230 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



its flatness, fitted only for reception ; whereas the 

 projecting jaws, the wide rictus, the pointed teeth, 

 of the dog and his affinities, enable them to apply 

 their mouths to snatch and seize the objects of 

 their pursuit. The full lips, the rough tongue, 

 the corrugated cartilaginous palate, the broad 

 cutting teeth of the ox, the deer, the horse, and 

 the sheep, qualify this tribe for browsing upon 

 their pasture ; either gathering large mouthfuls at 

 once, where the grass is long, which is the case 

 with the ox in particular, or biting close where it 

 is short, which the horse and the sheep are able 

 to do in a degree that one could hardly expect. 

 The retired under jaw of a swine works in the 

 ground, after the protruding snout, like a prong or 

 plough-share, has made its way to the roots upon 

 which it feeds. A conformation so happy was not 

 the gift of chance. 



