ndividuals conserves the species and
propagates it in continuing successively to reproduce similar
individuals.

"Formerly it was supposed that each species was immutable, as old as
nature, and that she had caused its special creation by the Supreme
Author of all which exists.

"But we can impose on him laws in the execution of his will, and
determine the mode which he has been pleased to follow in this
respect, so it is only in this way that he permits us to recognize
it by the aid of observation. Has not his infinite power created an
order of things which successively gives existence to all that we
see as well as to all that which exists and which we do not know?

"Assuredly, whatever has been his will, the omnipotence of his power
is always the same; and in whatever way this supreme will has been
manifested, nothing can diminish its greatness. As regards, then,
the decrees of this infinite wisdom, I confine myself to the limits
of a simple observer of nature. Then, if I discover anything in the
course that nature follows in her creations, I shall say, without
fear of deceiving myself, that it has pleased its author that she
possesses this power.

"The idea that was held as to species among living bodies was quite
simple, easy to grasp, and seemed confirmed by the constancy in the
similar form of the individuals which reproduction or generation
perpetuated. There still occur among us a very great number of these
pretended species which we see every day.

"However, the farther we advance in the knowledge of the different
organized bodies with which almost every part of the surface of the
globe is covered, the more does our embarrassment increase in
determining what should be regarded as species, and the greater is
the reason for limiting and distinguishing the genera.

"As we gradually gather the productions of nature, as our
collections gradually grow richer, we see almost all the gaps filled
up, and our lines of demarcation effaced. We find ourselves
compelled to make an arbitrary determination, which sometimes leads
us to seize upon the slightest differences between varieties to form
of them the character of that which we call species, and sometimes
one person designates as a variety of such a species individuals a
little different, which others regard as constituting a particular
species.

"I repeat, the richer our collections be