OF ANIMALS. 357 



different animals, or of the same animal under 

 different circumstances, is so varied, that we never 

 tire of them. 



Philosophically, we have no more reason to 

 conclude that the action of any animal, however 

 instantaneous and rapid it may be, is an original 

 action, than we have to conclude that the germi- 

 nation of a seed, the growth of a plant, or the 

 falling of a stone is an original action ; because 

 that which can begin its action, or in any way 

 change its state without cause, must also have 

 begun its existence without cause. But still, as the 

 action of the animal is so much more rapid and va- 

 ried than that of most other productions of nature, 

 and as it is produced in the animal without any 

 antecedent that we can see, it has so far the ap- 

 pearance of original action. When an animal 

 runs, there is a natural cause for it, as certainly 

 as there is when a river runs ; when a bird flies, 

 there is a natural cause for it, as well as there is 

 when the wind flies ; and when an animal swims, 

 there is a natural cause for it as certainly as there 

 is when a bubble swims on the current of a river ; 

 but as we cannot get at the knowledge of 

 that cause, or at least of part of it, there is a 

 mysterious sort of originality about the action 

 itself, which engages our attention much more 

 than if we could resolve the whole into material 

 elements. 



This more complicated nature of the animal 

 than even the vegetable, removes it at least one 

 degree further from mere inorganic matter, and 

 makes it more completely dependent upon organ- 

 ization. Consequently, we cannot so vary ani- 

 mals by culture as we can vary plants, although 



