172 INTRODUCTION. 



throughout the whole of their lives, as many offspring as the Rabbit does 

 in one year. Less obnoxious to destruction than the Rodentia, were they as 

 fertile, no pasturage would suffice for the multitudes which, in a few years, 

 would cover the land, destroying the vegetation around them, and, thereby, 

 working out their own destruction death by famine. The Hog, however, 

 is long-lived, and very prolific. White, in his Natural History of Selborne, 

 mentions a Sow that produced young till beyond the age of fifteen, 

 when she was killed for bacon. Among the Carnivora there is great 

 variety, with regard to the longevity of species. The Bear of Northern 

 Europe lives till upwards of fifty ; the huge grizzly Bear, which died in 

 1839, in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, London, had existed in 

 the Tower for more than twenty years, and for six or seven in the Gardens, 

 previously to his death ; his age was very considerable, but cannot be ex- 

 actly ascertained. The Lion, probably, lives long ; he is mature in about 

 seven years. Pompey, which died in the year 1760, was known to have 

 been seventy years in the Tower ; and one brought from the River Gambia, 

 died at the age of sixty-three : the Dog lives from fifteen to twenty years ; 

 the Cat about fifteen. 



Of the duration of the existence of the cetaceous Mammalia, no esti- 

 mate can be taken. Who has numbered the years of the Whale ? From the 

 solidity of the skeleton of this animal, the huge bulk to which it attains, 

 and the comparatively small size of the cub, which remains long under the 

 mother's care, it may be inferred, that it is among the longest lived of 

 Mammalia: hundreds of years, most probably, roll away, ere its powers 

 decline, and it slowly yields to death. 



The age which Man naturally attains is from seventy to eighty years : 

 the period at which he reaches maturity, differs much in different climates. 

 In the hotter latitudes, the age of puberty, the dawn of maturity, commences 

 very early ; later in the temperate, and still later in the more northern : in 

 temperate Europe, Man is mature at eighteen or twenty ; at twenty- five, 

 he has attained the fulness of manhood ; the succeeding twenty-five years 

 bring him to the borders of age ; the next twenty- five years conduct 

 him, at first by scarcely perceptible degrees, then by quicker, but still 

 gentle steps, to decay and final dissolution ; but many are cut off by 

 diseases, by accidents, and by intemperance, before the allotted time of 

 nature. Maturity is attained, by the female sex, a year or two earlier than 

 by the male.* 



* Dans toute 1'espece humaine, les femmes arrivent a la puberte plutot que les males ; mais, chez 

 les differens peuples 1'age de puberte est different, et semble dependre en partie de la temperature du 

 climat, et de la quantit6 des alimens ; dans les villes, et chez les gens aises, les enfans accoutumes a 

 des nourritures succulentes et abondantes, arrivent plutot a cette etat ; a la campagne, et dans le 

 pauvre peuple, les enfans sont plus tardifs, parcequ'ils sont mal et trop peu nourris, il leur faut deux 

 ou trois annees de plus ; dans toutes les parties meridionales de 1' Europe, et dans les villes, laplupart 

 des filles sont puberes a douze ans, et les gargons a quatorze ; mais dans les provinces du Nord, et 

 dans les campagnes, a peine les filles le sont elles a quatorze, et les garcons a seize." Buff. Hist. Nat. 

 torn. ii. p. 489. 



