376 IDIOPHYSICS. 



parts or members, more or less numerous, which are requisite to its 

 complete structure ; endowed, like plants, with organs of growth 

 and reproduction ; but differing from plants in possessing volition, 

 or the power of voluntary action, to a greater or less extent, varying 

 with the different races. In other words, animals are characterized 

 by the attributes of life, motion, and organized form. It should be 

 observed, however, that the animal and vegetable kingdoms of nature 

 are connected by transitions so gradual, that it has been a difficult 

 point to ascertain their common boundary. The study of animals, 

 is a very extensive one, and possesses high interest ; especially to 

 the agriculturist, the sportsman, and the devout student of nature. 



To the Zoological labours of Aristotle, Pliny, Gesner, and Aldro- 

 vandi, we have already alluded, in the introduction to this department ; 

 where the writings of Belon, Lister, Willoughby, and Ray, were also 

 mentioned, as commencing a new era in Zoology, of which Linnaeus 

 was the rising sun. Linnaeus subdivided the animal kingdom into 

 six classes ; founded chiefly on the respiratory and sanguineous 

 organs; and arranged as follows: 1. Mammalia, animals which 

 have warm, red blood, and nourish their young at the breast, being 

 mostly quadrupeds ; 2. Jives, or birds, which have warm red blood, 

 but produce their young from eggs, and are hence called oviparous ; 

 3. Amphibia, or reptiles, which have cold, red blood, and voluntary 

 respiration ; 4. Pisces, or fishes, which have cold, red blood, and 

 breathe by means of gills ; 5. Insecta, or insects, which have the 

 sanies, a fluid in the place of blood, cold and colorless, and are pro- 

 vided with antennae, or horns ; and, 6. Vermes, or worms, with 

 sanies cold and colorless, and tentacula, or fleshy feelers, instead of 

 antennae. These classes, Linnaeus subdivided into orders ; those of 

 quadrupeds characterized chiefly by the teeth and feet ; those of 

 birds, by the beak and the feet ; those of fishes, by the lower fin ; 

 and those of insects, by the wings. This classification, founded on 

 real distinctions, established Zoology on a firm basis, though occa- 

 sionally imperfect, and still incomplete. 



Zoology was rendered still more popular, by the fascinating 

 writings of Buflbn, already referred to; and in England it acquired 

 a new interest, from the attractive, though still less accurate pen of 

 Goldsmith. The Theatrum Insectorum of Mouffet, in 1634, was 

 the first zoological work ever printed in England ; and the works of 

 Margrave, on Brazil, and Bontius, on India, were the first local 

 Faunas, or natural histories of particular regions. The work of 

 Ellis, on Corallines, served to correct the views of Linnaeus, by 

 proving that these productions were of animal origin. Ichthyology 

 was farther improved by Artedi and Bloch ; and Entomology, by Fa- 

 bricius and Kirby, before the era of Cuvier. The system of Lin- 

 naeus was an artificial one, not always developing the most important 

 relations of the animals which it classified. By studying the func- 

 tions of animals, and their conditions of existence, Cuvier was 

 enabled to produce a more natural system, which by the aid of La- 

 marck, in Conchology, and Latreille, in Entomology, he developed 

 in his Regne Animal; a work of the highest order of merit. 



Among the more recent zoologists, we may mention Geoffroy St. 



