Faith In Order, Which Is The Basis

Natural Selection Is Not The Wind Which Propels The Vessel, But The Rudder Which, By Friction, Now On This Side And Now On That, Shapes The Course.

We Have Really, That I Know Of, No Philosophical Basis For High And Low. Moreover, The Vegetable Kingdom Does Not Culminate, As The Animal Kingdom Does. It Is Not A Kingdom, But A Common-wealth; A Democracy, And Therefore Puzzling And Unaccountable From The Former Point Of View.

The Former Conviction That These Two Kingdoms Were Wholly Different In Structure, In Function, And In Kind Of Life, Was Not Seriously Disturbed By The Difficulties Which The Naturalist Encountered When He Undertook To Define Them.

It Was Always Understood That Plants And Animals, Though Completely Contrasted In Their Higher Representatives, Approached Each Other Very Closely In Their Lower And Simpler Forms. But They Were Believed Not To Blend.

In Short, The Animal And Vegetable Lines, Diverging Widely Above, Join Below In A Loop.