DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. liu 



so much, that it may be asserted, that he differs far more 

 from the Hog in the state of liberty, than many animals re- 

 garded as distinct species differ from one another. 



Amongst ruminating animals, the Ox and the Sheep are 

 subject to great changes of form and character, dependent 

 upon the kind and abundance of aliment. With increased 

 supplies of food, the abdominal viscera become enlarged, and 

 other parts partake of corresponding modifications of form. 

 To suit the increased size of the stomach and intestinal canal, 

 the trunk becomes larger in all its dimensions ; the respira- 

 tory organs adapt themselves to the increased dimensions of 

 the alimentary canal, which is indicated to the eye by a 

 change in the form of the chest ; the limbs become shorter 

 and farther apart, and the body being nearer the ground, 

 the neck becomes more short ; various muscles, from disuse, 

 diminish in size, and the tendency to obesity increases. With 

 the form of the animals, their power of active motion dimi- 

 nishes, and they acquire habits adapted to their changed 

 condition. These new characters they communicate to their 

 progeny ; and thus races differing from those which, in the 

 state of nature, would exist, are produced. 



The Carnivorous animals, in like manner, when taken from 

 the state of nature, and made to reproduce in a state of 

 slavery, manifest their subjection to the same laws of change. 

 The size and proportion of their organs of digestion and re- 

 spiration, nay, of the brain, the organ of thought, change ; 

 and with these, the relative proportion of the head, limbs, 

 and other parts, as we shall see in the sequel, in the case of 

 the Dog, who becomes almost plastic under the habitudes to 

 which we inure him. 



And if we turn from quadrupeds to the feathered tribes, 

 we shall find the like proofs of the power of food and habi- 

 tudes to change the form, and with it the very instincts of 

 the animals. The Domestic Goose is derived from the Wild 

 of the same species, which inhabits the boundless marshes 

 of northern latitudes. This noble bird visits us on the ap- 



