FISHES. 



413 



ed of all, whose motions are yet not the swiftest; others have 

 but a part, and yet dart in the water with great rapidity. The 

 number, the size, and the situation of the fins, therefore, seem 

 rather calculated to correspond with the animal's figure, than 

 solely to answer the purposes of promoting its speed. Where 

 the head is large and heavy, there the pectoral tins are large, and 

 placed forward, to keep it from oversetting. Where the head 

 is small, or produced out into a long beak, and therefore not too 

 heavy for the tail, the pectoral fins are small, and the ventral fuis 

 totally wanting. 



As most animals that live upon land are furnished with a 

 covering to keep off the injuries of the weather, so all that live 

 ill the water are covered with a slimy glutinous matter, that, like 

 a sheath, defends their bodies from the immediate contact of the 

 surrounding fluid. This substance may be considered as a se- 

 cretion from the pores of the animal's body; and serving not 

 only to defend, but to assist the fish's easy progress through the 

 water. Beneath this, in many kinds, is found a strong covering 

 of scales, that, like a coat of mail, defend it still more powerful- 

 ly ; and under that, before we come to the muscular parts of the 

 body, an oily substance, which supplies the requisite warmth and 

 vigour. 



The fish thus protected and fitted for motion in its natural 

 element, seems as well furnished with the means of happiness 

 as quadrupeds or birds ; but if we come to examine its faculties 

 •nore nearly, we shall find it very much their inferior. The 

 sense of touching, which beasts and birds have in a small degree, 

 the fish, covered up in its own coat of mail, can have but little 

 acquaintance with. 



The sense of smelling, which in beasts is so exquisite, and 

 among birds is not wholly unknown, seems given to fishes in a 

 very moderate proportion. • It is true, that all fishes have one or 

 more nostrils ; and even those that have not the holes percepti- 

 ble without, yet have the proj)er formation of the bones iur 

 smelling within. But as air is the only medium we know for 

 the distribution of odours, it cannot be supposed that these ani- 

 mals, residing in water, can be possessed of any power of being 

 affected by them. If they have any jjirception of smells, it 



• Thprp Is now no doiiht but that fishes possess the sense of smelling. Iiu 

 H<-t'<l, it sfciiia t>> III- mostly liy tlicir smell tlKit they discover tlieir food. 



