VARIETY OF ANIMAL FUNCTIONS, 



mind of the Creator are ascertained from the 

 objects he has created, the events he has pro 

 duced, and the operations he is incessantly con 

 ducting. The formation of a single object is an 

 exhibition of the idea existing in the Creating 

 Mind, of which it is a copy. The formation of 

 a second or a third object exactly resembling the 

 first, would barely exhibit the same ideas a 

 second or a third time, without disclosing any 

 thing new concerning the Creator ; and, conse 

 quently, our com eptions of his intelligence would 

 not be enlarged, even although thousands and 

 millions of such objects were presented to our 

 view, just as a hundred clocks and watches, 

 exactly of the same kind, constructed by the 

 same artist, give us no higher idea of his skill 

 and ingenuity than the construction of one. But, 

 every variety in objects and arrangements ex 

 hibits a new discovery of the plans, contrivances 

 and intelligence of the Creator. 



Now, in the universe we find all things con 

 structed and arranged on the plan of boundless 

 and universal variety. In the animal kingdom 

 there have been actually ascertained, as already 

 noticed, about sixty thousand different species of 

 living creatures. There are about 600 species 

 of mammalia, or animals that suckle their young, 

 most of which are quadrupeds 4000 species of 

 birds, 3000 species of fishes, 700 species of rep- 

 tiles, and 44,000 species of insects.* Besides 

 these, there are about 3000 species of shell-Jish, 

 and perhaps not less than eighty or a hundred 

 thousand species of animalcules invisible to the 

 naked eye ; and new species are daily discover 

 ing, in consequence of the zeal and industry of 

 the lovers of natural history. As the system of 

 animated nature has never yet been thoroughly 

 explored, we might safely reckon the number of 

 species of animals of all kinds, as amounting to 

 at least three hundred thousand. We are next 

 to consider, that the organical structure of each 

 species consists of an immense multitude of 

 parts, and that all the species are infinitely diver 

 sified differing from each other in their forms, 

 organs, members, faculties and motions. They 

 are of all shapes and sizes, from the microscopic 

 animalculum, ten thousand times less than a 

 mite, to the elephant and the whale. They are 

 diif^rent in respect of the construction of their 

 sensitive organs. In regard to the eye, some 

 have this organ placed in the front, so as to look 

 directly forward, as in man ; others have it so 

 placed, as to take in nearly a whole hemisphere, 

 as in birds, hares and conies ; some have it 

 fixed, and others, moveable ; some have two 

 globes or balls, as quadrupeds ; some have four, 

 as snails, which are fixed in their horns ; some 

 have eight, set like a locket of diamonds, as 

 spiders ; some have several hundreds, as flies 



Specimens of all these species are to be seen in 

 the magnificent collections in the Museum of Na 

 tural History at Paris. 



and beetles, and others above twenty thousand, 

 as the dragon-fly and several sptcies of butter 

 flies. In regard to the ear, some have it large, 

 erect and open, as in the hare, to hear the least 

 approach of danger ; in some it is covered to 

 keep out noxious bodies ; and, in others, as in 

 the mole, it is lodged deep and backward in the 

 head, and fenced and guarded from external in 

 juries. With regard to their dothins, some 

 have their bodies covered with hair, as quadru 

 peds ; some with feathers, as birds ; some with 

 scales, as fishes ; some with shells, as the tor 

 toise ; some only with skin ; some with stout and 

 firm armour, as the rhinoceros ; and others with 

 prickles, as the hedgehog and porcupine all 

 nicely accommodated to the nature of the animal, 

 and the element in which it lives. These cover 

 ings, too, are adorned with diversified beauti*&amp;gt;~ , 

 as appears in the plumage of birds, the feathers 

 of the peacock, the scales of the finny tribes, the 

 hair of quadrupeds, and the variegated polish 

 and colouring of the tropical shell-fish beauties 

 which, in point of symmetry, polish, texture, 

 variety, and exquisite colouring, mock every at 

 tempt of human art to copy or to imitate. 



In regard to respiration some breathe through 

 the mouth by means of lungs, as men and quad 

 rupeds ; some by means of gills, as fishes; and 

 some by organs placed in other parts of their 

 bodies, as insects. In regard to the circulation 

 of the blood, some have but one ventricle in the 

 heart, some two, and others three. In some 

 animals, the heart throws its blood to the re 

 motest parts of the system ; in some it throws 

 it only into the respiratory organs ; in others, 

 the blood from the respiratory organs is carried 

 by the veins to another heart, and this second 

 heart distributes the blood, by the channel of its 

 arteries, to the several parts. In many insects, 

 a number of hearts are placed at intervals on the 

 circulating course, and each renews the impulse 

 of the former, where the momentum of the 

 blood fails. In regnrd to the movements of their 

 bodies, some are endowed with swift motions, 

 and others with slow ; some walk on two legs, 

 as fowls ; some on four, as dogs ; some on eight, 

 as caterpillars ; some on a hundred, as scolo- 

 pendrse or millepedes ; some on fifteen hundred 

 and twenty feet, as one species of sea-star ; and 

 some on two thousand feet, as a certain species 

 of echinus.* Some glide along with a sinuous 

 motion on scales, as snakes and serpents ; some 

 skim through the air, one species on two wings, 

 another on four ; and some convey themselves 

 with speed and safety by the help of their webs, 

 as spiders ; while others glide with agility through 

 the waters by means of their tails and fins. 

 But it would require volumes to enumerate and 



* See Lyonet s notes to Lessor s Insecto-Theo- 

 log-y, who also mentions that these Echini have 

 V 1300 horns, similar to those of snails, which they can 

 put out and draw in at pleasure. 



