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is in the Swine. His natural food being chiefly the 

 roots of plants, he is provided with a long and strong 

 snout ; long, that he may thrust it to a convenient 

 depth in the ground, without offence to his eyes ; 

 strong and conveniently formed, for rooting and 

 turning up the ground. And besides, he has an ex- 

 tremely quick scent, for finding out such roots as arc 

 fit for him. Hence in Italy, the usual way of finding 

 truffles, or subterraneous mushrooms, is by tying a 

 cord to the hind.leg of a pig, and driving him before 

 them into their pastures. They then observe where 

 he stops and begins to root : and digging there they 

 are sure to find a truffle. So in pastures where 

 there are earth-nuts, though the roots are deep in 

 the ground, and the leaves are quite gone, the swine 

 will find them by their scent, and root only in the 

 places where they grow. 



Another instance of like nature we have in the 

 porpus (anciently written porc-pesce, that is, Swine- 

 fish) which resembles the hog, both in the strength of 

 his snout and in the manner of getting his food. 

 For the stomach of one of these when dissected, was 

 found full of sand-eels, which lie deep in the sand, 

 and cannot be gotten, but by rooting and digging 

 there. 



That very action, for which we look upon swine 

 as unclean creatures, namely 9 wallowing in the mire, 

 is designed by nature for a good end ; not only to 

 cool their bodies (which fair water would do as wellj 

 but also to suffocate and destroy fleas, lice, aud other 

 insects, which are troublesome and hurtful to them. 

 For the same reason, poultry and divers other 

 birds bask themselves in the dust, in hot summer wea- 

 ther. 



The variety of shape and colour observable in 

 beasts, prevents any two from being exactly alike, 

 as much as the human features distinguish mankind 

 one from another. Wherefore then was this variety 

 bestowed upon brutes ? Are they at all sensible of 



