T H I O N E M A A F F E C T I O N S OF ANIMALS. 



43 



order, and first class, which contains all such as are 

 celluliferous, and whose polypi are found in shelly or 

 non-irritable cells. This genus appears to unite the 

 first order with the second, having a rampant stem 

 from which the cells issue ; but it nevertheless differs 

 essentially in the form of its undulated stem, which is 

 branched and knotted at stated distances, and also in 

 the form of its cells ; it is therefore more properly an 

 intermediate species. The cells are solitary, opaque, 

 tubular, in the form of clubs, and arched, opening at 

 the side. At present, only one species of this genus 

 is known; and it is very common on marine plants 

 in the European seas. They embellish these vegeta- 

 bles by the pearly whiteness of their cells, which 

 forms a beautiful contrast with the brilliant red hue 

 of the plocamis, on which the ae'tea anguina is fre- 

 quently found ; they appear like muny clefted leaves 

 of red coral, delicately clothed on all parts with fine 

 hairs of a silvery white lustre. They are found both 

 in the European and Australian seas. 



^ETHIONEMA (R. Brown). A genus consisting 

 of four species of European annual herbs. Linnaean 

 class and order, Tetradynantia. Natural order, Crucife- 

 >&. Generic character : calyx, petals unequal ; filaments 

 longer than the stamens, often united ; silicule hollowed, 

 formed of two keel-like values, two-celled, containing 

 one or two seeds. 



^ETHUSA. A genus of plants belonging to the 

 umbelliferous family, and containing a few species ; 

 one of which, the TEthmn Ci/napium, common fool's 

 parsley, lesser hemlock, or dog-poison, is a native of 

 Great Britain. 



The name JSthusa is derived from the Greek word 

 aif/io, to burn, on account of the acrid properties of the 

 plant. The JEthusa Cynnpium is common in fields and in 

 gardens. It has a nauseous smell, and possesses dele- 

 terious properties. From being gathered in place of 

 garden parsley, or along with it, it has given rise to 

 serious consequences. It can, however, be easily dis- 

 tinguished, when in flower, from parsley and all um- 

 belliferous plants, by its involucrum, which is formed 

 by three long drooping leaves, all on one side. When 

 not in flower, the darjt glistening appearance of the 

 under surface of the leaves, and the nauseous smell 

 they exhale, are sufficient to distinguish it from 

 parsley. The plant is said to contain a peculiar 

 alkali, called cynopia. 



In animals this plant causes convulsions, stupor. 

 and de"ath, in a short time. In man, the symptoms' 

 produced in the fatal cases have been sickness, vomit- 

 ing, headach, giddiness, a tendency to sleep, a sensa- 

 tion of heat in the stomach and throat, with difficulty 

 of breathing and numbness of the limbs. 



AFFECTIONS OF ANIMALS. Natural his- 

 tory affords few subjects more interesting than the 

 one we are now about to examine. No one can 

 attend much to animals without seeing in them 

 instances of affections, which, as far as they go, would 

 do honour to the human race. The dog, the ele- 

 phant, the horse, all animals that have been domes- 

 ticated, afford innumerable instances of affection 

 equally strong arid enduring-, and far more apparently 

 free from selfishness than that which is shown by the 

 most devoted of mankind ; and there is not the least 

 doubt that, if the method of doing it were known, 

 and there were sufficient inducements to the practice 

 of it, all animals could be tamed, and made to render 

 to man the same complete and ready obedience as 

 is rendered by the spaniel. Instances might very 



easily be brought from the whole of the animated 

 creation. The common seal has sometimes been 

 made a very attached and sportive companion, and 

 taught to keep watch like a dog in the absence of its 

 masters ; reptiles and fishes have come to the whistle 

 of their trainers, not merely to be fed, but to be fondled, 

 and every schoolboy has heard of the captive and 

 his companion spider. Similar affections have been 

 observed between animal and animal, not only in 

 those of the same species, but where, in general, 

 and in accordance with the common habit, the one 

 species regularly destroys, or makes prey of, the 

 other. The cat and the mouse, the hawk and the 

 sparrow, and other animals that have what is usu- 

 ally called the same natural antipathy, have lived 

 together in the same cage, with the most peiTret, 

 harmony. The attachments which animals in the 

 wild state show for each other are every way as 

 striking, more so, perhaps, because they take place 

 without the application of human instruction. The 

 affection of all animals, the females especially, f< r 

 their young, when it is] the habit of the species that 

 the young shall be for some time dependent on the 

 mother for food or for protection ; the affection for 

 each other of the sexes, in such as remain together .for 

 life, and which are just as striking all the year round 

 as during the breeding-time ; the affections of grega- 

 rious animals for their own herd, and those of the 

 analogous gregarious tribes for each other," are all 

 very remarkable ; and they may all perhaps be re- 

 garded as more pure and free from selfish considera- 

 tions than the associations that are formed by the 

 human race. The male eagle does not show his 

 affection for the female, through summer sun and 

 winter storm, because of the portion which she brought 

 him at the time of their union ; neither are her affec- 

 tions in any way bought or captivated by the certainty 

 of a living or the pomp of an establishment. 



The principles of those animal affections for each 

 other, for different species, for certain places rather 

 than others, though both in our judgment appear 

 equally fitted for them, for mankind generally, or 

 for apparently selected individuals of the human race, 

 are all obscure and unknown to us farther than as we 

 can infer them from the facts ; and it is to be feared that 

 we, in most instances, draw those inferences, as if we 

 had been observing men and not the other animals. 



There are some curious distinctions bet ween the males 

 of monogamous and polygamous animals, to which we 

 can find fancied resemblances in the conduct of man- 

 kind. Animals, which associate in pairs only, seldom, 

 if ever, fight battles of gallantry. Like good husbands 

 and housewives they take care of the interests of their 

 own family, and often keep intruders from that part of 

 the country which they select as their abode ; but 

 they do not intermeddle with the domestic concerns 

 of each other, or fight for mere gallantry : indeed they 

 seldom fight at all. The lion and the eagle are pro- 

 fessional butchers, but they are, in no sense of the 

 word, soldiers of honour ; they exert their great 

 powers solely to kill, and kill solely to eat the slain. 

 If, on the other hand, the males are polygamous, they 

 are almost invariably pugnacious, some of them at all 

 seasons, and all of them in the breeding season. Bulls, 

 rams, cocks, grouse, and indeed all polygamous animals 

 with which we are acquainted, are valorous in the 

 season of excitement, even though, at other times, they 

 seem the veriest cravens in the world. There is a 

 trace, and a pretty obvious trace, of the same conduct 

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