Who would have conjectured that his being born of Roman Catholic parents, and educated to a belief of the absurd doctrines, and an observance of the equally absurd rites, of the Romish Church; that the cruel treatment of the man to whom he was apprenticed, leading him unceremoniously to quit his service, and his coming a forlorn and nearly penniless boy to this country, in spite even of the earnest remonstrances of his own mother-who would have believed that this was to form an essential part of the preparation for the high stand he was to take, and the important part he was to perform in our American church? Had it not been for his early experience of the cold horrors of Romanism, he never could have wielded such a pen of fire in exposing them; and had it not been for the unkind and almost savage bearing of that Grannard merchant, there is no reason to believe that he might not have lived and died in as deep darkness as either of his brothers. Surely God worked in a mysterious way to make out of material that seemed to promise so little that noble minister of the gospel, whose name has become as a household word almost all over Protestant Christendom. Shall not such facts as these lead us to trust our God as well in the darkness as in the sunshine, and to wait patiently and reverently for the mysteries of his providence to develop their own explanation?

Another lesson which this volume most impressively teaches, is the vast importance of that form of the charity of the church which looks after the education of her indigent and promising sons. There was Nicholas Murray, with great natural gifts, with a warm and generous heart, and withal struggling into the kingdom of heaven, and yet doing his daily task, like any other hireling boy, at that great printing establishment of the Harpers; and even though, along with his regenerate nature, there might come aspirations for higher usefulness, yet with them would naturally be associated the thought that he was a stranger in a strange land, and that he might well afford to be satisfied if he could earn his daily bread. But as God's gracious providence would have it, he fell in with some of the benevolent men in Dr Spring's church, who, being struck with his intellectual superiority as well as his decided demonstrations of Christian principle and feeling, offered themselves to him as auxiliaries if he would study for the ministry. We cannot say, indeed, what might have been accomplished by his own sanctified energies both of mind and heart, if no aid from without had been proffered to him; but there is no doubt as to the fact that these excellent men not only gave him the first impulse towards an education with reference to the ministry, but furnished the first facilities towards the carrying out of this object. He never forgot the debt of gratitude he owed them while he lived

d;

and now that the beneficiary and the benefactors have met on a nobler field, where they can trace the results of that first movement in favour of his education by a brighter light, can we doubt that, in view of this experience, their hearts are knit together more closely, and drawn forth in offerings of more intense thankfulness to their common Father?

And why should not this example stimulate a multitude of others to go and do likewise? Young men in indigent circumstances, but of pious aspirations and great capabilities for usefulness, are scattered everywhere; and all that is needed in order to render them, perhaps, even pillars in the church of God, is for the hand of Christian charity to be stretched out for their encouragement and help! Is not this an object worthy of deeper consideration, of more liberal offerings, than the church has yet bestowed upon it? Especially, shall not those public institutions, which contemplate exclusively this object, find increased favour in the eye of our rich men, who, in consecrating themselves have also consecrated all that they possess unto the Lord? Is it too much to hope that one effect of the circulation of the Memoir of Dr Murray will be that many gifted and excellent young men will have a way opened for them to enter the ministry, who otherwise would have lived and died, perhaps, in the drudgery of some humble secular vocation.

And, finally, what an example is Dr Murray to all young men, and to all ministers of the gospel, of vigorous and selfdenying effort! The same heroic resolution, the same unfailing diligence, the same fearlessness of difficulties and obstacles which marked both his earlier and his later developments, if associated with the same high tone of spiritual feeling which he exemplified, would throw success and triumph into the path of any young man; and to the minister of the gospel, of powers even greatly inferior to those which he possessed, they would be a pledge for extensive usefulness and an honoured name. those who read this book, and learn what it is possible for one man to do, then settle the question with themselves whether they are labouring for God and the church up to the full measure of their ability.

Let

We cannot take leave of this work without thanking the author for having so gracefully and tenderly embalmed the memory of his friend and ours, and at the same time conferred so great and permanent a favour upon the whole church. When scores and hundreds of memoirs-even of those which have had their brief day of being talked about and admired-shall be numbered with the things that have been, we confidently predict that this will be holding on its way with posterity, and performing its great work with undiminished power. 2 H

VOL. XII.-NO. XLV.

ART. III.-The True Place of Man in Zoology.*

Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. By LOUIS AGASSIZ. First Monograph in Three Parts. I. Essay on Classification, &c. Vol. I. 4to. Boston, 1857.

THE "Essay on Classification" in Professor Agassiz's "Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America," is a very remarkable treatise, in a very remarkable work, for our own, or for any country. The prospectus was for ten volumes, on as many important, though not the best known, parts of American zoology, with full descriptions, and most ample illustrations, from the embryo to the perfect animal, at twelve dollars the volume. The first four of these have been issued, and have fully satisfied the high anticipations of the patrons of this great enterprise; to provide for the expense of which at least eight hundred subscribers were necessary on reasonable calculations of the work to be done; but so high did the author stand in scientific estimation, and so generous were his views of what the character of the work and its illustrations should be, that it is said the list of subscribers exceeded twentyfive hundred, more than thrice the number anticipated-a patronage of more than princely munificence. All this was without any special effort. The support of the enterprise, therefore, may be considered certain, even though a considerable falling off from the subscription list should take place; and the distinguished author, with his fair prospect of life and health, may be reasonably expected to complete the work, the value of which he will richly enhance by the number and excellence of the illustrations which this noble patronage will enable him to furnish. Of the volumes already published, the first two contain, besides the Essay, the North American Testudinata, or Turtles, with thirty-seven splendid plates; the next two present the Acalephs, with forty-six plates; and the four taken together constitute the most gratifying earnest of those which are to follow. All true lovers of Natural History must rejoice in the progress and the promise.

