rs, of which
specific distinctions and external characters of all kinds are only
accidental results--that is, results determined by the outer phenomena
affecting the existence of plants. A single lesson on the profound
wonders of morphology would go further, we verily believe, in making
our pupil a man of science, than the committing of the whole Linnaean
system to memory. In zoology, again, we would leave the endless
details of minute description to the tomes of the scientific
naturalist, and be content to sketch animals in broad masses--first,
in regard to grades of organisation; and, second, in regard to family
types. The Feline Animal, we say, is one idea of the Creator--a
destructive creature of wonderful strength in comparison with its
bulk--of immense agility, furtive in its movements, furnished with
great powers for the destruction of others. Lion, tiger, panther,
ounce, lynx, jaguar, cat, are all essentially one creature--not the
slightest difference can be traced in their osteological structure,
hardly any in their habits. Why dwell, then, on minutiae of external
appearances, if time presses, and there be much of more importance to
be learned? So, also, is the Cirrhopode one idea of the author of
nature. You may find a very respectable quarto account of the family,
tracing them in all their varieties; but a page might inform you of
all that is essential about the barnacle, curious as its history has
been, and you need not ponder on the quarto unless you have some
particular curiosity to gratify. The Types of nature, both in her
vegetable and animal departments are, after all, few. Describe each
comprehensively, group them all in correct relations to each other,
and display their various destinies and connections with the rest of
creation, and you enable your pupil to learn in a few weeks more than
Pliny mastered in a lifetime.

It appears to us that the reason why science is so coldly received in
ordinary society is, that either by reason of its unripeness for
generalisation, or of the tendency of its cultivators to keep
continually analysing and multiplying facts, it has not in general
been presented in propositions which the ordinary mind can comprehend
or make use of. We should be loath to urge it into generalisations for
which it was not prepared; but while this is duly avoided, we would
have it to be somewhat more vigilant than it usually is, in taking
opportunities of proceeding with those synthetical c