184 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. — 
it of absolute affinity, they should be classed to- 
gether: both would then be ferocious, and would 
possess that particular structure peculiar to car- 
nivorous quadrupeds. This, therefore, is an instance 
of analogy. Let us now look to one of affinity. 
The lion and the tiger, although by no means so 
alike in their external aspect as the last, are yet 
known by every one to be closely allied. They re- 
semble each other, not only in their manners and 
external organisation ; but both possess that peculiar 
conformation of teeth, claws, and of internal struc- 
ture, suited to their carnivorous nature. Their dif- 
ference is almost confined to their external aspect; 
whereas, in the former case, the external aspect 
constitutes the only point of resemblance. While 
speaking of the tiger, we may mention another in- 
stance of analogy equally striking. Nature seems 
to delight in showing us glimpses of that beautiful 
and consistent plan upon which she has worked, by 
giving us a few instances of symbolical or analogical 
representations, so striking and unaswerable in 
themselves, that they are perceived and acknow: 
ledged by all. What, for instance, can be more 
perfect than the analogy between the Bengal tiger 
and the African zebra? both of them striped in so 
peculiar a manner as to be unlike all other quadru- 
peds, and both so perfectly wild and untameable as 
to have resisted every effort employed for their do- 
mestication. No one, however, would proceed, 
upon such grounds alone, to class them together: 
for the one has the habits of a horse, and feeds upon 
herbs; while the other, like the lion, devours flesh. 
The preponderance of characters, in short, denotes 
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