New-York daily tribune., 1855-08-20
bubbles from the bot . ~ Tho pond we're Frequently
frozen, and when srs subjected 70 he action Of The

un the bubbles bo,sme heated, melted the ice around
nem ano ,ei derpd il OF no marketable value. IL
"ouid mere ye be worth while for ice gatherers 70
cover thei p,xds with cloths, something which |
would pr vert these bubbles from rsing. Glacier ice
was ioi ned hs pudding stone compact masees beng
cerne' tied together that when you exposed iarSe
Jun of gLOcier ice 20 the heat OF the sun II woud
cr s,nble IN pieces II was like the decompo- ION OF
one lomerate; had ice-ssnd. lcebergs could be
determined 20 be derived from glaciers aud not TO be
the frozen surface OF be ocean by ther conI'o nerse
composition. Pebbles in glaciers becoming heated
melted the ice beneath them and quarried ther way
down 20 where the heat Of the could not reach
ITEM. The pot holes formed in this way we're soon
covered with thin film Of ice, but IL only during
the pro'raced cold Of Winter that they we're frozen
through.
zo5LOGY.
Prof AeAssrz then gave lecture rather than read
q payer on "Tbe System of ZoJIogy." The title OF
bis paper he said The System Of Zo5logy," would
seem great presumption on his part, asn he would
present to them tie system OF classification, and yet Il
was not without intention that be had seleced this
title fcr be had for several years been convinced that
there was IN noture system Of Classification which
wss rot ours; that there relatiens between am
ma which when We had ur1erstood them, expressed
their true affines and not The ideos which we mgat
form of those afivi,ies. There was q tige when We
were satisfied in eur scientific researches with bring
ing together in grours such animals ssch plas
hsd certain characters in common, and offered those
systems ss facilities to ne study of Natural History
Ip ptlis vay Science had become what was ncw, but
we should understand row that these ssems we're the
expressions q knowledge then hard the subject,
and had verr little 70 10 with the relations Of the sub
ects themselves When animals we're clasoife ac-
cordirg TO se medium they nhabit what he'd that to
do with their structures and pecuFartes beyond the
fact that some adapted to living IN t.e ar, some
in the water and come upon the surface OF the gobe.
IL soon b6csme Obvious that there were deeper dilnl-
ties that led 10 the discovery cf what were called
natural methods expressing the relations Of animals
then understood and then the idea ras that they
could bc expressed at best but fndiherenty Cuvier,
ia hs Animal Kingdom that work wncn hau
made bis name 80 famous "a the man who had gwen
TO sciei the most perfect system of zoology, was not
col scsous of merely having read correctly some pages
of the great plan OF creation. he supIosed he was The
autbor of a sysem but he Only translated toto human
Language thoughts which were there before him. To
be understood its true relation, system OF nature
ought TO be considered az sn analysis OF the thought
which was expressed in tbOse things which consurie
natore. classification in reality but an analys
Of the though; Of the Creator Therefore we cvght
no longer 20 speak of our system9; we could cnly
sneak OF our reading of lhe thoughts which wererep
resented in TIE endless diversity the animal king
dcm from its crude beginnings 10 its present cutmna
ton in the appearance of man. IL would no longer
do for Daturaiists 20 consider the animal Kingdom
without reference 20 the O. It's existence. We
saw m every investigation that those who strove TO
advance seeIce driven to ascTbe the endless Iii
versy they witnessed 10 physical causes or to an in
telligent Creator There was no other alternative.
Now the greston was whether in these relations we
saw the general forces OF nature or the thocght the
device of intelligent being. II there was thought
in relations perceived them we had evidence OF
the action of intelligent being; if there was the
action of physical forces, We had evidence that they
were derived from such causes. Now We would
consider the animal kingdom practically as ge-
ologists considered it, in order to ascertain whether
in the combinations observed betsgeen the
animals we could read thought whether
anything else might be read. Cuvier 10 his cassfca
ton ade four grand divisions and he entitled his work
La Rsgne animate, ATrangsc d0PreS, son organism
tsOa In more recent descriptions other crteris had
been introduced the growth of animals IN the egg.
But was it true that these divisions were founded,
as Cuyier asserted that he Rad founded them, upon
pc ulsriIies of their structure lie would make this
investigation critically, in order TO show that there
was a meaning IN these groups themselves beyond
that which attached to the facts by which they
were now distinguished Has Object was new to snow
that such groups had been called by naturdlsts
divisions classe orders families genera end species,
not merely devices Of naturasts, 70 facilitate
classification but that they were stamped by peculiar
featuTee-that they had roai eXistence-tidt, con-
rrsgy to the received opinion classes were not mere
restrictions characters wlic distinguished div
sious; that orders not as generally supposed
founded ppon still further restrictions, families upon
still further and so on but that the characters deter
mining division were Of peculiar kind, differing
from those which distinguished class or an order,
each of which had kind peculiar to Itself, and that
families genera, and species were severa'ly distn-
euisbtd by other kinds of characters. For each was
founded upon features in their modes Of existence
which weIe different from 'an0 her. HE wood
now proceed to show hat the leading divisions were
not founded upon what Cuvier supposed them 10 be
founded upon, that they were not founded upon A1so-
ges of srucure that for instance animals referred
10 the Tribe of Radata not classed together be-
cause they had certain common characters OF strnc-
tuIe siI ce, in every instance where structure had
been made the criterion, mistakes had been N mide.
We found for instance, that among Rsdla;s Cuver
placed not Only Echiuoderms aEd Polyp but also IN
iostinal worms. because they we're deprived OF he
nervous system. Here We had tes' OF Comparative
Anatomy, and the result was radical mistake. There
were many similar mistakes nj produced by con-
found the plan and the way and means employed
TO produce it. These great groups were based upon
difference ia plan ana not upon differences or sni-
larity OF structure. That was the way and means Of
executing tnat plan. In the Rsdiata, for instance,
radiation was the idea, an arrangement IN which all
the paris had reference 10 a center. In Molus's we
had blater0 symmetry, without internal division m
Articulata, bnateral symmetry without internal d.
vision, and in Vertebrates bllatera' symmetry with
double internal subdivision. The plan gave charac
ter to the different d visions Classes based UPON
structuTa the differences in the Ways and means by
which tie plan waG carried iniO effect The dher-
ence in divisions great that terms which were
properly applied 10 one could not bo 10 the othe-.
When We spplied he terms wings and nbS
to insects we applied terms to them which
should be applied Only 10 The wings of birds
and limbs ike ours. Even in chemical combination
they differed SO also the natural sysieIne Which had
been made mp by the German nstural Philosophers,
and by Ge0fIoy s.. HlsSe were entirely az yGriance
with natuIe. GradaiiOn did not enter INTO account
among the criteria of divisions and orders, although
some divisions and classes might stand oe a whole
higher than Sihers jet particular indvdua1 of those
classes would stand beiOs psrticuer individuals Of
those other classes GradatOn must be a subOrdiua
n