880 THE PHILOSOPHY 



and even ferocious, in the defence of her young. A lionef? 

 deprived of her cubs prefents the mod dreadful picture of 

 anxiety, rage, and rapacity. Defcending lower in the fcale 

 of animation, the fame change is to be remarked. A do- 

 meflic hen is a timid, indocile, and obftinately ftupid crea- 

 ture. Though chaccd, harralTed, and even put in dange? 

 of her life, fifty times in a day, fhe never learns to avoid a 

 garden, or any particular place which fhe is accuflomed to 

 frequent, or to which fhe is led by her appetite for food. 

 But, the moment her chickens are hatched, iriftead of her 

 ufual timidity, fhe becomes as bold as a lion. When fhe 

 thinks her young are in danger, flie briftles up her feathers,, 

 affumes a fiercenefs in her eye, makes an alarming nolfe, and 

 attacks. In the moffc furious manner, and without diftinctionj 

 every animal that comes near her. By the fuddennefs of 

 her onfets, fhe often alarms men, and a£lually intimidates 

 5ind beats off dogs and ether animals that could devour her 

 in an inftant. 



Though feveral of the infe£l: tribes difcover a flrong attach- 

 ment to their young, yet all thofe which undergo transforma- 

 tions, and do not form focieties, muft be completely ignor..- 

 ant of the exiflence of their progeny ; becaufe, in general, 

 the parents die before the young are hatched. Nature, how- 

 ever, has endowed thofe fpecies with an infl:in£l which produ- 

 ces all the effecEls of parental affection : They uniformly depo- 

 fit their eggs in fubflances which afford to the young, immedi- 

 ately after their efcape from the egg, a nourifhment adapted 

 to their refpedlive conftitutions, and a comfortable and fafe 

 protection from injury. Thus nature, ever attentive to the 

 continuaiion and happinefs of her produ(Stion5, however 

 feemingly infignificant in the fcale of being, often employs 

 very different means to accomplifli the fame beneficent pur- 

 pofes. 



Nature has unqueftionably attached pleafure to all the ne- 

 ceffary functions of animals, ^ut this pleafure cannot h^. 



