The Sacred History of the World; As Displayed in the Creation and Subsequent Events to the Deluge. Attempted to Be Philosophically Considered in a Series of Letters to a Son Volume 1 (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER VIII. fhe Creation of the fish and Whales?The General Principles of their Formation and, peculiar Nature. In the vegetable kingdom we have surveyed one grand division anil display of organized matter, and of that living principle which is everywhere connected with organization. These two great peculiarities of nature are never separated. There is no organization without the principle of life. There is no life on our earth without a material organization within which it resides. From the creations which we have descrihed, the Deity proceeded to the formation of a very different description of material organization, and with a living principle of qualities much superior to any which appear in plants. This other grand division of life and organization is that which constitutes the animal kingdom. If we consider the mediums in which they reside, we should distinguish this order of heings into tbree general classes, ?the animals of the waters, those of the air, and those which inhabit more immediately the land. But their respective forms and habits lead us to minuter divisions than these. Besides the fish, birds, and quadrupeds, we also find insects frequenting the air, and reptiles and worms the earth; and others, the amphibious class, which are alternately hoth on land and in water. Linnaeus made an artificial classification, which has since heen considerably altered by others. The crustaceous animals have heen separated from his insects; and the testaceous ones from his worms. The molluscsE and infusoria have also received a more distinct consideration, and a different arrangement. All these form together another vast and multifarious evolution and portraiture of the Divine Mind, to the contemplation of its intelligent creatures. But although very diversified in ext...