33 



preserved, embalmed with their kings, in the Pyramids of 

 Memphis. The zoological traveller can never feel listless- 

 ness nor despair, whether he traverse the sandy deserts 

 of the torrid Zone, the ices of the Poles, or the trackless 

 expanse of the ocean, as, in the dreariest solitudes, every 

 element is to him peopled with interesting objects, all pro- 

 claiming the presence and the watchful care of the Great 

 Author of his being. 



The natural philosopher, who contemplates the mechan- 

 ism of animals under all their diversified forms, to discover 

 the structure and connections of the various parts, their 

 adaptation to the purposed ends, and the laws which regu- 

 late their complicated movements, is lost in admiration of 

 the endless resources of Nature for the accomplishment of 

 the same design, the regularity and simplicity of the laws 

 which regulate the motions of living matter, and the 

 exquisite mechanism of the parts in all their minutest de- 

 tails. Even in the most complicated animals he finds the 

 solid frame-work, the skeleton and its joints, constructed 

 according to the strictest laws of mechanics, and the 

 muscles act in exact accordance with the principles of the 

 lever ; the functions of respiration, digestion, and nutri- 

 tion, are simple chemical processes, and the various se- 

 cretions of the living body are complicated products of 

 chemical action ; the nerves are a kind of galvanic wires, 

 which establish an instantaneous communication between 

 the most distant parts, and the whole circulating system, 

 with its tubes, valves, fluids, and moving powers, is a com- 

 plicated hydraulic machine ; the larynx, the organ of voice, 

 is an exquisite wind instrument, and the ear is admirably 

 constructed according to the principles of acoustics ; the 

 eye is the most perfect of optical instruments, and indeed 

 every part of the animal frame is constructed according 

 to the strictest rules of proportion, fitness, and beauty. 



The study of the systematic arrangements of Zoology, 

 or the principles according to which the innumerable 

 species of animals spread over the globe are distributed 



D 



