74 INTRODUCTION. 



soaring high on the wing, the charm of song, and 

 their companionable qualities all attract us, indepen- 

 dently of the numerous advantages we derive from 

 them as a nutritious and delicate article <of food. 

 But when we turn our attention to Mammalia, to 

 " the beasts of the field," we find some startling us 

 by forms and actions so much resembling our own, 

 as to excite unpleasant comparisons : others, causing 

 just apprehensions, from their evident powers of 

 mischief, our astonishment by their bulk, or doubt, 

 by the questionable intention of their locomotive 

 organs ; while others, again, are companions of our 

 sports, assistants in our toils, or supply us with food 

 and clothing. 



Reluctant though we may be to admit the rela- 

 tionship, it is in this class that man must confess 

 his physical structure points out his own location : 

 furnished with capacities, indeed, which place him 

 at the head of the scale, he is only distinguished 

 from those next in succession by slight external 

 differences, and surpassed by many of the lower 

 animals in the acuteness of one or more of the 

 senses ; not sufficiently pre-eminent to be altogether 

 independent of other creatures, yet endowed with 

 the prerogative of reason, he is enabled to render 

 all subservient to his wants, and is distinguished as 

 a being intended for higher duties, and a more 

 exalted destiny. It is by the exercise of this faculty, 

 that man is enabled to comprehend his relation to 

 the various objects around him, and duly to appre- 



