The principle of unity is lost sight of, and the guiding clew is rent
asunder whenever any specific and peculiar kind of action manifests itself
amid the active forces of nature. The law of equivalents and the numerical
proportions of composition, so happily recognized by modern chemists, and
proclaimed under the ancient form of atomic symbols, still remains isolated
and independent of mathematicl laws of motion and gravitation.
Those productions of nature which are objects of direct observation may be
logically distributed in classes, orders, and families. This form of
distribution undoubtedly sheds some light on descriptive natural history,
but the study of organized bodies, considered in their linear connection,
although it may impart a greater degree of unity and simplicity to the
distribution of groups, can not rise to the height of a classification based
on one sole principle of composition and internal organization. As
different gradations are presented by the laws of nature according to the
extent of the horizon, or the limits of the phenomena to be considered, so
there are likewise differently graduated phases in the investigation of the
external world. Empiricism originates in isolated views, which are
subsequently grouped according to their analogy or dissimilarity.
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