y 



/é4 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



for cleaning himfelf ; a plume of feathers on his 

 , forehead; and an inftrument anfwering the pur- 

 pofe of a trumpet to proclaim his triumphs. He 

 is an inhabitant of the Air, the Earth, and the 

 Water, where he is boi^n in form of a worm, and 

 where, before he expires, the eggs which are to 

 produce a future generation are depofited. 



With all thefe advantages, he frequently falls a 

 jf prey to infefts fmaller, and of a much inferior or- 

 ganization. The ant which creeps only, and is 

 furnilhed with no weapons except pincers, is for- 

 midable not to him only, but to animals of a 

 much larger fize, and even to quadrupeds. She 

 knows what the united force of a multitude is ca- 

 pable of effeding ; (he forms republics ; flie 

 lays up flore of provifions ; flie builds fubterra- 

 neous cities ; flie forms her attacks in regular mi- 

 litary array ; (he advances in columns, and fome- 



1 times conftrains Man himfelf, in hot countries, to 



1 furrender his habitation to her. 



So far is the intelligence of any one animal from 

 depending on the ftru6lure of it's limbs, that 

 their perfeftion is frequently, on the contrary, in 

 the inverfe ratio of it's fagacity, and appears to be 

 a kind compenfation of Nature to make up a de- 

 feft. To afcribe the intelligence of Man to his 

 hands, is to deduce the caufe from the means, and 



talent 



