AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. S7 



castor, Spanisli flies ; with the materials of numerous useful 

 and elegant arts, as cochineal, parchment, glue, isinglass, 

 catgut, bone, ivory, mother-of-pearl, hair, bristles, whale- 

 bone, horn ; — and what are killed for our sport and amuse- 

 ment, or through abuse, wantonness, and cruelty ; — the 

 catalogue will be of immense length; and will amply jus- 

 tify Dr. Spurzheim in having marked out so considerable 

 a tract, in his map of the human brain, for the abode of 

 destructiveness, and its near neighbour and close ally, com- 

 bativeness : — to say nothing of that circumstance which is 

 almost peculiar to our species, viz. their killing each other*; 

 a practice so essentially characteristic, of human nature, 

 that it prevails in every region and climate, in every variety 

 of man, and in every state of society, from the rudest tribe 

 of savages to the most highly civilized empire ; except, 

 indeed, among the Quakers, and one or two equally incon- 

 siderable sects, whose singular and narrow-minded refusal 

 to follow the way of the world, in so innocent a particular, 

 has been treated with suitable scorn and ridicule by their 

 more enlightened fellow Christians f. 



« Besides war, — "the game," our poet calls it, " which, were their sub- 

 jects wise, kings should not play at," but which, unluckily, subjects enjoy 

 almost as much as kings, — 1 may refer to the human sacrifices, which either 

 have been or are still practised in most parts of the world ; and to canniba- 

 lism, which having been much doubted and questioned, is now clearly proved 

 to be still prevalent in many places. 



+ In complimenting the Quakers for not having followed the warlike and 

 destructive example set before them by the rest of mankind, I ought, not to 

 have conveyed my praise in the ironical form of blame; because irony is 

 often misunderstood, even where we may think such a mistake almost impos- 

 sible — as in the case of the good bishop, who declared himself highly 

 pleased with Gulliver's Travels, but added, that the book contained some 

 things which he had a- difficulty in believing. To obviate the possibility 

 of further misunderstanding', I lay aside irony, and state most seriously and 

 sincerely, that, whether I regard them as a religious sect or a body of citi- 

 zens, whether I look to their private or public conduct, I hold the Quakers in 

 the highest respect. As Christians, they entertain no unintelligible articles 

 of faith ; they waste no time in splitting the hairs of theological controversy ; 

 their singular and honourable distinction is practical Christianity, evinced in 



