113 



CHAPTER V. 



FUNCTIONS OF ANIMALS AS ADAPTED TO THEIR 

 MODES OF LIFE. 



Smell, Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch and 

 Loco-motion. 



IN the preceding chapter I endeavoured to dis- 

 play some of the admirable adaptations of the 

 structure of organs in the various classes of ani- 

 mals, to the functions they are destined to per- 

 form : the possession of which is less distinctive 

 of the animal kingdom, than those of which I 

 have now to speak ; since vegetables, as well as 

 animals, imbibe and digest their aliment, move 

 their fluids, and bring these in turn into conti- 

 guity with the air by which they are purified : 

 they do not, however, display equally evident 

 marks of sensation and voluntary motion ; and 

 these are accordingly generally set down as the 

 characteristic functions of animals. It would not 

 perhaps be difficult to shew that this distinction 

 is less decided than is commonly imagined that 

 many vegetables do, in fact, both feel and move 

 in the same manner as animals but whether 

 they do or do not, it will still be admitted that 



