament, 
 but, in its essentials of affinity unto this order, a solid 
 rhombus, being made by the conversion of two equicru- 
 ral cones, as Archimedes hath deponed. But these were 
 the common trees about Babylon and the East, whereof 
 the ark was made." " But," he adds, " the Firr and Pine 
 Tree do naturally dictate this position ; the rhomboidal 
 protuberances in pine-apples maintaining this quincun- 
 cial order into each other, and each rhombus in itself. 
 Thus are also disposed the triangular foliations in the
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 127 
 
 conical fruit of the Firr tree, orderly shadowing and pro- 
 tectino; the winsred seeds below them." 
 
 (3.) There is, we have said, a very visible set of spirals 
 going from right to left, and another very visible set 
 from left to right on the surface of the cone. In these 
 sets there is a definite number of spirals. We j)i'opose, 
 in the absence of an authorized word, calhng the parts or 
 numbers of a set of spirals, threads. The number of 
 threads, in a set of spirals in all conifer;i3, seems some 
 one of the following numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 
 &c., in which scale any two contiguous numbers added 
 together gives the succeeding one. We have already 
 fallen in with this remarkable series of numbers in leaf 
 aiTangement ; it now casts up once more in a somewhat 
 different, and probably a more fundamental relation. In 
 the case before considered, these numbers were merely 
 the more common ones ; in the case now before us they 
 seem to be invariable ones. On the supposition that the 
 spiral, more or less modified, governs the an-angement of 
 the appendages of all plants, we are inclined to look on 
 this series as having a deep significancy in the morj)ho- 
 logy of the plant. 
 
 We have observed that there is a constant relation in 
 the number of threads in the two sets of spirals. What- 
 ever the number of threads in the one set of spirals — 
 say that proceeding from right to left — the number in 
 the other — those proceeding from left to right — is always 
 one or other of the contiguous ones in the above scale. 
 The number of spirals in the two intersecting sets are 
 1 and 2, or 2 and 3, or 5 and 8, or 8 and 13, or 13 and 
 21, or 21 and 34. Thus, if the number of threads in 
 the one set of spirals — say that proceeding from right to 
 left — is 5, the number in the otlier set — that proceeding 
 from left to right — will be either 3 or 8. Tliese nume-
 
 128 
 
 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 Fig. 30.* 
 
 rical relations seem to regulate the sets of spirals in all 
 coniferj©. In pines the number of threads in by far the 
 greater number of species, is 5 and 8. In a few species 
 the numbers are 3 and 5, and in a few others 8 and 13. 
 
 In Arancauria imbricata 
 the number of threads in 
 the two sets respectively is 
 21 and 34. 
 
 In the disposition of the 
 scars on the stems there are 
 similar numerical relations. 
 Thus the number of threads 
 is one or other of the num- 
 bers in the scale, 1, 2, 3, 5, 
 8, &c., and the numbers of 
 the two sets are always contiguous ones in this scale. 
 Thus, if the number of threads in the one set of spirals 
 is 3, the number in the other will either be 2 or 5. We 
 have remarked, however, that the number of threads in 
 the spirals of the branch is commonly less or lower in 
 the scale than the number of threads in the spiral of the 
 cone. In pines the common numbers for the cone are 5 
 and 8, whereas the numbers for the visible spirals on the 
 stem are 5 and 3. 
 
 (4.) We have found in the cones of pines and firs, (so 
 far as we have examined them,) that all the spirals in 
 one of the sets, and this invariably the one which con- 
 tains the greater number of threads, take approximately 
 just one turn in going from the base to the top of the 
 cone, that is, each goes round the axis once, and stops at 
 the apex perpendicularly over the point from which it 
 
 * Fio. SO. Diagram shewing that two sots of spirals set out from the base of a cone, 
 and that there is a relation between the number of spirals in the two sets. In tiie dia- 
 Kiam the number proceeding from left to right is 5, and the number from risfht to left 
 is 8.
 
 IX THE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 129 
 
 started. Tims, if the spirals -be 8 and 5, (as in Fig. 
 30,) then each of the 8 will be found to have taken one 
 complete turn before it reaches the apex, and if the 
 numbers be 13 and 8, the 13 will be found to have 
 twisted themselves once round the axis. This seems to 
 be the rule followed by the set of spirals containing the 
 larger number. The other set appears also to have a rule. 
 In cones with the ordinary relation between the height 
 and width, that is, where the circumference is greater 
 than the height, the number of turns made by the set of 
 spirals of the lower number is 2, that is, the spirals go 
 twice round the axis before reaching the apex. But in 
 cones whose height is great in proportion to their width, 
 whose length is greater than their circumference, as, 
 for example, Pinus Strobus, Pinaster, excelsa, monticola, 
 Lambertiana, filifolia, and Abies alba, excelsa, Douglasii, 
 the number of turns taken by the spirals is 3. 
 
 Such co-ordinated facts as these may possess little 
 interest to the mere technical naturalist, whose sole aim 
 is to discover new genera and species, or the mere prac- 
 tical horticulturist or arboriculturist, whose object is to 
 find plants of commercial value. But they tend to raise 
 up profound reflections in the truly philosophical mind, 
 and open uj) glimpses to the religious mind of the dcei") 
 things of God. They shew that the plant, and all its 
 members, had been before the mind of God prior to the 
 time when He said, " Let the earth bring forth grass, 
 the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit 
 after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and 
 it was so ;" " and God saw that it was good." Mathe- 
 matical figures, more or less modified to suit special 
 ends, make their a])pearance everywhere among the 
 members of tin; jilant. The mathematical spiral regu- 
 lates the arrangement of all the appendages of the jilant. 
 
 6*
 
 130 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 Even the lines which man has not been able to express 
 in mathematical formulfe, such as the cm-ve of the veins 
 and branches, and the outline of the coma of a tree, are 
 evidently regulated by models in the mind of the Divine 
 Architect. Numerical relations of a most interesting 
 character cast up among every class of plants, and among 
 all the organs of every plant. All appendicular organs, 
 whether belonging to the nutritive or reproductive sys- 
 tem, are homotypes. Nay, correspondences may be 
 detected between the disposition and the distribution of 
 branches and leaf veins, sufficient to entitle us to repre- 
 sent root, stem, and leaf, as homotypes, and to prove 
 that there is a unity of composition in the structure of 
 the whole plant. 
 
 SECT, II. TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION IN THE ORGANS OF 
 
 THE PLANT. 
 
 Our aim in this chapter is to shew that in the struc- 
 ture of the plant there are combined simplicity of general 
 plan and variety of modification, the latter for special 
 ends. Having endeavoured in the preceding section to 
 demonstrate the first great truth, we are in this section 
 to illustrate the second. 
 
 It is evident that stem and common leaves would not 
 suffice to fit the plant for the discharge of all its func- 
 tions. It needs, among others, organs or appendages for 
 covering, for support, and for enabling it to propagate 
 and perpetuate itself. To meet these wants members 
 are found to spring up at the very place where they are 
 needed, and at the very time when they are needed ; 
 and when they appear they come not as absolutely new 
 organs, but after the old type, modified to serve the 
 present purpose. Does the plant demand a covering ? —
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF THE PLANT. 131 
 
 the leaf becomes a scale, or the cuticle .produces hairs for 
 that purpose. Is defence required against external 
 attack ? — leaves or branches become sharpened or hard- 
 ened at the poirit, and the whole plant, or the more 
 assailable parts of it, are bristled all over with spines or 
 prickles. That the species may live on in a new indi- 
 vidual, the leaf takes a yet greater departure from its 
 type, and becomes a stamen or pistil. The general plan 
 of the Great Architect is kept up, and yet every several 
 member fulfils a purpose. We capnot conceive of stronger 
 or more convincing evidence of design being supplied to 
 human intelligence. 
 
 1. ORGANS OF VEGETATION. 
 
 The general structure of the leaf has been already 
 described ; we are now to contemplate some well-marked 
 special modifications. The cuticle, or skin, shews nume- 
 rous small openings, (the stomata of botanists ;) these, 
 like the holes in a barn, keep up the communication 
 between the air and the interior. In the leaves of aerial 
 plants, which have the usual horizontal position, these 
 pores are commonly abundant upon the lower surface, 
 and upon that under surface the skin is also of a more 
 delicate nature ; on the upper surface the stomata are 
 usually less numerous, or even, in some cases, wanting, 
 while the skin is tougher and denser. In leaves, again, 
 which float on the surface of the water, the openings are 
 confined to the upper surface, and in submerged leaves 
 they are wanting altogether. The intervening portion of 
 the leaf, already. described, called ])arcnchyma, presents 
 some remarkable peculiarities in relation to the pores 
 we have been describing. Next the upper surface of 
 the leaf, it consists of compact oblong cells, placed per- 
 pendicularly and in close contact with each other, the
 
 132 
 
 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 layer nearest the 'lower surface is less dense, and nume- 
 rous vacant spaces occur between the cells, permitting free 
 communication, through the stomata or pores, between 
 
 the atmosphere and 
 the interior of the 
 leaf We have here, 
 therefore, a striking 
 example of harmony 
 between the struc- 
 ture of this part of 
 the plant and its 
 function and po- 
 sition. The pores 
 are exhaling and 
 absorbing organs ; 
 Fig. 31.* wherc they are most 
 
 abundant, there we lind loose texture of the parenchyma, 
 permitting free communication ; where stomata are not 
 needed, they are wanting ; when they are required on 
 a particular part of the leaf, there we find them. Many 
 species of Utriculariae — delicate water-plants — have nu- 
 merous small sacs connected with the leaves, which are 
 stated, about the flowering period, to become filled with 
 air, and to buoy the plant near the surface of the water. 
 In Pontederia crassipes and Trapa natans, some of the 
 leaves have the stalk dilated into an air cavity, which 
 acts as a float. The magnificent Victoria Regia presents 
 several interesting features. It is an aquatic belonging to 
 the water-lily family, and the fully developed leaf reaches 
 a diameter of five feet or more. In order to give 
 strength to such a large surface, the veins on the lower 
 aspect of the leaf are of great depth, acting as so many 
 
 * Fig. 81. I'eiT)eudicuIar section of leaf, to shew different structures of upper and 
 lower portions.
 
 IN THE OKGANS OF THE PLANT. 133 
 
 supporting girders. Between tliem are formed spaces in 
 Avhich air might accumulate and lead to a rupture of the 
 parts ; such an occurrence, however, is obviated by the 
 perforations which constitute one of the pecularities of 
 this remarkable plant. By transmitted light the leaf 
 resembles a sieve, with numerous minute openings. 
 
 Stipules. — These appendages assume different forms, 
 and vary in size and texture, according to the plant in 
 which we examine them. They are, as already stated, 
 formed after the leaf type, and although we cannot, in 
 every case, point out the purposes served by their modi- 
 fied form, there are, nevertheless, instances in wliich we 
 cannot doubt that they are present for a useful object. 
 In Lathyrus aphaca they are of large size, and supply 
 the place of the leaves, which are absent in the mature 
 plant. In not a few plants they perform important 
 functions as protecting organs, forming a covering to 
 the young leaves ; this is obvious enough in Magnolia, 
 in the Indian-rubber fig, and in the submerged Pota- 
 mogetons. When the leaves expand, these protective 
 stipules fall off ; their function being performed they are 
 no longer needed, and so they disappear. 
 
 Covering of 2')lants. — The varied aspect of the external 
 surface of the different organs of plants, so important to 
 the botanist in the distinction of species, and designated 
 by the terms downy, silky, scaly, &c., is owing to the 
 presence of certain minute appendages, the nature of 
 which has been already described. (Sec p. 86.) In cer- 
 tain cases their presence has some relation to the habitat 
 or dwelling-place of the plant. Those on the upper part 
 of the pistil of hare-bell are well-known to act in col- 
 lecting and retaining the pollen grains as they drop 
 from the anther. There can be no doubt that in many 
 cases the very minute fibrils on the underground parts
 
 134 TEACES OF spj:cial adaptation 
 
 of plants, whicli assist in the jDrocess of absorjotion, are 
 really hairs, and of the same nature of those which cover 
 aerial organs. 
 
 Armature. — Plants, like animals, have been provided 
 with organs of defence, varying in strength and in the 
 effects left by them from the simple and almost innocu- 
 ous prickle of the rose to the formidable sting of Urtica 
 urentissima, the wounds inflicted by which often lead to 
 dangerous or even fatal results. We have shewn in last 
 section that under the term xirmature are comprehended 
 modifications of several parts. The spines of the white 
 Thorn and the black Thorn, of which every one has had 
 experience, are branches turned into spear points, to 
 repel all sensitive assailants. In Barberry certain leaves 
 have been sharpened into prickles ; in Holly the leaves 
 have had their secondary veins hardened and pointed 
 effectually — as the mouth of any animal which may at- 
 tempt to eat them will testify. In Eobinia the stipules 
 have undergone a change of condition, to fit them for 
 a similar defensive function. The armature of Nettle 
 and Loasa are modified hairs, as are also the prickles of 
 the rose, and many other plants. 
 
 Supports. — This term comprises various modified 
 organs, supplying instances of design as palpable as any 
 furnished by the pillars and buttresses of human archi- 
 tecture. The native tendency of the stem is upwards, 
 but there are multitudes of plants too weak to retain 
 their vertical position ; and to aid them in their heaven- 
 ward inclination various provisions have been made. At 
 times the stem itself becomes twined round other plants ; 
 this spiral twining may either be from right to left, as 
 in the French bean. Dodder, Convolvulus, &c. ; or from 
 left to right, as in the Honeysuckle and Hop. At other 
 times the same end is accomplislied by the superficial 
 
 I
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF THE PLANT. 135 
 
 appendages of the stem, as, for instance, by tlie mmiito 
 hooks on some species of Galium, 
 
 Tendrils, varying, as we have seen, iu their nature in 
 different plants, but all really referrible to a common type, 
 possess the same properties as twining stems ; they twist 
 themselves round other plants, and thus support species 
 too weak to stand in their own strength. 
 
 In Dischidia Kafflesiana the piYc/icr-shaped organs are 
 leaves whose margins have become adherent. This plant 
 is a climber, sometimes reaching the top of the loftiest 
 trees, and generally the pitchers are confined to its upper 
 l)art. It is stated that there, small roots are developed, 
 and these, entering the pitchers, absorb the fluid which is 
 accumulated from the fall of rain or dew ; the iQng strag- 
 gling stems are thus j)rovided Avith a means of receiving 
 nourishment at both extremities. 
 
 In human architecture we may discover contrivance 
 in the means taken to retain the general symmetry of 
 the entire edifice, while at the same time every part of 
 it is devoted to a useful purpose ; and surely the ex- 
 amjiles we have given indicate the same kind of lofty 
 design, contriAdng to make organs conform themselves 
 to a general type while they accomphsh particular ends 
 essential to the wellbcing of the ])lant. The cases 
 brought forward belong to the nutritive system of 
 plants ; similar examples are furnished by the reproduc- 
 tive economy. But before proceeding to examine these, 
 
 Bracts may be alluded to, as forming an evident tran- 
 sition, as we have already shewn, from leaf to sepals, or 
 divisions of the calyx. They are leaves specially modified, 
 and may help the parts of the flower in the performance 
 of their office. This may be laid down as a general 
 rule, though we may not be able in every case to specify 
 with precision their peculiar function. There are very
 
 136 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 numerous cases in wliicli they serve as protecting organs. 
 In Palms, and other plants, the large sheath which they 
 form, called technically a spathe, encloses numerous 
 flowers as yet in an early stage of development. In 
 some Palms it is calculated that there may be thus 
 protected no fewer than 200,000 flowers. In Narcissus, 
 Allium, &c., the bract forms a protecting sheath to the 
 flowers while in a young and tender state, and when 
 these expand it shrivels and decays. In the daisy, and 
 others of the family Compositaj, the numerous florets 
 are protected by one or more series of overlapping 
 bracts. The cup of the acorn is a protecting organ, 
 formed also of numerous overlapping organs of the same 
 nature. Where these parts present much resemblance 
 to leaves, they often, as in Anemone and other plants, 
 serve at first as protecting appendages, and subsequently 
 they aid the leaves in their all-important functions. 
 
 II. REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 Calyx.— It is admitted on all hands that the sepals, or 
 pieces of the calyx, though not present in every instance, 
 and therefore not absolutely essential in the economy 
 of the flower, do, when present, perform some good 
 offices. This is true, whether the pieces, in consequence 
 of lateral adhesion, are made to take a tubular shape, or 
 whether they have some other form. There can be no 
 doubt that, in numerous instances, this part not only pro- 
 tects the more internal organs, but likewise assists the 
 leaves in their function. The remarkable, and often very 
 beautiful, hair-like appendages of the fruit (part of the 
 calyx modified), in Composite plants, as the dandelion 
 and others, assist in the dissemination of the fruit and 
 seed : acted on by the wind, these pappose fruits are 
 wafted to a distance from the parent plant, and, when
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF THE PLANT. 137 
 
 they fall into a suitable soil, become the parents of fresh 
 colonies. 
 
 Corolla. — The general office of this organ is very 
 obvious. This whorl of petals serves, in most cases, to 
 support and protect the more vital organs within ; such, 
 at least, is one function which it evidently performs. It 
 is all true, that we cannot in every instance state, Avith a 
 well-founded confidence, what connexion there is between 
 the form and colour of the individual piece or " of the 
 entire corolla, and its use in the economy of the plant. 
 In not a few vegetable organisms, both calyx and corolla 
 are wanting, and in such cases, at least, they cannot be 
 essential organs ; but when present, we may believe that 
 they serve a purpose. It is supposed by some that there 
 is a relation between the colour of the petal and the 
 measure of heat which it absorbs, and which the flower 
 requires. Possibly there may also be a relation between 
 the form of the corolla and the process of seed or fruit 
 production in the species ; but science is not yet prepared 
 to point it out. The brilliant apparatus of the flower 
 acts, we are comdnced, as an attraction to various kinds 
 of insects, which, in the act of procuring food for them- 
 selves, assist also in scattering the fertihzing pollen, and 
 bringing it into contact with the upper part of the seed- 
 vessel. If we need to seek for any other final cause, we 
 shall find it in the shapes and colours of flowers, as ad- 
 dressed to that love of the beautiful which is one of the 
 most bountiful parts of the wonderful constitution of our 
 nature. 
 
 Stamens. — These, with the pistil in the centre of the 
 flower, are the most essential organs of all. Tlieir all- 
 important office is to ])r(jduce the pollen or fecundating 
 powder necessary to the formation of the seed. 
 
 We have pointed out, in last section, the ]i()ini>logy of
 
 138 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 the stamen and its parts. Its departure from the gene- 
 ral type is not so great as might at first appear, still it 
 does deviate widely from the leaf, and all to accomplish 
 the very special end allotted to it. The filament which 
 supports the anther is (wo have seen) no more essential 
 to that anther than the stalk is to the leaf. This fila- 
 ment, however, does at times assume forms which act an 
 important part in relation to other organs and the gene- 
 ral mechanism of the plant. Thus in Kalmia, each 
 anther is kept back by a little hood or hollow in the part 
 of the corolla opposite to it. A slight force — the touch 
 of an insect, for example — suffices to release the anther, 
 when the elastic filament, acting as a spring, brings it 
 forcibly in contact with the upper part of the pistil, the 
 pollen meanwhile being freely emitted. The same object 
 is secured by the elastic filaments of the common nettle, 
 and the irritable filaments of the barberry. Without 
 entering more minutely into the subject, it may be ob- 
 served generally, that the application of a fertilizing 
 matter being absolutely necessary to the propagation of 
 the plant, it appears precisely where it is wanted ; the 
 parts which produce it j)rotect it in the first place, and 
 aid in the final application of it ; while the whole appa- 
 ratus is a special modification of the typical member. 
 
 Fistil.—lLh.G leaf type is here modified to form an all 
 essential organ. Its functions are to receive and retain 
 the pollen, and the top of the stigma is admirably fitted 
 for such purposes. Another part of the same organ con- 
 ducts the fecundating matter to the seed-buds or ovules, 
 and affords also to these vital members protection — of a 
 more temporary or permanent kind — till such time as 
 they attain maturity, and reach a locality in which they 
 may germinate into new life. In not a few cases the 
 seed-vessels have appendages which act as wings, and
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF THE PLANT. 139 
 
 ■waft them by the aid of the wind to distant locahties. 
 In other cases the appendages become floats or protec- 
 tors, and give us nuts and capsules, which are conveyed 
 by rivers and ocean currents to establish new colonies far 
 from the parent stock. The hooks and other aj)pendages 
 of some fruits make them adhere to the coats of animals, 
 and thus the plant, stationary itself, has its seed disse- 
 minated wide as the range of the animal, with its feet 
 and wings. Other instances are not wanting of evident 
 adaptations in the general structure of fruits, and in the 
 properties of their elementary tissues, Tlius the ripe 
 fruits of some species of balsam, when touched, suddenly 
 burst and scatter the seeds with considerable force ; the 
 squirting cucumber is a still more remarkable case of 
 the same description. 
 
 Another final cause, different in kind, comes into view 
 very prominently at this place. He who makes every 
 organ subserve the welfare of the plant, has also made 
 the plant, as a whole, and its individual parts, to pro- 
 mote an ulterior end. It seems very evident to us that 
 certain modifications of the organ under consideration, 
 and others contiguous, have a direct reference to the 
 wants of man and the lower animals. We never can 
 believe that the sugar, acids, oils, starch, and other pro- 
 ducts formed so abundantly in the fruits of difiercnt 
 plants, were not meant to serve as food, and afford sen- 
 tient gratification to the animal creation. The fruit, in 
 its earlier stages, performs a necessary part in fertihza- 
 tion, at every period it yields support and protection to 
 the young as well as tlie mature seeds, and when, in ad- 
 dition to these, it presents its beautiful forms and colours 
 to the eye of man, and pleases all sentient creation with 
 its perfumes, and gives satisfaction to the i)alate, and 
 nourishment to the frame, we are sure that we have be-
 
 140 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 fore us the modification of an organ for a twofold pur- 
 pose, the one bearing directly on the economy of the 
 plant itself, and another, and a further, having a respect 
 to the wellbeins: of the animal world. 
 
 And these ends, be it observed, are accomplished in 
 conformity with the grand regulating principle of type or 
 pattern. In a ripe cherry the kernel is the seed ; the hard 
 stone, so admirably fitted for protection, corresponds to 
 the upper cuticle of the leaf — thus singularly transformed 
 for a useful end ; the skin of the fruit represents the 
 cuticle of the lower surface of the leaf ; the intervening 
 delicious pulp is just an expansion of the cellular sub- 
 stance previously described as lying between the two 
 cuticles ; nay, the observant eye will discover that in the 
 line on one side of the cherry, we have the united edges 
 of the typical leaf. 
 
 ■ Finally, in the Seed itself, that portable epitome of 
 the entire vegetable organism, we find differences in the 
 relative development of different parts, all in decided re- 
 lation to some special function which has a respect to the 
 continuance of the species, or the necessities of the ani- 
 mal creation. We have alluded to the adaptation of 
 certain parts of fruits to the purpose of protecting the 
 seed ; but the seed itself has often an independent means 
 of resisting injury in its hard integument or skin, modi- 
 fied for that purpose. The wing-like appendages of pine 
 seeds, and the abundant hairy covering of those of wil- 
 lows, doubtless aid in their dissemination when they are 
 committed to aerial currents. It may be added, that man 
 finds in the covering of the seeds of the cotton plant an 
 economic product of immense value for his clothing and 
 comfort. 
 
 For the better comprehension of special modifications 
 in the seed itself, we would refer to previous remarks,
 
 IN THE ORGAN'S OF THE PLANT, 141 
 
 (p. 82.) Generally speaking, we find two obvious con- 
 trasts in the relative development of the internal parts, 
 viz., large cotyledons, and the albumen small or absent, 
 {Fig. 8,) and small embryo with copious albumen. In 
 the economy of each individual seed these differences are 
 of vital importance. In germination the cotyledons in 
 some cases (as Lupine) rise above ground, assume a green 
 colour, and, for a time, perform the functions of leaves, 
 finally giving place to the true leaves of the new plant, 
 when these have attained suflicient size ; or the cotyle- 
 dons may remain under ground during the process of 
 germination, as in the i)ea and bean, yielding up to the 
 young plant the store of nourishment which they contain. 
 Seeds with copious albumen and small embryo have, in 
 like manner, in the former a temporary store of food for 
 the latter. 
 
 But further, those parts of the seed which are of such 
 importance in the early economy of the young plant, pre- 
 sent also a new relation, viz., to the existence and well- 
 being of man and numerous lower animals. Starch, oil, 
 &c., are products yielded in abundance by seeds ; and 
 the hard albumen of some, as the ivory-nut, is turned to 
 a useful purpose in the arts. 
 
 To sum up what we have said : — The stem bears up the 
 whole plant, so that the influence of the sun and atmos- 
 phere may act through the leaves upon the fluids absorbed 
 by the roots ; which roots perform the functions of stays, 
 enabling the whole vegetable organism to resist the action 
 of such physical agents as wind. The law of the spiral, 
 which regulates the arrangement of tlie ai)pendagcs, seems 
 to be admirably calculated to expose them to the influences 
 needful in order to the growth of the whole plant. Cer- 
 tain of the si)ecial modifications are either absolutely 
 necessary to the existence of the plant, or tend to its
 
 142 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 wellbeing, such as tendrils for support, scales and hairs 
 for protection, spines and prickles as armature for de- 
 fence. We also know that some of the varied modifica- 
 tions of the floral organs, namely, the stamens and pistils, 
 arc essential to the continuance of the race. It is very 
 evident, too, that regularity in the arrangement of the 
 flowers and of their parts will promote the function of 
 fecundation, and tend to lessen risk of failure in this 
 imjoortant end. Even the more common arrangements 
 seem as if they were intended to promote the fertihzation 
 of the seed. Thus the stamens of the upper flowers of" a 
 spike, (wheat, for instance,) or of a raceme, (as common 
 currant,) may not only fecundate the ovules in the flower 
 to which they belong, but are also well placed to insure 
 the fall of the pollen on those which stand below them. 
 In the spikes of some species of carex or sedge, where 
 the stamens and pistils are often in separate flowers, 
 those at the apex of the spike have stamens only, and 
 those further down pistils only. Again, when species of 
 carex have some spikes with stamens only, and others 
 with pistils only, the former often stand highest. These 
 cases are so uniform and so numerous that we cannot 
 regard them^ as mere accidental coincidences. There 
 are, no doubt, exceptions, but in all such cases the same 
 end is accomplished by the insects which frequent flowers 
 in search of food, scattering and conveying from one 
 flower to another the fecundating pollen. Again, the 
 regular arrangement of the ovules in the interior of the 
 seed-vessel, will be more likely to give each a better 
 chance of receiving the influence of the matter conveyed 
 by the minute tubes which pass down from the pollen, 
 than indiscriminate jumbling of the whole. 
 
 Thus we observe in the vegetable kingdom that 
 special ends are served both by the typical organs and
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF THE PLANT. 143 
 
 their distribution, and also by the numerous deviations 
 from the typo, whatever be the nature and extent of 
 these. It must, however, be frankly acknowledged that 
 we cannot in every instance discover a final cause for 
 every particular part of every plant, or, at all events, 
 that our present knowledge does not entitle us to speak 
 confidently on the subject. But this is not necessary in 
 order to the validity of our argument. In a building 
 we may be able to recognise design in its general style, 
 although not in circumstances to point out the special 
 purpose which every part of it was intended to serve. 
 On the same principle we believe that we are entitled to 
 say that we have discovered marks of design in the 
 plant as a whole, and in its various modifications, even 
 when we may not have arrived at a stage of knowledge 
 which enables us to understand why an organ has 
 assumed one 2:)articular form rather than another. It 
 would be a very limited range of contemplation if our 
 attention were confined to the function which individual 
 parts are intended to perform in the vegetable economy. 
 We cannot doubt that there is a relation between the 
 existence of plants and the support of the animal world. 
 In the grass of the field, and the valuable products 
 yielded by fruits and seeds, we can see a provision made 
 by the Creator for supplying the necessities of His 
 creatures. 
 
 We go a step further, and afiirm that plants were 
 meant not only to furnish food to the animal creation, 
 but were intended to afford them pleasure by their tastes 
 and by their perfumes. It will surely not be affirmed (hat 
 the organs of taste and of smell were given us merely as 
 means of procuring food, or as sentinels, on guard at the 
 outposts, to warn us of danger. Plants might have Ix rn 
 less sapid or less odoriferous without any derangement of
 
 144 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 the functions wliicli each part fulfils ; and there is surely- 
 some ground for concluding that He who planned and 
 made them all superadded those qualities, and instituted 
 a harmony between the sensate and the insensate, for 
 the gratification of animal tastes. Not only so, we think 
 there is good ground for affirming that not a few vege- 
 table forms were meant to gratify the ajsthetic feelings of 
 man. We cannot declare with certainty that the forms 
 assumed by the flower, by its calyx and corolla, are in 
 every case necessary to the functions of the plant. We 
 will not affirm that the beautifully rounded form of the 
 I^each, the delicacy of bloom on the surface, and the 
 dehciousness of its flavour, are required in order to the 
 production of the kernel and its hard protecting sheU. 
 We have no reason to think that the brilliant scales on 
 the wings of the butterfly are necessary to its flight, for 
 the insect, (as any one may observe) can fly after they 
 are mostly all rubbed off, and some Lepidoptera have 
 few or no scales at all ; and just as little ground have 
 we for affirming that the jolant could not fulfil its ' 
 functions even though the flower had not been so orna- 
 mented. 
 
 Man has aBsthetic tastes implanted in his nature ; 
 these are gratified to the full by the lovely forms pre- 
 sented in the vegetable kingdom, and we are convinced 
 that all this was arranged by Him who conferred on 
 man his love of the beautiful, and supplied the objects 
 by which that love is gratified.'-' And here we have 
 to express our regret that philosophers have not been 
 able to agree upon a theory of the beautiful. If there 
 had been any acknowledged doctrine on this subject, 
 
 * Some insist that, tliorc is not only the beautiful in plants, (antl in animals as well,) 
 but also the ^Totesque. Grantcnl, but surely we have here a further example of final 
 cause in the relation between tlie grotesque in the plant and the sense of the ludicrous 
 in man.
 
 IN THE ORGANS OF THE PLANT. 145 
 
 there would have been little difficulty in shewing that 
 jDlants are fashioned in accordance with a very high 
 style of beauty. In particular, we are as yet without 
 any generally received principles in regard to what con- 
 stitutes beauty of form. In such circumstances we can 
 appeal to no admitted rules, but we can appeal to our 
 own feelings, which declare that the plant, in its general 
 form, and in its corolla, exhibits perfect models of 
 beauty. Here we have an all-suffi.cient final cause super- 
 added to aU the other final causes, bearing more directly 
 upon the economy of the plant, and coming in at the 
 parts, such as the flower and fruit, where these others, to 
 our eyes, might seem to fail.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE COLOURS OP PLANTS. 
 SECT. I. THE RELATIONS OF FORM AKD COLOUR IN THE FLOWER. 
 
 It is a very common impression that there is no rule, 
 no law, for the distribution of colours in the vegetable 
 kingdom.* We are convinced that this is a fundamental 
 mistake. Little, it is true, has been done to establish 
 scientific principles as to the colours of plants. StiU, 
 there is reason to believe that system prevails here as in 
 every other department of nature. Laws in regard to 
 the form, structure, number, and position of organs, are 
 familiar to every botanist ; and it is surely not unreason- 
 able to expect that order may also be found in the placing 
 of colours. One of us has been able to furnish a con- 
 tribution to this branch of inquiry, by discovering evi- 
 dence of a very curious relation between the form and 
 colour in the corolla in plants.f 
 
 In order that this may be understood, it will be neces- 
 sary at this place to explain certain technical terms used 
 
 * We arc great admirers of Mr. Euskin's intuitional power, but the following state- 
 ments in his Lamps of Architecture are too unguarded: — "The natural colour of objects 
 never follows form, but is arranged on a different principle ;" and again, " Colour is sim- 
 plified where form is rich, and %Kce veTsa ;"'' "In nature," ho further says, the "boun- 
 daries of forms are elegant and precise; those of colours, though subject to symmetry of 
 a rude kind, are yet irregular — in blotches." 
 
 t See Dr. Dickie's Papers in Sectional Reports of Proceedings of British Association, 
 1S54; and Annals of Natural History, Dec. 1854.
 
 COLOUR IN THE FLOWER. 147 
 
 hj botanists. The term regular is applied to every calyx 
 or corolla in which each sepal or petal is of equal size 
 and of similar form ; in other words, in which all the 
 divisions (whether they are free or adhere to each other 
 by their edges*) are equally and uniformly developed. 
 Every flower in which there is unequal or irregular de- 
 velopment of sepals and of petals, is called irregular. 
 It is to the very great difterence in these respects that 
 we owe the variety of aspect in the flowers of different 
 species. As examples, the following familiar plants 
 may be adduced ; — the pansy has an irregular flower, 
 that of wall-flower is regular ; a primrose has a regular 
 flower ; a snapdragon presents an example of irregu- 
 larity. 
 
 The following conclusions appear generally to hold 
 good as to the relation of form and of colour in the 
 flower. 
 
 1. In regular corollas the colotir is uniformly distri- 
 buted tvhatever be the number of colours present. — That 
 is to say, the pieces of the corolla being all alike in size 
 and form, have each an equal proportion of colour. The 
 common primrose is an example where there is only one 
 colour. In the Cliincse primrose the same holds where 
 two colours (the one the complement of the other) are 
 present, the eye or centre being yellow, and the margin 
 purple ; these two colours in this regular flower are uni- 
 furmly diffused, that is, each piece has an equal proportion 
 of yellow and of purple respectively. In Myosotis, Anagal- 
 lis. Erica, Gcntiana, Pyrola, &c., we have uniform corolla 
 with uniform distinction of colour. All Corollifloras 
 Exogens with regular flowers are examples ; the same is 
 true of certain Thalamiflorte, as PapaveraccfB, Cruciferse, 
 
 ♦ It may be necessary to explain that the terms free or adherent, refer to the condi- 
 tion of the mature flower, and not to the mode of development.
 
 148 TEE RELATIONS OF FORM AND 
 
 &c. ; Calyciflorar-'-" Exogens with regular flowers, as Ko- 
 saceee, Cactacete, &c., illustrate the same principle. 
 
 2. Irregularity of corolla is associated with irregular 
 distribution of colour, loliether one or more colours are 
 present. — In irregular flowers where the number five pre- 
 vails, the odd piece is most varied in form, size, and colour. 
 When only one colour is present, it is usually more in- 
 tense in the odd lobe of the corolla. When there are 
 two colours, one of them is generally confined to the odd 
 piece. Sometimes when only one colour is present, and 
 of uniform intensity in all the pieces, the odd segment 
 has spots or streaks of white. A i&w familiar instances 
 may suffice. 
 
 Commou Laburnum, ] ^^^'^ P^*^^^ ^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^'^ y^^«^' ^^^^ 
 
 ' purple veins. 
 
 Trifolium pratense, (com- ) Odd piece distinguished from the others 
 
 men red-clover,) ) by its darker purple veins. 
 
 Kennedia monophylla, -j ^''"'" P^^^'^^ J'^^^^^i ^^^^ ^^^^^w «y« ^""^ 
 
 ( purple margin. 
 
 Swainsonia purpurea -j ^o""" P^*^^« yellow; fifth, white eye on 
 
 { purple ground. 
 Ajuga reptans, (common ) Four divisions purple ; fifth, has yellow 
 
 bugle,) ) spot on inner surface. 
 
 Thymus Serpyllum, (wild ) Corolla generally red purple ; two pale 
 
 thyme,) ) spots on the odd piece, 
 
 Galeopsis Tetrahit, j ^°"5 divisions generally yellow; fifth 
 
 ( piece has purple spots on yellow ground. 
 Euphrasia oflficinalis, (com- ) Corolla purple generally ; odd piece has 
 mon eyebright,) ) yellow spot. 
 
 In those well-known annuals, Colhnsia and Schizan- 
 thus, the prevailing colour is purple ; the primary, yel- 
 low, appears in the odd lobe. 
 
 * Thalamiflor* comprehends plants in which there is no adhesion between the whorls 
 of the flower. Calyciflorre comprehends those in which there is such adhesion. In 
 Corollifloi-ie the petals are united by their edges fonnlng a tubular flower, to the Inside 
 of which the stamens partially adhere.
 
 COLOUR IN THE FLOWER. 149 
 
 In some genera with irregularity of flower often less 
 marked than in previous examples, it is w^orthy of notice 
 that the two divisions on each side of the odd lobe fre- 
 quently partake of its characters as regards colour, half 
 of each resembhng the odd piece, as may he seen in 
 Viola, Gloxinia, Acliimenes, Hhododendron, and other 
 plants. 
 
 3. In certain Tlialamijlorous Exogens loith unequal 
 corolla^ arising chiefly from difference in size of the 
 petals, the largest are most highly coloured. — Common 
 horse-chestnut may be mentioned as an example ; on 
 eacli petal there is usually a crimson spot at the lower 
 part ; the size of this spot and its intensity are in direct 
 relation to the size of each petal, the two upper being 
 largest, and the two lateral smaller, and the odd piece 
 least of all. 
 
 4. Different forms of corolla in the same inflorescence 
 often 2^^'cscnt differences of colour, hut all of the same 
 form agree also in colour. — The family of plants called 
 CompositJB, comprehending Aster, Cineraria, Daisy, «fec., 
 &c., presents illustrations of this. When there are two 
 colours, the flowers of the centre, usually of tubular form, 
 have generally one colour of uniftn-m intensity ; those of 
 the circumference, having a different form, agree toge- 
 ther in colour also. Thus the common daisy has all the 
 tubular flowers of the centre yellow, and all the ligulate 
 (strap-like) flowers of the ray or circumference are white, 
 variegated with purple. A yellow centre witli a ])uri)le 
 ray is a common association in Comjjositte ; for instance, 
 in species of Aster, Rudljeckia, &c. These principles 
 or laws prevail as well in monocotyledons as in dicoty- 
 ledons. In tlie former, the calyx and corolla generally 
 resemble each other in structure and shape, and in colour 
 also. This very close resemblance between the two
 
 150 THE RELATIONS OF FORM AND 
 
 whorls has given rise to the idea that there is only one 
 series of external j^arts in monocotyledons. Eelative po- 
 sition must, however, not be overlooked, and hence it is 
 concluded that both calyx and corolla are present. In 
 dicotyledons we generally find a greater contrast between 
 calyx and corolla as regards colour. , We may say there- 
 fore, — 
 
 5. The laio of the conti-asts in the colour of thefiower 
 is simpler in monocotyledons than in dicotyledons. — 
 The flowers of dicotyledons may be symbolized by the 
 square or pentagon, four and eight, five and ten being 
 the prevalent numbers in the different whorls ; whereas 
 since three and six are generally found in the flowers of 
 monocotyledons, the triangle may serve to symbolize such 
 arrangement. Such comparison is not fanciful on our 
 part, but an actual statement of the mode of illustration 
 adopted by botanists. Thus, in a work by one of the 
 highest authorities of the day,* a series of triangles is 
 used for the purpose of demonstrating, more clearly than 
 could be done by any other means, the true relations of 
 the flower in the families of the grasses, jialms, and or- 
 chids. 
 
 We may state in conclusion, therefore, that simplicity 
 of figure corresponds with simpler contrast of colour in 
 the monocotyledons, ivhile greater complexity of colour 
 and greater complexity of structure are in direct relation 
 in dicotyledons. — In all these remarkable co-existences 
 there is surely something more than mere casual coinci- 
 dences. As the laws of the beautiful have not been 
 detected and unfolded, it is not possible to demonstrate 
 scientifically that the relations we have been treating of 
 are in accordance with sesthetic principles. But the eye 
 at once perceives in regard to some of these arrange- 
 
 * Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom, pp. 109, 169, 178.
 
 COLOUR IX THE FLOWEK. 151 
 
 ments, that tliey tend to enhance the beauty of the plant. 
 Would not reason be oftended if uniform flowers had not 
 uniform colouring ? Is tliere not a propriety, when in 
 an irregular flower there is one petal standing by itself, 
 that that petal should have more brilliant colours, that 
 thus the flower may bo tempered together, having more 
 abundant honour in the parts which lacked, that there be 
 no schism in the plant ? We are persuaded that were we 
 to put a flower without any colour into the hands of a 
 skilful colourist, and ask him to put on the colours, he 
 would do so on the very j^rinciples according to which 
 plants are coloured in nature. 
 
 Proceeding on the principle that since plants of all 
 epochs of the earth's history have been constructed on the 
 same p;eneral plan, so the same associations of colour, 
 and of colour and form, must have i)revailed also, we may 
 finally glance at a few conclusions to be derived from this 
 source. 
 
 During the earlier geological periods, when Acrogenous 
 Cryptogamia (Ferns, &c.) were abundant, the secondary 
 and tertiary colours, as green, purple, russet, and citrine, 
 probably prevailed. 
 
 During the reign of Gymnosperms, when Cycadea3 and 
 Coniferae were numerous, the secondary and tertiary colours 
 must still have given a sombre aspect to the vegetable 
 world. 
 
 From the commencement of the chalk formation tliere 
 appears to have been a very marked and progressive in- 
 crease of Angiospermous dicotyledons, which form the 
 largest proportion of existing vegetation. Among them 
 we find the floral organs with greater prominence in size, 
 form, and colour; ;iiid such prominence of the "nii|itl;il 
 dress" of the plant is peculiarly a feature of species be- 
 longing to natural families which have attained their
 
 152 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF 
 
 maximum in man's epoch, and are characteristic of it. 
 Brouaniart, ■■•'•■ one of our hio;hest authorities in this de- 
 partment, states that a remarkable character of the floras 
 of the eocene, miocene, and pliocene epochs — which im- 
 mediately preceded man's epoch — is the absence of the 
 most numerous and most characteristic families of the 
 GamopctalfB.f Nothing announces the existence of Com- 
 positcB, Personatfe, Labiatfe, Solanace^e, Boraginacea3, &c. 
 
 Doubtless there were lovely flowers in former periods, 
 " born to blush unseen," at least by human beings, but 
 we miss those which are our special favourites, and whose 
 cultivation is one of the characteristics of civilized man. 
 
 We cannot avoid thinking that there was design in all 
 this, that the succession of created forms in the vegetable 
 kingdom had a reference to the epoch of man ; and that 
 just about the time when there appeared an eye to re- 
 ceive and convey the impressions of beauty, and an intel- 
 lect to derive satisfaction from the contemplation of such, 
 then it was that the most highly adorned ^productions of 
 Flora's kingdom were called into existence. 
 
 SECT. n. ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF PLANTS TO THE 
 
 NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 
 
 Artists lay it down as a maxim that a large portion of 
 a painting should bo of a neutral colour. Our natural 
 tastes would not tolerate a scarlet or purple ground to a 
 historical painting. In a skilful piece of art the more 
 prominent figures are made to rise out of colours which 
 attract no notice. It is the same in the beautiful canvas 
 which is spread out before us in earth and sky. The 
 ground colours of nature, if not all neutral, are at least 
 
 * Annales des Sciences Naturellef , 1S49. 
 
 t In Gaiuopetalae there u adhesion of petals ; the flowers are tubular.
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 153 
 
 all soft and retiring. How grateful should we be that 
 the sky is not usually dressed in red — that the clouds 
 are not painted crimson — that the carpet of grass on 
 which we tread is not yellow, and that the trees are not 
 decked with orange leaves ! The soil, in most places, 
 is a sort of brown — the mature trunks of trees commonly 
 take some kind of neutral hue — the true colour of the 
 sky is a soft blue, except when coloured with gray clouds, 
 and the foliage of vegetation is a refreshing green. It 
 is out from the midst of these that the more regular and 
 elegant forms, and the gayer colours of nature come 
 fortli to arrest the attention, to excite and dazzle us, not 
 only by their own splendour, but by comparison and con- 
 trast. 
 
 All the gayer colours of the vegetable kingdom seem 
 to be beautiful in themselves. The eye needs no asso- 
 ciated object to lead it to detect a loveliness in the red 
 rose, and the blue harebell, and the yellow primrose. 
 But there are associations of colour in art which have a 
 pleasing effect upon the mind. In our Schools of Design 
 pains are taken to shew what colours may be placed in 
 juxtaposition, and what colours may be kept at a dis- 
 tance from each other. In the construction of tapestry, 
 and other kinds of higher needlework, in the manufac- 
 ture of our finer texture of fabrics, and in the staining 
 of glass for windows, strict attention is now paid to rules 
 on this subject, prescribed by science and sanctioned by 
 experience. We proceed to shew that in nature colours 
 have been associated from the beginning, according to 
 principles which have become known to man only at a 
 comparatively late date in the history of human civili- 
 zation and science. In order to explain this, it will be 
 needful to begin with a fcAV elementary statements in re- 
 gard to light and colour. 
 
 7*
 
 154 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF 
 
 According to the commonly adopted doctrine, there are 
 three Primary Colours, Red, Yellow, and Blue. The 
 combination of these, in certain proportions, yields White, 
 The absence of them all is Black. These primaries, mixed 
 too-ether, two and two, produce what are called Secondary 
 Colours, viz.. Orange from the mixture of red and yellow. 
 Green from the mixture of yellow and blue, and Purple 
 from the mixture of red and blue. From the combination 
 of the secondaries arise three Tertiary Colours : — Citrine 
 from the mixture of orange and green, Olive from the 
 mixture of green and j^urple, and Russet from the mix- 
 ture of orange and purple. 
 
 There are certain other phrases which it may be needful 
 to explain in their technical sense, as used by colourists. 
 Tint is employed to denote the gradations of colour in 
 lightness and shade ; Shade to express the gradations in 
 depth from white down to black ; Hue is applied to the 
 mixtures in comj)Ound colours. Thus we talk of a light 
 tint of red where the red approaches to white, of a dark 
 shade of purple where the purple inclines to black, and 
 of hues of orange from the yellowest to the reddest, of 
 hues of green from the yellowest to the bluest, and of 
 hues of purple from the bluest to the reddest. When 
 the orange has more than its proper proportion of red, 
 we call it a red orange hue ; when in green the yellow 
 prevails, we call it a yellow green ; and when in purple 
 the blue predominates, we call it a blue purple. This is 
 the common doctrine taught in schools of art ; it is correct 
 enough for the purpose which we have at present in view, 
 and the nomenclature enables us to express, in a rough 
 way, the infinitely varied colours in nature,* 
 
 * Newton thought that there were seven simple primitive colours, red, orange, yellow 
 green, blue, indigo, violet. Sir David Brewster has shewn that these can be reduced to 
 three. Some scientific men seem to reckon all such classifications as in some respects
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 155 
 
 The languao;e of music has been applied to colours ; 
 and colourists talk of the Melody of colours and the 
 Harmony of colours. Colours are said to be in Melody 
 when two contiguous tints, or shades, or hues, run insen- 
 sibly into each other, as when red slides into pink and 
 white, and purple deepens into dark purple or merges 
 into red jiurple and red. Two different colours are said 
 to be in Harmony when their association is felt to be 
 pleasant to the eye. 
 
 Two colours are said to be Complementary when they 
 together make up the white beam. Thus green and red 
 are complementary, as also purple and yellow, orange 
 and blue. The eye feels a pleasure in seeing colours 
 in melody, or meltinGf into each other. It also feels a 
 pleasure in contemplating certain associations of different 
 colours. In particular, the eye is pleased when comple- 
 mentary colours are beside each other, or under the view 
 at the same time.* Complementary colours contrast the 
 one with the other, but arc always in harmony. It is 
 necessary to add that white associates pleasantly with 
 every other colour, as does also black. 
 
 The accompanying diagram {Fig. 32) is constructed 
 with the view of shewing what colours are complementary 
 to each other. In this figure we liave the three primary 
 colours, red, yellow, and bhie, and the three secondaries, 
 orange, green, and purple, with the hues of the seconda- 
 ries on either side. We have also the tertiaries, citrine, 
 
 arbitrary, and speak of the solar light as coinposod of iiulctcnn inatc mmibcrs of dlffiTently 
 colored rays. We have no opinion to offer on these points, or any other disputed point. 
 In regard to the nature of colour. But as it Is needful to use nomenclature of some 
 description, wc adopt the commonly received doctrine as expressing the actual facts 
 very clearly, and with sufTiticnt correctness for tlio purjiose which we luivo in view. 
 
 ♦ Divers explanations, physical and physiological, have been given <if lids. None of 
 these Bccms to u» to be altogether satisfactory, and It would bo beyond <Mir piovinco to 
 dl-scuss them in such a treatise as this. II is enough for us that the fact be adndtted, that 
 the eye Is gratHlcd when It can siinultancously unite two comi)lemen(ary colours.
 
 156 
 
 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOUKS OF 
 
 olive, and russet. The diagram is so constructed that 
 the colours in corresj)onding segments of opposite circles 
 are complementary, and so in harmony. Thus, red and 
 
 Fio. S2. 
 
 green, blue and orange, yellow and purple, are com- 
 plementaiy. According to the hue of any particular 
 secondary, so is also the hue of its complement. Thus a 
 pure purple requires a yellow, but a red purple requires 
 a yellow green, and a blue purple a yellow orange, as 
 the complementary colour ; and so of all the other 
 secondaries. The tertiary citrine is in harmony with a 
 dark purple, olive with a dark orange, and russet with a 
 dark green. 
 
 These principles are taught now in every school of art, 
 and are attended to in the manufacture of all our finer
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 157 
 
 fabrics in M-hich colour is an element of beaut}', as in 
 dresses, carpets, hangings, and furnishings of various 
 descriptions. When two colours not in harmony might 
 come in contact, the discord is avoided by placing a line 
 of white or black between them. We are now to shew 
 that these principles are also attended to in the colouring 
 of certain departments of nature. Thus, to take up the 
 three secondaries, green, purple, and orange. 
 
 1. Green harmonizing loith red and russet. — The soft 
 hue which the Author of nature has been pleased to 
 give to the leaf of tree and herbage, is by far the most 
 abundant colour in the' vegetable kingdom. Now, where- 
 ever the flower of a plant is red, it associates agreeably 
 with the leaf. The flowers of the rose, and of many 
 pinks, geraniums, pelargoniums, mallows, lychnises, and 
 dozens of others, contrast strikingly with the foliage of 
 the plants on which they grow. The eye delights to see 
 the fruit of the cherr}', the rose, and the thorn, and the 
 berry of the holly, the yew, the common barberry, the 
 mountain ash, and unnumbered other plants, peeping 
 forth from the green leaves. It often happens that ac- 
 cording to the hue of the green so is the hue of the asso- 
 ciated red. In a vast number of plants, the young stems 
 and the petioles of the leaves, and in not a few cases the 
 veins of the leaves, are red purple, contrasting with the 
 leaves which are yellow green. The young cones of the 
 larch, in spring, are of a reddish puri)le, harmoni/.lng 
 with the yellow green foliage. In other cases we find that 
 it is a russet, that is, in harmony with a dark green. In 
 the fir tribe and its allies, the leaves are dark green, and 
 stems are russet. The same colours are the })revalent 
 ones among rushes, and, indeed, in most of tlie juncous 
 family of jjlants. 
 
 2, Purple harmonizing loith yellow and cilron. — Tliis
 
 158 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF 
 
 is the second most prevalent harmony in the vegetable 
 kino-dom So far as we have been able to observe, 
 purple of various tints, shades, and hues, such as red 
 purple where there is a preponderance of red, and blue 
 purple where there is a preponderance of blue, is the 
 most frequent colour of the petals of plants. In beau- 
 tiful contrast we often find yellow in the centre of the 
 flower. Thus, in the garden polyanthus, and in many 
 varieties of auricula, the outer rim of the corolla is 
 purple, and an inner circle is yellow. More frequently 
 the complement is found in the yellow anthers or yellow 
 pollen. It is a remarkable circumstance, that as the 
 most frequent colour of petals is purple, so the most 
 common colour of the pollen of plants is yellow. It is 
 curious to notice, that according to the hue of the purple 
 so is the hue of the associated yellow. Thus, in potato 
 and bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara), the corolla is blue 
 purple, and the anthers are red yellow, whereas in poly- 
 anthus the outer edge of the flower-cup is red purple, 
 and the heart greenish yellow. In other plants the 
 complementary is not yellow but citrine, a colour not 
 uncommon in matured and decaying vegetation, where 
 it contrasts with a dark purple. Purple and citrine are 
 also commonly associated in the flowers of grasses. The 
 newly-ripened cone of the cluster-pine is citrine ; when 
 the scales open, the complementary purple is revealed on 
 the base of each. 
 
 3. Orange harmonizing with blue and olive. — -This 
 harmony is less frequently met with in the vegetable 
 kingdom, (it is very common in the sky.) Still, there 
 are examples to be found. Thus in several species of 
 Strelitzia, (as S. Kegin^e, S. juncea, &c.,) the sepals 
 are orange and the petals blue. A pure blue, however, 
 is rarely to be met with in the flower of any of the
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 159 
 
 organs of plants. Most of the flowers called blue have 
 more or less of a tinge of red. In such flowers the har- 
 mony is often very evident. Thus, the reddish-blue 
 petals of blue lupines and Jacob's-ladders are associated 
 "with reddish-yellow anthers. In not a few composite 
 plants, in some Hieraciums, for example, (such as Hiera- 
 cium aurantiacum,) we may observe an orange disc sur- 
 rounded by an olive involucre. The olive in some of these 
 plants seems to be produced by purple spots on a green 
 ground. 
 
 Not unfrequently the complementary colours may be 
 found on the same organ. Thus, the side of a young- 
 branch exposed to the sun is often reddish purple, and 
 the other side yellow green. But it is in the flower tliat 
 we most frequently meet with the sister colours. They 
 may be seen in many of the pojtular favourites, both 
 among wild and garden plants. In the flower of the 
 "forget-me-not," which ever greets the eye so cheerfully, 
 there is a border of blue purple, and a centre or throat 
 of orange yellow. In the j)ansy, so rich and soft that it 
 has got the name of " heart's-ease," we have yellow and 
 purple of various hues and degrees of intensity, bright- 
 ened by a mixture of wliite. Eyebright has a purj^lc and 
 white corolla, with a sprinkling of yeUow on its odd lobe. 
 In many of the universal favourites, harmony of colours 
 adds at least to the eftect produced by beauty of form. 
 It is probably the elegant shape and the hanging posture 
 of the flowers of foxglove which allure children to it, but 
 the interest which they feel in it may be unconsciously 
 increased by its purple and white petals, and its yellow 
 anthers adorned with purple spots. The yellow Iris 
 (I. pseudacorus) has a yellow flower lined with purj)le, 
 and it has purple dots on the yelloAv antlicrs. In the 
 daisy, described as "crimson-tipped" l)y liurns, there is
 
 160 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF 
 
 the yellow disc harmonizing both with the white ray and 
 the purple on its tips. These flowers are favourites with 
 all classes— peer and peasant, old man and young maiden, 
 countrpnan and townsman. They pleased us in our 
 childhood, when we seized them and sought possession 
 of them so eagerly, hut found them fading like all earthly 
 enjoyments, and they please us still in our advancing 
 years, as we prefer lazily looking at them, and allowing 
 them to grow where God has planted them, that they 
 may gratify us and others as we pass on in the journey 
 of life. That which has thus endeared them to multi- 
 tudes is, we believe, to some extent at least, this very 
 harmony of colours, which all feel, because it is intended 
 — it is natural, that we should feel it, but which could 
 not, till within these few years, have been scientifically 
 expressed. We may also notice that yellow and purple 
 are found in close contiguity on the flowers of many of 
 the plants which man has domesticated, and which find 
 a place in every garden, such as Chinese primrose, auri- 
 cula, polyanthus, mimulus, calceolaria, Indian cress, snap- 
 dragon, and marigolds. 
 
 But we are not to suppose that the two colours are 
 always to be fount! on the same organ, or that this har- 
 mony is confined to the inflorescence. On the contrary, 
 it appears in a vast number of situations, and we have 
 often found pleasure in detecting it imder its various 
 modifications. Frequently one of these colours is on 
 one organ, and its complement on another organ. Very 
 commonly (as we have seen) we have purple petals with 
 yellow anthers or pollen, but at times there is a different 
 order and relation of colours between these two organs. 
 Thus, in several species of poppies (e. g. Papaver orien- 
 tale) the petals are red orange, and the anthers olive. 
 Usually the anthers, or at least the pollen, of plants is
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. IGl 
 
 yellow ; but in the turn-cap lily, the decidedly red pollen 
 is associated with the green filaments of the anthers, and 
 in Hypericum Androsajmum, we meet with purple an- 
 thers, contrastmg with the yellow filaments and yellow 
 petals. In Amygdalis communis, the yellow anthers 
 have their complements in the purple filaments. In 
 wood-sage, the purple filaments contrast -with the yellow 
 petals.* In some syngenesius plants, there is one colour 
 in the ray, and its complement in the disc ; thus, in 
 GuiUardia pinnatifida and Coreopsis Drummondii, the 
 ray is yellow and the disc purple. Sometimes the one 
 colour is in the calvx and its sister colour in the corolla. 
 Thus, in evening primrose, (Oenothera macrocarpa, and 
 also in 0. tenuiiolia,) the petals are yellow and the sepals 
 purple. In some species of Eanunculus, (R. repens, 
 R. bulbosa, R. Flammula,) the yellow flowers have their 
 complement in purple on calyx, leaf-stalks, or leaf-sheaths 
 on one or other, at times on all. In certain species of 
 rushes, (e. g., Juncus compressus,) the anthers and pollen 
 are yellow, the ovary and stigma are purple, and the edge 
 of the perianth is russet, and the centre dark green. 
 In the paper reed of Egypt, we may observe that the 
 sheaths at the base of the stalks are red purple, while the 
 stalks themselves are yellow green. In some plants the 
 stems and leaves have one of the hues of green, and the 
 spines and prickles the corresponding liue of red. At 
 times the leaf or stalk is one colour, and upon it there 
 are spots of the complementary colour ; thus, on hemlock 
 we may notice red pur2)le spots on the yellow green 
 
 * It may be proper to allude here to Count Rninford's principle, that Pioo colours, io 
 be in harmony, muHt hoth pre/tent the renpecMve proportions of the coloured light ne- 
 comartj to form white. In most of the Instances we have adduced, it would not be easy 
 to prove a conformity to this principie. But Chevreul, one of the highest autliorities on 
 thl» 8ui>ject, considers liumford's statement "as nolliin-; more tlian an iiisenlous inven- 
 tion of fancy." (See I'aixr in Cliem. Hep. of Cavondisli Sociely, p. IS'J.)
 
 162 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF 
 
 stalks. Nay, we have observed that, if there be but a 
 diseased spot or wart on a leaf produced by an insect, the 
 colour of the spot will at times be complementary to that 
 of the leaf, as may be seen in the little galls on the leaves 
 of willows and roses. The scales of young cones are often 
 purple, whereas the scales of the old cones, hanging on 
 the same tree, are citrine. In Victoria regia, we may 
 notice on the leaf (besides the beautiful mechanism by 
 which it is supported) red purple ribs harmonizing with 
 the prevailing yellow green, and in the expanding flower, 
 the red purjjle calyx harmonizing with the yellow green 
 at the edge of the sepals.* 
 
 * This frequent juxtaposition of complementary colours must have a physical as well 
 as a final cause. If it be asked what this is, we are inclined to answer this question by 
 asking another, the answer to which may pojsibly open up the way to an answer to the 
 first question. When a beam of light falls on a green leaf, the green is said to be reflected 
 and the red absorbed ; but what, we ask, becomes of the red ? When the beam falls on 
 a purple petal, the purple is said to be reflected and the yellow absorbed ; but what be- 
 comes of the yellow? Are the red and the yellow in these cases absolutely lost? If these 
 constituents of the beam be lost, they are the only powers in nature which are so. In 
 this world of ours nothing which has existed at any time is lost, even as nothing abso- 
 lutely new comes into being. It is now a received doctrine, that the heat absorbed by 
 plants in the geological era of the coal measures is laid up in fossil deposits, and may 
 come forth in our opoeli when the coal is Ignited. May we not suppoes, in like manner, 
 that the red absorbed by the plant when the green is reflected by its leaves, will come 
 forth sooner or later, in some form. In young stem, flower, or fruit ; and that the yellow 
 absorbed by the flower when the purple is reflected, will come out in the yellow pollen, 
 or in some other form? We have thought at times that .as tlie pure white beam, when 
 it reaches the earth with its atmosphere, is divided into several rays, and that no one of 
 these is lost, and as they all come forth sooner or later, we have thus a harmony of colours 
 in nature. We have thus the brown earth, the ultimate recipient of the rays which have 
 passed through the atmosphere, harmonizing with the blue sky, and ligneous substances 
 become orange when ignited. Bnt we throw out this view as a mere hypothesis in the 
 absence of a bettor, and in order, if not to guide, at least to stir up inquiry; and we beg 
 that it may be carefully separated from the co-ordinated facts presented in the text. In 
 whatever way wc may account for it, there is a most singular succession as well as co- 
 existence of colours in the vegetable kingdom. Harmonious colours come out not only 
 contemporaneously, but consecutively. In several species of Geum, (as G. urbanum and 
 G. intermedium,) the pet.als are yellow and the pistils purple, but it is not till the yellow 
 petals are falling off' that the purple pistils appear. We have the same curious pheno- 
 menon in some species of Fragraria. In Cytisus Canariensis, the yellow corolla is fol- 
 lowed by the purple pod. In some Cactaces, the yellow flower is succeeded by a purple 
 fruit. In Taxodium sempervirens, the young shoots are yellow green, those of a year 
 old are red purple, and those older still, citrine. Generally branches, when young, are 
 green, as they advance they are purple, at a farther stage they are citrine, and finally
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 163 
 
 These harmonies are found in plants belonging to all 
 the principal divisions of the vegetable kingdom. Thus, 
 among the femily of Mosses, the red or red purple teeth 
 of the peristome are associated with the green or yellow- 
 green capsule ; and the same is true of the different parts 
 of their stems and leaves. Among Fungi, we have Bo- 
 letus luridus and Boletus luteus with yellow and purple 
 stems. In Lycopodiums, the most common colours are 
 yellow and purple. Among Ferns, we have noticed 
 Doodia aspera with its young fronds red jjurple and 
 yellow green, and Dicksonia adiantoides ^\^tl^ yellow 
 green fronds and red purple stalks. Most exotic Or- 
 chide^ have yellow with purple spots, or yellowish green 
 with red purple spots on calyx and corolla. In the flower 
 of grasses, the prevailing colours are purple and citrine, 
 russet and dark green. We have already detected this 
 harmony among rushes, among herbaceous plants, among 
 the cone-bearers, and trees generally. 
 
 It is a most interesting occupation to trace it at every 
 season of the revolving year. In spring it is very obvi- 
 ous in the contrast between the yellow green leaf and the 
 red purple of the stalk on which it grows ; thus the 
 young leaves of the primrose are yellow green, while the 
 stalks are red purple. At the same season we may no- 
 tice that the flower of Tussilago is yellow, while the 
 involucre and scales of the stalks are purple. In the 
 summer season the powerful beams of the sun bring 
 forth this harmony in plants of every description. In 
 
 russet. Surely these successions are Instructive. We have felt a deep interest in no- 
 ticing how, In a vast number of plants, the colours wliich make up the full heaiii do 
 some time or other, separately or in combination, make their appearance during the 
 life or at the death of the plant. Tlicre are also curious cases, in whicli one colour 
 appears In the outside, and its coinploinent In the inside of the fruit. The inside of u 
 nearly ripe fl;; Is red-purple, the outside yellow-ereen : the same is true of the pericarp 
 In some speeles of Pojony. The skin of the berry of Mahonlas is blue, whereas tho 
 Interior i.i orange.
 
 164 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOUES OF 
 
 autumn it is very strikingly exliibited in the contrast 
 "between the leafage and the berry, and other fruits. Nay, 
 it is often very visible in the fruit itself Thus in cer- 
 tain varieties of apple, hues of red and purple are asso- 
 ciated with hues of green and yellow green, while in 
 some varieties of pear, yellow green, red purple, and 
 citrine occur together. The year dies (like the day) in 
 glory amidst a magnificence of colouring in its phase, 
 in which prevailing hues are greenish yellow and deep 
 red purple, and citrine relieved by dark purple spots. 
 In winter itself, we may see the harmony in those plants 
 which (like friends in adversity) choose that season to shew 
 their beauty ; thus the greenish yellow corolla of the ar- 
 butus harmonizes, very beautifully with the red purple of 
 the anthers, and also of the flower-stalks. The eye is 
 refreshed in the depth of winter by seeing the red berries 
 peeping forth from the midst of the green foliage of the 
 yew and holly. Thus does the harmony run on till the 
 returning sun of sjiring calls forth a new cycle. 
 
 We may discover in it, if we patiently seek for it, in 
 every description of natural scene. In the grass of the 
 fields we may observe it in the stems, which are often 
 red purple in harmony with the yellow green leafage, and 
 in the purple and citrine of the flowers. Nor can any 
 one walk far in the fields without meeting plants which 
 he has only to examine to discover that they illustrate this 
 conjunction. If the bird's-foot (Lotus corniculatus) 
 catch his eye, he may notice that its lively yellow co- 
 rolla is relieved by purple on the outside of its large lobe. 
 Or if he pick up the flower of purple clover, he will find 
 that the anthers are yellow. If he carefully examine the 
 common buttercups, he will find that as a set-off to the 
 yellow flower there is purple on the calyx or some other 
 organ. The yellow flower of silverweed (PotentiUa anse-
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 165 
 
 rina) has a visible contrast in the purple stalks and run- 
 ners. He may notice how the yellow flower of common 
 hawksbit (Hieracium Pilosella) has purplish tips and 
 purple on the outside, and how numberless yellow syn- 
 genesious plants, such as dandelion and Apargia autum- 
 nalis, grow on purple stalks, and have purple spots on 
 the involucre. Here and there he will discover Sym- 
 phytum tuberosum, with dull yellow corolla and dull 
 purple stem ; or self-heal, (Prunella vulgaris,) presenting 
 its calvx with russet border and dark screen centre, sur- 
 mounted by blue purple corolla and whitish anthers. Pos- 
 sibly he may be so fortunate as to fall in with a rock rose, 
 (Helianthemum vulgare,) with its yellow petals melodiz- 
 ing into crimson, and striped with purple. In our drier 
 meads he cannot but notice yellow rattle, (Khinanthus 
 Crista-gaUi,) with yellow corolla tipped with purple, and 
 Lathyrus pratensis, with purple veins in the large lobe of 
 its yellow corolla ; and in our watery marshes the lousewort, 
 (Pedicularis palustris.) with its purple petals and yellow 
 anthers. In our pools he may meet with the Comarum 
 palustre, with its dark red purple corolla and its yellow 
 green heart. If he wander by our rivulets he may fall 
 in with Geum rivale, with its purple j)etals, and its abun- 
 dant and prominent yellow anthers, with its russet calyx, 
 harmonizing with its dark green leaf If he go forth 
 into our wastes, he will meet with our sedges and rushes 
 with their purple and citrine. In shady and moist 
 places he may see the common loose-strife, (Lysimachia 
 ncmorum,) with yellow corolla, and stems and leaves 
 tinged with purple. In our hedges he has the yellcnv 
 gi'een leaf of the thorn harmonizing with its red ])ur|)le 
 shoots, and growing up in the midst of tlicm the ])uri)lo 
 vetch, (Vicia sepium,) with its purple corolla and yellow 
 anthers ; while in the ditch there may be the lovely
 
 166 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOUKS OF 
 
 "forget-me-not," with its reddish blue and yellow 
 orange. If he enter the wood he may see the com- 
 mon anemone, with its purple flowers and yellow anthers, 
 or the leafage of the bush contrasted with its berries, 
 or the cones of the fir and pine contrasted with one 
 another, or with the foliage. If he betake himself 
 to the sea-side, he will fall in with the sea sandwort, 
 (Arenaria marina,) or the common sea-jjink, (Statico 
 Armeria,) both with purple corolla and prominent yellow 
 anthers ; or the common sea-radish, (Eax-)hanus mariti- 
 mus,) whose open yellow corolla harmonizes with the 
 unexpanded flower-buds, which are purple.* 
 
 We are inclined to think, farther, that there is often a 
 beautiful harmony in the way in which different plants 
 are associated in nature. It is a curious circumstance 
 that the colours of some sea-weeds are red of various 
 hues, and of others are green of various hues, and as these 
 grow together they help to eml)ellish one another. We 
 have heard skilful colourists declare that there is a har- 
 mony in the colours of the plants growing together in our 
 finest meads, and our own eye testifies to the same effect. 
 We are quite aware that in our cultivated fields there are 
 often plants growing together with colours that are discor- 
 dant. We could never discover any beauty in the yellow 
 mustard growing among the green stalks of the farmer's 
 grain. But in nature's own meads, in all places in which 
 she not only grows but is allowed to sow her own plants, 
 she commonly distributes her colours very gracefully. 
 We are not prepared to give the full rationale of this. 
 So far as the herbage is concerned, it may be partly ac- 
 counted for by the circumstance that yellow and purple 
 are the most common associations in the flower of grasses, 
 
 * We would refer to the Appendix for additional examples of harmonious colours in 
 different plants. ,
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 167 
 
 and red i^iirplc and yellow green in the stalks and leaf- 
 age. The green foliage, too, is everywhere relieved by 
 red fruit and red flowers, such as wild roses, ragged 
 robins, red campions, and geraniums. In the summer and 
 early part of autumn, there will be buttercups still lin- 
 gering, and bird's-foot, and divers syngenesious plants, 
 such as ragweed and hawksbit, all yellow or yellow inclin- 
 ing to orange, and in contrast there will be purple clover 
 and scabiouses, and self-heal, and harebell, and common 
 bugle, and thistle, and knapweed, all purple or purple 
 inclining to blue. We may notice, indeed, that in many 
 of our fields some of these colours prevail to an unpleasant 
 extent above the others. Thus in some spots there may 
 be a disagreeable glare of yellow caused by ragwort and 
 buttercup ; but we have noticed that if the progress of 
 agricultural improvement does not interfere with the 
 natural jjrocess, the thistles and knapweeds will soon so 
 sjoread themselves as to restore the proper balance of 
 colour. Nor let it be forfrotten that nature lio'htens the 
 whole scene, and heightens the effect of every other 
 colour by her white flowers, by her daisies, her stitch - 
 worts, her chickweeds, her great white ox-eyes, her mil- 
 foils, and her meadowsweets. One reason why man loves 
 and longs in these times to retreat from our best culti- 
 vated regions to the wilds of nature, is to be found in 
 the circumstance that nature, in her own domains, min- 
 gles so gracefully her forms and colours. 
 
 We have thus a frequent harmony in the colouring of 
 the individual plant, and a not unfrcquent harmony in 
 the colouring of plants growing contiguous to each otlier. 
 When the plant is near, the eye will naturally fix itself 
 on the complementary colours of the individual ])lant, and 
 when we are looking at a lawn at some little distance, 
 the eye will rather select the liarmony ])reseuted l)y dif-
 
 168 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOUKS OF 
 
 ferent plants. And here it is worthy of being mentioned, 
 that colourists acknowledge that if there be comijlemen- 
 tary colours among objects before the eye, it will instinc- 
 tively fix on them, to the neglect of adjacent colours. 
 
 Chevreul, who is the highest authority on the subject 
 of simultaneous contrast of colours, recommends that in 
 planting out flowers in gardens, attention be paid to the 
 rules of complementary colours, " The principal rule to 
 be observed in the arrangement of flowers, is to i)lace the 
 blue next the orange, and the violet next the yellow, 
 while red and pink flowers are never seen to greater ad- 
 vantage than when surrounded by verdure and by white 
 flowers ; the latter may also be advantageously dispersed 
 among groups formed of blue and orange, and of violet 
 and yellow flowers," * But this eminent chemist does not 
 seem to have observed that plants in nature are arranged 
 on these very principles. A skilful colourist, conducted 
 into a garden, planted out on the plan recommended by 
 Chevreul, would at once discover that there were plan 
 and purpose in the distribution of the plants. But there 
 are no less convincing proofs of design in the way in 
 which colours are arranged on individual plants, and in 
 which plants are distributed over our meadows and 
 mountains. 
 
 Though it does not fall within our immediate subject, 
 we may here be allowed, as an illustration of the general 
 subject, to remark that traces of harmony of colours 
 may likewise be found in the plumage of birds. The 
 following seem to be the most common forms in which 
 it presents itself. First, We often observe some dark 
 colour, at times a black, but more commonly a dark blue, ' 
 
 * See Paper by Chevreul, p. 20S, in Chemical Reports and Memoirs, 1848, of Works of 
 CavendLsh Society. The same views are more fully developed in Chcvreul's great work, 
 " Dc la loi dii Contraste Bimultane des Couleurs, (1839.)"
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 169 
 
 or very blue purple, in harmony with white. Sometimes 
 the white is on the bellv or breast, while the dark hue 
 is on the back ; at other times there are white spots 
 relieving the dark shade all over the body. This is a 
 common association in our birds of plainer plumage. It 
 may be seen in many wcb-footed fowls, such as geese, 
 divers, and gulls. The second most common harmony — 
 if, indeed, it be the second and not the first — is between 
 a sort of tawny hue, being a yellow, with more or less of 
 red, and a dark blue, or rather dark blue purple. This 
 collocation of colours is very frequent among rai)torial 
 birds, as, for example, many falcons and owls, and is 
 found among wading birds and many species of thrushes. 
 Thirdly, in our more ornamented birds we discover red 
 associated with green. This congruity appears, and at 
 once arrests the eye, in a great many parrots, in a num- 
 ber of todies, and in the Curucuis, a tribe of birds which 
 live in low damp woods in the tropical parts of America 
 and Asia, and feed on insects and berries. 
 
 These seem to be the more marked associations, but 
 these three forms run into each other. Thus, some horn- 
 bills are dark blue and reddish yellow, but others have 
 white instead of yellow. Tliis is also the case with some 
 of the raptorial birds. In the plumage of some fowls 
 the reddish yellow seems to be a pure orange ; this 
 seems to be the case with some toucans — other toucans 
 seem more nearly green and red. The same may be said 
 of many solitary warblers, fly-catchers, and starlings. 
 In some birds the red yellow is brightened into a scarlet, 
 harmonizing with a greenish blue ; this is a very com- 
 mon association amono; chatterers and finches. Tlie 
 scarlet ibis has the greater part of its plumage of tlie 
 hue which its name denotes, but has a greenish blue on 
 its wings. Among pheasants wo often discover a ivd
 
 170 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOUKS OF 
 
 orange and a blue green, and tlie same colours, differently 
 distributed, ajjpear on our more ornamented ducks. In 
 reviewing these associations we may notice that we have, 
 on the one side, wliite rising into yellow orange and red, 
 and on the other side blue sliding into purple or green. 
 
 We have not paid sj)ecial attention to the subject, but 
 similar harmonies prevail, we doubt not, in other depart- 
 ments of nature, as, for example, among insects. Any 
 one may notice the yellow and purple on bees and wasps. 
 The most cursory glance is sufficient to shew that many 
 shells of mollusca are characterized by a yellow ground 
 adorned with jmriDle spots. In another department of 
 nature it has been remarked by Field that the brown 
 earth harmonizes agreeably with the blue sky. 
 
 Surrounded as we are by such harmonies, we are 
 convinced that whenever the mind seeks for them it will 
 discover them ; nay, the eye fixes on them when it is not 
 designedly seeking for them, and rejoices in them when 
 it can give no account of the cause of its joy. At the 
 same time, the contemplative intellect experiences a far- 
 ther pleasure, and a pleasure of its own, when it can 
 scientifically explain to itself the source of all this enjoy- 
 ment, and systematically look out for the pleasing asso- 
 ciations of nature. 
 
 The heart, rightly tuned to the praise of its Maker, 
 will experience a farther j)leasure. Present to a skilful 
 colourist an article of human workmanship, constructed 
 according to the rules of simultaneous contrast in colour- 
 ing, and he will at once say, Here are art and design. 
 Place before him a piece of Gobelin tapestry, one of our 
 finer carpets, or the stained glass of a window, and he 
 will perceive at a glance that the associations of colour 
 are not accidental, but that they are purposely suited to 
 the physiological and psychical nature in man. We are
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN. 171 
 
 convinced that there are equally clear proofs of con- 
 trivance in the colouring of natural objects, organic and 
 inorganic. Indeed, colourists, long ago, observed that 
 there was a beautiful harmony in the colours of nature ; 
 and within the last age, Field and Hay, and very pos- 
 sibly others, have stated what is the nature of this har- 
 mony, though they have not followed it into the various 
 departments of natural history. He who can trace up 
 all these adaptations to Him who causes His works to 
 make sweet music by their harmony, has surely here 
 a source of higher — we should rather say, of highest 
 joy. 
 
 But the question is here started. Are there no colours 
 associated in nature except harmonious ones ? This is 
 a question which we are not prepared dogmatically to 
 answer, either in the negative or positive. One thing, 
 however, seems to us very certain, that complementary 
 colours appear so often in nature, and cast up, under 
 such different modifications, and in such a variety of 
 objects and situations, that their conjunction cannot be 
 the result of mere chance. Besides the generalized flicts 
 of a positive character, we are prepared to say negatively 
 that we have never observed in a corolla, or in any one 
 organ of a plant, pure red and pure yellow, or blue and 
 red, in contact with each other.* But in making these 
 affirmations we are, at the same time, prepared to admit 
 that there are colours in nature in juxtaposition which 
 are not comi:»lementary. This, however, just raises the 
 question. Can no colours be pleasantly associated except 
 complementary colours ? This question must be answered 
 in the negative, and being so answered, a host of inquiries 
 
 * The same statement was made to us by Mr. Wood, an experienced flower painter, 
 and lately assistant master In the Belfast School of Design. Ho farther Informed us 
 that he Invariably found assoeiatlons of harmonious colours In the dlfTcrent parts of 
 plant", such as wo have been describing'.
 
 172 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOURS OF 
 
 come to be made cas to what other associations are 
 agreeable, and these should be followed by a series of 
 investio-atious, having it for their end to discover how far 
 all the non-complementary associations of nature can be 
 described as pleasant. Chevreul tells us that we cannot 
 prescribe arrangements of non-complementary colours, so 
 as to please the eye, in as positive a manner as may be 
 done with reference to the assortment of complementary 
 colours. " This is the reason," he adds, " that in treat- 
 ing of the distribution of flowers in gardens I have only 
 recommended an assortment of flowers whose colours are 
 complementary, at the same time that I admit the exist- 
 ence of many other assortments productive of a very 
 agreeable effect."* This whole subject is just opening 
 upon us, and we must be satisfied for the present to sub- 
 stantiate a certain amount of truth, to acknowledge that 
 there are unsolved points and difiiculties, and trust that 
 these may be cleared up by further investigation. 
 
 We must here state, however, that many of the seem- 
 ing exceptions to these general views, are exceptions 
 merely in appearance. 
 
 It not unfrequently happens, in the vegetable kingdom, 
 that the discord between two contiguous colours is sub- 
 dued by a patch of white, which, like innocence, (of 
 which it has always been reckoned an emblem,) has never 
 occasion to be ashamed of itself, for it may appear any- 
 where, and is in harmony with every object it can meet 
 with. In Lycopsis arvensis, in harebell, and speedwells, 
 the blue of the petals has no complementary orange, but 
 then it is beautifully relieved by an adjacent white. 
 
 It may seem as if the leaves of plants were liable to be 
 seen simultaneously with every other colour in the vege- 
 
 * See in works of Cavendish Society, Chemical Reports and Memoirs, 1848.— Paper by 
 Chevreul, p. 219.
 
 PLANTS TO THE NATURAL TASTES OF MAN, 173 
 
 table kingdom, that there must be discord when the green 
 leaf is perceived at the same time with the yellow and 
 blue of the flower, Chevreul, in speaking of the artifi- 
 cial arrangement of flowers in a garden, lays down a rule 
 which enables us to escape the difficulty. " I must, how- 
 ever, reply to the objection that might be made, that the 
 green of the leaves, which serves, as it were, for a ground 
 for the flowers, destroys the effect of the contrast of the 
 latter. Such, however, is not the case ; and to prove 
 this, it is only necessary to fix on a screen of green silk 
 two kinds of flowers, (in the manner pointed out in the 
 paper,) and to look at them at a distance of ten paces. 
 This admits of a very simple exijlanation, for as soon as 
 the eye distinctly and simultaneously sees two colours, 
 the attention is so riveted that contiguous objects, espe- 
 cially when on a receding plane, and where they are of 
 a sombre colour, and present themselves in a confused 
 manner to the sight, produce but a veiy feeble impres- 
 sion."* 
 
 Nor is it to be forgotten, that the coloured flowers of 
 many plants are raised out from the midst of their leaves, 
 and are so far above them that the petal and leaf do not 
 come simultaneously into view in a marked manner. 
 This is the case very obviously with harebell, dandelion, 
 hyacinths, and many other plants. In such cases, it 
 may be found either that the flower has a beauty of its 
 own independent of any adjunct, or that it has a harmo- 
 nizing concomitant in some other plant usually growing 
 in the neighbourhood. 
 
 More important than any of these, we liud that there 
 is a physiological provision in the eye itself, which helps 
 it to overcome any sliglit defects in the balancings of the 
 colours in nature. Chevrcul lays down the law, that in 
 
 ♦ Chcvreul's Taper on Chemical Reports, p. 20T.
 
 174 ADAPTATION OF THE COLOUES OF PLANTS, ETC. 
 
 the case of tlie eye seeing at any time two colom's which 
 are in contact, they will appear as dissimilar as possible. 
 In other words, on two colours heiug seen simultaneously, 
 the complementary of the one will be added to the other. 
 Thus, if a yellowish green leaf and a red flower be under 
 the view at the same time, the yellow green will thereby 
 be more inclined to green, and the red will acquire a 
 slight tinge of blue, and the two will be brought more 
 nearly into the complementary state. In this way the 
 eye itself can rectify any slight defect in the harmonies of 
 adjacent colours. 

 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 
 
 SECT. I. — THE HOMOLOGIES AND H0M0TYPE8 OF THE 
 VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 
 
 In the last age there raged a famous scientific contro- 
 versy, which may be summarily represented as a dispute 
 us to which of the two great principles whicli we are un- 
 folding should be detected in the animal frame. The illus- 
 trious Cuvier, in building up the science of comparative 
 anatomy, proceeded, in all his investigations, on the prin- 
 ciple that every particular member of the body had a 
 special or final cause. On the other hand, the great 
 Geoffrey St. Hilaire, first the co-operator and then the 
 rival of Cuvier, delighted to trace a unity of plan running 
 through the bones of the skeleton. In 1830, this con- 
 troversy came to a pubUc explosion, which was viewed 
 with intense anxiety by all interested in natural science, 
 and in particular by the poet Goethe, who proclaimed it 
 to be a far more important event than the French Revo- 
 lution, which was ringing that same year in the cars of 
 Europe. In conducting the dispute, extreme positions 
 were taken by both sides. Attaclied to tlie ])rinci])l(^ of 
 final cause, and having found how prolific it was, in liis 
 hands, of brilliant discoveries, Cuvier was not willing to 
 admit the thcor}^, (though he helped greatly to establish 
 the fact,) that there is in the skeleton a general corre-
 
 176 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTYPES 
 
 spondence of parts, wliicli can have no reference to the 
 wellbeing of the animal, or the special functions of the 
 or'^an. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, on the other hand, did not 
 see that his doctrine of analogy was perfectly consistent 
 with teleology, and he connected his theory of unity with 
 the untenable doctrine of the transformation of species. 
 This dispute should now he regarded as settled, by the 
 establishment of both doctrines — both that of general 
 homology and that of special teleology ; and the former, 
 we are convinced, will be found, when properly interpre- 
 ted, to yield as rich a contribution to the cause of natural 
 theology as the latter. 
 
 Any one may convince himself, very easily, that in a 
 general sense there are model forms in the construction 
 of the skeleton. He will see at a glance that every spe- 
 cies of animal has its normal shape, and this is, to a 
 considerable extent, determined by the length, thickness, 
 and relative position of its bones. In the human frame, 
 there are organs which have been used as standards of 
 measurements, which they could not have been unless 
 their size had been approximately definite. The length 
 of the arm, from the elbow to the tip of the mid-finger, 
 furnished the cubit to many nations of antiquity. The 
 hand-breadth and the span were measures among the 
 ancient Hebrews. In not a few countries the stretch of 
 the arms, the pace, the palm, the breadth of the thumb, 
 have been used to indicate linear measure. Among 
 artists the human frame has long been known to have 
 proportions in its members. The visible outline of the 
 head in front is divided into four equal parts ; — the first, 
 from the top of the head to the setting of the hair ; the 
 second, from this to the root of the nose ; the third, the 
 nose ; and the fourth, from the lower part of the nose to 
 the chin. The height of the figure is found to be eight
 
 OF THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 177 
 
 heads ; the first reaching from summit of head to chin, 
 the second from chin to breast, the tliird from breast to 
 navel, the fourth from navel to top of thigh, the fifth to 
 middle of thigh, the sixth to knee, the seventh to the 
 calf of the leg, and the last to the heel. The body is 
 thus divided into two equal parts — one from head to hip, 
 the other from hip to lieel. The length of the frame is 
 also known to be equal to the line drawn from finger-tops 
 to finger-tops of the outstretched arms. 
 
 But without dwelling longer on these general topics, 
 we proceed to shew, in a scientific manner, that the ver- 
 tebrate skeleton consists of a series of pieces constructed 
 on a common plan ; and in doing so, we shall largely 
 avail ourselves of the masterly researches of Professor 
 Owen, who has done so much towards the comj)letion of 
 this most interesting subject. 
 
 We know that the skeleton is not a peculiarly inter- 
 esting object to an untutored eye. It has been associated, 
 in the minds of many, with the grave's mouth and mor- 
 tality. It possesses in itself no physical beauty ; it is 
 meant to be wrapt up from the view by a covering of 
 flesh and muscles, which are made, for our gratification, 
 to present themselves in full and rounded forms. Still, 
 to minds which are fitted to penetrate beneath the sur- 
 face, it has become an object of intense interest, and is 
 felt to possess not a little beaiity. The reason is, that 
 there has been a perception of the unity of the structure 
 along its whole length, and from the highest to the low- 
 est animal in the class, and of the suitableness of the 
 infinitely varied parts to their infinitely diversified func- 
 tions. 
 
 Each of the series of parts which makes up tlic verte- 
 brate skeleton is called a Vertebra. It will be sufficient 
 for our purpose to indicate here the principal parts of the 
 
 8*
 
 178 
 
 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTYPES 
 
 ns 
 
 typical vertebra, without entering into those more minute 
 details which are necessary for the purposes of the com- 
 parative anatomist ; for these details vfQ would refer to 
 Professor Owen's paper on the Megatherium, in the Phi- 
 losophical Transactions for 1850. 
 
 Typical Vertebra consists of a centre or body, around 
 
 which are arranged other pieces, 
 (called technically apophyses, or 
 projecting parts,) so as to form 
 two principal arches, one supe- 
 rior,* the other inferior. The 
 upper arch gives protection to 
 nervous matter, and is hence 
 called neural : it is bounded on 
 each side by two principal pieces, 
 called neurapophyses, and is 
 closed above by the neural spine, 
 so called from its frequently 
 pointed form ; (it is, however, 
 The lower arch, called haamal, pro- 
 tects blood-vessels, &c., (hence its name, from Greek, 
 haima, blood ;) it also consists of lateral pieces, called 
 respectively pleurapophyses and hc'emapophyses, and is 
 closed by the heemal spine, which, like the neural spine, 
 is sometimes cleft. The body of the vertebra may be con- 
 sidered the foundation of the arches, and the neural and 
 hasmal spines represent, in position, the keystones of each. 
 Sometimes the upper arch comprehends a pair of bones, 
 called diapophyses, and the lower an additional pair, call- 
 ed parapophyses. 
 
 lis 
 PlO. 33.t 
 
 sometimes bifid.) 
 
 * In the erect position of man, these are respectively posterior and anterior. 
 
