MAMMALIA. 35 



nute objects, constituting what is properly called a hand; a faculty which 

 is carried to its highest perfection in man, in whom the whole anterior ex- 

 tremity is free and capable of prehension. 



These various combinations, which strictly determine the nature of the 

 different Mammalia, have given rise to the following orders : — 



Among the unguiculated animals, the first is Man, who, in addition to 

 privileges of other descriptions, possesses hands at the anterior extremi- 

 ties only, the posterior being designed to support him in an erect position. 



In the order next to man, that of the quadrumana, we find hands at 

 the four extremities. 



In another order, that of the carnaria, the thumb is not free, and 

 cannot be opposed to the anterior extremities. 



Each of these orders has the three sorts of teeth, grinders, canini, and 

 incisors or cutting teeth. 



In a fourth order, that of the rodentia, the toes differ but little from 

 those of the Carnaria, but there are no canine teeth, and the incisors are 

 placed in front of the mouth, and adapted to a very peculiar sort of man- 

 ducation. 



Then come those animals whose toes are much cramped, and deeply 

 sunk in large nails, which are generally curved ; they have no incisors, 

 and in some the canines disappear, while others have none of any descrip- 

 tion. We comprise them all under the title of the Edentata. 



This distribution of the unguiculated animals would be perfect, and 

 form a very regular series, were it not that New Holland has lately fur- 

 nished us with a little collateral one, consisting of animals with pouches, 

 the different genera of which are connected by a general similarity of or- 

 ganization; some of them, however, in the teeth and nature of their diet 

 corresponding to the Carnaria, others to the Rodentia, and a third to the 

 Edentata. 



The hoofed animals are less numerous, and have likewise fewer irregu- 

 larities. 



The RtJMiNANTiA, by their cloven foot, the absence of true incisors in 

 their upper jaw, and their four stomachs, form an order that is very 

 distinct. 



The remaining hoofed animals may all be united in a single order, 

 which I shall call pachydermata or jumenta, the elephant excepted, 

 which might constitute a separate one, and which is remotely connected 

 with that of the Rodentia. 



In the last place, we find those of the Mammalia which have no poste- 

 rior extremities, whose piscatory form and aquatic mode of life would in- 

 duce us to form them into a particular class, were it not that in every 

 thing else their economy is similar to that in which we leave them. 



