MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 11 



being of a softer material than the outside ayer, a 

 sharp edge is always preserved by their mutual 

 attrition. The Sloth, destined to pass an arboreal 

 life, and to feed on the foliage of trees, has its limbs 

 modified into organs of suspension, and from their 

 peculiar form and the position they hold in regard 

 to the trunk, progression along the ground is to the 

 animal a very difficult matter. 



In the great imitative power of the Apes, the 

 craftiness of the wily Fox, and the sagacity of the 

 Elephant, we may see the modifications of instinct 

 which are more or less observable in all, and in the 

 exercise of which we may find much to admire and 

 astonish us, whether we witness it amongst the 

 unreclaimed in their native haunts, or in the domes- 

 ticated about the abodes of men : in the former it 

 is especially interesting, though very much so also 

 in the latter ; and how many are the pleasing anec- 

 dotes recorded of the instinct of animals as exhibited 

 in such as have become familiarized. To that power 

 man is greatly indebted as exercised by those ani- 

 mals which have been tamed and rendered subser- 

 vient to his purposes. What he owes to the labour 

 of the Horse, to the prosperity of his flocks and 

 herds, or to the faithful companionship of the Bog, 

 need scarcely be mentioned, being all self-evi- 

 dent. 



In the vast diversity of form, and wide differences 

 of size, how much there is to attract and engage us ; 

 whether we gaze on the massive structure of the 

 Elephant, or the light and graceful outline of the An- 