 + Fro. 88. Typical Vertebra; «■«, nenral spine; w, ncurapophysis ; N, neural arch; 
 c, centrum, or centre piece; pi, pleurapophysis ; h, hsemapophysis ; /w, haemal spine ; II. 
 bsemal arch; d, diapophysis; p, parapophyeis.
 
 OF THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 
 
 179 
 
 7lxi 
 
 Generally sjieaking, it is not difficult to demonstrate, 
 that in the chain of bones extending from the head to 
 the tail inclusive, we have a series 
 of pieces partaking of the nature 
 of the common typical structure 
 just described. It is true that 
 some present a near approach to 
 the model, while in others the 
 real nature of the parts is consid- 
 erably masked, so that careful ex- 
 amination is necessary to show the 
 relation. Knowing the type, how- 
 ever, we can explain all departures lA 
 from it, whether owing to omission 
 or contraction, adhesion or compli- 
 cation of pieces. 
 
 As there is a model vertebra, 
 so there is an archetype skeleton, 
 
 and we shall transfer to our pages the instructive dia- 
 gram given by Professor Owen in his work on the 
 " Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton." The elements 
 of each vertebra are indicated by the peculiar shading, — 
 
 n, neurapophyscs, . thus ///^ 
 
 d, diapophyses, . . thus 
 
 p^ parapophyses, . , thus 
 
 c, centre or body, . . thus 
 
 pi, pleurapophyses, . thus \Xs\ 
 
 ws, neural spine, and A.s', hjtimal spine, are left uusliaded, 
 the a})pendages are represented by dots. 
 
 • Vie. M. Tho relations of tho parts In Fig. 88 will be rendered raoro evident by com- 
 paring It with Fig. 84; tbo references arc the same In both; y, hypapophysls ; e, cpapo- 
 physls.
 
 
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 HOMOLOGIES OF THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 181 
 
 The four anterior vertebra) constitute the skull or 
 brain-case ; the first is called nasal, because it supports 
 and protects the organs of smell ; the second is named 
 the frontal vertebra, corresponding to the forehead ; the 
 third is the parietal, from Latin paries, a wall, because 
 its elements chiefly form the sides of the skull ; the 
 fourth is denominated occipital, coiTCsponding to the 
 occiput, or hind-head. Succeeding these we observe a 
 series of pieces forming the bony framework of the neck, 
 chest, abdomen, loins, and tail. 
 
 Generally speaking, we observe the following peculi- 
 arities in these different regions respectively ; in the head 
 the neural arch is higldy enlarged in order to protect the 
 brain, in the neck and succeeding regions the same arch 
 is only moderately developed in correspondence with the 
 size of the spinal cord. In the trunk it is the hfemal 
 arch which attains largest dimensions, its functions being 
 to guard the larger blood-vessels and viscera. In the 
 tail both arches are generally suppressed, and the body 
 of the vertebra alone remains. 
 
 It is admitted that the bony framework of man devi- 
 ates very considerably from the archetype, but as " more 
 than ninety per cent, of the bones in the human skeleton 
 have their homologues (or namesakes) recognised by 
 common consent in skeletons of all vertebrata,"* if it can 
 be shewn that the skeleton of man consists of a series of 
 simikir pieces, and may be refen-ed to the archetype, it 
 will be obviously unnecessary to occupy space in discuss- 
 ing the same points regarding animals lower in the scale , 
 these last, however, will afford examples not a few under 
 the special branch of our subject. 
 
 Since the day when Oken saw the bleached skull of a 
 deer in flic llartz forest, and exclaimed, " Ft is a vcrte- 
 
 ♦ Owen, Lecture at Royal Institution, January IS'lT.
 
 182 
 
 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTYPES 
 
 bral column," the idea that the brain-case is really made 
 up of vertebrge has been fully tested and matured by 
 anatomists of the highest authority, among the most con- 
 spicuous of whom is our own countryman, Professor 
 Owen. There has doubtless been difference of opinion 
 as to the number of vertebras composing the skull, but 
 respecting its general construction there is agreement 
 among the best authorities. 
 
 First, or nasal vertebra in man.— The centrum or 
 body is the bone called vomer ; the neur apophyses are 
 formed by the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone, 
 which, in reality, consists of two pieces united toge- 
 ther ; the neural arch is thus obliterated ; the neural 
 spine is bifid, and is represented by the two nasal bones. 
 The inferior arch of this vertebra is composed as fol- 
 lows : — the pleur apophyses are formed by the palate 
 bones ; the hceinapophyses are the bones of the upper 
 jaw ; the hamal spine is divided, and consists of the 
 intermaxillary bones which support the front or incisor 
 teeth. 
 
 Second, or frontal vertebra. — The centrum is 
 formed by the presphenoid bone ; the orbito-sphenoids 
 are the neurapophyses ; the frontal bone forming the ex- 
 panded brow in the human head, is the flattened neural 
 spine ; in the inferior arch the ring of bone, called by • 
 osteologists the external auditory process, is the pleura- 
 pophysis; the lower jaAv represents hcemapop)hysis and 
 hcemal spine. 
 
 Third, or parietal vertebra. — The centre is formed 
 by the basisphenoid bone ; the alisphenoids are neura- 
 pophyses; the parietal bones form the cleft and expanded 
 neural spine; the styloid pieces of the temporal bone are 
 pleur apophyses ; the lesser cornua of the hyoid bone 
 (lying in the upper and fore-part of the neck) are hcema-
 
 OF THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 
 
 183 
 
 popliyses; the body of the same bone forming the Jicemal 
 spine, and thus completing the arch. 
 
 Fourth, or occipital ver- 
 tebra. — The basilar piece of 
 anatomists is the centre ; the 
 sides which bound the open- 
 ing in the occipital bono, 
 through which the upper part 
 of the spinal cord is continu- 
 ous Avith a portion of the cere- 
 bral mass, constitute the iieti- 
 rapopliyses surmounted by the 
 expanded neural spine. The 
 lower or haemal arch of this vertebra is removed from its 
 natural position in man, as in most vertebrata — the 
 reason of this will be discussed in a subsequent para- 
 graph. The scapulas or shoulder-blades are the pleu- 
 rapophyses ; their appendages, called coracoid processes, 
 constitute the hcemapophyse's ; and the haemal spine is 
 wanting."!" 
 
 The seven vertebrge of the neck are admitted to pos- 
 sess the general elements of the typical vertebra, the 
 parts, however, are generally considerably modified in 
 relation to the functions of that portion of the frame to 
 which they belong. 
 
 The vertebrae of the back are twelve in number ; the 
 neural canal in each is sufficiently obvious, and of mo- 
 derate size ; the haemal arch is highly enlarged ; the ribs 
 
 ♦ Fig. 86. Parietal segment, or vertebra of man. The neural arch Is ample, (n,) to 
 protect part of the brain : the htemal (n) is contracted. In this case the diapophysos, 
 f/, anr wedirofl between the neurapophy-sts, », and the lari^e neural spine, ns; ^ Is a piece 
 called f-papophysls, which lies upon the centrum, c ; a, h, and /w represent the parts of 
 the hyoid bone Huspended in the upper and fore-part of tlio neck, ami closliij,' llio hii'iiial 
 arch. 
 
 t In order to simplify the subject, wo have omitted reference to diapophysos and pa- 
 rapophyses.
 
 184 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTYPES 
 
 are the pleurapophyses, succeeded by the hasmapophyses, 
 or cartilages of the ribs, and finally closed by the united 
 haemal spines, which constitute the sternum, or breast- 
 bone. 
 
 In the five vertebree of the loins, the elements are not 
 so obvious as in those of the back. The pleurapophyses 
 are short, and firmly joined to the central portion ; the 
 haemal arch is not completed by bony elements. 
 
 The five sacral vertebree have their bodies firmly joined 
 in the adult, and these same elements diminish in size 
 from the first to the last. The neural arch is complete 
 only in the first three ; the neural spines of the last two 
 are absent. The heemal arch of the first sacral vertebra 
 is usually considered as formed of that part of the pelvis 
 called ilium ; the portion called pubis is a hsemapophysis; 
 the ischium is the hasmapoj^hysis of the second sacral 
 vertebra. 
 
 The four or five succeeding and terminal pieces of the 
 back-bone in man, correspond to the tail in the lower 
 animals, and for the most part consist of the centra 
 only. 
 
 Such is a brief summaiy of the generally admitted 
 views held respecting the nature of the human skeleton, 
 (exclusive of the limbs, which will occupy attention in 
 subsequent paragraphs ;) and as such have been, in many 
 instances, arrived at by comparison with the bony frame- 
 work of animals lower in the scale, it is unnecessary to 
 allude to these under this department of our subject. 
 
 While, therefore, the entire skeleton in every vertebrate 
 animal is constructed according to a common plan, and 
 the series of vertebriB of which it consists may all be re- 
 ferred to one model, it appears to us that there is good 
 reason for proceeding a step farther, and coming to the 
 conclusioUj that unity of form also prevails in the indi-
 
 OF THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 185 
 
 vidual pieces of tlie typical vertebra and its appen- 
 dages. 
 
 We may first allude to the appendages or limbs, as 
 affording the most evident indications of such unitv. If 
 we take, as the typical form, a bone of the hand (meta- 
 carpal,) or of the foot (metatarsal,) we shall find that 
 there is a striking resemblance to it in all the elements 
 of every limb.* This typical bone may be described as 
 having a nearly cylindrical shaft, dilated towards its two 
 extremities. The large cannon bone in the foot of the 
 horse (see Fig. 43) may serve to illustrate the form 
 alluded to. Now, this is the prevailing shape in all the 
 principal bones of the limbs. In man, for example, such 
 general outline exists in the bones of the arm, fore-arm, 
 hand and fingers ; in thigh, leg, foot, and toes. The 
 short and frequently irregular bones of the wrist and 
 ankle present the greatest departure from the type ; but 
 in some animals the relation is obvious enough. Thus, 
 in the common frog, certain of the ankle-bones (calca- 
 neum and astragalus of anatomists) assume exactly the 
 typical f jrm. 
 
 In the individual pieces of the vertebra itself, we shall 
 find evident traces of similarity to a typical form. The 
 centrum, or body of the vertebra, presents a close approach 
 to the model in the caudal part of the skeleton. This is 
 evident in a great number of instances. One may suffice: 
 the bones of the tail, in the young African elephant, con- 
 sist of centrum only, and each very much resembles in 
 form a metacarpal or metatarsal bone. 
 
 • It Is a fact worthy of notice here, that the same form of an organ appears in plants. 
 For example, tho sialic which supports the leaflots of species of ^scuhis, the horsc- 
 cbehtnnt, exactly resembles a bone of the hand or foot; and In the inanna-ash, we have 
 four or more pieces of like shape fomiint; the main stalk of tlie eompniiiid leaf, separatln-f 
 at tho joints, and resembling a series of phalanges, as In a linger or toe. Tho same gen- 
 eral outline Is often visible In the bolo of well-developed ti-ocs.
 
 186 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTYPES 
 
 The elements of tlio inferior or htemal arcli present 
 very clear exam23les of conformity to the type. Pleura- 
 jjophyses or ribs are not always curved and fiat bones, 
 such as we see in Mammalia generally, and in the New 
 Zealand bird called AjDteryx. In not a few instances, 
 especially certain aquatic birds, (the guillemot, for ex- 
 ample,) the ribs are narrow and cylindrical, and bear 
 considerable resemblance to the lengthened bones of the 
 fingers which form the framework of the bat's wing. The 
 numerous ribs of the boa and other serpents, differ from 
 the model only in being curved. The shoulder or sca- 
 pular is a pleur apophysis, (sometimes with conjoined 
 hsemapophysis.) In man and mammalia generally it is 
 broad and flat, but in many birds it is long and narrow, 
 exactly like a rib ; and since, in some aquatic birds, the 
 ordinary ribs very much resemble the model shape, we 
 have thus transitional forms conducting us to the original 
 type. The pelvis, intended to support and protect im- 
 portant viscera, and give attachment to powerful muscles, 
 shews also striking departure from the model. But in 
 the frog, the iliac bones (pleurapophyses) very much re- 
 semble the typical form. We have evident examples of 
 likeness to our assumed model in the other elements of 
 the lower arch, viz., the rib and its cartilage, (pleurapo- 
 physis and hasmapophysis.) Mere curvature of the parts, 
 so as to assist in the formation of an arch, cannot be 
 considered as very materially affecting the conclusion to 
 be drawn. As regards the ha3mal spine, it would not 
 be easy to recognize any conformity to a primary shape 
 in the sternum or breast-bone of man or of a bird ; 
 but in many animals, such as the lion, elephant, walrus, 
 greyhound, &c., this part of the skeleton consists of 
 a linear series of pieces, exactly resembling the typical 
 form.
 
 OF THE VERTEBRATE SKELETON. 187 
 
 In the elements of the superior or neural arch, the 
 departure from the model is generally greater and more 
 constant than it is in the lower or haemal arch. The flat 
 hones of the skull deviate widely from the type, but not 
 more so than the shoulder blade or the pelvis, both of 
 which, as we have seen, present transitional forms. The 
 very important functions of the brain-case, as a protector 
 of the important parts within, necessarily imply a great 
 and constant deviation from the model form. If we exa- 
 mine the principal element of the neural arch (neurapo- 
 physis) of any large vertebra, as in the baleen-whale, or 
 in the finner, we see that, after aU, it may be referred to 
 the same general form which ribs assume, and they, as 
 we have seen, can be traced to a model bone. The neural 
 spine is indirectly referable to the same type, and by 
 similar steps. We observe it in the dorsal region of 
 ruminants, and other animals attaining great length, and 
 resembling a rib, being, however, straight. There is but 
 little difference in form between the longer neural spines 
 of the dorsal vertebrje in the horse, and the first rib of the 
 same animal. 
 
 On the whole, we think there are evident traces of 
 community of form in the parts of the typical vertebra. 
 The subject is interesting, and merits attention and fur- 
 ther investigation by those favourably situated for oppor- 
 tunity of examining and studying the forms and transi- 
 tions in an extensive series of skeletons. 
 
 There are not only proofs of general order as regards 
 reference to a typical bone, vertebra, and archetype 
 skeleton, but there are some well-established facts 
 respecting the number of the vertebrsB themselves. 
 Those entering into the formation of tlie l)raiii-case 
 in mammalia are four, those of the neck are seven, 
 except in tlie case of the three-toed slotli, which has
 
 188 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTTPES 
 
 nine, and the manati, in whicli only six are said to 
 exist.* 
 
 The dorsal vertehree are usually considered as charac- 
 terized by the presence of long, arched, more or less 
 moveable, pleurapophyses or ribs, and, taking such as a 
 mark of distinction, we find that their number varies in 
 different cases. 
 
 In most carnivorous or flesh-eating animals, the num- 
 ber of vertebra of back and loins together is very con- 
 stant, though the exact number of those called dorsal 
 presents variations, as the following examples will 
 shew : f — 
 
 
 Back. 
 
 Loins. 
 
 Total. 
 
 American Black Bear, 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 Dog, 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 Panther, . . . , 
 
 13 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 Spotted Hyjena, 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 Glutton, .... 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 20 
 
 According to Professor Owen, all mammiferous ani- 
 mals, called Artiodactyles, as the ox, &c., having either 
 two or four toes, agree in having nineteen vertebrae be- 
 tween the neck and the sacrum ; this is remarkable when 
 compared with the odd-toed group, usually called Peris- 
 sodactyles, which present great irregularity in the number 
 of the corresponding vertebrte, there being, for example, 
 twenty-two in Ehinoceros ; twenty-three in Tapir and the 
 Palaeotherium ; and twenty-nine in Hyrax. 
 
 DIVERGING APPENDAGES OR LIMBS. 
 
 These constitute the limbs of animals, which are just 
 lateral appendages of the typical vertebra. The simplest 
 
 * According to Maclise, some of the monkey tribe have only five or six neck vertebrae, 
 and occasionally also in man tlie same occurs. — (Medical Times and Gazette, January, 
 1854.) 
 
 + Cooto on Homologies of Human Skeleton, p. 26.
 
 OF THE VERTEBEATE SKELETON. 189 
 
 example of such appendage is very evident on examining 
 the skeleton of a bird. Attached to its ribs or pleurapo- 
 physes, there are seen short flat pieces, which, being- 
 directed backwards, ovcrlaj) the external surface of the 
 next rib behind. (See a. Fig. 37 ; also a and 65, Fig. 
 35.) Similar appendages are found, less perfectly de- 
 veloped, in certain reptiles. They also occur in the 
 abdominal parts of the most bony fishes, in which their 
 length is such that they reach even to the skin. They 
 are considered as parts of the primitive segment or ver- 
 tebra, though less constant than the arches which support 
 them. Now, the simplest form of limb is, in its nature, 
 but very little removed from such diverging appendage ; 
 in some of the lower vertebrata, as Protopterus, the limbs 
 are reduced to an unbranched ray. 
 
 Through various a 
 
 species of Ampliiuma, 
 and in Proteus, we 
 observe greater com- 
 plexity, (though still 
 of low tyi)e compared 
 with the extremities 
 of man,) and this goes 
 on step by step in dif- ^'°- ^^•* 
 
 ferent animals, till we reach the arrangements which 
 characterize the higher forms. The Protopterus, whose 
 simple limbs afford proof of their identity with the 
 diverging appendages of the typical vertebra, present 
 also proofs that the fore and hind limbs are homo- 
 ty])es, both being in that animal precisely of the same 
 simple nature. But even in the higher animals, man 
 
 * Fi'!. 37. Occipital vortcbra of Protopterus. Tho haemal nrch is lar^f, consl.Htlng of 
 pi. plourapopliysli; h. hnjinnpophysis; hii'inal spino is wanting,'. Tho long, simplo, 
 Jointed ray, a, &7, is tlio diverging appendage or nidlinontary limb.
 
 190 THE HOMOLOGIES AND HOMOTYPES 
 
 for example, the resemblance is siifHciently obvious ; 
 the arm and thigh, fore-arm and leg, wrist and ankle- 
 joint, hand and foot, are the corresponding parts of 
 each limb ; these members are therefore homotypes. 
 But under whatever forms the limbs exist, they are sup- 
 ported by inverted arches, the presence of which is more 
 constant than that of the appendages which they support, 
 and for an obvious reason — the arch is required to pro- 
 tect certain important organs which are always present, 
 as the brain and spinal cord, heart and lungs ; the ap- 
 pendage of the arch comes in as a secondary instrument, 
 necessary, doubtless, in the economy of the animal ; but 
 yet less important in a general sense than the other or- 
 gans just mentioned. 
 
 The parts usually considered as entering into the forrh- 
 ation of the upper and lower limbs in man, are the 
 following : — The scapula, or shoulder-blade, and the 
 attached process called coracoid, represent respectively 
 pleurapophysis and ha3mapophysis of the occipital verte- 
 bra ; the clavicles, or collar-bones, are the hsemapophyses 
 of the atlas, or first vertebra of the neck ; there is here, 
 therefore transference of arches (which are also imper- 
 fect) from their natural position ; — the end of this we 
 shall afterwards examine. Tlien follows the arm-bone, 
 next the two bones of the fore-arm, called radius and 
 ulna ; then the carpus, or wrist, composed of eight bones 
 apparently, but really of ten in two rows ; connected to 
 certain of these, we observe five bones of the hand called 
 metacarpus, then follow those of the fingers, styled pha- 
 langes, each digit having three, excepting the thumb which 
 has two. 
 
 The pelvic portion of the skeleton has been already 
 noticed ; it is in like manner an arch supporting diverg- 
 ing appendages, the lower limbs. Each of these consists,
 
 OF THE VERTEBllATE SKELETON. 191 
 
 first, of tliigh-bone, succeeded "by tlie leg-bones, called 
 tibia and fibula ; then follows those of the ankle, the tar- 
 sus of anatomists, consisting apparently of seven bones 
 in two rows, which, however, really represent ten primi- 
 tively distinct pieces. Then follow five metatarsals, or 
 bones of the foot, and connected with their lower ends are 
 the toes, each, with the exception of the great toe having 
 three bones. 
 
 Now, whatever be the functions of the extremities in 
 any of the higher vertebrata, we find all, whether fore or 
 liind limbs, constructed on the same plan as that just 
 described, five being the typical number of digits. It 
 may be remarked how dificrent is the relative develop- 
 ment of the digits, of thumb, index, middle, ring, and 
 little fingers, styled, respectively, 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 
 5th in the human hand.-'-" The first digit has only two 
 joints ; the fifth has the usual number, viz., three, but 
 the whole being short ; the second comes next in length, 
 then the fourth ; and the third is the most highly deve- 
 loped of all. These peculiarities have distinct reference 
 to the general permanence of these digits respectively, 
 and throw light on certain modifications observed in ani- 
 mals lower in the scale. 
 
 In the typical limb, the shortening of the thumb and 
 little finger, or the first and fifth digits, is a step towards 
 their disappearance,! the 2d, 3d, and 4th being more 
 permanent ; the two last reaching the ground in the ox, 
 and the longest of the two, namely, the 3d, is the only 
 one which serves as a point of support in the horse. 
 Professor Owen remarks, that "a perfect and beautii\il 
 
 • The «aiiic numbers are used to represent the toes; great toe, number 1 ; little too 
 number 5. 
 
 t A «linller law reigns In certain plants. In Crucifoiie, (cabba?<> tribe,) tbo staiiiona 
 are usually six, four of these belns longer than the other two. In Cardamhie hititnta 
 there are usually only four, the two shorter being absent.
 
 192 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 parallelism reigns in the order in which the toes succes- 
 sively disappear in the hind-foot with that of the fore- 
 foot."* 
 
 Commencing with man as possessing the typical num- 
 ber, and descending to the lower animals, we find that 
 that digit, (the first, or thumb, viz.,) whose uses, par ex- 
 cellence, characterize him, is one of the first whicii disap- 
 pears. Departure from the typical five is a characteristic 
 of mammalia lower in .the scale, hence the tetra-, tri-, di-, 
 and mono-dactyle limbs common among them.f Descend- 
 ing lower in the scale to fishes, we find the limbs present- 
 ing often (with a nearer approach to the simpler diverging 
 appendages) a less subordination to the typical number, 
 there being usually an excess. This, however, as Professor 
 Owen remarks respecting the pectoral fin of the skate and 
 its numerous digits, is not an example of complex devia- 
 tion, " true complexity not being shewn in the number, 
 but in the variety and co-ordination of the parts." In a 
 word, all diverging appendages or limbs are constructed 
 on a common plan ; we shall afterwards examine their 
 numerously diversified modifications for special ends. We 
 also observe in them evident traces of order as regards a 
 law of number, and a general rule in accordance with 
 which they are present or absent, as the necessities of the 
 animal require them or not. 
 
 SECT. II. — SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS IN THE STRUCTURE OF 
 
 THE SKELETON. 
 
 The subject here opened to us is of vast extent, and 
 even not yet thoroughly exhausted by all that has been 
 done in human and comparative anatomy. It must be 
 
 * On Limbs, p. 23. 
 
 t This has reference to digits which attain functional size. 
 
 II 
 
 i
 
 IX THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON. 193 
 
 acknowledged that the relation between special modifi- 
 cations or departures from the general plan, and final 
 ends of such, have not been determined as to every part 
 of the animal frame. Nevertheless', so many striking- 
 examples present themselves to the careful and unpre- 
 judiced observer, that it may be considered a legitimate 
 conclusion that there is such a general relation, although 
 the cautious reasoner may hesitate to give a positive 
 decision in every instance which may come under his 
 notice. 
 
 We can indicate only some of the more obvious cases 
 illustrative of the coincidence between the principle of 
 order and that of special adaptation. We may appro- 
 priately open this part of our subject by glancing at the 
 modifications observed in the vertebrate series in man. 
 
 In the cranial vertebras we observe two remarkable 
 contrasts in the development of the neural arches ; which 
 are more or less extended according to the purpose which 
 they serve in reference to the particular part of the brain 
 over which they are situated. The great size of the 
 nervous centre, that is, the brain, requires a correspond- 
 ino; enlarsrement in certain neural arches, and this is 
 found to be actually provided. Each vertebra gives pro- 
 tection to corresponding parts of the nervous matter ; 
 thus, the cerebellum is protected by the occipital, the 
 mesencephalon (or middle portion)* by the parietal, and 
 the prosencephalon (fore-part of cerebral mass) by the 
 frontal vertebra. In all of these the neural arch is 
 ample, in distinct relation to the size of the part requir- 
 ing defence. The less development, or rather nearly 
 complete obliteration, of the neural arch in the first or 
 nasal vertebra, is commensurate in man (and other ani- 
 
 * Comprehending also Pons Varolii, Corpora quadrigemliia, pituitary body, and third 
 ventricle.
 
 194 
 
 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 Fig. 38.* 
 
 mals besides) with the small size of the remaining portion 
 of the brain mass represented by the olfactory ganglia. 
 It is by means of the first and second vertebrse of the 
 
 neck that free rotation 
 of the head is effected. 
 The anterior part of 
 the first (forming a 
 portion of its centre) 
 is excavated, in order 
 to receive the tooth- 
 like projection of the 
 second, or axis, which 
 is so called because there rises from the upper part of 
 its body a piece, round which the first, or atlas, plays as 
 on a pivot, giving rise to the lateral movements of the 
 head. The base of this pivot is in reality the body of 
 this second vertebra; its apex, 
 however, is formed of part of the 
 body of the first, removed from 
 its natural position, and united 
 to that of the second. Now, we 
 do not consider it any strained 
 inference when we affirm, that 
 there is here presented to us 
 a notable instance of special 
 adaptation for a particular function. 
 
 Generally speaking, the heemal arch is imperfect in the 
 vertebras of the neck, because the large size of its ele- 
 ments (viz., pleurapophyses, htemapophyses, and heemal 
 
 * Fig. 38 represents the first neck-vertebra in man : it is called atlas, as supporting 
 the head. A strong ligamentous band stretches across the large central opening, and 
 divides it into two. The tooth-like projection of i''j(/- 39 is received into the fore-part 
 of this divided ring, the posterior allows passage to the spinal cord. 
 
 t Fig. 39 is the axis or second vertebra of the neck in man. The apex of the tooth- 
 like projection is part of the centre or body of the atlas, joined to the body or centre of 
 the axis. 
 
 Fio. 39.t
 
 IN THE STRUCTUKE OF THE SKELETON. 195 
 
 spines) would have interfered with free motion in tliis 
 region of the body. Nevertheless, certain parts which, 
 on a cursory glance, appear to be absent, are in reality 
 present, but are specially modified by decrease and coal- 
 escence ; thus, the portion of a cervical vertebra project- 
 ing outwards on each side, and hence called by anatomists 
 the transverse process, in reality consists of diapophysis, 
 parapophysis, and a short pleurapophysis or rib, firmly 
 joined, but together forming a hole or short canal and a 
 groove, to give protection and support to a blood-vessel 
 and nerve respectively. The excessive development of 
 the htemal arch in the dorsal vcrtebne, is a provision for 
 the large and important organs to be protected — the 
 heart, lungs, &c. The elastic and moveable ribs (plcura- 
 pophyses) and their cartilages (hgemapophyses,) are ad- 
 mirably adapted to the exhalation and inhalation of at- 
 mospheric air during the act of breathing. 
 
 The vertebras of the loins are large and strong, thus 
 aifording a firm basis of support to the sujserincumbent 
 column ; the haemal arch is not completed by bony ele- 
 ments, but by soft elastic Avails, which yield to the vary- 
 ing expansion of the viscera within. 
 
 The union of the sacral vertebra gives additional 
 strength to this portion of the column, supporting, as it 
 does, the elastic spine above it. The excessive develop- 
 ment of that part of the htemal arch — the pelvis of ana- 
 tomists — is obviously intended to support and protect the 
 larger viscera, and to present a surface of attachment for 
 powerful muscles. The united bodies of the coccygeal 
 series, forming a partial concave floor to the pelvis, afford 
 additi(jnal support to the organs protected by tliis last. 
 In short, while the skeleton of man consists throughout 
 of a series of parts all I'ormed on one model, yet there is 
 a wide range of difference in most of them, and the special
 
 196 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 modifications have in all cases a very decided, and, in 
 most instances, a v.ery obvious relation to tlie development 
 of different organs, without which our goodly frame could 
 not perform its functions, or even continue to exist. 
 
 We may now examine some of the special modifica- 
 tions of vertebral elements, as exemplified by animals 
 lower in the scale ; from a multitude of instances, our 
 limits constrain us to select only a few. Whether we 
 examine fishes, reptiles, birds, or mammals, we shall find 
 obvious illustrations of departure from the model or type 
 in accordance with some function necessary to the very 
 existence of the animal. 
 
 In Ophidia, or serpents, certain elements of the two 
 anterior cranial vertebras are freely moveable on each 
 other, instead of being closely joined together, as is 
 usually the case ; strength and firmness are here sac- 
 rificed to mobility and expansile power of the parts, 
 and why ? The arrangement has a clear and express 
 relation to the mode of feeding ; serpents often swallow 
 very large prey entire ; but this they could not do were 
 the parts firmly banded together. As it is, the mouth is 
 capable of great extension, and the prey is taken in with 
 ease. 
 
 In fishes there exists a remarkable concentration of 
 imj)ortant organs in the fore-part of the body. The head 
 contains, not merely the brain and organs of the senses, 
 but, in addition, the heart and gills ; we find, accord- 
 ingly, that the haemal arches are commensurate in size 
 with the presence of the important parts which they sup- 
 port and protect. In the words of Professor Owen, 
 "Brain and sense-organs, jaws and tongue, heart and 
 gills, arms and legs, may all belong to the head ; and 
 the disproportionate size of the head, and its firm attach- 
 ment to the trunk, required by these functions, are pre-
 
 IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON. 197 
 
 ciselv the conditions most favourable for facilitating; the 
 course of the fish through its native element." 
 
 In the whale, the vertebrae of the neck are joined into 
 one solid column. By this arrangement, greater protec- 
 tion is afforded to the nervous cord, as this large and 
 heavy animal ploughs its way Avith rapidity through the 
 water. Flexibility in the neck, not needed in this case 
 for other purposes, would have been an inconvenience. 
 
 The three-toed sloth presents an example the very 
 converse of the last ; the additional vertebras (we have 
 already alluded to it as an example of departure from 
 the tyjiical number) in the neck of this animal are ad- 
 mitted to have a relation to its habits ; in the words of 
 Professor Bell, " the object of the increased number of 
 vertebrae is evidently to allow of a more extensive rota- 
 tion of the head ; for, as each of the bones turns, to a 
 small extent, upon the succeeding one, it is clear that 
 the degree of rotation of the extreme point will be in 
 proportion to the number of pieces in the whole series."* 
 But, in addition, as this animal spends its whole life on 
 trees, clinging to the branches with its powerful limbs, 
 and feeding on the twigs of its arboreal dwelling-place, 
 the length of its neck gives it an advantage in better en- 
 abling it to reach the tender and extreme branches. 
 
 In carnivorous animals, having four limbs fitted for 
 seizing and holding their living prey, and a mouth armed 
 with strong teeth for tearing it, the neural spines and 
 transverse process of certain neck-vertebrfe are highly 
 developed, so as to become commensurate with the power 
 of the oblique muscles of the head, which are in them of 
 great strength, to enable them to perform their impor- 
 tant functions. In otlier words, the levers supplied by 
 certain elements of the neck vertebrae are in direct pro- 
 
 ♦ Cyclopicdla of Anatomy ami Physiology, Article Edentata.
 
 198 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 portion to the active organs of motion, that is, the muscles, 
 which require them as mechanical powers. 
 
 In buxls, the fore-limbs are used in flight, and the 
 function of the arm is transferred to the neck, that of 
 prehension to the beak, which supplies the place of the 
 hand. The neck is the only flexible part of the verte- 
 bral series, and motive power is abundantly provided for 
 on the same principle as we have seen it to be in the 
 sloth. It is curious to notice that there is a departure 
 from the number seven, so constant in mammals ; the 
 vertebras ranging from nine in the sparrow to twenty- 
 three in the swan. The mode of connexion of the ver- 
 tebrge is also such as to admit of the utmost freedom of 
 motion. 
 
 In the dorsal portion of the vertebral series, we may 
 also note a few striking adjustments. In certain mam- 
 malia, as the ox, deer, camel, &c., owing to the weight of 
 the horns and antlers, or length of the neck, continued 
 muscular exertion would be necessary, in order to retain 
 the head in its natural position. Such disadvantages is 
 obtained by the presence of the part called pax-wax, or 
 ligament of the neck — composed of yellow elastic fibres — 
 which acts as a natural spring, and obviates the need of 
 constant voluntary muscular effort. Accordingly, we 
 find that certain neural spines in the back (as well as in 
 the neck) are greatly elongated, to give attachment to 
 the remarkable organ referred to. In the aurochs, for 
 example, some of the dorsal vertebras have neural spines 
 which are actually longer than some of the ribs. Such 
 modifications are, indeed, generally observed in browsing 
 animals. 
 
 As in the fish, excessive development of certain parts 
 of the skull is a provision for the forward position of the 
 heart and gills, so in air-breathing animals the lower
 
 IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON, 
 
 199 
 
 arclies of certain other vertebra; are highly developed, 
 forming the ample thorax or chest, for the protection of 
 their heart and lungs. In the neck of the bird we have 
 seen that flexibility is necessary; in the back, firmness is 
 the essential requisite, and we observe there union of ver- 
 tebrae. Further, the hromapophyses, which in man and 
 others are cartilaginous, become in the bird converted 
 into bone, and the united hfemal spines from the keel of 
 the sternum or breast-bone, the extent of the surface pre- 
 sented by which is directly as the development of the 
 powerful muscles which are attached, and directly also, 
 of necessity, as the powers of flight. 
 In the ostrich, and cursorial birds 
 generally, which cannot fly, the 
 haemal sj)ines do not form any crest. 
 In birds, we also observe union be- 
 tween the vertebrne of the loins, an /i/[\ 
 arrangement admirably calculated to 
 give firm support during the powerful 
 and rapid movements in flight 
 
 Coalescence of the remaining ver- 
 tebrae, in the adult human subject 
 we have seen to be the usual arrangement, and this — 
 together with size particularly in the sacrum — appears 
 to have relation to the erect posture of the body. In many 
 mammalia, the sacrum is proportionally narrower than in 
 man, and coalescence of vertebne is not the law ; but in 
 certain species, which have the faculty of assuming the 
 erect or semi-erect posture, as some monkeys, bears, and 
 certain rodents, the sacral portion of the skeleton is pro- 
 portionally stronger than in others which have no such 
 
 * Via. 40. Thoracic Hcsmcnt or vertebra of raven. The hieinal arch is ample In ac- 
 conlanoe with ltn functions as a protector of heart, lun^s, &c., and as furnishing surfaces 
 for attachment of po-vcrfiil muscles. References are sainc as In preceding figures.
 
 200 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 faculty. The permanently separate condition of the 
 sacral elements in the beaver is an arrangement admir- 
 ably suited to its peculiar habits, " using, as it does, not 
 only its long and powerful tail, but even the whole pos- 
 terior half of the trunk, as an organ of propulsion through 
 the water."* 
 
 In man, as we have already seen, the terminal portion 
 of the spine, forming the coccyx, consists of a few small 
 pieces, j-educed to little more than the centrum or body of 
 the vertebra. But in many of the lower animals, the tail 
 performs important functions, and attains higher develop- 
 ment. Sir John Eichardson, in his account of a journey 
 through Prince Rupert's Land, mentions a curious case 
 of departure from the usual type in the bovine family, 
 which is generally characterized by the high development 
 of the terminal portion of the vertebral series. He says, 
 " The musk-ox has the peculiarity, in the bovine tribe, 
 m the want of an evident tail ; the caudal vertebras are 
 only six in number, being very fiat, and nearly as short, 
 in reference to the pelvis, as in the human species. A 
 tail is not needed by this animal, as, in its elevated sum- 
 mer haunts, moschetos and other winged pests are com- 
 paratively few, while its closer woolly and shaggy hair 
 furnishes its body with sufficient protection from their 
 assaults." 
 
 The special modifications of the elements of the caudal 
 portion are numerous, and have an obvious reference to 
 final cause or end to be served. In the human coccyx 
 there is no heemal arch. In the tails of not a few ani- 
 mals, lower in the scale, it is distinctly formed of heema- 
 pophyses and haemal spine. The prehensile tails of the 
 spider monkeys, the powerful oar-acting tail of the 
 beaver, and the supporting pillar-like organ in the kan- 
 
 * Coote on Homologies of Skeleton, p. 61.
 
 IN THE STRUCTUEE OF THE SKELETON. 201 
 
 garoo, present individual peculiarities of the vertebral 
 elements admirably suited to the different uses of the 
 part. In the kangaroo the lower surface of the tail is 
 subject to pressure, and the same is true of the prehen- 
 sile tails in Phalangista and the opossum, and in all these 
 the hffimal arch is well developed, in order to protect the 
 blood-vessels. " In Petaurus, Phascogale, and Dasyurus, 
 the tail acts as a balancing pole, or serves, from the long 
 and thick hair with which it is clothed, as a portable 
 blanket, to keep the nose and extremities Avarm during 
 sleejj. The ha3mal arches in the tails of these are not so 
 largely developed as in the kangaroo &c., their mecha- 
 nical office of defending the blood-vessels of the tail from 
 pressure not being required."* 
 
 It is admitted that the typical structure may be 
 departed from by excess in the number of the elements ; 
 if it can be shewn that such departure has decided 
 relation to the habits and wellbeing of an animal, it 
 appears to us a powerful argument in favour of com- 
 bined order and adaptation ; we may here adduce a few 
 examples. 
 
 Seals and penguins are not fitted for general sojourn 
 and progression on the land, nevertheless they do occa- 
 sionally frequent the shore, but their movements, under 
 such circumstances, are peculiar. One of the highest 
 authorities to which we can refer, specially alludes to 
 these animals, and to modifications in certain vertebrae 
 related to the habit in question. In the Greenland seal, 
 Professor Owen describes processes superadded to the 
 lower surfoce of the lumbar vertebni;, (liypai)opliyses,) 
 "indicating great development of anterior vertebral mus- 
 cles, relating to peculiar gasteropod progression (ni land. 
 In penguins, similar liypapoidiyses attain their maximum 
 
 * Owen, In Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1888.
 
 202 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 of development, and have an analogous function to that 
 m the seals, extending the surface of attachment of the 
 powerful muscles on the ventral aspect of the vertebral 
 column, which act in the shuiSing gasteropodal move- 
 ments." ■'•'■■ 
 
 In the armadillo, wliose bony armour (giving to the 
 animal its name) is of considerable weight in proportion 
 to the size, and serves as a defence against its j)Owerful 
 foes, we find two additional spines (metapophyses) de- 
 veloped, one on each side of the neural spine, upon the 
 principle that three points are better fitted than one to 
 support a superincumbent weight. Certain serpents feed 
 upon the eggs of birds; their teeth are few and feeble — for 
 if the shell of the egg had been broken in the mouth, the 
 want of flexible lips would have occasioned loss of the 
 nutritious contents. Besides, these serpents follow the 
 law of their congeners ; loose attachment of cranial ele- 
 ments, as we have shewn, enables them to take their food 
 entire. The egg, being thus received, is ripjied open as 
 it passes along the gullet, and this is effected by a con- 
 trivance no less remarkable for its simplicity than for its 
 efficiency. Sharp projections (hypapophyses) from cer- 
 tain vcrtebra3 of the neck, perforate the tube of the gul- 
 let, are capped by hard enamel, and effectually perform 
 their proper office. 
 
 We shall close this part of our subject by alluding to 
 two notable instances of special modifications pervading 
 almost the whole skeleton in serpents and tortoises. In 
 the former we find a long series of vertebras, some of 
 whose elements supply the place of limbs, which are 
 generally wanting, or, if jiresent, as in boa, so rudimen- 
 tary as to be incapable of performing their usual func- 
 tions. The plcurapophyses have free motion, and act as 
 
 * Professor Owen, in Philosophical Transactions, 1851.
 
 IN THE STRUCTUKE OF THE SKELETON. 203 
 
 efficient organs in progression on a hard surface, by- 
 means of the laro;e scuta or shield-hke scales covering; 
 the belly of the animal. These scuta form a number of 
 movable broad surfaces, bearing the same relation to 
 the ends of the ribs which hoofs do to the ends of the 
 toes. In pelagic serpents which swim by lateral motion 
 of the tail, the pleurapophyses are more freely movable 
 in a lateral than in a backward direction, j^rogress in the 
 water being accomplished by rapid lateral curvatures of 
 the tail and body. The neural spines of the dorsal ver- 
 tebra? are small, those of the caudal portion large and 
 compressed, and gradually lessening in size to the point 
 of the tail — a peculiarity of these vertebral elements in 
 strict harmony with the general comjjressed state of the 
 body, and that of the short but strong and flat tail, 
 which acts as an oar for propelling, as well as a rudder 
 for guiding.* 
 
 The spinal colunm of the Ophidia shews the maximum 
 of number of the different vertebrae, and of flexibility as 
 a whole. In the words of Professor Owen, "At first 
 view, the principle of vegetative repetition seems to have 
 exhausted itself, in the long succession of incomplete ver- 
 tebras which support the trunk of the great constrictors ; 
 but by the endless combinations and adjustments of the 
 inflections of their long spine, the absence of locomotive 
 extremities is so comjjensated that the degraded and 
 mutilated serpent can overreach and overcome animals 
 of far higher organization than itself; it can outswim 
 the fish, outrun the rat, outclimb the monkey, and out- 
 wrestle the tiger ; crushing the carcase of the great 
 Carnivore in the embrace of its redoubled coils, and prov- 
 ing the simple vertebral column to be more efifectual in 
 the struggle than the most strongly-developed fore-lunbs, 
 
 ♦ Dr. Cantor, Transactions of the Zoological Society.
 
 204 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 with all their requisite rotatory mechanism for the effective 
 vkried application of the heavy and formidably armed 
 paws."* 
 
 As the sei-pent shews us the highest possible flexibility, 
 so does the tortoise exhibit the greatest rigidity and in- 
 flexibility of vertebral elements, intended also to accom- 
 plish an end necessary to the wellbeing of the animal. 
 The carapace or upjjer arch, and plastron or floor, of the 
 turtle's or tortoise's shell may be compared to the skull ; 
 to use the expression of Professor Owen, it is actually 
 "an abdominal skull, formed of the centra of back, 
 loins, and pelvis united together, their pleurapophyses, 
 hasmapophyses, and other elements, being expanded and 
 laterally adherent ; appendages of the skin — the der- 
 mal bones — are connate with some of the vertebral 
 elements, the whole forming a defence to a well-deve- 
 loped system of haemal organs, heart, lungs, and alimen- 
 tary canal." 
 
 DIVERGING APPENDAGES OR LIMBS. 
 
 These assume various forms, from the simple structure 
 which we have noticed in the thorax of the bird up to 
 the perfectly developed limbs of man. Among them re- 
 markable modifications present themselves, having evi- 
 dent reference to the uses of the member, whether for 
 grasping, supporting the body, flying, swimming, leaping, 
 or burrowing.-j" The inference from all these adapta- 
 
 * Owen on Nature of Limbs, p. 96. 
 
 ■t In a former paragraph (p. 185) we have shewn evident traces of community of form 
 In the elements of the vertebra and Its appendages ; in reference to the modifications of 
 the latter, it will be necessary here to allude to the very ingenious but, we think, over- 
 strained, views of M. Gervais — (Ann. dcs. Sc. Naturelles, 1853.) According to Duges, 
 there is an arithmetical progression in the number of the parts from arm to fingers, 
 and from thigh to toes, viz., arm and thigh, each of one piece, leg and fore-arm, each of 
 two pieces; in wrist and ankle, hand and foot, fingers and toes, the number five prevails 
 we have therefore the progression, 1, 2. 5. M. Gervais thinks he finds proof that in
 
 IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON. 205 
 
 tions of means to end cannot be explained away by 
 affirming that the animal, finding that it has an organ 
 suited to a certain piu-pose, uses it for that pur})ose. For 
 in the first place, the creature is compelled to a certain 
 mode of life by its instincts, which are altogether differ- 
 ent from its limbs or any of its organs ; and, secondly, 
 its limbs are suited to its other organs, and all its organs 
 are suited to one another. There is in all this no wis- 
 dom or foresight on the part of the animal, but there are 
 arrangements made for its welfare by a Power above it, 
 causing independent organs and instincts to concur and 
 co-operate. 
 
 It may be laid down as the common rule that the pec- 
 toral and ventral limbs are appendages of the fourth and 
 twenty-six se^-ments of the vetebral series.'* The oc- 
 cipital is always the fourth vertebra, the jielvic may be 
 less constant in its position. But displacement of verte- 
 bral appendages from their typical position in the skele- 
 ton is not uncommon, and will generally be found to be 
 a provision for some peculiarity of function. In most 
 fishes, the pectoral fins, which are its arms, occupy the 
 tyjiical position, being in connexion with the occipital 
 vertebra, whereas in man, and many other animals, the 
 same limbs are removed from their natural position, and 
 are attached to the upper part of the chest. These dif- 
 ferent dispositions arc admitted to be, in the one case as 
 in the other, admirably adapted to the necessities of the 
 animal. Professor Owen, referring to such modifica- 
 tions, remarks, " Wherever either arch with its appen- 
 dages may be situated, it is in its best possible place 
 
 limbs of vcTtcbratii tlie number five prevails even in the arm and fore-arm, tliigh and 
 le;,', and that tbcrefore there is union of bones in these parts. If this view sliould prove 
 to be correct, Bueli union may be considered as a special modification of the type in re- 
 lation to the functions of tlieparta. 
 • Wc adopt here the views of Professor Owen.
 
 206 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 in relation to the exigencies and sphere of life of the 
 sjjecies,"-'' 
 
 "We may next examine some of the principal modifica- 
 tions of the diverging appendages themselves, and of their 
 elements, traces of a general plan having already been 
 pointed out, and proofs adduced that law and order pre- 
 vail also in departures from the type. Although the 
 limbs of animals are diverging appendages of the typical 
 vertebra, all such appendages do not necessarily perform 
 the functions of limbs. Their simplest and most rudi- 
 mentary condition has been already alluded to as they 
 are seen in the thorax of the bird, where they appear to 
 serve merely the purpose of giving additional strength 
 and firmness to the ribs, (pleurapophyses,) from which 
 they originate. 
 
 In the head of the fish we observe them offering greater 
 advance in development, and in beautiful harmony with 
 their proper function. Those of the third or parietal 
 vertebra constitute the parts called, technically hrancM- 
 ostegals, which, in most fishes, support a flap, whose 
 function is to assist in protecting the gills, and regulat- 
 ing the admission of fresh currents of water to these 
 important organs. The diverging appendages of the 
 second cranial vertebra are modified to form the opercu- 
 lar bones which together constitute the framework of the 
 gill-covers, by the movements of which the amount and 
 direction of the respiratory currents are principally deter- 
 mined. The corresponding part in the anterior segment 
 of the head consists of two pieces called loterygoids, the 
 outer of which serves as a means of connexion between 
 the heemal arches of the first and second vertebrae. 
 How different, then, the forms and uses of corre- 
 sponding appendages in the head of the fish, for, in 
 
 * Owen on Limbs, p. 81.
 
 IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON. 207 
 
 contrast with those just mentioned, we observe the 
 appendages of the fourth or occipital vertebra forming 
 the pectoral fins, which correspond to the upper limbs in 
 man, and perform an important, though not the prin- 
 cipal part in aquatic progression. The beautiful harmony 
 which subsists between the uses of the pectoral fins and 
 their peculiar structure, has been so frequently and fully 
 discussed in Avorks of Natural Theology,* that it would 
 be needless to go over the same ground here. In tlie 
 frog-fishes, which have the power of moving on the 
 ground when left by the receding tide, in the expanded 
 pectorals of the flying-fish, acting as parachutes during 
 its powerful aerial leaps, in those of the climbing perches 
 of the tropics, and in tlie ordinary forms presented by the 
 fins of most fishes, we observe modifications of parts 
 constructed after the same model, but each in striking 
 imison with the habits of the animal. In the fish, then, 
 the fore-Hmbs (pectoral fins) are the diverging appen- 
 dages of the occipital vertebra, and occupy their natural 
 position as such, (that is, are placed far forwards,) being 
 attached to the hind-head. In other vertebrata, the arch 
 which supports them is transferred from its normal place 
 to the upper part of the trunk, and this transference, and 
 the structure of each piece, arc admitted on all hands to be 
 in complete harmony with the function of the limbs, and 
 necessary to the comfort and wellbeing of the animals. 
 
 In birds, for example, the parts supporting the ante- 
 rior limbs are modified, so as to fit the diverging appen- 
 dage, to become an organ of flight. It has been already 
 mentioned, that the scapula and coracoid arc respectively 
 pleurapophysis and hamiapophysis of the occipital ver- 
 tebra, and the clavicles or collar-bones the h;emai)ophyses 
 of the atlas, or first cervical vertebra. The relation of 
 
 ♦ See Palcy ; also Bell oa the Hand, Hogct's BrUljic water Troatlso, <tc.
 
 208 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 tliese to the appendages whicli they support are such, 
 that the two can only be instructively studied together. 
 This is specially true of birds. The great strength of 
 the coracoid qualifies it for its main function, namely, 
 to give attachment to the limbs, and afford a strong basis 
 of support in flight during the quick and powerful strokes 
 of the wings. 
 
 The function of the pectoral wings in the bird being 
 peculiar, we find corresponding modification in the hard 
 parts. Appendages of the skin, the feathers namely, 
 serve the purpose of resistance to the air in flight, and so 
 the full development of digits, with freedom of motion 
 in the other bones of the limb, is not needed. The fore- 
 arm and the wrist-joint are so constructed, that free 
 motion is sacrificed to firmness, and the bony framework 
 of the hand is rudimentary ; nevertheless, the parts are 
 not so obscured that we cannot indicate their relations, 
 for in every case the general type still prevails, and each 
 finger corresponding to the second, third, and fourth of 
 the archetype, is clearly visible. "••'■" The diverging appen- 
 dages, suspended to the pelvic arch, and forming the 
 lower limbs, are equally in harmony with their function 
 in different birds : this is more specially observable in 
 the metatarsal portion and toes. The part commonly 
 called leg in the bird, consists generally of three meta- 
 tarsal bones, Avhich, in the adult, arc so firmly united 
 as to give the appearance of one only. There is also, in 
 most instances, another, which is, however, small, and 
 whose function is to support the inner toe. The posi- 
 tion of this inner digit has an express adaptation to the 
 habits of the bird ; being on a level with the other toes 
 in perching birds, and therefore admirably fitted to give 
 
 * We may refer here to a former paragraph (p. 191) respecting the relative lengths of 
 the digits and their permanence.
 
 IN THE STKUCTURE OF THE SKELETON. 209 
 
 increased power of grasping ; wliereas it is removed 
 hiffher and lii^lier in different waders, and is finally ab- 
 sent in cursorial birds, as the emeu and others. Still 
 greater reduction in the number 
 of the toes takes place in the 
 ostrich, the third and fourth alone 
 remaining. There is final cause 
 in all this ; " whilst unity of de- 
 sign is clearly manifested, the 
 wisdom of the Designer is dis- 
 played by the greater strength 
 which results from the minor 
 degree of subdivision of the part Fig.4i.* 
 
 which takes the largest share in the support and propul- 
 sion of the body."t 
 
 Among mammalia we find instruments for support, 
 grasping, climbing, running, leaping, burrowing, flying, 
 swimming, and diving. Now, it is distinctly observable, 
 that whatever be the function of the limbs, all are con- 
 structed after the same plan, but varied to suit the end 
 which is required by the instincts of the animal and its 
 allotted sphere. It has been already stated that the arms 
 and legs of man are homotypes, and that the individual 
 parts which form them are also homotypes ; yet while so 
 far corresponding to each other, the two series are made 
 to differ in order to suit them to their several uses. The 
 harmonics of structure and function in each of the limbs 
 of man, as well as in other animals, liavc been so fully 
 discussed in different works, that it is unnecessary for us 
 to enlarge much on the subject here. 
 
 Tlie fore-limbs of that expert tunnel-maker, tlie mole, 
 are admirably suited to its habits. The bones of the arm^ 
 
 ♦ Fio. 41. Foot of Ostrich, consisting only of digits 8 and 4. 
 t Owen on Limbs, j). 105.
 
 210 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 fore-arm, wrist, hand, and fingers, are of great strength 
 in proportion to the size of the animal ; the whole limb 
 is short and broad ; the fingers are armed with strong 
 nails ; and the general conformation is such that the 
 action of the j30werful muscles renders the hand a most 
 eflfectual instrument for burrowing in the soil, through 
 which, as Professor Owen remarks, the animal may be 
 said to swim. 
 
 The chief part of the bat's wing consists of a highly 
 developed hand. The junction of the arm-bone with the 
 shoulder-blade is in harmony with its function, being- 
 such as to permit upward and downward motion chiefly. 
 It is interesting to observe that the collar-bone is longer 
 and broader in those whose flight is more powerful, such 
 as the insect-eating species, than in those which subsist 
 on fruit, and which, consequently, do not need swiftness 
 in pursuit of food. The arm-bone is long and slender in 
 all bats, the fore-arm is also long, and the two bones 
 which form it are incapable of rotation on each other, as 
 such movement would have lessened the impulse of the 
 wing. The bones of the hand and fingers, excepting 
 those of the thumb, are of great length, in order to add 
 to the superficial extent of the part, which is, in fact, a 
 highly developed hand, the long fingers being connected 
 by a web to the very tips. The small, but free, thumb, 
 with its well-developed nail, enables the animal to cling 
 easily to perpendicular surfaces as well as to climb 
 them. 
 
 When we examine animals remarkable for their powers 
 of progression on a hard surface, we meet with singular 
 deviations from the typical limb, in respect not only of 
 the number, but also the union of parts ; in every in- 
 stance structure and functions are clearly in harmony 
 with the kind of life for whicli the animal is intended.
 
 IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON. 
 
 211 
 
 6C I 
 
 In the ox, the parts called, in common language, the knee 
 and the leg, do not, in fact, correspond to these portions 
 of the typical member. The so-called fore-knee is the 
 wrist, with the hones considerably modified ; the so-called 
 fore-leg is, in reality, part of a hand composed of two 
 metacarpal bones firmly united together in the adult 
 state, corresponding to the third and fourth, and together 
 forming the cannon-bone. On either side are the rudi- 
 ments of the second and fifth digits ; the thumb has dis- 
 appeared, and those which attain functional size, in other 
 words, which reach the ground, are the third and fourth. 
 " The rudiments of the second and fifth digits 
 are not without their use. When the elk or 
 bison treads on swampy ground, the hoofs ex- 
 pand, the false hoofs are pushed out, and the 
 resisting surface is increased as tlie foot sinks ; 
 but when it is lifted up the small hoofs col- 
 lapse to the sides of the large ones, which con- 
 tract, and, by their diminution of size, the act 
 of withdrawal is facilitated. In ruminants, 
 confined to arid deserts, we should hardly ex- 
 pect to meet with the mechanism which seems 
 expressly adapted to the marsh and the swamp, 
 and, in fact, every trace of the second and 
 fifth digits has disappeared from the foot of 
 the camel and dromedary."f 
 
 In the horse, there is still farther reduction in number, 
 only a single digit, the third, reaching to the ground and 
 serving for support. The i)erfect adaptation of the limbs 
 
 Fig. 42*. 
 
 ♦ Fig. 42. Foot of the ox. At the upper part are Been the hones of the ankle, viz. 
 fc, the cuboid; ce, cctocunelform; «, scaphoid; a, astrafralus; cl, calcaneuin; succeod- 
 Ipr which Is the caiinon-hoiie, composed of the third and fourtli metatarsal joined to- 
 gether. III. and IV. are digits; II. and V. are digits in a rudimentary condition; 60 and 
 C7 arc bonca of the leg. 
 
 t Owen on Limbs, p. 84.
 
 212 
 
 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS IN THE SKELETON. 
 
 of the animal to its habits and power of rapid progres- 
 sion is so generally admitted, and has been so frequently 
 discussed,* that it would be a work of super- 
 erogation to go over the same ground here. 
 Suffice it to say, the principle of reduction in 
 number of the parts, which we have already 
 seen to be associated with swiftness of progres- 
 sion in the foot of the ostrich, is carried out 
 fully in that of the horse : "he paweth in the 
 valley, and rejoiceth in his strength." 
 
 In conclusion it may be added, that there is 
 distinct evidence of arrangement in the height 
 of the limbs in most mammaha, and this is true 
 of both fore and hind extremities : their length 
 is equal to that of the head and neck together ;"f 
 '^ the browsing species, therefore, can easily reach 
 
 the herbage necessary for their subsistence. 
 Bimanous and Quadramanous animals (man and the 
 apes) are exceptions ; but then they have limbs whose 
 digits are fitted to procure food. Certain others may be 
 noted as exceptions, namely, bats, which feed on wing, 
 and the elephant, whose short neck and prominent tusks 
 would prevent browsing, but in compensation, it is pro- 
 vided with that "grotesque hand," the trunk, which is 
 merely a nasal apparatus, having superadded to its ordi- 
 nary function that of sensation and prehension. 
 
 * See Bell on the ILind, etc. 
 
 + Straus-Durckhcirn, Tlieologie de la Nature, vol. 1. p. 226. 
 
 % Fig. 43. Ilind-foot of the horso. The letters at the upper part represent the bones 
 of the ankle; a. astragalus; cl, heel-bone or calcaneum, the prominent part of which 
 is the "hock;" s, scaphoid bone; 6, cuboid; ce, ectocuneiform ; cm, mesocuneiform, 
 The long bone which succeeds these, and joined to ce, is that called cannon-bo'ie, and 
 corresponds to the third metatarsal bone; to its lower end are attached the three bones 
 (phalanges) of the third toe ; the last of the three, marked lU., is expanded to sustain the 
 hoof The bones marked XL and IV., situated on each side, are called by veterinarians 
 splint-bones ; they are the rudiments of the second and fourth metatarsal bone. The 
 cannon-bone has been already referred to as presenting the model after which all the 
 pieces of the typical vertebra are constructed.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TEETH. 
 
 SECT. I. — TRACES OF ORDER IN THE FORM AND 
 STRUCTURE OF TEETH. 
 
 The upper and lower jaws alone support teeth in the 
 higher vertebrata. We have already seen that the 
 former corresponds to the h^emapophyses and divided 
 hiemal spine of first or nasal vertebra, and that the lower 
 jaw is the hsemapophysis and htumal spine of the second 
 or frontal vertebra. The teeth, supported by these ver- 
 tebral elements, arc generally distinguishable, in the 
 higher vertebrata, into three series, viz., incisors, canines, 
 and molars. 
 
 The incisor or cutting teeth occupy the fore-part of 
 the maxillas, those of the upper jaw being su})ported 
 by the intermaxillaries, (or premaxillaries,) which corre- 
 spond to the divided heemal spine of the arch to which 
 they belong. Generally speaking, the teeth occupying 
 this position arc chisel-shaped. The tusks, called also 
 canines, form the first of the series supported by the 
 maxillary bones, properly so called : these teeth are gene- 
 rally conical in form, and in animals lower than man, 
 project beyond the other teeth. Tlie molars, as their 
 name indicjites, arc generally characterized by a broad fiat 
 surface, fitted for bruising.
 
 214 TRACES OF ORDER 
 
 Such may be regarded as the special characteristics of 
 these three kinds of teeth, nevertheless there seems to be 
 a common type embracing all, and there are transitional 
 forms. The incisors are sometimes conical, like the 
 canines : this is very obvious in the great polar bear, as 
 well as certain other carnivora ; and in the elephant, the 
 same teeth constitute the tusks. In the insect-eating 
 bat, the projections of the molars are conical ; in the 
 dolphin and others of the whale order, all the teeth are 
 conical. There appear, therefore, to be clear indications 
 that the cone may be considered the typical form of 
 tooth. 
 
 As is remarked, however, by Professor Owen, " shape 
 and size are the least constant of dental characters in the 
 mammalia, and the homologous teeth are determined, 
 like other parts, by their relative position, by their con- 
 nexions, and by their development." We have already 
 stated by what mark, founded on position, the incisors 
 may be invariably distinguished, and that the canines 
 succeed them in order from before backwards. The 
 mode of development of the remaining teeth enables us 
 to determine their homologies. In most mammalia 
 there are two sets of teeth, the milk or deciduous, and 
 those which succeed them, called permanent. Now, 
 some of the milk-molars are directly succeeded by per- 
 manent teeth, which displace them vertically ; others, 
 which appear as the animal advances in age, do not 
 displace predecessors ; and hence a distinction of the 
 molars into premolars or false molars, and true mo- 
 lars. The second set of premolars occupy the place 
 of others which preceded them ; the true molars are 
 situated more posteriorly, and have had no prede- 
 cessors. 
 
 Investigations of anatomists have shewn that, in re-
 
 IN THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF TEETH. 
 
 215 
 
 ference to number, the teeth follow a tyi^e, and the 
 typical dental formula is thus indicated : 
 
 Incisors, - ^, canines, ^— , premolars, |--^, molars, g^. 
 
 The figures above and below the 
 lines express the respective num- 
 bers of teeth on each side in upper 
 and lower jaAV. 
 
 A common plan also prevails 
 in the general structure of the 
 teeth. Three distinct substances, 
 differing in hardness and in mi- 
 croscopical characters, enter into 
 their formation. A perfect mam- 
 malian tooth may be considered 
 as formed principally of hard den- 
 tine or ivory in the centre, still 
 harder enamel on the crown, and 
 most external of all, a layer of 
 cement, which is softer than the 
 other two. 
 
 Fig. 44. Longitudinal section of liuinan incisor, 
 magnified, p, pulp cavity; rf, dentine or ivory; e, 
 enamel ; c, cement. 
 
 Fig. 44.* 
 
 SECT. II. — TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION IN THE NUM- 
 BER, FORM, AND STRUCTURE OF TEETH. 
 
 In these organs, of so much importance in the animal 
 economy, ;ind of such scientific interest to the zoologist 
 and jjalfuontologist, we find numerous exami)les of modifi- 
 cations in respect of structure, form, and number, all for 
 the fulfilling of useful ends.
 
 216 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 Eemarkable complex modifications occur wlien the 
 substances of which the teeth consist, instead of being 
 simply superposed, and shewing a comparatively regular 
 surface, present infoldiugs of the surface, and consequent 
 interblending or apparent mixture of the dentine, enamel, 
 and cement. It is obvious that in all cases in which 
 there is interblending of parts differing in hardness, by 
 whatever means effected, a rough surface is kept up by 
 their being unequally worn away ; a most admirable, 
 and, at the same time, simple contrivance for forming an 
 effectual triturating surface, on the same principle that a 
 millstone must be rough in order to perform its office 
 fully. 
 
 There are numerous and remarkable special modifica- 
 tions of teeth, all of which are so obviously in harmony 
 with the particular purpose they are intended to serve, 
 that no one disputes the propriety of adducing such in 
 illustration of final cause. These have been discussed 
 with considerable fulness by different writers on natural 
 theology, and it is less necessary to enter into details 
 here ; a few of the more prominent examples may suffice, 
 and we must here acknowledge the valuable contribution 
 to this department of the histoiy of the teeth embodied 
 in the treatise of the Hunterian Professor.* 
 
 Among bats we find three varieties in the kind of 
 food ; some subsist on insects which they capture during 
 flight ; others feed on soft vegetable food, such as fruits ; 
 and a few suck the blood of animals, whose skin they 
 puncture during sleep. The insectivorous bats have all 
 the teeth characterized by the presence of numerous 
 sharp conical points well fitted for capturing and retain- 
 ing their living prey. In frugivorous species the molars 
 are well developed, and are suited by their blunt tuber- 
 
 * Owen's Odontography.
 
 IN THE NUMBER, FORM, AND STRUCTURE OF TEETH. 217 
 
 ciilar crowns to reduce tlie vegetable matter to the state 
 of pulp. In true bloodsucking species, the vampyrcs, the 
 upper incisor teeth, and canines, are well fitted to punc- 
 ture the skin, while the molars are deficient in number, 
 the blood on which they feed requiring no trituration. 
 
 The Rodentia, or gnawing animals, (rat, hare, &c.,) 
 present a peculiar arrangement (one of their leading 
 characters) in the front or incisor teeth, which are in 
 continual requisition for gnawing or cutting hard vege- 
 table matter. The front part of the incisors, and it only 
 has a thick layer of enamel, the consequence of which 
 arrangement is, that the softer dentine behind being con- 
 tinually worn away, a sharp chisel-shaped edge is always 
 kept up. But since both, tliough tlius unequally, are also 
 liable to wear away, an arrangement is added in no less 
 beautiful harmony with instinct and habits ; the teeth 
 are continually growing from the base during the life- 
 time of the animal. The modifications of the molar 
 teeth are not less remarkable ; in all of them we find pe- 
 culiar interblending of the cement, enamel, and dentine, 
 so that a rough surface is secured by unequal abrasion. 
 Still farther their mode of implantation has direct rela- 
 tion to differences in the kind of food which the animal 
 is led to seek and is able to digest. The rats which sub- 
 sist on mixed food, are less liable to the general wearing 
 of the molars, " and no more dental matter is produced 
 than is necessary for the firm implantation of the tooth 
 in the jaw."--' Those Rodentia which feed on hard vege- 
 table substances have molars which are liable to continual 
 abrasion, but which are also continually growing at the 
 base during most of the animal's life; in some, as in the 
 Capybara, this renewal of the molars continues dniiiig 
 the whole life. Professor Owen describes an additinnal 
 
 • Owen's Odontograpliy, \>. 401. 
 JO
 
 218 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 arrangement in these permanently-growing molars, " they 
 are curved, and the j^ressure during mastication is thus 
 not directly transmitted to the formative pulp."* 
 
 In carnivorous animals, certain teeth are admirably 
 fitted for seizing, holding, and destroying the living prey, 
 and others for dividing it afterwards. The incisors are 
 of the typical number, and therefore more numerous than 
 in many other mammalia, and they often present a tran- 
 sition in general form towards the canines. These latter 
 are large, sharply conical, and of great strength. Some 
 of the molar teeth present remarkable modifications. 
 The fourth premolar in the upper, and the first molar in 
 the lower jaw, are large and sharp-edged, so that when 
 they are moved in opposition to each other, they cut like 
 the blades of scissors ; their function is sectorial, and 
 they are admirably fitted to divide flesh. The concur- 
 rence of independent circumstances is seen in this, that 
 the instincts of these animals lead them to eat flesh, the 
 teeth are exactly suited to such food, their stomach is 
 able to digest it, and the structure of their limbs enables 
 them to seize and hold it. The hyasna obtains its food 
 from the harder parts left by other carnivora, the bones 
 of animals forming its chief sustenance ; and the teeth are 
 modified in harmony with its habits, presenting a re- 
 markable deviation from the usual typical form in the 
 carnivorous division to which the animal belongs. Cer- 
 tain of the premolars in upper and lower jaws are large 
 and conical, and have at the base, near the line of the 
 gum, a thick belt or ridge, which serves to protect that 
 part during the process of crushing the hard bones. 
 Professor Owen states that such a tooth, when shewn to 
 an experienced engineer, was declared by him to be a per- 
 fect model of a hammer for stone-breaking. 
 
 * Owen's Odontography, p. 402.
 
 •-^ THE NUMBER, FORM, AND STRUCTURE OF TEETH. 219 
 
 In true vegetable-feeding, hoofed mammalia, we find 
 remarkable interblending of dentine, enamel, and cement, 
 in the molars, the proportions of each in different cases 
 varying, as well as the pattern presented by the crown of 
 the teeth. A general idea of such arrangement, and of 
 its consequences, (roughness of surface,) may be obtained 
 by inspection of the old molar teeth of an ox or sheep. In 
 such animals also, owing to the peculiar mechanism of 
 the joint of the lower jaw, there is very free motion in 
 various directions, and thus the whole triturating surface 
 of the teeth, so well adapted to their function, is readily 
 available. 
 
 In the elephant, several curious modifications may be 
 observed in the large molar teeth. Each is composed of 
 a number of connected plates, having the usual arrange- 
 ment of dentine, enamel, and cement substances, the latter 
 being at first the binding material by which the plates 
 are tied together. '• The formation of each grinder be- 
 gins with tlie summit of the anterior plate, and the rest 
 are completed in succession ; the tooth is gradually ad- 
 vanced in position as its growth proceeds, and in the 
 existing Indian elephant, the anterior plates are brought 
 into use before the posterior are formed."* In all ele- 
 phants, the molars succeed each other from behind for- 
 wards, moving in a curve, the young growing tooth being 
 nearly at right angles to the one already in use. Pro- 
 fessor Owen's statement is so much to the jjoint that wo 
 shall quote it entire, " The jaw is not encumbered with 
 the whole weight of the massive tooth at once, but it is 
 formed by degrees as wanted ; the subdivision of the 
 crown into a number of successive plates, and of these 
 into Hubcylindrical processes, presenting the conditions 
 most favoiualjle to progressive formation. Subdivision 
 
 ♦ Cyclopa-'dla of Anatomy Art. 1'oeth.
 
 220 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION 
 
 of tlie tootli gives another advantage, each part, like a 
 simple tooth, has dentine, enamel, and cement. The dif- 
 ferent parts of the tooth, as they come forwards, have, of 
 course, from differences of attrition, different kinds of 
 surface, the anterior portion for crushing branches, the 
 middle, with its transverse ridges, for reducing these to 
 smaller fragments, and the posterior tubercles of enamel 
 grind it to a pulp," 
 
 Such special modifications of masticating organs, 
 according to the gnawing, flesh-eating, or vegetable- 
 grinding habits in different animals, are sufficiently ob- 
 vious, but not more so than the peculiarities of organs 
 fitted for mixed food, as in human beings. In his 
 dentition, man presents a character intermediate be- 
 tween the carnivorous and the herbivorous type ; " the 
 presence of canines, and the absence of complex struc- 
 ture, arising from interblending of vertical plates of the 
 different dentinal tissues in the molars, would prove that 
 the food could not have been the coarse, uncooked vege- 
 table substances for which complex molars are adajjted ; 
 and, on the other hand, the feeble development of the 
 canines, and the absence of molars of the sectorial shape, 
 and opposed like scissors' blades, would equally shew that 
 the species had been unfitted for obtaining habitual sus- 
 tenance from the raw, quivering fibre of recently killed 
 animals."* How evident, therefore, the relation between 
 the kind of food which man naturally makes choice of, 
 and the organs which bruise and prepare it for the act of 
 digestion in the stomach ; there is assuredly no mere ac- 
 cidental coincidence in all these arrangements. 
 
 The Ophidia, (or serpent order,) as has been already 
 stated, take in their prey entire, and their teeth are gene- 
 rally simply conical, and fitted for retention. The poison 
 
 * Owen's Odontography, p. 471.
 
 IN THE NUMBER, FORM, AND STRUCTURE OF TEETH. 221 
 
 fangs of certain species are particularly worthy of notice, 
 and certain non-venomous species are instructive as pre- 
 senting a transitional form. Some of the teeth in the 
 upper jaw, in certain kinds of serpents, present a longi- 
 tudinal oToove which serves to conduct an acrid, hut not 
 deadly saliva, into the wounds which they inflict. The 
 true venomous fang, such as that of the rattlesnake, is 
 just a flat tooth folded on itself, and the edges united ; 
 the hollow or canal which traverses it is in communica- 
 tion with the poison-gland at its hase, the nuiscles cover- 
 ing Avhich being in powerful action during attack, com- 
 press the gland, and squeeze its deadly contents into the 
 wound inflicted by the fang. When not in use, these 
 formidable weapons are retracted and concealed in a fold 
 of the gum, with their points directed backwards ; the 
 relation of tooth, jaw, and other parts, is sufficient to un- 
 cover the recumbent fong, and bring it into use when re- 
 quired. 
 
 In fishes, special adjustments are as numerous and 
 remarkable as in higher vertebrata. Those that feed on 
 worms, and similar soft food, have teeth which are simpl}- 
 conical, and difliering in number and size according to 
 the minor modifications of liabit ; the barbel and others 
 present such a form of dental apparatus, well fitted for 
 simple capture and retention of the food. The wolf-fish, 
 again, has a dental furniture suited for bruising the 
 shells of the mollusca on which it feeds ; the tliiu mem- 
 branous stomach of that species shews that tlic pavement 
 of bruising tectli, with which its mouth is lined, serves 
 for the effectual comminution of its prey, rendering the 
 presence of a gizzard unnecessary. The fishes which feed 
 on the coral-building animals have parrot-like jaws in 
 front, f )r Ijreaking olT the calcareous po]y])i(loms, and on 
 llic |iliai7ngeal bones behind, an apparatus to crush and
 
 222 TRACES OF SPECIAL ADAPTATION IN TEETH. 
 
 prepare for digestion in the stomach. The pharyngeal 
 teeth of the wrasse are each in the form of an arch of 
 greath strength, admirably fitted for the process of crush- 
 ino-, " if the engineer would study the model of a dome 
 of unusual strength, and so supported as to relieve from 
 its pressure the floor of a vaulted chamber beneath, let 
 him make a vertical section of one of the crushing pha- 
 ryngeal teeth of a wrasse."* In the carnivorous Sphyr- 
 aena, whose teeth are liable to injury during eiforts to 
 secure its living prey, these formidable organs are conti- 
 nually replaced, the alternate teeth being shed cotempo- 
 raneousl}^, by which provision is made for having a series 
 of offensive weapons always ready for use. 
 
 The position of teeth, also, in this class, is in strict 
 conformity with the habits and general organization. 
 Those of flat fishes (flounders, &c.) are unequally distri- 
 buted, being most numerous on the side next the under 
 surface of the animal ; in other words that side of the 
 jaws next the ground, (in the usual position of such 
 fishes,) being the one nearest their food, which is under 
 them. 
 
 It appears, then, that in these instruments, as in every 
 other part of the animal frame, while a general plan sub- 
 ordinates the whole, there is, at the same time, a vast 
 number and variety of modifications, each in beautiful 
 harmony with the instincts and habits of the animal, with 
 all its organs, and with the place and part assigned to it 
 by its great Author. 
 
 * Owen's Odontography, p. 788.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MOLLUSCA. 
 
 SECT. I. TYPICAL FORMS OF MOLLUSCA. 
 
 We have, in the preceding pages, been directing atten- 
 tion to animals possessed of an internal skeleton formed 
 of parts constructed according to a common plan. We 
 jjass to the examination of others generally characterized 
 by the absence of such a framework, but often present- 
 ing hard parts on the outside, constituting exoskeleton. 
 
 It is admitted that there are three types of inverte- 
 brata : the molluscan, as the oyster, etc. ; the articulate, 
 such as insects and crabs ; and the radiate, comprehend- 
 ing the star-fishes, etc. 
 
 Altliough much remains to be done in reducing these 
 departments of the animal kingdom to the same philo- 
 sophical order which the department of the verlebrata 
 has attained, we shall find no lack of examples for illus- 
 trating the argument, some of the more obvious and 
 prominent of which may now be examined. We begin 
 with mollusca. 
 
 The investigations of observers on the Continent and 
 in our own country, have demonstrated that in the ear- 
 lier periods of life, the mollusca i)resent symmetry of 
 parts in reference to a vertical and longitudinal ])lane. 
 An examination of tlio history of development in the
 
 224 
 
 TYPICAL FORMS 
 
 mollusc has shown that in early life there is a short com- 
 pressed body, destitute of any lateral appendages, and 
 presenting no roj^etition of segments. 
 
 In the skeleton of the vertebrata, it is necessary to ob- 
 serve the relations of its parts to the neural and hasmal 
 organs, which are protected by it. The superior and in- 
 ferior region of the molluscan animal must also be deter- 
 mined in order that the relations of parts in the arche- 
 type may be understood. 
 
 In vertebrata, the dorsal or superior aspect of the body 
 corresponds to the position of the central mass of the 
 nervous system, the htemal being inferior. There is 
 some difference of opinion as to the relations of the parts 
 in the mollusca.* Adopting the view that the neural 
 side is also the lower or ventral, and the heemal the 
 
 Fig. 45. t 
 
 superior, we proceed to examine the archetype, our mate- 
 rials being chiefly drawn from the admirable treatise of 
 Professor Huxley on this subject.^ 
 
 * Professor Allman on the Homologies of the Tunieata and Polyzoa. Transactions 
 Eoyal Irish Academy, 1S52. 
 
 t Fia. 45. Ideal archetype, or common plan of the mollusca. w, the mouth ; a, the 
 anal aperture, or extremity of the intestine; H, h tmal region; A, the heart; 6, branchiae 
 
 >r gills; N, neural region; n, n, n, ganglia or nervous centres; ep, epipodiiim or upper 
 uot; pp, propodium, anterior part of foot; m.s, mesopodium, middle part; vif, metapo- 
 .lium, posterior part; pp, mx, and mt, together constitute the loot in general language. 
 
 t Transactions Uoyal Society, 1S53; see also Knight's English Cyclop rdia, Art. 
 ifoUmca.
 
 OF MOLLUSCA. 225 
 
 The archetype mollusc is supposed to be bilaterally 
 symmetrical ; the relations of the different parts will be 
 understood from the accompanyng figure. The ha3mal 
 region (H) coiTCsponds to that where the heart {h) is 
 situated ; the opposite is termed neural, and the great 
 nervous centres (n n n) arc usually placed in it. The 
 anterior part of the body is marked by the position of 
 the mouth, (771,) the posterior by the opposite opening of 
 the alimentary canal or anus (a.) The lower or neural 
 surface is usually called the foot, because generally em- 
 ployed as an organ of progression. The foot may be 
 divided into three portions, the propndium (pp) or fore- 
 foot ; the mesopodium (ms) or middle foot ; and the 
 metapodium (mt) or hind foot. The upper part of the 
 foot, or middle region of the body, sometimes is prolonged 
 into a fold or enlargement on each side below the point 
 of junction of the hfemal and neural regions ; this 
 prolongation is called epipodium, (e/9.) On the lateral 
 and superior part of tlie head are two pairs of appen- 
 dages, the eyes and tentacles. The part usually called 
 mantle or pallium in mollusca, consists of a free fold of 
 the skin either behind or in front of the anus. In the 
 figure the branchitB or gills {b) lie behind the heart, (7i.) 
 
 There are two princij)al modi- 
 fications of this common plan 
 depending mainly on the relative 
 development of certain parts of 
 the haemal region. The portion 
 of it in front of the anus is called 
 abdomen, that behind it is called 
 post-abdomen. Excessive deve- 
 lopment of the former, accompa- *""'■ '**'• * 
 
 • Fio. 4G. Neural niodiOcallon of archetype mollusc. Tho mouth, Blomnch, and ali- 
 mentary cinal are Hhaded. Here tho part of tho Iwmal roKion abovo, or hi front of tho 
 canal opening, H hl;,'lily developed ; the aliniontary canal having' a concavity toward tho 
 neural Hurfaco
 
 226 TYPICAL FORMS OF MOLLUSCA. 
 
 nied by a bend of the intestine into it, (tlie concave part 
 of wliich is directed downwards, or towards the neural 
 surface,) constitutes a neural flexure. When the post- 
 abdomen becomes developed in the same way, the open 
 part of the intestinal bend will be directed towards the 
 haemal surface, giving rise to a hcemal flexure. 
 
 Professor Huxley considers, 
 therefore, that there are two 
 primary modifications of the 
 molluscan archetype, which 
 may be termed the Neural 
 and Haemal plans. 
 Fig- 47. * Tlic prcsencc or absence of a 
 
 shell is of minor importance, and does not affect the re- 
 lations of the archetype ; all mollusca, therefore, may be 
 referred to the same common typical form. 
 
 The cuttle-fish, with its formidable prehensile arms 
 and beak ; the singular Clio ; the sluggish oyster ; the 
 more active pecten or clam ; the destructive teredo or 
 ship-worm ; those expert tunnel-makers and borers, spe- 
 cies of Pholas and others ; the slug and garden snail ; 
 the pearl oyster ; — in a word, the almost endless forms 
 of this great division of the Invertebrate sub-kingdom, 
 may all be considered as framed after the same model, 
 and we shall find that certain modifications of it have 
 undoubtedly reference to the habits and mode of life of 
 the animals. 
 
 * Fig. 47. ITaenial modifications of arclietype mollusc. Shews excessive development 
 of post-abdomen, the part behind or below the anus. The alimentary canal has a flex- 
 ure toward the hasmal region ; in the fig. the heart is seen in the concavity of the flexure.
 
 MODIFICATIONS OF THE ARCHETYPE MOLLUSC. 227 
 SECT. II. MODIFICATIONS OF THE ARCHETYPE MOLLUSC. 
 
 Ccplialopoda^ or cuttle-fishes. These remarkable ani- 
 mals are usually placed in the foremost ranks of the 
 moUuscan type, and they present several interesting 
 points of structure. The appendages, (whose position 
 has given rise to the name Cephalopoda, or head-footed,) 
 provided Avith a greater or less number of discs, each 
 acting as a sucker, enabling them to retain their living 
 prey and resist its struggles ; their formidable beak-like 
 jaws, by which they tear their prey in pieces ; their bag, 
 from which they explode an inky cloud, under cover of 
 which they escape from their pursuers ; their funnel, 
 w'hich serves as a discharge-pipe for water which has 
 been in contact with the gills, and which, by the force of 
 its escape, assists in aquatic progression ; their highly- 
 developed and curiously-constructed eyes — all give them 
 a high degree of prominence in the estimation of the 
 naturalist. They are pre-eminently the Felidpe of the 
 ocean : lying in wait for living prey ; lurking in secrecy 
 to spring on it ; feeding chiefly in the twilight or at 
 night ; while their strength and rapidity of movement 
 render them formidable enemies to many of their fellow- 
 inhabitants of the ocean. They are, moreover, the chame- 
 leons of the deep, having the power of rapidly changing 
 the colour of their skin as emergencies require. What 
 special modifications do they present, as departures from 
 the model ? and what relations do such bear to the habits 
 of these animals ? These are questions which may be now 
 briefly examined, so far as the results arrived at by ob- 
 servers enable us to speak. 
 
 It is ndmitti'd lluit the development of all animals is 
 sul>ject to strict law, and the results of inquiries in this 
 direction enable us to indicate the real nature of parts
 
 228 
 
 MODIFICATIONS OF THE 
 
 whose homology, in reference to the archetype, may seem 
 difficult to solve in the fully matured condition. 
 
 It has heen already stated that the Cephalopods are 
 so named from the position of certain organs, which, 
 although chiefly emplo3'ed for prehension and retention 
 of prey, are nevertheless also capable of being used as 
 means of progression on a hard surface. Designations of 
 parts are not always in strict accordance with their true 
 nature, but it so happens in this particular instance, that 
 the term Cephalopod is homologically correct, for the 
 appendages which surround the fore-part of the animal 
 
 in reaHty correspond to the 
 lower surface or foot, being ac- 
 tually lateral appendages of that 
 part. These organs vary in 
 number ; in some species there 
 are eight, in others ten. In the 
 well-known Argonaut, two of 
 the appendages are webbed, so 
 as to present considerable ex- 
 tent of surface. These were 
 described by Aristotle as the 
 sails of the animal, which, in 
 fine weather, and when floating 
 on the surface, it expanded and raised to catch the 
 wind — a description which, as it is now well known, 
 does not indicate the true use of these parts ; for their 
 function is to form the shell, and progression is accom- 
 ]3lished by the forcible ejection of water from the funnel, 
 the animal being urged on its course by the recoil. 
 
 * Fig. 48. Plan of cnttle-flsh, to shew its relation to the archetype, pp, ms, ml, the 
 parts of the foot modifled to form the arms which surround the head; ep, epipodium 
 forming the funnel through which water is discharged. The alimentary canal and heart 
 will be seen in the middle of the shaded part of this figure.
 
 ARCHETYPE MOLLUSC. 229 
 
 In those with ten appendages, two are longer than the 
 others, and serve as anchors to moor the body, or arc 
 darted out to capture prey beyond reach of the ' shorter 
 arms. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the fmictions assigned to 
 the funnel ; tliis part, so necessary in the economy of 
 the animal, may be also referred to its corresponding 
 part in the archetype. It is derived from the epipodium, 
 upper foot, {Fig. 48. ep,) the posterior part only is con- 
 sidered by Professor Huxley as contributing to the for- 
 mation of this important organ. ^' The mouth is thrust 
 back between the halves of the mesopodium, the propo- 
 dium and mesopodium forming a continuous sheath — 
 bearing tentacles — around the oral aperture. The two 
 halves of the epipodium united form the funnel."* 
 
 Pteropoda. — The animals so denominated are gene- 
 rally of small size, but this is compensated for by their 
 numbers. In the tropics, as well as in the Arctic 
 seas, they abound, and, with other marine invertebrata, 
 serve to stock the pasture-grounds of the great whales. 
 The peculiar appendages, or lateral flaps, from which 
 they derive their name, {Pteropoda, wing-footed,) are 
 the principal means of progression by which they flit 
 hither and thither — whence they have been apj)ropriately 
 called the moths and butterflies of the ocean. As littoral 
 productions they are not generally known, excepting 
 from the shells of some which are occasionally cast up ; 
 but in the open sea, far from land, they are sufficiently 
 familiar to the observant naviirator. 
 
 In these interesting molluscs, the parts called fore, 
 middle, and hind foot, are generally in a rudimentary 
 condition, and the epipodium or upper foot forms the 
 wing-lilcu appendages so necessary in the act of progres- 
 
 ♦ Knigbt's English Cycloptcdia, Art. MoUwca.
 
 230 MODIFICATIONS OF THE 
 
 sion, and giving such a marked cliaracter to these ani- 
 mals. Cleodora, Euribia, Clio, Pneumodermon, and 
 others, present each peculiar but minor modifications of 
 the epipodium, doubtless in harmony with the habits of 
 the respective species, but, nevertheless, essentially of the 
 same nature, and performing the same general function. 
 
 The epipodium, which is but a narrow band in the 
 archetyj^e, appears, therefore, to attain its maximum of 
 development in certain Pteropods, and forming wing-like 
 appendages copiously traversed by strong muscular fibres, 
 is admirably fitted to be employed as oars, and the testi- 
 mony of observers confirms such idea respecting its use. 
 — There are other mollusca not far removed in appearance 
 from those just described, which also deserve to be no- 
 ticed here as examples illustrative of the argument. They 
 have been called Heteropoda. Like the Pteropoda, they 
 are constituted for free progression in the water. The 
 relations of their parts have been very fully examined by 
 Professor Huxley in the Essay already quoted. The body 
 in one genus, namely, Firola, is clear as crystal, so that all 
 its internal organs can be distinctly seen, and the author 
 quoted describes it "as hardly distinguishable in the 
 water, except by the incessant flapping of its flattened 
 ventral appendage." The shape of this organ, by which 
 the animal makes progression in the water, is that of a 
 cheese-cutter ; it is a modification of the proj^odium or 
 fore-foot of the archetype, the other parts remaining 
 rudimentary. In another genus, viz., Atlanta, progres- 
 sion in the water is accomplished by means of an appen- 
 dage similar to that of Firola, and a modification of the 
 same part, thus remarkably constituted to serve an im- 
 portant end in the economy of the animal. But Atlanta 
 has the power of attaching itself to marine j)lants by 
 means of a sucking disc placed behind the propodium ;
 
 ARCHETYPE MOLLUSC. 231 
 
 this part is the mesopodiiim, which thus presents a mo- 
 dification different from that of the propodiiim, the' one 
 as "well as the other, however, being admirably suited to 
 its function. Moreover, the metapodium, or tail, as it is 
 sometimes called, bears on its surface the hard body 
 called operculum, which serves as a lid to close the mouth 
 of the shell when the animal retreats into that appen- 
 dage. 
 
 In Aplysia, or sea-hare, the epipodium is highly de- 
 veloped for a special purpose, namely, to assist in loco- 
 motion. Professor Huxley describes a tropical Aplysia 
 as flying through the water in precisely the same way as 
 a Pteropod would do. In Xatica, we observe the meso- 
 podium modified, to serve as a disc for locomotion by 
 creeping ; the metapodium bearing the operculum or lid 
 which closes the mouth of the shell when the animal 
 takes refuge in it. 
 
