140 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Gro 



Insatiable Greediness. 



Insatiable greediness appears to characterise all the movements 

 of some men. Everything they do has for its object the acquire- 

 ment of some benefit for themselves. They resemble the fishes 

 whose ruling impulse is the desire to obtain something. This 

 appetite compels them to encounter every danger, and indeed 

 their rapacity seems insatiable. Even when taken out of the 

 water and almost expiring, they greedily swallow the very bait 

 by which they were allured to destruction ; just as the miser at 

 the point of death will still excite himself about obtaining more 

 of the gold which has been his ruin. A. 



The Greedy Disposition. 



The king vulture will not permit any other bird to begin its 

 meal until his own hunger is satisfied. The same habit may be 

 seen in many other creatures, including some men, the more 

 powerful lording it over the weaker, and leaving them only the 

 remains of the feast instead of permitting them to partake of it 

 on equal terms. If the king vulture should not happen to be 

 present when the dead animal has reached a state of decomposi- 

 tion, which renders it palatable to vulterine tastes, the subject 

 vultures would pay but little regard to the privileges of their 

 absent monarch, and would leave him but a slight prospect of 

 getting a meal on the remains of the feast. Thus the greedy 

 disposition, whether in the high or low, never concerns itself 

 about the want of others. IL. 



Gross Natures in Useful Employment. 



The pig is an important auxiliary in keeping rattlesnakes at a 

 distance in countries where they abound. In the west and 

 south of America when a field or farm is infested by these 

 ferocious reptiles it is usual to put a sow with its young brood 

 there, and the snakes, it is said, will soon be eaten up. It 

 appears that, owing to the fatty matter which envelopes the 

 body of this animal, it is safe from the venomous bite. Besides, 

 it likes the flesh of the snakes, and eagerly pursues them. When 

 a pig sees a rattlesnake, it smacks its jaws and its hairs bristle 



