OF THE FALCON. 107 



natural one. But as in that we must have some 

 model from which to start (the means of pro- 

 ceeding then being comparison, and comparison 

 not being an instrument of knowledge, unless one of 

 the subjects is known), and as the sternum of the 

 jer-falcon is the one best adapted both for exceed- 

 ingly rapid and for long-continued flight, it is about 

 the best model that we can select. From the shape 

 of this bone, as well as from the general arrangement 

 of the skeleton, we can see that, though the legs are 

 rather strong in their bones, and the muscles by which 

 they are moved are rather powerful, yet that the 

 great strength of the bird is thrown into the anterior 

 part of the body. Here it is not a little remarkable 

 that this form of the body of a bird, while it admits 

 of the best organisation for flight, is also the best 

 one for being propelled through the air, or through 

 any other fluid, be the propelling force what it 

 may. When it is desirable to have a very fast- 

 sailing ship, which shall at the same time make the 

 closest course, or the least lee-way, and therefore get 

 through the water with the least -strain from the 

 action of the wind, the shape which answers best 

 for the hull of such a ship is not unlike that of the jer- 

 falcon full at the bows, and narrowed away at the 

 stern, so as to make the least wake or turbulence in the 

 water behind her. This coincidence of the shape of 

 birds which impel themselves through the air by the 

 energy of their own muscles, with that of ships which 

 are impelled through the water by the action of the 

 wind on their sails, is not a little remarkable ; and it is 

 one of those cases which shows that there is a lesson 

 for our instruction, and an example for our imitation, 

 so far as we can imitate, in all the operations of nature. 

 Before taking leave of this branch of the subject 