 Among Bivalves, as they are called, from the form of 
 the protecting shell, we find numerous modifications of 
 the neural surface in evident relation to tlic wants of the 
 animal. In the oyster, destined to sedentary hfe, it is 
 small ; in Solen or razor-fish it is large, constituting the 
 foot, which the animal employs as an effective means of 
 bui'jang itself in the loose sand. According to the views 
 of some, the same part is actually so modified in its form, 
 and in the nature of its constituent tissues, that it may 
 be used as an instrument for perforating wood and rock. 
 Whatever be the form or function of this necessary organ 
 of the bivalve mollusc, it is supposed to correspond to 
 the mctapodiniii oi'the archetype. 
 
 Certain Gasteropodous mollusca are, when young, pro- 
 tected by a shell resembling that of llie nautilus in 
 miniature. At this stage they do not possess the power 
 of creeping, but swim freely in the water — a provision
 
 232 MODIFICATIONS OF THE ARCHETYPE MOLLUSC, 
 
 which secures their wide distribution, and gives rise to 
 fresh colonies at a distance from the parent. At this 
 early period of life they are provided with two wing-like 
 appendages fringed with cilia ; these are employed as 
 oars, by which they move from place to place. The ap- 
 pendages in question are believed to correspond to the 
 anterior part of the epipodium. This peculiar modifica- 
 tion is, however, only a temporary arrangement ; a time 
 arrives when it is no longer needed ; it then disappears, 
 and the adult animal accomplishes progression on hard 
 surfaces by means of the foot proper. The ciliated epi- 
 podiiun is provided for a temporary purpose, and when 
 that is accomplished it disappears, to be superseded by 
 another part. 
 
 It is therefore admitted, that all mollusca present 
 traces of a common plan ; and although in every instance 
 it may not be possible to indicate with clearness and pre- 
 cision the special ends of the many modifications of the 
 archetype, still, arguing from what we do know, it is not 
 unreasonable to conclude that we have here independent 
 members in harmony with each other, and conspiring to 
 promote the wellbeing of the animal in its destined 
 sphere of life.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARTICUL AT A. 
 SECT, T. IIOMOTTPAL RES-QS AND APPENDAGES. 
 
 We now pass to the Articulate type of tlie Inverte- 
 brata, comprehending crabs, barnacles, insects, spiders, 
 and others.* These agree in one obvious character — 
 their body consists of a series of similar or homotypal 
 rings, which present almost endless variety in size, form, 
 and other particulars, according to the habits of the spe- 
 cies. The rings arc generally, in the higher lands at 
 least, of more or less hard texture, giving support to 
 appendages, and serving as points of attachment to nu- 
 merous muscles, as well as protecting various important 
 organs concerned in the function of sensation, motion, 
 circulation, &c. They present us with examples of a 
 higlily-dcv^eloped outside covering, technically called exo- 
 skeleton, the character of which varies as there is neces- 
 sity in different parts, for variety of motion, for solidity, 
 or for simple protection. 
 
 The endless diversity in form, and the exquisite beauty 
 of colour and sculpture, exhibited by certain of the Arti- 
 culata, have rendered them favourite objects of study, 
 and their history has been in general very thoroughly 
 
 * It Is not our Intention to discuss hero all the classes of the Articulate typo ; a selec- 
 tion will sufllcc for our purpose.
 
 234 HOMOTYPAL RINGS 
 
 investigated by observers in diiferent countries. The 
 fertile results which have accrued from such inquiries pre- 
 sent admirable examples of what may be expected from 
 the patient labours of ardent naturalists, guided by care- 
 ful attention to philosophical methods of investigation. 
 
 We have stated that all the pieces in the linear series 
 of which an articulate animal is made up, are homotypal, 
 that is, constructed on the same plan. This unity of 
 composition is not necessarily coincident with any law of 
 number, viewing the Articulata as a whole ; but in the 
 higher types, at least, the number of similar pieces of 
 which the body consists is usuallj^ uniform. 
 
 We may here introduce the general law announced by 
 M. Audoin, in 1820, that the similarity or difference be- 
 tween the segments, the union or the separation of the 
 pieces of which they consist, the excessive development 
 of some and the rudimentary conditions of others, occasion 
 all those differences observed in the entire series of arti- 
 culated animals. It is well established that a common 
 type determines the general organization of the animals 
 in question, and we may now examine the structure of 
 the typical ring or segment. 
 
 Milne Edwards, in his history of the Crustacea, has 
 
 demonstrated very clearly the 
 composition of this part. It 
 may be described as consisting 
 of two arches, a superior and an 
 inferior. The former consists of 
 four pieces, arranged in pairs on 
 each side of the middle line. 
 ^10- 49* The two upper, occupying a po- 
 
 sition on each side of this middle line, are called tergal, 
 
 * Fig. 49. Plan of ring of Articulate animal, t, tergals ; ep, epinierals; s, sternals; es 
 •••Hsternals.
 
 AND APPENDACxES. 235 
 
 because forming the back, (from tergum, back ;) tliose 
 on each side are called epimerals, or flank pieces. The 
 lower arch has similar composition : the middle pieces 
 are called sternal, because corresponding in position to 
 the breast-bone (sternum) in A^ertebrata ; the lateral 
 pieces are called episternals. Instead of the technical 
 terms epimeral and episternal, we may use the terms 
 upi)er and lower flanks. In all this we find some resem- 
 blance to the neural and htemal arches in the vertebrate 
 segment, with this diflerence, tliat the body of the ver- 
 tebra serves at once as a foundation and line of demar- 
 cation between the two arches, each of which is complete 
 and independent. The typical segment in the Articulata 
 may be compared to a segment of a tunnel, not merely 
 arched in the roof, but having also a concave floor. A 
 series of such rings constitutes the external framework of 
 the animals under discussion, and protects the nervous 
 centres, which are placed near to tlic floor, and also the 
 haemal organs, which lie beneath the roof, and therefore 
 differ in their position from that in the Vertcbrata. 
 
 The division of the body, in crabs and insects, into 
 three regions — head, thorax, and abdomen, is generally 
 obvious enough. There may exist diflerence of opinion 
 regarding the number of segments or I'ings entering into 
 the formation of each of these, and respecting the number 
 of pieces constituting the typical ring ; but it is generally 
 admitted as an established truth, that the entire body is 
 made up of a munber of similar pieces. 
 
 In Crustacea^ (crabs, &c.,) Milne l*]dwards and others 
 believe each region to be made up of seven segments, 
 making, tlierefore, twenty-one in all. In insects, the 
 head is supposed to consist of five, the thorax of three, 
 and the abdomen of eleven. "'•' Erichson, in liis E?itomo- 
 
 ♦ Nowporl, Art. Innecta, Cyclopiodia of Andtoniy and I'hyslology.
 
 236 HOMOTYPAL KINGS 
 
 grapliien, has demonstrated that the thoracic portion of 
 the body in crabs, insects, and spiders, is made up of 
 three segments.* But, as we have said, whatever differ- 
 ence of opinion exists regarding the entire number in 
 any one region, or in the whole body, it is universally 
 admitted that a uniform plan regulates the construction 
 of the entire framework ; " the different forms of the 
 body are invariably the result, not of the introduction of 
 new elements, but of the greater or less extent to which 
 the primary parts are developed/'f 
 
 We have seen that in the vertebrata the typical verte- 
 bra supports appendages ; so the typical ring in the 
 articulate invertebrata also gives attachment to lateral 
 appendages. Their form and function vary according to 
 the part of the body which supports them. They differ 
 also in different species, and even at various periods of 
 the life of the same individual, but they all possess cer- 
 tain common characters. 
 
 M. Audoin, long ago, demonstrated that the appen- 
 dages in question belong either to the ujoper or lower arch 
 of each ring of the body, the first constitute the wings 
 of insects, and the second their legs ; the same applies 
 to those of crabs and spiders, which, however, want the 
 upper appendages. They are, therefore, arranged in 
 pairs on either side of the middle line, and each ring 
 supports either two or four such appendages. Those of 
 the inferior arch are the more important, and are of more 
 universal occurrence than the others. 
 
 In Crustacea the complete appendage is constituted by 
 three distinct portions, which it will be necessary briefly 
 
 * In Dana's Crustacea of the U. 8. Exploring Expedition, there are some peculiar and 
 important views as to the organization of the different groups, and the number of rings 
 in the ditferent regions (head, &c.,) of the body ; as well as the mean normal length of 
 rings. It is, however, unnecessary for our purpose to discuss the subject. 
 
 + Newport, in CyclopiEdia of Anatomy and Physiology.
 
 AND APPENDAGES. 
 
 237 
 
 to describe. The first and most essential of these is the 
 stem, which gives support to the other two ; it is formed 
 of a number of pieces attached in 
 linear series. The second i)art is 
 called palp, and is generally attached 
 near the base of the stem. The third 
 is called by M. Edwards the fouet, 
 OT JlabeUum ; it also originates from 
 the stem, but at a point more exter- 
 nal than the palp. In conclusion, 
 it may be remarked that attention 
 to the number of appendages in any 
 part sometimes aifords a good crite- 
 rion for deciding its composition, 
 where, owing to adhesion or other 
 circumstances, the number of rings may be obscured 
 
 Modifications or departures from the general plan may 
 arise from several causes ; — as from soldering of two or 
 more of the elementary pieces ; from confused develop- 
 ment of parts whose presence may be indicated by the 
 existence of special centres during the process of harden- 
 ing ; from wasting of one or more of the elements of the 
 typical segment ; the abortion of certain parts of the 
 same ; unequal development ; overlapping of neighbour- 
 ing parts ; disappearance of typical parts ; and, lastly, 
 from multiplication by repetition of similar parts.f 
 
 Fig. 50.* 
 
 SECT. II. SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 
 
 Crustacea. — In the higher forms, usually called Deca- 
 pods, (ten-footed,) from the number of their chief loco- 
 
 • Fio. 50. Appendages of Crnstaccan, showing Its essential parts; fl, stem ; ft, palp; 
 c, flabclliiin. 
 t M. E'lwanl.t, Annals dcs Sciences Naturclles, 1851.
 
 238 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 motive members, we observe three principal modifications 
 in the general form of the body. First, there is the Bra- 
 chyura or short-tailed crabs, (as the common crab,) in 
 which the abdominal part of the body is of small size, 
 and usually folded beneath the thorax, (so called,) which 
 part is generally very highly developed. The second 
 form comprehends the Anomoura, in which the abdomi- 
 nal portion of the body is soft and defenceless, as in the 
 hermit crabs. Under the third head are included all 
 those called Macroura, (long-tailed,) the j^osterior extre- 
 mity of the body being well-developed ; the lobster may 
 be cited as an example. Details regarding the real na- 
 ture of the departures from the archetype in each of these 
 three forms are unnecessary for our purpose ; it is enough 
 to say that in every case, the structure, habits, and in- 
 stincts of the animals are all in beautiful harmony with 
 each other. 
 
 Where, as in the first of these, the thorax is well 
 developed, and usually of great strength, the ambulatory 
 appendages, in five pairs, are generally of large size, and 
 constitute very efficient organs for progression as well as 
 other purposes. The great strength of the general frame- 
 work ij in admirable harmony with its function as a 
 supporter of the powerful limbs, and the protector of 
 important internal organs. But, since the relations of 
 the segments, and of the appendages which they support, 
 are so intimate, the special modifications and functions 
 of each are best studied in conjunction. 
 
 The tabular view which we here submit, of some of the 
 segments and their appendages, will afford an idea of the 
 deviations from the common plan which occur in different 
 parts of the body of the same individual, and shew how 
 each deviation has reference to some peculiar function of 
 the part. There is an absence of the centralization and
 
 OF IlINGS AND APPENDAGES. 239 
 
 specialization which characterize animals higher in the 
 scale ; all the segments and their appendages together 
 constitute the individual, and each performs its respec- 
 tive function in order to contribute to the wellbeing of 
 the whole. The following table represents the general 
 arrangement of most of the rings and appendages in one 
 of the higher Crustacea, a lobster, for example : — 
 
 RufGS. 
 
 Appesdages. 
 
 FtlNCTIOXS. 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 
 Eyes. 
 1st, pair of Antennas, 
 2d, do. do. 
 
 Vision. 
 • Touch, &c.* 
 
 4 
 
 Mandibles. 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 5 
 
 1st, Maxilla?, 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 2d, do. 
 
 
 Capture and division of 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 1st, Feet-jaws, 
 2d, do. 
 
 
 food, &c. 
 
 9 
 
 3d, do. 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 1, 12, 13, 14 
 
 Limbs, 
 do. 
 
 
 • For progression. 
 
 Then follow appendages of abdominal rings, varying in use. 
 
 The individual is thus made up of a number of organs, 
 each of which fulfils a special office ; by this division of 
 labour each most effectively performs its part in the 
 general economy, and the wellbeing of the whole is 
 amply provided for. 
 
 The typical appendages of the first and second rings 
 are modified for the purj)oses of vision, touch, hearing, 
 &c. ; then follow organs surrounding the mouth, and 
 wliich are emjjloyed by the animal when food is required ; 
 the flaljcllum of the second pair of foot-jaws assists in respi- 
 ration ; the thoracic appendages are limbs for locomotion, 
 and sometimes for prehension ; those of the abdmiien are 
 cither for locomotion or respiration, or are concerned in 
 the function of reproductioji. It is to be t)bservcd tliat 
 
 • One or both of these are now bellovod to perform tlio function of smelling.
 
 240 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 each appendage presents special modifications not only 
 in its general form, but also in the number of the ele- 
 ments of which it consists, but in every instance the 
 departure from the typical appendage has a decided rela- 
 tion to its use and the comfort of the animal. 
 
 In Crustacea of lower organization, the king-crab, for 
 example, the appendages of the head and thorax closely 
 surround the mouth ; they are nearly all of the same 
 form, and act not only as limbs for motion, but also as 
 instruments for the capture of the food, and farther, their 
 bases act as jaws for dividing that food. 
 
 The mandibles correspond to the stem of the typical 
 appendage, strengthened and usually toothed. In Che- 
 lura terebrans, whose habits of boring render it so 
 destructive to wooden piles, the jaws present a file-like 
 surface, admirably fitted to reduce to powder any such 
 structure. 
 
 Generally speaking, it may be observed that the ap- 
 pendages of the fourth to the ninth segments inclusive 
 have forms and dimensions varying in harmony with 
 their uses. In the words of M. Edwards, " they are so 
 much the shorter and flatter as they are more peculiarly 
 apportioned to the oral apparatus, a disposition which is 
 nowhere more conspicuously displayed than among the 
 short-tailed Decapods, (common crab, for instance,) in 
 which they resemble horny laminte, armed with teeth of 
 various sizes, and supporting a jointed palp as well as a 
 flabellum,'"- 
 
 In the thoracic portion of the body, some of the more 
 anterior appendages or limbs are, in the higher Crustacea, of 
 large size and peculiar organization, constituting the pin- 
 cers, which are very formidable instruments for offence and 
 defence, and are sometimes used for other purposes. One 
 
 * Cyclopaedia of Anatomy, Art. Crustacea.
 
 OF KINGS AND APPENDAGES. 
 
 241 
 
 of the most striking examples of such modification in 
 harmony Avith function, occurs in the large land-crab 
 (Birgus Latro) of the Keeling Islands. We shall quote 
 the description given by Mr. Darwin : — " The first pair of 
 legs end in strong and heavy pincers, the last pair are 
 fitted with weaker and narrower. The animal tears off 
 the cocoa-nut husk, fibre by fibre, and always from that 
 end under which th-e three eye-holes are situated ; when 
 this is completed, the crab commences hammering with 
 its heavy claws on one of the eye-holes till an opening is 
 made, then, turning round its body by the aid of its pos- 
 terior and narrow j)incers, it extracts the contents — a 
 curious instance of instinct and adaptation of structure 
 between two objects so remote from each other as a crab 
 and a cocoa-nut. The strength of the fore-pincers is 
 great : an individual was confined in a tin box, the lid 
 secured with twine, but the crab turned down the edges 
 and escaped ; it actually punched many small holes quite 
 through the tin."*-' 
 
 In the species of Portunus of our own seas, the last 
 joint of some of the thoracic 
 members is flattened, and the 
 limb serves as a paddle for 
 swimming, or is used by the 
 animal as a means of scut- 
 tling itself in soft sand. 
 
 In many Crustacea, cer- 
 tain appendages are modified 
 to serve as apparatus for re- 
 spiration, acting, in fact, as F"- 5i.+ 
 branchije or gills. Those called Branchiopods (gill- 
 
 ♦ Darwin, Journal of a Nuturnlist, p. 403. 
 
 t Fk;. .')'. TrntiHforrnallon of appendage of abdomen In a Branclilopodous (glll-footod) 
 Crustacean. I', flabcllum; c, palp, wlilch act a.s respiratory organs.
 
 242 
 
 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 footed) receive their name from this peculiarity ; the 
 whole of tlie thoracic appendages are in the form of 
 lamellag, and the parts corresponding to palp and fla- 
 helliim are membranous vesicles highly vascular, and 
 fitted to expose the circulating fluid to the action of the 
 air contained in the surrounding water. 
 
 In certain others, the Amphipods, for example, localiza- 
 tion of function 
 is more com- 
 
 plete, ihejlabel- 
 lum alone acting 
 as a gill. In 
 those called Iso- 
 pods, the mem- 
 bers for loco- 
 motion have no 
 other function 
 superadded, re- 
 spiration being performed by the first five pairs of ab- 
 dominal appendages, which appear to have no other use. 
 In the lobster, cray-fish and others, in which tlie 
 hinder part of the body is well developed, certain of its 
 elements are very specially fitted for the progression of 
 the animal through the water. The last ring, and the 
 appendages of the one which precedes it, arc specially 
 modified to form their powerful tail fin. 
 
 In the soft-tailed hermit crabs, which protect their 
 tender and defenceless abdomen in empty spiral shells 
 of Mollusca, certain appendages are modified to act as 
 hooks by which the animal holds fast to the inside of its 
 borrowed habitation ; and it is a curious circumstance, 
 that some of these hooks are wantins; on one side, since 
 
 Fig. 52.* 
 
 ♦ Fia. 52. Appendage of Amphipodous Crustacean, tba flabelluin, c, alone serving 
 as a gill for respiration.
 
 OF mXGS AND APPENDAGES. 243 
 
 they would be useless or even an encumbrance to the 
 animal, owing to the curve of its body corresponding to 
 that of the shell in which it lives. The instincts of the 
 hermit crab lead it to seek in an empty shell that pro- 
 tection which is wanting in the texture of its own body. 
 The means by which it holds fast are also admirably 
 fitted by form and position, to the exigency of the case. 
 
 Not a few of the Crustacea are parasites, that is, they 
 attach themselves to other animals, and feed on their 
 juices ; those called fish-lice are examples. Such habits 
 require special peculiarities of organization, and we are 
 constrained to admire the wisdom which foresaw and 
 provided for all tlie necessities of these singular beings. 
 The mouth apparatus in some is fitted at once for pier- 
 cing and sucking the juices of the foster-parent ; and cer- 
 tain of the appendages in other species, corresponding to 
 those already alluded to under the name of foot-jaws, are 
 constructed in such a way that they enable the little 
 animal to keep fast hold of its foster-parent. 
 
 In the curious Lerneada), whose grotesque forms have 
 puzzled not a few observers, the young are furnished with 
 a well-developed eye, and arc provided with two large 
 pairs of appendages, which serve as oars. Their peculiar 
 instincts lead them to fasten themselves to various fishes, 
 some selecting one part of the fish, others a difierent part. 
 Some after they become fixed, the eye, no longer of any 
 use, is lost, the oar-like appendages either disappear, or 
 undergo a change of form suited to the new mode of life ; 
 in a word, there are several independent successional 
 arrangements concurring to one end. Certain parts are 
 necessary to the existence and comfort of the animal, 
 and such are jirovided, and everything is in conformity 
 with the position which it occupies in the economy of 
 nature.
 
 244 
 
 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 Barnacles. — These remarkable animals, in some one 
 or other of their forms, are doubtless familiar to our 
 readers. Many of them are attached, by more or less 
 flexible stalks, to sea-weeds, to drift-wood, even to quills 
 shed by sea-birds, or they adhere in countless multitudes 
 to the bottoms of ships which enter our harbours from 
 some warmer region ; so abundant are they, in fact, as 
 sometimes to impede the motion of the vessel in the 
 water. Other kinds contribute to the formation of that 
 white line which marks the limit of high-water on our 
 rocky shores, or give a continuous covering to the exposed 
 parts of marine piles or stakes of salmon-nets. Others 
 invariably attach themselves to corals ; not a few find a 
 suitable dwelling-place in the thick skin of whales, and 
 
 Fig. 53.* 
 
 certain others in the shell of the sea-turtle, and some bury 
 themselves in sponges. All these curious animals are 
 
 * Fig. 53. a, A Stomapod Crustacean of tbe genus Leucifer. The abdominal portion 
 is not shaded. The shaded part corresponds with the next, h. 
 
 6, Cirriped, or Barnacle — a mature individual. All the parts correspond to shaded 
 portion of a; the eyes and antennw, which are distinct in early life, are also represented 
 here, for the sake of comparison.
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 245 
 
 constructed on the same general plan as the Crustacea we 
 have been examining, and are, in fact, so nearly allied, that 
 naturalists justly include them in that class. {Fig. 53.) 
 
 The archetype has undergone remarkable transforma- 
 tions in the barnacles, in order to fit them — and how 
 admirably are they fitted — to that particular part which 
 the Creator has assigned them in the economy of na- 
 ture. 
 
 In the earlier periods of their life, barnacles are free ; 
 that is, unattached, are possessed of efficient locomotive 
 members, and furnished with organs of vision ; in this 
 condition they very much resemble some of the simpler 
 forms of Crustacea. Peculiar instincts lead to the choice 
 of a proper habitat, whether a floating body, or a rock, 
 a sponge, a whale, or a turtle ; how admirable, therefore, 
 the harmony between the structure and the instinct ! 
 The voluntary roving animal becomes fixed to some 
 object, and, after various transformations of its organs, 
 the adult state is finally assumed, and the change of 
 form is commensurate with that of its mode of life. The 
 fixed state of the full-grown animal renders several con- 
 ditions necessary to its existence and comfort. Having 
 no power of movement from one place to another, the 
 barnacle is incapable of voluntarily avoiding injury from 
 without. The animals require means of attachment, a 
 shell for })rotcction, and provision for the supply of 
 their wants. All these points have been attended to in 
 their structure, and there is remarkable concurrence of 
 arrangements tending to the well-being of the entire or- 
 ganism. 
 
 The masterly researches of Mr. Darwin, forming two 
 volumes recently pul)lislied by the Ray Society, have 
 fully elucidated the remarkable modifications of the 
 Crustacean type met with in (he aniiii;ils under discus-
 
 246 
 
 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 sion. Comparison of the following table with that already 
 
 w 
 crab : — 
 
 given, will show the relation between a barnacle and a 
 
 BiNOB. 
 
 No. 1, 
 2 & 3, 
 4, 
 5& 6, 
 7 &8, 
 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 
 
 15, 16, 17, 
 
 I 
 
 Appendages. 
 
 Eyes, ) 
 
 }■ quite distinct ia early stages. 
 Antennaj, P .^ & 
 
 Mandibles. 
 
 Maxillae. 
 
 Generally coalesce or disappear. 
 
 Bix pairs of limbs. 
 
 form three small abdominal segments; 
 
 the last four are wanting. 
 
 The appendages of the third ring, or the second pair of 
 antennge, are the primary means of attachment, the union 
 
 being subsequently consummated 
 by a cementing material, which at 
 first issues from these appendages, 
 and finally also, in some, through 
 special openings in the head. Such 
 then, is the simple means by which 
 the attachment of the barnacle is 
 provided for. In connection with 
 this part of their history, allusion 
 may be made to the habits of a 
 species not uncommon on some of 
 our coasts. In Lepas fascicularis, 
 the cement is very copiously given 
 out, and forms a vesicular ball, 
 which acts as a float. Mr. Darwin 
 states that sometimes several individuals have their 
 stalks imbedded in the same ball, which swims like 
 a cork on the water. As this species grows into a 
 
 * Fro. 54. Lepas fascicular!!', with its stalk (tosretber with three others, the stalks of 
 ■which ai-e alone seen) imbedJetl In a vesicular ball (constituting a tloat) of their own 
 formation, of which a slice has been cut off to shew the internal structure. 
 
 Fia. 64.*
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 247 
 
 "bulky animal, we here see a beautiful and unique con- 
 trivance in the cement formed into a vesicular membra- 
 neous mass, serving as a buoy to float the individuals, 
 which, when young and light, were supported on 
 the small objects to which they originally had been 
 cemented in the usual manner. We have seen a cluster 
 composed of at least a dozen large specimens, any one of 
 which, without the float, would have been sufficient to 
 sink the small quill-feather of a sea-gull to which they 
 were attached. It will be remembered that the posi- 
 tion and production of this singular contrivance depend 
 on modifications relating to certain appendages of the 
 body. 
 
 As regards means of protection, we may quote Mr. 
 Darwin, who states, "In the mature animal, the whole 
 external covering, whether shell and operculum, or capi- 
 talum and stalk, is formed of the third segment of the 
 head.''* It consists of distinct plates, which overlap each 
 other, and are capable of various movements, in whicii 
 respect it differs from that of all crustaceans, and farther, 
 is never moulted or cast off, as is the case in them. 
 
 But the animal requires, also, means for procuring 
 food ; this is provided for, in all common barnacles, by 
 a special modification of the thoracic limbs, which form 
 six pairs, and are admirably suited to their intended use. 
 (See Fi(j. 53, h.) Each is two-oared and many-jointed ; 
 " they have a peculiar character, different from the limbs 
 of other crustaceans, not being natatory, ambulatory, nor 
 branchial, but 'captorial,' or fitted for sweeping tht 
 water, and thus catching prey.^f Mr. Hancock describes 
 these appendages as acting like a 2orehensUe net. Is it 
 possible to conceive any better example of parts con- 
 stnicted according to a general model, and yet harmo- 
 
 • Darwin, loc. clt. vol. II., p. 13. t IbM., vol. II., p. U
 
 248 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 niously combined and modified in distinct relation to a 
 special purpose, than that found in the harnacle ? As- 
 suredly the lately-developed principle of homology does 
 not set aside, but corroborates the old-established prin- 
 ciple of final cause ; and it appears to us that the more 
 intimate our acquaintance with the one, so much clearer 
 will be our idea and appreciation of the other. 
 
 Insects — The busy bee, that master architect and 
 builder of its class ; the industrious ants, from some of 
 which man might derive useful lessons in social economy, 
 division of labour, and persevering toil ; the locusts, those 
 rovers and depredators, the Goths and Vandals of the 
 winged articulata ; the painted butterflies, sipping the 
 nectar which Flora provides so bountifully ; the mailed 
 beetles, the athletes of the insect world — notable as 
 swimmers and divers, as sappers and miners, indeed, as 
 adepts in various departments of nature's economy too 
 numerous to be mentioned here ; — all these now invite 
 our attention. The field is so vast that we can only 
 glance at a few cases in which we observe modifications 
 of the archetype, obviously concurring to serve useful 
 ends in the economy of the animal. 
 
 Whatever difference of opinion may exist in regard to 
 the number of the segments entering into the formation 
 of the body of the perfect insect, the best authorities are 
 agreed that the different pieces are homotypes of each 
 other, and that all modifications and departures less or 
 greater from a common model. We are now to shew 
 that these modifications are intended to serve an end 
 which is more or less obvious. The varied forms of the 
 whole body, in different insects, depend upon the relative 
 development of the parts of each segment and appendage, 
 and the diversities are invariably in direct harmony with 
 the peculiar function to be performed.
 
 OF EINQS AND APPENDAGES 249 
 
 The reader is doubtless familiar with fhe transforma- 
 tions, greater or less, through which insects pass before 
 reaching maturity. How different is the general ap- 
 pearance of the caterpillar from that of the winged 
 butterfly — the one incapable of flight, and feeding 
 upon the solid parts of vegetables, the other possessed 
 of powerful wings, and having extensive and rajiid means 
 of aerial progression, and feeding on the sweet juices of 
 flowers ! Both possess the same number of true appen- 
 dages for walking, namely, three pairs attached to the 
 segments of the thorax ; those in the caterpillar, or larva, 
 are nearly of the same size and form. But many larv£e, 
 as requiring efficient means of locomotion on a hard sur- 
 face, are furnished with additional limbs, usually called 
 false, because they are not appendages of the archetype, 
 but only prolongations of the external covering of the 
 bodv, and are attached to the abdomen. "Without enter- 
 ing into details respecting the veiy numerous modifica- 
 tions of these false appendages, it may be sufficient to state 
 that whatever their number or form, they are invariably 
 so constructed as to answer every purpose for which they 
 may be wanted in the economy of the animal. 
 
 It may further be observed that many larva} are des- 
 titute of feet, and yet possess the power of locomotion. 
 And here we see a beautiful compensatory arrangement 
 in the form of minute hooks, which are prolongations of 
 the external covering of the body, the position, number, 
 and forms of which are wonderfully adapted to the pecu- 
 liar habits of the individual. We may conclude this 
 part of the subject by quoting a passage from Mr. New- 
 port:* — "In apodal larvas, endowed with powers of locomo- 
 tion, the ])lace of the true organs of progression is su])])]ied 
 by peculiar developments of the cuticular covering of the 
 
 • Cyclopjcdla of Anatomy and Physiology, Art. Tnsecta. 
 11*
 
 250 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 body, analogous to tlie scales on the bodies of Opliidiam 
 reptiles, and these are employed by the larvae in all their 
 progressive movements in the same manner as the scales 
 on the body of the snake. But in those apodal (footless) 
 larva?, which remain in the same locality until they have 
 passed through all their changes, as the larvae of the bee 
 and wasp, these developments of the cuticular surface do 
 not exist, but the body is perfectly smooth." 
 
 If such remarkable conformity exists between the 
 habits of the immature animal and the development of 
 certain temporary organs with which it is furnished, we 
 may be prepared to expect harmonious adaptations of 
 the archetype all conducing to the existence and comfort 
 of the perfect insect, suited to its instincts and fitting it 
 to the position which it is to occupy, in earth, air, or 
 water. The usual elongated body of the grovelling 
 larva in general presents evident uniformity in the devel- 
 opment of the segments as well as of the true appen- 
 dages when present, in other words, there is a close 
 approach to the archetype. The new sphere which it is 
 subsequently designed to occupy, demands corresponding 
 modifications in the form of the whole body, and in that 
 of the segments and appendages. 
 
 In the perfect insect, division of the body into three 
 regions, head, thorax, and abdomen, is generally obvious. 
 Each of these consists of parts adapted to certain ends, 
 and all concurring to the well-being of the entire organ- 
 ism. All of them present entire fitness for their respect- 
 ive functions ; those of the head support certain sensatory 
 organs and appendages for capture, retention, and reduc- 
 tion of tlie food ; those of the thorax afford attachment to 
 wings and limbs ; the abdominal segments protect certain 
 viscera, and serve other purj^oses besides. 
 
 The differences to be observed in the hardness of the
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 251 
 
 framework are remarkably adapted to the uses of the part. 
 Where close union and density are wanted for strength, 
 there we find them ; in the head this is specially evident ; 
 mobility is sacrificed for firmness precisely where such is 
 necessary. The consistence of the head segments is, as 
 a general rule, greater than that of any other region of 
 the body. The head is the part of all others most ex- 
 posed during progression, whether in air, earth, or water ; 
 besides, it supports mandibular organs, whose function 
 frequently is to act upon veiy hard materials and fit them 
 for digestion. Owing, in fact, to the close union of the 
 elements of the typical rings forming the liead, there has 
 been more difference of opinion regarding the number of 
 its segments than those of any other part of tlie body. 
 The muscles of the insect are inserted on the internal 
 surface of the framework, and we might naturally ex[)ect 
 a relation between the development of the two. Where 
 strong organs of mastication are needed, the segments of 
 the head are large, being directly proportional to the 
 power which the mandibular apparatus is fitted to exer- 
 cise. Mr. Newport remarks, " wo invariably find that in 
 those insects in wliich the mandibles are large, the whole 
 head is either short and wide, or its posterior portions, to 
 which the muscles of the mandibles are attached, greatly 
 exceed those of the anterior." ■■•'• 
 
 The great extent of surface occui)ied by the organs of 
 vision in many insects, has an influence also on the gene- 
 ral development of the whole head and of its elements. 
 The rapacious dragon-flies, for example, hunt solely by 
 sight, and their eyes occupy almost two-tliirds of the sur- 
 face of the head, and Ave observe corresponding modifica- 
 tions in the segments. It is unnecessary to enter into 
 minute details regarding the variously modilicd ajjpen- 
 
 ♦Cyclopudla of Anatomy and Physiology, Art. Iiueata.
 
 252 
 
 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 dages of the different segments of the head ; it will be 
 sufficient to indicate some of the more obvious adapta- 
 tions of the elements to their respective functions. The 
 wide dissemination of insect, life implies considerable 
 rano-e in the instincts and means of existence. The 
 predatory habits of some constitute them the carnivora 
 of their class, and others are not less fitted — than rodent 
 mammals — to gnaw hard vegetable matters. The in- 
 stinct which leads some to sip the sweet fluids of flowers, 
 or stimulates others to tap the integuments of animals 
 or of plants for the purpose of feeding on their juices, 
 equally require adaptation of the mouth to such purposes. 
 But whatever the end to be accomplished, and however 
 great the apparent difference of the organs which mini- 
 ster to the subsistence of the insect, it was long ago 
 demonstrated by Savigny that in every case the parts are 
 fundamentally identical, though varied to suit a purpose. 
 The study of the mouth-organs in insects has occupied 
 
 the attention of numerous observers, 
 and the results of such researches 
 have shewn how admirably each piece 
 is fitted for its function, and at the 
 same time accommodated to act in 
 harmony with every other. 
 
 In the great water-beetle (Hydrous 
 piceus) the mandibles are two strong, 
 arched and toothed jaws moving hori- 
 zontally in opposition to each other ; 
 this species is omnivorous. In the 
 truly carnivorous forms, as the brilliantly-coloured and 
 active tiger-beetles, the mandibles are acutely pointed, 
 strongly toothed, and crossing each other like the blades 
 
 * Fig. 55. Mandible of a large water-beetle, (Hydrous piceus.) There are two such 
 which act in opposition to each other, like the blades of scissors. The opposed edges 
 are hard and toothed. 
 
 Fig. 55.*
 
 OF RINGS AXD APPENDAGES. 
 
 253 
 
 of scissors, and are thus admirably fitted for dividing the 
 prey. Those of Melolontha (the cockchafer) have short 
 bhint teeth fitted to bruise vegetable matter ; in Cetonia, 
 which feeds on the pollen of plants, the edges of the man- 
 dibles are soft and flexible. The mandibles of the locust 
 are in front so constituted as to form cutting organs, and 
 behind act as grinders of the vegetable food. 
 
 The maxilhe, or lesser jaws, are organs of prehension 
 and retention chiefly, but may aid also in 
 mastication. Like the organs just de- 
 scribed, they present differences in form 
 and texture in direct consistency with the 
 habits of the insect. 
 
 Among Hymenoptera, comprehending 
 bees, wasps, &c., the mandibles present 
 very considerable difference in form ; " in 
 the Vespidte, (wasps,) which gather the 
 materials for their nests by rasping off" 
 little packets of fibres from decaying wood, 
 they are broad, triangular, and armed along 
 their edges with strong teeth ; and such is 
 also their structure in Anthidium manicatum, which 
 scrapes off the down from the woolly stems and leaves of 
 plants for the same purpose ; while in the hive-bee, which 
 employs them in moulding the soft wax in the construc- 
 tion of the condjs, they are shaped at the apex like a 
 spoon, without indentations ; tlieir form in each instance 
 being thus distinctly conformable to the habits of the 
 insects."! 
 
 The highly-developed instincts of bees, which lead to 
 
 Fio. 56.* 
 
 •Fig. 50. Maxill r, or sinallcr jaws of the Hydrous. Thoy act in pairs, but as tlioir 
 function Is to hold the food and convey It to the back part if the mouth, they aro not so 
 fiTonn as the inandlhlps, wliidi divide and bruise the food ; they, however, have a geno- 
 ral resembliince In ^hape. 
 
 t Newport, Cyciopaidla of Anatomy and Physiology, p. 898.
 
 254 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 the formation of very ingeniously constructed nests, imply 
 the necessity of tools for the work ; these are furnished 
 by the mandibles, while the maxillaa and another cranial . 
 element termed the labium, are principally concerned in 
 collecting the food ; the former are elongated, and with 
 the latter beneath, together constitute a tube by means 
 of which the honey of flowers is conveyed to the mouth. 
 
 But we must pass on to consider arrangements suitable 
 to the habits of suctorial insects properly so called, and 
 here also, while the general plan is evidently adhered to, 
 the modifications are in strict conformity with the wants 
 of the animal, and all concurring to a common end. 
 
 Hitherto we have seen that the mandibular appen- 
 dages have occupied either the chief, or at least the pro- 
 minent place in the operation of feeding ; in the Haus- 
 tellate insects (those furnished with a proboscis) the 
 mandibles no longer perform the same important offices, 
 while the maxillge and the labium now assume greater 
 prominence and importance in the economy of the insect. 
 
 Every one must be familiar with the habits of moths 
 and butterflies " hovering around those opening flowers," 
 and closer inspection would reveal that the insects carry 
 with them an apparatus admirably fitted to reach the 
 sweet juices in parts of the plant, into which the body of 
 the animals could not possibly find access. The short 
 mandibles of the voracious vegetable-feeding caterpillar, 
 though admirably fitted to that stage of life, would be 
 utterly useless in the new sphere which it occupies, when, 
 issuing from the mummy-like case of the pupa, it emerges 
 as a winged imago, endowed with new instincts and new 
 faculties. The perfect insect carries with it an instrument 
 admirably fitted for reaching and drawing up the nectar 
 of flowers. The mandibles are no longer capable of 
 supplying the wants of the animal, as the sweet fluid
 
 OF EINGS AKD APPENDAGES. 255 
 
 on which it feeds requires no mastication ; hut an organ 
 is needed to suck it up, and of sufficient length to reach 
 the parts of the plant where it ahounds ; such an organ 
 is supplied. 
 
 It would he difficult to select, in the entire range of 
 the animal kingdom, such a remarkahle example of 
 special modification of typical organs, as that presented 
 to us in the prohoscis of the huttcrfly. The problem 
 is to convert the maxillas (which in some insects we 
 have seen to he organs for prehension and mastica- 
 tion) into organs adapted to the function Ihcy have to 
 perform in the moth or butterfly ; for, as we have just 
 said, the portable flexible tube in these animals really 
 corresponds to the maxilla; of a beetle. Sweet juices 
 abound in flowers, access to the bottom of every floral tube 
 would be impossible to insects having the large prominent 
 eyes of those under discussion, and so a peculiar contriv- 
 ance is necessary under the circumstances — that contriv- 
 ance is simple, yet efficient for every purpose required. 
 
 The structure of the mouth-ajjparatus in the Lcpidop- 
 tera has been so fully illustrated in other works, that a 
 sunmiary may be sufficient here. 
 
 The appendages called maxilla> constitute the sucking 
 apparatus. In the words of Mr. Newport, " each maxilla 
 is composed of an immense number of short, transverse, 
 muscular rings. It is convex on its outer surface, but 
 concave on its inner, and the tube is formed by the ap- 
 proximation of the two organs."* But something more 
 is necessary. By what means are the two ojjposcd clian- 
 nels to be kept in sufficiently close contact so as to form 
 a perfect tube ? Reaumur, Kirby, and others, liave de- 
 scribed numerous minute and delicate hooks or teeth, 
 (for tliey assume varied forms in diflerent S]ioci<^s.) wliicli 
 
 • Newport, loc. cit., p. 00.
 
 256 
 
 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 are arranged in close series along the inner margin of 
 each maxilla, and the teeth of the one set lock between 
 the teeth of the other. The animal is now furnished 
 
 Fig. 57.* 
 
 Fio. 58.t 
 
 with a means of searching every crevice of a flower for 
 the tempting juice which is formed there. But some- 
 thing more is necessary. Not a few Lepidoptera feed 
 upon wing, and the act of feeding is very quickly per- 
 formed ; in the twinkling of an eye the tube is inserted, 
 and the flower is robbed of its sweets. The act of suc- 
 tion, by producing a vacuum, which enables the infant 
 to procure nourishment from the breast, is also brought 
 into play in order that the fluid may rise in the butter- 
 fly's proboscis. . The peculiar air-tubes which traverse 
 the bodies of insects, for the purpose of respiration, are 
 abundantly distributed throughout the maxillcB in the head, 
 and over the gullet and alimentary canal. Experiments 
 made by Mr. Newport led to the conclusion that the 
 
 * Fio. 57. Head of Noctua libalrix ; in, in.andibles, small ; ma, the two maxillae, 
 large, and forming the proboscis or sucking apparatus. 
 + Fig. 58. A single maxilla of the same.
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 257 
 
 insect first makes a strong cifort to expel the air, and 
 just when the proboscis comes in contact with the fluid, a 
 powerful inspiratory effort is made, which occasions dila- 
 tation of the tube, producing a vacuum, and thus causing 
 the liquid food to rise. There is still, however, another 
 arrangement necessary in this simple but efficient appa- 
 ratus. It must be long enough to reach to the very 
 bottom of the floral shaft whence the food is to be drav/n, 
 but a long and flexible tube would be liable to injury, 
 and also inconvenient during progression on the ground 
 or in the air ; it must, therefore, be portable ; and here 
 another modification comes in to provide for the comfort 
 of the insect. The two maxillas, conjoined in tlie way 
 we have described, are, when at rest, coiled lilvC the s])ring 
 of a watch, but can be extended with ease and surprising 
 rapidity as required. (See Fig. 58.) 
 
 The mandibles — which, as we have seen, arc so highly 
 developed in some insects of prey, and are, on the con- 
 traiy, so useless in tlie butterfly — assume a new aspect 
 and function in the blood-sucking Tabanidas. In the 
 typical genus of that family, they are long and lancet- 
 shaped ; and Mr. Newport describes them as acting not 
 from side to side, but with a lioriz(uital movement from 
 Ijehind forwards, cutting also vertically with a sweeping 
 stroke, like the lancets of a cupping instrument. We may 
 add, that the bite of the gnat is efl'ected in the same way. 
 
 We may now proceed to examine the modifications pre- 
 sented by the next region of the body — the thorax, namely. 
 The three different segments which constitute tliis part 
 will also afford means of illustrating the argument. 
 
 The first or anterior ring (prothorax) supports the 
 first pair of legs ; the second or middle portion (meso- 
 tliorax) gives attachment to the first pair of Avings and 
 the second pair of legs ; the third or jx^stcrior (meta-
 
 258 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 thorax) bears the second pair of wmgs and third pair of 
 legs. All these segments and their corresponding ap- 
 pendages present notable differences, according to their 
 relative importance in the same or in different insects. 
 
 We have now to examine organs concerned principally 
 in that faculty which is so eminently characteristic of 
 the insect tribes. We have seen the very admirable pro- 
 vision made for enabling each to secure its peculiar food ; 
 no less remarkable are the modifications of organs in 
 co-operation for the function of locomotion, so that the 
 necessary food may be sought after. 
 
 The alar appendages, or wings, are viewed by some 
 as not constituting a necessary part of the archetype, but 
 organs superadded, and serving both for flight and respir- 
 ation.* Their relative development in different species 
 is accompanied with co-ordinate changes in the segments 
 which support them, and the other appendages which form 
 the legs of the insect. Entomologists in treating of this part 
 of the body, cannot avoid alluding to and enlarging upon 
 the evident relation between the habits of the insect and 
 the modifications of the thoracic segments and their ele- 
 ments, and we cannot do better than introduce an abstract 
 of Mr. Newport's remarks.f There is wonderful modifi- 
 cation in shape and variety, in size and position, of the 
 thoracic elements, in order that the body of the insect 
 may be in conformity with its mode of life. In the great 
 water-beetle, (Hydrous piceus,) which burrows deeply in 
 the mud of stagnant waters, and rises also to the surface 
 to bask in the sun, the form of the lower surface of the 
 entire thorax is admirably adapted to its habits. The 
 sternal elements of the meso-thorax and the meta-thorax 
 
 * The wings may, however, be considered as homologous with the upper append; 
 of Annelida ; — sea-worms are examples, 
 t Cyclopsdia of Anatomy and Physiology, Art. Insecta, p. 917.
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 259 
 
 are strongly keeled and firmly united together, enabling 
 the insect to float securely. In others nearly allied, but 
 of more active aquatic habits, swimming with ease and 
 quickness, and capable of rai)idly turning and following 
 all the movements of their living prey, there is but a 
 slight keel below, and the edges of the body are sharp, so 
 as to oppose little resistance to the water. In beetles 
 there is alwavs a beautiful relation between the general 
 structure of the thorax and the habits of the insects, 
 whether in walking, flying, or in swimming. In those 
 which pass great part of their lives on the ground, run- 
 ning or walking, the middle and posterior segments of the 
 thorax are often firmly joined together, in order to give 
 greater strength to the whole body. This occurs in all 
 beetles which require great muscular efibrt during flight, 
 and in those accustomed to laborious efforts in tearing, 
 in burrowing, or in running. 
 
 But, without enlarging on this subject, it may be 
 observed that the size and strength of each segment of 
 the thorax are in direct proportion to that of the append- 
 ages which it supports, and the whole structure of rings 
 and appendages present admirable conformity to the 
 mode of life. For example, when, as in bees, moths, and 
 the common fly, the anterior pair of wings are the chief 
 locomotive organs, the mcso-thorax or middle segment is 
 highly developed, and there is corresponding decrease in 
 tlie other two. 
 
 Tlie proper appendages of tlic thorax may now bo ex- 
 amined, and in them we find notable correlation between 
 the habits of the insect and the modifications of tlic 
 parts. Here there is a wide field illustrative of the ar- 
 gument ; but since this subject has been already so fully 
 discussed in dlfFcrent treatises on natural theology, it will 
 be unnecessary to do more than refer to a few examples.
 
 260 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 The legs are the proper organs employed in terrestrial 
 locomotion, and for other purposes besides. As already 
 stated, there are three pairs of such appendages attached 
 to the corresponding segments of the thorax. 
 
 We have seen that in the vertebrata the limbs or di- 
 verging appendages of certain parts of the model frame- 
 work are variously and suitably modified, according as 
 they are intended for grasping, walking, swimming, or 
 flying. The same law of consistency between form and 
 function prevails among insects, and as in the higher 
 animals, unity and diversit}'- are singularly combined, the 
 same is true among the winged Articulata ; in the words 
 of Professor Kymer Jones — " Nothing is, perhaps, better 
 calculated to excite the admiration of the student of ani- 
 mated nature, than the amazing results obtained by the 
 slightest deviations from a common type of organization. 
 The limbs used in swimming exhibit the same parts, the 
 same number of joints, and almost the same shape, as those 
 employed for creeping, climbing, leaping, and numerous 
 other purposes ; yet how different is the function assigned 
 to them !"* The predatory tiger-beetles are swift of 
 foot — freedom of motion and lightness of the organs are 
 necessary accompaniments, and such is the character of 
 their thoracic appendages ; it is the same in every in- 
 stance where the habits are similar. In those which swim 
 and dive, as the water-beetles, &c., length of lever-power, 
 breadth of surface, and strength of the parts, all are neces- 
 » sary — and such we find to be provided in their limbs. 
 They are not, however, all of equal length, nor do all act 
 equally in aquatic progression. The posterior pair, as 
 regards position and form, are the chief propellers of the 
 insect, they are flat like the end of a paddle, and the ex- 
 tent of surface presented to the water is very much in- 
 
 * The Animal Kingdom, p. 245.
 
 OF KINGS AND APPENDAGES. 261 
 
 creased by a fringe of hairs, which do not materially 
 add to the woiglit of the whole hmb. This admirable 
 contrivance servos another purpose, viz., what is called 
 feathering the oar, when a new position is necessary for 
 a fresh impulse ; for in the forward stroke of the limb the 
 hairs are of such nature and so arranged, that they 
 change their position and accomplish the object in ques- 
 tion. Limbs simply intended for walking are usually 
 equally developed in all respects. Surfaces intended to 
 act as sucking discs by the pressure of the air, are by no 
 means uncommon, as in certain water-beetles. In some 
 instances, flat cushions on the limbs, giving out a clammy 
 secretion, are provided in order to enable the animal to 
 climb smooth perpendicular surfaces, or hang with its 
 body lowest from the ceiling ; such is now generally be- 
 lieved to be the arrangement in the house-fly. Mr. New- 
 port remarks, " those insects which support themselves 
 upon the surface of water, as the common gnat, have the 
 under surfoce of each tarsus covered with rows of fine 
 hairs, which repel the water and support the insect upon 
 the surface. If the under part of the tarsi be wetted with 
 spirits of wine, the insect can no longer support itself 
 upon the surface, but immediately sinks down." 
 
 The powers of the most accomplished vaulter, aided 
 by mechanical adjuncts, arc insignificant in comparison 
 ^vith those possessed by not a few insects. For the 
 accomplishment of such mode of progression, we find cor- 
 responding modifications of the posterior pair of legs, 
 wliicli are chiefly concerned in this kind of function. 
 The large and strong coxa or first piece, is received into 
 a deep depression of the supporting arch ; the piece called 
 thigli is of great length, and very greatly enlarged in 
 transverse diameter, so as to furnish attachment to the 
 powerful internal muscles. The sudden unbending of
 
 262 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS 
 
 the strong limb enables the animal to accomplish its 
 purpose. An additional arrangement is alluded to by- 
 entomologists as being provided in such cases ; the lower 
 surface of the tarsus is covered with elastic cushions, 
 which are supposed to assist in the first effort, and finally 
 to act in breaking the fall when the insect alights. The 
 flea, turnip-fly, grasshoppers, &c., present examples of 
 such limbs. 
 
 In the mole-cricket the fore-limbs are used in tunnel- 
 ling, and admirably suited they are for such purpose, 
 and the corresponding part of the thorax is of commen- 
 surate strength. The basal joint of the limb, called 
 coxa, is of unusual size. The thigh is joined to both 
 coxa and trochanter — an arrangement which adds ma- 
 terially to its strength. The succeeding portion, the tibia 
 or leg, usually so called, is the instrument by which the 
 soil is penetrated and thrust aside ; it is short and broad, 
 the outer surface of it also is furnished with several strong, 
 
 CD? 
 
 curved projections, the whole presenting a strong and 
 broad surface, and therefore becoming an efficient instru- 
 ment by which the animal burrows in the sod. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be observed that the last joint 
 of the foot in insects is usually furnished with a pair of 
 strong hooks, which afi'ord important aid in climbing or 
 clinging to rough surfaces. 
 
 In a word, whatever the peculiar habit of the insect, 
 the elements of the limb are variously modified to minis- 
 ter to its existence and comfort. 
 
 We pass on to examine the last part of the body, and 
 m it, the abdomen namely, we shall find modifications 
 of the model not less instructive than those already 
 brought forward. 
 
 Some difference of opinion exists respecting the exact 
 number of segments entering into the formation of the
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 263 
 
 third or abdominal region of the insect ; whatever may 
 he the normal number, it is nevertheless admitted 
 that all are homot jjies, and each fitted to its respective 
 function. 
 
 Generally speaking, the appendicular elements are 
 wanting, or, for the most part, of very secondary import- 
 ance, in the abdomen. This part of the body protects a 
 large proportion of the organs concerned in nutrition and 
 reproduction, and, as the space occupied by these is 
 liable to vary, we generally find considerable capacity of 
 exjiansion in the segments of which it consists, and, in- 
 deed, throughout the whole of this region. 
 
 But abdominal appendages are not always w^anting, 
 and sometimes they are of the utmost importance in the 
 economy of the insect ; they usually belong to some of the 
 terminal rin2;s. There is an order of insects denomi- 
 nated Hymenoptera, among which we meet with highly 
 developed instincts, leading to the performance of various 
 acts, which could not be accomplished without some cor- 
 responding adaptations in the frame ; all of these are pro- 
 vided and are exactly suited to the instincts and to each 
 other. The saw-fly, the gall-fly, the inchneumon-fly, and 
 others, in the larva condition, feed upon different parts of 
 plants, or on the internal organs of other insects. The 
 female deposits her eggs in suitable localities by means 
 of an instrument, the ovipositor, fitted specially for that 
 purpose. Others are provided with formidable weapons 
 of defence and offence, in the form of a sting. But what- 
 ever be the function of the instruments in question, they 
 arc invarialjly modifications of the same abdominal ele- 
 ments, and in every instance suited to their end. 
 
 It is among Hymenopterous insects that we find the 
 most jicrfect forms of an egg-depositing instrument ; and 
 as the localities in which the eggs are placed differ, the
 
 264 SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS. 
 
 modifications of the instruments are of commensurate 
 import. The leaf-flies, the gall-insects, the saw-flies, and 
 ichneumons, all present instruments varying in length 
 and strength, according to the substance which each is 
 intended to penetrate. Those of the leaf and gall-insects 
 are just sufficient to allow them to penetrate vegetable 
 tissues : neither is there any great force requisite to enable 
 the ichneumon female to deposit her ova in the bodies of 
 other insects, or in the cocoons of spiders, or in the eggs 
 of butterflies. The saw-flies, which penetrate hard wood 
 for a similar purpose, are provided with an apparatus of 
 great power and admirable construction. In every special 
 case there is some remarkable harmonious adaptation, so 
 that by inspection of the apparatus we can ascertain the 
 way in which the eggs are deposited. The elements con- 
 cerned in boring are placed in pairs, and furnished with 
 teeth on the edge and sides, the former serving as a saw, 
 the latter as a rasp. This delicate instrument requires 
 support when acting, as well as protection ; and accord- 
 ingly these desiderata are provided, and the sword does 
 not more accurately fit the scabbard than are the respec- 
 tive parts of the ovipositor suited to each other, and to the 
 habits of the insects. 
 
 Certain elements and appendages of the terminal part 
 of the abdomen are transformed into a saw or file, or both, 
 as the case may be, and others are fitted to give them 
 strength and protection.* It matters not Avhat the size 
 of the insect, whether the comj^aratively large Sirex or 
 the very minute Ichneumon ovulorum,"|" the general plan 
 is the same, but in every instance presents some peculi- 
 arity adapted to the nidus selected by the species. 
 
 * Lacaze Duthiers, on Genital Armature of Insects, Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 
 1849, 1852. 
 
 t This tiny insect deposits several ova in a sinslo egg of a butterfly, the contents of 
 ■wliicb afford sufficient food, as well as protection, to all the young which are produced.
 
 OF RINGS AND APPENDAGES. 265 
 
 The formidable sting of tlie bee and of the wasp are 
 examples of other modifications presenting no less beau- 
 tiful harmony between organ and function. Generally- 
 speaking, the appendages of the abdominal segments are 
 absent, or if present, very rudimentary, because not re- 
 quired in the economy of the insect. What we have 
 stated respecting the ovipositor and sting, affords proof 
 that when certain appendages are necessary they are 
 provided. 
 
 "We find them, however, in other cases, furnished for a 
 different puqiose. The insects called skip-tails present 
 remarkable examples of this. In the genus Lcpisma, 
 there is a pair of appendages attached to each abdominal 
 segment. In Podura, and others, the singular tail-like 
 organ consists of an elastic stem ending in two branches, 
 like a fork and its handle. During repose this instrument 
 is bent beneath the insect, and is lodged in a groove ; 
 when suddenly straightened the animal is thus enabled to 
 spring a considerable distance. The handle of this fork- 
 like organ is believed to represent the sternal or lower 
 part of the abdominal segment, the two prongs are stated 
 to be the homologues of the lateral appendages. 
 
 We may finally, and very briefly, allude to a remark- 
 able transformation of abdominable appendages in another 
 class of the jointed invcrtebrata. 
 
 The web of the spider is constructed of delicate 
 threads, which are given out by parts called s})innerets ; 
 these are organs consisting of two or more joints. The 
 end of the spinneret is pierced with a great number of 
 small lioles, each of which gives out a dro]) of fluid 
 which liardens in the air. The minute threads of each 
 organ are joined to form one, and those of all the spin- 
 nerets again unite to form llic a])parently simj)k' lliread of 
 the spider, which is therefore in reality complex. There 
 
 12
 
 266 MODIFICATIONS OF KINGS AND APPENDAGES. 
 
 appears to be no doubt that tbe organs which produce 
 the spider's thread are really abdominal appendages, thus 
 singularly modified for the animal's convenience. They 
 are composed of several joints, as limbs are, and in some 
 species one pair of them — not being perforated nor fur- 
 nished with an organ to produce the thread, and there- 
 fore apparently not needed — are nevertheless of interest 
 to the zoologist, as indicating the real nature of the true 
 spinnerets.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 R A D I A T A . 
 SECT. I. TYPICAL FORMS OF EADIATA 
 
 The Radiate type of animal structure, as the name 
 indicates, is characterized by a tendency to repetition of 
 parts round a centre. This division of the animal king- 
 dom comprehends, on the one hand, the minute and soft 
 hydra of our fresh waters, and, on the other, the hard and 
 formidahly-armed urchins of our seas. 
 
 At one time, many of the radiates were supposed to 
 belong to the vegetable kingdom ; more accurate obser- 
 vation has resolved the doubts respecting their nature, 
 and demonstrated that they belong to the animal king- 
 dom. It may be added liowevcr, that still more recent 
 discoveries have shown that, in the mode of reproduction 
 by buds and ova, they present a remarkable parallelism 
 to plants. And here we see evidence that certain ani- 
 mals and plants have so much of unity of plan, as to 
 shew that they have been constructed by the same 
 Arcliitcct. 
 
 Our aim is to shew that, while there is adherence to a 
 Radiate jjlan, there are departures from it on the one 
 side and on the other — deviations which have reference 
 to sumt' (md in the economy of the animal. We meet 
 witli difliculfics in this as in other departments, but we
 
 268 TYPICAL FOEMS 
 
 doubt not that as science advances, and our knowledge of 
 their develoiiment, of their structure, and of their habits, 
 becomes increased, additional proofs will accumulate in 
 favour of our argument. 
 
 Professor Huxley has done good service in shewing 
 the relations of certain Kadiata, viz., Medus£e, Physo- 
 phorida3, and Diphydte, belonging to the Acalepha, or 
 sea-jellies, and Hydra and Sertulariadee, placed among 
 Hydroid Polyps. He considers them " members of one 
 great group, organized upon one simj^le and uniform 
 plan, and, even in their most complex and aberrant forms, 
 reducible to the same type."* Among Echinodermata,f 
 there is evident adhesion to a common type, while there 
 is, at the same time, wide range in their general aspect. 
 In some of the sea-urchins the body is almost spherical, 
 in the sea-stars it is angular ; but these extremes pass 
 into each other by almost insensible gradations. Among 
 the sea-urchins, Echinocyamus and others present a 
 pentangular outline ; in Asteriscus, one of the sea-stars, 
 the general form is similar, the angles, however, being 
 very indistinct. In Solaster, the angles are more prom- 
 inent ; in Asteracanthion, Ophidiaster, and Luidia, the 
 angles are changed into true rays, and become more and 
 more distinct from the body. In Oj^hiura, this separa- 
 tion into arms and body is complete, and in Euryale, the 
 arms become very much branched. The flattening of 
 the body also differs ; — in Palmi^jes membranaceus, we 
 have a good example of extreme depression, while in 
 some species of Orcaster, the arms are very much dilated, 
 so as to present in section the form of an equilateral tri- 
 angle. Among the sea-urchins we observe similar dif- 
 
 * Philosophical Transactions, 1S49. 
 
 + Some hold that the Echinodermata possess annuloso or articulate characters. We 
 here follow the views usually adopted respecting them.
 
 OF RADIATA. 269 
 
 ferences ; the Echinus Sph^era is remarkably in contrast 
 with the depressed form of the Echinocyamus pnsilhis. 
 The soft and vermiform Holothurias are examples of 
 other snb-typcs of the Echinoderms ; still, a general plan 
 can he traced in all. 
 
 In star-fishes and urchins, we find copious deposits of 
 calcareous matter in the skin, in the form of distinct 
 plates. M. Gaudry has very fully illustrated the general 
 plan wliich regulates this part of their organization,* He 
 has shewn that the protecting armour in all may he re- 
 ferred to three systems of parts — the endodermic or 
 internal, the dennic or intermediate, and the epidermic 
 or supei-ficial. The internal system is absent in some. 
 The dermic consists of four systems in parts — the amhu- 
 lacral, so called from the locomotive function of the 
 soft appendages which pass through them ; the inter- 
 ambulacrcd, placed between the former series, and adding 
 strength and solidity to the whole framework ; the other 
 two, ovarian, and anal or tergal plates, are respectively 
 connected with the reproductive and digestive systems. 
 The epidermic part of the armour comprehends all those 
 appendages called spines, scales, tubercles, &c., which 
 he shews to be formed after a common plan. 
 
 There are, moreover, traces of unity, when we examine 
 the minute structure of the plates or of the superficial 
 appendages. The microscope demonstrates that the 
 hard matter consists of branches disposed vertically, and 
 connected together l)y lateral branches, all of which are 
 referable to a typical form. 
 
 But while the Radiate law generally regulates the 
 external form (and the general arrangement of certain 
 internal organs as well) we find that the number of the 
 radii is also subject to law. However much a sea-star 
 
 ♦ AnDalcs des Sciences Nnturolles, 1861.
 
 270 TYPICAL iFORMS 
 
 seems to differ from a sea-urchin, tlie number five pre- 
 vails in both. The question was long ago put by Sir 
 Thomas Browne, " Why, among sea-stars, Nature chiefly 
 delighteth in five points ?" and again, " By the same 
 number (five) doth Nature divide the circle of the sea- 
 star, and in that order and number disposeth those ele- 
 gant semicircles or dental sockets and eggs in the sea 
 hedgehog." " Every plate of the sea-urchin," says Pro- 
 fessor E. Forbes, "is built up of pentagonal particles. 
 The skeletons of the digestive, the aquiferous, and tegu- 
 mentary systems, equally j^resent the quinary arrange- 
 ment, and even the hard framework of the disc of every 
 sucker is regulated by this mystic number. "■'■''' 
 
 The same writer remarks, " When the parts of Echino- 
 derms deviate from it (five) it is always either in conse- 
 quence of the abortion of certain organs, or it is by a 
 variation hy representation, that is to say, by the 
 assumption of the regnant number of another class. 
 Thus do monstrous star-fishes and sea-urchins often ap- 
 pear quadrate, and have their parts fourfold, assuming 
 the reigning number of Actinodermata, consistent with 
 a law in which I put firm trust, that luhen parallel 
 groups vary numerically hy representation, they vary hy 
 interchange of their respective numhers!' 
 
 Four is the number which generally prevails in the 
 Acalephs or sea-jellies. In Cyanaea, for example, the 
 stomach is usually subdivided by four ; four oesophageal 
 tubes are continued to their commencement, which is in 
 the form of a quadrate mouth, the angles being prolonged 
 into four tentacles. Sixteen canals radiate from the 
 central cavities.f 
 
 In the chfirming Cydippe of our own seas, the same 
 
 * Forbes' British Btar-flshes ; Introduction, 
 t Owen's Lectures on Invertebrata, p. 165.
 
 OF RADIATA. 
 
 271 
 
 quaternary subdivision of the digestive system jirevails. 
 Moreover, the cirri by which it makes progression in the 
 water, are arranged along eight equidistant bands. 
 
 The Actina? or sea-anemones, not merely have some 
 general resemblance to the well-known flower after which 
 they are named, but we find remarkable order as regards 
 number and relative position of organs, such as we have 
 seen to prevail in plants. M. 
 Hollard has shewn that the 
 concentrical series of tentacula 
 in the sea-anemone are subject 
 to a law of alternation. This 
 is well illustrated in the full- 
 gro^\^l Actinia senilis, the four 
 concentric series of tentacles 
 alternate with each other, and, 
 as regards the numbers in each, 
 the following is the formula : — 
 
 10 + 10+20 + 40=80 
 In some others the typical number is six or a multiple of 
 six. Thus there are twelve tentacula in the first row in 
 Actinia equina, six in Actinia pedunculata, and there 
 are four rows in the first species, and five in the second.f 
 
 Fig. 69.* 
 
 SECTION II. ADAPTATION OF RADIATE TYPES TO THE 
 
 MODE OF LIFE. 
 
 Amid the general adherence to the Radiate type, we 
 find modifications of parts in reference to locomotion, 
 prehension, and retention of food, protection from external 
 injury, and reproduction, all in evident accordance with 
 the wants of the animals. 
 
 The Himjile Hydra of our fresh waters, consisting as it 
 
 • Fio. 59. Plan of 8ca-ancmono, upper surface. Tin) conttr circle rcpresonts the 
 mouth. The smaller circles represent the tentucula In coiiconti Ir ami iiUornaUiig sorics. 
 t Annalcs dcs Sciences Xaturcllcs, 1851.
 
 272 
 
 ADAPTATION OF RADIATE TYPES 
 
 does of little more than stomach, has, in the position, 
 arrangement, and properties of its tentacula, admirable 
 means of securing its prey. Its habits, and the adapta- 
 tions of its organs, have been so often and so fully dis- 
 cussed elsewhere, that we need not dwell on the subject 
 here.* We merely allude to it in the outset on account 
 of its relations to certain others of which it may be re- 
 garded as the type. 
 
 The little Hydra propagates both by a process of bud- 
 ding and by the formation of ova. The buds sprout out 
 from the body of the parent, and passing through various 
 stages, finally become detached and independent beings, 
 
 each capable of produc- 
 ing others by the same 
 process. But sometimes 
 this mode of reproduc- 
 tion is so rajiid, that 
 each new Hydra-bud ac- 
 tually has buds of its own 
 before it quits the parent 
 stock. These buds, how- 
 ever, finally drop off and 
 become independent, each 
 forming a fresh colony. 
 
 The same mode of 
 budding takes place in 
 many others of the Hy- 
 droida, with this dif- 
 ference, that the buds 
 usually remain attached 
 to the stock or parent. 
 
 
 Fig. CO.t 
 
 ♦ See Trembley's Meinoirs; Johnston's British Zoophytes, &c. 
 
 t Fig. O. IFydra fusca propagating by buds, a, mouth ; &, base or point of attach- 
 ment, a to I), the original animal or stock from which the young or buds are formed; 
 c, point of origin of one of the buds.
 
 TO THE MODE OF LIFE. 
 
 273 
 
 But this building up of a tree-polyp could not proceed to 
 any great extent if all polyps were entirely of the same soft 
 texture as the Hydra. And here comes in a modification 
 to which we owe many of 
 those varied arborescent 
 forms with which the ocean 
 abounds. Long regarded 
 as plants they are now well 
 known to be compound 
 Hydroida. The develop- 
 ment of hard matter on the 
 outside serves as a means of 
 protection and support, in 
 a medium Hable as the sea 
 is to such fluctuations in its 
 condition. The soft material 
 which pervades the centre of 
 the hard covering is just a 
 continuation of the digestive 
 system of the polyps, each 
 of which, protected in its 
 little cell, captures food 
 by means of its tcntacula. The nourishment thus ob- 
 tained contributes to the growth of the united colony, 
 furnishing j^abulum for the formation of new cells and 
 new pol}i)s. But there is another mode of propagation. 
 There is a limit to the increase of the polyp-tree, and 
 necessity for the establishment of new colonies at a dis- 
 tance from the parent. There appear at certain periods 
 in the life of the Zoophyte, cells differing in form and 
 size from those which protect the individual polyps. 
 
 Fig. 61* 
 
 • Fro. 01. Catnpannlarla Rclaflnosa. A, frajiinont natural bizo; 15, porlloii onlarRod ; 
 Z", young polyp'-bu<l ; d, adult polypo in ILs horny cell c; e, tranRformed branch with 
 meduBold bu<ls in dilTurcnt stages. 
 
 12*
 
 274 
 
 ADAPTATION OF RADIATE TYPE 
 
 These are usually known by the names of ovigerous vesi- 
 cles. {Fig. 61, e.) The late Professor E. Forbes has de- 
 monstrated that these vesicles are not new organs differing 
 in their nature from other parts of the organism, but that 
 they are really modifications of a part or parts for a special 
 purpose. " The vesicle is formed from a branch or pinna, 
 through an arrest of individual development by a short- 
 ening of the spiral axis, and by a transformation of the 
 stomachs (individuals) into an ovigerous placenta, the 
 dermato-skeletons (or cells) uniting to form a projecting 
 capsule or germen, which metamorphosis is exactly com- 
 parable with that which occurs in the reproductive organs 
 of flowering plants, in which the flower-bud (normally a 
 branch clothed with spirally arranged leaves) is consti- 
 tuted through the contraction of the axis, and the whorl- 
 ing of the (individual) appendages borne on that axis, 
 and by their transformation into the several parts of the 
 flower (reproductive organisms.)"* 
 
 The vesicles are, therefore, branches modified for a 
 
 special purpose in the economy 
 of tlie animal, in the same way 
 as we have seen that the parts of 
 the flower in plants are merely 
 modiflcations of the typical ap- 
 jjendage (the leaf) arranged upon 
 a shortened axis. In some in- 
 stances special buds or indivi- 
 duals issue ft'om the vesicles, be- 
 enjoy for a time an independent 
 
 Fia. 62.* 
 
 coming detached 
 
 to 
 
 existence, for which they are accordingly fltted by special 
 
 * Annals of Natural History, vol. xiv. 1844. 
 
 t Fig. 62. Mediisoid bud (See Fig. 61, e) of Campanularia ; it swims freely in the water, 
 a, body; &, mouth; c, upper surface; d, cirri. It is believed to produce ova, which are 
 developed into a Campanularia stock.
 
 TO THE MODE OF LIFE. 
 
 275 
 
 modification. Throiigli means of these buds the true re- 
 productive process by ova is effected. These individuals 
 vfhen fully matured are flat discs, they may be compared 
 to an expanded umbrella with a short stalk. The margin 
 of the disc is provided with appendages, by which, and by 
 its own contractile powers, the organisms move and dis- 
 perse themselves in the water. They, in fact, correspond 
 to the flower in plants. Their organization fits them 
 admu-ably for an independent existence, and for dispers- 
 ino- the ova at a distance from the parent stock. 
 
 The sea-anemones may in general terms be compared 
 to a jointless cylin- 
 der, the extremities 
 of which present 
 two distinct modifi- 
 cations in accord- 
 ance with their func- 
 tion. The base or 
 loM'er end is that by 
 which the animal 
 is fixed to a shell or 
 rock, the part acting 
 on the principle of 
 the sucker, but ca- 
 pable also of becom- 
 ing detached and 
 
 performing lateral progression to a new place at the will 
 of the animal. The free end of the body presents one or 
 more radiate series of hollow tentacula capable of pro- 
 trusion or retraction, and tliis by a very simple mechan- 
 ism, the injection or expulsion of water. When fully ex- 
 
 * Via. 0.3. To show form and ittruriturc of Acl-iiii:i or .tciv-aiiuinono. (i, i)olnl of at- 
 Iwhment or base ; &, mouth, c, tcntcula; «, stomach; (7 *, partitions or vertical plates; 
 /(, paM.i^vs Into tentacula. 
 
 Flo. 63.*
 
 276 ADAPTATION OF RADIATE TYPE 
 
 paneled, these tentacles are effectual means of capturing 
 and retaining prey, and of conveying it to the central 
 mouth. This opening leads by a short canal to the capa- 
 cious stomach, the outer surface of which is connected 
 with the walls of the body by a number of radiating ver- 
 tical plates. The cells formed by the plates, which are 
 muscular, have a special function as regards the protru- 
 sion of the tentacula. As there is a certain order in the 
 arrangement of these organs, we find corresponding dis- 
 tribution of the vertical plates. 
 
 In our native species of Helianthoida, reproduction 
 by ova is the most usual mode ; reproduction by buds is 
 less common. But in many of the varied and beauti- 
 ful stone corals of tropical seas, colonies are formed by 
 the budding process. And here we meet with interest- 
 ing modifications in harmony with this mode of increase, 
 and the localities where the animals usually occur. A 
 colony of soft Actinias could not attain any great size, 
 and at the same time resist the destructive influence of a 
 turbulent ocean. The species of Millepora, Madrepora, 
 etc., so well known to navigators, are Helianthoida, which 
 have the pecuhar power of separating carbonate of lime 
 from the sea-water, and building it up in forms which 
 equally astonish us by their size, and please us by the 
 beauty of their details. The coral-builders, it is well 
 known, thrive best in the surf of the breakers, and their 
 peculiarities of organization fit them admirably for such 
 localities. In many of them we find calcareous matter 
 deposited in the interstices of the perpendicular plates 
 already alluded to, which aflbrd support to the soft parts, 
 and enable them to resist the action of the surrounding 
 medium ; the sea-water, at the same time, yields to them 
 the material for such purpose. In former epochs of the 
 earth's history, as well as in our own, the coral-builders
 
 TO THE MODE OF LIFE. 
 
 277 
 
 Fig. 64* 
 
 have contributed in no small degree to modify the 
 earth's surface, and prepare it for the abode of higher 
 animals. 
 
 The statements already made regarding the compound 
 Hydroida and their detached animal-flowers, apply also 
 to certain of the Acalepha or sea-jellies. 
 
 The true Medusa3 commence 
 their existence as animals resem- 
 bling in no small degree the com- 
 mon fresh-water polyp. They 
 multiply for a time, by a process 
 of budding, and the final effort 
 is to produce other buds which 
 become developed into the full- 
 grown Medusa}. In both the conditions the radiate 
 type is retained, but in each kind of organism there is a 
 
 special modification in accordance 
 with the mode of life. The ordi- 
 nary buds are modified in accord- 
 ance with their sedentary existence; 
 one end forms a point of attach- 
 ment, the other is provided with 
 tentacula for the capture of food. 
 The other special buds, which pass 
 off from the common stock, are fitted 
 for independent existence, and for 
 progression in the water ; they move 
 from place to place by the un- 
 dulations of the umbrella-shaped disc and the action 
 
 • Fio. 64. Orlclnal stock, or polype condition of Medusa. Shews a group of five, four 
 of which have sprouted an buds from the orit;inal stock. 
 
 t Ki<;. Kt. I'oljp of Medusa, producing youiif,' Medus :r>. rt, the stock or hod y ; f, a 
 bud, OH lu last figure; c, tentacula of stock; d, youn;^ Medusa, (corresponds to flower-bud 
 In planta,) with its tontocuht and proboscis. Tentacula, c, aro a second growth.
 
 278 
 
 ADAPTATION OF RADIATE TYPE 
 
 of marginal apj^endages. They are provided with a diges- 
 tive system, and organs for capturing prey, and, finally, 
 
 produce abundance of ova, 
 each of which becoming fixed 
 to a rock or shell forms 
 a polyp stock, and gives 
 origin to similarly modified 
 organisms. 
 
 Among 
 
 Echinoderms, as 
 
 we have already seen, there 
 is remarkable unity amidst 
 great diversity of form and 
 consistence of parts. This 
 diversity in particular cases 
 has an evident relation to 
 the wellbeing of the species. 
 The hard covering of star- 
 fishes constitutes a mailed defence, combining, in most 
 instances, strength and flexibility. The many pieces 
 (thousands) of which it consists in some species, are 
 evidently suited for both the functions mentioned. 
 While the ovarian plates, pierced for the passage of the 
 ova, and the ambulacral, giving exit and support to the 
 dehcate cirri, respectively occupy important relations as 
 regards the economy of the animal. 
 
 The Comatula, or rosy star of our own seas, presents 
 modifications in conformity with its habits. In its adult 
 condition it can cling to a rock, a sea-weed, or a coral, by 
 means of the simple- jointed arms with which it is pro- 
 vided for that purpose ; while, on the other hand, the 
 large pinnated arms may be used for free progression in 
 
 * Fio. 66. Advanced state (Medusa) of d. Fig. 65. A, side view ; a, proboscis ; &, 
 lobes, or subdivisions of margin. B, upper view of A, shows quadrilateral mouth in the 
 centra
 
 TO THE MODE OF LIFE. 279 
 
 the water. In stril^ing contrast with it are the sluggish 
 sea-urchins, whose protecting spines serve both for pro- 
 gression and defence, while the numerous cirri protruded 
 from the openings in the amhulacral plates, acting on 
 the principle of the sucker, enable the animal to anchor 
 itself, or when occasion requires, to move up a perpen- 
 dicular surface. 
 
 The Holothurias, while preserving the same general 
 radiate type in certain organs, differ in this respect that 
 their body is elongated — approaching the vermiform — 
 and the integuments arc generally soft. They present 
 us with another modification adapting them for a dif- 
 ferent mode of hfe. Now moving by the suckers, which 
 protrude from the pores of the skin, and again by the 
 extension and contraction of their soft bodies, they are 
 fitted for localities inaccessible to their allies, the star- 
 fishes and sea-urchins.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NERVOUS, VASCULAR, AND MUSCULAR SYSTEMS. 
 
 In these systems of parts so essential to the animal 
 economy, we may expect also to find examples of types 
 and special adaptations, and our argument would be 
 incomplete without some reference to the subject. It 
 must not be supposed that the brevity with which we 
 discuss this department is any indication of its inferior 
 importance. More space has been devoted to types and 
 modifications in the internal and external skeleton and 
 appendages, because we believe that the proofs are more 
 easily accessible to the general reader. 
 
 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 The presence of a system of nerves is the most marked 
 character which separates the animal from the vegetable 
 kingdom. In some of the lower forms, its existence has 
 not been clearly demonstrated ; in many it is very rudi- 
 mentary. But as we rise higher in the scale we find an 
 evident advance, commensurate with the endowments of 
 the animal. 
 
 The simplest function of this system is that of convey- 
 ing an impression sufiicient to excite the contraction of 
 muscular tissue, and thus effect some motion in an organ 
 or its parts. The impression is conveyed by one set of 
 nervous fibres to a centre — a ganglion, and from this it
 
 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 281 
 
 is communicated to the muscle, which is thus stimulated 
 to contract. This reflex function is not necessarily ac- 
 companied hy sensation, and the movements of the lower 
 forms of animal creation appear to be of the nature just 
 mentioned. But when we take a general view of the 
 animal kingdom, we find other superadded functions 
 dependent on this system ; " it is the instrument of con- 
 sensual and instinctive actions, of mental processes, and 
 of voluntary movements."* 
 
 In Mollusca, the typical nervous system is usually 
 described as consisting of three sets of nervous centres 
 or ganglia : — 1st, cephalic, supplying the eyes and other 
 parts about the head and mouth ; 2d, pedal, supplying 
 principally the foot ; 3d, parieto-splanchnic, supplying 
 the walls of the body, the heart and gills, &c. (See Fig. 
 45, parts marked n.) Now, we observe modifications of 
 this type corresponding to the development of the dif- 
 ferent organs, and the necessities of the animal. In dif- 
 ferent mollusca, where the foot is more or less developed, 
 we observe corresponding development of the pedal gang- 
 lion. 
 
 In the Cephalopoda, or cuttle-fishes, the large organs 
 of vision, the complicated buccal apparatus, and active 
 movements, are aU in relation to the increase of nervous 
 matter, and concentration of its parts. Professor Sharpey 
 has further shewn an interesting modification in the 
 nerves of the arms in evident harmony with the habits 
 of these cuttle-fishes. Each sucking disc (on the arms) 
 is connected by a set of fibres with a ganglionic centre, 
 wliile all the ganglia are at the same time brought into 
 connexion by another fibrous tract with the ceplialic 
 portion of the nervous system. Each sucker can, there- 
 fore — by reflex action — attach itself to any body which 
 
 ♦ CarpcDtcr'8 Comporatlve Physlolopy.
 
 282 NEKVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 touches it, while all are also under the control of the 
 animal. 
 
 In Articulata, the typical nervous system consists of 
 two nervous cords running parallel to each other, and 
 connected at intervals by dilatations or ganglia in pairs, 
 (See Fig. 67.) The general arrangement is such that 
 every part of the body is furnished with two sets of 
 nervous connexions ; one of these is with the ganglion 
 of its own segment, and another with the cephalic gang- 
 ha. The distribution of the nervous system in Articulata 
 was an obvious relation to the general arrangement of the 
 hard parts, the bod}", as we have seen, being composed of 
 homotypal rings, bearing lateral appendages in pairs. 
 And as we find various modifications of this type in har- 
 mony with some important function, we also find corres- 
 ponding modifications in the nervous system. The late 
 Mr. Newport, to whose investigations we owe so much in 
 connexion with this subject, has shewn that in certain 
 cases there is an enlargement of a portion of the nervous 
 system at certain points, " corresponding to the apparent 
 greater necessity for accumulations of nervous matter at 
 those parts of the cord." This remark is generally ap- 
 plicable as regards the ganglia of the head, the arrange- 
 ment being evidently in direct relation to the functions 
 of the important aj)pendages of that part. There are, 
 farther, certain local modifications, having more special 
 connexion with the appendicular organs. Mr. Newport 
 states, regarding the nerves Avhich supply the mandibles 
 and maxillse, that " union of those nerves at their base 
 is interesting from the circumstance that during mandu- 
 cation a consentaneous movement of the parts is required, 
 since, while the mandibles are employed in chewing, the 
 maxillfe are also employed in turning and assisting to 
 pass the food into the pharynx."
 
 NERVOpS SYSTEM. 
 
 283 
 
 4 - 
 
 The concentration of the nervous matter in the thorax 
 is evidently a modi^cation of the type in conformity with 
 the presence of wings and legs, the active appendages of 
 that part of the body. ^ 
 The wings require the 
 exercise of great mus- 3 - 
 cular efibrt in order 
 to support the insect ^ " 
 during flight, and the 
 distribution of the ner- 
 vous matter is in ac- 
 cordance with this ne- 
 cessity. But there must 
 also be perfect unison 
 in their action, and this 
 is also provided for, 
 Mr. Newport has de- 
 monstrated that there 
 is a remarkable pecu- 
 liarity in the relations 
 of tlic thoracic ganglia 
 and their connecting 
 fibres, in those insects 
 in which both pairs of fio. gt.* 
 
 wings arc actively con- 
 cerned in flight. He remarks, " that this is the reason for 
 this curious union of the nerves for the wings, seems ap- 
 parent from the circumstance that it exists in very many 
 tetrapterous insects of rapid or powerful flight, as in the 
 
 • Fio. 67. Nervous syfltein of pupa of Sphinx ligustri, coiiiposed of two painllol nor- 
 vojis cords, for tlio most part joliiud toyelher side l>y sldo, and coniuctod iuiots of ncr- 
 Tous iiiattur — t'OtiKlloiw. Tin; two larger masses and brandies of nervous iiiiitter, or tlio 
 upper part, Kupply organs in llie licad, a.s eyes, ja%\s, &,c., viz., 1 and '2; tlie two nervous 
 tnftsficx ond branehos auccocding to theao supply the wings and legs, 8 and 4. The re- 
 maining portions arc more uniform.
 
 284 NEKVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 Apid« and Iclineumonidas ; while in others, even of the 
 same order, as in Athalia centifolife, which is well known 
 to fly heavily and but a short distance, there is no such 
 combination/' In farther proof of the reason for the modi- 
 fication alluded to, he refers to the Coleoptera, in which 
 the anterior pair of wings is modified to protect the pos- 
 terior during repose. These anterior wings are merely 
 elevated, and nearly motionless during flight. Now, in 
 these insects " the nerves are derived separately from the 
 cord, and proceed to their destination without being first 
 combined in a flexus."* 
 
 As regards Articulata generally, the modifications of 
 the typical nervous system are admitted to be in consis- 
 tency with the functions of the organs to be supplied. 
 The larger nerves supply the organs of the senses, those 
 of secondary size go to the voluntary muscles, and the 
 smallest are for organs concerned in automatic motions. 
 In the organs of the senses, the size of the nerves appears 
 to be in inverse proportion to the density of the agent, 
 so the eyes receive the largest. The size is also in direct 
 proportion to the complex nature of homologous organs 
 in diflierent species.f 
 
 The remarks of Dr. Carpenter are so much to the 
 point in reference to this part of our subject, that we 
 cannot do better than sum up in his words : — " In Inver- 
 tebrata, the nervous system consist of a series of isolated 
 ganglia, connected together by fibrous trunks. The 
 number of these ganglia, and the variety of their func- 
 tion, depend upon the number and variety of the organs 
 to be supplied. In the lowest Mollusca, the regulation 
 of the ingress and egress of water seems almost the only 
 function to be performed ; and here we have but a single 
 
 * Cyclopaedia of Anatomy, Art. Insecta. 
 
 + Straus Durckheim, Comparative Anatomy of Articulata.
 
 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 285 
 
 ganglion. In the star-fisli we have five or more gan- 
 glia ; hut they are all repetitions one of another, and arc 
 ohviouslv the centres of action to the several segments 
 to which they respectively belong, neither having a pre- 
 dominance over the rest. And in the higher MoUusca, 
 and in Articulata, we have • a ganglion, or more com- 
 monly a pair of ganglia, situated at the anterior extremity 
 of the body, connected with the organs of special sensa- 
 tion, and evidently exerting a dominant influence over 
 the rest. In the lower Mollusca, we have but a single 
 ganglion for general locomotion ; but this is doubled 
 laterally and repeated longitudinally in the Articulata, 
 in accordance with the multi2)lication of their locomotive 
 organs, so as to form the ventral cord. In like manner, 
 the Mollusca possess a single ganglionic centre for the 
 respiratory movements ; and this is repeated in every 
 segment of the Articulata, forming a chain of respiratory 
 ganglia, which regulates the action of the extensively- 
 diffused respiratory apparatus of these animals. The 
 acts of mastication and deglutition, again, in both sub- 
 kingdoms, are immediately dependent upon a distinct set 
 of ganglionic centres, which are cormected, however, like 
 the preceding, with the cephalic ganglia. And wherever 
 special organs are developed, whose operations dej)end on 
 muscular contraction, ganglionic centres are developed in 
 immediate relation with them ; so as to enable them to 
 act by their simple reflex power, as well as under the di- 
 rection of the cephalic ganglia, as in the case of the 
 suckers of the cuttle-fish." '•'•■ 
 
 From what has been stated, we see evidences of a 
 common jjlan, with numerous special modifications neces- 
 sary to some end in llie animal economy. In Vertebrate 
 animals, wc llnd ;i very obvious correspondence between 
 
 • MoiJiial of Physiology, p. 028.
 
 286 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 
 
 the arrangement of the bony framework and the distri- 
 hution of the nervous centres ; skull and spinal column 
 are respectively constructed to give them support and 
 protection. 
 
 In viewing the entire animal kingdom, we find that 
 we cannot compare the whok of the well-developed ner- 
 vous system in the higher forms with that of the lower ; 
 still Ave find, in the nervous system of the Vertebrata, 
 certain parts which are homologous with the whole of 
 that of Invertebrata. In the higher Articulata, the 
 cephalic ganglia are considered homologous with a series 
 of ganglia forming a most important part of the brain- 
 mass in Vertebrata, and having relation to certain organs 
 of sense, as the eye, &c. The abdominal nervous cord 
 in Insects, &c., is homologous with the spinal cord of 
 Vertebrata, the essential difference being greater con- 
 densation of parts in the latter than in the former. The 
 superadded portions in the nervous system of Vertebrata 
 have an evident respect to the superior endowments of 
 the animal. Cerebellum and cerebral hemispheres have 
 no distinct representatives among the Invertebrata series. 
 
