A lecture on the advantages of the study of natural history ... : delivered at the city of Westminster Literary & Mechanics Institution, February, 1851 / by Edwards Crisp.

  • Crisp, Edwards, 1806-1882.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the advantages of the study of natural history ... : delivered at the city of Westminster Literary & Mechanics Institution, February, 1851 / by Edwards Crisp. 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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    CHAIN OF ORGANIZATION. ills: the first order comprises the sturgeons ; the second the sharks, skates, saw-fish, lampreys, &c. The Mollusca, the second division of the animal kingdom, is distributed into six classes—1. Cephalopoda, of which the cuttle-fish is an example; 2. Pteropoda, with fins only as the clio ; 3. Gasteropoda, including the slug, snail, and numerous shell-fish; 4. the Acephala, without heads, comprising the oysters, mussels, and cockles; 5. Brachiopoda; these have two fleshy arms in place of feet—Lingula; 6. Cirropoda, the bristle-footed, as the barnacle. The Articulata, the third division of the animal kingdom, is com- posed of four classes—1. The Annelida, red-blooded animals, most of them aquatic, and tubular; worms, leeches, and worm-shells, belong to this class. 2. Crustacea, crustaceous animals, breathing through the skin, and divided into the crustaceous shelled, and thin shelled; as lobsters, shrimps, crabs, crawfish, &c. 3. Arachnida, the spider tribe, have air-holes for respiration on the under side of the abdomen; to this class belong also the scorpions and mites. 4. Insecta, insects ; these, like the last, breathe through spiracles—they have two antennse or feelers, and only one large vessel, or heart, which extends along the abdomen. They consist of twelve orders—1. Myriapoda, centipedes; 2. Thysanoura, spring-tails; 3. Parasita, lice; 4. Suctoria, fleas; 5. Coleoptera, beetles; 6. Orthoptera, cockroaches, crickets, and ear- wigs ; 7. Hemiptera, bugs and woodlice; 8. Neuroptera, dragon-flies and ant-lion; 9. Hymenoptera, bees and ants; 10. Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies ; 11. JRhipiptera, stylops ; 12. Diptera, flies. The Radiata form the fourth division of the animal kingdom, and is the lowest in the scale of organization; this order is composed of five classes—1. Echynodermata, hard, and spiny skinned, as the star-fish ; 2. Entozoa, intestinal worms; 3. Acalepha, sea-nettles; 4. Polypi, plant-like animals, coral and sea anemone; 5. Infusoria, water animalcules. My object has been to give a mere outline of the classification, and I have purposely avoided the minor divisions; the species, genera, sub-genera, and varieties. Nor have I time to touch upon the extinct animals, those remnants of a former age, that inhabited the earth before the existence of man. According to M. Charles Bonaparte,'* the num- ber of vertebrate animals observed by naturalists up to the present time (including the fossils), amounts to 18,370. They are as follow: Mammifera, living, 1,700—fossil, 520. Birds, 7,000. Reptiles, living, 1,000—fossil, 200. Batrachians, living, 200—fossil, 50. Fishes, living, 6,500—fossil, 1,200. If we examine this chain of organization from the mammal to the mite, what harmony of design, what beauty of contrivance, what adap- tation of parts to ends, are unfolded to us. As we descend in the scale of animal creation, we find some of the radiata bearing a near resem- blance to the vegetable kingdom; some of them like the plants are multiplied by division, and the sense of touch is probably the only one that they possess. Man, the lord of the creation, owes his chief supe- riority to the formation of the brain and hand; the one directs, the other executes. Compare these skulls of the lion, the ox, and the pig, with * Bulletin Med. et Pharm. de Montpellier. February 12, 1851.