ELEMENTS 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



OF ANIMALS IN GENERAL, COMPARED WITH 

 VEGETABLES AND MINERALS. 



LINNJBUS, with his usual conciseness, though not per- 

 haps with his usual happy precision, characterises and di- 

 vides the three kingdoms of nature* in the following man- 

 ner: " Stones grow; vegetables grow and live; animals 

 grow, live, and feel." This definition is, indeed, well 

 adapted to exhibit the intended idea'in a popular way ; 

 but it may be questioned whether it be philosophically 

 just. To grow, live, and feel, are only the passive pro- 

 perties of animals ; they possess, in general, active powers 

 of motion, instinct, and a kind of intellectual energy, 

 which exalt them many degrees above vegetables, and in- 

 finitely above minerals ; while the different proportions of 

 docility or sagacity with which they are endowed, emi- 

 nently distinguish their different tribes from each other, 

 as well as from inanimate matter. 



Animals, therefore, of all the objects which the terra* 

 queous globe presents to our notice, are most worthy of 

 our regard. Compared with vegetables, which are fixed 

 to one spot, and incapable of seeking nutriment ; if torn 

 from their parent soil, they must be allowed to rank high 

 in the scale of created matter. The greater part of them 

 are not only endowed with organs of sensation, and the 

 faculty of spontaneous locomotion, but are also capable of 

 correcting any disadvantages of situation into which they 

 may be thrown, of seeking their food, and of defending 

 themselves from danger; even those humble classes which 



* The animal, the rege table, and the mineral. 

 B 



