TRANSFORMATION OF ANIMALS. 155 



he generally remains till he reaches his fiftieth year. Then 

 a new, but a gradual change begins to appear. From the 

 fiftieth year to the age of seventy or eighty, the powers of 

 the body decline in their strength and activity. The muscles 

 lose their spring and their force. The vigor of manhood is no 

 longer felt, and the withered decrepitude of old age is suc- 

 ceeded by death, its unavoidable consequence. 



The mind of man undergoes changes as well as his body. 

 The taste, the appetites, and the dispositions are in perpetual 

 fluctuation. How different is the taste of a child from that 

 of a man ! Fond of gewgaws and of trifling amusements, 

 children frolic away their time without much thought or 

 reflection. When advancing towards youth, their disposi- 

 tions and desires suffer a gradual mutation. The faculties are 

 unfolded, and a sense of propriety begins to be perceived. 

 They despise their former occupations and amusements ; and 

 different species of objects solicit and obtain their attention. 

 Their powers of reflection are now considerably augmented ; 

 arid both sexes acquire a modesty and a shyness .with regard 

 to each other. This awkward, but natural bashfulness, by 

 the intercourse of society, soon vanishes. From this period 

 to the age of twenty-five or thirty, men's minds assume a bold, 

 enterprising, and active tone. They engage in the business 

 of life, look forward to futurity, and have a desire of marry- 

 ing and'of establishing families. All the social appetites are 

 in vigor ; solid and manly friendships are formed ; and man 

 goes on for some time to enjoy every kind of happiness which 

 his nature is capable of affording. At fifty or sixty, the 

 mental powers, in general, like those of the body, begin to 

 decline, till feeble and tremulous old age arrives, and death 

 closes the mutable scene of human life. 



With regard to quadrupeds, both before and after birth, 

 they undergo similar, and many of them greater, changes of 

 form than those of the human species. Their mental powers, 

 likewise their dispositions and manners, as well as the objects 

 of their attention, vary according to the different stages of 

 their existence. Many of them come into the world blind, 

 and continue for some time before they receive the sense 

 of seeing. How many changes are exhibited in the dog 

 from the birth till he becomes a perfect animal, till all his 

 nembers are completely formed, and all his instincts are un- 

 folded and improved by experience and education ! The 

 'deer kind acquire not their magnificent and beautiful horns 

 before the age of puberty ; and even these are annually cast 



