THE HOG. 417 



But the Hog, in its conformation, presents no anomaly, as 

 our eloquent naturalist assumes, but is one of the links or 

 reticulations by which all the forms of animated beings are 

 connected. He is one of the pachydermatous or thick-skin- 

 ned animals, of which the existing genera are the Elephant, 

 the Hippopotamus, the Rhinoceros, the Hyrax, the Tapir, the 

 Hog. But while these types of many species alone remain, 

 it appears that, in a former condition of this planet, ere Man 

 himself was called into existence by his Creator, the Pachy- 

 dermata were numerous, and formed a large proportion of 

 the animated inhabitants of the earth. Their bones remain 

 in vast numbers, but entire families of them have altogether 

 ceased to exist. From the form of their teeth, it appears 

 that they were herbivorous, and those the most nearly allied 

 to the Hogs seem to have frequented vast rivers or fresh- 

 water marshes. While these creatures inhabited the earth, 

 the ruminating tribes, in which are comprehended the Sheep, 

 the Ox, the Deer, were comparatively rare ; but as countless 

 periods rolled on, and the earth became suited for a new 

 order of life, shall we say for the habitation of the last of 

 created beings, Man, the number of the pachydermatous 

 tribes diminished, and the ruminating, so essential to man- 

 kind, took their place. The huge Mastodons, Tapirs, and 

 gigantic Hogs, or creatures resembling Hogs, though re- 

 quired to consume the abundant herbs of a then prolific earth, 

 were not, we may infer, adapted to the present condition of 

 the world and its inhabitants ; and therefore, we may be- 

 lieve they ceased to exist. Of these tribes, the few genera 

 that have been enumerated alone remain, and the number 

 and productiveness of each seem to be adjusted on the nicest 

 balance to the order of things which an Omnipotent Provi- 

 dence has ordained. The Elephant, which once spread in 

 countless herds to the Polar Circles, is now confined to the 

 woods of the Tropics ; the Rhinoceros, yet more rare, is 

 limited to the hottest regions of India and Africa ; the Hip- 

 popotamus, one of the hugest of living quadrupeds, is con- 



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