08 GEOGRAPHICAL AND LOCAL 



belongs, which appear subject to very trivial mo- 

 difications from altered circumstances, and that 

 almost all animals that do not follow in the train 

 of man are equally constant, we may hence infer 

 that the Creator has not gifted them with the 

 capability of improvement, and the develope- 

 ment of latent qualities not apparent in their 

 wild state. 



There is one circumstance, however, in which 

 predaceous or carnivorous animals, when domes- 

 ticated, shew some aberration from their instinct, 

 they do not refuse farinaceous food. The cat 

 and the dog will both eat bread with great 

 eagerness and thrive upon it. 



It has been questioned by some whether the 

 present races of animals have not all, in the 

 lapse of ages, undergone some alterations from 

 the primitive types. The only way by which 

 this can be at all ascertained is by consulting 

 the oldest descriptions of them, and the oldest 

 sculptures; and these, I think, will prove that 

 no such alteration has taken place. 



In considering the general distribution of 

 animals we may further remark that some are 

 stationary, while others, at certain periods, mi- 

 grate or shift their quarters from one climate or 

 region to another. 



In considering the former, I shall not here 

 enlarge on the stations of the different tribes 

 further than as they are connected with the great 



