4 OF ANIMALS, COMPARED 



of life is coeval with its duration ; they are even incapa- 

 ble of being bred in other regions. The more perfect 

 animals, however, lead a life of less dependence, and are 

 disseminated over various parts of the world. Man, the 

 noblest of them, appears to be least affected by the di- 

 versity of climate, or influenced by the aliments on which 

 he subsists. He is essentially the same, amidst the luxu- 

 riance of the tropical climates, and the sterility of the 

 frozen. From the polar regions to the burning sands of 

 the equator, he procures with more or less ease the means 

 of subsistence : he is neither circumscribed by zones, nor 

 confined to regions ; but exists in every clime, with little 

 material alteration in his nature or his form. 



Thus Man, the lord of this lower creation, himself un- 

 affected in any considerable degree, compels the lower 

 orders of animals to follow his wanderings, and in many 

 cases to obey his will. He in a manner changes their 

 natures by his power, and their instincts by the arts of do- 

 mestication. He reclaims the useful for his pleasure 

 or service ; and drives the savage and the noxious to the 

 most sequestered retreats. His dominion is undisputed 

 wherever he wishes to extend it ; whether over the other 

 animals of the earth, or the vegetables ; not to mention 

 the monsters of the deep, and the whole class of minerals. 

 Thus it appears that the two kingdoms of nature which 

 are most nearly allied, are more immediately subject to 

 the control of a being, not always possessed indeed of 

 superior strength, but of superior intellectual endow- 

 ment. 



To mark the precise boundary between vegetables and 

 minerals is, in a manner, unnecessary. The transition 

 from the animal to the plant, as already observed, is 

 fected by shades so imperceptible, as sometimes to escape 

 observation ; but between the plant and the mineral there 

 is a vast chasm. In the latter, not a vestige of organisa- 

 tion can ever be discovered. The fibrous structure of the 

 asbestos has been considered, indeed, by some hasty sys- 

 tem-builders, as an approach to organised matter, and ae 



