4 DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN ANIMALS 



beneficial to them, and flourishing according 

 to their success in satisfying their wants, 

 may not the exercise of their vital functions 

 be attended with some degree of sensation, 

 however low, and some consequent share of 

 happiness? Such a supposition accords with 

 all the best ideas we can form of the Divine 

 Creator; nor could the consequent uneasiness 

 which plants must Buffer, no doubt in a very 

 low degree likewise, from the depredations 

 of animals, bear any comparison with their 

 enjoyment on the whole. However this may 

 be, the want of sensation is most certainly 

 not to be proved with regard to Vegetables, 

 and therefore of no use as a practical means 

 of distinguishing them, in doubtful cases, 

 from Animals. 



Some philosophers* have made a loco- 

 motive power peculiarly characteristic of Ani- 

 mals, not being aware of the true nature of 

 those hali-animated beings called Corals and 

 Corallines, which are fixed, as immoveably 

 as any plants, to the bottom of the sea, while 

 indeed many living vegetables swim around 



* JungiuSj Boerhaave, Ludwig and many others 



