166 HISTORY OF 



But not their appetites, or their figure alone, 

 but their very dispositions, and their natural saga- 

 city, are altered by the vicinity of man. In those 

 countries where men have seldom intruded, some 

 animals have been found established in a kind of 

 civil state of society. Remote from the tyranny 

 of man, they seem to have a spirit of mutual bene- 

 volence and mutual friendship. The beavers, in 

 these distant solitudes, are known to build like 

 architects, and rule like citizens. The habita- 

 tions that these have been seen to erect, exceed 

 the houses of the human inhabitants of the same 

 country, both in neatness and convenience. But 

 as soon as man intrudes upon their society, they 

 seem impressed with the terrors of their inferior 

 situation, their spirit of society ceases, the bond 

 is dissolved, and every animal looks for safety in 

 solitude, and there tries all its little industry to 

 shift only for itself. 



Next to human influence, the climate seems to 

 have the strongest effects both upon the nature 

 and form of quadrupeds. As in man we have 

 seen some alterations produced by the variety of 

 his situation, so in the lower ranks, that are more 

 subject to variation, the influence of climate is 

 more readily perceived. As these are more nearly 

 attached to the earth, and in a manner connected 

 to the soil j as they have none of the arts of shield- 

 ing off the inclemency of the weather, or soften- 

 ing the rigours of the sun, they are consequently 

 more changed by its variations. In general it 

 may be remarked, that the colder the country, 

 the larger and the warmer is the fur of each ani- 



