230 A COMPARISON OF ANIMALS. 



claim divided dominion, that the whole forest swarms with 

 noxious animals and vegetables ; animals as yet unde- 

 scribed, and vegetables which want a name. In those re- 

 cesses, nature seems rather lavish than magnificent in be 

 stowing life. The trees are usually of the largest kinds, 

 covered round with parasite plants, and interwoven at the 

 tops with each other. The boughs, both above and below, 

 are peopled with various generations ; some of which have 

 never been upon the ground, and others have never stirred 

 from the branches on which they were produced. In this 

 manner, millions of minute and loathsome creatures pur- 

 sue a round of uninterrupted existence, and enjoy a life 

 scarcely superior to vegetation. At the same time, the 

 vegetables in those places are of the larger kinds, while 

 the animal race is of the smaller. But man has altered 

 this disposition of nature ; having, in a great measure, 

 levelled the extensive forests, cultivated the softer and 

 finer vegetables, destroyed the numberless tribes of minute 

 and noxious animals, and taken every method to increase 

 a numerous breed of the larger kinds.- He thus has exer- 

 cised a severe control ; unpeopled nature, to embellish it ; 

 and diminished the size of the vegetable, in order to im- 

 prove that of the animal kingdom. 



To subdue the earth to his own use, was, and ought to 

 be, the aim of man ; which was only to be done by in- 

 creasing the number of plants, and diminishing that of an- 

 imals ; to multiply existence, alone was that of the Deity. 

 For this reason, we find, in a state of nature, that animal 

 life is increased to the greatest quantity possible ; and we 

 can scarcely form a system that could add to its numbers. 

 First, plants or trees are provided by nature, of the largest 

 kinds ; and, consequently, the nourishing surface is thus 

 extended. In the second place, there are animals pe- 

 culiar to every part of the vegetable, so that no part of it 

 is lost. But the greatest possible increase of life would 

 still be deficient, were there not other animals that lived 



