2o8 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



the difference betwixt the Animal and Intcllcdual Life to be ; and 

 that the Vegetable has even Senfation. 



It was Senfation which the antients made the characHieriftical dif-? 

 icrence betwixt the Animal and the Vegetable : And they were 

 certainly fo far in the right, that whatever is Senfitive is an Animal. 

 But why has the Animal Senfcs, and not the Vegetable ? This leads 

 to the final Caufe of the diftindtion, which no genuine philofopher 

 will ever have out of his view ; and the general principle, from which 

 I imagine all the differences betwixt the Vegetable and Animal may 

 be deduced, is this, that the Vegetable is fixed to a certain fpot from 

 which it draws its nourifhment ; whereas the Animal is locomotive, 

 and has its nourifliment to feek, fometimes in places very diftant. 

 This makes Senfes neceflary to the Animal, which would be entire- 

 ly ufelefs to the Vegetable ; for the Animal being obliged to go a- 

 bout in fearch of his food, it requires that correfpondence with ex- 

 ternal things which the Senfes furnifh, and by which it is enabled 

 both to find out its food, and to defend itfelf from the dangers 

 which threaten a Being that goes about, much more than one that 

 is fixed to a certain place.— In fhort, it is by the information of the 

 Senfes that an Animal is enabled both to preferve the individual and 

 continue the kind. 



If the Animal has Senfes, it follows of neceflary confequence, 

 that he muft have likewife the feeling of Pleafure and Pain : For it 

 is impoflible to conceive that a creature fhould have the Senfe of 

 Touch, which may be faid to be an univerfal Senfe common to all 

 Animals,, or of Tafte, withcut feeling Pleafure or Pain ; nor in- 

 deed would thefe Senfes anfwer the purpofe for which they are given, 

 if they did not inform the Animal, in that way, of what was ufe- 

 ful £>r not ufeful. 



Further, 



