212 HOSTILITIES OF ANIMALS. 



others boldly attack him with open hostility. He is also 

 insulted and injured by the stings of insects, and by the 

 poisonous bites of serpents. 



In other respects, man's empire, though comparatively great, 

 is very much limited. He has no influence on the universe, 

 on the motions and affections of the heavenly bodies, or on 

 the revolutions of the globe which he inhabits. Neither has 

 he a general dominion over animals, vegetables or minerals. 

 His power reaches not species, but is confined to individuals. 

 Every order of beings moves on in its course, perishes, or is 

 renewed by the irresistible power of nature. Even man him- 

 self, hurried along by the general torrent of time and of na- 

 ture, cannot prolong his existence. He is obliged to submit 

 to the universal law ; and, like all other organized beings, he 

 is born, grows to maturity, and dies. Though man has been 

 enabled to subdue the animal creation, by the superior pow- 

 ers of his mind, his empire, like all other empires, could not 

 be firmly established previous to the institution of pretty 

 numerous societies. Almost the whole of his power is de- 

 rived from society. It matures his reason, gives exertion to 

 his genius, and unites his forces. Before the formation of 

 large societies, man was, perhaps, the most helpless and the 

 least formidable of all animals. Naked, and destitute of 

 arms, to him the earth was only an immense desert, peo- 

 pled by strong and rapacious monsters, by whom he was often 

 devoured. Even long after this period, history informs us, 

 that the first heroes were destroyers of wild beasts. But, 

 after the human species had multiplied, and spread over the 

 earth, and when, by means of society and the arts, man was 

 enabled to conquer a considerable part of the globe, he forced 

 the wild beasts gradually to retire to the deserts. He re- 

 duced the nun.oers of the voracious and noxious species. He 

 opposed the powers and the dexterity of one animal to those 

 of another. Some he subdued by address, and others by 

 force. In this manner, he, in process of time, acquired to 

 himself perfect security, and established an empire that has 

 no other limits than inaccessible solitudes, burning sands, 

 frozen mountains, or obscure caverns, which are occupied as 

 retreats by a few species of ferocious animals. 



Next to man, the carnivorous quadrupeds are the most nu- 

 merous and the most destructive. Different parts of the earth 

 are infested with lions, tigers, panthers, ounces, leopards, 

 jaguars, cougars, lynxes, wild-cats, dogs, jackals, wolves, 

 foxes, hyaenas, civets, genets, polecats, martins, ferrets. 