 On comparing the very lowest of the Vertebrata with 
 the highest, we find evident difference in the relative 
 development of the most characteristic parts of their 
 cerebral system. The lowest forms of fishes have the 
 hemispheres of the brain in a very rudimentary condi- 
 tion, while in man they attain their highest development. 
 " The size of the Cerebral Hemispheres holds a close 
 relation with the increase of the Intelligence, and with 
 the predominance of the Will over the involuntary im- 
 pulses. The increased size of the cerebellum, on the 
 other hand, seems connected with the necessity which 
 exists for the adjustment and combination of the loco- 
 motive powers, when the variety in the movements per-
 
 NERVOUS SYSTEM. 287 
 
 formed by the animal is great, and a more perfect har- 
 mony is required among them."* 
 
 Such being the functions of brain and cerebeHum, we 
 may expect to find modifications consistent with the ne- 
 cessities of the animal, "jrhe size of the cerebellum dif- 
 fers very much in the class of fishes ; but its development 
 appears generally to be in direct proportion to the active 
 powers of the animal. " Thus it is very small in the lazy 
 lump-fish, and extremely large in the active and warm- 
 blooded Tunny."t In the Lampreys, whose mouth acts 
 on the principle of the sucker, so that they can attach 
 themselves to their prey and devour it at leisure, we find 
 that the cerebellum is relatively small. Whereas, in the 
 active and predacious sharks, it is of great size ; these 
 Felidse of the ocean have no swim-bladder, and their 
 mouths being placed transversely beneath the snout, they 
 require peculiar and active movements of the whole body 
 for securing and overcoming the struggles of the resisting 
 prey. This conformity of the development of tlie cere- 
 bellum to the peculiar habit of the animal is equally 
 illustrated in the class of Reptiles. Their habits are 
 generally inert, and the cerebellum is proportionately 
 small. The very reverse is true of birds — characterized 
 by the variety and power of their muscular movements. 
 
 We have already seen that in Articulata there are 
 local adaptations of the nervous system, co-ordinate with 
 the functions of the parts supplied by it. In the homo- 
 logous part — the spinal cord — of the vcrtebrata, we find 
 similar harmony. In certain reptiles we find this corre- 
 lation very obvious. In the serpent the absence of limbs 
 is accompanied with a remarkable unif)rmity of the spinal 
 cord and the nerves given oft' i'roiu it. On the other 
 
 • Carpenter's Manual of Physiology, p. 530. 
 
 1 Owen's Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, vol. II., p. ITC.
 
 288 VASCULAK SYSTEM. 
 
 hand, in the frog, whose hind limbs are highly developed 
 and of great comparative muscular power, we find cor- 
 responding enlargement of lower part of the nervous cord. 
 Two enlargements occur in the spinal cord of birds, 
 one corresponds to the wings, the other to the legs. As 
 might be expected, these enlargements generally present 
 differences of relative size, corresponding to the different 
 relative development and powers of the anterior and 
 posterior extremities. The posterior enlargement is 
 greater than the anterior in the Struthious birds (ostrich, 
 &c.) in which the whole function of progression is effected 
 by the posterior extremities. In contrast with this, we 
 observe that in birds of powerful flight, the greatest en- 
 largement of the nervous matter corresponds to the posi- 
 tion of the wings. 
 
 VASCTILAR SYSTEM. 
 
 Our remarks under this head will be confined to the 
 highest animals, viz., mammals and birds. In them we 
 find a highly developed system of vessels for distributing 
 the products of digestion, removing certain materials 
 derived from the waste of the animal frame, and supply- 
 ing the system with oxygen gas. These two latter func- 
 tions are in intimate relation to a surface or organ for 
 respiration. 
 
 The central organ of circulation — the heart — presents 
 the same structure in mammals and birds, and, generally 
 spealdng, the blood-vessels are distributed according to 
 a plan which is common to both. Of the four cavities 
 of which the heart consists, two are set apart for the 
 purpose — the one receives, the other propels — of trans- 
 mitting the dark-coloured or venous blood to the lungs, 
 tor the purpose of respiration. 
 
 Such are the functions of the cavities on the right
 
 VASCULAK SYSTEM 289 
 
 side, constituting the respiratory heart. Of the two on 
 the left side, one receives and the other propels the Wood 
 — arterial — which has been oxygenated in the lungs. 
 
 We have already pointed out the harmony between 
 the development and distribution of nervous matter, and 
 the necessity for variety and force of muscular effort. 
 But nerves and muscles cannot perform their respective 
 functions without a sui:)ply of oxygen. Now such co-ordi- 
 nation of parts is clearly illustrated by some peculiarities 
 in the arterial system of birds. The large muscles called 
 pectoral, (from their position on the breast) which are 
 chiefly concerned in the movements of the wings, are 
 supplied by arteries of great magnitude, " which, instead 
 of being inconsiderable branches of the axillary artery, are 
 the continuations of the trunk of the subclavian, of which 
 the humeral is only a branch.""'-' 
 
 Another adaptation in the arterial system of birds we 
 shall allude to in the words of Dr. Carpenter: — "In 
 most Mammalia, as in Man, the right anterior extremity 
 is more directly supplied with blood from the aorta than 
 the left ; so that the superior strength and activity of 
 this limb would seem to be not altogether the result of 
 habit and education, as some have supposed. In birds, 
 however, where any inequality in the powers of the two 
 wings would have prevented the necessary regularity in 
 the actions of flight, the aorta gives off its branches to 
 the two sides with perfect equality.''^ 
 
 Among the mammalia, also, we find singular departures 
 from type in order to accomplish a special end. We 
 have already alluded to the habits of the sloth, and the 
 remarkable i)rovisions in the structure of the skeleton. 
 The distribution of the vessels in its fore and liiiid limbs 
 
 • Cyclopu'dla of Anatomy, Art. Atex, p. 334. 
 t I'rlnclpU-H of Comjiurutlvo Pliyaiology, p. 204.
 
 290 VASCULAR SYSTEM. 
 
 is admitted to be a modification of the general pljin 
 suited to the habits of the animal. The arteries which 
 supply the fore and hind limbs are subdivided into a 
 number of branches, of nearly equal size, which commu- 
 nicate laterally with each other, and are exclusively dis- 
 tributed to the muscles. Those which supply the bones 
 and other parts, present no such j^eculiarity. The effect 
 of such distribution of the arteries will be to diminish the 
 velocity with which the blood flows to the parts. The 
 peculiar arrangement is admitted to have a relation to 
 the slow movements of the animals, though it may not 
 be easy to say " whether such slow movements of the 
 blood sent to the muscles be a subordinate convenience 
 to other primary causes of their slow contraction, or 
 whether it be itself the immediate or principal cause,"* 
 
 The celebrated John Hunter long ago pointed out a 
 remarkable distribution of the vascular system in the 
 whales, an evident provision in conformity with their 
 power of diving and remaining for a time under water. 
 Their arterial system is characterized by extensive net- 
 works of vessels, chiefly distributed over the walls of the 
 chest. "It is to be presumed that this singular compli- 
 cation of vessels is caused by the necessity in which the 
 Cetacea are often placed of suspending their respiration, 
 and consequently the oxygenation of their blood during 
 a considerable time. These numerous arteries form, 
 therefore, a reservoir of oxygenated blood, which, re- 
 entering the circulation, supports life throughout, where 
 venous blood would only produce death."f 
 
 We may now briefly allude to adajjtations in the ves- 
 sels which carry dark-coloured or venous blood. The 
 typical venous system of the mammalia, according to 
 
 * Cyclopaadia of Anatomy, Art. Edentata. 
 ■f Cyclopjedia of Anatoiny, Art. Cetacea.
 
 RESPIRATORY SYSTEM. 291 
 
 Rathke, consists of four lateral primitive trunks. We 
 have jnst stated a peculiarity in the arterial system of 
 the -whales ; the same animals present also a special 
 modification of the venous system in evident adaptation 
 to their habits. The extensive net-works of veins in the 
 interior of the chest and abdomen, serve as reservoirs of 
 blood hio-hlv charu-ed with carbonic acid, the accumula- 
 tion of which in the right side of the heart would occasion 
 death. The suspension of respiration during the act of 
 diving, renders such co-ordination of parts absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 As connected with this subject, we may allude to a 
 peculiarity of the veins of the bat's wing, described by 
 Professor Jones. The wall of these vessels are endowed 
 with a power of rhythmical contraction and dilatation, 
 which, in the natural state, is continually going on at the 
 rate of seven to thirteen in a minute. This contractile 
 power, " supported by the presence of valves, is called 
 forth to promote the flow of blood in the wings, which, 
 on account of their extent, are, as regards their circula- 
 tion, in a considerable degree, though not entirely, be- 
 yond the sphere of the heart's influence."* 
 
 RESriKATORY SYSTEM. 
 
 We shall only briefly refer to type and modifications 
 in this department. Allusion has already been made to 
 the necessity for oxygenation of the blood, and the re- 
 moval of the carbonic acid which accumulates in it dur- 
 ing its course through the system. In the warm-blooded 
 animals, whose temperature is generally higher than that 
 of the medium, air or water, which surrounds them, there 
 is another requisite, viz., the power of kee])iiig up such 
 temperature by the combination of oxygen wilh materials 
 
 • rhllosophlcal Transactions, Turt I., 1862.
 
 292 KESPIRATORY SYSTEM. 
 
 supplied by the food, a process which is really a kind of 
 combustion. 
 
 In many of the lower animals there are no special or- 
 gans for respiration, the fluids of the tissues being suffi- 
 ciently aerated through the medium of their own walls, 
 or of the general external covering of the body. When, 
 however, special organs for respiration are provided, they 
 are admitted to be all mere modifications of one plan, 
 viz., a portion of the surface of the body of more delicate 
 texture than the rest, and j)ermitting the atmospheric air 
 to pervade the parts, and come in contact with the nu- 
 merous vessels with which the organ is provided. Such 
 is the common plan on which both lungs for aerial and 
 gills for aquatic respiration are constructed. 
 
 Hitherto, in treating of types and modifications, we 
 have spoken of homological organs ; but in examining 
 the respiratoiy system, we have to do with some which 
 are analogous, but not necessarily homologous, that is to 
 say, similar in their function, but frequently different in 
 their nature. Nevertheless, it appears that in this view 
 also there are arrangements bearing on our subject. 
 Generally speaking, gills and lungs are respectively in 
 singular conformity with the different media inhabited 
 by the animals. Gills are usually extensions of some 
 part or other of the external surface of the body, and 
 being necessarily in contact with the water which yields 
 the air requisite for the performance of the function of 
 respiration, complex arrangements of organs are less re- 
 quisite, more especially since the general smface of the 
 body takes a part likewise in the act of respiration. In 
 reptiles,* in birds, and mammals, the respiratory surface 
 is internal, and the whole apparatus is more complicated, 
 
 * Certain reptiles begin life with gills, and some, even when mature, have both gills 
 and lungs.
 
 RESPIRATORY SYSTEM. 293 
 
 and there are adaptations of various organs for perform- 
 ing the acts of inspiration and expiration. 
 
 We have said that respiratory organs arc not neces- 
 sarily homologous, and in connexion with this, we find a 
 remarkable instance of departure from a plan, in accord- 
 ance with the necessities of the animal. The gills of fishes 
 are not of the same nature as the lungs of other Vertebrata, 
 still the latter organs have their homologues in the fish, 
 but they assume a new function, and one which is admi- 
 rably suited to the wants of the animal. The sound-blad- 
 der, swim-bladder, or air-bladder (for it has all these 
 names) by which certain fishes can regulate their depth in 
 the water, is a rudimentary lung turned to a new purpose. 
 
 Finally, whatever be the modification of the respira- 
 tory system, there is general adaptation to the nature of 
 the medium and the wellbeing of the animal. The gills 
 of fishes require no powerful efibrts to bring fresh sup- 
 plies of water, and thus there is room for greater expen- 
 diture of muscular force in swift progression through the 
 medium they inliabit. Internal extension of respiratory 
 surface, well protected from external injury, is just such 
 a provision as is most conducive to the comfort of the 
 mammal. The whale, living in water, yet breathing by 
 lungs, has arrangements, in the form of its tail and in 
 the position of its nostrils, which enable it to rise to the 
 surface with case, and get fresh supplies of necessary air. 
 The wide diffusion of air from the lungs through the soft 
 parts and bones of the bird, all directly co-operate to 
 facilitate ascent in the air, by diminishing the relative 
 weight of the body. 
 
 In Articulata, we find homologous parts concerned in 
 respiration, but acting through different media. In some 
 of the lower aquatic forms, tlu! water- vascuhir system is 
 homologous with the branched vessels of insects, which
 
 294 MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 
 
 are adapted for aerial respiration. In both instances the 
 arrangement is suited to the necessities of the indi- 
 viduals ; the extensive distribution of the air-vessels in 
 the perfect insect being in correspondence with the power 
 of flying, by reason of the diminished specific gravity of 
 the animal consequent on the very free access which the 
 air has been to every part. 
 
 MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 
 
 In this as in other departments, there is still much to be 
 accomplished as to our knowledge of a plan, and of modi- 
 fications. The few observations which we have to offer 
 will be confined to vertebrate animals. The general 
 arrangement of the muscular system corresponds very 
 much to the form of the skeleton. The greater or less 
 flexibility of the vertebral column, the size of the hmbs, 
 the mode of progression, whether in water, in the air, or 
 on the ground, all imply greater or less peculiarities of 
 this system. The idea of general correspondence with a 
 type is clearly indicated by the nomenclature adopted in 
 describing the muscles of at least the three higher classes 
 of Vertebrata, viz., mammals, birds, and reptiles. The 
 following are some of the principal groups admitted by 
 anatomists : — muscles of the shin, of the spine and head, 
 of ribs, and walls of abdomen and cliest, of limbs, of the 
 lower Jaw, of voice, eye, &c. 
 
 Intimately connected with the skin, and lying beneath 
 it there is a layer of muscular fibre in all Vertebrata — 
 with the exception of certain rejDtiles where it is unneces- 
 sary, owing to the development of hard matter in the 
 skin, and its consequent inflexibility. 
 
 At difierent parts of the body in the same animal, we 
 find local modifications evidently suited to some peculiar 
 end in the economy. Such tegumentary muscles are in-
 
 MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 295 
 
 tended to act either on the skin itself, or on some of the 
 appendages which arise from it. 
 
 Among fishes, tegumentary muscles a])pear in connec- 
 tion with the dorsal and other fins, which can be thus 
 elevated or depressed according to necessity, either for 
 defence or offence, or as balances or partial aids in aquatic 
 progression. 
 
 In the class of birds, the muscles of the integument 
 frequently attain a high degTce of development. In the 
 Af)teryx of New Zealand they are of great strength — a 
 provision of the utmost importance, because its habits 
 expose it to accumulation of soil about its feathers, which 
 must be shaken with some force in order to dislodge it. 
 But there are bundles of small muscles connected with 
 the quill portion of the feathers. In some of the web- 
 footed species each feather has four or five small muscles 
 specially intended to move it in different directions. In 
 the Gannet it has been calculated that there are about 
 3000 feathers jjrovided with such muscles, the total num- 
 ber of which will therefore not fall short of 10,000 or 
 12,000. It is by means of such skin-muscles that the 
 cockatoo elevates or dei)resses its crest, and the turkey- 
 cock bristles up his feathers. There are numerous oc- 
 casions on which these and other special arrangements 
 of the cutaneous muscles are needful in the economy of 
 the bird, and essential to its comfort. 
 
 The peculiar shield-like scales on the belly of serpents 
 are jmt in motion by muscles which belong to the cu- 
 taneous system, and are thus fitted to aid in ])rogres- 
 bion over a rough surface. 
 
 Ill Mummulia, we find greater or less modification of 
 the same system in conformity with the hal)its of the 
 aninml. The quills of the ])orcupinc and of the hedgc- 
 h(jg are set in motion by similar cutaneous muscles, and 
 the latter animal presents an additional arran<r<'mcnt
 
 296 
 
 MUSCULAE SYSTEM. 
 
 FiQ. 68* 
 
 in other muscles of the same part, by which it can roll 
 
 itself into a ball, and thus 
 present a surface bristling 
 with formidable spines. 
 
 In other parts of the 
 muscular system, while 
 there is conformity to a 
 general plan, we also meet 
 with local modifications. 
 The very large proportion 
 which active voluntary 
 muscles bear to the whole 
 body, requires not only 
 proper adaptation to their 
 uses, but also such pecu- 
 liar packing and arrange- 
 ment as may be most conducive to the comfort and well- 
 being of the animal. We do not find the same propor- 
 tional distribution of muscle in whales, in fishes, in 
 birds, and in swift-footed mammals. In birds, for ex- 
 ample, " the principal masses of muscle being collected 
 below the centre of gravity, beneath the sternum, beneath 
 the pelvis, and upon the thighs, act like the ballast of a 
 vessel, and assist in maintaining the steadiness of the 
 body during flight ; while, at the same time, the extre- 
 mities require only long and thin tendons for the com- 
 munication of the muscular influence to them, and are 
 thereby rendered light and slender."-j- 
 
 The great importance of the hand in man, and the 
 special development of his first digit, the thumb, imply 
 a correspondingly perfect system of muscles in the limb. 
 In the apes, which approach him nearest, the digits are 
 endowed with less individual mobility, and there is corre- 
 
 * Fig. 68, Shows muscular apparatus by which the hedgehog rolls itself into a ball, 
 t Owen, Cyclopcudia of Anatomy, Art. Aves.
 
 MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 297 
 
 spending departure from the muscular type. These 
 animals are destitute of the power of appointing or indicat- 
 ing by means of the fore-finger, and man alone, who has 
 this faculty, possesses a distinct muscle for its perform- 
 ance. The muscle homologous with that called latis 
 simus dorsi in man, gives off in the apes a slip which is 
 attached to the elbow part of the ulna (the innermost of 
 the two bones of the fore-arm). This modification is es- 
 pecially obvious in the long-armed species, and enables 
 them to sling the arm forwards "with great force and 
 quickness, by which they are better fitted to grasp distant 
 branches during their more rapid acts of climbing. 
 
 The singularly modified nostrils of the elephant, con- 
 stituting its trunk, present modifications of size, as weU 
 as of relation in homologous muscles which are of less 
 general importance in other mammalia. The levator 
 and zygomatic muscles of the upper lip are very large, 
 and incorporated with those of the prolonged nostrils — 
 arrangements which are admitted to be commensurate 
 with the important functions of the parts. In hoofed 
 animals, fitted for rapid progression, the extensor muscles 
 of the limbs are more powerful than their opposing 
 flexors, the tendons also are long, the muscular portion 
 beini^ short but strono; — a modification suited to their 
 habits. When treating of the typical form of the verte- 
 bral elements, we have alluded to the singularly modified 
 arm-bone of the mole, a departure from tlie type in dis- 
 tinct relation to the no less remarkable arrangement of 
 jjoworful muscles in the limb, so necessary to the burrow- 
 ing habits of the animal. 
 
 The liabits of tliat remarkable bird, llic cross-bill, 
 (Luxia curvirostra) render necessary certain modifica- 
 tions in tlie muscles of its jaws. Feeding (ui ilie seeds 
 of firs, it refjuires an apparatus to extract them from the 
 liard and tough scales of the cones. Tlu' jaws cross each
 
 298 MUSCULAK SYSTEM. 
 
 other, and act much in the same way as the blades of 
 scissors. We find a want of symmetry in tlie muscles 
 on the two sides of the jaws, and this has constant re- 
 lation to the jDOsition of parts. In a state of rest, the 
 lower mandible is drawn to one side or the other — ^for 
 there is a difference in this respect in different indi- 
 viduals. Now, the muscles are strongest upon that side 
 to which the jaw is so directed, and being of great 
 strength, the animal is thus provided with an apparatus 
 which enables it, with ease and rapidity, to cut up the 
 tough cones and disengage the seeds. Perching birds 
 present a curious adaptation, by which the act of bending 
 the knee and ankle necessitates also bending of the toes, 
 independently of any active effort ; they can thus grasp 
 a branch even while sleeping. They are enabled to do 
 this by a peculiar disposition of the tendon of a muscle, 
 which is the homologue of that called gracilis''' in mam- 
 malia. This muscle passes over the convex part of the 
 knee-joint, and then over the projecting portion of the 
 heel, and ends by being connected with a flexor muscle 
 of the toes. It is obvious, therefore, that the digits must 
 bend simultaneously with the bending of the knee and 
 ankle when the birds fall into sleep. In other parts of 
 birds we observe certain muscles differently modified for 
 different purposes. Thus, generally speaking, those on 
 the upper part of the tail are more highly developed than 
 those on the lower surface ; by such arrangement it is 
 that the peacock expands his gaudy tail feathers. On 
 the other hand, we find in some species that the muscles 
 which depress the tail are the strongest. This is well 
 illustrated in wood-peckers, which use that part as an 
 additional means of support when climbing, by pressing 
 it strongly against the bole of the tree. 
 
 * Meckel considers it homologous with the muscle called Rectus femor is ; this, how- 
 ever does not affect the importance and singularity of the modification alluded to.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 COMMUXITY OF PLAN, WITH SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS IN THE 
 DEVELOPMENT OF OKGANIZED BEINGS. 
 
 Preceding observations have been confined to plan 
 and modifications of perfect adult organisms. .It will be 
 necessary, in order to complete the argument, to glance 
 at the co-existence of the same two principles in the em- 
 bryonic condition of plants and animals. The nature of 
 the topic and its extent, obviously preclude its full dis- 
 cussion in this treatise ; but an epitome of some of its 
 leading truths will be found to fit in with what has gone 
 before, and with what is to follow. 
 
 If we enter a large ship-yard (to borrow an illustra- 
 tion from a friend) w^e may be able to discover a com- 
 munity of plan in the materials gathered together and 
 cut out for use, and in the very first blocking out of every 
 vessel. But it is as the fabric advances that we begin to 
 detect — what, however, was all along known to the 
 builder — what is the special purpose for wdiich the ship is 
 intended ; whether it is to be propelled by sails or by steam ; 
 whether it is meant for warlike or peaceful occupations ; 
 whether it is to carry articles of commerce or passengers. 
 We are to show that it is the same in organic nature. 
 Every plant and animal is formed after a general plan, 
 while it is intended all along by its Maker fur a s[)ecial 
 end, and no othiT ; but it is only as it advances that toe
 
 300 COMMUNITY OF PLAN, WITH SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS. 
 
 can discover that end. We are to show that there is a 
 close resemblance between the foundation structure, or 
 earliest rudiment, of all plants and animals ; we are to 
 show that as the structures advance, each takes its peculiar 
 form to suit it to its evidently predetermined end ; and 
 we are to show, at the same time, that there is a remark- 
 able parallelism in the development of organic beings, 
 and this along the whole separate lines of their progress. 
 
 At an early part of our work we pointed out the iden- 
 tity of cell material in all organized beings. The germs 
 of every animal and jilant present to us unmistakable 
 evidence of conformity to a model. The embryonal 
 vesicle of the animal, and the embryonic cell in the 
 plant, are obviously similar. Our remarks will be chiefly 
 confined to the former, as best fitted to illustrate the two 
 principles which are occupying our attention. 
 
 In plants, the contents of one peculiar cell (the pollen 
 grain) applied to the embryonic cell, determine all future 
 changes of the latter. Subdivision of the above-named 
 cell (embryonic) takes place ; the same goes on with con- 
 secutive cells ; these increase at the expense of the pabu- 
 lum supplied by the ovule, and the result of the process 
 is the formation of cotyledons, of rudimentary stem, of 
 root, and of leaves. 
 
 The structure of the ovum of the animal is very simple ; 
 it consists of a sac containing yolk, in the midst of which 
 there lies the embryonal vesicle which is essentially a 
 cell. This becomes filled with a mass of smaller cells, to 
 which it finally gives exit as a preparation for the process 
 of fecundation : after which a new cell, a primordial, 
 undergoes a change like that which follows the applica- 
 tion of the contents of the pollen to the vegetable genu. 
 This primordial cell begins to multiply by self-division, 
 until, from a single cell, we find that an aggregate mass
 
 IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZED BEINGS. 301 
 
 of minute cells has been produced. It is worthy of 
 notice here, that as the cells forming the simi)ler plants 
 increase by subdivision, according to a fixed law as regards 
 number, viz., 2, 4, 8, 16, &c., so it has been distinctly es- 
 tablished that the same law of geometric progression re- 
 gulates the subdivision of the primordial cell, in the lower 
 forms of animals at least. In some of the Articulata this 
 process of increase is confined to the primordial cell and 
 its progeny, all being nourished at the expense of the 
 entire yoke, which disappears. But in other cases, the 
 subdivision of the above-named cell determines also a 
 similar process in the yolk which surrounds it, each cell 
 produced from the former attracting to itself a certain 
 portion of yolk, so that the increase of the original cell 
 occasions a corresponding subdivision of the yolk. In 
 certain animals higher in the scale, it is observed that the 
 development of the cells (from the primordial one, placed 
 near the surface of the yolk, and not in the centre as in 
 lower forms) gives rise to subdivision of the yolk only 
 which lies near them. And here comes in one of those 
 adajjtations presented to us in this early chapter of the 
 animal's history. The two portions of yolk are distin- 
 guished by different names, that which becomes subdi- 
 vided is termed " germ-yolk ;" the other portion, exempt 
 from such change, is called " food-yolk." The latter is 
 looked upon as something superadded to the former, and 
 is considered as a store of nourishing material to be used 
 up in the subsequent develojmient of the new being. It 
 may be remarked that the size of the yolk is generally in 
 direct proportion to the advance made by the animal be- 
 fore leaving the egg. Thus in birds it is very large, they 
 C8caj)e from the egg in a well-developed condition. lu- 
 Bccts (|uit the egg in an imj)erlect state, and the yollc of 
 thfir ovum is small.
 
 302 COMMUNITY OF PLAN, WITH SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 In Echinoderms (sea-stars, &c.) there have "been dis- 
 closed some remarkable modifications in the ovum for 
 special ends. The observations of Sars,* rightly inter- 
 preted by Professor Muller, have shewn that soon after 
 the subdivision of the yolk, the young embryo of Echin- 
 aster rubens escapes from its membrane, and becoming 
 free and independent, is able to make progression in the 
 water. Here the mass of cells provided with numerous 
 cilia on the surface, assumes a kind of indej)endent life, 
 and moves from place to place, thus providing for the 
 wider dispersion of the new being, which is subsequently 
 formed from it by a kind of budding process. A similar 
 example occurs, with some modifications, in course of the 
 development of the sea-urchins. The ovum escapes at 
 an early stage, and the ciliated surface of the cells is a 
 provision for locomotion and wide dispersion of the new 
 generation. Among Mollusca we meet with similar ex- 
 amples of adaptations for special ends. In the embryo 
 of certain Tunicata, we observe that a portion of the 
 yolk separates from the remainder, and is considered as 
 forming a tail-like organ, (the young animal is, in fact, 
 very like a tadpole) which is a most effectual means of 
 progression in the water, and accomplishes its purpose in 
 the same way as a single oar at the stern of a boat en- 
 ables us to scull it along. At a subsequent period, the 
 new animal becomes attached to some fixed object, and 
 the tail-like appendage disappears after having accom- 
 plished its temporary function. 
 
 In the ova of Vertebrata, we also meet with examples 
 of arrangements for special ends ; one may suffice. In 
 the egg of birds, we have concurrence of adaptations 
 very clearly illustrative of our subject, while, at the 
 
 * Sars, Fauna littoralis Norwegiaj; and MuUer, iiber den alJgemeinen Plan in der 
 Entwickelung der Echinodcrmen.
 
 IN T0E DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZED BEINGS. 303 
 
 same time, the essential parts of the ovum are con- 
 structed on the same plan as that of other animals. 
 Commencing in the centre, we observe the yolk with the 
 germ-spot or cicatricula enclosed in the yolk-bag ; these 
 are suspended in the midst of the soft albumen, and 
 retained in position by means of two elastic chords, the 
 chalazce, which originate at the broad and narrow ends 
 of the egg. The albumen is in turn surrounded by a 
 tough membrane, (lining the shell) consisting of two 
 layers, which, being separated at the broad end of the 
 esrs, constitute a chamber which serves as a reservoir of 
 air to be used up in the earlier stages of development. 
 The hard shell on the outside, and the Hning membrane 
 for protection, the soft bed of albumen in which the yolk 
 is suspended by tlie clastic chalazai, and so suspended 
 that, being lighter than the other parts, the germ-spot 
 always rises uppermost, and so is nearest the warm body 
 of the parent during incubation — all constitute a series 
 of remarkable adaptations for special ends. 
 
 But without dwelling longer on the combination of the 
 two principles in the ova of organized beings, we may 
 brieflv yrlance at certain conclusions which have been 
 founded upon the unity of structure which we have been 
 
 exammmg. 
 
 Because there is sucli renuirkable similarity in the out- 
 set of life, it has therefore been rashly asserted that there 
 is resemblance also in subsequent stages, and that the 
 higher animals pass through a series of changes, each of 
 which exactly represents the permanent condition of some 
 otlier being, lower in the scale. It is true that in the 
 earlier stages of development, the ova of the highest and 
 of the lowest animals are much alike, nud both also very 
 BJmilar to the embryo of the higher j)lants, and to the 
 udult foriiiH of some of the lower. Still we arc no( entitled
 
 304 COMMUNITY OF PLAN, WITH SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 to conclude that there is absolutely identity. The animal 
 ovum, removed and transferred to the same medium as the 
 simple plant, would assuredly perish. The resemblance 
 amounts to this, the one is cellular as the other is, and the 
 cells in both propagate according to the same law. But 
 there is no ground for asserting more. And, as regards the 
 advanced stages, we have no foundation for the belief that 
 there is absolute identity of certain embryonic conditions 
 with permanent forms of animals lower in the scale. The 
 embryo of man is never, at any stage, of the same nature 
 as that of a worm, of a fish, a reptile, or a bird. In loose 
 terms, the higher foetus at a certain period may be ver- 
 miform in the sense of oblong, but it is never articulate ; 
 the relations of its parts are such that it could never by 
 possibility be declared that the two are absolutely the 
 same in organization. But as such assertions are not now 
 supported by authorities of any weight, we deem it un- 
 necessary to enter into further details. The great gen- 
 eral principle enunciated by Von Baer gives us the true 
 explanation of the phases of embryonic life, viz., " a he- 
 terogeneous or special structure arises out of one more 
 homogeneous or general ;" which may be simply illus- 
 trated by saying that the common homogeneous or 
 general material gives rise in course of development to 
 other special structures which are heterogeneous. 
 
 The idea has also been entertained by some that even 
 in the full developed or adult state there is unity of 
 plan in all, that the four types. Vertebrate, MoUuscan, 
 Articulate, and Kadiate, are identical. Thus Geoffroy St. 
 Hilaire considered the cuttle-fishes to be doubled up ver- 
 tebrates. This comparison cannot hold ; for although 
 Cephalopoda are the most highly developed of the mol- 
 luscan type, and, in some sense, higher even than that 
 singular fish called Lancelet, yet we cannot view them as
 
 IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZED BEINGS. 305 
 
 modified vertcbrata ; tliey are essentially molluscan. In- 
 sects were denominated by St. Hilaire, vertebrata with 
 free ribs — the legs being so considered. Others have 
 compared them to a vertebrate animal turned upside 
 down, the abdominal surface of the insect, next which 
 its nervous system lies, being considered as representing- 
 the back of the higher animal, and the limbs as the 
 homologues of the laminae dorsales.* That is to say, the 
 articulata were compared to the embryo of vertebrata with 
 the dorsal laminae free, not entering into the formation 
 of the neural arches, but modified for purposes of loco- 
 motion. There can be no doubt, from what has been 
 already stated in a previous part of this work, that such 
 attempts at indicating identity in the four plans of struc- 
 ture are overstrained and far from representing the truth. 
 We have seen that in all animals alike there is a com- 
 mon starting-point, but as the development advances, we 
 observe that varied structures and arrangements of organs 
 appear, respectively suited to the sphere to be occuj)ied 
 by the new being, and assigned to it by Him who is great 
 in power and excellent in working. 
 
 It has been already remarked how close the resem- 
 blance is between the ovum of the animal and of tlie 
 plant in the earlier stages of existence. But farther, there 
 is very striking similarity between the simpler kinds of 
 plants (Protophyta) and the lower forms of animals (Pro- 
 tozoa). This has given rise to the idea, that between 
 these at least there is no true line of demarcation, and 
 that therefore there is a merging of the vegetable king- 
 dom into the animal kingdom at the lowest extremes of 
 eacli. fn both cases we have beings composed either of 
 a single independent cell, or of aggregated groups of 
 
 • These appear at a very early period of embryonic life, their external porllonB fonu 
 the rudliiu-nti) of the tack-bone and crnnliitn.
 
 306 COMMUNITY OF PLAN, WITH SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS 
 
 cells, and this Las given rise to a difference of opinion in 
 defining which is the simple animal and which is the 
 simple plant. Both may have this in common — they can 
 propagate hy simple subdivision of their parts. A mark of 
 distinction has been sought for in their mode of nutrition, 
 and it is probably in this that the true difference lies. The 
 simple plant is dependent on the presence of carbonic 
 acid and a sufficient supply of moisture ; the animal organ- 
 ism receives its supplies from other animals or plants. 
 
 In the resemblance wliich they bear to each other, we 
 can at least trace an amount of unity which indicates the 
 Oneness of the Designer. 
 
 In still higher forms of both animals and plants, we 
 have no difficulty as to fixed characteristics ; but even 
 among such, strange to say, we observe a remarkable 
 parallelism in the phases of development. In certain 
 animal organisms, a detached part, bearing the ova, has 
 been described as an entire and perfectly independent 
 organism, while the animal stock which produced it may 
 have been cither overlooked or described as something 
 different. We have already alluded to tliis subject (see 
 Radiata) and, without further discussion, we shall now, 
 in further illustration of it, give a few parallel passages 
 from the history of the animal and of the plant. 
 
 Plant. 
 Plant.— \. Seed. 
 
 2. This seed germinates, aud forms 
 stem and buds ; some of the latter 
 may drop off, and produce plants 
 like the parent stock.* 
 
 3. The stock finally produces 
 flowers, fruit, and seeds. 
 
 Radiata. 
 Medusa. — 1. Ovum. 
 
 2. This egg becomes fixed, and 
 grows into a polyp-like animal or 
 stock, which produces free buds of 
 the same nature as the stock. 
 
 3. The stock gives off free swim- 
 ming Medusae, these produce ova, 
 which repeat the two phases de-. 
 scribed. 
 
 * Free buds are produced in not a few plants, as Lilium bulbiferum, Polygonum vivi- 
 parum, Saxifraga cernua, &c., &c. 
 
 i
 
 ^::^— J 
 
 chop: X'.p. 301 
 
 McCOSH ON TYPICAT, FORMS.
 
 IN THE DEVELOrMENT OF ORGANIZED BEINGS. 307 
 
 Plant. 
 Plant— I. Seed. 
 
 2. This seed germinates, and pro- 
 duces stem and buds ; some of the 
 latter may become detached from 
 the stock. 
 
 3. The stock finally produces 
 flowers, fruit, and seeds. 
 
 Plant. 
 
 Plant— 1. Seed. 
 
 2. This seed germinates, and pro- 
 duces stem and buds ; some of the 
 latter may become detached from 
 ihe stock. 
 
 3. The stock finally produces 
 flowers, fruit, and seeds. 
 
 MOLLUSCA. 
 
 Salpa. — 1. Ovum. 
 
 2. This ovum produces a solitary 
 Salpa, in the interior of which a 
 chain of Saljxe is produced by a pro- 
 cess of budding. 
 
 3. Each ^alpa of the chain pro- 
 duces an ovum, which attains nearly 
 full development, as No. 2, before 
 escaping. 
 
 Articulata. 
 
 Aphis. — 1. Ovum. 
 
 2. This ovum, in spriug, produces 
 an individual which gives origin, 
 during summer, to several others 
 like itself, by a process of budding. 
 
 3. In autumn, males and females 
 are produced by the same process ; 
 the latter deposit ova.* 
 
 We have selected an example from eacli of the three 
 types, the Eadiate, Molluscan, and Articulate, illustrative 
 of the complete parallelism which there is between the 
 phases of their life and those of the plant. May there 
 not also be traced a parallelism between the plant and 
 the Vertebrate animal ? 
 
 * See ENGRAvma A. A seed produces a plant, wliieli increases by tlio formation 
 of buds, which are usually fixed. Finally, flowers and seeds are produced. B. An 
 ovurn produced a ciliated organism, which becomes attached, and then pivcs rise to a 
 succession of polyps by a process of budding. Certain modified individuals produce 
 ova. C. An ovum produces a wingless Aphis (grccn-fly, &c. ;) this gives rise to others 
 like Itscdf by a process of budding; (these ditfer from those of B and C in being free.) 
 Finally, perfect males and females (winged) are produced, and ova arc deposited. 
 
 1. Ix-af-stalk of Ash, composed of a scries of similar pieces. 
 
 2. Digit of I'll hecus, (a species of Ape,) consisting of metacarpal bone and phalanges, 
 all presenting similarity of form. 
 
 I. Small branch of a spcclcB of Bamboo, (Bambusa arundinacca,) consisting of a series 
 of similar pieces. 
 
 II. Tort of back-bono of Proteus, (reptile,) composed of a linear series of similar 
 pieced, (centra.) 
 
 1, 2, I., 11., Illustrate the remarks on typical form at pp. 1S5, 186. 
 
 yl, Ji, and C, are adopted from Professor Owen's work, entitled "Parthenogenesis."
 
 308 COMMUNITY OF PLAN, ETC., OF ORGANIZED BEINGS 
 Plant. 
 
 1. Seed. 
 
 2. Stem (internodes) and leaf- 
 stalk. (See p. 185 footnote.) 
 
 3. Ramified branch and venation, 
 (pp. 104-119.) 
 
 4. Axis, subterranean and aerial, 
 •with appendages. 
 
 Vertebrata. 
 
 1. Ovum. 
 
 2. Typical bone. (See pp. 184— 
 181.) 
 
 3. Typical vertebra. 
 
 3. Vertebral column, with appen- 
 dasres. 
 
 We can trace throughout organic nature a system of 
 Homotypes, or serially repeated parts, in the individual 
 plant and animal. We can also discover, in each of the 
 great leading divisions both of the vegetable and animal 
 kingdoms, a system of Homologous or answerable parts. 
 In very dijfferent organic structures we can find Analo- 
 gies, or different organs fulfilling the same function. But 
 we can do more : when we compare the various organic 
 Tcingdoms one with another^ we can detect parallelisms 
 in development, (Homceophytes.*) These parallelisms 
 may not be of the same scientific value as homologies 
 which now enter into the very structure of every depart- 
 ment of natural science, but they are of equal, or at least 
 of similar, value in Natural Theology. The homceophytes 
 shew fully as clearly as the homotypes, the homologies, 
 or the analogies, that all organic creation has proceeded 
 according to a plan devised in eternity, and being realized 
 in time. 
 
 ♦ This phrase has been suggested to us by our friend and colleague, Prof. M'Donall.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 GEOLOGY. 
 SECT. I. TRACES OF PLAN IN FOSSIL KEMAINS. 
 
 We have discovered proofs of One Designing Mind in 
 the organization of plants and animals in the existing 
 epoch of our earth's history. But our earth has also had 
 a past history. Could our globe relate the stoiy of the 
 scenes which have taken place on its surface, what a 
 thrilling; narrative would it furnish ! The dumb earth 
 possesses no power of detailing its past changes in lan- 
 guage, but it has carefully prepared in its crust, records, 
 which man has faculties to decipher, and which he may 
 succeed in deciphering, provided he proceeds with pains 
 and caution, and in the spirit and method of the induc- 
 tion of Bacon. The archaeologist draws conclusions from 
 the style of the ancient buildings examined by him, and 
 finds an entire history in the coins which he disinters 
 from their crumbling ruins ; the geologist can also gather 
 most important instruction as to the past from the still 
 more valuable relics which are preserved in the rocks and 
 dust of our earth. It will be found that geology extends 
 our argument in respect of time throughout ages which 
 cannot be numbered, and shews that God has been pro- 
 ceeding in a pre-arranged system from the conniience- 
 rnent of creation.
 
 310 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 First, On examining the deposits of geological eras, 
 there is little difficulty in she\Adng that plants and animals 
 have been constructed on the same general plan from the 
 beginning. 
 
 Secondly, As the organisms of different geological eras, 
 while formed on a general model, do yet differ widely 
 from each other, the question is started. Is there a pre- 
 determined scheme in the successive ajjpearances of ani- 
 mated beings ; or, in other words, is there plan in the 
 creation of classes, orders, genera, and species ? It 
 should be frankly acknowledged that geology is not yet 
 prejjared to give a certain and decided answer to this 
 question. Still it has revealed phenomena which raise 
 the question, and supplied some facts which may help to 
 answer it, and furnishes proofs that there is order in the 
 succession of animal races, even though it has not yet 
 entitled us to say with confidence that we have discovered 
 the plan. Geology thus opens up glimpses not only of 
 a plan in respect of contemporaneous and existing nature, 
 but of a plan in respect of past and successive nature. 
 
 Thirdly, Geology has a further, and this a most im- 
 portant principle to reveal. It shews not only a uniform 
 but an advancing plan. It does more, it unrolls a pro- 
 phetic scroll, in which the earlier animated creation 
 points on to the later, and in which the later comes as a 
 fulfilment of the anticijmtion of the earlier. These are 
 the topics to be discussed in this section. 
 
 I. Uniform Plan. — The silex dissolved in the water 
 of some ancient spring or lake has often entirel}^ replaced 
 the materials of a stem, taking not merely the place but 
 assuming the very form and essential character of every 
 cell and modification of it, so that, when subjected to the 
 wheel of the lapidary, slices may be cut which, under the 
 microscope, reveal the most minute structure of the ori-
 
 IX FOSSIL REMAINS. 311 
 
 ginal plant. The elements, the living stones of the 
 extinct vegetable, have thus been wonderfully preserved for 
 our examination and instruction. Even when scarcely a 
 trace of vegetable structure can be detected, the inorganic 
 material of the earth's crust — the clay or mud of some 
 ancient lake or swamp, or the sand now forming the 
 stone of some modern quarry — has come into the place 
 of the organic framework, or received such an impression 
 by contact, that we have thus singularly preserved for 
 our inspection an accurate representation of a fruit or of 
 the venation of a leaf torn from the parent plant by a 
 passing hurricane, or shed naturally in the autumn of 
 some one of those countless years which elapsed before 
 man appeared. These relics shew that the same system 
 governed the building up of the ancient tree-ferns, palms, 
 and pines, as still regulates the formation of those that 
 surround us with all their symmetry and gracefulness. 
 How interesting is it to trace on these fossils, as we have 
 often done, the same crossing or winding spirals, and the 
 same rhomboidal figures produced by their intersection, 
 as we have in the tree-ferns and firs still growing on our 
 earth ; a proof that th-e spiral then, as now, regulated the 
 position of the appendages of the plant. 
 
 A similar conclusion may be drawn from the animal 
 remains imbedded in the crust of the earth. The Uraster 
 obtusus of the older Silurian rocks has a striking resem- 
 blance to the Uraster rubens of our own coasts ; the ra- 
 diate arrangement of jiarts is identical in both. The 
 earliest Crustacea known to us, the Trilobites, present 
 the articulate type so familiar to us in the lobster and 
 crab. Tlie shell of the little Nucula varicosa, found in 
 the same old strata, must have given protection to an 
 animal like that of our living species of tliat same genus. 
 The earliest spiral shells which have been discovered aire
 
 312 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 o-ovemed by the same mathematical principles as those 
 which the molluscs arc following at this day in the con- 
 struction of their habitations. The vertebrate column 
 and appendages of fossil fish, bird, and mammal, whether 
 of the older or more recent geological epochs, were formed 
 on the same models as those of the same models that still 
 people our earth and its waters. The teeth of extinct 
 animals were constructed on the same general plan as 
 those of existing species, and this, whether we view them 
 as regards form, position, number, or minute structure. 
 
 Indeed, the geologist proceeds, and is entitled — by a 
 large induction of facts, and the verifications which are 
 ever casting up— to proceed, on the principles which we 
 have all along been illustrating in this treatise. It is 
 seldom that he finds a fossil plant or animal entire ; most 
 commonly he falls in with only a fragment ; yet this 
 fragment, if it be a significant one, enables him to recon- 
 struct the whole. The process of theoretical reconstruc- 
 tion is conducted on those very principles of homology 
 and teleology which we have shewn to pervade all orga- 
 nic nature. The paleeontologist supposes that the whole 
 organism, whether plant or animal, was constructed on a 
 plan ; that there were answerable parts in the genus or 
 species, and a series of homotypes in the individual ; and 
 he goes on confidently to supply the wanting parts on the 
 principle of homology. He proceeds, too, on the princi- 
 ple of final cause ; he supposes that the part had an end 
 to serve, and that there would be a conformity of every 
 other organ to fulfil that end. By means of these two 
 principles he can often, when he is in possession of but a 
 fragment, make the entire organism stand before us with 
 all its harmonies and its fitnesses. When at any time 
 he falls in with an entire fossil organism, he finds that 
 his principles are verified, and that he is entitled to pro-
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 313 
 
 cecd on them. In the next section we shall shew how he 
 uses the principle of final cause ; in this section we are to 
 observe him as proceeding upon model forms in his inves- 
 ti2:ations of the various kingdoms of nature. 
 
 Fossil PIa7its. — Certain vegetable organs have been 
 imperfectly preserved in the earth's strata, or have under- 
 gone such changes that it is often difficult to detect their 
 relations. The j)ala3ontologist does not hesitate to trace up 
 these to one or other of the great leading divisions of the 
 vegetable kingdom. He may not have before him, or be 
 able to find, some one part of the organism — say the seed, 
 so as to ascertain the structure of the embryo ; but he is 
 not thereby prevented from referring the plant to its pro- 
 per place, provided he can find out the structure of some 
 other part — say its stem, or the arrangement of the veins 
 of its leaves. If the venation of the leaf is netted, he 
 concludes that the plant proceeded from a seed with two 
 cotyledons, and was exogenous. Associations of charac- 
 ter, such as we have described in the chapter on the 
 Forms of Plants, are all important, not only in the exa- 
 mination of living, but of fossil plants. Fortunately the 
 structure, whether exogenous or endogenous, can be de- 
 tected in most fossil plants, and thus we have a key to 
 explain other arrangements which must have been asso- 
 ciated with it, and this holds true, whether we have the 
 whole stem or merelv a fragment. In most cases we have 
 only a part, but when we do meet with an entire trunk, as 
 of Mantollia nidiformis in the petrified forest of the Isle 
 of Portland, we see at once that we have drawn legitimate 
 conclusions. 
 
 The characteristic venation, whether netted or other- 
 wise, obvious in tlie impressions of leaves met with in 
 various geological strata, it is so well preserved, that bota- 
 nists do not hesitate to refer them to one or other of tho 
 
 14
 
 314 TEACES OF PLAN 
 
 leading divisions of the vegetable kingdom. The special 
 modifications of the veins are also such that we can state 
 whether the leaf belonged to a plane or a beech ; and 
 one of the highest authorities, the late Yon Buch, has 
 recommended a close study of the venation of the leaves 
 of living species as necessary for the discrimination of 
 vegetable leaf inpressions belonging to extinct forms. 
 In the remarkable Clathraria Lyellii, found in the chalk 
 marl of the Isle of Wight, the appearances are such as to 
 indicate that the leaves were shed naturally, just as in 
 existing trees ; a proof that the same organic relation of 
 stem and appendages existed in ancient as in modern 
 epochs. 
 
 Radiata. — The relics of corals, of sea-stars, and sea- 
 urchins, preserved and handed down to us in the pages 
 of the Palaeographic volume, must be studied according 
 to the principles which apply to living forms. We can 
 expect fruitful results only when we proceed on the idea 
 of a regulating type. 
 
 The corals of different periods have in general a 
 certain plan of structure, but at the same time present 
 a remarkable contrast as to numerical type. It appears, 
 from the researches of M. Milne Edwards, that the cup- 
 shaped corals of the Palceozoic age have the stony 
 lamellae or rays regulated by the numbers 4, 8, 16, &c. ; 
 while in those of the Neozoic period, (including all 
 epochs from the Trias to the present time,) or newest 
 type, the regulating numbers were 6, 12, 24, &c.* 'Here 
 we have a remarkable example of order, enabling the 
 geologist to arrive at instructive results respecting the 
 position, in time, of rocks in which corals are pre- 
 served. 
 
 * It is stated that only two exceptions occur ; one species of tlie quaternary type bein^ 
 found in the chalk formation, and one of the ternary typo in the Silurian rocks.
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 315 
 
 MoUusca.— But lew traces remain of tlie soft bodies of 
 the Molliiscan iuhabitants of the ancient world, and these 
 generally in such a state that we cannot draw any sure 
 conclusions as to their organization. The perfect condi- 
 tion of fossil shells, however aifords us data from which to 
 reason as to the ancient modifications of the arclietype ; 
 and we cannot doubt that extinct species were formed 
 after the same general plan as those which still exist. 
 
 The mathematical principles which determined the 
 forms of the shell in living species, as demonstrated by 
 Moseley, Naumann, and Elie de Beumont, have been ap- 
 plied by D'Orbigny in the examination of fossil species. 
 In his " Palgeontologie Frangaise," he shews that, even 
 when fragments alone remain, as is often the case in geo- 
 logical formations, the whole shell can be restored theoret- 
 ically, provided we have so much as two contiguous turns 
 of a spiral shell entne. 
 
 ^/•^e'cii^a^a.— The Crustacea or crabs, the insects, and 
 other jointed animals of former ages, present the same 
 tyjje of structure which prevails among the same families 
 at present, and this holds true from the very remote 
 epoch of the earhest Trilobites to the more recent forms 
 of Crustacea, preserved to us in the Lithogra})hic slate of 
 Solenhofen. The Astacus Leachii and A. Sussexiensis, 
 from the chalk of the South Downs, had their rings and 
 appendages formed on the same general model as their 
 living allies, the lobster and cray-fish. Professor M'Coy 
 lias shewn, that some disputed i)oints in the characters of 
 the Trilobites can be interpreted when we proceed on the 
 principle of a general plan.'-' 
 
 VeHehrata. — Tlie al)le investigations of Cuvier, of 
 Owen, and of numerous other Continental and British 
 observers, are founded on the existence of a type or model 
 
 ♦ Brilbh raluL-ozolc Fossils, Part II.
 
 316 TKACES OF PLAN 
 
 in Vertebrata. It matters not how far back we examine 
 the records of the geological volume, we can see that the 
 method which regulated the construction of the most 
 ancient vertebrate animal known, was identical with that 
 which we can recognise in every being of the vertebrate 
 sub-kingdom which surrounds us. The well-preserved 
 jaws with teeth, aijd other relics, disinterred from the 
 bone-bed of the upper Ludlow rock, enable us to draw 
 conclusions as to the nature of the skeleton, and the mo- 
 difications of the archetype presented by it. 
 
 The ancient reptile, Telerpeton Elginense, is, so far as 
 we know at present, the oldest of its class. Imbedded 
 in its stone sarcophagus, we can recognise the existence 
 of a skull, back-bone, ribs, pelvis, and limbs. We can 
 count the ribs and the pieces of the spine, and see that 
 the pelvis is placed after the 24th vertebra, just as in the 
 living Iguana. 
 
 Even " footprints in the sands of time" are capable of 
 yielding valuable results, where nothing else is left. We 
 can recognise, in ancient sandstones, the trail of tortoises, 
 of frogs, of lizards, and of birds. The feet which im- 
 printed them, and the entire beings, may have decayed 
 but the impressions left are such, that the nature of the 
 digits can be made out ; and authorities are agreed as 
 to the extinct Vertebrata having been respectively fur- 
 nished with the same kind of limbs which characterize 
 living forms belonging to the same classes of the verte- 
 brate type. 
 
 II. Progressive Plan. — The inherent desire of our 
 intellectual nature to discover laws, prompts us to inquire 
 whether there has not been order in the successive crea- 
 tions of animals and of plants. The facts already dis- 
 closed by geology seem to us to show that there was a
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 317 
 
 jiredetermined plan in the appearance of new species of 
 organized beings. It is, however, very difificiilt to enun- 
 ciate what this order is. 
 
 One of our most distinguished geologists holds that 
 we have not arrived at a stage of knowledge to entitle us 
 to draw dogmatic conclusions as to the order of the ap- 
 pearance of animated beings, and his arguments, as well 
 as his name, must ever caiTy great weight. " I shall 
 simply," says Sir Charles Lyell, " express my own con- 
 viction that we are still on the mere thresliold of our in- 
 quiries ; and that, as in the last fifty years, so in the 
 next half century, we shall be called upon repeatedly to 
 modify our first opinions respecting the range in time of 
 the various classes of fossil vertebrata. It would there- 
 fore be premature to generalize at present on the non- 
 existence, or even on the scarcity of vertebrata, whether 
 terrestrial or aquatic, at periods of high antiquity, such 
 as the Silurian and Cambrian."* While admitting the 
 force of this statement, it will, nevertheless, be necessary 
 briefly to state and examine some other views which have 
 been advanced. 
 
 First, it will be needful to notice the view of those who 
 maintain that there has been a gradual rise in the type 
 of animated beings, from the earliest period to the present 
 epoch. There has been at times associated with this, 
 another theory which derives all the higher and later 
 fonns by natural law and progressive development from 
 the lower and earhcr. It is proper to state, however, 
 that these two opinions have no necessary connexion ; the 
 former may be maintained by persons who deny the 
 latter ; tlie former may be true while the latter is false. 
 
 The facts revealed by geology seem to point to a begin- 
 ning of organized life. The lower we descend in the 
 
 ♦ Lyell'g Manual of Elementary Geology, 6th edit., 1851, p. 668.
 
 318 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 Strata of successive periods, tlie fewer the remains of living 
 beings. In passing downwards we reacli a point where 
 there is but a single record preserved of the existence of 
 any organism ; we refer to the Zoophytes, Oldhamia an- 
 tiqua, and 0. radiata, found in the lowest Silurian rocks. 
 If we proceed from this point upwards, we find what 
 looks at first sight like a rise in type. What we mean 
 may be made evident without entering upon the con- 
 sideration of any other fossils than those belonging to the 
 vertebrate sub-kingdom. 
 
 And here we first of all meet with the fact that the 
 Invertebrata preceded the Yertebrata ; for there are no 
 traces of the latter till we reach the upper Silurian rocks, 
 far more recent in time than those v/hich are lower. The 
 thin bone-bed of the upper Ludlow rock contains frag- 
 ments of fishes, relics of the most ancient beings of their 
 class. If we continue our examination, we next meet 
 ^vith remains of reptiles in the upper Devonian strata. 
 The quarry of Cummingston, near Elgin, has yielded the 
 earliest reptilian relic known to us, and so well preserved 
 that the ribs and most of the skeleton can be distinctly 
 seen. It appears to have combined in itself the charac- 
 ters of the lizard and of the frog. Next in order of time, 
 birds and mammals appear in the Trias formation. The 
 Connecticut sandstone, which bears weU-marked impres- 
 sions of footprints of birds, would seem to present the 
 earliest indications of that class.'* And in the upper Trias, 
 Professor Plieninger has found molar teeth of an insect- 
 eating quadruped. Now we have here an evident pro- 
 gression in one sense ; first, invertebrata alone present 
 
 * In birds, every toe has the number of its bones remarkably constant, and each hav- 
 ing a characteristic number, it is obvious that we can by such niarl,;s distinguish tho 
 foot-print of a bird. The outermost toe has always five phalanges, the fourth has four, 
 the third has three, the second has two, and the spur or inner toe, has only one piece.
 
 IN FOSSIL REilAINS. 319 
 
 themselves ; next, and after a long period, vertebrata 
 appear, beginning with the lowest, viz., fishes, next rep- 
 tiles, then birds and mammalia, in the inverse order 
 which they occupy as regards organization. But then 
 another question comes in, Is the first fish the lowest of 
 its class ? A similar question has to be asked of reptiles, 
 birds, and mammals. 
 
 The fish relics of the Ludlow bone-bed are sufficiently 
 well preserved to enable us to judge of the characters of 
 the beings of which they are the remains. Their jaws 
 and teeth are very perfect, and they give indications that 
 they were not the lowest of their class. The Onchus of 
 the upper Silurian rock " was a fish of the highest and 
 most composite order ; and it exhibits no symptom 
 whatever of transition from a lower to a higher grade of 
 the family, any more than the crustaceans, cephalopods, 
 and other shells of the lowest fossilifcrous rocks. The 
 first created fish was as marvellously constructed as the 
 last which made its appearance, or is now living in our 
 seas."* 
 
 But it may be inquired whether the ancient Silurian 
 ocean was stocked only with fishes of high organization. 
 Suppose a sea with its scaly inhabitants, comprehending 
 sharks with hard teeth and shagreen skin, and also soft 
 lampreys and hags ; it is obvious that the relics of the two 
 fonner are more likely to be preserved to us than those 
 of the two last. This may be admitted, without, liow- 
 cver, improving the argument as to a progression in type. 
 For although all are comprehended in Cuvier's division 
 cliaracterized ]>y soft skeleton, the sharks rank much tl\e 
 higher — they are, in fact, the highest of their class ; the 
 higlily developed brain, their organs of sense, &c., prove 
 them to liold the rank w(! have stated, tlic Lmijucys and 
 
 ♦ Murchlson's Slluria, p. 239.
 
 320 TEACES OF PLAN 
 
 liags being far lower in type. The unequal development 
 of the tail (heterocercal) in the full-grown shark is the 
 only remaining argument in favour of their being per- 
 manent representatives of an embryonic state, and, there- 
 fore, low in type. But this also must fall to the ground 
 us an argument, because founded on an erroneous or 
 mistaken view of the case ; for the symmetrical develop- 
 ment of the tail actually precedes the unsymmetrical, in 
 certain fishes. The observations of M. Vo2:t, in reference 
 to this matter, has been either misunderstood or misre- 
 presented. The young Coregonus, (one of the salmon 
 family,) on which his investigations were made, has 
 actually at the first rays of the tail-fin arranged sym- 
 metrically above and below the end of the spinal column, 
 and therefore homocercal ; the unequal development of 
 the tail-fin (heterocercal) is the final condition, as, in- 
 deed, it is in the Salmonidfe, contrary to the usual 
 opinion.* The earliest fishes known to us were not 
 the lowest of their class, but actually am^ong the highest. 
 Evidence of a similar tendency is derived from a con- 
 sideration of some of the earlier invertebrata. One of 
 the most ancient Crustacea yet discovered, Hymenocaris 
 vermicauda, found in the Bangor slate, is not of low type, 
 it is among the highest of the Phyllopod order, which is 
 not very far removed in structure from the very highest 
 of the Crustacean class. It is not true, as has been 
 affirmed, that man and the higher animals, in their dif- 
 ferent stages of embryonic life, represent some permanent 
 forms of organisms lower in tlie scale ; nor can any proof 
 be adduced of an analogous progress in the womb of 
 time. Even if it were strictly true that there was a gra- 
 dual improvement in type as time rolled on, it would 
 
 * For additional remarks on tliis subject, we would refer to a Lecture by Professor 
 Huxley at the Royal Institution, April 1855. Annals Nat. History, July 1855.
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 321 
 
 still be necessary that those who adopt the "development 
 h}T30thesis," should prove that transmutation of a low 
 into a high grade had heen accomplished. Allowing 
 that the first position had been established, the question 
 remains, whether this might not have been the plan of 
 the Creator in bringing forward the beings which Uve on 
 our earth. 
 
 The supporters of the idea of progressive development 
 and transmutation of species in a long series of ages, be- 
 lieve also in a progression of life from sea to land, and 
 that this explains what they denominate " the barrenness 
 of Creation ;" that is to say, that certain conditions of the 
 earth's surface, favourable to the support of animals, long 
 preceded their appearance, inasmuch as time was required 
 for the necessary transformations of marine animals into 
 others fitted to live upon the land. It may be true that 
 uninhabited dry land existed at periods when the sea 
 was the abode of many invertebrata, and so may have 
 continued for a time previous to the appearance of ter- 
 restrial beings. But all this does not prove transforma- 
 tion of one animal into another, nor the progression of 
 life from sea to land. It remains to be proved — and the 
 onus probandi lies with those who make the assertion — 
 that marine animals can, by any force of circumstances, 
 or in any course of time, however long, become converted 
 into beings fitted to a new sphere of life on land. 
 
 If certain terrestrial conditions have preceded the ap- 
 pearance of animals suited to them, we have in all this 
 a manifestation of the foresight and beneficence of the 
 Author of all, and proof of a method which pervades all 
 creation. The bird constructs its nest before the callow 
 broud ap])ears ; the bee lays in a store of food when the 
 flowers yield their sweet juices in abundance, and long 
 before winter arrives ; an internal instinct leads to innu- 
 
 14*
 
 322 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 merable acts on the part of animals for the preservation 
 of their own hves, and for their young. In a word, there 
 are acts of anticipation flowing from instinct, which have 
 a special relation to some important end as yet in the 
 womb of time. And when we attribute foresight and 
 work of anticipation to Him " who knows the end from the 
 beginning," we do not consider such as derogating from 
 the infinitude of the wisdom of the Great Creator. 
 
 We find so many remarkable relations between the 
 physical condition of our earth and the wellbeing of its 
 races, that we cannot avoid seeing in the historical evi- 
 dence of geology some traces of order, a winter, a spring, 
 the seed-time, and a harvest of creation ; a winter Avhen 
 life was absent ; a spring when preparation for it was 
 accomplished, and an era when it was called into being ; 
 and so sucessively to the time when the highest created 
 intelhgence of our earth w^as brought forward to take pos- 
 session and occupy the earth now prepared for him. As 
 taking this view, we tliink that the argument in favour 
 of progressive development and transmutation of species, 
 founded on the pre-existence of conditions fitted for or- 
 ganic Hfe — before that life appeared — is of no value. 
 
 The late Professor E. Forbes, by whose researches 
 geology has been so much enriched, has propounded an 
 ingenious theory on this subject.* In order to charac- 
 terize it he uses the term, " Polarity in Time," as expres- 
 sive of a law which corresponds to the primitive plan of the 
 Divine creation, but which, as being Divine, is completely 
 independent of the notion of time, although only com- 
 prehensible by us in relation to time. The different 
 geological epochs he comprehends under two heads, the 
 Palasozoic, or most ancient, and the more modern, styled 
 Neozoic. On comparing these he finds that " the mani- 
 
 * Royal Institution, Evening Meeting, April 28, 1854.
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 
 
 323 
 
 festations of generic types during each exhibit striking 
 and contrasting phenomena. The maximum development 
 of generic types during the Paleozoic period was during 
 its earlier epochs ; that during the Neozoic period towards 
 its later epochs." 
 
 The following tahle renders the meaning more evi- 
 dent : — 
 
 Neozoic 
 period, 
 
 Palaeozoic 
 period. 
 
 T, .. ji _.• 1 /Epoch of maximum develop- 
 
 Present and tertiary epochs, ( ^ '■ 
 
 Cretaceous epochs, ' 
 
 of 
 
 Neozoic generic 
 
 I Oolitic epochs, . . 
 I Triassic epochs, . . 
 
 Permian cpoclis, . 
 
 Carboniferous epochs, 
 
 Devonian epochs, . 
 Silurian epochs, . . 
 
 ment 
 ( types. 
 Intermediate. 
 
 j EpocJis of poverty of j)i'oduction 
 { of (jeneric typea in time. 
 Intermediate. 
 
 {Epoch of maximum develop- 
 ment of Palseozoic generic 
 types. 
 
 But besides the concentration of a maximum of gene- 
 ric types toward the earlier stages of one and the later 
 of the other great period, he thinks also there is a sub- 
 stitution of group for group during the contrasting epochs, 
 as shewn by the following comparison : — 
 
 Neozoic. 
 Cycloid and Ctenoid fishes. 
 Malacostracous Crustacea. 
 Dibranchiate Cephalopoda. 
 Lamellibranchiate Acephala. 
 Ecliinoidea. 
 Six-starred Corals. 
 
 Paleozoic. 
 Ganoid and Placoid fishes. 
 Entomostracous Crustacea. 
 Tetrabranchiato Cephalopoda. 
 Palliobranchiate Acephala. 
 Crinoidea. 
 Four-starred Corals. 
 
 Some objections have been made to the general classi- 
 fication of geological epochs adopted by the author of 
 Wliere experienced and j'l'ofessed geolo- 
 
 these views,* 
 
 • Th"' objections refer to tlifi position of the Pcrinhin ami Tiiassln ppoclis In Un' tnbiilBr 
 view, and \.\\<: propriety of comporliig the primary period with the Jurusslc, Chalk, uiid 
 Terllory formations.
 
 324 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 gists are at issue, it would be presumption in us to oflfer 
 any dogmatic decision ; but we cannot help thinking that 
 an obvious objection applies here — and indeed, more or 
 less to every theory — it seems to be taken for granted 
 that we have almost, if not altogether, attained a suffi- 
 ciently comj)lete knowledge of extinct forms. This is 
 surely far from being the case, and the lamented author 
 of the theory of Polarity had himself, in his comparatively 
 brief career, contributed so largely to our records of extinct 
 beings, that there is room for expectation that very much 
 still remains to be done, and that more information must 
 flow in as time rolls on. 
 
 But we pass on to another opinion, which seems, upon 
 the whole, very consistent with facts hitherto revealed by 
 the observations of palaeontologists. 
 
 As there is a certain law of progress in the develop- 
 ment of the young animal to the day of its birth, so there 
 seem to be some traces of parallelism to this in the order 
 of creation — a progress in uterine life, and a parallel 
 march in the womb of time, from the beginning of the 
 Creation to the day when man was ushered into existence. 
 In the development of the animal. Von Baer has shewn 
 that " the more special type is developed from the more 
 general." There seem to be proofs of similar progress in 
 time. 
 
 The subject has been very fully illustrated by Professor 
 Owen in his various writings. He remarks, "As we ad- 
 vance in our survey of the organization and metamor- 
 phoses of animals, we shall meet with many examples 
 in which the embryonic forms and conditions of struc- 
 ture of existing species have, at former periods, been 
 persistent and common, and represented by mature and 
 procreative species, sometimes upon a gigantic scale."* 
 
 * Lectures on the Invertebrata,
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 325 
 
 The common crab, in the different periods of its life, re- 
 presents conditions which resemble those met with in the 
 Crustacea of succeeding geological epochs. 
 
 2. Macrourous. (Tail long,) . . j . 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMON CRAB. EXTINCT CRUSTACEA. 
 
 1. Entomostracous, .... Trilobites of the Palaeozoic age. 
 
 Crustacea of the Oolite formar 
 
 tiOD. 
 
 3. Anomourous. (Tail moderately de- ( Crustacea of the Chalk forma- 
 
 veloped, and of soft consistence,) ' tion. 
 
 4. Brachyourous, the adult condition. \ 
 
 (Tail short, and turned in beneath > Crustacea of the Tertiary epoch, 
 the thorax,) ) 
 
 Other examples might be cited ; the above is suffi- 
 cient for our purpose. It must, however, be specially 
 observed, that " no extinct species could be reproduced 
 by arresting the development of any kno^vn existing 
 species of Crustacea ; and every species of every period 
 was created most j^erfect in relation to the circumstances 
 and sphere in wliich it was destined to exist."* 
 
 But extinct forms are not always the representatives 
 merely of the earlier stages of higher forms in the earlier 
 periods of creation. We find another principle illus- 
 trated : in some instances it is very evident that the 
 earlier forms " present in comhination those characters 
 which are found to be separately distributed, and more 
 distinctly manifested among groups that have subse- 
 (piently made their appearance."f 
 
 A remarkable extinct order of Echinodermata has 
 been very fully examined and described by the late 
 Professor E. Forbes — the Cystidea : it illustrates the 
 p(jiiit alluded tu. 
 
 • Owon'B Lcofnrps OD Invortcbrata. 
 
 t C'ari»cntcr'» I^rliidplcs of Coiiiparatlvo I'liyslology, p. 112, 4th i.liHoii. In this ad- 
 uilrablo work the reader will fliid a very luold demonstration of the subject
 
 326 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 PaL/Eozoic. Recent. 
 
 Order Cj-stidea. A stem, and intes- ) Order Crinoidea. A stem, and in- 
 
 tine with two openings. I testine with two openings. 
 
 Order Cystidea. Certain species have } Order Ophiurida. Rays or arms 
 
 arms like those of Ophiurida. ) snake-like, spines for locomotion. 
 
 Order Cystidea. In certain genera ) Order Asteriada. Body lobed, that 
 the body is lobed. ) is, angular or rayed. 
 
 Order Cystidea. Body enclosed in (^ Order Echinida. Spherical or de- 
 a shell of polygonal plates. ) pressed shell, of polygonal plates. 
 
 Order Cystidea. Ovarian opening ) Order Holothuriada. Ovarian open- 
 single. . ' ing single. 
 
 From the above comparison, it will be seen that the 
 single extinct order Cystidea comprehended in itself 
 characters which are, so to speak, divided among five 
 orders at the present day. We have here, therefore, a 
 very notable instance of a progress from the more 
 general character to the more special in the lapse of 
 time — for the orders in the right hand column were very 
 partially represented in earlier epochs, and some of them 
 did not exist at all. Other illustrations might be 
 brought forward among Vertebrata ; we shall only allude 
 to one, as regards dentition. Professor Owen remarks 
 that the typical character of the dentition teas more 
 closely and generally adhered to in genera than existed 
 during the oldest tertiary epochs in geology, than in 
 their actual successors. The earlier forms of mammals, 
 whether herbivorous or carnivorous, very generally pre- 
 sented the typical number of teeth, (p. 215,) whereas, in 
 the present day, such dental character is the exception 
 and not the rule. 
 
 It would be presumptuous in any one, at the present 
 stage of science, to suppose that he had been able 
 adequately to ajDprehend the plan in the Divine mind ; 
 but these facts seem to show that there has been an
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 327 
 
 advancing series of some kind, proceeding all tlie while 
 on a uniibrm plan. 
 
 III. Prophetic Plan. — We are next to inquire 
 whether the earlier books of the stone-volume present 
 any records of organic forms, which point to higher forms 
 to come forth in later epoch's ; Avhether it discloses any 
 foreshadowing of beings that were to follow ; and espe- 
 cially of man, the consummation of all. 
 
 The nature of the divine and creative act by which the 
 earliest of earth's creatures were summoned into being- 
 must ever remain unknown to us. But it is allowable to 
 examine the asj)ect of these early organisms, and inquire 
 into the relations which they bear to the succeeding series 
 of animated beings. Our position in time, and the van- 
 tage ground on which natural science enables us to take 
 our stand, admit of our drawing an instructive comparison 
 between the forms of the Fauna in earlier epochs, and 
 those that appeared in later times. We confine our at- 
 tention, in what follows, to the Vertebrate type. 
 
 Siluria, rendered notable by the resistance of Carac- 
 tacus to the invaders of his country, is as famous in geo- 
 logy, as its former people are in tlie history of ancient 
 Britain. In its rocks are a succession of strata which 
 reveals to us what seems the dawn of creation in our 
 world. Its signatures appear to be the most ancient re- 
 cords of organic life. Those beautiful organisms, the 
 Graptolites, are not found in any pakeozoic rock younger 
 tlmn the Silurian ;■••" and only one — the Graptolites prio- 
 don — is plentiful in the upper divisions of that system, 
 Grap. Flemingii of the Wenlock rock being rare.f We 
 have, therefore, a mark by whicli to determine the re- 
 lative age of tlie ui)])er Ludlow bone-bed, in which the 
 
 » Murchlnou's SUurla, p. 4T. Ibid., p. 208.
 
 328 TRACES OF PLAN" 
 
 earliest vertebrate remains occur. There is clear evidence 
 that they belonged to fishes, and, consequently, animals 
 formed after the vertebrate model. This is enough ; 
 here we find at a very early period, a plan of structure 
 which has appeared under various modifications in every 
 subsequent era. 
 
 Those few species of the 'upper Silurian period were 
 but the herald to indicate the subsequent advent of those 
 of the old red sandstone, remarkable not only for their 
 numbers, and their singularly bizarre forms, but some of 
 them especially interesting in relation to this head of our 
 subject. The highest authorities are agreed as to their 
 general place in the class of fishes, and the names of 
 Agassiz, of Professor Fleming, of Mr. Hugh Miller, and 
 others, must ever remain associated with the elucidation 
 of the history of these singular beings. 
 
 As the Onchus of the Ludlow rock announced, as it 
 were, the dawn of vertebrate life, and foreshadowed also 
 others of its own class that were to follow, so the Holopty- 
 chus, and others of the old red sandstone, in turn pointed 
 forwards to the Reptilian class. The term Sauroid (lizard- 
 like) has been applied to many extinct, and a few living 
 forms, in order to indicate their relationship to the 
 reptiles. The still existing Lepidosteus of America, and 
 Polypterus of the Nile and of Senegal, present a combin- 
 ation of characters eminently developed in not a few of 
 those found in the rocks of the Devonian epoch, (Old Red 
 Sandstone.) We can here take shelter under the high 
 authority of Agassiz, who remarks, " In Lepidosteus the 
 articulation of the vertebrte differs from that of the verte- 
 br£e of all other fishes, no less than the structure of their 
 scales. The extremities, especially the pectoral limbs, 
 assume a higher development than in fishes generally. 
 The jaws, also, and the structure of the teeth, are
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 329 
 
 equally peculiar. Hence it is plain that before the class 
 of reptiles was introduced upon our globe, the fishes 
 being then the only representatives of the tj^e of verte- 
 brata, were invested with the character of a higher order, 
 embodying, as it were, a prospective view of a higher de- 
 velopment in another class, whicli was introduced as a 
 distinct type only at a later period ; and from that time 
 the reptilian character which had been so permanent in 
 the oldest fishes was gradually reduced, till in more re- 
 cent periods, and in the present creation, the fishes lost 
 all their herpetological relationship, and were at last en- 
 dowed Avith characters which contrast as much with those 
 of Reptiles as they agreed closely in the beginning."* 
 
 In a few existing forms, (Lepidosteus of America, and 
 Poh^terus of the Nile,) and in all primeval fishes, the 
 pelvis and posterior limbs retained their position in con- 
 nexion with the point of junction of trunk and tail, 
 a character indicating superiority of type. This does 
 not apply to the fishes of subsequent epochs, for, from the 
 period of the chalk formation down to our own day, a 
 large proportion of them have the ventral or hind fins re- 
 moved from the tj^ical position and placed far forwards, 
 near the head. 
 
 Such position of posterior limbs in the very dawn of ver- 
 tebrate creatifjn, indicates an arrangement which was large- 
 ly to prevail in the vertcbrata of subsequent epochs. 
 
 The Telcrj)eton of the Elgin sandstone ushered in the 
 dawn of reptilian life ; it is the earliest of its class yet 
 known to us. Fitted for a sphere of existence difi'ercnt 
 from that proper to fishes, it presents to our view a new 
 modification of the vertebrate plan. Its well developed 
 limbs point to a character which was to come forth more 
 prominently in succeeding periods. 
 
 * Natural History of Lake Superior.
 
 330 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 In 1726, Sclieuclizer detected, in the comparatively re- 
 cent rock of ffiningen, a fossil which he set down as hu- 
 man, styling it " homo diluvii testis," (man a witness of 
 the flood.) ■••' This opinion did not stand the test of com- 
 parative anatomy, and the supposed human relic turned 
 out to be that of a large salamander. The time had not 
 yet arrived for the advent of man ; long ages had yet to 
 roll on before the consummation of the vertebrate type ; 
 the preparations for man's appearance were not yet com- 
 pleted. Nevertheless, in this fossil of Scheuchzer's, there 
 was a prefiguration of the more perfect type which man's 
 bony framework presents. 
 
 In 1847, Professor Plieninger of Stutgardt found two 
 fossil molar teeth, which must have belonged to a warm- 
 blooded quadruped ; they were disinterred from a bone- 
 bed in Wurtemburg, lying between the Lias and Keuper 
 formations. The original owner of these interesting relics 
 is supposed to have been an insect-feeder. A weU-marked 
 tooth, pronounced on the highest authority, to have been 
 that of a warm-blooded quadruped, implies adaptations 
 of the vertebrate archetype of a far higher character than 
 any yet indicated in previous geological records. Such a 
 relic indicates associations of structure which are found in 
 man himself; and at this point in the earth's history, we 
 have the herald of the great mammalian class at the head 
 of which man is placed — the first in nature, though the 
 last in time. 
 
 Certain bipedal footsteps in the new red sandstone of 
 Connecticut, are recognized as those of birds. Man, the 
 tiTie biped, was to appear in a subsequent and stiU distant 
 epoch. 
 
 But such early impressions and remains are not with- 
 
 * It is agreed on all hands tliat the origin of tho human species is of comparatively 
 modern date. All fossil human remains, those of Guadaloupe, for example, are withia 
 the historical epoch.
 
 tX FOSSIL REMAINS. 331 
 
 out their instruction ; we may recognise in all these pre- 
 existent beings the same type of skeleton, the beau ideal 
 of which was to come forward in the time appointed, after 
 the lapse of long ages. 
 
 Fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals, predecessors of 
 man, presented in their frames anticipations of more 
 perfect structures which characterize him. They had 
 arrangements to protect the eye and the organ of hearing, 
 a bony vault to contain the brain, and limbs for various 
 fauctions necessary to their wellbeing. 
 
 The Supreme could foresee that which was to come, 
 and which He had pre-ordained ; the revelations of geo- 
 logy enables us to take a retrospective view. But they do 
 more ; they afford us the means of exercising a reflex 
 faculty ; we can examine the first figure in the vertebrate 
 series, and from that point look down the long vistas 
 which are opened, to the period when man appears as the 
 final and foreseen product of the one mighty plan — the 
 last in time, but the first in the contemplation of Him 
 who called them all into being. Precedent vertebrata 
 shadowed forth certain peculiarities of frame and of 
 psychical powers, which have their full, and evidently in- 
 tended, significance brought out and manifested only in 
 man. When he appears on the scene which had been so 
 long Y^repared, and, as it were, waiting for liim, the con- 
 summatidn of the earthly type comes out ;— in a goodly 
 frame, with gait erect ; in eyes to contemplate, and men- 
 tal faculties to appreciate, the beauty of the objects 
 ari)und him ; in limbs to bear that frame upright, and 
 carry it on in the fulfillment of its high sphere of duties ; 
 and in liands to minister to the wants of the individual 
 and <jf his fellows. Doubtless the structure of liis body 
 binds him to the earth's surface, but he has mental 
 powers whicli enables him to soar Irom eartli to heaven,
 
 332 TRACES OF PLAN 
 
 to penetrate far into the regions of space, and throw back 
 a reflective glance upon the remotest points of time. 
 
 In the exercise of these mental faculties, it is expected 
 of him that he should contemplate with wonder and ado- 
 ration the wondrous scene spread out before him ; and 
 in the survey of the past he can discover that the earliest 
 fishes of the palaeozoic age pointed onwards to a higher 
 realization of the vertebrate plan ; that the plan has 
 never in any succeeding age been departed from ; that 
 it was at last perfected in his own wonderful frame ; 
 and that all this had been from eternity in the counsel of 
 Him who worketh in the whole from the beginning unto 
 the end. 
 
 We are happy to be able to adduce, in favour of this 
 general view, the testimony of the two greatest living 
 comparative anatomists. " It is evident," says Agassiz,* 
 " that there is a manifest progress in the succession of 
 beings on the surface of the earth. This progress con- 
 sists in an increasing similarity to the living fauna, and 
 among the vertebrata, especially in their increasing 
 resemblance to man. But this connection is not the 
 consequence of a direct lineage between the faunas of 
 different ages. There is nothing like parental descent 
 connecting them. The fishes of the Palaeozoic a^'e are 
 in no respect the ancestors of the reptiles of the secon- 
 dary age, nor does man descend from the mammals which 
 preceded him in the tertiary age. The link by which 
 they are connected is of a higher and immaterial nature ; 
 and their connexion is to be sought in the view of the 
 Creator Himself, whose aim in forming the earth, in 
 allowing it to undergo the successive changes which geo- 
 logy has pointed out, and in creating successively all the 
 different types of animals which have passed away, was 
 
 * Agasslz and Gould's Comparative Physiology, p. 417.
 
 IN FOSSIL REMAINS. 333 
 
 to introduce man upon its surface. Man is the end to- 
 wards which all the animal creation has tended from the 
 first appearance of the first Pahi30zoic fishes." The lan- 
 guage of Owen is equally explicit.'-' " The recognition of 
 an ideal exemplar in the vertehrated animals proves that 
 the knowledge of such a being as man must have existed 
 hefore man appeared ; for the Divine Mind which 
 planned the archetype also foreknew all its modifications. 
 The archetype idea was manifested in the flesh long 
 prior to the existence of those animal species that actually 
 exemphfy it. To what natural laws or secondary causes 
 the orderly succession and progression of such organic 
 phenomena may have been committed, we are as yet igno- 
 rant. But if, without derogation of the Divine power, we 
 may conceive of the existence of such ministers, and per- 
 sonily them by the term ' Nature,' we learn from the 
 past history of our globe that she has advanced with slow 
 and stately steps, guided by the archetypal light amidst 
 the A\Teck of worlds, from the first embodiment of the 
 vertebrate idea under its old ichthyic vestment, until it 
 became arrayed in the glorious garb of the human 
 form." 
 
 SECT. II. — ADAPTATIONS OP FOSSIL ORGANISMS TO THEIR 
 FUNCTIONS. PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 
 
 Plants. — The stem of the extinct plant (now converted 
 into stone) must have been as well fitted to sustain itself 
 erect, to receive and convey the fluids taken in by the 
 roots, and to support leaves for the elaboration of these 
 fluids, as tlie axis of any of our living trees. If we meet 
 witli but the impression of a leaf, we cannot avuid draw- 
 ing the conclusion that the original, now lost to us, must 
 
 • On Limbs, p. 86.
 
 334 ADAPTATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANISMS 
 
 have had a framework of veins and an arrangement of 
 the softer tissues to enable the organ to fulfil its func- 
 tions. But any doubt existing on this point is removed 
 by the investigations of Gcippert, who has found, in the 
 coal of Silesia and other countries, vegetable remains in" 
 such a state of preservation that he could point out the 
 structure of the cuticle, and of its numerous stomata or 
 pores. He has also fallen in with a fossil plant, nearly 
 allied to the birch, with its branches bearino- flowers. 
 And as, in our day, pine forests emit clouds of yellow 
 pollen, (giving rise to reports of showers of sulphur,) so 
 the giant pines of the ancient world have left proofs of 
 their existence, in abundant deposits of the same material, 
 characterizing certain strata in Bohemia and other local- 
 ities. On finding, in a geological formation, any remain 
 of what bears evidence of having been a fruit, the prin- 
 ciple of concurrence between structure and function leads 
 us to infer with confidence that the said fruit must have 
 been fitted to receive the pollen, and transmit its fertiliz- 
 ing principle to the ovule or ovules, and subsequently to 
 protect them during the process of ripening. 
 
 Radiata. — In fossil Radiata, the original hard material 
 of the body may remain, or silex has taken its place, (as 
 in some flints,) or merely casts of the organism may have 
 been preserved for our inspection ; but in whatever shape 
 presented, palaeontologists invariably proceed in their ex- 
 amination, whether consciously or unconsciously, from the 
 two principles of a plan and modifications. 
 
 Corals are abundant, even from the most ancient fossili- 
 ferous strata to the present epoch. In the seas of the 
 primeval earth, they were efiectual agents in bringing 
 about changes in the contour of the land surface not less 
 important than those which are but too familiar to our 
 navigators in the form of coral reefs. The same modifi-
 
 TO THEIR FUNCTIONS. 335 
 
 cations of the Radiate structure which fit our modern 
 coral-Luilders for the part they are to play in the eco- 
 nomy of nature, must have existed in species long since 
 extinct. 
 
 The Wenlock limestone of Siluria abounds in remains 
 whicii aftord unmistakable proofs of the agency of coral- 
 builders even in a very remote epoch. Species of Favo- 
 sites, of Stenopora, of Heliolites, (one of which is said 
 to resemble the Heliopora crerulea of the Australian 
 reefs,) were silently at work in former times, abstracting 
 from the sea-water its calcareous matter, and transform- 
 ing it into shapes which now delight us by their regu- 
 larity, while at the same time, they aided in adding to the 
 solid part of our earth's crust. Proofs of similar agency 
 occur in the carboniferous limestone, tlie reefs of which, 
 now rearing their crests far above the level of the existing 
 ocean, present us with evidences of some of the scenes and 
 changes through which our world has passed during its 
 eventful history. 
 
 In different geological strata, we meet with very per- 
 fect relics of Echinodermata, shewing modifications of 
 the type to whicli they belong, similar to the star-fishes 
 and urchins of our seas. Different adaptations for de- 
 fence, for capture of food, and for locomotion, present 
 themselves to us in species which have long since ])erished, 
 as in those with which we are so familiar. They give 
 evidence of relations of hard parts, and modifications of 
 form, and relations of form and function, similar to those 
 which we can read in a relic of any existing species cast 
 u]i ])y the tide, or put to the test, if we choose, in the 
 living animals themselves. 
 
 The Pentacrimis Briareus of the Lias is sometimes 
 found attached to fossil wood, which must liave belonged 
 to some ancient tree, wliosc fnunn^nts formed drift-wood
 
 336 ADAPTATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANISMS 
 
 in the sea in whicli this singular Echinoderm lived. It was 
 a stalked species, characterized by excessive repetition 
 and subdivision of the radiate arms, ever ready to secure 
 the prey, as the animal was borne along on its wooden 
 float. If any doubt could exist respecting the modifica- 
 tions of the radiate type in this extinct Pentacrinite, it 
 must be dispelled when we compare it with the singularly 
 organized species (Pentacrinus caput-Medusee) which still 
 lives in the Grulf of Mexico. 
 
 In the upper Silurian rocks, we find preserved to us an 
 extinct form, which must have perished in the very act 
 of feeding. The Marsupiocrinites c^elatus is frequently 
 found with its proboscis inserted into the shell of a mol- 
 lusc, (Acroculia Haliotis,) — both alike extinct. 
 
 In various strata we meet with abundance of animals 
 allied to the sea-urchins of our coasts. We can recog- 
 nise in the one, as in the other, some adaptations of the 
 hard parts to form a strongly arched shell for protection, 
 pierced with holes for the protrusion of the suckers, and 
 presenting the same arrangement of spines moving by 
 ball-and-socket joints. 
 
 Articulata. — Animals constructed after the Articulate 
 type had their representatives from the most ancient 
 periods in which traces of organized beings appear, 
 (Lower Silurian,) down to the most recent epoch which 
 preceded our own. 
 
 The Crustacean sub-type was a characteristic feature 
 of the Lower Silurian fauna : the singular Trilobites 
 must have swarmed in those early periods, and the re- 
 mains handed down to us, while they shew conformity to 
 a general jjlan, present also an almost endless variety in 
 the sculpture of their exoskeleton and the nature of its 
 contour. The admirable investigations of Burmeister 
 have thrown great light on the organization and habits
 
 TO THEIR FUNCTIONS. 337 
 
 of these remarkable Crustaceans. They were nearly 
 allied to the Phyllopoda, characterized by the bladder- 
 like gills— the modified palp and flabellum of the appen- 
 dage. The Silurian strata yield them in great numbers, 
 and their bodies arc often found rolled up, so that the 
 head and tail are in contact. The best authorities seem 
 to be agreed as to the adaptations of the type, in these 
 ancient Crustaceans, to fit them for tlie kind of life 
 assigned to them. They constituted a remarkable feature 
 of the Fauna of the Silurian Ocean. The soft abdomen, 
 and its delicate appendages, were Hable to injury, and 
 by way of compensation, they possessed the power, when 
 alarmed, of doubling up the body, so as to bring the tail 
 under the head — the hard covering of the back thus serv- 
 ing to protect the more delicate under parts. The sud- 
 den catastrophe, which in some instances must have oc- 
 casioned their destruction and their imbedding in the 
 mud of the primeval ocean, induced also that change in 
 position to which we have alluded, and hence the occur- 
 rence of rolled-up Trilobites in the Silurian rocks. 
 
 In some parts of the Old Ecd Sandstone formations, 
 fragments of a giant crustacean have been occasionally 
 met with. Being allied to the existing Limulus, or 
 king-crab, of warmer regions, the extinct species nmst 
 have {presented similar adaptations ; — the limbs differing 
 little from each other ; the more anterior serving for 
 capture, retention, and mastication of the food, as well 
 as fur locomotion. 
 
