ON ZOOLOGY. 101 



bles, and minerals, as it strikes the senses, and 

 which by the most fastidious can hardly be de- 

 nied ; the vast elevation at which man is placed 

 above every other part of the creation, produces 

 so great a break in this imaginary chain, as at 

 once to convince us of the absurdity of the hypo- 

 thesis; and how presumptuous it is in us, limited 

 as our understandings are, to attempt the expla- 

 nation of laws which, emanating from a much 

 higher authority, are, for very wise purposes 

 placed beyond the reach of our comprehension. 



It will be sufficient to know, that animals 

 are organized, animative, sensitive bodies, which 

 seek their food according to the dictates of their 

 taste and appetite, and voluntarily introduce it 

 by a mouth into a stomach, there to be subject 

 to various processes which do not belong to the 

 economy of either minerals or vegetables; that 

 through the agency of a brain and nervous sys- 

 tem, or by a mechanism producing a similar ef- 

 fect, they are endued with a variety of other 

 attributes, to which neither vegetables nor mi- 

 nerals can lay claim; and that by their loco- 

 motive powers, they in most instances possess a 

 range of action, which conclusively distinguishes 

 them from every other part of the creation. 



To qualify us to have a knowledge of the 

 animal kingdom in all its varieties and compre- 

 hensiveness, it is requisite that we make ourselves 

 acquainted with the external character of each 



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