446 MJSTORY OF 



fcard [lea-like substance which is found in their eyes after boil, 

 ing. In the natural state it is transparent, and not much harder 

 than a jelly. 



From all this it appears hou' far fish fall behind terrestrial 

 animals in their sensations, and consequently in their enjoy- 

 ments.* Even their brain, which is by some supposed to be of 

 a size with every animal's understanding, shows that fish are 

 inferior even to birds in this particular. It is divided into three 

 parts, surrounded with a whitish froth, and gives off nerves as 

 well to the sense of sight as of smelling. In some fish it is 

 gray, in others white ; in some it is flatted, in others round ; but 

 in all extremely small, compared to the bulk of the animal. 



• The fdllowing fine comparison is made by Baron Cuvier between fishes 

 and birds. " The aerial being discovers with facility an immense liorizon : 

 its subtile ear appreciates every sound, every intonation, which it re-pro- 

 duces with its voice. If its beak is hard, if its body is covered with a kind of 

 down, to preserve it from the intense cold of the high regions wliich it 

 visits, it finds in its legs all the perfection of the most delicate touch. It enjoys 

 all the sweets of conjugal and paternal love, and it fulfils all its duties with 

 courage. The parents defend each other, and also their oflipring,— a most 

 surprising art presides in the construction of their habitations. When the 

 season is come they work together and without remission ; while the mo. 

 ther hatches the eggs with an e.'itraordinary patience, the father from an 

 impetuous lover, becomes the most tender husband, and delights with his 

 Bongs the melancholy of his mate. Tlie bird even in confinement attaches 

 itself to its master ; it submits to him, and executes, by his order, the most 

 neat and delicate actions ; it hunts for him like the dog, and retiunis At his 

 voice from the greatest height in the air; it imitates even his language, and 

 it is with some degree of difficulty that we are compelled to refuse it a kind 

 of rea.son. 



" The inhabitant of the water does not attach itself. It has no language, 

 no affection; it does not know what it is to be husband and lather, or to 

 make an abode for itself In time of danger it hides itself under the rocks of 

 the ocean, or rushes down into the depths of the sea ; its life is monotonous ; 

 its voracity leads to its sole employment, and it is only thereby that we are 

 able to direct its motions by certain signs from above. Yet these beings 

 who possess so few enjoyments, have been adorned by nature ^vith all kinds 

 of beauty, variety in their forms, elegance in their proportions, diversity of 

 colour : they have every thing adapted to attract the attention of man, and 

 it seems that it was this attention that nature was desirous to excite. Re- 

 flecting the lustre of every metal and precious stone, refracting the coloure 

 of the rainbow, in bands, in spots, in undulating, angular, but always re. 

 pular and symmetrical lines, and always in shades admirably arranged and 

 contrasted ; for what purpose have they received these gifts— they «\ho 

 hardly see one another in depths \\ here light can scarcely penetrate, and 

 who, coiild they gaze on one another, can scarcely be supposed to feel any 

 kind of pleasure by relations thus established ?" 



