OF NATURAL HISTORY. 227 



isfied. This hO: indicates an amazing digeftlve power in fo 

 fmall a qiiadrnped ; for the ilory of his fqueezing his fides 

 between two trees^ in order to make him difgorge, is a mere 

 fable*. 



Siberia, Kamtfchatka, and the polar regions, are fuppofed 

 to be the abodes of mifery and defolation. They are, it 

 mufl: be allowed, infefted with numerous tribes of bears, 

 foxes, gluttons, and other rapacious animals. But it fliould 

 be conlidered, that thefe voracious animals fupply the natives 

 with both food and clothing. To elude the attacks of fero- 

 city, and to acquire polTeffion of the flcins and carcafles of 

 fuch creatures, the induftry and dexterity of favage nations 

 are excited. The furs are demanded by foreigners. The 

 inhabitants by this means learn commerce and the arts of 

 life ; and, in the progrefs of time, bears and wild beads be- 

 come the inftruments of polidiing a barbarous people. Thus, 

 the moil fubftantial good often proceeds from apparent mis- 

 fortune. 



There is hardly a plant that is not rejected as food by 

 fom.e animals, and ardently defired by others. The horfe 

 yields the common water-hemlock to the goat, and the cow 

 the long-leafed water-hemlock to the flieep. The goat, 

 again, leaves the aconite, or bane-berries, to the horfe, &:c. 

 Plants which afford proper nourifliment to fome animals, 

 are by others avoided, becaufe they would not only be hurt- 

 ful, but even poifonous. Hence no plant is abfolutely dele- 

 terious to animal life. Poifon is only a relative term. The 

 euphorbia, or fpurge, {o noxious to man, is greedily devour- 

 ed by fome of the infect tribes. 



It is a maxim univerfaliy received, that every animal, af- 

 ter birth, grows, or acquires an augmentation of fize. The 

 fpider-fly, however, affords an exception. The mother lays 

 an QQg fo difproportionally large, that no perfon, without 

 • Gaz, Literaire, vol. i. page 481. 



