EVOLUTION OF LIFE. 75 



fish deposit their spawn upon the waters, and 

 different birfls lay their eggs upon the sand, 

 such is the perfection of the living power which 

 they possess, that the aptitude in the medium 

 alone, in which they are placed, is, in general, 

 adequate to answer every purpose of their 

 evolution and growth. In the higher or- 

 ders of beings, the evolution of the offspring 

 during the whole period of gestation, is to- 

 tally indigent of parental aid. The difficulty 

 and concomitant danger of parturition, progres- 

 sively increases, from the most simple to the 

 most complicated system, from brutes to the 

 human species, and more especially from savage 

 to civil life. The labor and anguish of the mo- 

 ther, until that awful and important process is 

 accomplished ; the lamentations and cries of 

 the infant when born ; the total incapacity to 

 assist itself, or to obtain its own necessary 

 wants, all prove the imperfection and indigen- 

 cy of the human frame. 



The sense of want which the organs feel, and 

 the impression from external objects, are nearly 

 alike in the infant state of savage, as of civil 

 life ; all seem to have the same desires and the 

 same pursuits, and at that early period, human 

 life is entirely of an animal nature. It is equal- 

 ly the case with savage nations in general ; 

 among them, the rules of social order are entire- 

 ly inverted; the weak falls a prey to the strong; 



