200 



A HISTORY OF 



of a dry long catalogue, the multiplicity of 

 whose contents is too great for even the strong- 

 est memory, such works rather tell us the 

 names than the history of the creature we 

 desire to inquire after. In these dreary pa- 

 ges, every insect or plant, that has a name, 

 makes as distinguished a figure as the most 

 wonderful, or the most useful. The true end 

 of studying nature is to make a just selection, 

 to find those parts of it that most conduce to 

 our pleasure or convenience, and to leave 

 the rest in neglect. But these systems, em- 

 ploying the same degree of attention upon all, 

 give us no opportunities of knowing which 

 most deserves attention ; and he who has 

 made his knowledge from such systems only, 

 has his memory crowded with a number of 

 trifling, or minute particulars, which it should 

 he his business and his labour to forget. 

 These books, as was said before, are useful 

 to be consulted, but they are very unneces- 

 sary to be read; no inquirer into nature should 

 be without one of them; and, without any 

 doubt, Linnceus deserves the preference. 



One fault more, in almost all these syste- 

 matic writers, and that which leads me to the 

 subject of the present chapter, is, that seeing 

 the necessity of methodical distribution in 

 some parts of nature, they have introduced 

 it into all. Finding the utility of arranging 

 plants, birds, or insects, they have arranged 

 quadrupeds also with the same assiduity ; 

 and although the number of these is so few as 

 not to exceed two hundred," they have dark- 

 ened the subject with distinctions and divi- 

 sions, which only serve to puzzle and perplex. 

 All method is only useful in giving perspicui- 

 ty, where the subject is either dark or copious : 

 but with regard to quadrupeds, the number 

 isbutfew; many of themweare well acquaint- 

 ed with by habit ; and the rest may very rea- 

 dily be known, without any method. In treat- 

 ing of such, therefore, it would be useless to 

 confound the reader with a multiplicity of 

 divisions: as quadrupeds are conspicuous 

 enough to obtain the second rank in nature, 

 it becomes us to be acquainted with, at least, 

 the names of them all. However, as there 



a In Dr. Shaw's General Zoology, the number of quad- 

 rupeds, not including the cetaceous and seal tribes, amount 

 to five hundred and twelve, besides their varieties. 



are naturalists who have gained a name from 

 the excellence of their methods in classing 

 these animals, some readers may desire to 

 have a knowledge of what has been laborious- 

 ly invented for their instruction. I will just 

 take leave, therefore, to mention the most ap- 

 plauded methods of classing animals, as adopt- 

 ed by Ray, Klein, and Linnaeus ; for it often 

 happens, that the terms which have been long 

 used in a science, though frivolous, become, 

 by prescription, a part of the science itself. 



Ray, after Aristotle, divides all animals 

 into two kinds ; those which have blood, and 

 those which are bloodless. In the last class, 

 he places all the insect tribes. The former 

 he divides into such as breathe through the 

 lungs, and such as breathe through gills : 

 these last comprehend the fishes. In those 

 which breathe through the lungs, some have 

 the heart composed of two ventricles, and 

 some have it of one. Of the last are all ani- 

 malsof the cetaceous kind,all oviparous quad- 

 rupeds, and serpents. Of those that have two 

 ventricles, some are oviparous, which are the 

 birds ; and some viviparous, which are quad- 

 rupeds. The quadrupeds he divides into such 

 as have a hoof, and such as are claw-footed. 

 Those witli the hoof, he divides into such as 

 have it undivided, such as have it cloven, and 

 such as have the hoof divided into more parts, 

 as the rhinoceros, and hippopotamus. Ani- 

 mals with the cloven hoof, he divides into such 

 as chew the cud, as the cow, and the sheep; 

 and such as are not ruminant, as the hog. 

 He divides those animals that chew the cud, 

 into four kinds : the first have hollow horns, 

 which they never shed, as the cow ; the se- 

 cond is of a less species, and is of the sheep 

 kind; the third is of the goat kind; and the 

 last, which have solid horns, and shed them 

 annually, are of the deer kind. Coming to 

 the claw-footed animals, he finds some with 

 large claws, resembling the fingers of the hu- 

 man hand ; and these he makes the ape kind. 

 Of the others, some have the foot divided in 

 two, and have a claw to each division ; these 

 are the camel kind. The elephant makes a 

 kind by itself, as its claws are covered over 

 by a skin. The rest of the numerous tribe of 

 claw-footed animals he .livides into two kinds; 

 the analogous,or such as resemble each other; 

 and the anomalous, which differ from the rest. 



