34© STUDIES OF NATURE. 



the fifth, one hundred and ninety. In thefe enu 

 merations he comprehends only the plants which 

 thofe animals eat with avidity, and thofe which 

 they obfbinately reject. The others are indifferent 

 to them. They eat them when neceflity requires, 

 and even with pleafure, w T hen they are tender. Not 

 one of them goes to wafte. Thofe which are re- 

 jected by fome, are a high délice to others. The 

 moft acrid, and even the mod venemous, ierve to 

 fatten one or another. The goat browfes on the 

 ranunculus of the meadow, though hot as pepper, 

 on the tithymal and the hemlock. The hog de- 

 vours the horfe tail and henbane. He did not put 

 the afs to this kind of proof, for that animal does 

 not live in Sweden, nor the rein-deer, which fup- 

 plies the want of him to fo much advantage in 

 northern regions, nor the other domeftic animals, 

 fuch as the duck, the goofe, the hen, the pigeon, 

 the cat, and the dog. 



All thefe animals united, feem deftined to con- 

 vert to our advantage every thing that vegetates, 

 by means of their univerfal appetites, and efpecially 

 by that inexplicable inftinct of domefticity which 

 attaches them to Man ; whereas no art can com- 

 municate it either to that timid animal the deer, 

 nor even to fome of the fmaller birds, which feek 

 to live under our protection, fuch as the fwallow, 

 who builds her neft in our houfes. Nature has 



bellowed 



