DIGESTIVE ORGANS OF MAN. 225 



range of alimentary substances, than the diges- 

 tive organs of almost any other animal. This 

 adaptation to a greater variety of food may also 

 be inferred from the form and disposition of 

 the teeth, which combine those of different kinds 

 more completely than in most Mammalia ; ex- 

 cepting, perhaps, the Quadrumana, in which, 

 however, the teeth do not form, as in man, an 

 uninterrupted series in both jaws. In addition 

 to these peculiarities, we may also here observe 

 that the sense of taste, in the human species, 

 appears to be affected by a greater variety of 

 objects than in the other races of animals. All 

 these are concurring indications that nature, in 

 thus rendering man omnivorous, intended to qua- 

 lify him for maintaining life wherever he could 

 procure the materials of subsistence, whatever 

 might be their nature ; whether animal or vege- 

 table, or a mixture of both, and in whatever soil 

 or climate they may be produced ; and for endow- 

 ing him with the power of spreading his race, 

 and extending his dominion over every acces- 

 sible region of the globe. Thus, then, from the 

 consideration of the peculiar structure of the 

 vital, as well as the mechanical organs of the 

 human frame, may be derived additional proofs 

 of their being constructed with reference to fa- 

 culties of a higher and more extensive range than 

 those of any, even the most favoured species of 

 the brute creation. 



VOL. II. Q 