 Other articulata of the primeval world have been found 
 in excellent preservation. In the gypseous marl of Aix, 
 spiders are not unfrequently found. And in some sjieci- 
 mcns, the spinnerets arc distinctly perceptible. These 
 species, now lost to us, were, therefore, like our living 
 forms, provided with siniilai- modifications of abdominal 
 
 15
 
 338 ADAPTATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANISMS 
 
 appendages for spinning the delicate web to ensnare 
 their victims. 
 
 Fossil insects, belonging to different orders, are not 
 uncommon in certain strata. We can recognize Neu- 
 roptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, and others, all implying 
 well-known adaptation of the articulate type. In the 
 Lacustrine deposits of (Eningen, a species of dragon-fly is 
 found in its different stages of larva, of pupa, and of 
 pei'fect insect. 
 
 Mollusca. — A skilled conchologist, finding a bivalve or 
 a spiral shell on a sea-beach, has little difficulty in form- 
 ing an opinion as to the general characters of the being 
 which reared such a habitation for itself. And so it is 
 when similar remains are disinterred from some stratum 
 of the earth's crust. 
 
 There seems to exist no doubt respecting the nature 
 of those fossils called Gomphoceras, Orthoceras, the 
 Clymenia of the Devonian epoch, the Ammonite, the 
 Hamite, and the Baculite. They were the Cephalopods 
 of the primeval seas, and, in general organization, were 
 allied to the cuttle-fishes with which we are familiar. 
 They must have been distinguished by their voracious 
 habits, and were provided with the necessary means of 
 securing and resisting the struggles of their prey. Shells, 
 which were built up by the ancient cuttle-fishes, abound 
 in various strata, and enable us to form some opinion 
 respecting the animal which they protected and sup- 
 ported. We can recognize an a])paratus like that of the 
 living Nautilus. Compartments of the shell, not occu- 
 pied by the body of the animal, served as air-chambers, 
 giving buoyancy to the whole, and, by greater or less 
 compression of the air so enclosed, afforded a simple 
 means of rising or sinking in the water. It is no ro- 
 mance when we picture to ourselves the same modifica-
 
 TO THEIR FUNCTIONS. 339 
 
 tions of tlic archetype in the extinct Cephalopoda, which 
 we have ah-eady seen to characterize those which are our 
 cotemporaries. The rapidity of their varied movements, 
 and their powerful arms, provided with sucking discs, 
 must have rendered them formidable enemies to their 
 fellow-inhabitants of the primeval oceans. But if any 
 doubt could exist respecting the general organization of 
 the beings about which we cannot help sj^eculating, such 
 must vanish on examining the relics, or at least one spe- 
 cies, which have been presented for our inspection. The 
 Oxford clay of Chippenham has yielded the Bclemnoteu- 
 this antiquus, with shell, mantle, fins, ink-bag, funnel, 
 eyes, and tentacula covered with sucking discs and hooks. 
 We have here, therefore, a complete epitome of structures 
 which we tind in species which are our cotemporaries, and 
 a complete confirmation of all our conjectures. 
 
 In certain of the older Silurian rocks there have been 
 found relics which must have belonged to species of 
 Pteropoda ; Conularia, Theca, &c., are examples. As 
 Creseis, Cleodora, and others of our own time, flit from 
 place to place in their ocean element — in a habitation of 
 their own building — so the extinct species have made 
 progression by wing-like appendages, a modification of 
 the epipodium of the archety])e. But there Avere giants 
 on the earth in those days. Judging from their shells, 
 the Pteropods of the Silurian ocean greatly exceeded in 
 dimensions the species which swarm in some of our seas. 
 
 Vcrtehrata. — Not only do we find in fossil remains 
 evidence of the first great law we have been illustrating, 
 there are equally clear proofs that the different organs 
 jireserved for our examination had a final cause, and it 
 is impossible to avoid the conclusion that tliero must liave 
 been a concurrence and co-ojjcration of other ])arts to ac- 
 complisli the end in view. The statement of Cuvicr on
 
 340 ADAPTATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANISMS 
 
 this point can never be set aside ; " every organized in- 
 dividual," says he, " forms an entire system of its own, 
 all the parts of which mentally cor7'espond and concur to 
 produce a certain definite jjurpose by recij)rocal reaction, 
 or by combining towards the same end," " If the viscera 
 of any animal are so organized as only to be fit for the 
 digestion of recent flesh, it is also requisite that the jaws 
 should be so constructed for seizing and retaining it ; the 
 teeth for cutting and dividing its flesh ; the entire sys- 
 tem of the limbs, or the organs of motion for pursuing it 
 and overtaking it, and the organs of sense for discovering 
 it at a distance. The animal must also have been en- 
 dowed with instinct enough sufiicient for concealing itself, 
 and for laying plans to catch its necessary victims." 
 
 The giant Megatherium of the new world presents, in 
 itself, an epitome of departures from the archetype skele- 
 ton for special ends. Its comparatively light skull was 
 supported by neck-vertebra), small when compared with 
 their homotypes in other parts of the body. Those of 
 the loins are largely developed in harmony with the great 
 size and strength of the hind limbs ; and for the purpose 
 of additional strength, the sacral portion is united in a 
 peculiar way to the pelvis. The vertebree of the tail are 
 of large dimensions, commensurate with the functions 
 of this part, which was used as an additional supporting 
 pillar, just as the same part is employed by the living Ar- 
 madillo in certain of its movements. The high develop- 
 ment of the haemal arches of the Megatherium's tail, in- 
 dicates that the blood-vessels supplying it were duly pro- 
 tected from risk of injury from pressure. Its powerful 
 arms were so formed as to allow free rotation when root- 
 ing up the plants necessary for subsistence, the strong 
 hind limljs and tail together forming firm pillars of sup- 
 port during the process.
 
 TO THEIR FUNCTIONS. 341 
 
 In certain geological epochs, the earth had also 
 its feathered inhabitants. In the remains which have 
 hecn preserved for our inspection, we find special adap- 
 tations in the skeleton such as occur in the class of birds 
 generally, and also local modifications in harmony with 
 the habits of the particular species. The giant Dinornis 
 of New Zealand doubtless employed its beak as a kind of 
 pick-axe (which it resembles in form) for digging the 
 farinaceous roots on which it fed. The peculiarities of 
 the neck-vertebra3, and the strong ridges and processes of 
 the occipital part of the head, all indicate the presence of 
 powerful muscles necessary for the exercise of such a habit 
 as that mentioned.* 
 
 A period was, when numerous reptiles, of varied form 
 and habits, constituted a leading feature of the Fauna in 
 the primeval world. The waters swarmed with species 
 fitted for aquatic life ; others roamed on the dry land ; 
 and not a few, possessed of the power of flight, obtained 
 sustenance by pursuit and capture of insects — pursuers 
 and prey being now alike extinct. In all cases the relics 
 which have been discovered present such marked modi- 
 fications, that anatomists are agreed as to the habits 
 of the species, so that the restoration of their forms 
 and descriptions of their habits with which we have been 
 furnished from the ready pencil and graphic pen of 
 paheontologists, liowever romantic they may seem, are, 
 we believe, nearer the truth than the accounts which 
 have sometimes been given even of certain animals which 
 still exifst. The Pterodactyles (wing-fingered) were en- 
 abled to sui)[)()rt themselves in the air by means of mem- 
 branous expansions, supported j)rincipally by the fifth 
 digits of their furc-limbs, cacli <A' wliicli exceeded in 
 length the wliole vertebral coluimi of the animal, and 
 
 ♦ I'roffSBor Owen, Zoolo^'lcul rroccodliigs, 1848.
 
 342 ADAPTATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANISMS 
 
 was therefore not a little finger, tliougli the homologiie of 
 the smallest in the hand of man. 
 
 In the British Museum there is a model of a young in- 
 dividual of an extinct colossal tortoise (CoUossochselys 
 Atlas) from India. This model is ten feet in length, 
 tweny-five in horizontal circumference, and fifteen in ver- 
 tical girth, a third less than in the full-grown animal. In 
 this giant of former days there existed the same singular 
 modifications of skeleton (p. 204) which we have already 
 alluded to as a characteristic of tortoises which still exist. 
 
 The fishes which glided through the seas of the primeval 
 earth have left beliind them such well-marked relics that 
 we can see pectoral and ventral fins, and a well-developed 
 tail for aquatic progression. We observe that the same 
 modifications of skeleton and appendages had the same 
 relation to the wants of the animals which we find in the 
 scaly inhabitants of our own waters. 
 
 The teeth of extinct vertebrata are found in such abun- 
 dance, and in such a state of preservation as to afford in- 
 disputable evidence of special adaptations, whether we 
 examine them in mammals, reptiles, or fishes. 
 
 The gigantic Iguanodon, of the Wealden formation, 
 presents singular adaptations in the form and structure 
 of the dental apparatus with which it was provided. " To 
 preserve a trenchant edge, a partial coating of enamel is 
 applied, so that the thick body of the tooth might be 
 worn away in a more regularly oblique plane ; the dentine 
 diminishes in density as it recedes from the enamel. 
 Finally, when the enamel is worn away by constant use, 
 and the tooth from a kind of cutter becomes a grinder, a 
 third substance of a diilerent density from the dentine, 
 viz., the ossified pulp, adds to the efficiency of the tooth 
 in its final capacity.""--'-" 
 
 * Professor Owen's OJontogiaphy, p. 283.
 
 TO THEIR FUNCTIONS. 343 
 
 In extinct fishes, adaptations of teeth are equally ob- 
 vious. The Ehizodes had long and powerful teeth, fitted 
 for overcoming the struggles of its prey. In order the 
 Letter to fit them for holding fast, "the teeth have a 
 hroad base diAnded into a number of long and slender 
 cylindrical processes, implanted like piles in the coarse 
 bony substance of the jaw."* 
 
 When peculiar modifications have enabled us to ascer- 
 tain that a fossil bone belonged to fish, reptile, bird, or 
 mammal, we hesitate not to conclude that scales, feathers, 
 hairs, &c., must have been respectively the external cover- 
 ing of the animal. The extinct Glyptodon of South 
 America has left behind it relics of a tessellated, bony 
 cuirass, very much resembling that of living armadillos. 
 The carcase of the mammoth, embalmed in the frozen 
 soil on the banks of the river Lena, has supplied our 
 museums with samples of hair and wool, which must 
 have assisted to protect the animal from the cold blasts 
 of the region it frequented. And, in fact, the presence 
 of such covering afibrds us no insignificant evidence of the 
 probable nature of the climate in that remote epoch and 
 region, when those northern elephants formed a chief cha- 
 racteristic of a fauna which is now so changed. 
 
 Finally, the history of our earth's crust cannot be pro- 
 fitably examined apart from the different plants which 
 have at various periods clothed its surface, or the animals 
 which were successively brought into being. A jiahcon- 
 tologist must also be a zoologist and botanist, for we 
 cannot view living and extinct forms as essentially differ- 
 ent embodiments of the Divine Counsel, but rather as 
 manifestations of the same Sujuciiio Wisdom in various 
 consecutive ages. Respecting the unity of plan in all 
 ejKjchH, there seems to be no difference of opinion. The 
 
 ♦ Odontography, p. 68.
 
 344 ADAPTATIONS OF FOSSIL ORGANISMS 
 
 universality of the second principle — adaptations for spe- 
 cial ends — may not be equally capable of demonstration 
 in extinct forms. It is scarcely to be expected tliat we 
 should be able, in every instance, to prove a relation be- 
 tween means and end in the economy of every extinct 
 animal or plant, seeing that in general we have only 
 fragments to deal with. Such expectation would be, 
 besides, presumptuous on our part ; for while our finite 
 understandings can comprehend so much, they cannot 
 fathom the full depths of the Infinite Mind. As science 
 advances, however, we may expect that obscure points 
 will be rendered more clear, our doubts dispelled, and 
 proofs of special ends increased. The admission of 
 the first principle — of type, namely — will greatly aid 
 as a means of multiplying examples illustrative of the 
 second, and simplify the study of the organic beings of 
 every epoch. We shall close this part of our subject 
 with a quotation from Professor Owen :* — " Of the nature 
 of the creative acts by which the successive races of ani- 
 mals were called into being we are ignorant. But this 
 we know, that as the evidence of unity of plan testifies to 
 the oneness of the Creator, so the modifications of the 
 plan, for different modes of existence, illustrate the bene- 
 ficence of the Designer. Those structures, moreover, 
 which are at present incomprehensible as adaptations to 
 a special end, are made comprehensible on a higher prin- 
 ciple, and a final purpose is gained in relation to human 
 intelligence. For in the instances where the analogy of 
 humanly-invented machines fails to explain the structure 
 of a divinely-created organ, such organ does not exist in 
 vain, if its truer comprehension, in relation to the Divine 
 
 * Orr's Circle of the Sciences, Treatise, No 2 ; a work which contains an admirablo 
 summary of facts regarding type and modlflcations in slieloton of vertebrata. The low- 
 price of the work brings it within reach of all
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 345 
 
 idea or prime Exemplar, lead rational beings to a better 
 couception of their own origin and Creator." 
 
 TurniniT to a somewhat different branch of the same 
 general subject, we find that throughout the whole series 
 of geological ages there has been an adaptation, one to 
 another, of the animals and jjlants on the one hand, and 
 of the state of the earth, its atmosphere and climate, on 
 the other. There has also been a preparation going on 
 all along for the appearance of a higher being on our 
 earth's surface. The comfort of man is dependent on 
 the condition of the earth — the place of his temporary- 
 abode and probation, and this is the result of methodical 
 operations going on for long successive ages. Man's life, 
 too, is inseparably linked Avith the plants and animals 
 which coexist with him, and these are also the issue of 
 long anticipations and preparations. The eternal Logos 
 — himself in due time to become flesh — had contemplated 
 all this from the beginning. " The Lord possessed me 
 
 IN" THE BEGINNING OF HiS WAY, BEFORE HiS WORKS OF OLD. 
 I WAS SET UP FROM EVERLASTING, FROM THE BEGINNING, 
 OR EVER THE EARTH WAS. WhEN THERE WERE NO 
 DEPTHS, I WAS BROUGHT FORTH ; WHEN THERE WERE NO 
 FOUNTAINS ABOUNDING WITH WATER. BEFORE THE 
 MOUNTAINS WERE SETTLED ; BEFORE THE HILLS WAS I 
 BROUGHT FORTH : WHILE AS YET He HAD NOT MADE THE 
 EARTH, NOR THE FIELDS, NOR THE HIGHEST PART OF THE 
 DUST OF THE WORLD. WlIEN He PREPARED THE HEAVENS, 
 I WAS THERE: WHEN He SET A COMPASS UPON TH17 FACE 
 OF THE DEPTH : WHEN He ESTABLISHED THE CLOUDS 
 ABOVE : WHEN He STRENGTHENED THE FOUNTAINS OF THE 
 
 DEEP : WHEN He gave to the sea His decree, that 
 
 TIIK WATEP.S SHOULD NOT PASS HiS COMMANDMEN'J' I WHEN 
 He APPOINTED THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE KAIITII : THEN 
 WAS I J'.Y HlM, AS ONE BROUGHT UP WITH IIim: AND I 
 
 ].• 
 
 *
 
 34G PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 
 
 WAS DAILY His delight, REJOICING ALWAYS REFORE 
 
 Him ; REJOICING in the habitable part of His eauth ; 
 
 AND MY delights WERE WITH THE SONS OF MEN." 
 
 Since the remote i^eriocl when dry land first appeared, 
 the different substances entering into the formation of 
 the crust of the globe have been continually subjected to 
 a process of decomposition brought about mainly by the 
 influence of heat, and moisture, and by the action of the 
 atmosphere. The same moisture which aided in this 
 process has been the means by which the products of 
 such decomposition have been carried off and re-arranged 
 in some new form. Eivers and their tributaries have 
 served to convey the debris of the rocks to the ocean, 
 there to be deposited in the form of a fine sediment, 
 which enriched, perhaps, by the decay of marine organisms, 
 and, after various changes, has been finally upheaved 
 above the surface of the waters. The extent and great- 
 ness of those operations by which the dry land has been 
 fitted for the growth of land vegetation, and prepared 
 for the reception of animals, may startle us by their vast- 
 ness ; but there are abundant proofs of such great changes 
 — the records of geology indeed teem with them. The 
 gigantic scale on which operations, which may be styled 
 the husbandry of nature, have been conducted, may well 
 surprise us ; but we cannot withhold our belief as to such 
 processes, and the important results which have followed 
 in their train. Subsoil ploughing, mixing and re-mixing 
 of soils, have been going on in all ages. Man is but the 
 unwitting copyist, on a small scale, of actions which 
 have been conducted on a far greater scale, and ap- 
 parently with his benefit in view. Those very qualities 
 which a good soil ought to possess, have been induced in 
 course of time by various chemical and physical agencies, 
 which have been in continual operation. The debris
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 347 
 
 of rocks yielding calcareous, silicioiis, aluminous, and 
 other mineral ingredients, have been brought together, and 
 mixed in a way which the husbandman imitates when 
 necessity demands. The furrows drawn by our plough- 
 shares are but scratches on the surface of the soil, com- 
 pared with the changes to which that same soil has been 
 subjected in former ages, and to which it owes its varied 
 capabilities of supporting plants, and yielding subsistence 
 to the animal kingdom. 
 
 The respiration of animals, the decay of certain organ- 
 ized substances, the act of combustion, and emanations 
 from volcanic foci, add to the atmosphere a gas which is 
 not chemically a necessary ingredient of that atmosphere. 
 The gas referred to is carbonic acid, which at the present 
 day forms about one thousandth part, by weight, of the 
 air which surrounds us. It is one of the chief sources 
 from which plants derive their more solid ingredients. 
 They are continually taking it in, and storing it up by 
 moulding it into shapes and qualities, of which we con- 
 tinually avail ourselves for different necessary purposes. 
 An excess of carbonic acid (the miner and well-digger caU 
 it choke-damp) would render our world unfit for animal 
 life. It does not accumulate in our atmosphere, because 
 every plant is busily, yet silently, absorbing it, and under 
 the stimulating influence of light and heat, selecting, 
 BO to speak, the carbon ; while the remaining ingre- 
 dient, the oxygen, is given out for the behoof of animal 
 life. 
 
 The earliest traces of terrestrial plants were about co- 
 eval with the first appearance of vertebrate life in the 
 form of fishes. These ancient land plants were the fore- 
 nuiiiers of a vegetation which gradually advanced in 
 richness to the carboniferous epoch. The fragmentary 
 samj)los preserved in the n])])f'r Ludlow ri^cks appear to
 
 348 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 
 
 have been of the club-moss family, (Lycopodiacese.)* 
 They ushered in the Flora of the succeeding or Devo- 
 nian epoch, richer than its predecessor, but of minor 
 importance when compared with that garb and stature 
 which characterized the rich vegetation of the carboni- 
 ferous period. The flora of the coal formation must have 
 equalled, perhaps even far excelled, the most luxuriant 
 vegetation of tropical lands at the present day. Dense 
 forests of tall Sigillarias, with their scar-marked and 
 fluted stems ; furrowed and jointed Calamites ; giant pines, 
 allied to our Eutassa and Araucaria, with an undergrowth 
 of graceful ferns, the delicacy of whose forms cannot be 
 excelled by any of the fern beauties of our own day ; these 
 constituted some of the principal features of a Flora which 
 has left us abundant and imperishable records of its 
 character, and has enriched our country with its valuable 
 relics in the shape of coal. 
 
 We have the high authority of M. Brongniart for the 
 belief that carbonic acid was far more abundant in the 
 air during certain epochs than it is at jjresent. The at- 
 mosphere of the Palaeozoic period was warm, moist, and 
 highly charged with the gas mentioned. These condi- 
 tions have been shewn by Professor Daubeny to be pecu- 
 liarly favourable to the development of a rank vegetation,f 
 such as certainly prevailed during the later Palfeozoic 
 ages. We cannot doubt that the plants composing the 
 ancient Flora required supplies of carbonic acid for their 
 full development. In the vegetables of the carboni- 
 ferous epoch we can recognise the existence of agents 
 destined to perform an important part in the economy 
 of those days. While able to obtain abundance of 
 necessary pabulum to build up their organs and add 
 
 * Murchison's Siluria, p. 238. 
 
 t Professor Daubeny, in Proceedings of British Association.
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN, 349 
 
 to their carbonaceous ingredients, tliey were, at the 
 same time, preparing the way for the advent of animals 
 by subtracting the excess of a gas noxious to animal 
 life.* 
 
 AVe have reason to believe that living beings must 
 have required supplies of pure air, in whatever epoch they 
 lived. Only a few vertebrate remains, those of reptiles, 
 have been found in the rocks of the carboniferous era. 
 Animals of this class are capable of surviving under less 
 favourable conditions of atmosphere than birds or mam- 
 mals. Tiicse facts are adduced by geologistsf as at least 
 some confirmation of the theory they hold regarding the 
 atraosplieric features of the coal epoch. At all events, 
 there is something more than mere accidental coincidence 
 in all such relations of organized beings at the time al- 
 luded to ; we coidd scarcely expect aerial breathers to 
 abound at a period when the air was charged with choke- 
 damp. 
 
 But tlie plants of the epoch succeeding that of the De- 
 vonian, were undoubtedly the sources whence supplies of 
 coal have been derived, and deposited in the storehouses 
 of tlie earth for the benefit of mankind. 
 
 It has been calculated that the coal of Great Britain 
 alone, counting only what comes to the surface, contains 
 carbon enough to add one-fifth to that now existing in 
 the whole atmosphere. The plants of tlie coal period 
 have left us obvious proofs of their existence in the sliale 
 of our coal mines ; and in the coal itself, avc can find 
 some data from which to estimate the vast amount of 
 carbonic acid which (from wliatever source derived) was 
 abstracted l)y the plants of that nniarkuble epoch, and 
 tlien stored up in a convenient foini f )r our use. In our 
 coal fields, we have a rich deposit of material available 
 
 ♦ riillllp'5 Manual of OcoloRy p. 613; 1S56. t Ibid.
 
 350 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 
 
 for various purposes, and among others, as a generator of 
 mechanical force — in fact, a latent power — which, in its 
 proper application with its usually associated ironstone 
 and limestone, has contributed largely to give to the pre- 
 sent age " its form and pressure." 
 
 All this invaluable treasure— in the form of deeply- 
 seated coal basins — must, however, have remained buried 
 for ever in the bowels of the earth, beyond our reach, 
 had it retained its j^rimary geological conditions and re- 
 lations. But, by various and gigantic appliances of sub- 
 terranean force, the original deposits of coal have been 
 broken up, changed in position, and brought nearer the 
 surface, and thus placed more within the reach of man. 
 Upheavings have followed the internal throes of mother 
 earth ; elevating forces have brought about dislocations 
 of strata ; and if the deposits of subterranean fuel have 
 not in eveiy case been brought to the very surface, those 
 still remaining in a buried condition have had their ori- 
 ginal relations so altered that they can be subjected to 
 the explorations of the adventurous miner with greater 
 prospect of success. 
 
 The regularity in the succession of different strata, and 
 the peculiarity of the organic remains by which these are 
 characterized and become capable of recognition, afford 
 man important assistance in his search after the coal which 
 lies under his feet. He has some more trustworthy guide 
 than the divining rod, to indicate the locality in which 
 he may expect the subterranean treasures, as well as cal- 
 culate their probable extent. A knowledge of geology 
 affords invaluable aid in the discovery of coal where it 
 has never previously been wrought, and we may trust to 
 the same sure guide in forbidding the waste of time and 
 capital in searching for it where it cannot possibly be 
 found. But when infallible marks have brought us to
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 351 
 
 the spot where the coal lies, the same principles aid us 
 in getting at it, or (as the miners say) " winning it." 
 G-eology affords a sure guide in the development of those 
 commercial and industrial resources which the different 
 regions of the earth possess. 
 
 The carboniferous epoch, constituting the " reign of the 
 Acrogens," whose characteristic features have been briefly 
 alluded to, was followed by times when Pines and Cycases 
 prevailed — the " reign of the Gymnosperms." The pines 
 had the predominance in the dawn of that kingdom ; they 
 were finally almost entirely supplanted by the Cycadeee — 
 a, family probably familiar to our readers in one of their 
 aspects, under a form which maybe compared to a gigan- 
 tic fir-cone, wdth a tuft of Aviry, fern-like leaves growing 
 from the top. 
 
 But we pass on to a new epoch of terrestrial vegetation. 
 With the Chalk period there began a fresh era, the " king- 
 dom of the Angiosperms." In its dawn there was a kind 
 of transition from the previous dynasty to the new one 
 which we are now to consider, and which reached the zen- 
 ith of its strength in our own time. Through the Eocene, 
 Miocene, and Pliocene epochs, the Angiosperms increased 
 in numbers, and some fomilies which characterize our own 
 days became more and more numerous. 
 
 We have, in a previous part of this work, endeavoured 
 to shew that those species which delight us by their forms 
 and colours are peculiarly characteristic of existing 
 Floras. And if we seek for more substantial i)roperties, 
 we still miss, in the species of the primeval epochs, those 
 distinguished for tlieir utility at the present day. Doubt- 
 less the earth formerly yielded Ferns, Firs, Cycases, and 
 Puhns, and plants of the sanio iiuuilies to sujjply nseful 
 products. Tlie New Zealandcr and Tiisinaiiian derive 
 Bome sustenance from the subterranean st'Mns of a fern ;
 
 352 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 
 
 we ourselves owe much to the firs of our own forests ; and 
 the natives of Northern Europe sometimes use the ground 
 hark of a pine (as well as of other trees) to eke out their 
 scanty meal ; some of the human family can, by a 
 troublesome process, extract nourishing matter from the 
 stems or seeds of a Cycas ; and certain Palms do furnish 
 valuable products — constituting, in fact, a vegetable ba- 
 zaar, yielding food and clothing, and luxuries besides ; 
 but how small a part, after all, of the millions of men in 
 our world do the foresaid plants support, and that part is 
 the least civilized and intellectual ! 
 
 While it must be acknowledged that the researches of 
 the Pala3ontologist have not yet exhausted our informa- 
 tion as to the plants which clothed the earth before man 
 was called into being, we cannot but remark the almost 
 total absence of families whose products minister to his 
 wants and comfort. We find few traces in the tertiary 
 epoch, which immediately preceded man's, of plants be- 
 longing to families from which he derives his necessary 
 food. In that tertiary age there were, so far as geology 
 reveals to us, few or no spices yielding " cinnamon, and 
 odours, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour 
 and wheat. There are few evident indications of any 
 vegetables from which man derives food and valuable 
 fibre, and, in a word, of species which support and clothe 
 by far the largest proportion of the human race. Scarcely 
 any Gramineee (grasses appear in the lists of extinct 
 forms ; may we not conclude that the principal cereal 
 plants are characteristic of man's epoch, that barley, oats, 
 rye, wheat, millet, Indian corn, and rice, were special pro- 
 visions in order to man's appearance ? From the lists 
 of Pliocene vegetation we miss the Labiate plants, which 
 so charm us by the beauty of their flowers, and which 
 yield essential oils to regale us by their perfumes. Of
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MAN. 353 
 
 Rosace^e there are few traces, and in the list of finally- 
 added species, we must include the roses which yield us 
 their precious " Attar," and the delicious fruits which 
 characterize our more temperate climes. 
 
 There were thus long preparations made both in the 
 crust of the earth and in its living organisms for the sup- 
 l^ort of man, who appears when all is prepared for him. 
 "The earth hath He given to the children of men," 
 
 "As for the earth, out of it COMETH BREAD, AND 
 UNDER IT IS TURNED UP, AS IT WERE, FIRE."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 INORGANIC OBJECTS ON THE EARTH'S SURFACE. 
 SECT. I. CEYSTALLINE FORMS AND CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS. 
 
 In surveying, in a superficial manner, the mineral 
 substances which compose the crust of the earth, the 
 impression might be left that they are irregular through- 
 out, and that thev can exhibit no marks of intellio;ence. 
 Paley, in the opening of his beautiful work, refers to a 
 stone, as, in this respect, in striking contrast to a watch. 
 The meaning of Paley is obvious and correct, but science 
 will not admit, in the present day, that there are no traces 
 of order and design in the stone. Isaac Barrow, two cen- 
 turies ago, spoke, in one of his Sermons, of stones, metals, 
 minerals, as " probably furnishing obvious proofs of the 
 Divine Wisdom, provided our senses were able to dis- 
 cover their constitution and texture." What the senses 
 cannot do has been done by the penetrating intellect of 
 man, following the principles of inductive science. In 
 dead minerals we observe — under a simpler, but, at the 
 same time, more unbending aspect — the commencement 
 of those wondrous forms which, under wider and more 
 accommodating modifications, play so important a part in 
 the economy of living beings. 
 
 No man can look en the columnar structure of Staffa 
 or the Giant's Causeway without having a sort of vague 
 
 1
 
 AND CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS. 355 
 
 notion, that here there is method and intelligence too. 
 We feel as if we have traces of these in this architecture 
 of nature, just as we have them in those objects of man'.s 
 construction which they so much resemhle — the columns 
 of a temple, the pipes of an organ, or the oaken ribs of a 
 shiji. We are not sure that the impression is altogether 
 a mistaken one. There is here, it is true, no special 
 adaptation of parts to produce a useful end : this indi- 
 cation of desi^rii is altos-ether wanting: ; but there is 
 general law operating here as in every other part of 
 inorganic nature, producing an orderly result, such as is 
 characteristic of intelligence. How often, too, may we 
 see the coal on our fires tendins; towards a definite ma- 
 thematical shape, and, on breaking up the pieces we find 
 the fragments not less regular ! When we open up the 
 stones of the ground, we may discover, in the component 
 parts of most of them, a regular structure, and tlie im- 
 pression is left on the mind that they are crystalline 
 throughout. In short, minerals are found everywhere 
 in nature in very beautiful symmetrical forms, and most 
 minerals assume regular forms in circumstances which 
 admit of this operation being formed — that is, when 
 there is a slow and gradual change of fluid into solid, and 
 the arrangement of the particles is undisturbed by motion. 
 It was a happy misfortune which befell Abbe Haiiy, 
 when a fine group of calcareous spar which he was ex- 
 amining fell from his hands and was shivered into frag- 
 ments. The original crystals were of a i)rismatic shape, 
 ])Ut as he gathered up the broken i)ieces of one of the 
 })rism8 in sadness, he observed that, while not less regu- 
 lar in shape tlian the original crystal, they were all 
 rhomboidal ; and thf! tliought fiusluid on him — bright as 
 the lustre from the mineral — that all tlie varied crystal- 
 line forms in nuture might be derived, according to fixed
 
 356 
 
 CRYSTALLINE FORMS 
 
 laws, from a few primitive forms. He felt as if a new 
 world had opened upon liim, and lie exclaimed, " All is 
 found !" In prosecuting liis investigations, he did not 
 scruple to break his whole collection of crystals to j)iece8, 
 and he succeeded in discovering certain laws, the deter- 
 mination of which has turned out to bo a more precious 
 acquisition to human science than all the crystals in all 
 the museums of the world. 
 
 The regular forms assumed by minerals has now been 
 carefully examined, and the science of Crystallography is 
 the result. The figures of crystals found in nature and 
 formed artificially are very diversified, but any given sub- 
 stance is limited in the number of crystalline forms which 
 it takes : thus, fluor spar crystallizes in cubes, but never 
 in six-sided pyramids. The forms are all in conformity 
 with a beautiful law of symmetry. In every one of them 
 there will be found a line passing through the centre of 
 the crystal, round which all different parts of the crystal 
 are symmetrically grouped ; this is called the crystalline 
 axis. The numerous crystalline forms which exist in 
 natui-e can all be reduced, on rigidly scientific principles, 
 
 to a few primitive forms. There 
 are Six Primitive Forms, ac- 
 cording to Professor Weiss of 
 Berlin, whose views seem to be 
 generally adopted.* 
 
 First, The Octohedral System. 
 It has three equal axes at right 
 angles to each other. (See 
 Fig. 69.) Owing to the perfect 
 symmetry by which it is cha- 
 racterized, it has been called the regular system of crystal- 
 lization. 
 
 Fig. 69. 
 
 * The views of Professor Miller of Cambridge are substantially tlie same.
 
 AND CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS. 
 
 357 
 
 as 
 
 Second, TJie Square Prismatic System. In this, 
 
 iu the former, there are three axes, 
 
 which intersect each other at right 
 
 angles ; but in this system only two 
 
 of the three are equal. (See Fig. 70.) 
 Third, The Bight Prismatic Sys- 
 tem. Here, as in the 
 two preceding, there are 
 two rectangular axes, 
 but no two of the axes 
 are equal. (See Fig. 
 71.) 
 
 In these three sys- 
 tems the axes of the crystals are all at 
 rie:ht angles to each other. In those which 
 follow, there is the same symmetiy round 
 the axes, but the axes are not rectan- 
 
 Fio. 70. 
 
 axes, but the axes are not 
 
 gular. 
 
 I" 10. 
 
 Fourth, The Rhomhohedral System. Here, as in the 
 first group, the axes arc equal. They cross each other 
 
 at equal angles, but not at right angles. 
 
 (See Fig. 72.) The most simple form is 
 
 the rhombohedron, 
 
 which is bounded by 
 
 six equal and similar 
 
 rlionibic faces. 
 Fifth, The Oblique Prismatic 
 System. In this system, two of 
 the axes intersect each other ob- 
 liquely, while the third is perpen- 
 dicular to botli. The axes are 
 unequal in length. (Sec Fig. 73.) ^"'- ^'• 
 
 Sixth, The DoidAe Ohlujuc Systcvi. The three axes 
 intersect each otlicr obli(iuely, ami are uiie(pial. Much
 
 358 
 
 CRYSTALLINE FORMS 
 
 Fig. 74. 
 
 of the symmetry of form observable in the others disap- 
 pears in this system. Still, the faces which are diagonally 
 opposed are parallel to each other. (See 
 Fig. 74.) 
 
 Out of these primary forms, other and 
 derivatory ones are fashioned, according 
 to principles which are of a mathema- 
 tical character. Thus, the forms which 
 the octohedral system takes are seven, 
 being limited to the number of ways in 
 which a plane can intersect the three 
 axes. The most prevalent are the octohedron, the cube, 
 and the rhombic dodecahedron, which are frequently met 
 with in nature. 
 
 Simple forms of different systems are never combined,* 
 but the mineral which assumes one form of a system 
 may, and often does, take other forms of the same system. 
 Thus the salt alum may be obtained in the form both of 
 the octohedron and the cube. During the process of 
 crystallization it will often happen that the faces of seve- 
 ral of these forms are simultaneously developed, furnishing 
 crystals of the greatest diversity of appearance. Thus, 
 in the crystallizatian of alum, the faces both of the cube 
 and the octohedron may be produced, and the faces of the 
 cube will be seen truncating the angles of the octohedron. 
 It is an instructive illustration of the means by which 
 infinite variety is produced in nature, in accordance with 
 a rigid unity. The transition from the more rigid crys- 
 tal to the freer forms of organic nature, may be seen in 
 the beautifuUy-ramified figures made by the frost on our 
 flag-stones and windows, and also in the branchings of 
 coralline structures. 
 
 * It should be stated, however, that the mineral may crystallize in a different system 
 when in an allotropic condition.
 
 AND CHEMICAL rROPORTIOXS. 359 
 
 An interesting connexion had been traced, by Mitscher- 
 licliof Berlin; between the crystalline form and the com- 
 position of bodies. Substances which take the same 
 crystalline form may be substituted for each other in 
 combination, without affecting the external character of 
 the compound. Thus, sulphate of potassa and peroxide 
 of iron may be made to take the form and aspect of alum 
 without the presence of any aluminous earth. Substances 
 which assume the same crystalline form are called Iso- 
 morphous. Isomorphous bodies have be-en distributed 
 into distinct groups ; — thus, oxygen, sulphur, chlorine, 
 belong to one group ; potassium, sodium, lithium, cal- 
 cium, zinc, lead, silver, are associated in another group ; 
 while arsenic, antimony, phosphorus, and tellurium, form 
 a third group. Bodies belonging to the same group may 
 be substituted for each other in the composition of salts, 
 or of minerals, without the external qualities of the bodies 
 being affected. Isomorphous bodies have often verj'- 
 close points of resemblance in physical properties as well 
 as in form. Thus, arsenic and phosphorus have nearly 
 the same odour ; they both form gaseous compounds with 
 hydrogen ; they differ from nearly all other bodies in 
 their mode of combining with oxygen, and yet agree with 
 one another, and their salts are disposed to combine with 
 the same water of crystallization. Isomorphous sub- 
 stances, owing, doubtless, to the various points of analogy 
 which have thus been traced, crystallize together Avith 
 great readiness, and are separated from each other with 
 difficulty.*^ These researches are not yet carried so far 
 us to entitle us to lay much weight on them in our pre- 
 sent argument, but, even at this stage, they furnish 
 glimpses of depths which have not yet l)ec'n cxjtlored. 
 That which has only been imperfectly ascertaincil, pniuts. 
 
 • Turner's Chemistry, edited by IJcblf and Gregory.
 
 360 CRYSTALLINE FORMS 
 
 equally witli that which has been more fully determined, 
 to designed connexions and parallelisms running through 
 the whole of nature. 
 
 When we go still flxrther down towards the veiy ele- 
 mentary constitution of bodies, we find indications of 
 what must be an order in respect either of form or 
 number. From a very early data there was a vague 
 impression that there must be something definite in the 
 way in which bodies chemically unite. But the law was 
 not scientifically evolved till witliin the last age, when 
 Dalton propounded his atomic theory. Proceeding on 
 the view commonly adopted in modern times, that mat- 
 ter is composed of atoms, he supposes that all atoms are 
 of the same form, that the atom of each element has a 
 specific weight, and that when bodies combine, it must 
 either be by one atom of one body with one atom of an- 
 other, or by one atom of the one element with two atoms, 
 three atoms, or four atoms of the other element. It was 
 thus that he gave expression to the law discovered by 
 him, and accounted for the relation between the weights 
 of the combining proportions of bodies. There has been 
 a difference of opinion as to the atomic theory which 
 Dalton employed to explain the laws of chemical combi- 
 nation, but there has been none as to the laws themselves, 
 In order to chemical combinations between bodies, we 
 must have a certain proportional weight of the one and a 
 certain proportional weight of the other, and if an excess 
 of either ingredient of the compound be present, it re- 
 mains uncombined, and with its properties unchanged. 
 Thus, in order to form water, it is necessary to have one 
 part by weight of hydrogen and eight parts of oxygen ; 
 and if there be a difierent proportion, say one part of 
 hydrogen and eleven parts of oxygen, then there will only 
 be eight of the oxygen absorbed in joining one of the
 
 AND CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS. 361 
 
 hydrogen to make water, and three will remain free and 
 imchanged. 
 
 This, then, is the first part of the law of chemical 
 equivalents or definite proportions ; — ^bodies combine in 
 certain numerical proportions by weight, and in no others. 
 As the result of the united labours of Thomson, Berze- 
 lius, and a host of other chemists, the equivalent number 
 of the elementary bodies (about sixty in number) has 
 been approximately determined. To give a few ex- 
 amples : — 
 
 Hydrogen, 1. Chlorine, 35-4. 
 
 Oxygen, 8. Potassium, 39"2. 
 
 Carbon, 6. Copper, 31-8. 
 
 Nitrogen, 14. Lead, 103-8. 
 
 Sulphur, IG. Quicksilver, 100. 
 
 It is another part of the same law, following from that 
 which has been explained, that in entering into other 
 chemical compositions, the constituents of any chemical 
 compound replace each other exactly in the proportion in 
 which they combine. Thus it is found that one part of 
 hydrogen combines with eight of oxygen to form water, 
 witli six of carbon to form carburetted hydrogen, and with 
 35'4 of chlorine to form hydrochloric acid. But these 
 numbers express not only the proportions in which the 
 last-named bodies unite with hydrogen, but the propor- 
 tions in which they combine with each other. It follows 
 tliat if we know the proportion in which one body com- 
 bines with a number of others, we know also the propor- 
 tions in which all these bodies combine with each otlier, 
 and replace each other in new compositions.'-' 
 
 In order fully to understand this truth, which has re- 
 duced the science of chemistry to Ihi- most rigid law, it 
 is further to be taken into accounl, tliul when two bodies 
 
 • 8oo Llobig's Letters on Oicinlstry.
 
 3G2 CRYSTALLINE FORMS 
 
 comLine with each other In two or more proportions, the 
 higher proportions bear a very simple ratio to the lower. 
 Thus there "w^ll unite with 14 parts of nitrogen the follow- 
 ing parts of oxygen, hut no intermediate numbers : — 
 
 Nih-ogen. 
 14 
 
 Oxygen. 
 8 
 
 Protoxide of nitrogen. 
 
 14 
 
 16 
 
 Deutoxide of nitrogen. 
 
 14 
 
 24 
 
 Hyponitrous acid. 
 
 14 
 
 32 
 
 Nitrous acid. 
 
 14 
 
 40 
 
 Nitric acid. 
 
 It has been ascertained that a similar multiple relation, 
 capable of being numerically expressed, exists between 
 the proportions higher and lower in which all bodies com- 
 bine with each other. 
 
 In consequence of the discovery of these great truths, 
 which constitute the fundamental laws of chemistry, it 
 has been found possible to emi:)loy symbolical language 
 in that science, so as to enable chemists to express in the 
 simplest manner the constitution of every compound body 
 and indicate the way in which its elements maybe replaced. 
 Each elementary substance is designated by the first 
 letter of its name, compounds by the combination of the 
 initial letters of their elements, and the number of simple 
 equivalents of each element by their attached numbers. 
 The memory which would otherwise be burdened by the 
 number of particulars, (described by Plato as infinite,) 
 is able by their being thus bound into bundles, to use a 
 phrase of Locke's, and happily labelled, to bear its know- 
 ledge about with it, and the whole doctrine of the com- 
 position of bodies becomes comprehensible by the human 
 intellect. But chemists in setting forth their own dis- 
 coveries, and in giving due praise to one another, are 
 apt to forget that they have been able to accomplish their 
 work through the simplicity and numerical regularity of
 
 AND CHEMICAL PROrORTIONS, 363 
 
 the laws operating in nature. Human science is possible 
 because there has been the strictest attention paid to or- 
 der in the objects which it could arrange and classify. 
 
 It is also worthy of being mentioned that the volumes 
 of compound gases always stand in a very simple ratio to 
 the volumes of the elements thus : — 
 
 50 oxygen -\- 100 nitrogen yield 100 protoxide of nitrogen. 
 100 oxygen -[- 100 nitrogen " 200 binoxide of nitrogen. 
 
 60 oxygen -|- 100 hydrogen " 100 water. 
 100 nitrogen -j- 300 hydrogen " 200 ammonia. 
 
 Some curious discoveries seem to have been made in re- 
 gard to the connexion between chemical equivalents, and 
 volumes ; but they are not so perfected as to allow of their 
 introduction in such a treatise as this. 
 
 Attempts have been made in the same science to form 
 bodies into groups or congeners. M. Dumas, in particu- 
 lar, has detected a number of triads, or series of three 
 bodies, which have analogous properties, and showing a 
 singular numerical progression in their equivalent weights ; 
 the equivalents of two of these added together, and divided 
 by two, giving approximately the equivalent of the third 
 thus : — 
 
 Chlorine, 35 J Potassium, 40 
 
 Bromine, >• 80 Sodium, )■ 24 
 
 Iodine, 125 ) Lithium, 7 
 
 Calcium, 20 ) Sulphur, 16 
 
 Strontium, V 44 Silenium, )■ 40 
 
 Barium, GO ) Tellurium, G4 
 
 " Regarding," says Faraday, " chlorine, bromine, and 
 iodine, as one triad, it will be seen that between the first 
 and the last there is recognisaliK.' a wrll-niaikcd prt)gre8- 
 sion of quahties. Thus chlorine is a gas, uiukr ordin-
 
 364 CRYSTALLINE FORMS 
 
 ary temperatures and pressures ; bromine, a fluid ; and 
 iodine, a solid ; in this manner displaying a progression 
 in the difference of cohesive force. Again, chlorine is 
 yellow ; bromine, red ; iodine, black, or, in vapour, a red- 
 dish violet."" 
 
 In the higher chemistry of organized bodies we meet 
 with another kind of organic groups ; " these are named 
 Organic Types, the meaning of which is, that the atoms 
 are grouped together in a certain mode, on which the 
 properties or the compound so entirely depend, that pro- 
 vided this grouping or arrangement be retained, great 
 changes may be made in regard to individual elements, 
 without changing the general character of the compound. 
 This leads us to the very remarkable and important law 
 of substitution, which has become so fertile in discoveries 
 of late years."f In organic chemistry every compound 
 represents a type, and all chemical changes are substitu- 
 tions, but only like for like can be substituted, one metal 
 for another, or chlorine for iodine, &c. 
 
 In organic chemistry, the ari^angement of the atoms 
 determines the character of the type. A certain arrange- 
 ment gives acids, another ethers, and so on. As an ex- 
 ample of such an organic type, Dr. Gregory gives the 
 case of Naphthaline C^,,, H^., the character of which is that 
 it is volatile and combustible. Now the hydrogen in this 
 compound may be replaced, atom by atom, by chlorine, 
 yielding a compound C20 Clg, which still retains the gen- 
 eral characters of the type. 
 
 But there is another form of substitution giving rise to 
 liomologous sei'ies, in which hydrogen is replaced by cer- 
 tain compound radicals which are themselves homologous 
 and give origin, when substituted for hydrogen, to other 
 
 * Faraday's Lectures on Non-Metallic Elements, pp. 158, 159. 
 t Elementary Treatise of Chemistry, p. 265.
 
 AND CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS. 365 
 
 homologous series. The following tabular view will ren- 
 der this jjlain : — 
 
 
 Hydrogen H. 
 
 
 Water HO. 
 
 
 ' Mcthyle, Co H3 
 
 
 ' Oxide of Methyle, C, H3 
 
 
 Ethyle, C4 Hi 
 
 E 
 
 do. Ethyle, C4 H5 
 
 
 Propyle, Ce H; 
 Butyle, Cs H9 
 
 1^ 
 
 do. Perpyle, Ce H7 
 do. Butyle, Cs Hg 
 
 
 ^Amyle, CioH,, 
 
 
 do. Am_vlc, CioHiiO 
 
 Taking methyle, the first in the series, we can see the 
 simple relation which exists between it and all the mem- 
 bers of the series. The second, cthylc, is derived from 
 the first by adding two atoms of carbon, and two of hy- 
 drogen. The third bears a like relation to the second, and 
 so on throughout. The carbon equivalents form an even 
 number, those of the hydrogen are odd numbers. It is far- 
 ther worthy of notice, that the volatility of each is inversely 
 as the amount of carbon and hydrogen, and, consequently, 
 the density is in direct proportion to the amount of car- 
 bon and hydrogen. The density and boiling point in- 
 crease from the top to the bottom of the scale, in the 
 order in which they stand in the above table. Methyle 
 is a gas like hydrogen, requiring twenty atmospheres to 
 reduce it to a fluid state, amyle is an oily fluid boiling 
 at 311^ Fahr. 
 
 The radicles in the first part of the table are all homo- 
 logous with, and analogous to, hydrogen. And as hydro- 
 gen, H, was the starting point in the series of radicles, 
 (Ethyles,) so water HO is the starting-point of a new ho- 
 mologous series formed from these radicles, forming 
 ethers, as represented in the second series in the table. 
 The first of these, oxide of methyle, C^ H^ 0, is a gas ^t 
 ordinary temperatures, the others are Tujuids less volatile 
 than ether, and so on. 
 
 From this second series a tliini homologous series is
 
 366 ' CRYSTALLINE FORMS 
 
 formed, viz., the alcohols, by the addition of two equiva- 
 lents of water ; one example may suffice : Ca H3 0, HO 
 give methylic alcohol, &c. It may be observed that these 
 series, ethers and alcohols, are also analogous as well 
 as homologous, that is, their general characters are the 
 same. 
 
 " We can now see," says Dr. Gregory, " that the pro- 
 gress of science must inevitably reduce the whole of or- 
 ganic chemistry, in which we must remember only the 
 same three or four elements are perpetually met with, 
 to a collection of homologous series, in which every com- 
 pound win have its natural place, indicative at once of 
 its origin, its immediate derivation, and its properties 
 both physical and chemical."* 
 
 It is not necessary to maintain that all the laws re- 
 ferred to in this section, or in any of the sections, are 
 simple and original ; it is not necessary that we should 
 regard any one of them as being so. We are at liberty 
 to suppose that the very law of gravitation itself is de- 
 rived from a simpler law, as is maintained by some in 
 our day ; still the order in the derivative law would be a 
 proof of order in the original law itself, and in the ar- 
 rangements made in order to its operations ; thus, upon 
 the discovery of the law of gravitation, the laws of Kep- 
 ler were accounted for, but by a law orderly in itself, and 
 havino' beautiful arrantrements made in order to its bene- 
 ficent action. Most of the forms of crystals found in 
 nature are derivative, but when we go back to the origi- 
 nal forms, we find them, like the derivative, distinguished 
 by the most methodical symmetry. On the same prin- 
 ciple we may argue that should the laws at present 
 acknowledged in science be resolved into simpler ones, 
 it would still be found that tlie original laws, with the 
 
 * Gregory's Elementary Treatise on Chemistry, pp. 2G4, 269, 272.
 
 AND CHEMICAL PROPORTIONS. 367 
 
 adjustments made iu order to their operation, arc of a 
 recrular and niutuallv adaptive character. The forms of 
 crystals, and the relations of chemical equivalents, if not 
 simple, must, just because thc}^ are regular, proceed from 
 forms or from forces, one or both, which are also charac- 
 terized by regularity. From disorder there can flow only 
 confusion ; order can proceed only from order. 
 
 SECT. II. ADAPTATIONS OF INORGANIC OBJECTS TO ANIMALS 
 
 AND PLANTS. 
 
 Many of the adjustments which might be adduced 
 under this head are so obvious that it is not necessary to 
 dilate on them ; indeed, they can scarcely be made more 
 impressive by any scientific treatment. While the ele- 
 ments of nature obey their own methodical laws, they are 
 so arranged as to form living organisms, and supply 
 them with the needful sustenance. Each agent has its 
 rule of action, but is made to co-operate with every other. 
 Law is suited to law, property fits into property, colloca- 
 tion is adapted to collocation, and the result is harmony 
 and beneficence. The whole is dependent on every one 
 of its parts, and the parts all lend their aid to the pro- 
 duction of the whole. A break in a single thread of the 
 complicated network would occasion the failure of the 
 whole design. 
 
 There are upwards of sixty substances, which, in our 
 present state of knowledge, we must regard as uncom- 
 pounded. Each of these has its own properties, and the 
 Hystem is sustained by the joint action of all. Very pos- 
 sibly the absence of any one of the elements, certainly 
 the absence of any one of the thirteen more universally 
 dill'used, would throw the mundane system into confusion. 
 Eacli has a purpose to serve which could bo served by no
 
 3G8 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 other. Oxygen, so essential to animal breath and life, 
 is the most largely distributed of them all, composing 
 more than one half of the whole inorganic objects known 
 to us. Hydrogen, the other element of water, no less 
 necessary to living beings, seems to have a relation to 
 everv living organism. Carbon is a main source to us 
 of artiiicial light and heat. In order that it should fulfil 
 this end, it is necessary that it should be a solid while 
 evolving its light and heat, (a gas has little, and this 
 only a momentary, power of illumination) ; this is pro- 
 vided for by carbon being in itself always solid. But if 
 the result of combustion had been also a solid, then the 
 world would have been buried in its own ashes ; this evil 
 is avoided by the carbon going off in carbonic acid, which 
 is volatile. The mass is all glowing one instant, the next 
 it is dissipated into air. "Carbon," says Faraday, "posses- 
 ses every quality to render it adapted to its intended uses; 
 not one property, however seemingly unimportant, could 
 be added or taken away without destropng the whole 
 harmonious scheme of nature, devised with such wisdom, 
 maintained with such care."* 
 
 Each of the powers and elements of nature is in itself 
 potent, and capable of working destructive effects, but is 
 checked and balanced by nice adjustments. What tre- 
 mendous energies does oxygen display in the phenomena 
 of combustion, and when in the condition of ozone ; yet 
 how tranquil and passive as one of the elements of water, 
 and as locked up in so many of the constituents of the 
 earth's crust. The electric force held in balance in a 
 single drop of water would, if let loose, exceed in energy 
 the electricity of a thunder-storm. Man is placed in a 
 state of things in which, as he is dependent, he is made 
 every instant to feel his dependence. 
 
 • Letters on Non-Metallic Elements, p. 277.
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 369 
 
 What a vast number of independent agencies must 
 combine and co-operate in order to the life of organized 
 beings ! It is wrong to talk of an organism develojiing 
 itself by its simple and independent energy. Whatever 
 be its internal nature — in which also, in our opinion, 
 there is complexity and combination — it requires exter- 
 nal agents in exact adaptation to it. All plants need 
 nourishment, and this is supplied by inorganic matter ; 
 all animals need nourisliment, and can be nourislied onlv 
 by matter that has been organized, and this is furnished 
 directly or indirectly by the plant. How beautiful that 
 adjustment by which animals breathe of the oxygen of 
 the atmosphere, and set carbonic acid free for the use of 
 plants, wliile plants absorb carbonic acid, and set oxygen 
 free for the benefit of animals ! Then all animated beings 
 need moisture, which depends on the chemical laws unit- 
 ing oxygen and hydrogen to form waiter, and also on beat 
 to retain it in a state of vapour in the air, and on certain 
 adjusted relations, in respect of quantity and weight, to 
 the atmosphere in which it floats. All organized beings, 
 too, depend on light coming in the needed proportion 
 from a distant body, and on heat, the measure of which 
 depends on the state of the central part of the earth, on 
 the radiations of the sun, and on the temperature of the 
 regions of space. A considerable change in any one of 
 these essential conditions Avould be fatal to the whole an- 
 imated beings on the earth's surface. 
 
 But instead of dwelling on these familiar topics, we 
 shall turn to, perhaps not so conclusive, but still to a less 
 known set of facts, in wliich it lias been supposed that 
 disorder reigns. 
 
 We have, in a previous chapter, brought forward some 
 evidences of ada])tatioii in Ibc march of events whicli 
 preceded man's epoch, and wMi h li;ivc given rise to im-
 
 370 "ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 portant changes on the earth's surface, to fit it as the 
 dwelling-place of animals and plants, and apparently ef- 
 fected with a view more especially to the advent of man. 
 In the development of this scheme, a suitable vegetation 
 was called into being, animal tribes were introduced, with 
 the command to multiply, and finally, to man was com- 
 mitted a power over every living thing. 
 
 Our aim, in the present section, is to show that there 
 are traces of fitness in the general aspect of the earth's 
 contour, in the arrangement of its dry land and waters, 
 and in the relations of its surface to temperature and 
 moisture ; and that these, in turn, have some connexion, 
 more or less evident, with the distribution of animal and 
 vegetable life, and also with the wellbeing of the human 
 family. 
 
 The study of Physical Greography, which has of late 
 years come into prominence, has little or no reference to 
 those arbitrary divisions of the world which occupy the 
 attention of the mere geographer. In examining the 
 structure of the earth's surface physically, attention is 
 rather directed to the valleys and elevations which diver- 
 sify its surface — those furrows drawn by the hand of 
 time, and the mountains which, by their upheaval, have 
 so remarkably diversified it, and indirectly have such im- 
 portant bearing on the existence and wellbeing of ani- 
 mals and plants. Those dee]) furrows and prominent 
 ridges, constituting so remarkable a feature of the earth, 
 are lasting records of the great changes to which it has 
 been subjected : we cannot suppose them to have been 
 fixed by mere chance ; they bear distinct traces of sub- 
 jection to those great principles which regulate aU the 
 plans of Him, every part of whose works is adapted to 
 every other. 
 
 The investigations of observers in different ages have
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 371 
 
 establislied the following leading truths in regard to this 
 subject. 
 
 Land predominates in the nortliern hemisphere, water 
 in the southern ; the lands comprising the old and new 
 worlds stand at right angles to each other ; the new 
 world is perpendicular to the equator, the old parallel to 
 it. In reference to the contour of the dry land, it has 
 been observed, that the southern ends of the old and new 
 worlds terminate in a point, while they widen toward the 
 north ; that the southern points are high and rocky; 
 that the continents present, to the east of their southern 
 extremities, a large island or grouj) of islands ; and that 
 each continent has a large gulf to the west. Humboldt 
 has indicated the parallelism of the two sides of the 
 Atlantic ; the projecting parts of the one correspond to 
 the gulfs of the other. Steffens has remarked, that not 
 only do the great continents expand towards tlie north, 
 and become narrower toward the south, but that the 
 same is true of their peninsulas also. He speaks, like- 
 wise, of the grouping of masses of land two and two 
 together, and points out an isthmus or chain of islands 
 uniting them. 
 
 Guyot, in his " Earth and Man," enunciates the follow- 
 ing great laws, which apply to all continents in regard 
 to their relief or elevation : — All increase gradually in 
 height from the shore to the interior ; in all the conti- 
 nents the maximum (if elevatimi is not ill llio centre — 
 hence there are two slopes of unequal length, and in the 
 mean, one of these slopes is always at least four or five 
 times greater than the otlier ; and the height of the 
 jilaiiis and of the table-lands increases at the same time 
 with the absolute elevation of the mountains. Tn the 
 old World, tli(tugh the j)rincij)al slo]»e is towurd ihe north, 
 we still observe a gradual decrease of the reliefs from
 
 372 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 east to west : in the same manner, in the new world, 
 while the principal slope is from the west to the east, it 
 can be shewn that the reliefs go on gradually increasing 
 from north to south, as in the old world.* Generally 
 speaking, although the mountains increase in elevation 
 from the poles to the tropical regions, the greatest heights 
 are not exactly at the equator ; in the old world they 
 occupy the vicinity of the tropic of Cancer, and in 
 the new, are near the tropic of Capricorn. To use the 
 words of Guyot, — "A great law, a general law unites 
 all the various systems of mountains and of table-lands 
 which cover the surface of our globe, and arranges them 
 in a vast and regular system of slopes and counter- 
 slopes." 
 
 From all this it is evident that the position of the 
 great masses of land, the forms of their coasts, the situa- 
 tions and relations of their mountains, table-lands, and 
 plains, have not been left to chance. A casual glance at 
 a map, or a cursory examination of an individual country, 
 may leave the impression that there is a want of definite 
 order, that all is in inextricable confusion ; but careful 
 examination of the entire wide surface of our globe, and 
 of the relations of its various parts, conclusively demon- 
 strates that He who commanded the dry land to appear, 
 accomplished His purpose according to a predetermined 
 plan, the issues of which must have been foreseen by Him, 
 even as they can now be seen by us. An inquiry into the 
 special modifications, in their relations to climate and the 
 distribution of living objects, enables us to see what fatal 
 consequences must have resulted, so far as the present 
 economy of things is concerned, if the plan and modifica- 
 tions had been different. 
 
 A water surface is slowly heated, and the consequent 
 
 * Guyot, Earth and Man, p. 50. 
 
 i
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 373 
 
 evaporation produced lias an additional retarding effect ; 
 such surface is also slowly cooled by radiation. A land 
 surface, on tlie other hand, becomes rapidly heated, and 
 as rapidly parts with its heat. Change of temperature 
 in water occasions a change of position in its particles ; 
 no such effect is produced on the land surface. The 
 sun's rays are weakened in their passage through the 
 atmosphere, owing to the presence of clouds and mists, 
 and the increased density of the lower strata ; the por- 
 tion of that medium nearest the earth, however, receives 
 its temperature principally through radiation from the 
 soil. The variety of surfjice, whether in respect of 
 smoothness or irregularity, elevation or depression, water 
 or dry land, necessarily occasions also a corresponding- 
 difference in the amount of heat received by different 
 countries ; from which it appears that terrestrial as well 
 as atmospheric conditions modify the distribution of the 
 heat which we derive from the great central luminary of 
 our system. 
 
 The processes of heating and those of cooling are 
 slower and less sensible on water than on land, and the 
 portions of air in contact with these surfaces respectively, 
 are affected by the peculiarities of each : over the former 
 the atmosphere contains more moisture, and is of more 
 uniform temperature, than over the latter. Lands far 
 from the influence of the sea have great extremes of heat 
 and cold, whereas maritime districts have a more uniform 
 temperature throughout the year. Tlic division into 
 torrid, temperate, and polar zones, though generally ap- 
 plicable as regards the climates of our earth, is greatly 
 modified by local configurations of surface, so tliat there 
 lire no exact lines of dfuiarcation sei)arating tlie torrid 
 from the temperate zone. Tn tlie words of Hundioldt, 
 
 The temperature is raised by the ])roxiniity of a western 
 
 u riM
 
 374 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 coast in the temperate zones ; by the divided configura- 
 tion of a continent into peninsulas with deeply-indented 
 bays and inland seas ; the jorevalence of southerly or 
 westerly winds ; chains of mountains acting as protect- 
 ing walls against winds coming from colder regions ; 
 the vicinity of the ocean current, and the serenity of the 
 sky in summer : it is lowered by elevation above the seas, 
 when not forming part of a plain ; the compact configura- 
 tion of a continent having no littoral curvatures nor bays; 
 the vicinity of isolated peahs ; mountain chains whose 
 mural form and direction impede the access of warm 
 winds ; and a cloudy summer sky, which weakens the ef- 
 fects of the solar rays." 
 
 That comparative sameness which would result from 
 uniformity of surface, exposed to regular amount of solar 
 radiation at different seasons of the varying year, is coun- 
 teracted by special modifications of our dry land and ocean; 
 and hence the variety of climate, and corresponding diver- 
 sity in the vegetation clothing the earth, and in the living 
 beings that people it. 
 
 The atmosphere near the earth's surface, or in contact 
 with it, is, as a whole, much warmer in the vicinity of 
 the equator than at the extreme polar regions. This 
 hotter and higher air has a tendency to ascend, and the 
 colder and heavier, an equal tendency to rush in from all 
 sides and supply the place of the former. To such dif- 
 ferences of temperature may generally be referred all 
 those atmospheric currents which constitute the different 
 winds.* The direction of these currents towards the 
 equator might be uniform if the earth did not rotate, 
 and if its surface were level. The currents from the 
 vicinity of the pole have little rotatory motion, but in 
 
 * For some ingenious speculations on Uiis subject, we would refer to Lieut. Maury's 
 recent and excellent work on tiie Physical Geography of the Soa. ■
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 375 
 
 theiv prog;rc^s toward tlie equator tliey reach successively 
 portions of the earth's surface, which revolve more and 
 more rapidly, and thus leave them behind, (if we may so 
 speak,) and then they appear to blow in a direction con- 
 trary to that of the earth's rotation. Hence the cur- 
 rent from the north becomes converted into a north-east, 
 and that from the south into a south-east wind. Such is 
 the orio;in of those re2:ular winds called the Trades. 
 
 The land and sea breezes of warm climates depend on 
 the same general cause ; the cold air from the sea during 
 the day flows in to supply the place of the air which is 
 more rapidly lieated over the land, (and consequently 
 ascends,) the converse happening at night. 
 
 The aerial currents spoken of, and their more regular 
 modifications, also exercise a greater or less influence upon 
 the ocean surface, giving rise to interchanges in its parts. 
 There is a similarity in the efi^ects produced by heat upon 
 the sea, to those produced by the same agent on the aerial 
 ocean. The warmer waters of the equatorial sea have a 
 tendency to flow towards the poles, the colder and heavier 
 portions forming an under current toward the equator. 
 Differences in the amount of saline matter, occasioned by 
 excessive evaporation at certain points, or by the influx 
 of large rivers, producing differences in the specific gravity 
 of the ocean water,* necessarily also give rise to currents. 
 Whatever jjower, however, sets the water in motion, the 
 direction of the current is variously modified by the con- 
 tour of the land. 
 
 Moisture is being continually evaporated in an invi- 
 sible state, and mixes with the atmos])liere ; an abso- 
 lutely dry air is therefore almost an ini])ossible occur- 
 rence, thougli there may be endless modifications in the 
 amount of nnjisture depending on various causes. The 
 
 • Wc would again rt-fer to Llout. Maury's work for di^tails on tlils InliTostliiR subject.
 
 376 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 quantity differs according to elevation above the earth's 
 surface ; the diminished density of the air upwards is 
 accompanied also with decrease of the absolute amount 
 of vapour of water contained in it. In the vicinity of 
 the equator the suspended vapour is abundant, owing to 
 the excessive heat^ and the extent of water surface ; it 
 diminishes toward the poles ; it is generally greatest over 
 the open sea, and decreases from the coast to the interior 
 of continents. 
 
 From this brief account some idea may be entertained 
 of the remarkable relations between the genial beams of 
 the sun reaching us from a distant point in space, and the 
 atmosphere, dry land, and water of our world. These, 
 again, have a connexion with the distribution and well- 
 being of the animals and plants which have been distri- 
 buted over its surface with bountiful hand. 
 
 We may now briefly examine some of the consequences 
 of the present arrangements of the earth's surface. Not 
 the least remarkable of these is determined by the gene- 
 ral position of the highest elevations. The concentration 
 and grouping of the high and extensive mountain sys- 
 tems towards the equator tend to reduce the temperature 
 of that region ; and the great extent of its water-surface 
 contributes to the same effect. If the equatorial surface 
 had been all land, and that land all plain, it is obvious, 
 for reasons already stated, that the whole of that part 
 would have presented the character of a parched desert, 
 and, in reference to animal and vegetable life, would have 
 been a dead waste. One of the agents necessary to the 
 development of living organisms, namely, heat, would have 
 been supplied in excess, and another, no less essential, 
 namely, moisture, would have been withheld. By the 
 complicated, but nicely adjusted, arrangements we have 
 already described, the present constitution of the earth's
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 377 
 
 surface determines enough of the agents in question for 
 the wellbeing of vegetable and animal life. 
 
 If the elevated mountain ranges had been all grouped 
 toward the higher latitudes, eternal snows and ice would 
 have debarred animals and plants from a large extent of 
 surface at present occupied by both. A combination of 
 all these arrangements, namely, extensive flat land at the 
 equator, and high land at the poles, would have neces- 
 sarily limited the range of living forms, which must have 
 been chieflv confined to a comparatively narrow zone be- 
 tween the two extremes. 
 
 Even when we consider the present asp(ict of limited 
 portions of the earth's surface, we are struck with the 
 beauty of the adaptations. Mixtures of two masses of 
 air of different temperatures, and with dissimilar amount 
 of moisture, will occasion condensation of that moisture 
 in the form of mist or rain. The ascent of the hot and 
 humid air of the equator brings it in contact with strata 
 lower in temperature, and condensation of moisture is the 
 result. The same may happen when it moves on as an 
 overflowing current towards the north and south. Nor 
 is it to be forgotten that there is another condensing 
 agent ; we refer to land of high elevation. Moist winds 
 meeting with such an obstacle to their flow, have their 
 onward progress aiTCsted, and their horizontal changed 
 into an ascending course ; the consequence is, that the 
 mass of air, becoming cooled by contact with other and 
 colder air, and with the land surface, loses its power of 
 retaining the same amount of vajwur, and condensation 
 of moisture is the result. 1 n the words of Guyot, — " The 
 mcmntain chains are the great condensers, })laccd here 
 and there along the continents, to rob the winds of tin ir 
 treasures, ti» serve as reservoirs for the rain waters, ami 
 to distribute them aftcr^vard8, as they are needed, over
 
 378 ADAPTATION OF INOKGANiC OBJECTS 
 
 the surrounding })lains. Their wet and cloudy summits 
 seem to be untiringly occupied with this important work. 
 From their sides flow numberless torrents and rivers, 
 carrying in all directions wealth and life,"* 
 
 In the new world, the chain of the Andes — its "great 
 backbone" — is situated not far from the western border ; 
 to the east of this vast range are extensive plains, with 
 interspersed secondary mountain ranges ; and this pecu- 
 liarity of conformation has a most important and neces- 
 sary relation to its climatic peculiarities. The trade- 
 winds from the Atlantic, in their progress first reach the 
 eastern slope, where the secondary chains of mountains 
 condense part of the moisture in refreshing showers, and, 
 finally coming in contact with the great and elevated 
 principal range, the air is robbed of most of the vapour 
 which remains. Hence a continual flow of water down 
 the eastern slope, clothing that fertile region with the 
 richest vegetation, and giving it the largest river sys- 
 tems in the world, A necessary result of this influence 
 exerted on the moist trade-wind in its progress to the 
 west, is, that by the time it reaches the western side of 
 the Andes nearly all its moisture has been lost, and a 
 line of coast on the Pacific presents the character of an 
 arid desert. The extent, however, of this region of 
 draught is very small, compared with that which profits 
 at its expense. The advantage derived from the arrange- 
 ment on the one side of the Andes, far more than com- 
 pensates for the disadvantage, and then this latter is still 
 farther lessened by local peculiarities, for the Chilian de- 
 sert would have presented greater latitudinal extent, if 
 the Cordilleras toward the north had been higher, or the 
 continent of greater breadth. 
 
 Imagine a difierent arrangement of surface ; the great 
 
 * Guyofs Earth and Man, p. 144.
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 379 
 
 mountain cliain, for example, transferred to the eastern, 
 instead of occupying the western side ; the consequence 
 would have been that the Atlantic trade-wind must 
 have had its progress arrested, and its vapour condensed, 
 at a comparatively early part of its course ; the ocean 
 giving up a portion of its waters to the passing wind, 
 would have received them back again at no great dis- 
 tance in space, and after a short lapse of time ; no ex- 
 tensive river systems could have possibly existed as at 
 present ; — in a word, the whole influence of the genial 
 wind would have been lost, the descent to the west would 
 have been far more extensive, and the chans^-e in the 
 land surfiice, and the resulting effects on climatic pecu- 
 liarity, would have resulted in a very different distribu- 
 tion of organic forms, would have given rise to new fea- 
 tures in the zones of animal and vegetable life, and 
 cliauged the habitations of man, and the relation of one 
 part of mankind to another. 
 
 We may now direct our attention to another part of 
 this wide subject, to modifications which have respect 
 to the waters of the ocean and their cun-ents. It has 
 been already stated that there is a tendency to a general 
 transference of the warmer equatorial waters to the north 
 and south, and of the colder polar waters towards the 
 equator, subject to modification . in consequence of the 
 earth's rotation. Now the configuration of the land sur- 
 face determines peculiarities in the distribution of the 
 great currents, Avhich exert no mean influence on the 
 distriljutiuii of organic forms. The great equatorial 
 current of the Atlantic has the largest mass of its waters 
 Ijjfurcated liy the projecting point of Cape Ban Iloque, 
 on<.' part being deflected to tlie soutli, along the ccjast of 
 Brazil, hence called the Brazil current ; while the re- 
 maining and largest passes into the (Julf of Mexico, and
 
 380 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 then issues from the north-east extremity of the same, 
 under the name of the Gulf Stream, and at a tempera- 
 ture exceeding 80° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. At its 
 exit from the narrow passage between the point of Florida 
 and the island of Cuba, and for some distance be3^ond, 
 its flow is comparatively rapid and northwards, till the 
 cold currents from the north, and the change in the con- 
 tour of the coast line, produce such an influence that its 
 direction becomes north-east.'''" Nevertheless it still re- 
 tains a high temperature ; in lat. 41° N. it is at 72'5° F., 
 and 63'5° F. on the outer border of the stream. Its in- 
 fluence is admitted to extend to a large part of north- 
 western Europe, and it bears with it evidence of its pre- 
 sence, and of the regions whence it flows, in the form of 
 tropical seeds and fruits, &c., which are stranded on the 
 shores bathed by its waters, and this even as far as North 
 Cape. 
 
 The efiect of such a body of warm water (at Cape 
 Hatteras, Professor Bache found its temperature little 
 altered at a depth of 3000 feet) upon the distribution of 
 marine animals and plants might be expected ; but this 
 influence extends also to the lands along whose shores it 
 moves. The late Professor E. Forbes has shown its 
 effect as regards the distribution of animal forms on the 
 British coasts, the general Fauna of the German Ocean 
 being different from that of the Atlantic border-line. 
 This difference we have shown to be not less marked in 
 regard to marine vegetation ; certain species of sea-j^tlants 
 abundant on the Devonshire coast, range also alona; the 
 Atlantic border as far as the Shetland Islands, while 
 most of them are wanting over a large proportion of the 
 
 * This explanation is not deemed sufficiently satisfactory by some, and we would re- 
 fer to the remarks on this subject, in Lieut. Maury's work already quoted. We have 
 chiefly to do with the course of the current.
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS, 381 
 
 coasts Avaslied by the German Ocean.* The general 
 miklness of the western coast of Britain, as compared 
 with the eastern, is mainly to be attributed to the com- 
 paratively warm water of the Atlantic. The influence 
 extends to the land vegetation of the continent ; the con- 
 sequence being that the line of cultivation extends nearly 
 to Xorth Cape, and barley may be grown as far as 70^ N. 
 latitude. 
 
 It appears that while there is a general plan regulating 
 the relations between our earth's surface and the intiucnce 
 of the central luminary of our system, there are modifi- 
 cations affecting the more local distribution of heat and 
 moisture ; and these are associated with certain features 
 of organic life, inasmuch as there is a relation between 
 the amounts of the necessar}^ agents and the copstitution 
 of animals and plants. We cannot avoid coming to the 
 conclusiun that there are indications — at least in our 
 hemisphere, that great centre whence civilization has ex- 
 tended — of suitable physical conditions, which were not 
 brought about by mere chance. 
 
 Knowing the connection which exists between the na- 
 ture of the surface, whether land or water, and the influ- 
 ence of the sun's rays on the temperature of our atmos- 
 phere, is is quite legitimate to speculate regarding altera- 
 tions of climate as related to changes of surface. 
 
 Those great revolutions which have taken place at dif- 
 ferent epochs of our earth's history, and the corresponding 
 pliases which luive occurred in animal and vegetable life, 
 are among the more interesting points which occupy the 
 attention, and are revealed by the investigations of the 
 geologist and of the paUcontologist. In man's compara- 
 tively brief period, such liave not been distinctly exhibi- 
 ted on any great scale ; nevertheless witli no inconsider- 
 
 • Bee Dr. Dickie's Paper In I'rocoudlngs of nrltli^h AASociatloii for 1862.
 
 
 382 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 able degrse of certainty, the pliysicist can sliow what 
 general climatic changes would follow the submergence 
 of a continent, and the increase of water surface, or the 
 converse. Farther, the average height of any portion of 
 land above the level of the sea, can be shewn to exercise 
 a distinct influence on the climate of the region, and con- 
 sequently, on the beings which inhabit it. Sir Charles 
 Lyell in his " Principles of Geology," has shewn how the 
 numbers and distribution of animals and plants are 
 affected by changes in the physical geography of the 
 earth, and that these changes may also promote or retard 
 migrations of species, or alter the physical conditions of 
 the localities which they inhabit. " There are always 
 says he, " some peculiar and characteristic features in the 
 physical geography of each large division of the globe, and 
 on these peculiarities the state of animal and vegetable 
 life is dependent." 
 
 Mr. Hopkins, in his introductory address to the meet- 
 ing of the British Association at Hull, has very clearly 
 shewn the relation between the climate of northern 
 and western Europe, and the present configuration of the 
 American coast line, in reference to the direction of the 
 great Gulf Stream. He remarks — " It is to the enormous 
 mass of heated water thus poured into the colder seas of 
 our own latitudes, that we owe the temperate character 
 of our climate and not only do the maps of M. Dove 
 enable us to assert distinctly this general fact, but also 
 make an approximate calculation of the amount to which 
 the temperature of these, regions is thus affected. If a 
 change were to take place in the configuration of the 
 surface of the globe, so as to admit the passage of this 
 current directly into the Pacific, across the existing 
 Isthmus of Panama, or along the base of the Kocky 
 Mountains of North America into the North Sea — a
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 383 
 
 change indefinitely small in comparison to those which 
 have heretofore taken place — our mountains, which now 
 present to us the ever-varying beauties of successive sea- 
 sons, would become the unvarying abodes of the glacier, 
 and regions of the snow-storm ; the cultivation of our soil 
 could be no longer maintained, and civilisation itself must 
 retreat before the invasion of such physical barbarism." 
 
 We arc anxious not to stretch the argument beyond 
 what it can bear. Where the relations are so many and 
 complicated, we are not entitled to say that no other sys- 
 tem could have served the same ends ; but we think that 
 we can discover proof that there is a system. We can 
 see that certain changes unless counterbalanced by other 
 changes, would have been fatal to many^of the animated 
 beings on the earth's surface. We can see, too, that the 
 present condition of the globe is, in fact, suited to the 
 existing distribution of organized l)cings ; and we know 
 of no means by which plants and brutes could have 
 adapted themselves to an essentially different state of the 
 earth. It is evident that every part is suited to every 
 other. " The mind," says Lieut. Maury, " is delighted, 
 and the imagination charmed, by contemplating the 
 physical arrangements of the earth fi'om such points of 
 view as this which we have now before us ; from it, the 
 sea, and the air, and the land appear each as a part of 
 that grand machinery upon which the wcllbeing of all 
 inhabitants of earth, sea, and air, depend ; and wliicli, in 
 tlieir beautiful adaptations, afford new and striking evi- 
 dence that tlicy all have their origin in one omniscient 
 idea, just as tlie different i)arts of a watch may be consi- 
 dered to have Ijcen constructed and arranged according to 
 one liMiiian design." 
 
 We fully acknowledge, in regard to man, lliaL he is 
 capable of suiting himself to a variety of conditions and
 
 384 ADAPTATION OF INORGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 circumstances, but, in this respect, he stands ahnost alone 
 in creation ; and we cannot view him apart from animals 
 and plants, for his existence is intimately linked to theirs. 
 
 His range in latitude is certainly very extensive, from 
 the snows of the Artie lands — wliere those outposts of 
 humanity, the Esquimaux, pass their lives between the 
 extremes of satiety and starvation — to the tropical zones, 
 where their swarthier brothers are exposed to the heat of 
 a meridian sun. But it is not to be forgotten that while 
 he can exist in such widely different circumstances, there 
 are certain terrestrial conditions necessary to the develop- 
 ment of his higher nature and qualities. " The distri- 
 bution of man," says Guyot, " over the surface of the 
 globe, and that of other organized beings, are not founded 
 on the same principle. There is a particular law which 
 presides over the distribution of the human races, and of 
 civilized communities, taken at their cradle in their in- 
 fancy ; a different law from that which governs the dis- 
 tribution of plants and animals. In the latter, the 
 degree of perfection of the type is proportional to the in- 
 tensity of heat, and of other agents which stimulate the 
 display of material life. The law is of physical order. 
 In man the degree of the perfection of the types is in 
 proportion to the degree of intellectual and moi-al im- 
 provement. The law is of moral order. . . . Here is 
 the reason that the Creator has placed the cradle of man- 
 kind in the midst of the continents of the north, so well 
 made, by their forms, by their structure, by their climate, 
 to stimulate and hasten individual development, and that 
 of human societies." 
 
 When God gave the earth to the children. He meant 
 it to be to them a source of something more than mere 
 sustenance. There are scenes spread all over its surface 
 which have delighted or roused the soul of man, and
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 385 
 
 helped to shape his character and his history. The fer- 
 tile field, the pleasant dale, the murmuring rill, the 
 gently-flowing stream, the rugged mountain, the bold 
 headland, the thundering cataracts, these have all been 
 the means of soothing, of exciting, or awing the spirit of 
 man. The vegetable productions enhance and vary the 
 effect by the lightness and gracefulness of their forms 
 and harmony of their colours, by their tangled luxuriance 
 in our meadows and by our rivers' banks, or by the 
 sombreness of their hue and depth of shade which they 
 furnish. These aspects of nature have all had thou* in- 
 fluence in raising up new ideas and fresh feelings in 
 man's soul. The j^hysical characters of a region, the na- 
 ture of its surface whether flat or hilly, its soil and 
 minerals, the size and flow of its rivers, the mountain 
 chains which cross it, and the bays of the sea wliicli in- 
 dent it, the clearness or cloudiness of its atmosphere — all 
 these have moulded to some extent the psychical pecu- 
 liarities of man, and determined his tastes, his pursuits, 
 and his destmy. 
 
 And there are still higher views to be taken of human- 
 ity. " God hath made of one blood all nations of men for 
 to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined 
 the times before appointed, and the bounds of their hal)i- 
 tation." As the drama of our race's history is only being 
 acted, we cannot see the issue ; but we are convinced 
 that in this allotment there was a reference to the devel- 
 opment of man's mental faculties, and ultimately to his 
 moral and religious elevation. 
 
 We should leave a wrong impression if we did not 
 here state our belief that our earth, while ada])ted to man, 
 is adapted to him ;is ;i being fallen, IVail and depraved. 
 Our earth had a jfaradisc uj)on it only fur a briel" jxTind, 
 and within a naiTOw range ; and, Inily, an Eden would
 
 386 ADAPTATION OF INOEGANIC OBJECTS 
 
 not be suited to man with his present character. We 
 frankly acknowledge that we could not comprehend the 
 suitableness of many of the physical conditions and ac- 
 tions of our globe, of its waters and its vapours, if we 
 regarded man as a pure and holy being, who did not re- 
 quire to be restrained from evil by physical barriers, who 
 needed not suffering to punish and to purify. Our earth, 
 while it affords nourishment to man, yields it in such a 
 manner that man must toil for it, and, in toiling for it, 
 is kept from much sin. Physical geography announces, 
 as clearly as Scripture, that man must eat bread in the 
 sweat of his face. Not only so, our soil and atmosphere 
 have chilling damps, and unwholesome heats, and dele- 
 terious ingredients, which breed and cherish disease, and 
 help to bring man to the grave. These are essential 
 parts of the economy of things in which man is placed. 
 In short, our eartli was prepared for man as possessing 
 sinful inclinations, and needing to be exposed to suffering. 
 Let us add, that it has been prepared as the scene of the 
 action and passion of Him who must " needs suffer many 
 things," and who had to say, " the foxes have holes, and 
 the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath 
 not where to lay his head." 
 
 But " unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given," 
 and " this same shall comfort us concerning our work 
 and the toil of our hands." We are convinced that not 
 a few of the conditions of the earth have a reference, 
 more or less direct, to the diffusion of Christianity as the 
 only element fitted to regenerate our world. As the 
 leaven is only yet leavening the mass, we cannot discover 
 its full relations to the agents among which it is placed. 
 But as the past condition of the earth was an anticipa- 
 tion of the present, so the present points on to the future. 
 We do not believe that the present is the consummated
 
 TO ANIMALS AND PLANTS, 387 
 
 state of the earth. Just as among the old geological 
 vertebrates, there were members which had not unfolded 
 all their capabilities, so, in our present earth, there are 
 agencies at work which have not completed their office. 
 A grand plan of prophecy is advancing both in the phy- 
 sical and moral world, and we live in the expectation of 
 a coming era, when the streams which have run for ages 
 alongside of each other will unite, and yield, at the same 
 time, a nobler condition of the earth's surface, and of the 
 spiritual character of its human inhabitants. " They 
 shall not labour in vain, nor Ijring forth for trouble/' 
 " Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and in- 
 stead oi^the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree." "The 
 cliild shall die an hundred years old."
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE HEAVENS. 
 
 SECT. I. ORDER IN THE MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 
 
 / 
 
 The ancients appealed with great confidence and evi- 
 dent delight, to the heavens, as fitted ahove almost 
 everything else, to prove that there is in nature, or above 
 it, a presiding Intelligence, The spectres of which they 
 stood in awe were either a grim fate or an unsteady 
 chance, and from these they felt that they could be most 
 readily dcHvered by the light which shone from the 
 heavenly bodies. The argument was perfectly conclu- 
 sive of the end proposed by those who advanced it, and 
 it was so, notwithstanding that they were not able to 
 shew whence the order to which they pointed proceeded. 
 They observed that the movements of the celestial bodies 
 were harmonious ; that there was, in consequence, a 
 beneficent succession of day and night, and of seed-time 
 and harvest, summer and winter, cold and hot ; that the 
 motions of the very stars, which they styled planetary or 
 wandering, were orderly — their apparent regularities 
 obeying a higher law of order ; that there was a cycle 
 for eclipses, whose return, therefore, could be predicted ; — 
 and they argued, we believe legitimately, that the " music 
 of the spheres" had been arranged as certainly as the
 
 ORDER IN TUE HEAVENLY BODIES. 389 
 
 concord which comes from a concert of musical instru- 
 ments. We are justified in inferring that there has been 
 inteUigence exercised in the production of the harmonies 
 of music, whether we are or are not able to shew hoAv 
 the tones are produced ; and, on a like principle, we are 
 entitled to conclude that the harmony of the heavens does 
 not' arise from the concurrences of chance, even when we 
 cannot unfold its nature with perfect accuracy. Theo- 
 logy has not been employing this argument so frequently 
 for the last age or two, but it is because the old spectre, 
 raised in the darkness of heathenism, has disappeared, 
 and it is now more terrified by another delusion, that of 
 pantheism, which has originated in the deception of the 
 eye when gazing on a brighter light. But the argument 
 drawn from the heavens is as conclusive as it ever was, 
 and can now be expounded more fully and satisfactorily. 
 We mean, in the brief survey which follows, to begin 
 with the Solar System, and thence rise to the region of 
 the Sidereal Heavens. 
 
 In all, about seventy planetary bodies — jilanets, 
 planetoids, and safrellites — are moving round the sun, 
 or round each other in the most regular manner. Each 
 of them is of an oblate spheroid shape ; rotates round its 
 own axis ; moves in an elliptic orbit, with a sun or a 
 planet in one of the foci ; has a fixed length of day, that 
 is, time of rotation on its axis ; and a fixed length of 
 year, that is, time of making a revolution round its pri- 
 mary. The rotatory motions and the revolutionary mo- 
 tions of the planets round the sun, and of the primaries 
 round their secondaries, are all, with the exception of 
 those of the satellites of Uranus, in one and the same 
 direction, fri)m west to cast. All these bodies arc held 
 in their spheres by a central force, of which Newton gave 
 us the pr(;por(ional ex])r(>ssion. ^Pliesc may not be the
 
 390 ORDER IN THE MOVEMENTS 
 
 ultimate expression of the laws of nature, but thoy are 
 the obvious forms in which thej present themselves to 
 human observation. 
 
 We have spoken of the orbits and movements of the 
 planets as being regular, but this is true only approxi- 
 mately. There are irregularities in them all, and appre- 
 hensions were at one time entertained that these mio-ht 
 go on increasing, till the whole system became hope- 
 lessly deranged. But it was shewn, by the eminent con- 
 tinental philosophers of last century, that all these are 
 periodical, or balanced one by another. The earth's 
 orbit, at this present time, is approaching nearer the 
 circular figure ; but it has been demonstrated, that after 
 a time it will become more elongated, leaving the length 
 of the year and the mean temperature of the earth un- 
 changed. The obliquity of the ecliptic — that is, the 
 incjination of the earth's axis to the plane of its orbit — 
 is at present lessening ; and as the seasons depend on 
 this obliquity, which allows the sun to shed his full ra- 
 diance on different portions of the earth at different 
 times, it was feared that they, and all on the earth which 
 depends on them, might be seriously affected by the 
 change ; but it can be shewn that the obliquity will, in 
 course of time, begin to increase, and that the variation, 
 whether of increase or decrease, cannot sensibly affect 
 the seasons. The moon's mean motion has for some 
 time been increasing ; this is due to the diminishing 
 eccentricity of the earth's orbit ; but in the course of 
 time the eccentricity of the earth will begin to increase, 
 and the moon's mean motion to diminish. The planes 
 of the planetary orbits vary in their positions, but all the 
 variations are periodical, and can lead to no inconveni- 
 ence. When these questions were still unsettled, the 
 apprehensions of derangement arose chiefly from the
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 391 
 
 perturliations of Jupiter and Saturn, each of whicli is as 
 large as all the planetary bodies then discovered put to- 
 j::ether. Long and anxious calculations were instituted 
 on this subject by Lagrange and Laplace : these cannot 
 be detailed without the aid of the highest mathema- 
 tical analysis, but the result may be given. Laplace 
 found that " there existed in the motion of Saturn an 
 inequality, the period of which is 929 years, and in the 
 motion of Jupiter a corresponding inequality, which is 
 affected with a contrary sign, and whose period is nearly 
 the same — the difference between the two scarcely 
 amounting to a degree in a thousand years. This was 
 balm to the apprehensions of philosophers, for all fears 
 as to the probable disorganization of the frame of nature 
 evaporated, and the explanation of Laplace produced the 
 true u loxitjuoittGig, by which astronomers signified the 
 restitution of things to their former state."* It is thus 
 proven that, looking to the law of gravitation, and the 
 disposition of the various planetary bodies in reference to 
 the sun and each other, the solar system has a remark- 
 able principle of stability in the midst of constant 
 change. 
 