Of such a work the appropriate introduction should be the richest and most complete Essay on Classification. This was the more necessary, on account of the different views held by naturalists on this subject; and to many who assume as the basis of their systems, the material organs, or what is commonly called the natural or physical organisation, this Essay

*From the Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review for January 1863.—ED. B. & F. E. R.

will be held to be transcendent. At least, in all but some of the minor subdivisions, it will doubtless be placed at the head of their systems. But apart from the admiration it will elicit from practical zoologists, and other admirers of nature exhibited in scientific detail, and illustrated by art, this Essay will excite a special interest in all who love to trace the operations of the Divine mind in the works of his creation. Under this aspect, however, it presents not only the most extraordinary excellencies, but also very grave defects; some of which, in both kinds, we propose to exhibit here, in order that the true and only consistent place of man in zoology may be made to appear.

I. The Excellencies.

1. All must agree with Professor Agassiz, that sufficient progress has now been made in the knowledge of animal life to form a correct system of arrangement. Passing from the first imperfect classification, in the Systema Natura of Linnæus in 1735, to its great improvement in 1761, and thence to its final revision by its author in 1766, we come to the system of Cuvier, which is a great advance beyond all that had preceded it. In all the subsequent "Anatomical Systems," from that of Cuvier to that of Leuckart in 1848, of eight of which Agassiz gives the details with remarks, the departure from the views of Cuvier seem to have been inconsiderable, except in that of Ehrenberg, in 1836. Of prominent "Philosophical Systems" of zoology of the German School, three are specially detailed and reported on in this Essay. Next to these are given the "Embryological Systems," four of which are finely commented on, as in the preceding cases. This short statement with respect to fifteen systems-and these are not all-must convince us that enough has been, or ought to have been, done by zoologists to enable a competent author to propound a system truthful and complete, at least in all the fundamental divisions. These, in their most general form, must be obvious and accessible to all observers. Accordingly we find that some zoologists, in each of the three modes of investigation, i. e., anatomical, philosophical, and embryological, do agree with each other in certain respects, on the four primary divisions of the animal kingdom, as given by Cuvier; or, as Prof. Agassiz writes, on "the natural primitive relations of animal life," viz., vertebrates, articulates, molluscs, and radiates. And if this classification were confined to animals below man, it would call forth no opposition. There is, however, a classification more fundamental and broad,*

*This more fundamental distinction was made, also, by Aristotle, as has just been pointed out o the writer, as he concludes this article, by a distinguished Greek scholar. It, with the grounds upon which it rests, will be introduced in the proper place, both for its antiquity and wise discrimination.

which was made by Ehrenberg in 1836, and also by St Hilaire in 1856; but this is barely referred to in the Essay.

2. The general views of Prof. Agassiz on the real object of classification, are worthy of philosophy and of the truth. He maintains the existence in animals of departments, i.e., of "branch, class, order, family, genus, and species, by which we express the results of our investigations into the relations of the animal kingdom." Naturalists generally have admitted the real existence of species, and sometimes of genera; but they have too often considered even genera, as well as the superior divisions, to be the result of human contrivance, or as a matter of indifference; whilst these ought to be neither. With respect to such arrangements, Agassiz asks, "Are these divisions artificial or natural? Are they the devices of the human mind to classify and arrange our knowledge in such a manner as to bring it more readily within our grasp, and facilitate further investigations; or have they been instituted by the Divine intelligence as the categories of his mode of thinking?" In a note he adds, "A system may be natural; that is, may agree in every respect with the facts of nature, and yet not be considered by its author [or by others], as the manifestation of the thoughts of a Creator; but merely as the expression of a fact existing in nature, no matter how." This is a just exhibition of the perverse thoughts of a host of naturalists, with which the admirable, and truthful, and exalting views of the author of this essay are in striking contrast. For by most naturalists, no respect has been paid to that original and grand idea of Plato, of a primordial plan or conception in the mind of the divine Architect, according to which all things were formed and have their operations carried

on.

From ignorance or design, their systems have originated in very different conceptions. This is illustrated in the Linnean system of botany, artificial in its general structure, and yet natural, in that it presents a host of facts accordant with nature. Such also, in part, is the so-called "Natural Method," which superseded that of Linnæus, and such, to a considerable extent, was his early zoology. The system of Cuvier shews the least possible respect to the development of a divine plan.

In opposing all artificial classifiation, Agassiz maintains the obvious and all-important, but often forgotten principle, that the order of the system is to be "inherent in the objects themselves," so that in truth the arrangement shall be "but translations into human language of the thoughts of the Creator." Throughout the Essay the distinguished author often adverts to the design or plan in nature as proof of one intelligent and wise Creator. Speaking to this purpose, he says: "If there is any truth in the belief that man is made in the image of God, it is surely not amiss for the philosopher to endeavour, by the study