IOO NATURAL HISTORY. 



various European languages, he proceeds as follows : 

 ' According to common appearances, the hog is certainly 

 the most impure and filthy of all quadrupeds ; we should, 

 however, reflect that filthiness is an idea merely relative 

 to ourselves; but we form a partial judgment from our 

 own sensations, and overlook that wise maxim of Provi- 

 dence, that every part of the creation should have its 

 respective inhabitants. By this ceconomy of nature, the 

 earth is never overstocked, nor any part of the creation 

 useless. This observation may be exemplified in the 

 animal before us; the hog alone devouring what is the 

 refuse of all the rest, and contributing not only to remove 

 what would be a nuisance to the human race, but also 

 converting the most nauseous offals into the richest 

 nutriment : for this reason its stomach is capacious, and 

 its gluttony excessive ; not that its palate is insensible to 

 the difference of eatables, for where it finds variety, it 

 will reject the worst with as distinguishing a taste as 

 other quadrupeds. 



'This animal has (not unaptly) been compared to a 

 miser, who is useless and rapacious in his life, but on 

 his death becomes of public use, by the very effects of 

 his sordid manners. The hog during life renders little 

 service to mankind, except in removing that filth which 

 other animals reject: his more than common brutality 

 urges him to devour even his own offspring. All other 

 domestic quadrupeds show some degree of respect to 

 mankind, and even a sort of tenderness for us in our 

 helpless years ; but this animal will devour infants when- 

 ever it has opportunity. 



t The parts of this animal are finely adapted to its way 