 Connected with the Solar System there is a still greater 
 number of comets. These used to be regarded even by 
 astronomers with feelings of alarm, as ajiparently disturb- 
 ing rather than liarmonizing agents. Byron speaks of 
 
 "A pathless comet and a curse, 
 The menace of the universe." 
 
 The impression was tliat they api)cared and disappeared 
 in the most capricious manner, and tliat the earth might 
 regard itself as fortunate if it did not come within tlie 
 sweej) of their tails, whicli at times spread themselves 
 
 • Smytirs Celestial Cycle, vol I., p. 2Ct
 
 392 ORDER IN THE MOVEMENTS. 
 
 through a space of 180,000,000 miles. But it has now 
 been demonstrated of some of them, and may he inferred 
 of all, that they obey laws as constant as those of the 
 planets themselves. They seem to consist of floating 
 vaporous matter through which the stars can easily be 
 seen. It has been ascertained that forty of them move 
 in elliptic orbits. Some of these are comparatively small, 
 being within the orbits of the known planets ; others 
 extend much farther into space. Neptune revolves round 
 the sun at a distance thirty times that of the earth ; but 
 the great comet of 1680 moves in an orbit exceeding that 
 of Neptune nearly as much as it exceeds that of the 
 earth — the distance of the comet being 853 mean distances 
 of the earth. The period of the revolution of a number 
 of them has been ascertained, and the time of their re- 
 turn can be predicted. It should be added that a few of 
 them seem to move in hyjoerbolic curves, while a large 
 number are said to have curves sensibly parabolic. 
 Though we do not know the ends contemplated by these 
 wanderers into space, nor, indeed^ by comets generally, 
 yet we know that they obey the same law as the planet- 
 ary bodies, and reasoning from analogy we may conclude 
 with Newton, that they carry with them, and dispense 
 through wide regions a beneficial influence. 
 
 We are now to pass on from the sun and planets to 
 the contemplation of the stars. The distances of some 
 of the nearest of these stars has been ascertained, and 
 shew us that in going from the outer planet to the nearest 
 body of the sidereal regions, we have leapt across an in- 
 conceivable void of twenty-one billions of miles. Others 
 are supposed to be so far distant, that light, which travels 
 from the sun in eight minutes, would require millions 
 or even thousands of millions of minutes to come from 
 them to our earth. It foUows that the stars which we
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 393 
 
 now see are stars as they existed many long ages ago. 
 There is thus opened to us a glimpse not only of 
 regions of space, but of periods of time stretching far 
 into infinity. The telescope shows within its range one 
 liundred millions of self-luminous bodies like our own 
 sun. These are collected in many cases into groups 
 with regular shapes, and, in not a few cases, arc in 
 binary, or ternary, or multiple combination with each 
 other. 
 
 We can discover even by the naked eye that the stars 
 in some places are gathered into clusters. Thus six or 
 seven stars are seen by the naked eye as forming the 
 Pleiades. The telescope shows that in this constellation 
 there are nine or ten times the number of stars collected 
 together and separated from the rest of the heavens. 
 The number of such clusters is very great, and they may 
 be discovered by artificial glasses, here and there, over 
 the whole surfiice of the heavens — but more numerous 
 in some places than in others, more numerous in par- 
 ticular in the northern than in the southern hemisphere. 
 The stars in so many of these clusters are so many that 
 they cannot be counted ; but on a rough calculation it 
 would appear that many of them must contain ten or 
 twenty thousand stars, in an area not more than the tenth 
 part of the moon's apparent disc. Some of these groups 
 are of an irregular shape, which it is difficidt to classify, 
 or even to describe ; but a large number of them assume 
 such regular forms, as to show that there is some princi- 
 ple of order or combination among them. 
 
 The most common form is stated by Sir J. Herschcl 
 to ])G the circular, or the elliptic of various degrees of ec- 
 centricity, from moderately oval forms to ellipses so elon- 
 gated as to be almost linear. ■=^' Dr. Robinson, in describ- 
 
 • Outltacs of Astronomy.
 
 394 
 
 OKDER IN THE MOVEMENTS 
 
 ing the discoveries made by Lord Kosse's telescope, says 
 they may be separated into three classes ; those which 
 
 Fig. T5.* 
 
 are round, of nearly uniform brightness ; those which 
 
 are round, but appear to have 
 one or more nuclei ; and those 
 which are extended in one di- 
 rection, so as to become long 
 stripes or rays.f It should be 
 added, that although there can 
 be no doubt as to the regular 
 character of the forms assumed 
 by distant groups, yet as won- 
 derful changes are made in their 
 appearance by higher optical pow- 
 ers, we are not at liberty to 
 assume that we have ascertained their forms with per- 
 fect accuracy. Thus some of the nebulae which presented 
 
 * Fio. 75. Cluster in Hercules. + Transactions of Royal Irish Academy, 184T. 
 
 i Fio. 76. Annular Nebula in Lyra. 
 
 Fio. 76.t
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 395 
 
 the appearance of a spherical body to Sir John Herschel's 
 eighteen-incli reflector, have been transformed by Lord 
 Rosse's six-feet speculum into a luminous spiral of 
 unequal convolutions, which are prolonged at both ex- 
 tremities into granular globules. " Almost every new 
 observation appears to confirm the fact of that curious 
 tendency to spiral arrangement in these nebulous masses, 
 of wliich mention has been so frequently made."* 
 
 Sir John Herschel discovers in these aggregations of 
 stars the operations of physical laws. " Their round 
 form clearly indicates the existence of some general bond 
 of union of the nature of an attractive force, and in many 
 of them there is an evident acceleration in the rate of 
 condensation as we approach the centre which is not re- 
 ferable to a merely uniform distribution of equidistant 
 stars through a globular space, but marks an intrinsic 
 density in their state of aggregation greater in the centre 
 than at the surface of the mass."f The same distinguished 
 astronomer J regards it as a general law in the constitution 
 of extended nebulie, that their interior or brighter strata 
 are more nearly spherical than their exterior or fainter, 
 their ellipticity diminishing as we proceed from Avithout 
 inwards, a character which he represents as favouring, 
 though not conclusively, " the idea of rotation on an axis, 
 in the manner of a body whose component parts have such 
 an amount of mutual connexion as to admit of such a mode 
 of rotation, and of the exertion of some degree of i)ressure 
 one on another." Some of the late disclosures of Lord 
 Rosse's telescope, in regard to the prevalence of the spiral 
 form in nebular groups, may so far effect these S2)ecula- 
 tions, but in doing so they open to our view a more won- 
 derful harmony, the law of which has not been determined. 
 
 • PreMdcnt'n iwMross to British Ausoclatlon, ia'>3. 
 
 t OutllncB of Aslronoiny, p. 5U3. % Observations ftt Copo, p. 8.
 
 39G ORDER IN THE MOVEMENTS 
 
 The Milky Way, whicli spans our heavens so conspicu- 
 ously, is not a cluster of stars, but a succession of clusters. 
 Our sun is one of the stars comj)osing this system, and 
 is supposed to be placed not far from the centre, but 
 nearer the one side than the other, and in one of the 
 poorer or almost vacant parts of its general mass. Sir 
 
 Fio. 77.* 
 
 W. Herschel thought he was able to number eighteen 
 million stars in this girdle, and his son speaks of it as 
 consisting entirely of stars, scattered by millions like 
 glittering dust on the background of the general hea- 
 vens. That there is some sort of concentration in this 
 zone is evident from the statement of Struve, that there 
 are nearly thirty times as many stars in the centre of the 
 stratum as in the regions near the extremities. - 
 
 On looking into the concave of the heavens, there are 
 perceived at unmeasurable distances, luminous masses 
 which look like £eecy clouds, and have been called ne- 
 bulae by astronomers. Upv^^ards of two thousand of these 
 '' world islands" have been discovered in the northern, 
 and upwards of a thousand in the southern hemisphere, 
 by the telescope employed by the Herschels. According 
 to Sir W. Herschel's estimate in 1811, they cover aTo^h 
 part of the whole heavens. They were at one time sup- 
 
 * Via. 77. IleiRcheVs section of the Milky Way. Tlio Milky Way appears more 
 brilliant in the direction of F, of D, of B, tliaa in tliat of E, C, and A.
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 397 
 
 posed by certain speculators to consist of a sort of lumi- 
 nous matter, or star-dust, out of which worlds arc being 
 made even now by general law. This supposition has 
 not been confirmed by later speculation. Within these 
 few years, not a few of these nebulfe which were regarded 
 as being most certainly luminous vapours, have been 
 shewn to be stars. The magnificent telescope of Lord 
 Kosse, not long after it began to be used, shewed that 
 the great nebula in Orion, which was supposed to be one 
 of the most unresolvable of them all, consisted of clusters 
 of distinct stellar bodies. Since that time, nebula after 
 nebula has been resolved by Lord Rosse's telescope, and 
 another of less power but in a finer climate, at Cam- 
 bridge, in the United States. In 1850, Sir J. Herschel 
 was prepared to declare it as being almost certain, since 
 Lord Rosse's telescope had resolved, or rendered resolv- 
 able, multitudes of nebulfe, that all the rest could be 
 resolved by a farther increase of optical power, and the 
 language might be made still stronger and more decisive, 
 in consequence of what has been accomplished by that 
 magnificent telescope since that date. The ncbuhe may 
 now be confidently regarded as clusters of stars, and 
 give evidence of order, combination, and law in the ex- 
 treme boundary of that sphere of immeasurable magni- 
 tude which constitutes the universe as knowable by us. 
 
 It is worthy of being mentioned, as illustrative of order 
 and law, that there are to be seen in the expanse of hea- 
 ven, in many places two or more stars which are appa- 
 rently near each other, and which have been shown to be 
 mutually connected as part of one system. It not unfre- 
 qucntly hapj)ens that a centre of light, wliicli appears as 
 only one star to the naked eye, is turned into two or more 
 stars by a telescope of very ordinary power. Sometimes 
 the relation is merely optical, and not real, that is, stars
 
 398 ORDER OF THE MOVEMENTS 
 
 at a great distance from each other may seem near, "be- 
 cause though the one be far behind the other, they lie 
 nearly in the same line of vision to the eye. But the 
 number of double stars in the heavens, being about 6000 
 in all, is far too numerous to be referred to any such 
 cause. Among these, according to a table published in 
 1849, 650 are known in which a change of position 
 can be incontestably proved.* Besides it has been as- 
 certained in regard to considerably more than 100 double 
 stars, that they revolve about each other in regular or- 
 bits. In some cases there is a smaller star joined to a 
 large one, in other cases there are two or more stars of 
 
 Fig. 7S. 
 
 nearly equal size revolving round a common centre of 
 gravity. The orbit in which these connected stars move 
 is ascertained to be elliptical. These phenomena lead 
 Sir J. Herschel unhesitatingly to declare the stars to be 
 subject to the same dynamical laws, and obedient to the 
 same power of gravitation, which govern our sys- 
 
 * Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. Hi. p. 280, Ottc's Translation ; additions being made every 
 year by the labours of Argelandor, Starve, &c. 
 t Fio. 78. Binary star, that is, two stars revolving round a common centre.
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 399 
 
 teni. The period of revolution of some of these combined 
 stars has been determined, and is found to vary in differ- 
 ent binary and multiple systems from 30 to upwards of 
 700 years. We have thus glimpses opened up to us in the 
 depths of the sky, not of planet revolving round sun, but 
 of sun moving round sun.''-' In the solar system we have 
 satellite rolling round planet, and planet around sun, and 
 double, triple, and multiple stars revolving round each 
 other, and thousands of millions of stars grouped together 
 in a common system. 
 
 In consequence of having ascertained, as is supposed, 
 the distance of some of these binary stars from the 
 earth, it is not difficult to calculate, with an a])proach to 
 certaintv, what are the dimensions of their orbits. These 
 combined stars seem to be at a mucli greater distance 
 from each other than the farthest planet of our system is 
 from the sun. The distance of the two stars of 61 Cygni 
 from each other, is 44 times the distance of the sun from 
 the earth. The distance of these double and triple suns 
 from each other is thus greater than the distance of the 
 planets from the sun, in nearly as high a proj^tortion as 
 the distance of the jjlanets from the sun exceeds that of 
 the satellites from their primaries. All this gives the 
 appearance of a regulated order in the relative distance 
 of satellite from ])lanet, of planet from sun, and of sun 
 from sun, so as to allow them to move freely, each in its 
 own s})liere, whether a wider or narrower. 
 
 The region which we have been sru'vcying used to be 
 called tliat of the fixed stars ; but it has been shewn tliat 
 tlie language is inapplicable. Every star is in motion : 
 
 • It Li most Interesting to notico that many of tlio double stars Imvo colours wlilcli 
 are complementary the one of tlio other. The larger star Is commonly of a ruddy or 
 orange tinge, and the smaller one appears blue or green. " No green or blue star of 
 iitiy ilcrjiled hue,'' says Sir .1. Hrrscli-jl, "has over, wc believe, been noticed unassoclatod 
 with a compunlun brighter than itself,"
 
 400 ORDER IN THE MOVEMENTS 
 
 absolute rest is unknown in the material universe. Our 
 sun, with its retinue of planets, is travelling through 
 space at the rate of 422,000 miles a day, towards a point 
 near the constellation of Hercules. The mind grows 
 dizzy in contemplating such velocity, but everything, 
 meanwhile, is as stable as if all were at rest. It is evident 
 that arrangements have been made to produce equilibrium 
 among powers, each of which, acting alone, might work 
 only destruction, and stability among objects which are 
 never for one instant at rest. 
 
 Even before the construction of Lord Kosse's telescope, 
 it was thought that astronomers had sounded space to 
 nearly 500 times the distance of Sirius, that is, ten thou- 
 sand billions of miles. " Hence it seems as if, were the 
 world island, in which our system is placed, viewed from 
 the cluster in the hand of Perseus, it would probably 
 appear as an assemblage of telescopic stars, ranged behind 
 each other in boundless perspective ; from that of An- 
 dromeda, it would diminish to a milky way, or pure 
 nebulosity." It may be asserted, without any risk of 
 contradiction, that nowhere within this wide knowable 
 space, do we discover even the semblance of chance, con- 
 fusion, lawlessness, or oversight. Nay, it may now be 
 most confidently affirmed, that nowhere within this ex- 
 tensive region, or in the long ages opened up to us by 
 the time which light requires to travel from different 
 stars, do we discover any traces of a chaos now existing, 
 or ever having existed, or of worlds being formed by na- 
 tural law, or of worlds only half formed or in the course 
 of formation, or of any object overlooked, or out of place, 
 or not in harmony with all the rest. As far as the tele- 
 scope can carry our vision, or enable thought to carry out 
 its calculations, Ave find all the bodies already formed, 
 already in harmony, moving on in their spheres as if per-
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. 401 
 
 forming some great and good office, and all so perfect, 
 that our feelings are in harmony with the declaration of 
 their Maker, when He is represented as proclaiming them 
 " to be all very good." 
 
 SECT. II. SPECIAL ADJUSTME>rTS ^"EEDED IN ORDER TO THE 
 
 HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 
 
 It is veiy manifest that every one part of the visible 
 universe is intimately connected with every otlier. There 
 are certain agents which seem to operate through the 
 whole of it ; — there is gravitation attracting all the 
 bodies to each other ; there is light flowing from mil- 
 lions of luminaries ; there is heat radiating everywhere 
 from the warmer to the colder regions ; there is probably, 
 also, a universally diffused ether ; and possibly, also, 
 Bome others of no less extensive influence, such as elec- 
 tricity and magnetism. We are now to shew that all 
 these require an adjustment in order to their beneficial 
 operation. 
 
 First, Gravitation. — The planets move in nearly cir- 
 cular orbits round the sun, and the satelhtes round their 
 primaries, and binary and multiple stars round each 
 other, in consequence of the balanced adjustment of the 
 velocity of the moving body and the central attractive 
 force. Without a nice adaptation of the one to the 
 other, two u})positc but equally deleterious results might 
 have fullowed. Had the velocity been beyond its proper 
 proportion, the body would have rushed away in a 
 hyperbolic curve into space, to run the risk of collision 
 with other bodies, and certainly to derange every other 
 well-arranged system into wliich it might intrude. On 
 the ^ther hand, liad the centripetal force been in excess, 
 the separate existence of the bodies would have been lost
 
 402 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN ORDER 
 
 in a mutual collapse and embrace, which must have de- 
 stroyed every existing arrangement upon their surface. 
 In a calculation of probability in a previous section, 
 (pp. 48-50,) we have referred to two circumstances as 
 needful to the stability of the mundane system : first, that 
 the planets have a motion round the sun in the same di- 
 rection ; and have orbits with very Httle and scarcely-vary- 
 ing eccentricity, in planes with very moderate differences 
 of inclination. There are conditions absolutely necessary 
 to the continuance of the system ; — as the invariability of 
 the major axis of the orbits of the planets, proved by 
 lengthened investigations, in which the highest powers 
 of the infinitesimal calculus were employed, by the most 
 distinguished mathematicians of the latter half of last 
 century ; as the long periodic change of the eccentricity 
 of Jupiter and Saturn, which together amount to nearly 
 a thousandth part of the mass of the sun, and which 
 might have deranged the whole system under a different 
 arrangement ; and there is the farther circumstance, that 
 the planetary revolutions have among each other no com- 
 mon measure. Change any one of these essential condi- 
 tions, and the issue, sooner or later, would be a fearful 
 conflict, in wliich every existing cosmical arrangement, 
 with the planetary inhabitants, such as animals and 
 plants, would inevitably be destroyed. 
 
 But here we must allude to the attempt which has 
 been made to turn aside the force of this argument, by a 
 scheme of ingenious cosmogony suggested by Laplace. 
 According to this hypothesis, the whole solar system has 
 been formed out of floating matter rotating round an 
 axis, and which, being at first greatly heated, has, in 
 the process of coohng and condensation, given off the 
 planets one by one, beginning with the outer ;, which 
 planets, again, being thrown off in the form of rings, have,
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES, 403 
 
 in their condensation, given oif the satellites. We do 
 not mean to enter upon a minute examination of this 
 hypo'thesis. It was connected with, and received much 
 of its support from, the supposed existence of unformed 
 nebulous matter floating in space. Lord Rosse's telescope 
 has dispelled these clouds, and the theories, light as 
 clouds, which were built on them. ■••'•■ It may be acknow- 
 ledged that there are some of the peculiar phenomena 
 of planetar)^ movements which can thus be accounted for. 
 But there are other facts beyond its power to explain, as 
 that the satellites of Uranus should move in a direction 
 opposite to that of all the other planetary bodies. " The 
 satellites," says Professor Nichol, an ardent supporter of 
 the hypothesis, " present farther a curious anomaly, or 
 ratlier peculiarity. So far as we know, they all rotate 
 on their axis, like our moon, in the exact period of a 
 revolution in their orbits. This mode of rotation is evi- 
 dently that of the original ring, but why the satellites 
 have preserved that period is a my8tery."f This theory 
 has been subjected to a searching examination by Sir J. 
 Herschel. " If," says he, " it is to be regarded as de- 
 monstrated truth, or as receiving the smallest support 
 from any observed numerical relations which actually 
 hold good among the elements of the planetary orbits, I 
 beg leave to demur. Assuredly, it receives no support 
 from the observation of the effects of sidereal aij;i]:rei2;a- 
 
 • Some may urge that the hypothesis has heen corroborated by certain experiments of 
 Plat<^'au as to the phenomena of a free liquid mass withdrawn from the action of gravity. 
 In upcaklnj.' of the divi-ion of li(|iild masses into parts, I'latcau had coinparcd tlio iiiinuto 
 maJUies to Bat< llitos; but In a subsiquont paper he corrects the iiiisappreliensions to which 
 hU language had (riven rise, as if it favoured Laplace's cosino(,'ony. "It Is clear," ho 
 say^ "that this mode of formation Is entirely foreign to Laplace's Cosmogenlc Ilypotlie- 
 rU; therefore, wo have no Idea of deducing from this little experiment, which only ro- 
 fein to the fffecUi of moletyiUar atlraetlon, and not to tlmso of gravitation, any ar(,'umcnt 
 In favour of till! hypotlieclH in (lucstlou, au hypothesis which, in other respects, we do not 
 ftilopL" — Taylor's Scientific Memoirs vol. v. 
 
 t Planetary System, p. 241.
 
 404 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN ORDER 
 
 tion, as exemplified in the formation of globular and 
 elliptic clusters, supposing them to have resulted from 
 such aggregation. For we see this cause, working out 
 in thousands of instances, to have resulted, not in the 
 formation of a single large central body, surrounded by 
 a few smaller attendants, disposed in one plane around 
 it, but in systems of infinitely greater complexity, con- 
 sisting of multitudes of nearly equal luminaries, grouped 
 together in a solid elliptic or globular form. So far, 
 then, as any conclusion from our observations of nebulae 
 can go, the result of agglomerative tendencies may, in- 
 deed, be the formation of families of stars of a general and 
 very striking character, but we see nothing to lead us to 
 presume its farther result to be the surrounding of those 
 stars with planetary attendants."* 
 
 But let us admit, for argument's sake, the truth of this 
 hypothesis, and we still urge that numberless adaptations, 
 and these of a very remarkable description, are needed in 
 order to admit of this loose floating matter being formed 
 into the harmonious and beneficent results which fall 
 
 * Opening Address, British Association, 1845. There follows a severe criticism of the 
 pretended verification of that hypothesis hy M. Comte, which had been quoted with 
 approbation bj' the author of the Vestiges of Creation, and by J. S. Mill iu his Logic. 
 "If, in pursuit of this idea, we And the author first computing the time of rotation the 
 sun must have had about its axis, so that a planet situate on its surface, and forming 
 part of it, should not press on that surface, and should therefore be in a state of indif- 
 ference as to its adhesion or detachment; if we find him, in this computation, throwing 
 overboard, as troublesome, all those essential considerations of the law of cooling, the 
 change of si)heroidal form, the internal distribution of density, the probable non-circula- 
 tion of the internal and external shells in the same periodic time, on which alone it is 
 possible to execute such a calculation correctly, and avowedly, as a short cut to a result, 
 using, as the basis of his calculation, ' the elementary Huygenian theorems for the 
 evaluation of centiifugal forces in combination with the law of gravitation,' — a combina- 
 tion which, I need not explain to those who have read the first book of Newton, leads 
 direct to Kepler's law ; and if we find him then gr.avely turning round upon us, and ad- 
 ducing the coincidence of the resulting periods, compared with the distances of the plan- 
 ets, with this law of Kepler, as being the numerical verification In question ;— where, I 
 would ask, is there a student to be found, who has graduated as a Senior Optimo in this 
 University, who will not at once lay his finger on the fallacy of such an argument, and 
 declare it a vicious circle ?" &c.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 405 
 
 under our notice on the earth, and which may he presumed 
 to exist also in the other planets. Whence, for example, 
 the striking adai^tation of the gravitating, chemical, gal- 
 vanic, and electric powers to each other ? Whence the 
 plants and animals which cover the face of the earth ? 
 Whence animal instincts and the human soul ? Whence 
 the correspondence between all these, and the atmosphere, 
 and the light of the sun ? All this is wonderful on 
 any system, but becomes vastly more incomprehensible 
 when it is supposed that it originated in certain nebulous 
 matter. The cosmogony referred to has never been car- 
 ried out into details ; but if it had, we could have taken 
 these up, and have proved that every one of them implies 
 an adjustment. But dealing with it in its present vague 
 form, it may be maintained that either the properties of 
 this cosmical matter must have been such as in their own 
 nature to imply a designing mind in the formation of 
 them, or adjustments must have been made in order to 
 their beneficent 02:)eration ; and on either supposition we 
 have evidence of intelligence, and the hypothesis leaves 
 the theistic argument where it found it. 
 
 We go on to mention another beautiful arrangement 
 which should be regarded as equally striking, whether 
 we adopt or reject the hypothesis of Laplace. In the 
 annual motion of the earth round the sun, its axis is in- 
 clined from the perpendicular to its orbit at an angle of 
 twenty-three degrees, and remains constantly parallel to 
 tjiis direction. By this arrangement the changes of 
 temj)erature on the earth's surface, and of the seasons, are 
 produced. Had the axis of the earth, instead of being so 
 inclined, been perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, as 
 is the case in Jupiter, tlie sun would always have l)een 
 vertical to the same line of places, the equatorial regions 
 would have been parched by the heat, while the regions
 
 406 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN ORDER 
 
 called teemprate in the present an^angement, would have 
 been consigned to utter desolation. By the existing dis- 
 position, the various parts of the earth are brought more 
 fully under the solar influence, and we have all the de- 
 lightful and beneficent effects which flow from the variety 
 of climates. 
 
 Again, the earth is nearer the sun at one season "than at 
 another, and without some counteracting influence there 
 would be an inconvenient increase both of the cold of 
 winter and the heat of summer in the southern hemi- 
 sphere, and the climates of the two hemispheres would be 
 rendered altogether unlike each other. But any injury 
 which might arise from this cause is made to disappear 
 chiefly by means of the circumstance that the point of 
 the earth's orbit which is nearest the sun is that over 
 which it moves with the greatest speed. " It follows," 
 says Poisson, "from the theory of Lambert, that the 
 quantity of heat which is conveyed by the sun to the 
 earth, is the same during the passage from the vernal to 
 the autumnal equinox, as in returning from the latter to 
 the former. The much longer time which the sun takes 
 in the first part of his course is exactly compensated by 
 its proportionably greater distance, and the quantities of 
 heat which is conveyed to the earth is the same, whether 
 in the one hemisphere or in the other, north or south."* 
 
 Second, The Universal Difusion of Light. — Under 
 this head we are called first to admire the wisdom of the 
 arrangement by which a luminous body is placed in the 
 centre of a solar system ; there being no physical ne- 
 cessity, so far as we can discover, for such a disposition. 
 Some astronomers have supposed (it has not been con- 
 firmed by later investigation) that there are binary and 
 multiple stars moving round central bodies which are 
 
 * Hnmboldt'a Cosmos, vol. iv. p, 460.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 407 
 
 not luminous ; it is evident that if our earth had been 
 made to circle round such a body, or round a body simi- 
 lar in constitution to itself, most of the living objects 
 upon its surface would have become extinct. There is 
 an evident harmony between the force or amount of 
 light coming from the sun and the organism of plants 
 and animals, for the life of both of which light, and this 
 in a certain measure, is requisite. Had the light been 
 much stronger than it is, it would have dazzled and 
 blinded the eyes of animals, and stimulated to an exces- 
 sive extent the growth of certain plants, while it would 
 have utterly destroyed others. On the other hand, a 
 diminution to any great extent of the luminiferous power 
 of the sun would have imparted to our earth a dull and 
 murky appearance, and have rendered it impossible for 
 the plants of the earth, deprived of their needful stimulus, 
 to subsist. If our earth, with its present vegetable cover- 
 ing and animal tenants, had been as far removed from the 
 sun as Uranus or Neptune, or even Jupiter, it is certain 
 that a large portion of the species of living beings would 
 long before this have ceased to exist. Taking the inten- 
 sity of light upon the earth as one, the proj)ortions in the 
 other planets will be as follows : — 
 
 Mercury, 
 
 . 6-G74. 
 
 Jupitor, . 
 
 . 0-036. 
 
 Venus, . , 
 
 . 1-911. 
 
 Saturn, . . 
 
 . 0011. 
 
 Mars, . . 
 
 . 0-431. 
 
 Uranus, . 
 
 . o-on.\ 
 
 Pallas, . , 
 
 . 0-130. 
 
 Neptune, . 
 
 . 0-001.* 
 
 It is very evident that the earth could not have been 
 placed in the room of any one of the other planets with- 
 out endangering the existence of the greater number of 
 the organized oljjects upon its surface. It may also be 
 menti(jned here that there is a beautiful harmony insti- 
 tuted between light and the gaseous envelope surround- 
 
 ♦ Co8iuo«, Vol. Iv. i>. 401
 
 408 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN OEDER 
 
 ing our earth whereby the sun's rays are diffused through 
 the atmosphere, and are reflected upon us from every 
 point of the concave heavens, in the infinitely varied 
 hues of sky and cloud, instead of all streaming with burn- 
 ing power from the sun alone, and leaving the rest of the 
 hemisphere black as if it had been clothed in mourning 
 attire. 
 
 It is also worthy of being noticed, that in consequence 
 of the comj)aratively small eccentricity of its orbit, much 
 the same quantity of light falls upon the earth at all 
 times. In this respect it may be compared with some of 
 the other planets. 
 
 While the earth, in periheHon, is 1'034, it is in apheUon O'DGT. 
 Mercury, .... 10'58, .... 4-59. 
 
 Mars, 0-52, 0-36. 
 
 Juno, 0-25, 0-09. 
 
 If the earth's eccentricity had been as great as that of 
 Mercury or Juno, it is certain that not a few of our most 
 useful and beautiful plants would have altogether disap- 
 peared, or rather could never have existed. 
 
 Tliirdly, The Universal Diffusion of Heat. — There is 
 need of a number of harmonious adjustments in order to 
 the beneficent operation of this agent so powerful for good 
 but also for evil. 
 
 It will be readily acknowledged that there must be a 
 uniform temperature on the surface of the ground in 
 order to the continuance of organized beings upon it. 
 We know, as a matter of fact, that the earth's surface 
 has had much the same temperature throughout histori- 
 cal ages. The paintings and inscriptions on the monu- 
 ments of Egypt shew that in that country much the 
 same plants were cultivated, and that they riiDcned about 
 the same season between 3000 and 4000 years ago, in 
 the ages of the Pharaohs, as at this day. The plants of 
 
 I
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 409 
 
 Canaan at the time of Moses and Joshua were not dif- 
 ferent from what they are now. But the sustaining of 
 this equable temperature depends on a combination of 
 circumstances. First, there arc various sources of heat, 
 and, in particular, there is the internal heat of the earth, 
 which is known to be much greater than that of the ex- 
 terior, and increasing as we go farther down, and there 
 are the beams of the sun daily taking the circuit of the 
 earth. Were these influences operating alone, the 
 temperature of the earth's surface would soon be in- 
 conveniently or rather destructively heated. But to 
 counterbalance them, we have the earth's surface and its 
 atmosphere radiating heat into the circumambient re- 
 gions of space, which are ascertained to have a very low 
 temperature, being lower than the freezing point of 
 mercury. Our earth has thus, on the one hand, power- 
 ful fires to heat it, and, on the other hand, an extensive 
 reservoir of cold to keep it cool ; its surface is warmed by 
 the internal heat, and by the heat of the sun ; and its 
 temperature being thus rendered higher than that of the 
 vault of heaven, it is ever radiating heat towards the re- 
 gions of space according to the beautiful law of the 
 universe, whereby all things tend towards an equilibrium. 
 The uniform temperature of the earth from year to year, 
 and from age to age, necessary to the continuance of the 
 races of plants and animals, is sustained by the harmoni- 
 ous adjustment of agents which seem to be distinct from, 
 and independent of, each other, except in the original 
 collocation of all things. An increase in the internal 
 heat, or in the heat streaming from the sun, would 
 speedily scorch the ground, and burn up tlie i)lants 
 which grow ujjoii it. The same dire effects would fol- 
 low, were the cool celestial regions not ready to receive 
 the heat from the sun-warmed face of our eartli and al- 
 ls
 
 410 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN OKDEK 
 
 mosphere. On the other hand, were there not sources 
 of heat within or without, the temperature of the earth 
 would speedily sink below zero, and the whole globe 
 be as much ice-bound as the north or south poles. 
 It is to be remembered that the temperature of the ce- 
 lestial regions is dependent, if not in whole, at least in 
 part, on the temperature of the innumerable bodies which 
 move in them. We are thus led to see that we are de- 
 pendent for our continued existence, and our everyday 
 comforts at home and abroad, on the disposition through 
 millions of years of millions of bodies, removed from us 
 milhons of miles. 
 
 On the earth we are dependent for our very artificial 
 fires, and for the mechanical power which can be gene- 
 rated by them, upon influences which have descended 
 from heaven in ages long past. We are using coal 
 formed of vegetables fostered in former geological eras 
 by the sun's rays. Allusion is made to these and to 
 some other beneficial efiects of the solar rays in the fol- 
 lowing passage from Sir John Herschel's Treatise on 
 Astronomy : — " By the vivifying action of the sun's rays, 
 vegetables are enabled to draw support from inorganic 
 matter, and become in their turn the support of animals 
 and of man, and the sources of those great deposits of 
 dynamical efficiency which are laid up for human use in 
 our coal strata. By them the waters of the sea are made 
 to circulate in vapours through the air, and irrigate the 
 land, producing springs and rivers. By them are pro- 
 duced all disturbances of the chemical equilibrium of the 
 elements of nature which, by a series of compositions and 
 decom2)ositions, give rise to new products, and originate a 
 transfer of materials." 
 
 The far-reaching truth hero enunciated has opened 
 the way to experiments, calculations, and speculations.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 411 
 
 ■which all tend to shew how intimately connected every- 
 one part of the visible universe is with every other. " We 
 must look, then, to the sun," says Professor W. Thomson, 
 " as the source from which the mechanical energy of all 
 the motions and heat of living creatures, and all the 
 motion, heat, and life derived from fires and artificial 
 flames, is supplied. Tlie natural motions of air and water 
 derive their energy partly, no doubt, from the sun's heat, 
 but partly also from the earth's rotatory motion, and the 
 relative motions and mutual forces between the earth, 
 moon, and sun. If we except the heat derivable from the 
 combustion of native sulphur and of meteoric iron, every 
 kind of motion (heat and light included) that takes place 
 naturally, or that can be called into existence through 
 man's directing powers on this earth, derives its mechani- 
 cal energy either from the sun's heat, or from motions 
 and forces among bodies of the solar system." 
 
 Such results having been attained in regard to the 
 source of the heat and mechanical energy called forth on 
 the earth, the question is started. Whence does the sun 
 get the heat and light which he sheds ? There are insu- 
 perable scientific difficulties in the way of supposing that 
 the sun is a heated body losing heat, or that the sun is a 
 great fire emitting heat due to chemical action ; and it 
 has been surmised that " the sun's heat is probably due 
 to friction in his atmosphere between his surface and a 
 vortex of vapours, fed externally by the evaporation of 
 small planets in a surrounding region of very high tem- 
 ])('rature, whicli they reach by gradual spiral paths, and 
 lulling inwards, in torrents of meteoric rain, form the 
 luminous atmosphere of intense resistance to his sur- 
 face."» 
 
 • See ProfoMor W. Thomson'B I'oper In Trans, of Uoyal Society of Edin., 1854, and 
 abstract of Karno In Edln. Now Pbll. Jour., January, 1855.
 
 412 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN ORDER 
 
 Fotirthly, Indications of some other Universally Ope- 
 rative Agents. Possibly all those we have been consi- 
 dering and those Ave are now to contemplate, may be 
 modifications of one and the same force : this is a 
 favourite idea of not a few living men of the very highest 
 scientific eminence, and it may be granted without affect- 
 ing our argument. For if there be only one force, what 
 a variety of adjustments must have been made in order 
 to its producing such a number of results, so different 
 from each other and so beneficent in their character ! 
 Our conclusion follows equally from the admission of a 
 number of forces suited to each other, or one force with 
 an infinite number of adjusted collocations. But at the 
 present stage of science, we are not entitled to say that 
 all the forces of nature are one ; they present themselves 
 to us as diverse, but all correlated, and capable of excit- 
 ing each ofher. Meanwhile, we must look at them in the 
 forms which they assume, and besides those which have 
 been already before us, there are the magnetic and chemi- 
 cal powers. 
 
 It has been ascertained that there are periodical varia- 
 tions in the magnetic forces on the earth depending on 
 the solar day and the time of the year, and pointing .to 
 the sun as the cause. It has also been discovered that 
 there is a variation in the direction of the magnetic 
 needle, going through all its changes exactly in each 
 lunar day. " It would seem, therefore, that some of the 
 curious phenomena of magnetism, which have hitherto 
 been regarded as strictly terrestrial, are really due to 
 solar and lunar as much as terrestrial magnetism.*" 
 It has also been supposed that there is a connexion be- 
 tween the period of the recurrence of the sun's spots and 
 
 * President's (Mr. Hopkins) Address to British Association, 1853.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 413 
 
 the period of the variation of magnetism on the earth's 
 surface. 'The maxima of the sun's spots occurred m 
 1828, 1837, and 1848, the minima in 1833 and 1843; 
 and it has been shown that the cycle of the variations in 
 the earth's magnetic intensity is also about ten years, and 
 bears a relation to the other cycle. Tliese discoveries open 
 up curious glimpses of relations between things on the 
 earth and things in the sky, such as men have not been 
 inclined to beHeve in since science expelled astrology from 
 human credence. 
 
 We know further, that in the sun's rays there is a che- 
 mical (actinic) as well as a luminiferous and calorific 
 potency. These principles have each, in its own way, an 
 influence on the germination and growth of the plant; 
 and it is affirmed that all are in harmony with the 
 seasons, and that each is strongest relatively at the time 
 when most needed for the fvmction which it has to dis- 
 charge in fostering the vegetable. Actinism is needed 
 in order to tlie healthful germination of seed ; light is 
 required to excite the plant to decompose carbonic acid; 
 and caloric is necessary in order to develop and carry 
 out the reproductive energies of the plant. "It is now," 
 says Mr. Hunt, " an ascertained fact, that the solar, 
 beam, during sjjring, contains a large amount of actinic 
 principle, so necessary at that season for the germination 
 of seeds and the development of buds. In sunnner, there 
 is a large i)roportion of the hght-giving principle neces- 
 sary to the formation of the wooden parts of plants. As 
 autumn ajjproaches, the calorific or heat-giving ])rincip]es 
 of the solar rays increase. This is necessary to liarden 
 the woody i)art8 and i)repare them for the ajjproach of 
 winter. It is thus that the proportions are changed with 
 the seasons, and thus that vegetation is germinated, 
 grown, and lianh'ucd by tli<'iii. We liave these state-
 
 414 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN OEDER 
 
 ments on the authority of Mr. Hunt.* It is affirmed 
 that every flower has its own .peculiar power in reference 
 to heat, and that different plants take the different tem- 
 peratures needed in order to their health, by reason of 
 their different colours, which also determine the relative 
 amount of dew deposited on the leaves. 
 
 Fifthly, Traces of an aU-2Jervading Ether. The ex- 
 istence of such a medium between the various cosmical 
 bodies had long been suspected, and has now been estab- 
 lished to the satisfaction of most scientific men. The 
 resistance offered by it to the comet of Encke is the 
 cause, it is believed, of the acceleration of the period 
 of the revolution of that body, by causing it to fall 
 nearer the sun. The acceleration is appreciable, being 
 about two days in each revolution, which occupies about 
 3fV years, and it has been observed during a number of 
 revolutions. But we know too little of the nature of 
 this ether to admit of its being turned to much use in 
 such a treatise. It may be legitimately argued, however, 
 that if Hght — according to the prevailing theory in the 
 present day — consists in vibrations in an ether, we must 
 call in an important class of adaptations, the absence or 
 alteration of any one of which would disturb the economy 
 of the universe. The three rays, the violet, the yellow, 
 and the red, must each have ether waves of different 
 lengths ; and they must each make a different number 
 of vibrations in a second, upon which circumstance the 
 character of the coloured rays depends. The number of 
 vibrations in the second is approximately as folows : — 
 Violet, 699 billions. Yellow, 535 billions. Red, 477 billions. 
 It needs no lengthened statement to show how liable 
 
 * Uepoit on Chemical Action of Solar Radiations, British Association, 1850. We are 
 by no means at the bottom of this subject. Farther investigation is evidently needed 
 in order to put us in possession of the exact facts, and we are not yet within sight of the 
 rationale of them.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 415 
 
 such a complicated system is to go wrong, and how nice 
 must be the continued adjustments so as to admit of our 
 distino-uishino; stars and the colours of stars, so distant 
 that light must require thousands of years to travel 
 from them to us. For, on looking abroad on the face of 
 the sk)', we cannot be said to be looking on the stars as 
 they now exist, but on these stars as they existed many 
 years, it may be thousands of years ago. We have per- 
 fect confidence that there is no deception in all this, but 
 in order to our trust being well founded, it is needful to 
 suppose, if there be any truth in the prevailing scientific 
 theory, that the ether has retained its laws and colloca- 
 tions through both immeasurable ages of time and regions 
 of space. 
 
 Before closing this subject, we must refer to a most 
 important class of facts, and speculations founded upon 
 them, which have come into great prominence in the 
 present day. The calculations of Lagrange and Laplace 
 in regard to the stability of the solar system, (see p. 390,) 
 proceeded on assumptions which later science has shewn 
 not to be warranted. In particular, they pre-supposed 
 that the planets moved in vacuo. But the prevalent 
 opinion at this stage of advancing science is, that they 
 move in an ether, the effect of which must be to lessen 
 the velocity, and bring all the planetary bodies nearer 
 and nearer the sun. The influence thus exercised in 
 a brief period must be very small, but acting constantly, 
 as it does, it must, in the course of ages, produce appre- 
 ciable effects, and tend to break up tlie solar system.* 
 
 Other facts, not reconcilable with absohite stability 
 
 • The demonstration of the French mathematicians proceeded on tlic fiirlhor assump- 
 tion that the planctn are solid throuRhout, and not fluid. But our earth, whatever may 
 be the ca'c with the other planets, has the largest i)ort|on of Its surface covered with 
 wat<'r« evir a:;ltated hy tides jiroduecd by the (;iavllatli)n of the moon. Now, It Is well 
 known that when there Ifl water In a boat, the motion of the boat Is retarded by the agl-
 
 416 SPECIAL ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED IN ORDER 
 
 have come into %aew. Sir J. Herschel says that the 
 breaking up of the Milky Way affords proof that it can- 
 not last for ever, and equally bears witness that its past 
 duration cannot be admitted to be infinite. 
 
 Certain very important conclusions, tending in the 
 same direction, have been established on following out 
 the modern doctrine in regard to heat. Heat is now 
 regarded as, if not identical with mechanical power, 
 at least the means of producing it. As has been already 
 stated, we are at present taking advantage of the mecha- 
 nical energy excited on our earth, and laid up in store 
 for us during the age of the coal formation. As this 
 dynamical agency is being dissipated and wasted, we 
 have here another disturbing element. The following 
 are the conclusions drawn by Professor W. Thomson, 
 who has deeply studied this subject : — " I. There is at 
 present in the material world a universal tendency to the 
 dissipations of mechanical energy. II. Any restoration 
 of mechanical energy without more than equivalent dis- 
 sipation is impossible in inanimate material processes, 
 and is probably never affected by means of organized 
 matter, either endowed with vegetable life, or subjected 
 to the will of an animated creature. III. Within a 
 finite period of time past, the earth must have been, and 
 within a finite period of time to come, the earth must 
 again be unfit for the habitation of man, as at present 
 constituted, unless operations have been, or are to be, 
 performed which are impossible under the laws to which 
 the known operations going on at present in the mate- 
 rial world are subject."* 
 
 All this does not in the least detract from the skiU 
 
 tation of the water; and on the same principle (a sciontlflc friend assures us) the tidal 
 ugitation of the waters on the surface of the earth exercises a disturbing iuHuence on the 
 movements of the earth in its orbit. Can any counteracting power be detected? 
 + Transactions of Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1SS2.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 417 
 
 displayed in those wonderful adjustments and counter- 
 poises which were brought to light by the analytic dex- 
 terity of the French mathematicians ; but it brings into 
 view an overlooked set of agencies which must, in the 
 course of ages, change the present system of things, 
 provided always that they are not corrected by some 
 well-adjusted counterbalancing arrangements. Professor 
 Thompson says that there is not in nature any counter- 
 acting agency. Without dogmatizing on so difficult a 
 subject, it may be confidently asserted that science at its 
 present stage cannot point out any means of restoring 
 the lost energy. Even though it could be restored by 
 natural means beyond the ken of man, it must be in con- 
 sequence of a wonderful adjustment planned by intelli- 
 gence. In either case, we are made to feel the depen- 
 dence of all physical nature upon a higher power either 
 to keep things in their present stable condition, or, in 
 the event of some great change, such as seems not ob- 
 scurely pointed to in the Word of God, to render that 
 change beneficent. Doubtless the world is stable, (for 
 " the earth abideth forever,") but it is by means of forces, 
 each of which would make it very unstable, and which 
 are made to produce stability by counteracting each 
 other, so that there is a truth in that part of the thcogony 
 of Hcsiud which represents Eros, the healer of divisions, 
 as the world-forming principle. All this balancing is 
 fitted, we should say intended, to carry up our minds to 
 Him who holds the balances in His hands. Our confi- 
 dence in the permanence of things must be made to rest, 
 after all, on the purposes of a God wlio has ordained all 
 things from the beginning, and who, when He changes 
 any existing state of things, changes thciu in the deve- 
 lopment of one ami I he same mighty |ilan. 
 
 We are now in circumstances to estimate the amount
 
 418 SPECIAL ADAPTATIONS IN ORDER 
 
 of truth in a statement of Paley, whicli has been quoted 
 with approbation by others, — " My opinion of astronomy," 
 says he, " has all along been that it is not the best 
 medium through which to prove the agency of an intelli- 
 gent Creator ; but that this being proved, it shews beyond 
 all other sciences the magnificence of his 02:)erations,"* 
 Now, it may be admitted that astronomy does not dis- 
 play so many cases of special adjustment as the animal 
 kingdom, so beautifully illustrated by Paley. The reasons 
 are not difficult to find : First, we do not know so much of 
 celestial bodies as of objects on the surface of the earth ; 
 we know little or nothing of the internal structure of the 
 planets ; we know absolutely nothing of the composition 
 of the sun or stars ; we do not know for certain whether 
 any one of them is inhabited ; and so we cannot expect 
 to be able to unfold such adaptations among them as 
 among the objects with which we are familiar. Then, 
 secondly, and more especially, there is no necessity for 
 such special adaptation in the case of inorganic bodies as 
 is required for living bodies, and more particularly for 
 animals requiring provision to be made not only for their 
 existence, but for their comfort. It will be found as a 
 general rule, that we discover the clearest examples of 
 special adaptation where our knowledge is most extensive 
 and minute, and that they are more abundant where we 
 see they are most required, in the frames of organized 
 existences, especially of animated beings capable of plea- 
 sure and pain, and the most abundant of all in the 
 frame of man, the being who needs the greatest number 
 and complication of organs to enable him to fufill his 
 high destiny. But it is satisfactory to observe, that we are 
 able to detect a number of striking examples of special 
 adaptation among the celestial bodies in general, and the 
 
 * Paley's Natural Theology, chap. xxii.
 
 TO THE HARMONY OF COSMICAL BODIES. 419 
 
 planetary bodies in iiarticular, and it is an instructive cir- 
 cumstance, that in consequence of the advance of know- 
 ledge, we are able to unfold a greater number than could 
 be developed in the days of Paley. There is no just 
 ground, then, for the scoffing remark of the haughty 
 and eccentric Frenchman, (who denies that he is an 
 atheist, seeing that he adores himself and has set up a 
 formal worship of his system,) that the heavens cannot 
 now be appealed to as a proof of the existence of Deity, 
 or for the inference dra\vn by him, that the time will 
 speedily arrive when organized objects will be in the 
 same condition ; for while, for the reasons stated, animals 
 and plants must ever furnish the most striking examples 
 of design, it is still true that " the heavens declare 
 
 THE GLORY OF GOD, AND THE FIRMAMENT SHOWETH HIS 
 HANDIWORK."
 
 BOOK THIRD. 
 
 THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FACTS. 
 
 ■ ■ ♦ ■ ■ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT EEOM COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 
 
 We are now to estimate the force of the influence of 
 two streams, which we have hitherto been contemplating 
 as flowing in parallel channels. 
 
 The principle of Order has been scientifically ex- 
 pounded only in modern times, and in regard to the 
 animal and vegetable kingdoms only within these few 
 years. But it existed from the creation of the world, 
 and had been noticed in a general way since the creation 
 of intelligent being. Science in its latest advances is 
 simply coming up to, and explaining, the spontaneous 
 suggestions of human thought, which as it muses upon 
 the universe is at once struck with the model forms and 
 correspondences which everywhere prevail. The late 
 discoveries in regard to homotypes, homologies, and we 
 may add homcBophytes, or parallel developments in ani- 
 mal and vegetable structures, is but the scientific exposi- 
 tion of what all along impressed intelligent observers, 
 without their being able to give an account of it. Nor
 
 COMBIXED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 421 
 
 are these remarkable facts of an isolated or exceptionable 
 character ; on the contrary, they are merely striking ex- 
 amples of what is universal, and they have their homo- 
 types, analogues, homologues, and parallels, in every 
 department of nature. 
 
 The principle of Special Adaptation, or that of par- 
 ticular conformity to the position of the object and func- 
 tion of the organ, has also been noticed all along by minds 
 addicted to reflection. Socrates is represented by Xeno- 
 phon as delighting to dwell upon it. So strong, indeed, 
 was this tendency in the ancient world, and in the middle 
 ages, that Bacon felt himself called on to remove the 
 inquiry from physical science, where it hindered the dis- 
 cover)^ of physical agents, to metaphysics, where it might 
 have a legitimate scope. Bacon was right in saying, that 
 the propensity to discover final cause had sometimes 
 come in the way of the discovery of pliysical cause ; but 
 he is altogether wrong in affirming that it is barren of 
 results in scientific inquiry, for in certain departments 
 of natural science, such as physiology and comparative 
 anatomy, it is a most powerful instrument of discovery, 
 and such eminent men as Cuvier and Sir Charles Bell 
 delight to inform us that tliey have proceeded on the 
 principle of final cause in all their researches. 
 
 It is not difficult to discover the beauty and the ap- 
 propriateness of both these principles. 
 
 On the one hand, the mind discerns the need and ap- 
 preciates the propriety of the princi])le of Order. Without 
 some sucli governing principle, nature would be incom- 
 prehensible by human intelligence, and this because of 
 the very number and multiplicity of the objects of which it 
 presents, each eager to catch our notice ; and the mind 
 in trying to apprelniul tlicm would have felt itself lost, 
 as in a forest throngh wliich there is no pathway, or as
 
 422 THE ARGUMENT FROM 
 
 in a vast storeliouso, where the seeds of every species of 
 plant on the earth's surface, are mixed in hopeless con- 
 fusion. By what means is it that man is enabled to ar- 
 range into groups the objects by which he is surrounded, 
 and thus acquire a scientific knowledge of them, and turn 
 them to practical purposes ? Plainly, by reason of the 
 circumstance that there are numberless points of resem- 
 blance and correspondence between them. Scientific 
 men have so long been familiar with this process that 
 they are not impressed by it as they ought, and seldom 
 do they inquire into the ground on which it proceeds. 
 It is only when something new, such as the discovery of 
 homologies in the animal kingdom, comes to light, that 
 they are led to reflect on what has been too common to be 
 sjiecially noticed. But if they but seriously reflect on 
 the subject, they will find that it is because of the uni- 
 versal prevalence of points of resemblance and corre- 
 spondence that man is enabled to grasp the infinity of 
 objects which fall under his view, into classes and sub- 
 classes, which can be comprehended by the intellect, and 
 treasured up in the memory. 
 
 No doubt the mind has in itself a power of forming 
 classes altogether independent of any special arrange- 
 ment in order to aid it ; but such groupings, though they 
 may at times help the memory, are of no intellectual or 
 scientific value. But there are means in nature of guid- 
 ing the mind to the formation of classes which have 
 a deep and far-reaching significance. It is true, in an 
 important sense, that classes are already formed for us 
 in nature. Man will find it expedient, in all cases, 
 to attend to these arrangements made to his hand, and 
 he must attend to them, provided he represent his 
 classification as a natural one. It may illustrate our 
 general subject to show what are the distinctive marks
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 423 
 
 of natural classes, that is, of classes having the sanction 
 of nature. 
 
 And first, we may take a classification wliicli is not 
 of this description. It is conceivahlc that a person 
 might arrange all animated beings according to their 
 size. He might put all animals of a certain height in one 
 class, and all animals below that in another class. Every- 
 one sees how arbitrary, in short, how contrary to nature, 
 such a distribution would be. It would often separate 
 animals belonging to the very same species, while it would 
 put in one confused group bird and fish, mammal and 
 insect. And why, it may be asked, does the naturalist at 
 once reject such a classification ? Perhaps it is answered, 
 because he is seeking a natural arrangement. But this 
 answer, though correct so far as it goes, does not go down 
 to the depths of the subject, for we immediately ask. Is 
 not the distinction of size a natural one ? He who would 
 really sound the depths of this subject, and not skim over 
 it, must be prepared to state what is the difference between 
 an artificial and a natural classification. 
 
 All natural classes will be found to have not merely 
 one, but an aggregate of common attributes. It follows 
 that, when objects are classified according to a natural 
 arrangement, the possession of any one characteristic is a 
 mark of a great many others. Thus, when an animal is 
 described as a reptile, we know that its blood is cold, that 
 its heart consists of three cavities, and that its young are 
 produced from eggs ; and when we hear an animal called 
 by the name of man)mal, we know not only (hat it 
 sTickk'H its young, but that it breathes by lungs, that its 
 Idood is warm, and that its heart consists of four com- 
 partments. In short, when wo have fixed on a truly 
 natural arrangement, the presence of any one character- 
 istic becomes a sign of others, commonly of very many
 
 424 THE AEGUMENT FROM 
 
 others, at times of an inexhaustible number of others. 
 The co-existence of these characteristics in one object, and 
 their invariable co-existence in all objects possessing any 
 one of them, is a clear evidence that such an arrangement 
 has been purposely made. A class with such an aggregate 
 of qualities as its ground, is said to be one of" Kinds." 
 There are some valuable remarks on this subject in the 
 Loo;ic of Mr. J. S. Mill. " There are some classes, the 
 things contained in which differ from other tilings only 
 in certain particulars, wliich can be numbered, while 
 others differ in more than can be numbered, more than 
 even we need ever expect to know. Some classes have 
 little or nothing in common to characterize them by, 
 except precisely what is connoted by the name ; white 
 things, for example, are not distinguished by any com- 
 mon properties except whiteness, or if they are it is only 
 by such as are in some way dependent upon or connected 
 with whiteness. But a hundred generations have not 
 exhausted the common properties of animals or of plants, 
 or of sulphur, or of phosphorus ; nor do we suppose them 
 to be exhausted, but proceed to new observations and 
 experiments, in the full confidence of discovering new 
 properties, which were by no means imj^lied in those we 
 previously knew. It aj^pears, therefore, that the pro- 
 perties on which we ground our classes sometimes 
 exhaust all that the class has in common, or contain it 
 all by some mode of implication ; but in other instances, 
 we make a selection of a few properties from among not 
 only a greater number, but a number inexhaustible by 
 us, and to which, as we know no bounds, they may, so 
 far as we are concerned, be regarded as infinite."* 
 
 We now see wherein lies the essential distinction be- 
 tween an artificial and a natural class, and the superiority 
 
 * Mill's Logic, B. 1. c. vii. 4 
 
 1
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION, 425 
 
 of the one to the other. In an artificial arrangement, we 
 seize on a quality — ^not arbitrarily, it may be, but still for 
 mere conyenience' sake — and our an-angement does not 
 yield us any farther information on the subject. In a 
 natural classification, on the other hand, we fix on qua- 
 lities which are iuA^ariably accompanied with certain 
 other qualities, and which are, therefore, signs of them. 
 AU that an artificial class can do is to aid the memory, 
 by having the innumerable objects put into a convenient 
 number of groups. Even for this j^urpose a natural 
 arransrement, if we can seize it, wdll be vastly more useful 
 than an artificial one, as it will be found, in fact, that no 
 artificial arrangement can embrace all the facts, and 
 enable us to carry them about with us in convenient 
 groups. But a natural classification does more tlian 
 help the memory, it imparts positive knowledge, inas- 
 much as one property is a sign of the presence of a vast 
 number of others. The most fundamental of all groups 
 in Natural History, that of species, is ahvays one of Kinds. 
 It is formed on the principle that all the animals in- 
 cluded in it might have proceeded from a common pa- 
 rentage ; but all animals belonging to the same species 
 are found to have a great many other points of resem- 
 blance besides their belonging to one stock. The same 
 is true, to a greater or less extent, of all other natural 
 groups, such as genera, orders, and kingdoms. In all 
 such natural classes, the presence of some one attri))ute is 
 a means of informing us of the presence of others. Thus, 
 the ])ower of speech is one of the characteristics of hunui- 
 nity ; but tlicre are many others, so many others, tliat 
 physical and meta])liysical science cannot be said to have 
 fully exhausted tiiem, and the presence of the power of 
 speech is a sign of all these otliers. A traveller has lost 
 himself in a deej) forest, amidst wild birds and beasts,
 
 426 • THE AEGUMENT FROM 
 
 whose cries all raise within him feelings of alarm ; sud- 
 denly he hears a human voice, and that sound at once 
 announces that there is intelligence at hand, and pro- 
 bably also a comjiassionate heart, and the power and 
 disposition to aid him. All the marks of a natural class 
 are significenf, in the same way, of an indefinite number 
 of other attributes. 
 
 This invariable collocation of characteristic qualities 
 in certain objects, so that the one is a sign of all the rest, 
 is a clear proof that classes do exist in nature — that is, 
 that objects are gathered into classes. This, we doubt 
 not, was at least one of the truths which led to the mystic 
 doctrine of Plato about Ideas or Types, above individual 
 things and prior to individual things, and in mediaeval 
 times to the doctrine of Realism, according to which, 
 universals or classes have an existence as well as indivi- 
 duals. There is a great truth at the basis of these 
 theories, now exploded, but entertained in former ages by 
 some of the deepest thinkers which our world has pro- 
 duced. This truth was not correctly seized, was very 
 imperfectly, indeed, often very erroneously represented, 
 but still it is deep in the constitution of things. All 
 natural objects, and especially all organic objects, are 
 fashioned according to type, and operate according to 
 unchanging laws. The individuals all die, shewing how 
 insignificant they are, whereas the genus and species 
 survive. The flowers of last summer are all faded, but 
 in the coming summer, other flowers will sjning forth to 
 continue the same form. Amidst the flux and reflux of 
 aU individual existences, the laws which they, obey are 
 permanent. In particular, classes, genera, and species, 
 liave as certain an existence in nature as the objects 
 which are classified. 
 
 There is no new thing under the sun. The modern 
 
 1
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 427 
 
 doctrine of organic correspondences is but the distinct 
 articulation of what thinking minds have ever felt — but 
 the scientific interpretation of the unconscious musings 
 of deeper thinkers, as they have been gazing on the cryp- 
 tic symbols of nature, ever since the time when inward 
 reflection was awakened by outward objects. Nay, it is, 
 after all, but the extension, into a new field, of the prin- 
 ciples on which scientific classification has all along been 
 restin"-. The facts on which the new doctrines are 
 founded are the homotypes and homologues of the facts 
 on which ordinary classification proceeds. The classifi- 
 cation into genera and species proceeds on corresponden- 
 ces among a vast number of individuals. The doctrine 
 of homotypes takes its rise from the correspondences in 
 many parts of the same individual. Homologues are 
 corresponding members in different individuals. We 
 may add that homceophytes are corresponding stages in 
 the development of different organic kingdoms. 
 
 So much, then, in regard to the fitness of the one 
 principle — it enables mankind to make a practical and 
 scientific use of the objects by which they are surrounded; 
 and, as some one remarks, nature was made to be enjoyed 
 by brutes, but to be contemplated by man. It is still 
 more necessary that the other principle, that of Special 
 Adai)tation, be attended to ; for if the comprehensibility 
 and beauty of the universe depend on the one, the very 
 existence of the objects in it, and especially of animated 
 beings, depends on the other. 
 
 And here it may be important to remark, that tlic 
 principle of special aOxiptation assumes two distinct 
 forms. So far as the efficient powers, the dynamical ener- 
 gies, the active properties of matter, are coiucnMil, the 
 adaptation consists in their adjustment so as to produce 
 a general law, or it may \nt also an individual effect of a
 
 428 THE ARGUMENT FROM 
 
 beneficent cliaracter. It is tlius that the centripetal and 
 centrifugal forces are adjusted to yield the harmonies of 
 the planetary system ; thus that the relation between 
 the earth's orbit and the sun are arranged to yield the 
 seasons of the year. In organic bodies, again, where the 
 law is one of type or structure, we find the special adap- 
 tation taking a somewhat different form. We now meet 
 not with an adjustment of forces to produce a law, but a 
 modification of a general type, or a departure from it on 
 one side or other, and this obviously to enable the part 
 to execute its office. Under the first of these forms the 
 adaptation is necessary in order to the very existence 
 of general order ; under the second, it bends the general 
 order to the accomplishment of special ends. 
 
 It is in this second form that adaptation appears in 
 the structure of animated beings. Not only the comfort 
 of the animal, but its very continuance upon the earth, 
 depends on every organ being made to serve its special 
 function. And here it is satisfactory to find, that while 
 attention is paid both to order and special end, the most 
 uniform regard is had to the latter. There are cases, as 
 we have seen, in which the general plan, if not sacrificed, 
 is at least kept in abeyance, so that it is very difficult to 
 detect it. It is of all pretensions the most. absurd, in 
 certain naturalists to profess to be able to see the general 
 homologies, which are often very obscure, and yet regret 
 that they can never discover special modifications to serve 
 a given end, which are often so very clear. It is satis- 
 factory to find that the wcllbeing of the plant and the 
 happiness of the animal are never sacrificed in following 
 out the typical form. The general often gives way to 
 the special, but the special never gives way to the gene- 
 ral. It cannot be said of any animated being, that its 
 individual comfort has been sacrificed in the attention
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 429 
 
 paid to some general law or model shape. It is a cir- 
 cumstance worthy of being noted, that the typical form 
 is most clearly exhibited in the lower animals, whose 
 wants and functions are fewest ; and that the principle of 
 teleology is carried out to the farthest extent in animals 
 higher in the scale, whose organism is the most compli- 
 cated, and has the most numerous and varied functions 
 to perform ; and, farthest of all, in man, whose frame is 
 so fearfully and wonderfully made to enable it to become 
 the fit instrument of tliat spiritual nature to which it is 
 united. 
 
 When we take an enlarged view of these two princi- 
 ples, we shall find that they are not inconsistent Avith 
 each other, but rather that they depend on eacli other. 
 There is an adaptation necessary in order to those regu- 
 lar successions of events and model forms which come so 
 frequently before us. The regular flow or periodic re- 
 currence of such phenomena as the tides, the seasons, is 
 the result of arrangements many and varied. The forms 
 assumed by j^lants and animals is evidently the contem- 
 plated issue of a multitude of forces made to combine to 
 this end.* On the other hand, the general order, in some 
 
 * When the action of the combination of powers necessary to the development of an 
 organ is interfered with, we have a iloiwiter. In monstrosities the principle of order is 
 not accommodate<l to the usual special end. They arc always comparatively few in 
 number — in short, the exception. But wo are not to conclude that they arc failuree, 
 or that they have no end to serve. A world in which they were the ruJe would certainly 
 bo a failure; but, as exceptions, they are as instructive as the rule. They help man to 
 discover the nature of those agencies which combine to form typical organs, and they 
 «bew bow derangements which, when few, work no evil, would have been fearful if 
 they ha<l been frequent. Teratology, which treats of natural nionstro.sitioF, has now a 
 pUtcc among acknowledged sciences, liinglc monsters are produced by arrest of develop- 
 ment; double by the union of homologous parts, as of veins to veins, and arteries to 
 arterlc«. The aberrations of monstrosity do not exceed certain limits. They have their 
 distinctive charactors, ond long ago tbero were noticed flvo orders, twcnty-throo fami- 
 lies, and elKhty-three genera. So far as these monstro>itles do not produce pain, they 
 wc not evils any more than un Irregularly-formed crystal Is. So far as they are the 
 means of entailing suffering and humiliation airioug mankind, they carry us Into the 
 profoundest of all mysteries (which we cannot hero discuss) — Die existence of evil.
 
 430 THE AKGUMENT FROM 
 
 cases, accomplislies very useful purposes; as when the 
 mathematical law of the increment of the shell enables 
 certain molluscs to ascend and descend the water at 
 will • and when the spiral arrangement of the leaves 
 and buds all round the axis exposes them equally to the 
 light and to the air. In aU cases the general order is 
 adapted to the intellect of those who are expected to 
 contemplate it. 
 
 Everything has, after all, a final cause. The general 
 order pervading nature is just a final cause of a higher 
 and more archetypal character. In the special principle, 
 we have every organ suited to its function ; in the more 
 general principle, we find all the objects in nature suited 
 to man, who has to study and to use them. Professor 
 Owen has declared, that his practical assistant found 
 himself greatly aided, in setting up the bones of the skull, 
 by proceeding on the principle that they were constructed 
 on the vertebrate type. Lecturers on anatomy find their 
 students following them much more readily when they 
 expound the skeleton on the archetypal idea. It is only 
 by proceeding on some such method that the nomen- 
 clature of comparative anatomy can be retained by the 
 memory. Without some such principle, there would 
 require to be one set of names for the bones in man, 
 another set for the bones in quadrupeds, and a third and 
 a fourth set for the bones of birds and fishes. By the 
 discovery of homologous parts running through all, it 
 has been found possible to devise a common nomencla- 
 ture, admitting of application to all vertebrate animals. 
 But let it be observed, that it is not the unity of the 
 nomenclature which gives the unity to nature, but it is 
 the unity of nature which has given a unity to human 
 science, and the nomenclature which science employs. 
 These corresijondences are admirably fitted to make
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 431 
 
 creation compreliensible by the human faciiltic?. The 
 more obvious points of resemblance enable man to recog- 
 nise the nature and end of the objects by which he is 
 surrounded. The more fixed points allow him to arrange 
 them into classes in due subordination. The repetition 
 of parts permit of his at once taking an intelligent glance 
 along the whole length, and over the whole frame, of the 
 animal and plant. The answerable parts permit of his 
 discovering unity among organs that serve very diverse 
 purposes. The members with similar functions invite 
 him to observe a universal final cause. The parallel de- 
 velopment points to a unity of aiTangement in the forces 
 by Avhich all these correspondences are produced. The 
 prophetic system of geology entitles him to look on the 
 earliest past as a foreshadowing of the future, and on the 
 l^resent as the fulfilment of what has gone before. 
 
 Before the time of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, the undeve- 
 loped rudimentary organs were frequently thrown away 
 as useless in the Museum of Comparative Anatomy in 
 Paris. But it is rash, it is wrong to declare that any 
 part of nature is useless. Geolfroy restored these organs, 
 and thus led the way to grander generalizations of organic 
 objects than had ever been formed before. We have now 
 before us a sufficient final cause of typical forms. We 
 may rise above a special adaptation of parts to an arche- 
 typal adaptation of the whole to the constitution of 
 intellectual beings. We have here a most beautiful cor- 
 respondence between the laws of external nature and the 
 laws ^)i' the mind, between the laws of thiugs and the laws 
 of tliought.'-' While the special modifications or adapta- 
 tions investigated so carefully by Cuvier, are intended to 
 promote the wellljeing of the particular species ol" ani- 
 mal, the archetypal j)hin investigated by Owen is fitted 
 
 • Tills Id bo IntcrcAtlnga topic, that wc ore to dcvoto tli« next chnptcr to It
 
 432 THE ARGUMENT FEOM 
 
 to make tlie animal intelligible by the intelligent crea- 
 tion. Owen has developed — to some extent perhaps un- 
 consciously, but to a far greater extent consciously — a 
 teleology of a higher order than Cuvier. 
 
 Viewed in this light, the two principles, though evi- 
 dently differing from each other in many respects, and 
 requiring to be separately treated, come to be very much 
 alike, may be seen to be analogous — that is, different 
 organs fulfilling a similar function. The special adap- 
 tation proceeds on a general principle of beneficence, and 
 the general principle is an example of adaptation to a 
 special end. There is a general plan in the purpose, 
 and a purpose in the general plan. The teleology is a 
 homology, and the homology is an example of teleology. 
 
 There are some who prefer a somewhat different re- 
 ligious interpretation of the model forms of nature. 
 Order and law, they say, are the natural methods of the 
 Divine procedure, the ways in which God's nature and 
 character spontaneously exhibit themselves. We need 
 seek, they say, no other explanation than this of the 
 typical forms in heaven and earth, they are just the 
 manifestation of the divine ideas. And, as to man's re- 
 cognition and appreciation of these laws and models, it 
 is to be accounted for by the circumstance that he was 
 made in his Maker's image. We are indisposed to 
 advance a single word against this view ; possibly it 
 may be as true, as it is certainly striking and sublime. 
 It is certainly a doctrine which cannot be disproven : we 
 may venture to doubt whether it admits of absolute 
 proof. Do we know so much of the Divine nature as, a 
 priori, to be able to affirm with certainty, how that na- 
 ture must manifest itself in creation ? There may even 
 be presumption implied in declaring, in some cases, that 
 the harmonies of nature are after the taste or character of
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 433 
 
 God ; for example, that complementary colours are more 
 beautiful to His eye, as they are to ours, when seen in 
 collocation, than non-complementary colours. But while 
 we cannot predicate much, a 2Jriori, of the character of 
 God, there is much that we can affirm, a posteriori, of 
 the character of man, of his intellectual aptitudes and 
 his tastes. We do know that correlations among objects 
 are needful in order to his being able scientifically to 
 arrange them, and practically to use them, and that he 
 has tastes implanted within him, which are gratified by 
 objects without him ; for example, the ability to receive 
 gratification from the complementary colours of animals 
 and plants. We have here a firm ground to stand on, 
 in reasoning from "what we know," and as there is a 
 correspondence between man's constitution and the scenes 
 in which he is placed, we cannot be wrong in inferring 
 that God, by His nature and character, is led to accom- 
 modate the external world created by Him, to the intel- 
 lectual nature of man, also created by Him. There is 
 sense, then, and this a sense as grand as it is true, in 
 which we are justified in rei3resenting these types aa 
 proceeding from the very ideas of God, from His eternal 
 wisdom, imjjelled by His eternal love. Nay, we are 
 inclined to think that as there are homologies among 
 organic structures, so tliere may also be correspondences 
 among spiritual natures, and that other intelligences, 
 differing in many respects from man, may resemble him 
 in this, that they also delight in these laws and patteras; 
 while God, over all, may be conceived as rejoicing in all 
 His works together. 
 
 Ah taking this view, we are not inclined to admit tliat 
 the doctrine of final cause has been set aside, or sliaken, 
 or even damaged, Ijy late discoveries in natural history. It 
 
 ia tnie that some of those engaged in making these dis- 
 
 10
 
 434 THE AKGUMENT FROM 
 
 coveries did not see their consistency with teleology. 
 Oken, as a pantheist, admitted, so far as we 'Imow, no final 
 cause into his system. Geoffroy St. Hilaire reckoned it 
 presumptuous in man to discover any end designed by 
 the Creator. Cuvier was led to reject the doctrine of the 
 unity of the vertebrate skeleton, partly by the practical 
 turn of his mind, partly by the fear that it would inter- 
 fere with the doctrine of final cause. Some, we suspect, 
 have supported the doctrine of a jjliysical uniformity of 
 parts, because it seemed to deliver them from the ne- 
 cessity of calling in a personal God to account for the 
 economy of nature ; while not a few have regarded 
 it with suspicion, because it seemed to be atheistic or 
 pantheistic in its tendency. But amidst all these exhi- 
 bitions of presumption and of fear, the doctrine of final 
 cause stands as firm and as impregnable as ever, assail- 
 able by no known fact, consistent with every established 
 truth. 
 
 Physiological research has, we admit, established a 
 truth which cannot be reduced to final cause in the nar- 
 row sense of the term, but that truth is not inconsistent 
 with final cause — it is an illustration of a higher form 
 of final cause. We blame Cuvier because he would not 
 attend to the evidence which his own discoveries supplied 
 in favor of unity of composition. Not being of a specu- 
 lative turn of mind, he would attend, he said, to nothing 
 but facts, and content himself with classifying them. 
 But we must also blame Geofiroy St. Hilaire, when, after 
 condemning Cuvier for narroAving the field of science, he 
 professed to be incapable of discovering final cause, and 
 bids us remain " historians of what is." ■-••■ Final cause is, 
 to say the least of it, as certain as unity of comjDOsition. 
 It is surely as certain that the eye was made to see, as 
 
 • Vie, Travaux ct Doc. Scien. de Geoffroy St. Hilaire, par son Fils, p. 304.
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 435 
 
 that it is the homologue of the whisker of a cat.* We 
 give httle credit for sincerity to those who acknowledge 
 that they have overwhehning evidence in favour of the 
 former truth, but no convincing proof in behalf of the 
 latter. 
 
 Again, there are metaphysicians who think that they 
 have undermined the whole doctrine. We must reserve 
 to a separate section the examination of any plausible 
 considerations which they can urge. Meanwhile, let it 
 be observed that their objections proceed on principles 
 which would undermine all other objective truth, and 
 leave us only a series of connected mental processes. The 
 principles by which they would set final cause aside have 
 not half the evidence in their favour which the doctrine 
 of final cause has. We are sorry to find an accom])lished 
 and devout wTiter saying, " The argument from first or 
 final cause wUl not bear the tests of modern metaphysi- 
 cal inquirers. The most highly educated minds are above 
 them, the uneducated cannot be made to comprehend 
 them."f The modern metaphysical speculators who 
 have rejected final cause, have great need to review their 
 own principles when they are opposed to a truth so obvious 
 and so supported by scientific research. The argument 
 from final cause is one which the uneducated universally 
 feel, though they are incapable of explicating it logically, 
 or illustrating it scientifically. The educated can 
 feel that they are above it only in so far as they are 
 elevated by the intoxicating fumes of German specula- 
 tion, which would make man beheve that he is a god, 
 and that he creates from the stores of his own mind the 
 final cause, which he simply discovers. Verily there are 
 
 • In tlio animal body tlio following parts aro admitted to be nil homologous; — TiictUo 
 C/or|)U»cli'(<, I'lurliilan bodicH, Suvlari bo'lloH, Muciparous ducts of flshes, Vibrissa} (whls- 
 kerii) of cut and otliorn, tlir uyr, tlic car. 
 
 t Jowclt on Eplxtlu to tbu Uomans; Natural Uellglon, p. 410.
 
 436 THE ARGUMENT FROM 
 
 metaphysicians whose heads have been so dizzied with 
 the turnings and windings of their own cogitations, that 
 realities swim before them and they cannot distinguish 
 between them and phantoms. Living forever in a region 
 of pure, or rather very impure and cloudy speculation, 
 they do not, as the physical investigator is ever doing, 
 meet with stringent facts to restrain and control them ; 
 they have become utterly incapable of weighing ordinarj'' 
 evidence, probable and moral ; they cannot see that the 
 thoroughly established truths of inductive science are in 
 the least degree more certain than the last spawned, a 
 priori, theory of the universe ; nay, some of them (such 
 as Hegel) are prepared to deny the doctrine of gravi- 
 tation itself, because it will not fall in with their theory. 
 No wonder that final cause cannot stand the tests of 
 such inquirers, for these tests need themselves to be tested. 
 As taking so enlarged a view of final cause, we have 
 no objection to the general statement laid down by some 
 eminent scientific men, that there are parts of the vege- 
 table and animal frame which have no respect to the 
 functions of the plant and animal. " There is yet an- 
 other law," says De Candolle, "to be understood to enable 
 us to judge properly respecting the nature of organs. In 
 innumerable instances there appear forms similar to 
 those which are connected with a definite function, but 
 which do not fulfil that function, and nature, in these 
 instances, as in the animal kingdom, seems to produce 
 forms which are completely useless, merely for the sake 
 of a harmonious and symmetrical structure. The ap- 
 pearance of filaments with empty anthers in flowers 
 which are altogether female, and of female parts in 
 flowers wholly male, the structure of filaments in other 
 forms where they resemble nectaries, the false nectaro- 
 thecae in such orchidae as have no nectaries, these are
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 437 
 
 all formations which can only be explained by the law 
 of nature we are now illustrating." Professor Owen 
 uses similar lano;uao;e : — " I think it will be obvious that 
 the principle of final adaptation fails to satisfy all the 
 conditions of the problem. That every .segment and al- 
 most every bone which is present in the human hand and 
 arm should exist in the fin of the whale, solely because 
 it is assumed they were required in such number and 
 collocation for the movement of that undivided and in- 
 flexible paddle, squares as little with our idea of the 
 simplest mode of effecting the purpose, as the reason 
 which might be assigned for the greater number of bones 
 in the cranium of the chick, viz., to allow the safe com- 
 pression of the brain-case during the act of extrusion, 
 squares with the requirements of that act."* And again, 
 " The attempt to explain by the Cuvierian principles the 
 facts of special homology on the hypothesis of the sub- 
 servience of the parts so determined to similar ends in 
 different animals — to say that the same or answerable 
 bones occur in them because they have to perform simi- 
 lar functions — involves many difficulties, and is opposed 
 by numerous phenomena. We may admit that the 
 multiplied points of ossification in the skull of the human 
 foetus facilitate, and were designed to facilitate, child- 
 birth ; yet something more than such a final pnrpose lies 
 beneath the fact, that most of these osseous centres repre- 
 sent permanently distinct bones in the cold-blooded ver- 
 tebrates. The cranium of tlie bird, Avhich is composed 
 in the adult of a single bone, is ossified from the same 
 nund)er <jf points as in the human embryo, witliout the 
 possibility of a similar purpose being subserved thereby 
 in the extrication of the cliick irom the fractured egg- 
 shell. The composite structure is repeated in the minute 
 
 ♦ On Limbs, p. 40.
 
 438 
 
 THE ARGUMENT FROM 
 
 and prematurely-born embryo of the marsupial quadru- 
 peds. Moreover, in the bird and marsujDial, as in the 
 human subject, the different points of ossification have 
 the same relative position and plan of arrrangement as in 
 the skull of the young crocodile, in which, as in most 
 other reptiles, and in most fishes, the bones, so commen- 
 cing, maintain throughout life their primitive distinct- 
 ness. These, and a hundred such fiicts, force upon the 
 contemplative anatomist the inadequacy of the teleo- 
 logical hypothesis."'"' 
 
 It might be argued, if not with truth, at least with 
 considerable plausibility, that some of these statements 
 go farther than science warrants. It might be main- 
 tained that we are not entitled to affirm that an organ 
 has no use, merely because we are not able to detect it. 
 Science, as it advances, is ever shewing that organs which 
 were at one time regarded as useless, have most impor- 
 tant uses in the animal and vegetable economy. Who 
 will venture to affirm that the bones of the skull of the 
 young chick, have no reference, directly or indirectly, to 
 animal instincts ? or that the division in the parts of the 
 fin of the whale do not the better enable tlie female to 
 carry the cub under her arm when she is pursued by an 
 enemy .?f But, while we throw out this caution, we are 
 inclined to admit that certainly in the vegetable, and 
 probably in the animal kingdom, there are parts retained 
 for the sake of symmetry which are not necessary to the 
 mere function of the organ. In making such an admis- 
 sion, we are not, so far as we can judge, weakening the 
 great principle of final cause, so long as we call in a 
 higher final cause, and affirm that these part are fitted, 
 in some cases, to give instruction to mankind, and, in 
 other cases, to gratify their higher tastes. 
 
 * Homologies, p. 76. t See Scoresby, Arctic Eegious, vol. i. p. 471.
 
 COMBINED ORDER AND ADAPTATION. 439 
 
 In Civil Arcbitccture tlicre are four principles, it is 
 said,* to be attended to :—lst, Convenience ; 2c?, Sym- 
 metry ; M, Eurytbma, or sucb a balance and disposi- 
 tion of parts as evidences design ; and, 4ih, Ornament, 
 It is pleasant to notice tbat not one of these is wanting 
 in the architecture of nature. The presence of any of 
 them might be sufficient to prove design ; the presence 
 and concurrance of them all furnishes the most over- 
 whelming evidence. Upon taking a combined view of 
 the whole, we feel as if we have proof of much more than 
 of the existence of law or a pinciple of order ; we feel 
 as if we have distinct traces of a personal God planning 
 minute and. specific ends. We do not know whether to 
 admire most the all-pervading order which runs through 
 the whole of nature, through all the parts of the plant 
 and animal, and through the liundreds of thousands of 
 different species of plants and animals, or the skillful ac- 
 commodation of every part, and of every organ, in every 
 species, to the purpose which it is meant to serve. The 
 one leads us to discover the lofty wisdom which planned 
 all things from the beginning, and the enlarged bene- 
 ficence reaching over all without respect of persons; 
 whereas the other impresses us more with the providen- 
 tial care and special beneficence which, in attending to 
 the whole, has not overlooked any part, but lias made 
 provision for everj' individual member of the myriads of 
 anunated beings. 
 
 * Bee Lectures Id connexion with opening of Great Exibltlon.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE LAWS OF THE MATERIAL 
 WORLD AND THE FACULTIES OF THE HUMAN MIND. 
 
 SECT. I. THE FANTASY, OK IMAGING POWER OF THE MIND. 
 
 It is Mind that is to be the special object of contem- 
 plation in this chapter ; — not mind in its essence, of 
 which we can know but little, but mind in its actual 
 operations ; mind looking out by the senses on the world 
 without, and studying and admiring it ; mind making 
 the past to reappear, and imagine the absent as if pre- 
 sent ; mind analyzing the complex structure of nature 
 into its elements, and discovering resemblances which 
 group all nature into a few grand systems ; mind rising 
 from the effect to the remote and unseen cause, arguing 
 from the known past to the unknown future, and disco- 
 vering, by cogitation, new planets before the far-pene- 
 trating telescope had detected them : it is this mind 
 which is to exhibit a few of its varied powers and move- 
 ments to our view. Natural philosophy does not unfold 
 laws of a wider sweep, chemistry does not disclose more 
 curious combinations, nor natural history a more wonder- 
 ful organization, than this ever active and living mind. 
 There is a gradation from the inanimate, up through the 
 plant and the animal, to mind, as the crowning object.
 
 IMAGINING POWER OF THE MIND. 441 
 
 The motion of the planet in its elliptic orbit is no doubt 
 beautiful to contemplate, but having enjoyed a higher 
 existence, we -would not choose to run, year after year, in 
 that one unvarying orbit. If the choice were given us, 
 we would rather be a plant than a i)lanet — we would 
 rather be a lily, expanding its petals in the sunshine — 
 we would rather be the oak, shooting out and ramifying 
 at will, and facing the buifetings of the storm. If the 
 option were allowed us, there is a higher life that we 
 would prefer. An eminent man, on seeing the sea-fowl 
 career from the wave to the cliff, and sweeping from the 
 cliff to the wave, expressed the momentary feeling, "Well, 
 I should not dislike to be a sea-bird — I would have such 
 a variety of life in water, in air, and on land." But hav- 
 ing enjoyed by our ]\Iaker's beneficence, a still higher 
 life, we would not descend to these lower states of exist- 
 ence. For this mind with which we are endowed, or 
 rather, which constitutes our true self, can, in its thoughts, 
 run a wider orbit than the planets, and Avander into in- 
 finity ; it can, in the midst of sunshine and of storm, 
 grow on and on in knowledge and in love, and in all that 
 is great and good throughout eternity ; it can take in 
 more than earth and sea and air and all the elements, 
 and rise, by contemplation and purification, to gaze on 
 infinite perfection embodied in the character of God. 
 Surely this mind, with its laws and operation, is worthy 
 of our careful study. We are to shew that, while it is 
 vastly above them all, it is yet suited, by its structure and 
 its organs, to all the objects by which it is surrounded, 
 and which it is expected to conteni])late and to use. 
 When iDan appears on the earth, whicli liad been so long 
 in preparation i'uv him, he comes with ])Owcrs and apti- 
 tudes fitted to the scene in wliich he is ])lace(l. We have 
 now before us a correspondence of a liigliei- kind llian 
 
 19*
 
 442 THE FANTASY, OR 
 
 any previously contemplated. It may be called the 
 Archetypal correspondence connectmg Homology with 
 Teleology. 
 
 In illustrating this subject, we are to use mental facul- 
 ties and laws, which, under one name or other, are treated, 
 or ^t least referred to and incidentally sanctioned, in every 
 system of mental science. There are, doubtless, differ- 
 ences of opinion as to the nomenclature best fitted to set 
 forth these laws and powers ; we are to avoid the diffi- 
 culties arising from this source, by employing as little 
 technical language as possible. Even those who regard 
 our classification as not the best, and our analysis too 
 refined or not sufficiently refined, will yet be prepared 
 to acknowledge, that the powers of which we treat are 
 in the mind of man, either as original or derived ; and 
 this is all that needs to be admitted in order to our being 
 entitled to use them as we do in this chapter. We begin 
 with the Imaging or Pictorial Power of the Mind. 
 
 The reader will be able to discover what is meant by 
 this power, if he but observe, that whatever is recalled 
 or imagined by the mind comes with an image more or 
 less distinct. We call uj), let me suppose, some incident 
 of our childhood. We remember the day on which we 
 were sent to school, and how we set out from our parents' 
 roof with strangely mingled feelings of hope and appre- 
 hension. As we bring back these scenes, mark how every- 
 thing appears with a pictorial power. We have a vivid 
 picture, it may be, of the road along which we passed ; 
 we see, as it were, the school-house both externally and 
 internally ; we hear, as it were, the master addressing us, 
 and the remarks which the children made upon us. Or 
 more pleasant still, we remember a holiday trip under- 
 taken by us, in the company of a pleasant companion or 
 kind relative, to a scene interesting in itself, or made
 
 rUAGING POWER OF THE MIND. 443 
 
 interesting by its historical associations ; or, what we felt 
 to be still more agreeable, the visit was paid to the house 
 of a kind friend, who had a thousand contrivances to 
 please and entertain us. How vivid the representation 
 before us of the events of the journey, of the little inci- 
 dents which befell us, of the amusements which were 
 provided for us, and of the persons, the countenances, the 
 voice and words of those who joined us in our mirth, or 
 ministered to our gratification ! We not only remember 
 that there were such events, but we, as it were, perceive 
 them before us ; this imaging of them is, as it were, an 
 essential element of our remembrance. Wordsworth is 
 painting from the life when he speaks of 
 
 •' Those recollected hours that have the charm 
 Of visionary things ; those lovely forms 
 And sweet sensations that throw back our life, 
 And almost make remotest infancy 
 A visible scene on vrhich the sun is shining." 
 
 Or possibly there may be scenes which have imprinted 
 themselves still more deeply upon our minds, which 
 have, as it were, burned their image into our souls. Let 
 us cast back our mind upon the time when death, as an 
 unwelcome intruder, first entered our dwelling. We re- 
 member ourselves standing by the dying bed of a father 
 or mother, or sister or brother, and then we recollect liow 
 a few days after we saw tlio lifeless body i)ut into the 
 coffin, and, witliin a brief period after, saw it borne away 
 to the tomb. How terribly vivid and distinct do all 
 these scenes stand before us at this instant ! We, as it 
 were, see that pallid countenance looking forth from the 
 couch upon UK ; we, as it were, hear that voice becoming 
 feebler and yet I'eebler ; and then we feel as if we were 
 looking at that fixed gaze which the countenance assumed
 
 444 THE FANTASY, OR 
 
 after the spirit had fled ; we follow the long funeral as 
 it winds away to the place of the dead, and we hear the 
 earth falHnn; on the coffin as the dust is committed to 
 its kindred dust. 
 
