Contributions to the philosophy of zoology / by R. Knox. Pt. I., On the relation of species or race to genus or natural family : a question of transcendental anatomy.

Robert Knox

Date:: 1855

Credit: Contributions to the philosophy of zoology / by R. Knox. Pt. I., On the relation of species or race to genus or natural family : a question of transcendental anatomy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$[Repnuied from the * Zooi.ooiST for Scplcmlcr, \855.] i^^ontrMio^ i^he Philosophy of Zoology. By R. Knox, M.D., £/ ' ]B' F.R.S.E., &c. . ^ ^ / t]k^':0ielation of Species or Race to Genus or ^/X}^~-fi:-Fa^0^: a Question of Transcendental Anatomy. „ ..^ Natural ^i^i.y,,'^' ' ^ Oitflnh'nn nf Trnnscend,pntal Anatomu. INTRODUCTION. Zoology, to be esteemed a Science, must be based on philosophical principles. True, it is a science of observation and not of calcula- tion ; it has to deal with living bodies, and with the mysterious and hitherto undiscovered principle of life, whose laws are not to be ex- plained by numbers, however multiphed, nor by a geometry, however refined. Fluxions avail not here, nor the integral calculus. Never- theless, some gi'eat minds have shown that Zoology has its laws, which, despite difficulties almost innumerable, may be so inquired - into as to evolve some truths of more import to man than at first appears. The observation of nature is no doubt the first duty of every candid observer; next comes the duty of the inquirer into her laws, for the mere observance of a fact is of no value whatever, unless that fact be placed in its relations with all others. Men had observed, and no doubt observed carefully, long before the age of Aristotle, but he alone was equal to the production of the ' Historia Animalium.' He was followed, at a long interval, by Buffon and Linne; last came the immortal Cuvier. The discovery of the true signification of the fossil remains of the organic world by this illustrious and justly celebrated man, was unquestionably the most remarkable step ever made for the advancement of the human mind. The element of research he em- ployed was the descriptive anatomy of the adult or fully-developed indi- vidual of all, or at least of most, of the species of animals now occupying the globe. The minute descriptive anatomy of the species, with a view to the rigorous determination of its true nature and position in a natural- history arrangement, seemed to be the ultimatum of all his inquiries; and if he spoke of genera or natural families it was more as a naturalist, or as one by whom generic distinctions were viewed rather as expressions of philosophic arrangement than as realities based in Nature. It was whilst pursuing this inquiry into the existing and living Fauna of the present worid that the thought struck him of applying the element of research he then wielded with such dexterity$