163 Analysis of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



man, but this, when it approaches the usages of the human race, is iu ge- 

 neral the mere effect of imitation or education in individuals withdrawn 

 from their kind. Possessed of hands at both extremities, capable, were 

 they directed by intelligence, of turning the soil or tlie inhabitants of the 

 forest to their use, they are inferior in sagacity to the beaver and many 

 other animals which live in society. The social instinct of the apes indeed 

 seems limited to the tendency which frugiverous animals have in general 

 to live in wandering troops, for the purposes of mutual protection." In 

 this division an interesting account is given of the great ourang-outang, the 

 Sitnia Satyrus of Linnaeus or the Pongo of Wurmb, a gigantic animal, 

 whose height, when full grown, exceeds seven feet and a half. 



The third order. Cheiroptera, including the Galeopitheci and Bats, to the 

 singular membrane extended between their fore-feet and fingers in the form 

 of wings, which enables them to fly like birds, adds two pectoral mammae, and 

 have the male organ of generation similar to the preceding order. Next 

 comes the order Ferce, part of the Carnassiers of Cuvier, divided into three 

 families, Inseciivora, Carnivora, and Amphibia. We would willingly here 

 copy some of the notes in whfch the history and habits of the most in- 

 teresting species are detailed did our limits permit. Regarding that very 

 useful and widely distributed animal, the Dog, it is stated, that ** the 

 domestication of this animal is, in Cuvier's opinion, the most complete, 

 the most singular, and the most useful conquest man has ever made. All 

 the species have become his peculiar property ; and each individual, de- 

 voted to his master alone, accommodates itself to his manners, protects his 

 goods, and remains attached to him till death. This connection arises not 

 from constraint, nor from the want of man's protection ; for the dog has 

 naturally powers of defence and attack superior to most of the quadrupeds, 

 but from a species of confidence approaching to friendship. Its strength, 

 its speed, and its smell, have made it a powerful ally in the subjugation of 

 the other animals; and itis the only animal which has followed man through 

 every quarter of the globe, and the only one whose existence and propaga- 

 tion does not seem to be determined by certain limitations of latitude." 



" The bodily strength of the lion, his carnivorous regimen, and preda- 

 ceous habits, place him at the head of the beasts of prey. Less savage than 

 the tiger and other carnivorous animals, the lion seems to derive no grati- 

 fication from the destruction of animal life beyond the immediate cravings 

 of appetite ; and hence, compared with the cruel dispositions of many of 

 the minor inhabitants of the forest, he has acquired a character of genero- 

 sity superadded to his courage, which has long made him be regarded as 

 the noblest of the feline race. Unlike the tiger, whose social attachment, 

 lasts only during the period of reproduction, and whose thirst for blood 

 ■ often leads him to destroy his own issue, the lion is permanently attached 

 to his mate ; while the maternal feeling of the lioness is strikingly display- 

 ed in the subsequent fury of this noble animal when by any accident she 

 is * bereaved of her whelps.' " 



The fifth order, Marsupialia, are those singularly constructed animals 

 in which the young are for some time protected in an abdominal pouch, 

 in which also the mamma; are placed. The Glires or gnawers form th« 

 sixth order. To this division belong the beaver, distinguished for its in 



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