652 



MAMMALIA. 



Fig. 305. 



(732.) Araong 

 all the countless 

 races of the ani- 

 mal kingdom, Man 

 alone is permitted, 

 in a state of na- 

 ture, to arrive at 

 old age; that is 

 to say, at such an 

 age as to allow fee- 

 bleness and decre- 

 pitude to usurp the 

 place of strength 

 and activity. Man 

 only is capable of 

 such a privilege, 

 because he alone 

 possesses that fore- 

 sight which ena- 

 bles him to prepare 

 in youth against 

 the decline of his 

 faculties, and is 

 endowed with sym- 

 pathies and af- 

 fections directing 

 the young and the vigorous to maintain the aged and the 

 infirm. 



Among the lower animals, sickness and decay are not permitted 

 to exist. Activity and health alone are conspicuous throughout the 

 broad creation : disease and decline are banished from the world. 

 Does any creature lack but for a brief period its accustomed powers 

 of escape, the destroyer is at hand instantly to remove it from its 

 appointed sphere of action. Butchers are placed on all sides ready 

 to perform their office ; and nothing is permitted to live but what 

 possesses its faculties and its strength unimpaired and unen- 

 feebled. 



The great character that distinguishes the Carnivorous quadru- 

 peds is, the high degree of intelligence and activity for which they 