 And we would have it remarked, that not only are we 
 able to represent these sensible scenes, we are farther able 
 to picture the thoughts and feelings which passed through 
 our minds as we mingled in them. Not only do we re- 
 member the road along which we travelled, and the 
 building into which we entered, we can recall the feel- 
 ings with which we set out from our parents' house, and 
 those with which we walked into the school. Not only 
 do we recollect the amusements which so interested us, 
 but the feelings of interest with which , we engaged in 
 them. Not only can we picture the chamber in which 
 a relative breathed his last, we can call up the mingled 
 feelings of anxiety, of fear, and of hope with which we 
 watched by his dying bed, and the emotions of grief 
 which overwhelmed us as we endeavoured to realize the 
 loss which we had suffered. We can set before us the 
 feelings which passed through our minds as we sat by 
 his corpse, or when we returned to our dwelling and 
 found all so blank and melancholy. We are obliged to 
 use metaphorical language in describing these recollec- 
 tions, but it is language which embodies and expresses 
 important truth : — we speak of being able to image, to 
 picture to ourselves not only the outward events which 
 called forth the feelings, but the very feelings themselves. 
 
 This mental power we are disposed to call the Fan- 
 tasy. It is a phrase used by Aristotle, and explained by 
 Quintilian — " Quas (fuvruahtg Grfeci vocant nos sane 
 visiones appellamus : per quas imagines rerum absentium 
 ita representantur animo ut eas cernere oculis ac prassen- 
 tes habere videamur." Lord Monboddo defines it, in his
 
 IMAGING POWER OF THE MIND. 445 
 
 Ancient Metapliysics, the power " by wliicli the images 
 of things presented to the mind by the senses are pre- 
 served." But this definition is too narrow for our purpose, 
 for the mind can represent not only what has been pre- 
 sented bv the senses, but all that has been before the 
 consciousness, all tliat has been under the eye of reflection. 
 We think it of moment to make this remark, because 
 the grand object of higher education, and especially of 
 religious discipline, is to lift the mind above material to 
 the contemplation of spiritual images. 
 
 Every one sees how these mental pictures are fitted to 
 enliven existence and increase enjoyment. They help us, 
 too, by their vi\'idness, to carry on trains of thought. 
 Those nominalists are altogether mistaken who suppose 
 that man reasons solely by means of words, or artificial 
 signs of any description. We are far, indeed, from deny- 
 ing the utility of language as an instrument of thought. 
 Language is a sort of stenography, by which we can ab- 
 breviate thought, and it helps us especially in those more 
 recondite processes, in which our more refined abstrac- 
 tions or wider generalizations could be represented by no 
 fantasy, or where images could mislead by their fulness 
 of detail, or their vividness. But man thinks primarily 
 by mental symbols, by pictures remembered or created 
 by the image-forming capacity of the mind. So far from 
 oral or written signs being primarily the object of 
 thought, the first artificial signs are commonly outward 
 pictures of the inward image. The earliest words and 
 writings coined by man were hierogly])hic, and it was by 
 degrees that they were refined into the highly analytic 
 exj^ressions furnished by our more advanced languages, 
 such as those of ancient Greece, or those modern ones 
 formed out (^i tlie debris of old tongues. But language, 
 if used as the sole representative sign, has its defects as
 
 446 THE FANTASY, OR 
 
 well as its excellences. The thoiiglits thus represented 
 have, on account of their remoteness from reality, no 
 interest to vast multitudes ; these dried plants do not 
 excite half the amount of emotion which collects around 
 the natural ones with the life circulating in them. The 
 most popular employers of words are those who use them 
 to set before us vivid pictures. In the ages and nations 
 in which dead symbols are most resorted to, and serve 
 the highest purposes, we must still go to nature for our 
 fresh and living symbols. Need we say that nature is 
 ever presenting them to us in infinite number and variety, 
 in the forms of the animal and plant, in the mountains 
 and plains of the earth, in the clouds and stars of the 
 sky. 
 
 It is, indeed, of vast moment to have the mind stored 
 with a variety of noble images to enliven and elevate it, 
 to act as Quintilian says, "incitamenta mentis." This 
 end is much promoted by an early training among natu- 
 ral objects which are picturesque ; by travelling at a 
 later period of life into foreign countries, and by the 
 opportunity thus afforded of holding communion with 
 nature in her grander forms, and of inspecting the noblest 
 products of the fine arts. But, while gathering these 
 material pictures, let the young man and the old man 
 not forget that there, are others which he should not be 
 losing, and which, if he part with, his gain will be more 
 than counterbalanced by his loss. For there are images 
 which it is still more important to have treasured up in 
 his mind ; they are the images of domestic peace, the 
 images of home and friends, of the afiectionate mother 
 (we can never have more than one mother) and devoted 
 wife, of kind sisters and smiling children, and to these 
 let us add, by personal intercourse with them, or by ele- 
 vated reading, the images of the great and good, of
 
 IJLAGIXO POWER OF THE MIND. 447 
 
 heroic men, who toiled and bled for noble ends, and of 
 equally heroic women, who lost sight of themselves in 
 works of disinterested love and sacrifice. These are in 
 themselves vastly more exalted, and ten thousand times 
 more exalting, than all your statues, draped and un- 
 draped, about which connoisseurs so talk and rave ; they 
 are fitted to become incitements to all excellence, and he 
 who has been at the pains to collect them and hang them 
 round the chamber of his mind, is like one dwelling in a 
 portrait gallery, from which the forms of ancestors are 
 looking down upon him vntli a smile, and exhorting him 
 to all that is great and good. 
 
 And there is one other object of which it is more im- 
 portant still that we have a noble image. The funda- 
 mental evil of images, as used in the worship of God, 
 does not lie in their being pictures, but in their incapa- 
 city to act as pictures. " To whom will ye liken God ? 
 or what likeness will ye compare unto Him ?" The stars 
 in their purity are not suitable emblems of His holiness; 
 nor the moon, shining in beauty, of His loveliness ; the 
 sun in all his splendour has his beams paled in the 
 dazzling brightness of His glory. There can be no cor- 
 poreal image of God, who is a spirit. One grand aim of 
 Revelation is to lift us above such gross representations, 
 and to lead us to worship a spiritual God in " spirit and 
 in truth." Man in his first estate, not his bodv but his 
 soul, was a sort of image of Him ; but man in his fallen 
 state is a caricature of Him. But we have one perfect 
 image of God set before us in His Word, as in a glass, 
 (2 Cor. iii. 18,) in Him who is the briglitness of tlie 
 Father's glory — only seen under a milder lustre — and 
 the express image of His person. By such a mediate 
 representation, aided by the types and figures wlilrh (lie 
 Old Testament supplies, our minds may rise to a some-
 
 448 THE FANTASY, OR 
 
 what adequate idea of a spiritual God, even as, by the 
 redemption purchased by that same Mediator, we hope 
 at last to mount to the immediate presence of Grod. "No 
 man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, 
 which is in the bosom of the Father, Ho hath declared 
 Him." We shall return to this subject before we close 
 the treatise. 
 
 But speaking of the connexion pre-established between 
 the laws of mind and those of matter, it is most inter- 
 esting to notice, that the most correct memory, in recalling 
 an object, seldom reproduces it with all its individualities. 
 In coming up before the mind as a picture, it appears 
 with only the more prominent qualities, features, and 
 colours — only with those which most vividly impressed 
 the senses, or which were most noticed at the time. The 
 consequence is, that the recollection appears very much 
 as a type of the object. In representing, for example, 
 some animal that we have seen, say a deer, we drop from 
 our view not a few specialties of the individual, and form 
 a sort of general picture, which might stand for any other 
 deer. There may be cases indeed in which we were so 
 deeply impressed with every part of the object, that we 
 see it as it were before us, with all its peculiarities ; but 
 in most instances we so far generalize or idealize it. 
 That this should be the law of the reproduction of what 
 we have experienced, we cannot but regard as, in a ne- 
 gative sense, a most merciful dispensation, as it saves the 
 mind from the distraction which would be produced by 
 numberless minutiae ever floatino- before it. But there is 
 another and more positive advantage arising from this 
 tendency of the mind to generalize its representations — 
 the mental image of natural objects becomes a type of the 
 species or genus. After we have looked at a number of 
 natural, especially organized objects, the recollection wiU
 
 IMAGING POWER OF THE MIND, 449 
 
 be found, in fact, to be not far from the type constituted 
 in nature as the model after which objects arc formed. 
 With this generalized representation in our minds, we 
 are the better prepared at once to refer the individual 
 before us to its genus or species, and at the same time 
 to notice the specialties of the new individuals which 
 may come before us. There are thus preparations made, 
 in the very structure of the mind, for the contemplation 
 and recognition of natural substances and beings. The 
 very mind and memory supplies a series of typical models, 
 and he who has his mind furnished with such images, is 
 like one walldng in a museum filled with specimens to 
 illustrate the natural orders. The mind is disposed, on 
 the one hand, to give to every object a typical form in 
 its representations ; and on the other hand, it finds, in 
 its actual experience, that types run through nature. 
 We might almost say, that there are types in nature and 
 types in the mind corresponding to each other, as an 
 object does to its image in a mirror. 
 
 sect. ii. tue faculties which discover relations 
 
 (correlative.) 
 
 The soul is endowed with powers called sense-percep- 
 tion and self-consciousness, by which it is enabled to 
 know the material objects presented to it tlirough the 
 senses, and also to know self in its shifting moods and 
 states. These simple cognitive powers supply us with 
 the raw elements of our knowledge. Tlie mind has also 
 a set of powers which enable it to retain and reproduce 
 the past. To tliis class belong the memory, which re- 
 tains and recalls the past in tlie form wliich it assumed 
 when it was previously before the mind ; and the imagin 
 ation, which brings up the past in new sliapes and com-
 
 450 THE FACULTIES 
 
 binations. Both of tliese are reflective of objects ; but 
 the one may be comi^ared to the mirror which reflects 
 whatever has been before it, in its proper form and 
 colom- ; the other may be likened to the kaleidoscope, 
 which reflects what is before it in an infinite variety of 
 new forms and dispositions. The knowledge thus ac- 
 quired and reproduced, though furnishing the materials 
 of all that follows, would, however, be very valueless un- 
 less there were a higher set of faculties to work upon it. 
 But the mind has a class of powers which elaborate the 
 materials thus acquired, by discovering relations among 
 the objects which have become known to it. By these 
 faculties, the materials, all but useless in themselves, are 
 turned into an infinite variety of cognitions and judg- 
 ments. Nor is there a greater difference between the 
 wool when stript from the sheep, and the beautiful gar- 
 ment into which it is woven ; between the flax in its raw 
 state, and the fine linen of exquisite pattern constructed 
 from it ; between the stone when taken from the quarry, 
 and the marble statue into which it is wrought — than 
 there is between man's primary knowledge through the 
 senses and the consciousness, and those lofty compari- 
 sons, and refined abstractions, and linked ratiocinations, 
 which he is able to construct by his liigher intellectual 
 faculties. There must be a correspondence between our 
 simplest knowing powers and the objects known ; but these 
 other, as the scientific faculties, are the powers which 
 fall more especially under our notice in tracing the cor- 
 respondence between the laws of the external world and 
 the laws of human intelligence. 
 
 The relations which the human mind is capable of 
 discovering are very many and very varied ; Locke de- 
 scribes them as infinite — they are certainly innumerable. 
 It is necessary, in consequence, to classify them. We 
 
 J
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 451 
 
 are far from thinking that the arrangement which we are 
 about to submit is perfect. It is possible that a better 
 division miirht be made ; but it is sufficient for our 
 purpose that the powers of which we are to treat, by 
 whatever name they may be called, and however they may 
 he arranged, have actually a place in the mind. The mind 
 is able and disposed to discover at least three distinct 
 classes of relations: — First, that of Whole and Parts; 
 secondly, that of Kesemblance and Difference ; thirdly, 
 that of Cause and Effect. .Every one who has ever 
 seriously reflected on the operations of his own mind, 
 will be prepared to acknowledge that it has the power 
 and the inclination to notice these various relations. 
 We could show that the faculties which discover them 
 may be found, under one name or other, in almost every 
 treatise on mental science written in modern times. By 
 the first class of faculties we are able to separate the com- 
 plex objects which fall under our notice into parts ; by 
 the second, we discover the varied points in respect of 
 which the objects around us correspond ; by the tliird, we 
 can connect the present with the past and the future. 
 By the first, we can, in some measure, penetrate into the 
 comjiosition of the objects by which we are surrounded ; 
 by the second, we see how objects are related to others 
 existing at the same time — how plant, for example, is 
 related to plant, and animal to animal ; by the third, how 
 the ])ast has produced tlie present, and how the present 
 will produce the future. By the first we have our ab- 
 stract notions ; by the second, our general notions ; by 
 the third, our notions of causal relations. 
 
 Before proceeding to illustrate them individually, we 
 would have it observed regarding ihcni generally, (hat 
 each lias an aptitude and a tendency to seek and to find 
 the relations which it is its function to discover. We
 
 452 THE FACULTIES 
 
 "believe that there is a tendency in every faculty, with 
 which man is endowed, to operate, and that there is a 
 pleasure attached to the exercise of it. The eye having 
 the power to see, delights to be employed in seeing, 
 and light is pleasant to the eyes. There is a similar 
 enjoyment felt in the action of all the mental powers. 
 In particular, there is a tendency on the part of all the 
 faculties under consideration, to exercise themselves, and 
 an enjoyment in their exercise. We have not only a 
 desire to know individual 'things as they present them- 
 selves, we have a propensity to discover relations subsist- 
 ing between them. When any new object falls under our 
 view, the question forthwith presents itself, How is it re- 
 lated to other objects known to us .? On noticing any 
 concrete or complex object, there is a strong intellectual 
 tendency in our minds to analyze it, to take it to pieces. 
 If it be a city or island that is brought under our notice, 
 we immediately ask in what part of the world, in what 
 country or ocean it is situated. If it be a new plant or 
 animal that is submitted to us, we ask what is its genus or 
 species. As strong as any of these, is that which we feel 
 on witnessing a strange phenomenon, to ascertain its 
 cause. Let us look at these faculties with the view of 
 ascertaining how far they are fitted to enable us to com- 
 prehend the laws of nature. 
 
 I. The Faculty which discovers the relation of 
 Whole and Parts ; in other words, the Faculty of Ab- 
 straction and Analysis. 
 
 When we look abroad on this world, we find it, as a 
 whole, presenting a very complicated appearance ; it is a 
 mighty maze, though not without a plan. When we in- 
 spect individual objects, we find them all more or less 
 complex. Almost all the natural substances we meet
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 453 
 
 with in the world are compound. Air, water, earth, and 
 fire, which were regarded hy the ancients as elements, 
 have been shown to be composites. This piece of mag- 
 netized iron has a magnetic property, hence it will turn 
 to the jjole ; it has a gravitating power, hence it falls to 
 the gi-ound if unsupported ; it reflects certain rays of 
 light, hence its colour ; it has certain chemical proper- 
 ties, and hence it will chemically combine ^vith one sub- 
 stance and not with another. What a vast number of 
 powers of attraction, of chemical affinity, of electricity 
 and vitality, are in action in every organism that falls 
 under our eye ! 
 
 As the objects which thus press themselves upon our 
 obsen-ation are so complex, we see how needful it is 
 to have a power of separating a part from a whole in 
 mental contemplation. But this is a power possessed in 
 a lower or a higher degree by every human being. On 
 a complex whole being brouglit before the mind, it feels 
 a pleasure in dividing it into its parts, and tracing the 
 relation of the parts to the whole. It is to this i)rinci2:)le, 
 in part, that we nuist refer the tendency of children to 
 take their toys to pieces ; it is in order to discover all 
 the parts, and how they arc connected with one another. 
 On peeing an ingenious machine, we have a strong incli- 
 nation all our lives to have its jjarts taken asunder, that 
 we may see how they co-operate. We feel it to be ])ain- 
 ful to stop in the midst of an important problem, or 
 theorem, or discussion, or process ; we arc anxious to 
 know how it may issue. We feel, indeed, as if our 
 knowledge of objects must be very obscure till we have 
 taken it down and resolved it into its elements, till wo 
 have logically divided it, or ])]iysieally ji.irlilioned it. 
 We feel as if we required to count over our wealth iu 
 order t(j estimate its value aright, to travel over our pro-
 
 454 • THE FACULTIES 
 
 perty, field by field, in order to know how much is com- 
 prised in it. 
 
 This mental power deserves to be noticed by us, be- 
 cause it furnishes an example of the adaptation of the 
 mind to the objects by which it is surrounded, and which 
 it is called to investigate. In consequence of the com- 
 plication of nature, all science must begin with analysis. 
 "But induction," says Bacon, "which will be useful in 
 the invention and demonstration of arts and sciences, 
 ought to divide nature by proper rejections and exclu- 
 sions." " Analysis," says Whately, " is the form in which 
 the first invention or discovery of any kind of system 
 must originally have taken place." We have thus, on 
 the one hand, the need of such an aptitude, and, on the 
 other hand, the tendency worldng strongly and sponta- 
 neously. The retort in the laboratory of the chemist is 
 not more obviously an instrument for decomposing the 
 substances lying around, than the faculty under conside- 
 ration is for decomposing the complex structure of the 
 world in its parts, so as to bring them under scientific 
 observation and experiment, and thus render their rela- 
 tion intelligible by the intelligent nature of man. 
 
 II. The Faculties which discovee the relations 
 OF Kesebiblance and Diffeeence ; in other words, the 
 Comparative Faculties. 
 
 When a resemblance is discovered, it is between two 
 or more objects in respect of certain attributes. This 
 class of faculties may be subdivided according to the 
 qualities in respect of which the agreement is noticed, 
 whether they be those of Space, of Time, of Quality, or 
 Active Property. 
 
 (1.) The Faculty which discovers the Relations of 
 Space, or, in other words, of Locality and Form. —
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE) 455 
 
 There is a tendency in all minds, and a very strong ten- 
 dency in some minds, to discover spatial relations. The 
 connnander of an exploring expedition sent to the Arctic 
 regions, reports that he has seen a hitherto undiscovered 
 portion of the ocean stretching away in a particular di- 
 rection, and the question is immediately discussed, How 
 does it stand related to the parts of the ocean previously 
 known and described ? A star-gazer reports a new planet 
 detected hy the telescope, and the eager question is put, 
 What is its orbit, and what its relation to the orbit of the 
 known planets ? We at times experience a painful feel- 
 inor because we cannot discover the connexion between 
 two localities. We are carried over night, let us hu])- 
 pose, from a district of country which is known, to 
 another which is entirely unknown to us. When morn- 
 ing dawns, and we go forth to survey the new region 
 our first inquiry will be, How is it located in reference to 
 the region which we left, and with which we are ac- 
 quainted ? We know that some persons have been posi- 
 tively distressed till they found out the relation of the 
 two localities, that into which they have been carried, and 
 that which they had left. The naturalist experiences a 
 similar feeling of pain mingled with his joy, on discovering 
 a new animal or plant which he cp-nnot refer to its typi- 
 cal species or family. There is the plant before him, he 
 sees its form and all its parts ; and what more, we might 
 be tempted to ask, could he wish to know of it ? But 
 the naturalist is not satisfied, he feels as if he Avanted 
 something, till such times as he has discovered its relation 
 in respect of shape and structure to (»tlier natural objects, 
 and lias been able to allot to it its projjer place in the clas- 
 sification of organic objects. 
 
 We have shown, in the second ])ook of this Treatise, 
 that the most careful regard has been imid to the rela-
 
 456 THE FACULTIES 
 
 tions of space in the structure of the universe. The 
 heavenly bodies have definite shapes and move in definite 
 orhits. Most inorganic objects on the earth's surface 
 assume, in certain circumstances, a regular mathema- 
 tical form. Every organic object has a typical shape. 
 Every kind of bird builds its nest according to a plan of 
 its own, and lays an egg of a peculiar size and shape. 
 We have found it interesting to notice, that the horns 
 which adorn the heads of certain animals have a sweep 
 which differs in every flimily, and that every kind of tree 
 has its own curve for its branch and leaf-vein, and the 
 outline of its coma and leaf. Animals have been arranged 
 according to type ever since the days of Aristotle, and 
 the latest investigations have been disclosing new relations 
 of form, which are scientifically named homotypes and 
 homologues. Morphology is now acknowledged to be 
 the fundamental department of botany, and opens the 
 way to every other. Locality is the principle to be 
 attended to by those who would study the geography of 
 plants and animals. Relative position is the governing 
 principle in the stratification of the earth and the bear- 
 ing of mountain chains, as investigated in geology and 
 physical geography. But we have now seen that the 
 mind has a native aptitude to observe such relations as 
 these. The two thus correspond, as a formed substance 
 to its mould, as a portrait to its original. It is an eminent 
 example of those striking adaptations between two things 
 having no necessary connexion, which shew that both 
 have been formed by an Intelligent Being, who fashioned 
 the one to be contemplated by the other. 
 
 (2.) The Faculty lohicli discovers the Relations of 
 Time. — There is a natural inclination among all men to 
 notice how events are connected in respect of time, and 
 this becomes, in the case of many, a strong and vehement
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 457 
 
 passion. On hearing an incident related, When did it 
 happen ? is the question on every one's hps. On some 
 historical event being disclosed by the casting up of a 
 long-lost record, the inquiiy is instantly made, In what 
 age did it occur ? Hence, when Layard dug from the 
 mounds in which they had long been concealed, the 
 marble slabs which lined the palaces of ancient Nineveh, 
 there was instantly awakened an intense desire to knoAv 
 the age at which these palaces were built, and the 
 connexion of the historical events represented on them 
 with Ihe known events of Jewish and Egyptian history. 
 The mind of the historical narrator feels in a state of 
 painful anxiety till such time as his relation shall have 
 been discovered. To aid this faculty, chronology has 
 fixed on certain great leading events, and set them up as 
 landmarks. Thus, in Sacred History, we fix on the Flood, 
 on the call of Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt, the 
 Reign of David, and the Babylonish Captivity, and dis- 
 tribute all other incidents in the intervening periods. To 
 aid tliis same aptitude, we have artificial chronometers, 
 which we set up in our dwellings, or carry about our 
 persons. 
 
 Such circumstances as these prove that there is a 
 strong intellectual tendency on the part of mankind, to 
 observe the relations of time. But we have seen in pre- 
 vious portions of this Essay, that attention is evidently 
 paid to Time in the economy of natural objects and the 
 occurrence of natural events. The heavenly bodies have 
 their definite times of rotation and revolution. Eveiy 
 organized object has a normal age alLjtted to it for its 
 existence on earth. There is a periodical return of days, 
 and months, and years, which admits ol' (lur systemati- 
 caUy arranging our plans and anticii)ating the future. 
 
 We measure the ages of the \y,iHt by the movements of 
 
 20
 
 458 THE FACULTIES 
 
 the heavenly bodies and the epochs of geology. Time is 
 thus divided for us, by great physical events, into re- 
 gular seasons, and all that we may number our days and 
 apply our hearts unto wisdom. The connexion between 
 the timepiece on earth and the motion of the sun in the 
 heavens, is not more clear than is the relation between 
 man's capacity and disposition to observe time, and the 
 wonderful periodical arrangements which everywhere fall 
 under our eye in nature. 
 
 (3.) The 'Faculty which discovers the Belations of 
 Quantity. — These are equivalent to the relations of j^ro- 
 portion mentioned by Locke, and those of proportion and 
 degree mentioned by Brown ; they are the relations of 
 less and more. The faculty which discovers them pro- 
 ceeds upon the knowledge previously acquired by the 
 mind of individual objects ; and very frequently, also, 
 upon the judgments pronounced by the other faculties of 
 comparison. Upon discovering that objects resemble 
 each other in respect of space, time, and property, we 
 may proceed to notice how they have less or more of the 
 common quality in respect of which they are related. 
 There is an aptitude in all minds, and a very strong 
 aptitude in certain minds, of a mathematical turn, to 
 observe, to search for, and prosecute these relations. "We 
 feel as if our ideas of objects were very loose and inade- 
 quate, till we have made some sort of calculation as to 
 their number. The mind delights to discover numerical 
 repetitions, or proportions, or cycles among the objects 
 falling under its notice ; hence the propensity among all 
 nations to trace significant numbers among natural phe- 
 nomena, and to group historical events into periods of 
 three, or four, or seven, or ten, or forty, or a hundred 
 years. This talent, running waste, has wrought out the 
 most fanciful and extravagant theories as to the power of
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATION'S (CORRELATIVE). 459 
 
 numbers ; this talent, used as it ought, has constructed 
 branches of mathematics, often long before they could be 
 turned to much practical account. 
 
 But we have shewn, in earlier parts of this work, how 
 much attention is paid throughout the whole of the phy- 
 sical universe to the relations of number. So far as we 
 can go down to the elementary construction of matter, we 
 find numerical proportions ai)pearing, and, as we ascend 
 upwards to compound and organic bodies, we still find a 
 significance in numbers, and it is the ambition of physi- 
 cal science to reduce all its laws to a quantitative expres- 
 sion. The circumstance that arithmetical calculations 
 and geometrical propositions admit of such an extensive 
 application to it the laws and structure of the universe, is 
 a clear proof that quantity is one of the principles which 
 impart to its order and stability. It is pleasant to 
 notice that He who hath given to quantity so importi^nt 
 a place in the structure of His works, hath also allotted 
 to the faculty which takes cognizance of it an equally 
 high place in the constitution of man. There is not a 
 more obvious correspondence between a weighing ma- 
 chine and the goods to be weighed out by it, between a 
 measuring vessel and the articles to be measured by it, 
 than there is between the mental capacity to discover the 
 relations of quantity, and the significant numbers and 
 proportions which everywhere occur in nature. 
 
 (4.) Tlic FacuUtj which discovers the Relations of 
 Active Property. — We cannot, as it appears to us, know 
 either mind or matter, except as exercising projicrties. 
 Mind exists " only as it cnorgi/cs." In looking into the 
 Houl at any given time, we find it ever clianging, ever busy. 
 In all our a|)i)rchensions of matter, whether original or 
 acquired, it is known as moving or as exercising some 
 active quality in reference to us or to other objects.
 
 460 THE FACULTIES 
 
 Proceeding on tliis original knowledge, we are impelled 
 by a native faculty to compare the various active opera- 
 tions of material substance, and are thus enabled to dis- 
 cover what its properties are, what is their nature, and 
 their rule. As we detect the relations between the vari- 
 ous actions, we refer one set of them to the law of gravi- 
 tation, another set to the laws of chemical affinity, and a 
 third set to the vital forces. Taking some one of these, 
 say the law of chemical affinity, we proceed to farther 
 distinctions and classifications, and we arrange substances 
 into groups according to their more prominent properties. 
 It is interesting to notice that we have now types and 
 homologies of a deep meaning in chemistry as well as in 
 natural history. The importance of the mental capacity 
 under consideration is greatly magnified by the discovery, 
 in our day, by Mr. Grove and others, that all the physical 
 forces, light, heat, chemical action, electricity, galvanism, 
 and magnetism, are correlated, and have mutual actions 
 and re-actions. 
 
 As the result of the exercise of these faculties of com- 
 parison, we have — 
 
 Generalization. — The number of particulars pre- 
 sented to our notice in the world, if they cannot be 
 described, with Plato, as infinite, may at least be said to 
 be innumerable, and the mind would feel itself distracted 
 were it obliged to carry them about with it ; and so says 
 Locke — "To shorten its way to knowledge, and make 
 each perception more comprehensive, the mind binds 
 them into bundles." In doing so, it notices how certain 
 objects are alike in this respect, that they possess certain 
 attributes in common ;• — they are of the same shape, or 
 they are spread over the same time, or they are alike in 
 respect of number, or they are of the same colour, or 
 have some other property in common. The things thus
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 461 
 
 resembling; each otber, thus correlated, are put into a 
 j^roup or class, which will include an indefinite number 
 of other objects, indeed all others possessing the common 
 attribute or attributes. " To be of a sort," says Dr. 
 Thomas Eeid, "implies having those attributes which 
 characterize the sort, and are common to all the indivi- 
 duals which belong to it. There cannot, therefore, be a 
 sort without general attributes, nor can there be any con- 
 ception of a sort without a conception of those general 
 attributes which distinguish it." . 
 
 There is a strong dis})Osition in all minds to notice 
 the agreement of objects, and to give a unity to the 
 many, by assorting them into groups ; and in the case 
 of some, and these usually the minds of noblest mould, 
 it becomes a strong passion. " This impulse of the 
 human mind to generalize," this " inductive propensity," 
 as Sir John Herschel calls it, is a characteristic of the 
 higher scientific intellects which often, indeed, carry it 
 too far; still, as Bacon, who warns them against these 
 excesses, remarks, " those who are sublime and discursive 
 put together even the most subtle and general resem- 
 blances." 
 
 Tliere is thus, on the one hand, a tendency in the 
 Imman mind to observe relations, and especially resem- 
 blances, and by them to group objects into classes. But, 
 on the other hand, the phenomena around us have many 
 and comprehensive relations one towards another, afford- 
 ing befitting exercise to the intellectual faculty, and invit- 
 ing it to dispose aU individuals into systems, and connect 
 all nature into series. Among all natural, but especially 
 among all organic objects, there are groups or classes 
 formed, altogether indej)cndent of a mind to observe 
 them. There are species and genera, and orders and 
 kingdoms — there are homotypes and homulogues in
 
 462 
 
 THE FACULTIES 
 
 nature, whether we take notice of them or no. In con- 
 structing natural science, we are not to create classes by 
 an exercise of our own ingenuity ; classes are already 
 formed, and we are to discover and not invent them. In 
 every department of natural science, it is imperative on 
 us to look to the natural grouping. An arrangement 
 which does not proceed upon it, however ingeniously 
 contrived, may be characterized as artificial, even when 
 it is not denounced as arbitrary and capricious, and will 
 selc\pm turn out to be of much scientilic or practical value. 
 But when the naturalist has been able to seize the dispo- 
 sitions made for him by nature, or rather by the God of 
 nature, his classifications being natural, will also turn 
 out to be available for the accomplishment of a great 
 number and variety of ends. Every character in such 
 an arrangement will be significant, that is, the sign of a 
 great many other qualities with which it invariably co- 
 exists ; and the arrangement will be found not only to 
 be convenient, but instructive ; not only aiding the me- 
 mory in retaining what we know, but disclosing other 
 truths, and widening immeasurably the boundaries of our 
 knowledge. 
 
 This account of the correspondence between the classi- 
 fying aptitude of the mind and the classes in nature, is 
 fitted to save us from both of two opposite extremes. It 
 shews us, on the one hand, that the mind is not a mere 
 mirror, reflecting the objects passing before it simply as 
 they pass before it. The mind brings with it to the 
 investigation high capacities, a power of separating the 
 most complex objects into parts for more especial con- 
 templation, of discovering resemblances among objects 
 very dissimilar in most respects, and of devising hypo- 
 theses to account for the phenomena which present 
 themselves, usually in the most scattered manner or in
 
 "WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 463 
 
 most sins-ular combinations. The relations which miite 
 the objects in nature are often of the most recondite cha- 
 racter, and it requires the very sharpest subtlety to bring 
 them forth to view, and the highest invention to propose 
 the truth which is to solve the enigma. But, on the other 
 hand, we are never to look on the mind, in the con- 
 struction of science, as creating laws which are not in 
 nature itself Dr. Whewell everywhere speaks of the- 
 mind, in scientific inquiry, as "superinducing" upon the 
 facts, " from its own ideas," something that is not in the 
 facts. " The facts are known, but they are insulated and 
 unconnected, tiU the discoverer supplies, from his own 
 stores, a Principle of Connexion. The pearls are there, 
 but they will not hang together till some one provides 
 the string."" To us it apjjcars that the true statement 
 rather is, that the mind is so constituted as to be able — 
 which is often very difficult — to discern all that is in the 
 facts. The law is in the facts, whether we observe it or 
 no, but it often requires much trained sagacity to detect 
 it. True, the class cannot with propriety be said to be 
 in the individual phenomena ; it is the law of k large 
 body of phenomena wliich have an aggregate of common 
 qualities, each one of which is a sign of all the others. 
 We have in nature not only tlie " pearls," but the 
 " string," otherwise they would not hang together as they 
 do ; but the string is often of a very subtle nature, and only 
 to be discovered by the most penetrating intellect. The 
 account which we have given shews us, on the other liand, 
 how vain all attempts must be to reach the secrets of na- 
 ture by a priori cogitation. The mind, in its widest range, 
 is a creature, not a creator ; it is cognitive, and not crea- 
 tive. It has an eye fitted to see ; but if that eye will go 
 beyond its office, and produce what is not to be seen, that 
 
 • WhcwoH's Philosophy of the Iniluctlvo Sciences, vol. 11. p. 48. Boo also Aph. xl.
 
 464 THE FACULTIES 
 
 which is thus conjured up will be a phantom, an illusion, 
 deceiving the eye which created it. True, it can devise, 
 and ought to devise hy]^)otheses, but it should only be to 
 bringr them to the test of facts. It has faculties which 
 often enable it to make shrewd guesses and long- 
 sighted anticipations, but these are to be regarded as 
 chimerical, unless they are in conformity with realities. 
 The beauty of the correspondence between the internal 
 faculty and the external object lies in tliis, that the fa- 
 culty can come to the knowledge of the object with its 
 subtle qualities and its far-ranging relations. 
 
 Three great truths are now before us : — First, all 
 things are conformable to a law of order : Secondly, man 
 has mental principles and powers which enable him to 
 trace and apprehend this order : Thirdly, he can discover 
 the order only by a careful induction of fects. The laws 
 exist in the things, otherwise man could not find them, 
 he would simply feign them, and there would be no cor- 
 respondence between his inward cogitations and the 
 external world. Science is not the creation of human 
 reason ; it is simply the exposition of a rational sys- 
 tem, which proceeds from the Divine Reason. Newton 
 did not make nature rational, he found it rational ; and 
 his system was rational, because the expression of ra- 
 tional laws. But, on the other hand, there must be human 
 reason discovering the traces of Divine Reason in nature. 
 Nature, as nature, is unconscious of its rational charac- 
 ter. Its phenomena are usually so involved, one with 
 another, that it requires the very highest reason to un- 
 ravel their threads, and follow each to its separate source. 
 The scattered events assume a scientific form, not as 
 they present themselves to the empirical observer, but 
 when subjected to analysis and generalized by human 
 intelligence. But the intellect, all the while, dare not,
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 465 
 
 except at tlie peril of being hopelessly lost, set itself 
 above observation ; it can merely act upon what it 
 observes, and its most comprehensive laws are inductions 
 from experience. 
 
 Profound thinkers, in all ages, have observed some one 
 or other of these truths, but have too frequently dis- 
 severed it from its connexion with the rest. There was 
 a truth shadowed forth by the ancient Pythagorean 
 doctrine of numbers, and the music of the spheres : God's 
 works have a numerical order, and are formed, as was 
 fabled of ancient Thebes, by the power of harmony, 
 Plato bodied forth a great truth in his Eternal Ideas, 
 which had been in or before the Divine mind from all 
 eternity, and to which as patterns, all things in heaven 
 and earth are conformed. Aristotle saw that there was 
 not a little mysticism in these lofty speculations of his 
 master, and so rejected some of his views, but retained 
 the grand central truth, under the nomenclature of 
 Forms, which are as necessary as matter to the construc- 
 tion of the universe. Plato is right when he speaks of 
 Ideas being in the Divine mind prior to their exhibition 
 in sensible objects. Plato is in the right, too, when 
 he represented sensible objects, which are ej^hemeral, as 
 being constituted after eternal models. Herein, too, 
 Plato was farther right wlien he talked of these ideas 
 being, in a sense, in human intelligence, and requiring 
 only to be called forth. Herein, too, Aristotle was right 
 and Plato was wrong, for these ideas are not to be 
 awakened by inward cogitation, as the great master 
 taught, but by the induction of particulars, as the equally 
 illustrious ])U])il affirmed. Even in the scholastic ages, 
 all artificial though the minds of scholars had become, 
 by a too exclusively formal training, there was a profound 
 truth retained by those who set forth the doctrine of 
 
 20*
 
 466 . THE FACULTIES 
 
 genera, species and universals, as having an existence in 
 nature j3rior to. and in a sense above tlie ephemeral ex- 
 istence of individual things ; for while the individual 
 lily and rose perish, the species abide, and are exhibited 
 in new roses and lilies bursting forth every spring and 
 summer. But these speculations were, after all, one- 
 sided and imperfect, tiU Bacon suppUed the complemen- 
 tary truth necessary to the perfection of the others, and, 
 passing far beyond Aristotle, unfolded the very process by 
 which man might certainly discover the laws, and, as he 
 hoped, the " forms" of nature, which he represents as 
 the final aim of aU observation and all science. Herein, 
 too, the j)hysical inquirers who profess to follow Bacon 
 are in the right when they declare that man must collect 
 facts, in order to know the law of the facts. But the 
 great German schoolman, Emanual Kant, is no less in 
 the right when he recalled the modern mind to the sub- 
 jective laws necessary to enable us to find the objective 
 order. And herein, too, that great but presumptuous 
 thinker erred in supposing that the subjective mind 
 created the symphonies which it was created to discover 
 and unfold ; and these errors of his opened tlie way to 
 the airy speculations which later German metaphysicians 
 devised in order to turn the correspondence between the 
 inward and the outward into an identity. In our 
 own country, in the present age, there is an uneasy 
 clashing between the German metaphysics on the one 
 hand, and the empiricism of the French physicists on 
 the other, and our thinking youth are ever swinging, like 
 the pendulum, past the point of rest. 
 
 There is a Mundus Sensihilis and a 3Iundus Intelli~ 
 gihilis, and the relation in which they stand to each 
 other seems to be as follows. To us there is first the 
 Mundus Sensibilis, and this when human intelligence
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 467 
 
 contemplates it, becomes the Mundus Intelligibilis. But 
 when thino;s are considered in themselves, the order, as 
 Aristotle showed long ago, is reversed ; to us there is 
 first the particular, and then the general ; in the order 
 of things, however, there is first the general, and then the 
 particular. There is first the Mundus Intelligibilis in 
 the mind of the eternal Logos ; this, in the fulness of 
 time, becomes the Mundus Sensibilis, (in a sense the 
 word becomes flesh,) which is once more reproduced as 
 the Mundus Intelligibilis, in the mind of intelligent 
 creation. AVe are reminded that in redemption there is 
 a similar development. In the History of man there is 
 first the earthly, and then the spiritual. But in the 
 counsels of the Grodhead there is first the Eternal Word ; 
 then the Eternal Word becoming Flesh ; and finally, 
 the Eternal Word reproducing himself in the sanctified 
 humanity of the Redeemed. 
 
 III. The Faculty which discovers the Relation 
 OF Cause and Effect. 
 
 Every one Avill acknowledge that man has a capacity 
 and tendency to observe this relation. On a new event 
 being brought under the notice, the mind immediately 
 inquires. What is its cause ? A house is seen to be on 
 fire, and the question on every one's lips is. How was it 
 irrnited ! We hear of the death of a friend, and our 
 natural impulse is to ask, What was the disease which 
 cut him off" ? When it can not discover the cause of any 
 important event, the mind feels pained and distressed. 
 There are certain historical events, the ])r(xlucing cir- 
 cumstances of which have not been found out, and there 
 is a renewed attemjit to discover them in every suc- 
 » ceeding age. There arc ])hysical jjhenomena the causes 
 •' of which are unknown, and again and again do scientific
 
 468 THE FACULTIES 
 
 inquirers return to the investigation, bent on unveiling 
 tlie mystery. 
 
 There is a power exercised in the performance, of the 
 ordinary duties of life, and it is the faculty required 
 above all others by the philosopher, and this whatever be 
 his particular walk, whether in abstract speculation, in 
 history, science, or the fine arts. The ordinary investi- 
 gator is satisfied when he can find an answer to the 
 question. What is it ? When it can be answered that it 
 is so and so, he is contented. But it is different with the 
 philosopher. When this question is answered, he has 
 another to put — Hoiv is it so and so ? He is not satis- 
 fied with knowing the What, he must also know the 
 How. An answer to the second of these inquiries can 
 be furnished only by the faculty under consideration, 
 which may be regarded as the loftiest, and most far- 
 ranging of aU our intellectual powers. It enables us 
 from the effects now visible to go back to the causes of 
 these effects, and the causes of these causes, into a distant 
 past, and from the causes now in operation to anticipate 
 the effects of these causes, and the effects of these effects, 
 on to a distant future. 
 
 As this faculty has an important place in the constitu- 
 tion of the human mind, on the one hand, so it is found 
 on the other hand, that all the events, both of the mental 
 and material world, obey the law of cause and effect. 
 Our mental anticipations or expectations are ever found 
 to be realized ; they are realized in our familiar experi- 
 ence ; they are also realized in the most remote ages 
 and worlds of which we can obtain any knowledge. As 
 far as geology carries us back, it shews us effects of 
 causes then, as still, in operation ; as far as the tele- 
 scope carries us out into space, it shows light obeying 
 the same laws as it does in our own mundane system.
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 469 
 
 In order to arrive at such a conclusion, it is not needful 
 to determine very precisely the nature of the mental ca- 
 pacity which prompts us, on discovering an event, to look 
 for its cause. All that is necessary for our argument is, 
 that the talent and inclination be regarded as native, and 
 this it shows itself to be by its universal operation, and 
 its constant craving. The majority of thinkers deserving 
 the name of philosophers, have regarded the mental 
 principle as not only an original capacity and disposition 
 of the mind, but as a fundamental law of the intelligence, 
 which insists not only that all effects known to us have in 
 fact had a cause, but that every given effect must have had 
 a cause. This view seems to us to be the correct repre- 
 sentation. On the discovery of any particular effect the 
 mind is led intuitively to look for a cause.* This is not a 
 principle gathered from experience, it is rather the prin- 
 ciple on which we proceed in gathering experience. Some 
 may say that having invariably observed that every event 
 has had a cause, we generalize our experience, and con- 
 clude that every effect has had a cause. But the infer- 
 ence would by no means be legitimate. Suppose our 
 experience to be that we had seen a spark ignite gun- 
 powder one hundred times, there would be a mighty gap 
 between this and the conclusion that it must do so the one 
 hundred and first time, and the one thousandth time, and 
 80 on for ever. A finite, though it be a uniform experi- 
 ence, cannot authorize us to rise to a universal and ne- 
 cessaiy truth. The experience of all civilized men for 
 ages, that swans are white, did not entitle them to argue 
 
 • Wo put the axiom In this form, because we do not btlievo tliat causation rises up 
 Instinctively in the mind us an abstract or general notion, or tliat it is consciously before 
 tho mind a« a (lencral axiom or principle; it is In the mind simply as a law of Its opera- 
 tion kadint' it, on uu Individual elfect beiriK presented, to seek a cause. (Soo Metliod of 
 Divine <;<iverninent, -1111 erlit. p. 508, and Appemllx.) The objeelions current in Kiinland 
 against orl;iinaI mental principles, ajiply merely to certain extravagant doctrines about 
 Innate, or a prim-i Uh-iis.
 
 470 THE FACULTIES 
 
 that all swans are white, and must be white, and accord- 
 ingly there was nothing inconsistent with previous ex- 
 perience in the discovery of black swans in Australia. 
 All human experience shows that crows are black, yet 
 there is no law of our mental nature leadins; us to be- 
 lieve that crows must be black in the planets Juno or 
 Ju2)iter. But it is very different Avith the belief in causa- 
 tion, (as we have explained it above ;) there is something 
 in our very intelligence which prevents us from beheving, 
 or so much as thinking, that anywhere, in any planet, or 
 sun, or star, or nebulous matter, there can be an event 
 without a cause. We have only carefully to notice the 
 operations of this native principle, to find that there is a 
 feeling of universality and necessity attached to all its 
 exercises. And as the mind, on the one hand anticipates 
 and expects that every effect must have a cause, so it 
 finds on the other hand, in its experience, that all things 
 in earth and heaven are in unision with the internal 
 principles. The intuitive expectation has ever a corre- 
 spondence in the external reality. 
 
 The account which we have given of the intuitive 
 belief, shews us at once that the internal principle does 
 not entitle us to proceed in the investigation of nature 
 by a priori speculation. For while intuition impels us 
 on the discovery of an effect to anticipate a cause, it does 
 not reveal to us what that cause is. The actual cause 
 must be detected by experience, and thus we are thrown 
 back upon induction as the only means, after all, of 
 penetrating the secrets of nature. 
 
 Such, then, is the account which we are disposed to 
 give of the relation between the laws of our intellectual 
 nature and the laws of the external world. The German 
 metaphysicians have discovered this corresjDondence be- 
 tween the subject and object, as they express it, and they
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 471 
 
 have often dwelt upon it, but they have given, as it ap- 
 pears to us, a mistaken representation of it. Some of 
 them are accustomed to speak of it as an antithesis, an 
 antithesis between subject and object, between matter 
 and form, between ideas and experience. They are very 
 fond of comparing it (I think very unhappily, as the two 
 are very different) to the polar forces which are found 
 to operate in the material world, and they call the one 
 .the positive and the other the negative pole. When 
 thus stated, we have a dualistic view of nature. But a 
 bolder set of thinkers, following out the same metliod, 
 have found out a synthesis to reconcile this antithesis. 
 Discovering a relation between the two poles, they have 
 reduced the duality to a unity, and resolved all things up 
 into one Absolute Existence. The general result of all 
 . this heterogeneous combination proceeding from a con- 
 fusion of thought, is a hideous pantheism, in which the 
 existence of God is affirmed, but His existence sejiarate 
 from the universe is denied. These speculators would 
 account for the correspondence between the internal ope- 
 ration and the outward objects by supposing them to be 
 con-elated parts of one whole. Fichte represents the 
 internal power as creating the external object, which, 
 according to our view, it simply observes. Schclling 
 conceives them to be necessarily parallel developments of 
 one ethereal essence developing itself, whereas they ap- 
 pear to. us to be parellelisms produced by Him who hath 
 instituted both. Hegel resolved them into a unity of 
 logical forms, whereas they are one simply by reason of 
 the unity of the Divine Counsel. We must return to 
 this subject, and devote a separate section to it. These 
 views, under whatever form they may appear, and how- 
 ever imj)0sing the nomenclature in whicli tliey are 
 clothed, and however formidable tlic array of logical
 
 472 THE FACULTIES 
 
 forms in wliicli they may be set forth, are the wanderings 
 of great minds, which will not condescend to proceed in 
 the method of induction, and, having set out in the 
 wrong way, and with principles not carefully inducted, 
 are going the faster and the further wrong, the quicker 
 and more vigorous their march. 
 
 There is, undoubtedly, a relation between the internal 
 and external, between the subjective and objective, but 
 it is not a relation of antithesis but correspondence ; and 
 this correspondence is to be traced, not to any identity, 
 not to any connexion in the order of tilings, not to any 
 logical connexion, but to the adaptation of the one to 
 the other by Him who hath created both, and, in creat- 
 ing both hath suited the one to the other. The mind, 
 as the contemplator, is so constituted as to be able to 
 attain a knowledge of the thing contemplated, and the 
 thing contemplated is so formed as to suit itself to the 
 intellectual nature of the being who has to contemplate it. 
 
 There is here a correspondence between two things, so 
 far independent in themselves, which I can ascribe only 
 to the unity of design on the part of Him who hath 
 created both, and given to each its nature and its laws. 
 and these in exquisite adaptation the one to the other. 
 We can conceive a world without any such coiTespon- 
 dence, a world in wliich the intellects of the inhabitants 
 might have no capacity to discover relations among the 
 objects falling under their notice, or in which relations 
 among the objects might in no way correspond to their 
 intellectual aptitudes. It is conceivable, on the one 
 hand, that the relations might have existed in all their 
 significance, but have remained unknown characters — 
 like the mysterious writings on the rocks of some eastern 
 countries, which no living man can read — in consequence 
 of no one having the capacity to decipher them ; it is
 
 WHICH DISCOVER RELATIONS (CORRELATIVE). 473 
 
 conceivable, on the other liand, there might have been 
 the intellectual power and inclinations, and j'et that such 
 relations might not have been found in nature, or found 
 only to show that they are of no significance. In the 
 one case, there would have been an inscription without 
 the means of deciphering it, in the other, a key with 
 nothing to interpret by it. In the co-existence of the 
 two, we have, on the one hand, a power of reading the 
 symbols, and, on the other hand, a wondrous book spread 
 out before us full of the highest instruction. The con- 
 sequence to man is, that instead of being a stranger, a 
 wanderer, and an outcast, as he must have been in a 
 world in which there was no such correspondence, he 
 feels himself to be so far at home in every domain of 
 nature, with faculties fitted, if only he exercises them pro- 
 perly, to discover those laws which give its unity and 
 connexion to the Cosmos, and help him, if he have faith, 
 upward to the contemplation of Him who hath insti- 
 tuted them in an all-comprehensive wisdom. " This 
 also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonder- 
 ful in counsel, and excellent in working." 
 
 SECT. in. THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 
 
 Every one has an easy mode of satisfying himself that 
 his thouglits do not succeed each other at random. Let 
 him, by an act of reflective memory, go back upon the 
 ideas which have passed through the mind in any given 
 period : he may take the time when they seem the most 
 desultory and uncoimectcd, and he will find tliat the one 
 has led on the otlier, like a string of birds floating through 
 the air. Or let him, by self-consciousness, watcli the 
 train as it moves along, and he will frnd that every 
 thought is related to that which precedes it, not by a
 
 474 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 
 
 material bond, like the carriages on a railway, but still 
 by ties which can be discovered. A few minutes ago he 
 may have been musing on home, and friends, and com- 
 forts, but now his thoughts are in a far distant land, 
 wandering amidst extended swamps, and burning heat, 
 and fearful malaria. At first sight it might seem as if 
 there could be no possible relation between the two men- 
 tal states : it might look as if the mind had leapt from 
 the one region to the other without an intermediate step. 
 But he has only to recall the whole train to discover that 
 there has been a continuous transition from the one to 
 the other. He was meditating on home and friends ; 
 but one of those friends has been called away from this 
 world, he went to a distant land to earn an honourable 
 independence, and there he fell a prey to an unwholesome 
 climate produced by heat and damps. And suppose that 
 he allow this last thought to run on in its natural course, 
 he may find it carrying him up to the heavens, there to 
 indulge in meteorological speculations, and these sug- 
 gesting scientific principles, wliich bring him back to his 
 own land and to his younger years, when he was first 
 made acquainted with these principles, and to the very 
 friends of his youth, and the home whence he started on 
 his wide excursion. Throughout the whole of this cir- 
 cuit, every thought has been in some way related to that 
 which has gone before, and to that which has come after. 
 We owe to Aristotle the first attempt to classify the 
 relations according to which our mental states succeed 
 each other. According to the usual interpretation of his 
 language, he represents our thoughts as associated by 
 similarity, by contrast, and by contiguity.* To discuss 
 
 * According to Sir William Hamilton, (see Note D** appended to his edition of Raid,) 
 Aristotle first announces one universal law, and then three subordinate ones. The one 
 universal law is : Thoughts which have at one time, recent or remote, stood to each other
 
 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 475 
 
 the various theories which have been propounded since 
 his days, would carry us into very irrelevant matter. 
 Without entering upon any subtleties or disputed points, 
 we take up the associations of thought in the two forms 
 in which they present themselves most obviously to our 
 view, that of Eepetition and that of Correlation. 
 
 In Repetition, a thought is followed by the very same 
 thought with which it was previously associated. Thus, 
 on the first line of a song with which we are familiar 
 bemg recited, the mind is aj)t to run through the whole. 
 This is the simplest and lowest form of the associative 
 power. It is apt to be strongest in children, who are 
 able, in consequence, to repeat what they have heard or 
 read more readily than jjersons farther advanced in life, 
 and whose thoughts are disposed to obey a higher law of 
 succession. For there is a higher form assumed by men- 
 tal association, less or more, in all minds, but most of aU 
 in minds possessed of firmer intellectual grasp. Tilings 
 between lohicli there lias been a relation discovered may 
 siirjcjest each other. No matter what the relation has 
 been, whether one of those mentioned by Aristotle or any 
 others, it ever afterwards combines the things correlated 
 in our minds, and the one tends to bring up the other. 
 This is law of Correlation. 
 
 We have already given what appears to us to be, upon 
 the whole, the best classification of the relations which 
 the human mind can discover. It can discover, we have 
 said, the relation of comprehension — tliat is, of the whole 
 to its parts, and of the parts to the whole. Now, when- 
 ever such a relation has been noticed, the part will sug- 
 
 In the rclatlonofco-oxlstcnco or Immediate consecution, do, when sovornlly reproduced, 
 tend to reproduce ca'.-li other. This Is cxfilained by Hamilton as meaning: Tlio parts 
 of any total tlioiiylit, when Kubse(|Uontly called Into coiiselousness, are apt to suggest 
 lmmcdlat<;ly the part* to which they arc proximately related, and mediately the whole 
 of wlii'h thoy were co-constituents.
 
 476 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 
 
 gest the whole, and the whole the part ; the substance 
 will suggest the quality, and the quality the substance ; 
 the book will suggest certain of its contents, and certain 
 of its contents will suggest the book ; the sentence will 
 suggest its words, and its words the sentence ; a building 
 will suggest some of the things contained in it, such as 
 its doors and windows, while the doors and windows will 
 call up the house. Again, the mind has the power of 
 discovering resemblances among objects ; and when a 
 similarity, whether in respect of form, time, number, or 
 property, has been detected between two. things, the one 
 will bring up the other. If a resemblance has been dis- 
 covered between certain plants, or certain animals, or 
 certain seasons, or certain substances, henceforth the 
 presentation of the one may lead on to the thought of 
 the others. The mind has also the power of discovering 
 the relation of causality, and it is well known that the 
 cause suggests the effect, and the effect the cause ; a 
 wound suggests the instrument that inflicted it, and a 
 warlike instrument is apt to be associated with its mur- 
 derous effects ; and so the Quaker poet sings — 
 
 " I hate the drum's discordant sound 
 Parading round, and round, and round, 
 To me it talks of ravaged plains, 
 And burning towns, and ruin'd swains, 
 And mangled limbs, and dying groans, 
 And widows' tears, and orphans' moans, 
 And all that misery's hand bestows 
 To fill the catalogue of human woes." 
 
 If there is any truth in these remarks, we may notice 
 the following interesting relationships : — 
 
 1. The intellectual powers are ever furnishing bonds 
 of association to our ideas. The mind is for ever actively 
 employed in discovering relations among objects pre-
 
 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 477 
 
 sented to it by the senses, or by the memory. It is ever 
 engaged in analyzing and compounding ; in discovering 
 analogies more or less obvious ; in tracing up the effect 
 to its cause, or following the cause onwards to its dis- 
 tant consequences. The activity of thought in these 
 operations far exceeds the velocity of the most subtle 
 material agents such as light and electricity. The num- 
 ber of relations discovered by the mind in a single day, 
 or a single hour, or even, at times, in a single minute, 
 far exceeds human calculation. It would require hours, 
 on the part of the reflective philosopher, to spread out 
 and analyze the judgments of as few moments of spon- 
 taneous thought. But every con-elation discovered among 
 objects may become the ground of their association by 
 the mind at any future time. 
 
 2. The laws of association are adapted to the intellec- 
 tual powers, and are the means of aiding them, and, in 
 particular, of supplpng them ^\ath illustrations, and 
 enabling them to follow out their investigations. When- 
 ever a relation has been discovered, it henceforth becomes 
 a means of associating in our thoughts the objects re- 
 lated. The analysis brings up the synthesis, and the 
 synthesis reproduces the analysis. The individual now 
 calls up the species or the genus, and the species or the 
 genus calls up the individual as an exemplification of it. 
 The cause su'-'Kests the effect, and the effect the cause. 
 The laws of suggestion thus cany out spontaneously the 
 processes which, in the first instance, have required the 
 more laborious exercises of the understanding. Our in- 
 tellectual conquests are thus kept from Ijeing lost. Every 
 discovered relation is made to re-uppear with new con- 
 finnati<jns, without limit and without end. 
 
 3. The links which bind our thouglits may be made 
 so far to (Icjicnd on our intellectual hal)its. We say "so
 
 478 
 
 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 
 
 far," because associations may also be formed by casual 
 circumstances or impulses, or may depend on tli*^. state of 
 the bodily organism, or other things which cannot be 
 directly regulated by the understanding. Still the asso- 
 ciations formed, must so far depend on the intellect; 
 man is not So helpless as he sometimes imagines that he 
 is in the current of his thoughts. If the mind delight to 
 discover high and important relations, then the ideas will 
 be found to suggest each other agreeably to these noble 
 relations. If, on the other hand, the mind is fond of 
 tracing trifling relations, relations of mere accident, or 
 mere verbal relations — as in certain kinds of wit — the 
 links which combine the thoughts will also be of a trivial 
 character and tendency. It is found here, as in many 
 other cases, that as men sow, so must they also reap. 
 
 4. A provision is made for enabling the disciplined 
 mind to conduct ultroneously its scientific pursuits. 
 Natural objects, we have shewn, are related according to 
 relations of class and cause. The mind, as we have also 
 seen, is furnished with talents specially fitted to enable 
 it to discover these relations. And now, we have seen 
 that objects, between which a relation has been discerned, 
 will be brought up in their correlation again and again. 
 Provided persons have only made the analyses required 
 in chemistry, or traced the classes in natural history, or 
 the causes determined by natural philosophy, they will 
 fall in every day with illustrations and confirmations. 
 Nay, in thoroughly trained minds, the suggestive faculty 
 at times strikes flashes of light which illuminate the 
 darkest subject, and disclose the way to new and brilliant 
 discoveries. 
 
 Besides these Primary Laws of Association, there are 
 Secondary Laws ("as they have been called by Brown) 
 detemining which of the primary laws should operate at
 
 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 479 
 
 any given time. We have not anywhere a complete 
 enumeration of these secondary laws. In the few re- 
 marks which we have to offer, we arc to limit ourselves 
 to the two which stand out most prominently. 
 
 First, Those objects are recalled most readily and fre- 
 quently to w^hich we have attended, or to which we have 
 attached an act of the \rill of any description. How 
 speedily, for example, does the striking of the hours &f 
 the clock vanish from our memory when there has been 
 no particular circumstance to call our attention to it ! 
 On the other hand, when we have deliberately revolved 
 any particular toi)ic in our minds, it will more readily 
 come uji before us at all future times. The will has an 
 antiseptic power, and keeps whatever has been embalmed 
 by it from being destroyed. 
 
 Secondly, Our minds will often be directed towards 
 an object when our feelings are interested in it. There 
 is a locality, for example, which has been much before the 
 minds of multitudes during the past year or two. Some 
 of us had scarcely ever heard of it before ; it possesses in 
 itself no great interest ; it consists of rocky and barren 
 heights sweeping down to an indented shore. Yet how 
 often have our thoughts been turned of late to that 
 place ! With what eagerness did fathers and mothers, 
 sisters and children, lover and friend, look for tidings of 
 beloved ones toiling and fighting on these cold and brist- 
 ling eminences ! There are thousands upon thousands 
 who can never forget that spot, many to whose view it 
 will rise up every day of their future lives, and some to 
 whom it will henceforth aj)pear every waking hour of 
 their existence on earth — for there it Avas tliat a son, or 
 brother, or husband was smitten, as amidst flying balls 
 and bursting sIicIIh, he rushed to figlit tlie enemies of 
 his country. There are children, whose first lessons in
 
 480 THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 
 
 geography, learned from a mother's lips, will be about 
 these wild heights, and the blasting storms which raged 
 around them — for there it was that the father breathed 
 his last. And why do men's minds wander so often to 
 these scenes ? it is because their feelings have become 
 interested in them, and emotion has the power of 
 preserving, as in amber, whatever has been imbedded 
 in it. 
 
 Now, let us mark how these two laws aid sciencific 
 men in their pursuits. The attention which they have 
 given to the subjects which engross them ; their fixed de- 
 terminations regarding them ; the efforts which they have 
 made to master the difficulties ; their very disappoint- 
 ments and failures — all these tend to bring the objects 
 more constantly before them, that they may fully exhibit 
 themselves, and reveal all their truth. Then, their ori- 
 ginal tastes, and their acquired habits, the result of associa- 
 tion, cause them to warm as they advance, and now their 
 hearts are as much interested as their heads in their pur- 
 suits. The botanist comes to love the plants, the zoolo- 
 gist the animals, and the astronomer the stars, which he 
 has often and anxiously watched, and scientific men gen- 
 erally feel, when engaged with their favourite pursuits, 
 as if they were surrounded by friends and companions. 
 But as, when we truly love our friends, we find ourselves 
 frequently thinking of them, so, those who are engaged 
 in the study of nature dwell habitually among their 
 cherished objects, and the images of them start up every- 
 where to delight and instruct, to furnish new examples 
 of old laws, and suggest new laws not previously dis- 
 covered.
 
 THE iESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 481 
 
 SECT. IV. TUE .ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 It may be safely affirmed that no one has been able 
 to give a complete account of the nature of Beauty. 
 Pleasant are the glimpses which not a few have had, but 
 to no one has she fully revealed her charms. We have 
 many valuable contributions towards a correct theory, but 
 we are yet without a thorough analysis or a full exposi- 
 tion. We are to attempt no systematic discussion of a 
 subject so interesting from the nature of the objects at 
 which it looks, and yet shewing itself to be so subtle 
 and retiring: when we would advance towards it. It is 
 very obvious that, in the judicious treatment of the sub- 
 ject, there should be a distinction drawn between the 
 object which calls forth the feeling and the feeling called 
 forth. We are to content ourselves with shewing that 
 there is a correspondence between the two, and the com- 
 ponent parts of each. Here, as in every other province 
 of God's works, we find the confluence of a number of 
 streams ; only, in the case of beauty, they are so blended 
 that it is impossible to trace each to its source. 
 
 I. Vigorous efforts are being made, in the present day, 
 to find out in what physical beauty consists. These at- 
 tempts have so far been successful. It has been demon- 
 strated that there are certain distributions of colours 
 which are more agreeable than others. Certain colours, 
 if placed alongside of each other in the decoration of a 
 house, or a piece of dress, are felt to produce a pleasant 
 impression. But we have shewn that these juxtajiosi- 
 tions of colours are frequently met with in the ])lant, in 
 the jjlumage of birds, and in the sky. There is liere a 
 correHj)OMdence between the external world on the one 
 hand, and our organization bodily, and probably mental 
 also, on the other. 
 
 21
 
 482 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 Endeavours are also being made to find out the law 
 of harmonious forms. Not having fully examined the 
 subject, we are not prepared to say how far they have 
 been successful. But we are persuaded that such in- 
 quirers as Dr. M'Vicar and Mr. Hay are on the proper 
 route, and that, sooner or later, there will be detected 
 certain laws of beauty in form, capable of mathematical 
 expression. But it is to be carefully noticed, that even 
 when scientific research shall have established all this, it 
 has not fully explained the phenomena of beauty. For 
 the mental sentiment, of which we are conscious, corre- 
 sponding to the physical object which excites it, is as 
 wonderful as the object which calls it forth ; indeed, the 
 most remarkable feature of the whole phenomenon is the 
 adaptation of the one to the other. 
 
 II. We are not to speak confidently on so intricate a 
 subject, but it appears to us that there is a feeling of 
 beauty resulting from certain exercises of the intelligence, 
 (we are sure that there is a feeling of beauty aw^akened 
 by certain moral ideas.) This emotion issues when the 
 mind, in contemplating objects, discovers spontaneously, 
 without" will and without efibrt, a number of seemingly 
 intended relations of one thins; to another. There has 
 been a striving after the expression of this truth by deep 
 thinkers in difierent ages. According to Augustine, 
 beauty consists in order and design ; according to Hut- 
 cheson, in unity with variety ; according to Diderot, in 
 relations. Grlimpses of the same doctrine appear and 
 disappear in the writings of Cousin, M'Vicar, and Kus- 
 kin.* There is a sort of beauty in a large combination 
 of independent means to accomj)lish one end, and in the 
 co-agency of numberless causes to work one effect, — 
 
 * Cousin on the True, the Beautiful, the Good; M'Vicar on the Beautiful, &c., (1837;) 
 Buskin's Modern Painters, vol. ii. sect. i. chaps, ^. \\
 
 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 483 
 
 pro^^ded always that the end be not malevolent, or the 
 effect trivial. There is a beauty in certain well-arranged 
 forms, perhaps also in certain recurrences and projTOr- 
 tions. It is said that there is a beauty in certain regular 
 rectilinear figures, such as the triangle, the parallelogram 
 and square, and it has been shown that these regulate 
 not a few forms of beauty. This seems to us, however, 
 to be only a jiartial expression of the truth ; we think 
 that it needs a complementary truth to be added. The 
 feeling of beauty is called forth only when, along with an 
 observable regularity of figure, there is something to in- 
 dicate that there has been more than mechanism at work. 
 If the form be too e\ddently regular, there is little or no 
 emotion excited. On the other hand, if the figure be 
 irregular throughout, there is no feeling of beauty. But 
 if there be a regular figure, such as a triangle, at the 
 basis of the whole, with curvilinear departures to set it 
 ofl', or if there be rhomboids set in spirals, as on the sur- 
 face of cones, then the aesthetic sentiment is called forth. 
 This general view is illustrated and confirmed by the 
 pleasure which is felt in rhyme and in verse of^ every 
 description, indeed, in all forms of poetry, ancient or mo- 
 dem, eastern or western. All kinds of poetry agree in 
 presenting repetitions, parallelisms, balancings, corre- 
 spondences of some description. The mind is excited, 
 and its admiration is called f )rth, when it finds the varied 
 thoughts and feelings grouped under correlations of sound 
 or sentiment, which exercise the intellect, and aid tlic 
 natural flow of association, Avhich proceeds, we have 
 shewn, according to correlation. There is a siniil.ir idea- 
 sure excited by the tropes, figures, ap])osite allusions, 
 comparisons, metaphors, contrasts, which are ever ad- 
 dressing themselves to us in more adorned ])rose, such as 
 that of riato, of Jeremy Taylor, and of IOiIihuikI I'urke.
 
 484 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 But the correlations of poetry are limited in range 
 compared with those which meet us everywhere in the 
 kingdoms of nature. In all organic bodies there is, along 
 with more or less variety, a symmetry or likeness of side 
 to side, and also a repetition of similar parts ; and in 
 higher organisms, there are more complex and recon- 
 dite correspondences. 
 
 In plants, there are regular lines and definite angles 
 in the framework, but meanwhile the boimdino; lines are 
 always curves, all the more beautiful that they are not 
 the more regular curves, but curves of great freedom of 
 sweep. We have found it interesting to notice, that in 
 the leaves of many plants there is a series of visible tri- 
 angles. These triangles are formed in the upper part 
 of the leaf by the midrib, by the lateral vein, and by a 
 line drawn from the apex of the leaf to the top of the 
 midrib. It has been affirmed that there is a peculiar 
 significancy in the right-angled triangle ; it exhibits most 
 observably a unity with variety ; and we have noticed 
 that in many plants the angles formed by the lateral veins 
 in the upper part of the leaf, and a line drawn from their 
 apex to the apex of the leaf, is a right angle. There is 
 a series of similar triangles in the upper part of the coma 
 of many trees. Yet every vein and branch, and the out- 
 line of every leaf, and of the coma of every tree, is not a 
 straight line, but a curve with a graceful sweep, that is, 
 a sweep wMch still maintains an observable regularity. 
 The triangle would be stiff and formal without the curve, 
 and the curve would be eccentric without the triangle ; 
 the beauty arises from the union of the two. 
 
 There is beauty in the spiral arrangement of the appen- 
 dages of the plant, and in the crossing of the spiral lines 
 on the surface of the stem, and of many fruits. Of the 
 more regular curves, the spiral combines in itself most
 
 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 485 
 
 evidently the two principles of unity with variety, that 
 is. the greatest number of visible correlations ; and it is 
 interesting to notice, that this figure is perhaps the most 
 universally prevalent regular figure in nature, being seen 
 in shell-fish, in plants, and in the starry heavens. There 
 is a visible beauty, too, in the regular flower-cup, with 
 the petals all alike, surrounding and guarding a common 
 centre, and each with curvilinear outline. There is no 
 less beauty in the irregular flower, with one of its petals 
 standing out from the rest, but this not by chance or by 
 oversight, for in order to enable it to counterbalance the 
 others, it has, we have she^^^l, a richer colouring. 
 
 In the animal frame the relations are more numerous, 
 but at the same time, as becomes the higher subject, 
 more manifold, and not so easily noticed. Whatever 
 disadvantage might arise, from the latter source, to minds 
 of limited intelligence, is counterpoised by the Life which 
 distinguishes the animal from the plant. The plant 
 being soulless, must have a meaning given to it by its 
 regular shape and regular divergences. Tlio soul of the 
 animal, on the other hand, is sufficient to impart to it a 
 concentration of purpose, with a never-ceasing activity 
 and change. 
 
 Still there is a beauty in the forms of the animal. 
 Mr. Hay thinks he has found triangles regulating the 
 framework of the human body. But it should be 
 carefully noted that no such angular figures strike the 
 eye in the rounded body of man or woman. There are 
 indeed ratios and proportions carefully attended to in 
 the construction of the human frame, and perceived un- 
 consciously by the mind, and tliese doubtless give the 
 unity to the body. But these would not kindle a feeling 
 of ])eauty, (they excite no such iceliiig in llie skeleton or 
 in Mr. Hay's plates,) unless they were relieved by rounded
 
 486 
 
 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 forms and flowing curves. The feeling of beauty is 
 raised neither by the one nor the other, but by the 
 happy marriage-union of the stronger with the more 
 flexible. 
 
 It will not be understood from this statement that we 
 look upon the perception of beauty as an intellectual ex- 
 ercise ; what we mean is, that the intellectual exercise 
 may lead on to it. That there is need of some intellec- 
 tual perception in order to the sense of beauty, is evident 
 from the circumstance that nations and persons low in the 
 scale of intelligence have little sense of beauty, and what 
 little they have is awakened by the simplest forms of 
 beauty. The sense of beauty is a sentiment, and not an 
 act of the understanding, but it is the reward which 
 God gives to the intelligence when contemplating the 
 noblest of His works. Not even that it issues simply 
 from the intellectual act, it proceeds from the intelligence 
 contemplating those designed relations which appear in 
 the objects. 
 
 If there be any truth in these views, they lend an em- 
 phasis and significance to much that we have been esta- 
 blishing throughout this volume. The sense of beauty 
 in the case of a vast number of organic objects is called 
 forth by the very union of typical form and intended 
 modifications; by the special end being in conformity 
 with a general plan. Every one of the correspondences 
 we have been tracing in the plant and animal may, when 
 taken along with the designed de2)artures, be the means 
 of exciting admiration and a sense of beauty. Those 
 who experienced the feeling, may not be able to lay bare 
 the principle on which it proceeds, but nevertheless they 
 perceived the plan and the end, and the emotion sprang 
 up spontaneously. 
 
 And here it is instructive to notice how the class of
 
 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 487 
 
 cesthetic emotions are meant to lead on om* minds from 
 creation to the Creator. For it is only wlien there is such 
 a correspondence among objects as might be designed 
 that the emotions are awakened. The whole exercise of 
 mind is thus fitted, and we believe intended, to draw us 
 on to the perception of design. It is too true that the 
 thoughts of many are arrested when they would run in 
 this direction. The aesthetic emotions are cherished and 
 cultivated by many who spurn away every sentiment of 
 godliness. Alas, it is because a deeply seated ungodliness 
 is staying the proper outflowing of the soul ! But were 
 it not that men " restrain prayer," every perception of 
 the beauty of natural objects would express itself in a 
 hymn of praise to the Maker of them all. The feelmg 
 excited by the beautiful is the fire which should kindle 
 the sacrifice into a flame rising to heaven. 
 
 III. The theory of Ahson, followed out and illustrated 
 by the late Lord Jeffrey, which refers all beauty to asso- 
 ciation of ideas, was never favourably received by artists, 
 and is now abandoned by all metaphysicians. But while 
 the doctrine of association cannot explain every phenom- 
 enon connected with the perception of beauty, there is 
 much that it can account for, and which can be accounted 
 for in no other way. When living in a rural district, we 
 hear on the Sabbath the sound of a bell risins: in the 
 midst of the stillness, and we say how beautiful ; but we 
 feel in tins way not so much because of any pleasure 
 which the sound may give to the bodily organism, (for 
 the sound may rather be grating in itself,) but l)ecause 
 it is associated with the idea of Sabbath peace, and the 
 blessing which the Sabbath diffuses. Tlie associatii)n of 
 ideas alone can explain such a phenomenon as this, a 
 sound or sight rendered pleasant by reason of the delight- 
 lul fc'lin'^s wlii(;h cluster around it. There is a still
 
 488 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 more important part of tlie complex state of mind which 
 can be accounted for in no other way ; we allude to the 
 prolonging of the pleasure, and the variety of the plea- 
 sure communicated by the image upon image, the feel- 
 ing upon feeling, all agreeable and exciting, raised by 
 certain objects, such as a cheerful countenance, a plain 
 covered with grain, and a river rolling along amid fer- 
 tile banks. It is in the union of the two, the original 
 feeling of beauty, and the association with it of other 
 pleasant feelings, that we are to find the full explana- 
 tion of the phenomenon. By the one we account for 
 what is fixed in gesthetics, for the uniformity of men's 
 judgments in matter of taste ; by the other, that is, by 
 the difference of the associated feelings, we can account 
 for what is variable, for what differs, in the case of differ- 
 ent individuals. And we do not know whether to admire 
 most that constitution of our nature, by which there are 
 certain points of agreement in all men's tastes, which 
 renders it possible for them to sympathize with each 
 other, and by which a science of gesthetics is rendered 
 possible, or that variety of tastes which gives to every 
 man his individuality, which secures that all do not run 
 after the same object, and that there is scarcely an object 
 which may not be made attractive to certain minds. 
 
 But then, this very association of ideas in its special 
 connexion with the beautiful, requires itself to be ac- 
 counted for. The views which we have propounded may 
 aid us in doing so. The feeling of beauty is awakened 
 by means of discovered correlations, and each of these 
 ramifies into collateral topics. Then all the correlations 
 point to Design, and Design is a mental quality alluring 
 on the mind to a thousand pleasant topics. Hence the 
 retinue of thoughts ready to rise up, and prolonging the 
 feeling as by answering echoes, and calling in images to
 
 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 489 
 
 aid it from every object in nature or in art, which may- 
 have fallen under the notice. 
 
 IV. We may notice some other and allied feelings, so 
 far as they are awakened by objects in nature. Some 
 maintain that there are plants and animals which may 
 be described as ludicrous. If there be, it is because they 
 are addressed to the sense of the ludicrous in us. The 
 feeling of the ludicrous seems to us to be awakened by 
 the discovery of an unexpected relation between objects 
 in other respects totally dissimilar. This, too, seems to 
 point, but in an opposite way, from the sense of beauty 
 to design, to design in bringing things unlike into one 
 category. There are, certainly, grotesque and fantastic 
 objects, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 
 which call up the feelings of the ludicrous. We smile 
 when we observe how like the owl is to an old man or 
 woman with excessive pretensions to wisdom ; how like 
 certain orchids are to beasts, birds, or insects ; and how 
 admirably the monkey mimics tlie movements of hu- 
 manity. 
 
 V. There are scenes met with on our earth which are 
 expressively called picturesque. They seem to be pecu- 
 liarly addressed to the imagining power of the mind ; they 
 are picture-like, and raise a vivid picture of themselves 
 in the mind ; such as the jagged mountain ridges, the 
 peaked promontories, the perpendicular rocks. The 
 mass of objects on the earth are not of tliis exciting 
 character. Just as the ground colours of nature are soft, 
 or neutral, so the earth's common scenes are irregular, or 
 simply rounded in their outline. Yet here and there 
 there arise picture-like objects from the midst of them, 
 to arrest the eye and j)rint themselves on the fancy. It 
 may be noticed, that the grass and grain of the earth 
 raise up their sharp points from the surface to catch our 
 
 21*
 
 490 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 
 
 eye. A still larger proportion of objects above us, and 
 standing between us and the sky, have a clear outline or 
 vivid points. This is the case with the leaves and the 
 coma of trees, and with not a few rocks and mountains. 
 Kising out from quieter scenes, they enliven without 
 exciting the mind, and tend to raise that earthward 
 look of ours, and direct it to heaven, to which they 
 point. 
 
 yi. Before closing this paragraph, we must allude to 
 another kindred subject, the Sublime, so far as natural 
 objects are fitted to raise the feeling. Visible things can 
 here do nothing more than aid the mind, which uses them 
 merely to pass beyond them. 
 
 The feeling of the Sublime is acknowledged on all 
 hands to be intimately connected with the Idea of the 
 Infinite. In the formation — or rather, in the attempt at 
 the formation — of this idea, the mind shews, in a verv 
 striking manner, both its strength and its weakness. In 
 expanding any image spatially, it finds itself incapable 
 of doing anything more than representing to itself a vo- 
 lume with a spherical boundary. In following out its 
 contemplation in respect of time, the image is of a line 
 of great length, but terminating in a point at each end. 
 But where the mind shews its weakness, there it also 
 exhibits its strength. It can only imagine this bounded 
 sphere and outline, but it is led to believe in vastly more. 
 It strives to conceive the Infinite, but ever feels as if it 
 were bafiled and thrown back. But while the mind 
 cannot embrace the infinite, it feels, at the place where 
 it is arrested by its own impotency, that there is an in- 
 finite beyond. Looking forth, as it were, on the sky, it 
 can see oidy a certain distance, but is constrained to be- 
 lieve that there is much more beyond the range of the 
 vision — nay, that to whatever point it might go, there
 
 THE ESTHETIC SENTIMENTS. 491 
 
 would Still be a soinetliiug further on. " If the mind/' 
 says John Foster, " were to arrive at the solemn ridge 
 of mountains which we may fancy to bound creation, it 
 would eagerly ask. Why no farther ? — what is beyond ?" 
 It is here that we find the origin and genesis of such idea 
 as the mind can form of the infinite, and of the belief, to 
 which it ever cHngs, in the boundless and eternal. 
 
 Now, whatever calls forth this exercise of mind and 
 the feeling of awe awakened by it, may be described as 
 sublime. So far as picturesque objects are concerned, the 
 imaging power of the mind rejoices to find that it can 
 print them upon its surfixcc. But there are objects which 
 it tries in vain to picture or represent ; the imaging 
 power is filled, but they will not be compressed within 
 it. Everywhere in nature are there scenes which are 
 
 ..." Like an invitation in space 
 Boundless, a guide into Eternity." 
 
 A vast height, such as a lofty mountain, is a step to help 
 us to this elevation of thought and emotion. Tlie reve- 
 lations of astronomy awaken the feeling, because they 
 carry out the soul into far dejjths of space, but without 
 carrying it to the verge of sjiace. Tlie discoveries in 
 geology extend the mind in much the same way, by the 
 long vistas opened of ages — which yet do not go back to 
 the beginning. Every vast dis])lay of power evokes this 
 overawing sentiment ; we see effects which are great, 
 arguing a power which is greater. The liowl of the 
 tempest, the ceaseless lashing of the ocean, the roar of 
 the waterfall, the crash of ihe avalanche, the growl of the 
 tbunder, the shaking of the very foundation t»n which we 
 stand when the earth trembles — ^^all these iill the ima- 
 gination, but are suggestive of something more tremen- 
 dous behind and beyond. For a similar reason the vault
 
 492 THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHERS AS TO 
 
 of heaven is always a sublime object when serene ; we 
 feel, in looking into it, as if we were looking into immen- 
 sity. Hence it is that a clear bright space in the sky or 
 in a painting, always allures the eye towards it ; it is an 
 outlet by which the mind may, as it were, go out into 
 infinity. 
 
 But whatever may suggest the infinite, there is, after 
 all, but one Infinite. The grandest objects presented to 
 our view in earth or sky, the most towering heights, the 
 vastest depths, the most resistless agencies — these are 
 but means to help us to the contemplation of Him who 
 is "high-throned above all height," whose counsels reach 
 from eternity to eternity, and who is the Almighty unto 
 perfection. They are fulfilling their highest end when 
 they lift us above this cold earth, and above our narrow 
 selves, to revel and lose ourselves in the height and depth, 
 the length and breadth, of an Infinite Wisdom, lightened 
 and warmed by an Infinite Love. 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY SECT. THEORIES OF THE CONTINENTAL PHILO- 
 SOPHERS AS TO THE RELATION OF THE LAV^S OF NATURE TO 
 THE LAWS OP INTELLIGENCE. 
 
 We have illustrated, to as large an extent as our plan allows, the facts 
 which bear upon the relation of the subjective mind to the objective world. 
 After such a survey, we are in circumstances to examine the theories of 
 this relation which have been propounded by some of the deeper thinkers 
 on the Continent of Europe, and especially by some of the German meta- 
 physicians. It should be frankly acknowledged that wo have derived 
 much new material for thought from the importation into our land of the 
 loftier speculations of German Philosophy ; but it is not to be forgotten, 
 at the same time, that there are principles lying at the basis of some of 
 their systems which would go far to undermine, not only revealed, but 
 natural religion in all its beneficent forms. Some of the gigantic systems, 
 which are being eagerly studied by the ardent youth of our land, consti- 
 tute the chief supports of a pretending pantheism which it is proposed to 
 substitute for the doctrine of a God possessed of personality, that is, of a
 
 RELATION OF LAWS OF NATURE TO INTELLIGENCE. 493 
 
 separate consciousness and an independent wOl. Before entering upon 
 the discussion of these systems, it is proper to state that we are to exa- 
 mine them only so far as they relate to our own subject, and as they pro- 
 fess to adduce facts external or internal as evidence in their favour. 
 
 In order to understand these theories, it will be needful to trace them 
 historically from their origin. It was a fundamental principle of Descartes 
 — so distinguished for the originalitj" and the independence of his thinking 
 — that there existed in the universe two entirely distinct substances, spirit, 
 whose essence is thought, and matter, whose essence is extension. In his 
 days, it was a universally acknowledged principle that things which were 
 like, and they only, could influence each other. This seems to be an un- 
 founded, or rather a false principle. In this universe, things very unlike 
 affect each other; in polar action, like repels like, and tilings unlike are 
 attracted to each other. But, being then a universally recognized princi- 
 ple, we find it acting an important part, in the philosophy of the seven- 
 teenth century. In particular, it suggested a difficulty which greatly 
 puzzled the school of Descartes; — How can mind influence matter, and 
 matter mind ? How does an object, presented to the senses, give rise to 
 an apprehension of it in the mind ? How is it, that when we will to move 
 the arm, the arm moves ? It does not appear that Descartes uttered a 
 very clear or explicit answer to this question, but the reply was given, and 
 this quite in the spirit of the master, by the disciples, and, in particular, by 
 the ingenious and devout Malebranche. According to him, matter does 
 not influence mind, nor mind matter; the action of matter in reference to 
 mind, and of mind in reference to matter, is the mere occasion of the forth- 
 putting of the Divine power, which is the true cause of the effects which 
 follow. Thus, when we will to move the arm, a present Deity, the source 
 of all power, actually makes the arm to move. This is the famous doc- 
 trince of Occasional Causes, as maintained by Malebranche. To us it 
 appears that God has been pleased to give a delegated power both to mind 
 and matter, and that there is no greater difficulty in supposing mind to 
 act on matter, than in supposing matter to act on matter. 
 
 These principles and speculations, floating among the reading and 
 thinking minds of that era, took a deep hold on the meditative spirit of a 
 glass-grinder at Amsterdam, who had been brought up in the Jewish faith. 
 The influence exercised by this man — despised and persecuted in his ow» 
 day — upon the whole of the future history of speculation, is one of the 
 most curious incidents in the whole hLstory of modern philosophy. It is 
 acknowledged, ho argues, that if mind and matter are totally difleront 
 Hubstanccs, they cannot influence each other; but it is very evident, mean- 
 while, that tiiey iiavo innumerable points of connexion. It is not necessary 
 to suppose them to bo separate substances, they are to bo regarded as 
 modes of one and the same substance, a substance possessed both of
 
 494 THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHERS AS TO 
 
 thought and extension. In itself this one substance is Natura Naiurans, 
 possessing all power, and ever developing itself; in the universe it is 
 Natura Naturata. This system recommended itself to the mind of Spi- 
 noza by its simplicity ; it seemed to follow from the acknowledged princi- 
 ples of the day as to the nature of substance ; and it accounted for the 
 unity of operation which everywhere runs through nature. It is probable 
 that Spinoza did not allow himself seriously to contemplate the fatal na- 
 ture of the consequences flowing from a system which makes evil, even 
 ■ moral evil, a development or mode of the Divine Being, and denies to man 
 all free-will, all personality, and accountability to a being different from 
 himself Still, he saw and avowed that such consequences did follo-yv, and 
 was willing to take them as the logical results of a system wliieh had so 
 much to recommend it to his reason, and which represented the universe 
 as full of Deity. 
 
 Passing over inferior names, we now find the lofty genius of Leibnitz 
 devoting itself to the solution of the same problems. Proceeding on the 
 principle that mind could not influence matter, nor matter mind, he sup- 
 posed that they co-operated so beautifully in consequence of a Harmony 
 Pre-established between them. Rejecting the atomic theory of matter, 
 •which had found such favour with Bacon, Gassendi, and the majority of 
 modern physicists, he substituted a theory of Monads. The ultimate prin- 
 ciples of matter were not, according to him, sluggish atoms, but active 
 powers. There are two distinct kinds of monads, the one unconscious, the 
 elements of matter — the other conscious, the elements of mind. These 
 could not bo thought to operate causally upon each other, but still they 
 acted in unison by reason of relations pre-established by God, the Supreme 
 and Eternal Monad, between the inferior monads, whereby each monad 
 acts according to its own principle, and yet acts in harmony witli all 
 around it. Some of these speculations of Leibnitz carry us into regions 
 where we have really no light to guide us. We are far, at this day, from 
 being able to determine what are the ultimate elements cither of mind or 
 matter. Some of the principles laid down by him are evidently wrong, as 
 when he says that the monads, or powers of nature, cannot influence each 
 other. The agencies of nature, whatever they be, are so constituted as to 
 be able to operate upon, to affect, and modify each other. But, in these 
 lofty discussions, there is a truth propounded which can never be set aside, 
 but which will, on the contrary, appear more and more significant in 
 every succeeding age. The principle in which we refer is that of pre- 
 established harmony. We must, indeed, in the first place, affirm, contrary 
 to the theory of Leibnitz, that the powers of nature, whatever they be, do 
 stimulate and influence the one the other ; but we must also, if we would 
 account for the phenomena which present themselves, take along with 
 us the other doctrine, that they are so constituted and collocated as to affect
 
 RELATION OF LAWS OF NATURE TO INTELLIGENCE. 495 
 
 each other, not in a destructive, but in a beneficial manner. Tlicir mutual 
 action, which Leibnitz denied, implies in itself an adjustment, a pre-estab- 
 lished harmony ; aud there are, besides, harmonies proceeding from a con- 
 currence of independent causes ; and both one and other carry up our 
 minds to an Intelligent Being appointing, from the beginning, all things 
 to act in concert. 
 
 Such was the state of speculation on this all-important subject when 
 the profound intellect of Kant was led to meditate upon it. The relation 
 between the internal and the external, between the subjective and ob- 
 jective, was his great theme round which his philosophy moved. In 
 stud^-ing his system we have never been able to say whether we should 
 yield to the feeling of admiration which the logical powers manifested 
 everywhere, and the important truths unfolded in many places, naturally 
 call forth, or whether we should not restrain all such sentiments as we 
 deplore the erroneous and dangerous principles which he has been the 
 means of introducing not only into German, but into European specula- 
 tion. 
 
 Kant saw clearly that wo cannot account for liuman knowledge by 
 mere impressions from without, that it was needful to have a subjective 
 power as well as an objective influence. It is his grand aim to unfold 
 these subjective principles, and in particular, the sj'nthetic judgments d 
 priori, the judgments pronounced independently of experience, on objects 
 known by experience. In all knowledge, he says, there is, on the one 
 hand, an external impression, and on the other a subjective form ; that the 
 external thing which produces the impression exists, ho acknowledges, 
 but then it is an unknown something. It is at this point that his error 
 begins. According to our natural cognitions or beliefs, as it appears to 
 us, the mind is so constituted as to be able to attain a limited knowledge 
 of the external thing as it is; but according to Kant, the external thing 
 is unknown, and there is much in our cognition of it which is given to it 
 by the mind as it contemplates it. Thus the mind, in looking upon the 
 external world, perceives it always as in Space or in Time, which have no 
 objective reality, but are mere forms of the Sense or Sensibility. Again, 
 the understanding, in judging of the matters of Sense, unites them under 
 such categories as Quantity, Quality, Relation, Modality, which are not 
 to bo understood as having any external or objective reality. 
 
 The relation between the sulyective and objective may, we fiinl him 
 arguing, be conceived to spring from one or other of tlirco causes : — First, 
 From the objoctivo determining the subjective; Secondly, From tlio sub- 
 jective determining the objective; or, Thirdly, From a prc-estalilislicd 
 relation or connexion between them. lie then sliows how the first suppo- 
 sition, tliat of tliopchool of Locke, (as ho represents it, confounding it evcrj-- 
 whcro witli the Froncli school of Condillac,) whicli derives nil our know-
 
 496 THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHEES AS TO 
 
 ledge from sensation, cannot account for the internal facts. He dismisses 
 the third doctrine, that of a pre-ordained adjustment, in a very summary 
 manner, neither stating it accurately, nor examining it carefully. His 
 objections to this middle way are, first, that no end can be seen to such 
 an hypothesis, and secondly, that necessity would be wanting to the cate- 
 gories which belongs essentially to the conception of them." In reply to 
 the first, we maintain that the limit to the relation of the objective to the 
 subjective, is to be ascertained and determined, like its existence, by induc- 
 tive investigation ; that is, we believe in the relation only so far as we prove 
 it to exist, that is, find a natural aptitude in the mind on the one hand, 
 and a corresponding operation of nature on the other. In reply to the 
 second, we urge, that when there is a feeling of necessity in the internal 
 principle, there is a universality in the external relation. This is one of 
 the correspondences which we have traced. But having dismissed the 
 other two, Kant finds himself shut up into that theory which makes the 
 mind give its own laws and relations to the objective world. It is thus 
 that he accounts for the relation of cause and effect, and the harmonies in 
 the universe ; they are not in the universe itself, they are merely in the 
 mind, and are thence, as the forms, or categories, or ideas under which the 
 mind knows aU things, projected upon tlie world. In this system the doc- 
 trine of final cause, as founded upon the correspondence between the mind 
 and nature, and upon the harmonies of nature, must necessarily disappear, 
 for these are not correlations between independent things, but the result 
 of one principle in the mind itself It is not difficult, as it appears to us, 
 to meet this subjective idealism. "We are led by the very constitution of 
 our minds to believe in the reality of external objects ; and to believe in 
 them not as things unknown, but as things so far known, and known as 
 professing certain properties ; and further to believe, that such relations as 
 those of quality, and cause and efiect, are relations in the things tliem- 
 selves. Kant acknowledges that the mind does not create the things, and 
 on the same ground we maintain that it docs not create the properties, the 
 relations of thin,Q:s ; it has a set of powers by which it is enabled to know 
 them. Deny this, and we deny the very truths of consciousness — the 
 truths sanctioned by the very constitution of our minds ; and after denying 
 these, we have no principle left on which to proceed on our specula- 
 tions, no truth so certain as that which we have set aside. But if we 
 believe in the existence of external things, and on the same ground in the 
 reality of the relations of external things, we are obliged as Kant 
 clearly saw, to believe also, in some "Preformation," between them. 
 Not that we are therefore to set aside the influence of mind on matter; 
 for matter is so constituted as to influence the nervous system, and the 
 nervous system is so constituted as to excite mental action. Not that we 
 * Critlck of Pure Koason. Analytic of Principles, close of Book I.
 
 EELATION OF LAWS OF NATURE TO INTELLIGENCE. 497 
 
 are to deny the separate potency of mind — all that nervous agency does is 
 to call forth the activity of iniud, which is so constituted as to know mat- 
 ter, and the relations of matter. Not that we are to deny the influence 
 of matter upon mind in putting it in motion. "We must admit, wo think, 
 all these agencies, the action of mind, the action of matter, and their re- 
 ciprocal action. And in order to account for their harmonious action, we 
 must call in a divinely-appointed adjustment of the two — an adjustment 
 not independent, as Leibnitz supposed, of their mutual action, but an ad- 
 justment enabling them to act upon, as well as with each other, so as to 
 produce consistent and beneficial results. "We must, as most important 
 of all, suppose that there has been a pre-ordained adjustment between the 
 intuitive laws and beliefs of the mind on the one hand, and the actual re- 
 lations instituted in the external world on the other. 
 
 There was but a step between the doctrine of Kant and that of Fichte, 
 which professed to carry out the principles of Kant to their legitimate 
 consequences. Kant admitted that there was an external world; but then 
 he supposed that the mind gave to it its qualities and relations of Space, 
 Time, Cause and Effect. It was no violent step in advance which wa.s 
 taken by Fichte when ho alleged that the mind, which was capable of 
 creating all the relations of matter, might form matter itself The whole 
 external world became in this philosophy a production of the Ego, all its 
 laws, its order, its harmonies, being given it by the mind itself In the 
 progress of these speculations of Fichte, the Ego became expanded, in an 
 unintelUgible, inconceivable manner, into a kind of universal Ego, which 
 constituted the Moral Order of the universe, and went by the name of 
 God. Here there was an end, as in the system of Kant, to all final 
 cause ; but let it be observed that final cause was discarded on grounds 
 which also set aside all objective truth. Here, too, there was an (mkI to 
 what had been carefully preserved in the philosophy of Kant, to the i)or- 
 sonality of man and to the separate immortality of the soul. It may liave 
 been a discovery of the connexion of this system witli his own, which led 
 Kant in his late years to pray to be protected from his friends. It is not 
 necessary to subject this system to a critical examination ; in doing so 
 we should only bo wrestling with a shadow. It sets itself against the 
 fundamental principles of the mind, which announce to us that tlicro is 
 a reality, independent of ourselves, in the external world. 
 
 There was now in the system of Ficlite a scheme of panlluisni, with 
 lofty pretensions, and enforced by great beauty of sentiment, set beforo tho 
 German mind. About this period, certain occurrences which arose out of 
 a conversation of Jacobi witli Leasing, who had a great admiration of 
 Spinoza, and reported by the former, brought tho .system iS tlic Dutch 
 Jaw also before tho thinking mind of Germany. It was wliili' the (!<t- 
 man philo.sojjhic mind was being fermented by the two sj'stems of Fichto
 
 498 THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHERS AS TO 
 
 and Spinoza, that Schelling produced his theory, and irradiated it with 
 the fascinations of a poetical imagination. According to him, it was 
 absurd to suppose that the Ego could create all the harmonies of things ; 
 we must go farther bacli if we would account for the correspondences be- 
 tween the external and internal. Neither is this relation to be explained, 
 as Spinoza supposes, by a universal substance possessed at one and the 
 same time of thought and extension, for this would not account for the 
 very diverse experiences of subject and object. We must, therefore, go 
 a step higher, we must go back to the origin both of the subjective and 
 objective, and there we shall find them identical and flowing out of one 
 original, living essence, called by the name of God. This self-existent 
 essence or being develops itself according to a law, and becomes on the 
 one side the Ego, and on the other the Non-Ego ; on the one side the 
 subject, and on the other the object; on the one side mind, and on the other 
 nature. Hence the harmony of the two; it arises from their identity. 
 The subjective and objective are in sucli visible correspondence, because 
 the developments of one and the same principle. Hence the statement 
 that nature is petrified intelligence, and that mind is conscious reflective 
 nature. The feeling of beauty in the mind corresponds to beauty in the 
 world, because both are the unfolding of one eternal power which is at 
 one and the same time God and the universe. God is lovely, the universe 
 is lovely, man's soul loves the lovely in nature and creates the lovely in 
 art, because all are manifestations of the One who is infinitely lovely. It 
 would be a waste of thought to institute a serious refutation of this specu- 
 lation, which, taken as a whole, is to be treated as a picture drawn by a 
 brilliant fancy. In its fundamental truths it is inconsistent with our in- 
 tuitive knowledge and belief, which announces to us distinctly tliat we 
 have a separate personality, that we are not the same with God on the 
 one hand, or nature on the other. Schelling appeals to an intellectual in- 
 tuition, which is one with the Divine Intelligence, as capable of gazing on 
 this identity of existence. But this intuition is acknowledged by him to be 
 above consciousness ; that is, as we reckon it, above the region to which 
 man's knowledge can reach, that is. in a cloud-land where irradiated mists 
 may be mistaken for solid bodies. Certain it is, that all the intuitions 
 which we can discover by consciousness, set themselves against this iden- 
 tification of ourselves either with the Divine Intelligence or with nature, 
 this identification of subject and object, of man and God. But with all 
 its superlative extravagance it contains a truth, a truth not in the systems 
 of Kant or Fichte ; this is tlie correspondence between the subjective and 
 objective, both being represented as real though not independent. Never 
 was there so beautiful, and, let us add, so true a picture drawn of the 
 harmony between the beautiful in the mind and the beautiful in nature, as 
 that which we find in the writings of Schelling and of the disciples of his
 
 RELATION OF LAWS OF NATURE TO INTELLIGENCE. 499 
 
 school. We have here a style of speculation to which tlie native British 
 philosophy is a stranger, and which appears irresistibly attractive when 
 presented to British youth of fervent intellect ; and they are too often 
 prepared, in their admiration of the mixture of truth contaiued in the sys- 
 tem, to embrace the error with which it is associated. 
 
 It was felt in Germany that the system of Schelling, tliough exquisitely 
 beautiful, was little better than a speculative rhapsody, when his friend 
 Hegel, with a much more logical mind, set about amending and systema- 
 tizing it. Wo do not propose to give an account of his system. We do 
 not attempt to fathom its depths or expose its shallows ; for it has depths 
 in which the tallest intellects would lose themselves if allured into them, 
 and it has shallows which the most superficial can see and point out. He 
 is reported to have said, '• There is only one person who understands me, 
 and he does not understand me." Not having the honour to be this per- 
 son, we make no pretensions to a thorough understanding of Ilcgel. For- 
 tunately, we have to consider his system only in one aspect. 
 
 In the systems of Kant and Fichte. the relation between the subjective 
 .and the objective has disappeared, for tlie whole is' the creation of the sub- 
 jective. In the system of Schelling, the relation has reappeared, but has 
 been accounted for in a most unsatisfactory manner. In the system of 
 Hegel, the relation is all in all. The subjective has no separate existence, 
 on the one hand, nor the objective on the other hand ; they exist only in 
 relation to each other. The relation is here acknowledged, but it is a 
 relation which does away with the independent existence of the things 
 related. 
 
 Abandoning the intellectual intention of Schelling as a mere gratuitous 
 assumption, ho attempts to show how all things are developed necessarily 
 by a logical process which is not assumed, but is, in its development, a 
 proof of its own reaUty. In following out tliis process, be begins with the 
 most general and abstract notions, such as " Idea" and "Being," and 
 thence develops nature and mind. In all this he reverses tlie natural order 
 followed by intelligence, which begins with things individual and concrete 
 as they present themselves, and thence rises to the general and the abstract. 
 In doing so, it never for one instant supposes that the abstract or general, 
 such as " Being," can exist independent of individual things. The abstract 
 is a part, separately considered, of the concrete whole. The general is the 
 aggregate of qualities in which individual things agree. It is to reverso 
 the proper process of thought, to begin, as Hegel docs, with the abstract, 
 the general. It is to contradict the clearest declarations of thought to 
 deny the existence of the individual, whether subject or object, and ri'solve 
 all into a relation. The relations wliich tin' mind diHcoverM are relations 
 among individual things. 
 
 According to thiii syatem, the Ali> presents a constant evolution of
 
 500 THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHERS AS TO 
 
 nothing becoming something, and we have to add, of something falling 
 back into nothing. In the unfolding of this theory, he represents God 
 as attaining to consciousness in man, and the whole history of the human 
 race as a succession of incarnations. At his death, which was occasioned 
 by cholera, some of his pupils apotheosized him as the noblest of all the 
 self-conscious developments of Deity. It is easy to see how he accounted 
 for the harmonies which the mind discovers in the universe. To philoso- 
 phize on nature, he says, is to rethink the grand thought of creation — it 
 is to reproduce, from the depths of the soul, the creative ideas of nature. 
 In a journey which he made to Paris, he was greatly entertained, as he 
 discovered everywhere — in nature and in art, in man as an individual, and 
 in man united in society — confirmations of his system, which widened, 
 like vapours, to embrace all the agreements and disagreements in exist- 
 ence. 
 
 It might easily be shown that this ambitious and arrogant system de- 
 stroys all personal! tj^ — that is, separate consciousness and will — in God, 
 all personality in man, and that it is inconsistent with human responsi- 
 bility, and the immortality of the soul as a separate existence. All this 
 has been dwelt on by the schools which have set themselves in opposition 
 to it in Germany. And this argument from consequences should have its 
 weight, for any system which sets itself against these truths, cannot be 
 supported by such evidence as they can adduce in their favour. Again, 
 various gaps and inconsistencies have been pointed out in it, showing that 
 it is not so solid a structure as it professes to be. But its fundamental 
 error lies in this, that it denies the separate existence of individual things 
 — of the subject on the one hand, and the object on the other. In pro- 
 fessing to proceed according to the laws of thought, it begins with set- 
 ting the clearest laws of thought at defiance, and must wander the more 
 the farther it advances. It is acknowledged, even in Germany, to be a 
 failure. It fails, in particular, to account for the correspondence between 
 mind and matter regarded as separate existences. 
 
 It should be added, that Herbart met these idealistic views of Kant, 
 Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, with great vigour by a realistic scheme, in 
 which final causes once more have their proper place. But his realism 
 is professedly a rational system erected on certain philosophic principles, 
 which may be assailed equally with the grounds taken by those whom he 
 opposes, and will not find much favour among persons in our country who 
 have become imbued with the spirit recommended by Lord Bacon, and 
 followed out, though with but imperfect success, by Locke and Reid. It 
 is only by proceeding in the inductive method that we can expect fairly 
 to unfold the subjective laws of mind on the one hand, and the objective 
 laws of nature on the other, and then discover the relation between them. 
 
 In the speculations of all these philosophers, notice is taken of a most
 
 RELATION OF LAWS OF NATURE TO INTELLIGENCE. 501 
 
 important class of facts, which have very much escaped the attention of 
 British writers. But while we acknowledge this, we are convinced, at the 
 same time, that the correct explanation has not been given by the conti- 
 nental speculatists. In the days of Descartes and Spinoza, the questions 
 discussed turned round the action of mind upon material objects, and the 
 action of material objects upon mind. But from the time of Leibnitz, and 
 still more from the time of Kant, a new set of questions came to be agi- 
 tated in regard to the accordance between the laws of the mind within, 
 and the harmonies of external nature without. Kant and Fichte referred 
 this to the mind creating the order which it contemplated, Schelling and 
 Hegel to the identity of subject and object, of the world within and the 
 world without. But none of these hj'potheses meets the full flicts of the 
 case, nor explains the whole phenomena. Leibnitz, indeed, had a glimpse 
 of the truth, but failed to represent it fully and correctlj'. The facts admit 
 of only one satisfactory explanation, and this an explanation in strict ac- 
 cordance with the doctrine of final cause, and implying a specific plan on 
 the part of an intelligent being. 
 
 For mark, that we have, first, a set of internal facts. TVe have in the 
 mind perceptions tlirougli the senses ; we have certain intelligent aptitudes, • 
 such as the generalizing propensity, ever seeking to group the objects it 
 meets with into classes, and causality, anticipating nature, and confidently 
 looking for certain effects to follow agencies now in operation ; we have 
 instincts and affections craving for external objects on which to lavish 
 themselves ; and we have a sense of beauty, longing for scenes of loveli- 
 ness and sublimity. Wo insist that these internal facts be not set aside, 
 but that they be embraced and accounted for in any exi)lanation which 
 may be offered. It will not do to refer them, with certain French and 
 British writers, to sensations and impressions from without. They are 
 evidently powers, instincts, affections, fundamental laws in the mind 
 itself, making their own use of the inQuences wliich may come in from the 
 external world. 
 
 But, secondly, there is a set of external facts. As little are wo at liberty 
 to overlook them. In denying them, we are, in the very act, discarding 
 the dicta of consciousness, and the very constitutional principles of intel- 
 ligence in the mind ; and after we have done so, there remains no ground 
 on which wo can reason on this or on any other subject. Hero, in this 
 world which we perceive, are bodies endowed witli wonderful properties ; 
 are objects grouped into classes, and witli interesting correlations subsist- 
 ing between them ; are events causally connected together ; and scenes of 
 beauty and grandeur. All this must bo explained by a hypotliesis ade- 
 quate to meet the case obviously- jirescnted, and no part of all this can be 
 accounted for merely by the inward principles of the mind, except on the 
 ground whidi would make these very principles delusive and a delusion.
 
 502 THEORIES OF CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHERS AS TO 
 
 * 
 
 "We have thus a series of facts in congruity with each other within the 
 mind. "We have also a series of facts in beautiful harmony with each 
 other without the mind. But we have more, there is an accordance be- 
 tween the internal and external facts. "We have the perceptions of one 
 'sense confirmed by those of another sense. "We have instincts impelling 
 to certain operations, and we find ourselves placed in a state of things in 
 which these instincts are gratified, and in being so, perform acts necessary 
 to our welfare and our very existence. "We have affections general and 
 special, and we fell in with objects to call them forth, and on which to 
 lavish them. "We proceed spontaneously to classify objects according to 
 certain relations of shape, quantity, and proportion, and actually find them 
 distributed into groups according to these very principles. "We anticipate 
 that the same cause will ever produce the same effect, and find our expec- 
 tations realized every waking hour of our existence. "We have assthetic 
 tastes, and everywhere there are harmonious colours, and graceful forms, 
 and lovely scenes to gratify them. As it is not the sound which produces 
 the ear to receive it, as it is not the eye which creates the light that falls 
 upon it, so it cannot be the outward harmonies which create the inward 
 desire to discover them, and the capacity to observe them ; nor the internal 
 faculties and feelings which create the outward harmonies. "We are ob- 
 hged, if we would account for the whole phenomena, to account for both 
 classes of facts, and the relation between them. This can only be done 
 by supposing that one Intelligent Being instituted both series of facts and 
 their mutual accordance. The facts round which tlie German philosophy 
 has been moving, are thus seen to bring us back to the old doctrine of our 
 British Theology. It is only by calling in a God who designs and exe- 
 cutes, that we can fully or rationally account for facts, which we cannot 
 deny without denying our intelligence. 
 
 It thus appears that the doctrine of Final Cau.'^c, so far from being un- 
 dermined or shaken by these speculations, is as secure as ever — nay, it 
 stands forth with new illustrations and confirmations. We are brought 
 back to what observant minds have noticed from the first, (though they 
 had not always expressed it correctly.) a concurrence of independent 
 agencies towards the production of a given end. Hegel is laying down 
 an utterly mistaken doctrine when (not in words denying final cause) he 
 speaks of the final cause of athing being the inward nature of a thing, or 
 a thing following its inward nature ; final cause is the co-operation of a 
 number of independent things to accomplish what is evidently an end. 
 In particular, there is need of a correspondence of the external and inter- 
 nal in order to our inward knowledge, and to our experience of the outwad 
 world. The phenomenon cannot be explained by an internal order pro- 
 jecting itself upon the external world ; for, as Herbart asks, if it be by 
 some necessary form of the understanding that final cause is imposed on
 
 RELATION OF LAWS OF NATURE TO INTELLIGENCE. 503 
 
 things, how are we to account for tlie fact that we do not see the final 
 cause in regard to every occurrence ? How is it, in particular, that we 
 discover it only in those cases in which we notice a concurrence of agen- 
 cies acting independently of the laws of thought within ourselves? All 
 this can easily be accounted for on the supposition that it needs objective 
 evidence to lead us to discover final cause; but is inexplicable if tlie pro- 
 cess proceeds from a merely subjective principle. But, without pressing 
 thus difiBculty, we plant ourselves on ground from which we can never be 
 dislodged, when we maintain that the outward is real and that the inward 
 is real, and that there is proof of plan and intelligence in the correspon- 
 dence instituted between them. 
 
 At the close of this review, we find ourselves shut up into a Pre-Estab- 
 lished Harmony. But it is not the fanciful doctrine of Leibnitz. Accord- 
 ing to him, no one power or monad can operate upon any other, but each 
 fulfils its function independent of all others, and yet in harmony with all 
 others. This seems to us quite inconsistent with what we see everywhere, 
 the action of objects on each other. The Pre-Established Harmony which 
 we advocate, pre-supposes the action of matter on matter, of matter on 
 mind, and mind on matter, and the harmony is manifested in the benefi- 
 cence of their mutual operation. 
 
 This Pre-Established Harmony manifests itself in two forms. 
 
 First, Agents mental and material have powers or properties which fit 
 into each other, and enable them to co-operate in producing consistent and 
 bountiful results. So far from supposing that they do not act on each 
 other, we affirm, that they do act, but act in harmoh}^ 
 
 Secondly, There has been an original collocation of agents, whereby 
 concordant results are produced without any reciprocal action. The lily 
 that grows in one garden, assumes the same forms and colours as tl>e lily 
 which grows in another garden. The fish of the Old Red Sandstone 
 epoch had the same general form as the fish which still swims in our seas. 
 But these correspondences do not arise from any mystic or magnetic influ- 
 ence of the one upon the other, but because causes have been instituted 
 and arrangements made, which produce the one in unison with the other. 
 The compari.son of Leibnitz here applies ; the two correspond as two time- 
 pieces, not because of any mutual influence, but because each has been so 
 constituted, that it moves in harmony with the other. 
 
 We cannot comprehend the harmonics of t)io universe without admit- 
 ting and callmg in both these principles.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TYPICAL SYSTEMS OF NATURE AND REVELATION. 
 
 SECT. I. THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 In looking at any one department of contemporaneous 
 nature, we discover that all objects and events are con- 
 formed to a plan. Organisms differing from each other 
 in their constituent elements have the same relations of 
 parts, and differing from each other in use, are cast in 
 the same general mould. Again, looking at certain de- 
 partments of successive nature, we find that objects in one 
 epoch are an antici2)ation ox prediction of objects to ap- 
 pear at a later epoch. The science of embryology shows 
 that there are systematic stages of progression in the for- 
 mation of the young of all animals. In the Psalm which 
 celebrates the omniscience of God, this remarkable lan- 
 guage is employed : — " I will praise Thee ; for I am 
 
 FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE : MARVELLOUS ARE 
 
 Thy WORKS ; and that my soul knoweth right well. 
 My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was 
 made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest 
 
 PARTS of the earth. ThINE EYES DID SEE MY SUBSTANCE, 
 YET BEING UNPERFECT; AND IN ThY BOOK ALL MY MEMBERS 
 WERE WRITTEN, WHICH IN CONTINUANCE WERE FASHIONED, 
 WHEN AS YET THERE WAS NONE OF THEM." Thcse twO 
 
 great truths are seen in beautiful combination in geology.
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 505 
 
 which reveals a typical system, that is, all things formed 
 after a type, in every age, and also a grand system of 
 prophecy, in which the past ever points to the future, 
 and the future appears as the accomplishment of the 
 presentiments of the past. Lower animals appear as a 
 prognostication of higher, and the higher come as . the 
 fulfilment of the prediction set forth in the lower, and 
 this not by any physical emanation of the one from the 
 other, but according to the eternal plan of Him who 
 hath therein showed the immutability of His counsel. 
 There is an order in successive, even as there is an order 
 in contemporaneous nature ; but as the one plant does 
 not produce the other plant, which in the same type may 
 be growing alongside of it, so neither docs a species of 
 animal in one age produce the homologous species in a 
 succeeding age. In this divinelj^-predetermined progres- 
 sion man stands as the end or consummation of a process 
 which had been going on since the dawn of creation. 
 
 Views like these have been floating before the minds 
 of deep thinkers and large-minded observers for the last 
 two or three ages, and were expressed by some who did 
 not discover their true meaning. We find Herder writ- 
 ing, at the end of last century, " See how the different 
 classes of creation run into each other ! How do the 
 organizations ascend and struggle upward from all ])oints 
 on all sides ! And then, again, what a close resemblance 
 between them ! Precisely as if, on all our earth, the 
 form-abounding mother had proposed to herself but one 
 type, one proto-plasma, according to which, and for which, 
 .she formed them all. Know thou what tliis form is. It 
 is the identical one which man also wears. It is more 
 evident internally than it is externally. Even in insects 
 an analogon of the human anatomy has been discovered, 
 though, compared with ours, enveloped and seemingly
 
 506 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 disproportionate. The different members, and conse- 
 quently alsp tlie powers which work in them, are yet 
 undeveloped, not organized to our fulness of life. It 
 seems to me that throughout creation this finger-mark of 
 nature is the Ariadne thread that conducts throuo-h the 
 labyrinth of animal forms, ascending and descending."* 
 A similar passage, very probably suggested by that quoted 
 from Herder, (but without any acknowledgement to this 
 effect,) is found in Coleridge's Aids to Eeflection.-j- " The 
 metal at its height seems a mute prophecy of the coming 
 vegetation, into a mimic resemblance of which it crystal- 
 izes. The blossom and flower, the acme of vegetable 
 life, divides into component organs with reciprocal func- 
 tions, and by instinctive motions and approximations 
 seems impatient of that figure by which it is differenced 
 in kind from the flower-shaped Psyche that flutters with 
 free wing above it. And wonderfully in the insect realm 
 doth the irritability, the proper seat of instinct, while 
 yet the nascent sensibility is subordinate thereto — most 
 wonderfully, I say, doth the muscular life in the insect, 
 and the musculo-arteria in the bird, imitate and typi- 
 cally rehearse the adaptive understanding, yea, and the 
 moral affections and charities of man. Let us carry our- 
 selves back in sj)irit to the mysterious week, the teeming 
 work-days of the Creator, as they rose in vision before 
 the eye of the inspired historian of the operations of the 
 heavens and of the earth, in the day that the Lord God 
 made the earth and the heavens. And who that watched 
 their ways with an understanding heart could, as the 
 vision evolved still advanced towards him, contemplate 
 the filial and loyal bee, the home building, wedded and 
 divorceless swallow, and above all the manifoldly intel- 
 ligent ant tribes, with their commonwealths and con- 
 
 * Metempsychosis. t Aph. xsxvL
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 507 
 
 federacies, their warriors and miners, the husband folk 
 that fold in their tiny flocks on the honey's leaf, and the 
 mgin sisters with the holy instincts of maternal love 
 detached, and in selfless purity, and not say in himself, 
 Behold the shadow of approaching humanity, the sun 
 rising from behind in the kindling morn of creation \" 
 Nor are these the visionary dreams of a poet or a mystic, 
 clothing nature in forms devised by his own fantasy ; 
 they are (after deducting one or two slight misa])prc- 
 hensions of fact) the results reached by the profoundest 
 inductive science of our times. 
 
 Between this typical system in nature and our powers 
 of intelligence, there is a beautiful corresjjondence. 
 First, there is in the human mind an imagining faculty, 
 which experiences a strange delight in reproducing what 
 it has perceived under a kind of ideal or pattern form. 
 We have seen, let us suppose, a particular plant, say the 
 Victoria Regina, we cannot remember every insignificant 
 particular connected with the number of its ribs or veins, 
 but there is laid uj^ in our minds a general outline of 
 its shape, colour, and structure, which enables us on any 
 other plant of the sort falling under our notice, at once 
 to recognise it as belonging to the same species. The 
 mind seems thus to idealize to some extent its very re- 
 collections. And then in the higher intellectual processes 
 of a])straction and generalization, it abstracts the indif- 
 ferent and retains the essential, and strives to grou[) the 
 innumerable objects which it meets with under a few 
 heads, by means of their common qualities. The rela- 
 tions thus discovered, cause the classes and individuals 
 to recur again and again to the mind according to the law 
 of association, and even aid the mind in the perception 
 of certain kinds of beauty. v 
 
 These are the topics whicli have passed before us in
 
 508 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 the previous part of this Work. We are now to trace 
 another correspondence — it is equally wonderful — -between 
 the typical system of nature, and the typical system of 
 revelation, and to show that this second is as admirably 
 suited as the first to the native capacity and tendencies 
 of the mind. 
 
 It has long been known to divines, that the Word of 
 God has a typical system. The types have not been 
 always expounded in the exercise of a sound judgment, 
 or in accordance with the principles which should govern 
 all Scripture interpretation. Not unfrequently imagin- 
 ation has been allowed unreined to career in this field 
 at will, and in all treatises of divinity, the word type has 
 been changed from its scriptural to a theological sense. 
 In other cases, the fanciful interpretations which have 
 collected around the types of Scripture have led men of 
 severe critical taste to reject the whole system as visionary. 
 Still it is obvious that types run through the whole 
 Word of God, and cannot be excluded from it without 
 mutilating the Old Testament, and even parts of the 
 New Testament, so as to deprive them of some of their 
 most marked features. But now where such curious 
 harmonies and prefigurations have been detected in the 
 organic world, we may be able to show that no one is 
 entitled summarily to reject Scripture types as being 
 contrary to reason, or the analogy of things, and even to 
 trace an analogy between the types of the Works and 
 of the Word of God. Not that the two systems are the 
 same ; they are not identical, but homologous or analo- 
 gous. If the principles which we have been unfolding 
 are well founded, there should, with the uniformity, be 
 also a diversity. The typical system of the animal king- 
 dom is of a different order from the typical system of 
 the vegetable kingdom ; and when we rise from matter to
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 509 
 
 mind, from nature to revelation, we may expect tlie typical 
 system to be of a higlier kind than that which pervades 
 the organic world. There is the same method in all, and 
 this suited to the intellectual tendencies of mankind, but 
 it is varied to suit the end which each has to accomplish. 
 In the theological use of the ]-)hrase, the word type is 
 confined to tlic prefigurations of Christ set forth in the 
 Old Testament. In books of divinity we read of certain 
 ordinances as the type, and Christ as the antitype. But 
 this is not the sense in whi.ch the term is used in Scrip- 
 ture. Mr. Fairbairn, in his able work on Typology, says, 
 that he understands the word in the theological sense, 
 but adds, " as employed in Scripture it is used with 
 greater latitude, as may be seen by consulting in the 
 original the passages referred to," (Hob. viii. 5 ; 1 Cor. 
 X. 6 ; Phil. iii. 17 ; 1 Thess. i. 7 ; 1 Peter v. 3 ; Rom. 
 \\. 17.) But " the foolishness of God is wiser than men." 
 We do not know what ri^lit divines have to construct a 
 system of theological types, instead of a system of Scrip- 
 ture types. We are sure that had they kept to the 
 Scripture use of the term instead of devising a theolo- 
 gical sense, they would have been saved from mucli ex- 
 travagance, and have evolved much more truth. The 
 words em])loyed in Scripture (m'tio/, (j/ioc^^^/y/z^n/) stand 
 for pattern-figures, or examples ; and persons living in 
 ages widely different from each other, and events having 
 no natural connexion, are represented as being constituted 
 after the same type or model. There are tyjjical occur- 
 rences mentioned in Scripture, and full of instruction, 
 wliich have no immediate connexion witli thi- ))ers<»n of 
 Clirist, and are in no way prefigurative of llini. Thus 
 the judgments of God fell on the children of Israel in 
 the wilderness as types or "exam})leH" (1 Cor. x. 11) of 
 a method oi' procedure which is for ever the same, and
 
 510 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 recorded "for our admonition/' in order to shew tliat it 
 will be put in execution whenever men commit similar 
 deeds. Types did not cease when Christ appeared ; there 
 are types in the New Testament dispensation (Phil. iii. 
 17 ; 1 Thess. i. 7 ; Kom. vi. 17) as well as in the Old 
 Testament dispensation. The tj'pical system of the 
 kingdom of grace is meant fundamentally and primarily 
 to shew that Grod proceeds according to one counsel and 
 purpose from age to age. In this respect there is an 
 exact correspondence between the typical systems of re- 
 velation and nature. But as in nature there are fore- 
 shadowings revealed by embryology and geology, so in 
 revelation there is also a scheme, and this a very grand 
 scheme, of prefiguration. In the natural kingdom all 
 inferior organisms point onward and upward to man ; in 
 the spiritual kingdom all life points onward and upward 
 to Christ. Theologians, in discussing types, have con- 
 fined their attention exclusively to these prcfigurations ; 
 but in neglecting the other and wider view, they have 
 not only missed much instruction, but have not been 
 able to estimate precisely the meaning of the important 
 truths to which their attention has been called. 
 
 It strikes us that a typical system runs through the 
 whole Divine economy revealed in the Word. First, 
 Adam is the type of Man. He and his posterity are all 
 of the same essential nature, possessing similar powers 
 of intuition and understanding, of will and emotion, of 
 conscience and free agency, and God acts towards them 
 in the dispensations of grace as in the dispensations of 
 nature, as being one. Then, from the time of the Fall, 
 we have two different typical forms, the one after the 
 seed of the serpent, the other after the seed of the woman. 
 Henceforth there is a contest between the serpent and 
 Him who is to destroy the power of the serpent, between
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 511 
 
 the flesh and the Spirit, between the world and the 
 Church. Two manner of people are now seen struggling 
 in the womb of time — a Cain and an Abel, an Ishmael 
 and an Isaac, an Esau and a Jacob, an Absalom and a 
 Solomon, the elder born after the flesh, and the younger 
 born after the Spirit. It is this unity of figure fully as 
 mucli as the " tjqje" of sound doctrine which gives a con- 
 sistency, in the minds of believers, to our religion in all 
 ages ; which enables the Christian to profit, to this day, by 
 the teaching of the Old Testament ; to sing, to this day, 
 the song of Moses and the Psalms of David ; and to per- 
 ceive and feel that there are the same contests now as 
 then, the same contests in the heart, the same contests 
 in the world, between the evil and the good principle, 
 between the first, or nature-born, and the second, or 
 grace-born. In short, there are now, as there have ever 
 been, but two men on our earth typical or representa- 
 tive ; the first man, which is Adam, the second, which is 
 Christ. " And so it is written. The first man Adam 
 was made a living soul ; the last Adam was made a 
 quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is 
 spiritual, but that which is natural ; and afterward that 
 wliich is spiritual. The'first man is of the earth earthy ; 
 the second man is the Lord from heaven." 
 
 There appear from age to age certain great leading 
 powers of the first or earthy form, distinguislicd by their 
 audacity and the oppression which they exercise over the 
 Churcli, such as Cain and Lamech, Ham and Nimrod, 
 Egypt and Babylon. " They liave consulteil together 
 with one consent ; they are confederates against thee ; 
 the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab 
 and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Animon and Anielek, with 
 the inliabitants of Tyre : Assur also is jnlncd with ihciii, 
 they liuve holpen the children oi" Lot." These are repre-
 
 512 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 sented in Christian times by Gog and Magog and Babylon, 
 But we must confine our attention here to the examples 
 of the better type, which appear and reappear throughout 
 successive ages, and chiefly, in this section, to what is, 
 after all, the most important, to the prefigurations of 
 Christ. 
 
 It had been determined, in eternity, that, " He whose 
 delights were with the children of men," should come to 
 our earth in the fulness of time. He is called "the 
 Lamb slain from the foundation of the world ;" and as 
 soon as man falls, there are symbols of Him : " Lo, I 
 come, in the volume of the book it is written of me." 
 The prefigurations of Christ may be divided into three 
 classes : — typical ordinances, personages, and events. 
 First, There is a number of ordinances, more or less of 
 the same general mould, all imparting substantially the 
 same instruction, all pointing to guilt contracted, to God 
 offended, to a propitiation provided, and to acceptance 
 secured through this propitiation ;— the four great car- 
 dinal truths of revealed religion, as addressed to fallen 
 man. There were sacrifices, in which the offerer, placing 
 his hand on the head of the animal, and devoting it to 
 destruction in his room and stead, expressed symbolically 
 his belief in those great saving truths. There was the 
 tabernacle, with the people worshipping outside, and the 
 Shechinah, which had to be sprinkled with blood, in its 
 innermost recesses, pointing to an offended God, but a 
 God who was to be propitiated through the shedding of 
 blood. There was the ark of the covenant, with the tables 
 of the law inside, and the pot of manna, and the rod that 
 budded, and, over all, the cherubim shadowing the mercy- 
 ^eat — fit symbol of an arrangement by which the law is 
 fulfilled, and provision made for a revival of life, and a 
 supply of spiritual food by a God ready to meet Avith,
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 513 
 
 and to commune witli lis on tlie mercy-seat. There is 
 the scape-goat, with the sins of the people laid upon it, 
 pointing, as clearly as the Baptist did, to " the Lamb of 
 God, which taketh away the sins of the world." 
 
 Secondly, There are typical persons, such as Abel and 
 Enoch, Noah and Abraham, Moses and Aaron, Samuel 
 and David, Elijah and Elisha, shadowing the prophetical, 
 priestly, and kingly offices of Christ. From the fall 
 doAvnwards there is a succession of such personages, with 
 their individual differences, but all after a pre-determined 
 model, exhibiting certain features of character in as 
 marked a manner as the Jewish race show certain fea- 
 tures of countenance. As the clouds reflect the rays of 
 the sun before he appears above the horizon, so each of 
 these, though dark in himself — alas ! at times, shewing 
 his native darkness, reflects certain of the beams — most 
 commonly coloured, of the Sun of Righteousness, and 
 shows that he is about to shine ujoon our world. 
 
 Thirdly, There are typical events, exhibiting the same 
 truths in a still more impressive form. There is the 
 flood, in which many perish, but a few, that is, eight 
 souls, are saved by an ark symbolical of the Saviour. 
 There is the destruction of Sodom, in which the inhabi- 
 tants perish, while Lot and his family are rescued by hea- 
 venly interposition. Most instructive of all, and, there- 
 fore, occupying the most important place, thfu-e is the 
 deliverance from Egypt. The state of the Hebrews as 
 bondsmen, the deliverer prepared for his work by suffer- 
 ing, the method of the deliverence in the midst of con- 
 tests and judgments, the wonderfully instnictivc journey 
 through the wilderness, with tlie provision made for the 
 sustenance of the people, and the statutes delivered are 
 as certainly anticipations of a higher redemption to fol- 
 lf>w, as the fish and reptiles' digits are anticipations of
 
 514 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 the lingers of men. It is all true history, and yet it 
 looks as if it were a j^arable written by some man of God 
 for our instruction. We are trained in this training of 
 the children of Israel ; and by means of the discipline 
 through which they were put, our imagining faculty has 
 acquired some of our clearest and livehest, some of our 
 most profound and comforting representations of the 
 method of redemption. 
 
 But we cannot understand the meaning of these ordi- 
 nances, personages, and events, unless we take along with 
 us both of the two grand principles which we have been 
 unfolding in this volume. We must not confine our 
 attention to their general homology, we must take into 
 account also their special adaptations. We must not 
 look upon them merely as prefigurations, we must look 
 upon them as also " a figure for the time then present." 
 (Heb. ix. 9.) These typical ordinances, persons, and 
 events, are all after the same general plan, and exhibit in 
 shadow the truths which the sinner most requires to know, 
 and especially the person and work of the expected One 
 under interesting and instructive aspects. But they were 
 all at the same time adapted with exquisite skill to their 
 own particular age, and the circumstances of which 
 they formed a part. The ordinances, for instance, were 
 appropriate worship on the part of those who were re- 
 quired to observe them, and, in some cases, they subserved 
 important national and civil purposes. The persons who 
 figure as types were all the while doing a work for their 
 own day, and were, in most cases, we believe, unconscious 
 that they bore a representative character — they were 
 conscious only of looldng onward to the light, and they 
 wist not that their face was shining with the reflection of 
 that Ught. The events, too, did, in most cases, impart a 
 special lesson of their own, and, in all cases, were most
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 515 
 
 imj)oi-tant links in the chain of Providence. But just as 
 the paddle of the whale serves a special purpose, but 
 contains divisions not needfid to its special purpose; 
 just as the chick's head contains typical bones not re- 
 quired in order to its extrusion from the egg ; — so the 
 Old Testament types, while each accomplishes an end 
 of its own, have all, at the same time, certain common 
 features of a prefigurative character. Like the different 
 species in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, like the 
 answerable organs in different species, they diverge on 
 either side in order to suit a purpose ; but, meanwhile, 
 they are all after one pattern. In human architecture, 
 we are pleased to see that the portico and the passage 
 leading from it have often a homology to the temple it- 
 self. It is the same in the temple of God. The gate- 
 way, and the pillars and avenues of approach, present the 
 same general outline as the temple to which they form an 
 entrance. 
 
 The whole of this method of procedure is in beautiful 
 adaptation to the native tendencies and acquired habits 
 of the mind of man. The skilful teacher is accustomed 
 to instruct his younger pupils by means of signs, and 
 pictures, and comparisons ; it is thus that he conveys 
 the ideas of remote objects and abstract truths. In the 
 simpler stages of society, mankind can be taught general 
 truths only by symbols and parables. Hence we find 
 most heathen religions becoming mythic, or ex})laining 
 their mysteries by allegories or national incidents. The 
 great exemplar of the ancient philosophy, and tlie grand 
 archetype of modern science, were alike distinguished by 
 their possessing the power of corajjarison in a high de- 
 irrec, iinil both have told us that man is best instructed 
 ])y siinilitudeH. " It is difficult," says the (Juest in the 
 Stutesuian of Plato, " fully to exhibit greater things
 
 516 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 
 
 without the use of patterns," (TntfaSeiyfinTa.) Lord 
 Bacon, in more than one place, has declared, "As hiero- 
 glyphics preceded letters, so parables are older than argu- 
 ments. And, even now, if any one wishes to pour new 
 light into any human intellect, and to do so expediently 
 and pleasantly, he must proceed in the same way, and 
 call in the assistance of jjarahles." It appears, then, that 
 God was acting in accordance with the nature which He 
 had given us, in His method of instructing the early 
 Church. In Bible history there are no myths, but real 
 events are made as lively as myths, and convey far more 
 important instruction. And, even in Christian times, 
 this representative system has been felt by all, but espe- 
 cially by the simple and unlettered, to be a powerful 
 means of imparting great vividness and picturesqueness 
 to the inspired teaching. The truth is exhibited ; not, as 
 in systems of divinity, as a bare abstraction ; not, as in 
 the words of Scripture, by a phrase expressive enough, 
 but still a mere counter, bearing no resemblance to that 
 which it represents ; but by a picture which the mind, 
 as it were, sees before it. With such lively images before 
 us, we feel as if we were walking amid living realities. 
 We find, in particular, that the types of the Bible have 
 ever been especial favourites with the " common people," 
 who experience a difficulty in seizing an abstraction, or 
 in grasping a generalization, but feel none in compre- 
 hending truths which are embodied in an incident, a 
 person, or an ordinance. Take away the typical repre- 
 sentations of the deeper doctrines of the Word of God, 
 take away such figures as sacrifices, as the brazen ser- 
 pent, as the scape-goat, the city of refuge, the sprinkhngs 
 and ablutions under the law — abstract these from the 
 apprehensions of the Christian who moves in the lower 
 walks of life, and there would remain, we suspect, scarcely
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES. 517 
 
 any idea — there would certainly be nothing remaining to 
 enliven and engage the mind. It was in gracious accom- 
 modation to the same peculiarities of our nature, that 
 the greatest of all teachers, " He who knew what was in 
 man," taught the people by parables. 
 
 The right conclusion has been drawn by one in whose 
 history difficulties have merely been " Schools and School- 
 masters" to strengthen his native genius. " As the veil 
 slowly rises," says Dr. Hugh Miller, " a new signiiicancy 
 seems to attach to all creation. The Creator, in the first 
 ages of his workings, appears to have been associated 
 with what he wrought simply as the producer or author 
 of all things ; but even in these ages, as scene rose after 
 scene, and one dynasty of the inferior animals succeeded 
 another, there was strange typical indications, which 
 pre-Adamic students of prophecy, among the spiritual 
 existences of the universe, might possibly have aspired 
 to read — symbolical indications to the effect that the 
 Creator was, in the future, to be more intimately con- 
 nected with his material works than in these aojes, throuo-h 
 a glorious creature made in his own image and likeness. 
 And to this semblance and portraiture of the Deity — 
 the first Adam — all the merely natural symbols seem to 
 refer. But in the eternal decrees, it had been for ever 
 determined that the union of the Creator with creation 
 was not to be a mere union by proxy or semblance ; and 
 no sooner had the first Adam appeared and fallen, than 
 a new school of prophecy began, in wliicli type and 
 symbol were mingled with what had now its first exist- 
 ence oil»earlh ; and all pointed to the second Ailam, 'the 
 Lord from Heaven.'* In Him creation and the Creator 
 
 • Thin extract 1« from a notice by Dr. Miller of llio Artlclo In Uie North IJrItlsli Ucvlow 
 previously n-fitrrod to. In tlie Raiiie artlolo lio shews wherein Okon hail erred. " Hcnco 
 the remark of Oken, tliat 'tnon \n tlie sum total of all the uiilinals.' Heneo, too, but 
 with tt ullll brooiler ai.preclatlou of the honiolo;,'le» which bear upon the lord of creation
 
 518 TYPICAL NUMBERS. 
 
 met in reality, and not in semblance ; on the very apex 
 of the finished pyramid of being sits the adorable Mon- 
 arch of all ; — as the son of Mary, of David, of the first 
 Adam, the created of God — as Grod and the Son of God, 
 the eternal Creator of the universe. And these — the two 
 Adams — form the main theme of all prophecy, natural 
 and revealed. And that type and symbol should refer 
 not only to the second, but, as held by such men as 
 Agassiz and Owen, to the first Adam also, exemplifies, 
 we are disposed to hold, the unity of the style of Deity, 
 and serves to shew that it was He who created the worlds, 
 that dictated the Scriptures." 
 
 SECT. II. TYPICAL NUMBEKS. 
 
 There is no object on which a greater amount of 
 extravagant statement has been made, both in ancient 
 and modern times, than the significance of numbers. 
 The Pythagoreans, and later Platonists, evidently sought 
 for some inherent power in numbers to account for the 
 numeral relations that appear in nature. In the pages 
 of Philo-Judseus and Josephus, numbers have a theoso- 
 phic signification. In more than one country, certain 
 
 as their central type, his cssentiaHy profane and erroneous reniarli, that 'man is God 
 manifest in flesh.' Let the reader, however, observe in what the error and profantlty 
 consists. There is a loose sense in which man is God manifest in the flesh; — he is God's 
 image manifested in the flesh ; and an image or likeness Is a manifestation, or making 
 evident, of thai which it represents, whether it he an image or likeness of body or mind. 
 Originally, at least in moral character, man was a manifestation of his Maker, and in 
 intellect he is a manifestation of his Maker still. But the error and profanity of Oken 
 consists in applying that to man, the image — man, the being in whom merely the homo- 
 lognes or natural prophecies converge — which Is exclusively applied, in revelation, to a 
 higher and more real manifestation of God in the flesh — that manifestation o£ very God 
 himself which has formed the subject, not of natural, but of the revealed prophecies. The 
 transcendentalist has gone, in his irreverent ignorance, a step too far; and yet his mean- 
 ing seems real, though he himself mistook its nature, and employed improper language 
 to convey it." — Witness, Aug. 1861. We may here be permitted to express a wish that 
 the author will some time or other republish a selection from the articles in the Witness 
 newspaper ; they would be acknowledged not to be inferior to the republications from 
 any of the periodicals of our age.
 
 TYPICAL NUMBERS. 519 
 
 numbers have been supposed to have a magical power. 
 Commentators have discovered a mystical meaning in 
 the special numbers which appear and reappear so con- 
 stantly in the Word of Grod. Others have not known 
 what to make of Scripture numbers, while not a few have 
 looked with suspicion upon the passages which contain 
 them, or the Bible, because it is so full of them. 
 
 The train of observation and reflection followed in this 
 treatise, may help us to discover what is the true signifi- 
 cancy of such numbers. 
 
 In comprehending and recollecting the isolated and 
 scattered phenomena of nature, and in the scientific con- 
 struction of them, in order to these ends, man's intellect 
 needs such recurring numbers, and when he does not find 
 them in nature, he places them there. Man seeks them, 
 too, in chronology, as an aid at once to the memory, 
 which calls up events by the law of correlation, and the 
 contemjilative intellect, which loves to collect objects into 
 groups. So strong is this tendency, that when such re- 
 lations are not found among events, mankind will create 
 them from the stores of their own ingenuity., and will 
 lengthen or shorten periods to suit them to the measure 
 of their Procrustes' bed. Hence it is, that in the specu- 
 lations of early philosophers, in history handed down by 
 popular tradition, and in all mythic systems of religion, 
 we have recurrent numbers, such as three and five, seven 
 and ten. The existence of this mystical tendency in pre- 
 mature scientific speculation, should not lead us, by an 
 extreme reaction, to affirm tliat numbers have no signi- 
 ficancy in nature ; it should merely guard us from 
 adopting them too readily — that is, it should j)revent us 
 from receiving them without inductive evidence, which 
 is n<nv, liowever, superabundant. On a like principle, 
 the numeral relations of mythic religions should not be
 
 520 TYPICAL NUMBERS. 
 
 held as proving that biblical institutions and naiTatives 
 are fabulous, simply because they contain recurrent num- 
 bers. It has been far too readily assumed, by certain 
 neological critics in Germany and their followers in this 
 country, we have shewn their dissecting acuteness by 
 pruning away — on the pretence of improving it — the 
 tree of life, tUl tliey have destroyed not only its lovely 
 form, but its very vital principle, that every portion of 
 the Old and New Testament is to be regarded as fabulous 
 which contains a repetition of numbers. 
 
 Physical science shews that numbers have a signi- 
 iicancy in every department of nature. Two appears 
 as the typical number in the lowest class of plants, and 
 regulates that pairing or marriage of plants and animals 
 which is one of the fundamental laws of the organic 
 kingdoms. Three is the characteristic number of that 
 class of plants which have parallel veined leaves, and is 
 the number of joints in the typical digit. Four is a sig- 
 nificent number in those beautiful crystals which show 
 that minerals (as well as stars) have their geometry. 
 Five is the model number of the highest class of plants — 
 those with reticulated veins and branches, is the typical 
 number of the fingers and toes of vertebrate animals, and 
 is of frequent occurrence among star-fishes. Six is the 
 proportional number of carbon in chemistry, and 3x2 
 is a common number in the floral organs of monoctyle- 
 donous plants, such as the lilies of the field, which we are 
 exhorted to consider. Seven appears as significant only 
 in a single order of plants, (Heptandria,) but has an im- 
 portance in the animal kingdom, where it is the number 
 of vertebrge in the neck of mammalia, and according to 
 M. Edwards, the typical number of rings in the head, 
 in the thorax, and in the abdomen of Crustacea. Eight 
 is the definite number in chemical composition for
 
 TYPICAL NUMBEKS. 521 
 
 oxygen, the most useful element in nature, and is 
 very common in the organs of sea-jellies. Nine seems 
 to be rare in the organic kingdoms. Ten or 5 x 2 is 
 found in star-fishes, and is the number of digits on the 
 fore and hind limbs of animals. Without going over 
 any more individual numbers, we find multiple numbers 
 acting an important part in chemical compositions, and 
 in the organs of flowers ; for the elements unite in multi- 
 ple relations, and the stamens are often the multiples 
 of the petals. In the arrangement of the appendages 
 of the plant we have a strange series, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 
 34, which was supposed to possess virtues of an old date, 
 and before it was discovered in the plant. In natural 
 philosophy the highest law, that of forces acting from a 
 centre, proceeds according to the square of numbers. In 
 the curves and relative lengths of branches of plants, 
 there are evidently quantitative relations which mathe- 
 matics have not been able to seize and express. 
 
 He must be a bold man who will insist, that should 
 the God who fashioned nature be pleased to give to man 
 a revelation of His will, in order to solve certain great 
 problems started by the existence of sin in the world. He 
 shall not be at liberty to make His dispensations of pro- 
 vidence, and His institutions for instruction and worship, 
 bear a certain relation to each other. It is presumptuous, 
 above all things, in any one to condemn as mythic every 
 part of the Bible narrative wliich contains a recurrent 
 numljer. This principle would turn the discoveries of 
 the most eminent scientific men in modern times — the 
 discoveries of Kepler, of Newton, of Decandolle, and 
 Dalton into myths. The constant recurrence of certain 
 numbers in the self-devised liistory "f tradition, and the 
 self-formed religions embodied in iiiytiis, is an ack)iow- 
 ledgnif'nt on tlie ],n.vt of man, that he needs such relations
 
 522 
 
 TYPICAL NUMBERS. 
 
 to enable him to follow history and comprehend doctrine. 
 And may not He who knows what is the nature of man, 
 suit Himself to the creatures fashioned by Him, by insti- 
 tuting, in the realities of His dispensations and His ordi- 
 nances, those very numerical relations which man will 
 feign by his imagination, where the actual state of things 
 does not present them ? 
 
 We certainly do meet in Bible narrative Avith a re- 
 currence of certain numbers, and these not unlike the 
 numbers which recent science has disclosed in nature. 
 The beasts were gathered into the ark, even as they 
 are assorted in nature, in pairs ; and our Lord sent out 
 His disciples, as the fowls of the air are sent out, two 
 and two, to support and comfort each other. Three de- 
 rives its significancy from the very nature of God, and 
 appears in the triple sacerdotal blessing of Jacob, (Gen, 
 xlviii. 16 ;) in the thrice holy of Isaiah, (vi. 3 ;) in the 
 three great religious festivals ; in Jonah being three days 
 in the whale's belly ; in our Lord being three days in the 
 grave ; and in the threefold judgments denounced in 
 the Book of Eevelation, where the tail of the great red 
 dragon draws the third of the stars, and three unclean 
 spirits issue from the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and 
 the false prophet. Let us not forget that the triad is the 
 representative of Deity in many religions, and appears in 
 the three-forked lightning of Juj)iter, the trident of Nep- 
 tune, the three-headed dog of Pluto, the tripod of Apollo, 
 the three Fates, three Furies, three Graces, and thrice 
 three Muses.* Four appears in Scripture in the altars, 
 and sanctuary, and holy of holies, which M'as a cube ; and 
 groups of four are found in Eevelation, such as, heaven, 
 earth, sea, and fountains of waters ; kindred, and tongue, 
 
 * See Article ia American Biblical Repertory, republished in British and Foreign 
 Evangelical Review, Juno 1855.
 
 TYPICAL NUMBERS. 523 
 
 and people, aud nation. Five is found in the pillars of 
 the courts of the temple, which were five cubits high, 
 and five cubits apart ; and in the ten virgins, five of 
 whom were wise, and five foolish. Six is once or twice 
 mentioned as a significant number in Ezekiel. Seven is 
 the most frequently repeated number in the Bible. We 
 have first the seven days of creation ; then the seven days 
 of the week ; then a series of seasons regulated by seven ; 
 the seventh year was a Sabbatical year, and 7X7 gave 
 a year of jubilee ; and at the close of the canon there are 
 the seven spirits before the throne, the seven churches of 
 Asia, the seven branches of the candlestick, seven angels 
 with seven trumpets, and seven vials with the seven last 
 j)lagues. The number ten appears in the tithes devoted 
 to God, in the plagues which devasted Egypt, aud in 
 the commandments delivered amidst the thunders of 
 Sinai. Twelve was the number of the sons of Joseph, of 
 the tribes of God's people, and of the Apostles ; the holy 
 city measured twelve thousand cubits in length, breadth, 
 and height, and had twelve foundations, twelve gates, and 
 a tree of life which bears twelve manner of fruits. Multi- 
 ple numbers are very frequent. Forty days, or 4 X by 10, 
 was the time of Moses' sojourn on the mount with God, of 
 Elijah's journey to Horeb, and of our Lord's temptation 
 in the wilderness. There were 7X7 days between the 
 passover and pentecost, and 7X7 years between the 
 times of jubilee. The Tabernacle measured ten cubits in 
 breadth and length, and 3 x 10 cubits in length ; there 
 were 4 X 12 boards in its frame, and the court was 10 X 
 10 cubits long, and the sacrifices on certain occasions were 
 multij)leHof seven. We read of 7 X 10 disciples ; Peter 
 was exhorted to forgive his brother not seven times, but 
 seventy times seven, and the redeemed on Mount Zion 
 arc 12 X 12 tliousand.
 
 524 TYPICAL NUMBERS. 
 
 This method of instruction is in admirable adaptation 
 to the constitution of man's mind. It lends distinctness 
 to the incident, it helps the intellect to grasp the truth, 
 and the memory to retain it. It is one of many circum- 
 stances which adapt the Word like the Works of God to 
 every capacity, to persons of all ages and sexes, times 
 and countries. By these and similar means, the greatest 
 of all Teachers still encourages little children to come 
 unto Him, when other teachers would forbid them. Its 
 institutions and its incidents strike the fancy and are 
 fixed in the memory of youth ; they interest by their cor- 
 respondences the understanding of the mature man, and 
 are found wrapt round the decaying memory of old age, 
 the burden of which they serve to lighten, and the gloom 
 of which they irradiate. 
 
 And in all this, whether in nature or in the Word, we 
 are not inclined to find anything mystical or even mys- 
 terious. We are not disposed to believe it to proceed 
 from any inherent power of numbers, as certain mathe- 
 maticians and philosophists have imagined. Nor does it 
 imply that any one number has a special significance. 
 We have quoted so many cases of numeral relation in 
 order to show that all, or nearly all, the lower numbers, 
 odd and even, appear as principles of co-ordination both 
 in nature and in the Word. No doubt, there are circum- 
 stances which have determined the use of certain num- 
 bers. Thus, the nature of the plant, as having an axis, 
 with symmetrical sides, may have determinted the selec- 
 tion of the odd numbers 3 and 5 in the organs of the 
 vegetable kingdom. The recurrences of 5 and 10 in 
 human enumeration probably originated in the number 
 of the digits. The triune nature of God, and the divine 
 institution of the Sabbath, must have given rise to the 
 frequent use of the numbers 3 and 7 ; and the circum-
 
 TYPICAL SYSTEM OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 525 
 
 stance that tlic patriarchs were 12 iu number must have 
 brought series of twelves in its train. Still, in all this 
 there is no e\-idence of there being any power, virtue, or 
 significance in any one number considered in itself. 
 
 We are not even inchned to look upon these recurrent 
 numbers as implying any mysterious connexion, as thco- 
 sophists have supposed, between objects which have the 
 same number attached to them. We do not conclude 
 that there is a connexion between the typical organs of 
 dicotyledonous plants and the digits of animals, because 
 they both range round the number 5. Nor are we to 
 look upon biblical events as related, solely because they 
 appear under the same number. It is possible, indeed, 
 that the events may have a connexion in themselves, 
 and have both appeared under the same number because 
 of this connexion ; but the evidence of their relation 
 must be souj^ht otherwise tlian in their numerical corre- 
 spondence. In vindicating the existence of these nume- 
 rical relations, we are thus, at the same time, laying an 
 effectual arrest on the abuse of them. We do not admit 
 tliem in natural science, except on evidence which can 
 stand tlie rules of inductive logic ; and we should not 
 allow tliem in theology, except on grounds which can 
 stand the tests of sound biblical interpretation. 
 
 SKCl". in. — TYPICAL SYSTE5I OF TllL MCW TICSTAMENT. 
 
 In looking at any one epoch of our world's history, we 
 find traces of contem])oraneous order and fitness. In 
 comparing any one ei)och with ihc ]ireceding one, we 
 iiml traces of a progressic^n. it should be admitted, 
 liowever, that we are not altogether in circumstances to 
 determine the character of that progression. In jjhysical 
 and organic nature, it seems, so fur us we can discover,
 
 526 
 
 TYPICAL SYSTEM 
 
 to be an advance from the simple to the manifold ; from 
 the more gener-al to the more special ; from the type to 
 the archetype. It rises from the crystal to the plant and 
 the animal. Its foundation shows right lines and regu- 
 lar figures, while the superstructure sweeps out into 
 varied curves. There is first the simple capacity in the 
 germ, the bud, and then the unfolding of aU the capabi- 
 lities in distinct members. 
 
 Is not this the very law of the advance of the human 
 mind ? It begins with the simple and goes on to the 
 multiple. It craves first for mere milk, and then ac- 
 quires a relish for strong meat and varied dainties. In 
 their literary tastes, men like first very easy and trans- 
 parent narrative in prose, and songs with the simplest 
 cadences ; then more elaborate prose and more adorned 
 poetry ; and finally, perhaps, a style, to use the language 
 of Burke, between prose and poetry, and better than 
 either. Is not the history of human civilisation an ad- 
 vance from a union of labour to a division of labour ; from 
 few and simple to many and complicated relations ? Is 
 not the advance in physical science (as M. Comte has 
 shown) from pure space to body, to bodies with chemical 
 afiinities, on to bodies organized ? 
 
 It is evident that there is some kind of progress in the 
 history of religion, though we are not in a position to 
 apprehend it closely, or unfold it fully. All the essen- 
 tial and saving truths are embraced in the earliest reve- 
 lation of Grod, but they are in the bud, they are hopeful 
 and prophetic ; it is only as ages advance that they are 
 expanded to the view. Under the Old Testament the 
 shadow becomes more and more defined as the substance 
 draws nigh ; but it is only in the later prophets that we 
 discover distinct lineaments. The figure presented in 
 the first prediction is as large as it ever is afterwards,
 
 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 527 
 
 but its lines come out more and more distintly as tlie 
 light approaches nearer and nearer. The doctrine 
 which we are expounding, be it observed, is not the vul- 
 gar one of type and antity])e, but that of typical forms, 
 serving immediate and important ends in the age in 
 which they appeared, but, at the same time, epitomes of 
 an archetype to appear. When the Archetype presents 
 Himself, what had before been dim is now distinct. In 
 the scene on Calvary, in particular, Ave have the truths 
 which the sinner is most concerned to know, of sin and 
 salvation, of God oftended and God pacified, set forth in 
 the most awfully, and yet most winningly, impressive 
 manner. 
 
 There seems to be the very same order in the mude of 
 communicating the truth. First, there are symbols of 
 various kinds, then prose narrative and poetry with 
 simple correlations, then richer and more varied poetry, 
 and, when we come on to the New Testament, interesting 
 narrative, with interspersed spoken discourses with num- 
 berless parallelisms and most graceful curvatures, leading 
 on to more elaborate and logically constructed prose, and 
 the whole closing with a book in which prose, poetry, and 
 symbol are combined. 
 
 And we are not to understand that the scheme of 
 t)q)es, as we have explained it, disappears on tlie appear- 
 ance of Christ, or with the close of the insjnrcd canon. 
 The continued operations of Christ in the Church are 
 typical. Let us compare what He did when He walked 
 on the earth in His human person, with wliat He is still 
 doing on our earth as He walks s])iritually in the midst 
 of the lamps wliich He has kindhxl. His iniraclcs, wliicli 
 attested His divinity, did not consist in ostentatious dis- 
 plays of power ; in meteors flasliing across the sky ; in 
 rivers, running backward to their source ; in mountains
 
 528 TYPICAL SYSTEM 
 
 being sliaken to their centre ; or in the moon wandering 
 from her orbit. The testimony was to His love and 
 compassion as well as His power. " The blind receive 
 their sight, and the lame walk ; the lepers are cleansed, 
 and the deaf hear ; the dead are raised up, and the poor 
 have the Gospel preached nnto them," Of a like type 
 are His operations still. They do not consist in displays 
 of physical power ; — but in opening the eyes of the spi- 
 ritually blind ; in putting activity into those in no way 
 disposed to the service of godliness ; in curing all man- 
 ner of soul-maladies ; in gaining access to the most ob- 
 durate hearts by the power of His Spirit. We do not 
 affirm that the one set of acts predicted the other — we 
 venture on no such statement ; but we maintain that 
 both are after the same fio;ure, that both ori(2;inate in the 
 same peculiarities of character, and that both are ad- 
 dressed to us as homotypal correspondences. 
 
 We still hve under a system of types. Just as all the 
 figures in the Old Testament look forward to Him who 
 is the principal figure, so do the figures in the New Tes- 
 tament look back to Him. But there is this difference 
 between the former and the latter types, that the latter, 
 as becometh the dispensation, are not so much outward 
 and ceremonial as inward and spiritual. There is a close 
 mystical union between Him and each of His people ; 
 He and they are said to be one. They are one in respect 
 of their human nature ; "It behoved Him to be made 
 like unto His brethren, and, forasmuch as the cliildren 
 are partakers of flesh and blood, He also likewise took 
 part of the same ;" — " He took on Him, not the nature 
 of angels, but the seed of Abraham," and " was made 
 in the likeness of man." He has become, too, the " head 
 of the body, the Church," " the beginning, the first- 
 born from the dead," and is the "first-born among
 
 or THE NEW TESTAMENT. 529 
 
 many brethren." They are priests under Him as Chief 
 Priest, kings under Him as Sovereign. By his appoint- 
 ment they are " predestinated to be conformed to His 
 image." The Godhead once more issues the decree 
 in reference to this man and to that man, " Let us 
 make man in our image, after our likeness," — so " God 
 creates man in His own image, in the likeness of God 
 creates He him." In the performance of this decree, 
 they "suffer with Him," are "cnicificd together with 
 Him," are " dead with Him," " buried with Him," and as 
 they die with Him, so they are " quickened with Him ;" 
 they " rise with Him," and '' reign with Him." In this 
 household there are many children, and there are difter- 
 ences between them of gift and taste to suit them to 
 their different heaven-allotted employments ; but still wc 
 may discern in them all a family likeness, and the image 
 of Him who hath begotten them. In this perfect system 
 of types, the whole has a representative in every part, 
 and every part is a symbol of the whole. Each living 
 stone in this temple is carved after the similitude of the 
 whole temple. He is the body, and every member in 
 particular is after the pattern of the whole body. Each 
 branch, each leaf of this Tree of Life, is an image of the 
 entire tree. 
 
 With such patterns in the past and in the present, the 
 disciple may everywhere be instructed. But let him 
 remember, meanwhile, what is the object to which he 
 should chiefly look. It is pleasant to see the path in 
 which wc walk trodden by the footsteps of tlie flock, but 
 we are to follow the flock only so far as they follow tlie 
 shepherd. In iliiii wc Imve the image of the invisible 
 God set before us in sucli a way that we can rise to a 
 somewhat clear, and an altogether satisfactory ajiprehen- 
 siun of His character. It is when the soul is spread out 
 
 2-6
 
 f 
 
 530 TYPICAL SYSTEM. 
 
 before Him, and directed towards Him, that His likeness 
 is imprinted — as by a sunbeam process, upon the tablet 
 of the heart. Looking to Him, as lifted up upon the 
 cross, we learn of Him the lessons which we have moat 
 need to learn — we learn of Him to be meek and lowly. 
 A similar change, but differently produced, shall take 
 place in heaven. In the Old Testament Church they 
 had the shadow ; in the New Testament Church we have 
 the image ; in heaven we shall have the substance — 
 which as we behold, we shall be brightened into a likeness 
 to His glory — " we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
 Him as He is." 
 
 It appears, then, that in the New Testament Church 
 there are post-figurations ; but there are also pre-figura- 
 tions. In spite of many partial relapses, the Church, as a 
 whole, is advancing, and its past progress is but an ear- 
 nest of its future progress till it cover the earth. As it 
 advances, if not so simple, or perhaps so pure, yet it is 
 richer and fuller, and shall inspire and fashion a greater 
 diversity of character and of phases of life, and, at the last, 
 all the accumulated stores of wealth, civilisation, and in- 
 tellect, shall be cast into the treasury of the Lord. 
 
 When objects lie far distant from us, we must be on 
 our guard against taking brightened clouds for sunlit 
 lands ; but we think we see some real truths, lying, we 
 grant, on the very horizon of our vision. All animal 
 bodies point to man as the apex of the earthly hierarchy. 
 Professor Owen tells us that " all the parts and organs 
 of man had been sketched out, in anticipation, so to 
 speak, in the inferior animals." But may not this highest 
 form on earth point to a still higher form ? Man's body 
 on earth may be but a prefiguration of liis body in hea- 
 ven. " But some vnll say. How are the dead raised up, 
 and with what body do they come ? The Apostle does
 
 OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 531 
 
 not give a direct answer to this question, but he points to 
 certain analogies, or rather homceophytes, wliich shew that 
 while the body preserves its identity, it wiU be changed 
 into a nobler form, as the seed is changed when it springs 
 up as a plant. " It is so-\vn a natural body, it is raised a 
 s[iiritual body ; for there is a natural body and a spiritual 
 body," and we read of bodies "terrestrial," and of bodies 
 '■ celestial." In heaven, then, our bodies are to be after 
 a higher model, "spiritual" and " celestial" It doth not 
 yet appear what we shall be, but being planted in the like- 
 ness of His death, we shall also be planted in the likeness 
 of His resun-ection, and when He appears we shall be 
 lilce Him. Our bodies shall then be fashioned like unto 
 His glorious body, which we may conceive to be the most 
 sublimated and obedient form and modification of mate- 
 rial agency ; — and modern science, while it cannot efface 
 the indelible distinction between mind and matter, is 
 every day enlarging our conceptions of the capacities of 
 matter. Thus, the simplest organism points by its struc- 
 ture upward to man, and man's earthly frame points to 
 his heavenly frame, and his heavenly frame to Christ's 
 spiritual l)ody — and we sec that all animated things on 
 earth point onward to His Glorified Humanity as the 
 grand Archetype of all that has life. 
 
 Professor Owen has another idea. He sni)poscs that 
 in other worlds, as there are the same laws of light and 
 gravitation as on our earth, there may also be like organic 
 structures: "And the inference as the ])ossibility of 
 •this vertebrate type lieing the basis of th(! (trgaiuzation of 
 some of the inhabitants of other planets, will not ajjjjcar 
 BO haziirdous when it is remembered that the orbits or 
 protective cavities pf the eyes of the vertebrata of this 
 planet arc constructed of niodilied vertebi^a». Our 
 thoughts arc free to soar as far as any legitimate analogy
 
 532 TYPICAL SYSTEM OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 may seem to guide them rightly in the boundless ocean 
 of unknown truth. But if censure he merited for here 
 indulging, even for a moment, in pure speculation, it 
 may, perhaps, be disarmed by the reflection that the dis- 
 covery of the vertebrate archetype could. not fail to sug- 
 gest to the anatomist many possible modifications of it 
 beyond those we know to have been reahzed in this little 
 orb of ours." 
 
 If there be any ^truth in this idea, then the animated 
 matter of other worlds may point to the same Archetype 
 as the animated matter of this world. And on the sup- 
 position, what a significancy would be given to the hu- 
 manity of our Lord ! When the Word became flesh, 
 the Divinity was in a sense humbled ; and when the In- 
 carnate Word ascended into heaven, flesh or matter was 
 exalted, and made to serve the most glorious ends. We 
 thus obtain a glimpse of a way in which matter, through- 
 out all its domains, may be exalted by its association with 
 the Son of God taking our likeness ; and of a way, too, in 
 which other worlds, or all worlds, and other creatures, 
 even principalities and powers in heavenly places, may 
 be instructed by this " manifold wisdom," and by which 
 God may " by Him reconcile aU things unto Himself — • 
 by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things 
 in heaven." 
 
 But as we stand gazing on our ascending Lord, a 
 cloud wraps Him from our view, and we hear, as it were, 
 a voice saying, " Why stand ye here gazing ?" and bid- 
 ding us return to the observation of things clearly within 
 the range of our vision.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SELECTED LIST OF PLANTS, 
 
 rLLUSTRATIKG ASSOCIATIONS OF COLOURS, AND RELATIONS 
 OF FORM AND COLOUR. — (P. 160.) 
 
 Dicotyledons. 
 
 Ranunculus repens, 
 R. bulbosus, . 
 R nemorosus, 
 Nasturtium Indicum, 
 Cheiranthus alpinus, 
 Viola Curtisii, 
 V. lutea, 
 Saxifraga ligulata, 
 
 S. sarmentosa, 
 
 S. Aizoon, 
 
 Cytisus Laburnum, 
 
 Anthyllis vulneraria, 
 Lathyru.s pratensis, 
 
 Kennedya monophylla, 
 
 Cytisus scoparius, . 
 
 Lotus corniculatUH, 
 
 ) Corolla yellow ; purple on calyx, on leaf- 
 ) stalks, and on leaf-sheaths. 
 Corolla yellow ; tips of young sepals purple. 
 
 [ Corolla yellow ; tips of sepals purple. 
 >• Flowers yellow and purple. 
 
 
 Corolla white, with purple spots; the yellow 
 
 anthers lie on the purple spots. 
 Two petals white ; three are spotted with 
 
 purple, and are yellow at the base. 
 Leaves yellow-green and red-purple; corolla 
 
 yellow and purple; ovary first yellow- 
 green, then red-purple. 
 Four petals yellow ; the fifth is yellow, with 
 
 a purple spot, 
 Corolla yellow ; tips of calyx purple. 
 Corolla yellow; the odd lobe with purple 
 
 veins. 
 Four petals purple ; the odd petal lias a yellow 
 
 spot. 
 Flower yellow; the odd piece has purple 
 
 streaks on the inside. 
 Calyx yellow-green, and red-purple streaks; 
 
 odd lobe of corolla yellow, with purple on 
 
 the outside.
 
 534 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Swainsonia purpurea, . 
 Hieracium Pilosella, 
 Aster acris, A. spectabilis, 
 A. cordifolius, A. Novae An- 
 
 glise, .... 
 Rudbeckia fulgida, 
 Corvisartia Helenium, . 
 
 Gloxinia grandis, . 
 
 Ajuga Chamsepitys, 
 A. pyramidalis, 
 Galeopsis Tetrahit, 
 G. versicolor, 
 Melittis grandiflora. 
 Antirrhinum Orontium, 
 Euphrasia officinalis, 
 
 Linaria Cymbalaria, 
 
 Schizanthus purpureus, 
 Sarracenia purpurea, 
 Rumex pulcher, . 
 R. Acetosa, . 
 R. aquaticus, 
 
 Pinus sylvestris, and other 
 
 Coniferse, . 
 Ficus elastica, 
 Drimys Winteri, . 
 
 Taxodium sempervirens, 
 
 Lycaste Skinneri, 
 
 Corolla red-purple ; odd lobe with a vrhite eye. 
 Flower yellow, outer surface of ray purple. 
 
 >- Centre yellow, circumference purple. 
 
 Centre purple, circumference yellow. 
 
 Circumference and centre yellow ; inner scales 
 of involucre red-purple, outer scales yellow- 
 green; stems red-purple, foliage yellow- 
 green. 
 
 Odd lobe of corolla red-purple inside ; calyx 
 yellow-green ; stalks red-purple. 
 
 Flower yellow, with purple on odd lobe. 
 
 Flower purple, yellow spot on odd lobe. 
 
 Odd lobe yellow and purple. 
 
 Odd lobe yellow and purple. 
 
 Flower yellow, purple on the odd lobe. 
 
 Flower purple, yellow on the odd lobe. 
 
 Corolla purple streaked, yellow on the odd 
 ^ lobe. 
 
 Corolla purple, odd lobe with yellow spots 
 and yellow hairs. 
 
 Odd lobe of corolla yellow and purple. 
 
 Pitcher red-purple and yellow-green. 
 
 Anthers purple below, yellow above. 
 
 Perianth red-purple and yellow-green. 
 
 Stem red-purple ; dense masses of yellow- 
 green flowers ; the latter have sometimes 
 red-purple streaks. 
 
 r Young cones purple and citrine. 
 
 Buds red-purple, leaves yellow-green. 
 
 Young shoot red-purple, young leaf yellow- 
 green. 
 
 Young shoot yellow-green; more advanced, 
 red-purple ; when older, it is citrine. 
 
 Monocotyledons. 
 
 Sepals, outside yellow-green, inside red- 
 purple ; two upper petals white, or yellow 
 with purple spots; third petal yellow and 
 purple spots.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 535 
 
 Brassia verrucosa, 
 
 Oncidium Cavendishii, . 
 Epidcndrum cochleatum, 
 Lycaste aromatica, 
 Caltleya Loddigesii, 
 Oncidium Papilio, 
 Cypripedlum venustum, 
 
 Listera cordata, 
 Iris pseudacorus, . 
 
 I. Germanica, 
 
 I. Tricolor, . 
 Pandamis odoratissimus, 
 
 Caladium pictum, . 
 
 Strelitzia, several species, 
 
 Curcuma cordata, and 
 C ovata, 
 
 Juncus compressus, 
 Avena pratensis, . 
 
 Papyrus antiquorum, 
 
 Sepals and two upper petals yeUow-green and 
 red-purple; third petal white, with green 
 warts and yellowish eye; flower-stalks 
 purple. 
 
 ^ Third petal yellow and purple. 
 
 Leaves red-purple and yellow-green. 
 
 Petals yellow-green and red-purple; bract 
 yellow-green, with red-purple line on the 
 midrib, and one near each margin; ovary 
 yellow-green, with red-purple lines corre- 
 sponding to the adherent edges of the 
 pieces of which it consists. 
 
 Flowers red-purple and yellow-green. 
 
 Flower yellow, with purple streaks ; stamens 
 variegated with purple. 
 
 Calyx yellow and purple ; corolla purple ; 
 pollen yellow. 
 
 Petals yellow ; sepals yellow and purj^le. 
 
 Teeth and edge of leaf red-purple, centre 
 yellow-green. 
 
 Centre of leef red-purple, edge of leaf yellow- 
 green. 
 
 Leaf yellow-green, leaf-stalk red-purple; se- 
 pals orange ; petals blue. 
 ) Tip of bracts red-purple, base of bracts yel- 
 1 low-green ; flower yellow. 
 
 Flower russet and green. 
 
 Glumes citrine, with purple streaks and 
 purple awn ; anthers yellow and purple. 
 
 Sheaths red-purple ; stalks yellow-green.
 
 1
 
 INDEX, 
 
 AcUnia, 271-275. 
 
 Adaptation, principle of, 1, 80^-40, 421, 
 
 427-433, 514. 
 .^thetic feelings, 137, 189, 145, 150, 151, 
 
 153, 431-492. 
 Ampbipoda, 242. 
 Analogues, 25, 292, 293, 308. 
 Analysis, 452-454. 
 Angles of leaf-veins and branches, 112- 
 
 116. 
 A priori speculation, 468-470. 
 Archetype skeleton, ISO. 
 Armature of plants, 134. 
 -Vristotle, 11, 465, 474. 
 Articulata, 233, 266, 3.36-388. 
 Association of ideas, 473-430. 
 
 Back, vertebrae of, 195. 
 
 Bacon, 13, 421, 466. 
 
 Barnacles, 245, 246. 
 
 Bat's wing, 210. 
 
 liats, teeth of, 216. 
 
 Beauty, 481-488. 
 
 Birds, vertcbraj of, 198, 199; diverging 
 appendages of, 207, 208 ; cutaneous mus- 
 cles of, 295. 
 
 Blood-corpuscles, 79. 
 
 Bone, structure ol^ 77; typical form of, 
 185, .307. 
 
 BracU, 91, 135. 
 
 Branches. 112-119. 
 
 Branchlupoda, 242. 
 
 Buds, m. 
 
 Butterfly, month of, 254-257. 
 
 Calyx, 92, 186. 
 Camel, 66. 
 Cumpatiularla, 27.3. 
 Carnlvora, teeth of, 218. 
 Oirtllagc, 76. 
 
 Caterpillar, 249. 
 
 Cause aud effect, 467-470. 
 
 Cell, 70-71. 
 
 Centrum of vertebra, 178. 
 
 Cephalopoda, 227. 
 
 Cercbflluin, 287. 
 
 Chance, 40-54. 
 
 Chemical groups, 363. 
 
 Cicero, 8, 9. 
 
 Classification, 422-426, 451, 460-466. 
 
 Coal epoch, flora of, 34S. 
 
 Collocation, principle of, 34. 
 
 Colours, 20-21, 53-58, 481. 
 
 Colours of plants (and birds), 146-174. 
 
 Comets, 391, 392. 
 
 Complementary colours, 154-156. 
 
 Cones an<l Conifora-, 120-128. 
 
 Corolla, 93, 187. 
 
 Correlation of physical forces, 32, 460. 
 
 Cosmology, 30. 
 
 Covering of plants, 138. 
 
 Cotyledons, 82, 141. 
 
 Crustacea, 237-243. 
 
 Crystals, 354-858. 
 
 Curves, 24, 117, 48.3. 
 
 Cuttle fishes, nerves of, 281. 
 
 Cuvicr, 421, 431, 432, 434, 439. 
 
 Development, community of plan in, 807. 
 Development, progressive, 317-822. 
 Descartes, 49.3. 
 Division of labour in science, 12, 13. 
 
 Egg, 63; of bird, 303. 
 Elephant, 66, 67; teeth of, 219. 
 Endogenous stem, 84. 
 Epidermis, 73. 
 Kplthelluiii, 74. 
 
 EqulvnlontJt, chemical, 860-862. 
 KxogoMOUs stem, 84.
 
 538 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fat, 74. 
 
 Feathers, 80. 
 
 Fichte, 471, 497. 
 
 Final cause, 50-56, 427-438. 
 
 l''irs, morphology of, 119-129. 
 
 Fishes, skeleton of, 196; diverging appen- 
 dages of, 206, 207; teeth of, 221. 
 
 I'^orm, as a principle of order, 11, 21-28. 
 
 Form, the faculty which discovers the re- 
 lations of, 454-15G. 
 
 I'orm and colour, relation of, 147. 
 
 Fossil animals and plants, 309-353. 
 
 Fruit, 139. 
 
 Generalization, 460-467. 
 Geology, 309-353. 
 Gills, 292. 
 
 Goethe, 26, 102, 103. 
 Gravitation, 401-406. 
 Gulf stream, 380. 
 
 Hairs, 80-86. 
 
 HiBmal spine, 178. 
 
 Ha;raapophysis, 178. 
 
 Heat, 408-411. 
 
 Hedgehog, cutaneous muscle of, 296. 
 
 Hegel, 471, 499, 500. 
 
 Herbart, 500. 
 
 Herbivora, teeth of, 219. 
 
 Homaophytcs, 308, 420, 427, 431, 531. 
 
 Homologies, 2.5, 176, 308, 420, 422, 427, 
 
 430-432. 
 Homotypes, 25, 808, 420, 427, 430, 431. 
 Homologous series in chemistry, 864. 
 Horn, 80. 
 
 Horse, foot of, 212. 
 Hydra, 272. 
 Hymonoptcra, 263. 
 
 Imaging power of mind, 442-448, 507, 516. 
 Inilorcsconce, 91. 
 Insects, 248-265. 
 Isomorpliisni, 359. 
 
 Kant, 53, 466, 495-499. 
 
 Laplace, 53 ; his cosmogony, 402-405. 
 
 Laws of Nature, 14, 15. 
 
 Leaves, arrangement of, 88, 89 ; leaf-veins> 
 
 angles of, 112-116; structure of, 131, 
 
 132. 
 Leech, 62. 
 
 Leibnitz, 494, 495, 501-503. 
 Ligaments, 75. 
 
 Light, 406-408. 
 
 Limbs, nature of, 189-192, 208-212. 
 Loins, vertebras of, 195. 
 Ludicrous, sense of, 144 note, 489. 
 
 Magnetism, 19, 412, 413. 
 
 Malebranche, 493. 
 
 Man, preparations for, 346-353 ; distribu- 
 tion of, 384. 
 
 Mandibles of insects, 61, 252. 
 
 MaxillK of insects, 258. 
 
 Mechanical power, 32, 349, 350, 410, 411, 
 416, 417. 
 
 Medusv, 277. 
 
 Mollusca, archetype, 223-226; modifica- 
 tions of, 227-232 ; fossil, 33S. 
 
 Monsters, 429 note. 
 
 Mountains, 871, 372. 
 
 Muscle, 76, 294^298. 
 
 Nails, 80. 
 
 Neck vertebras, 194. 
 
 Nervous tissue, 78 ; nervous system, 280- 
 288. 
 
 Neural spine, 178. 
 
 Neurapophysis, 178. 
 
 Number as a principle of order, 11, 15-18, 
 . 98, 188, 191, 192, 208, 215, 246, 270, 271, 
 814, 318, 518-525. 
 
 Number, faculty which discovers rela- 
 tions of, 458, 459. 
 
 Ocean, 373; currents of, 379. 
 Oken, 27, 181, 182, 434, 517 note.. 
 Ophidia, skeleton of, 196-203; teeth of, 
 
 221. 
 Order, principle of, 1, 420-427, 429-^39. 
 
 464, 467, 514. 
 Ostrich, foot of, 209. 
 Oviposltor.s, 264. 
 Ox. foot of, 211. 
 
 Phyllodia, 85. 
 
 Physical geography, 370-382. 
 
 Picturesque, 489, 490. 
 
 Pines, morphology of, 119-129. 
 
 Pistil, 94. 
 
 Pitchers, 85. 
 
 Planets, 389-891. 
 
 Plant, typical, 103. 
 
 Plato, 7, 11, 426, 465. 
 
 Pleurapophysis, 178. 
 
 Podura, 263. 
 
 Pollen, 73.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 539 
 
 Pre-ostabllshed harmony, 431, 441, 442, 
 40-2-467, 470-473, 494, 495, 501-503. 
 
 Trcfigurations of Christ, 512-514. 
 
 rro£;re3.«lon, theories of, 817-'?26. 
 
 Progressive plan in goolosy, 817-3'27. 
 
 rrogressiro plan of Providence, 525-527. 
 
 Property, faculty which discovers rela- 
 tions of, 459, 4G0. 
 
 Prophetic plan in geology, 827-33.5. 
 
 Pteropoda, 8.j9. 
 
 Pythagorean systeni, 10, 465, 518. 
 
 Quincunx, 126. 
 
 lladiafa, 267-279; fo.ssil, 814, 8-34-886. 
 Rain, 377, 378. 
 
 Uelations observed by mind, 450-452. 
 Respiratory system, 291-294. 
 Rodellt^ teeth of, 217. 
 
 Sacral vertcbr r, 195. 
 
 Schellin?. 471, 497-499. 
 
 Seed, .structure of, 82; nature of, 95, 
 
 140. 
 Sorpcnts, 60, 196-208. 
 Shells of mollu.sca, 2S, 65, 66. 315. 
 Skeleton, vertebrate, 175-212. 
 Sloth, 67, 68, 197. 
 Spina! cord, 2SS. 
 Spines 80. 
 SpinnoreL", 260. 837. 
 Spinoza, 49.3, 494. 
 Spinal arranKcment of appcndaffos of 
 
 plant, 88-90, 96. 97; of conifcrae, 121- 
 
 128; offos.MIs,311. 
 St. Ililairo, Geoffroy, 27, 431, 434. 
 Stamens, 93, 137. 
 Stars, 892-400. 
 Stem, structure of, 84; typical form of, 
 
 187, 807. 
 
 Stipules, 85, 183. 
 Sublime, 490-192. 
 Sun's rays, 151, 411, 413, 411. 
 Supports of plants, 134. 
 
 Tail of fish, .56,320. 
 
 Tail vertebrn'. 200, 201. 
 
 Teeth, 213-222; fos.sil, 842,843. 
 
 Teleology. 30, 51, 423-438, 514, 
 
 Tendons, 75. 
 
 Time, as a principle of Order, 18-20. 
 
 Time, faculty whicli discovers relations 
 
 of. 456-4.58. 
 Tortoise, 2iH. 
 Types, 1, 23, 431, 456. 
 Types, organic, ,364-366. 
 Typical appendage of plant, 88. 
 Typical bone, 185, 807. 
 Typical cell, 69, 70. 
 Typical Ii;nb, 192. 
 Typical nuinber.s, 518-525. 
 Typical plant, 103. 
 Typical skeleton. 180. 
 Typical sy.steni of Now Testament, 627- 
 
 532. 
 Typical system of Old Testament, 508- 
 
 518. 
 Typical tooth, 214, 215, 
 Typical vertebra, 178. 
 
 Universal.*, 406. 
 
 Vascular system, 288-291. 
 Vertebra, typical, 173. 
 Vessels, 72. 
 
 Whole and Parl.-<, faculty wliich discov- 
 ers relations of, 4.52^54. 
 Winds, trade, 374, 875. 
 Wood, 72.
 
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