404 ON THE 



perfect as the one through which we breathe and 

 have life ; while like us also, they have been endued 

 with a brain and nervous system, to make them 

 sensible of the pleasures and pains, of the wants 

 and gratifications, of the affections and dislikes, 

 and to give an impulse to those multiplied act- 

 ions, of which life, in our more perfect state, is so 

 amply made up. 



Like our species also, they live upon the pro- 

 ductions of the earth, upon the surface of which, 

 some of their varieties are to be met with in^very 

 portion which has been visited by man; and 

 many of them imitate us so closely in our actions, 

 or associate with us so readily, contribute so es- 

 sentially to our conveniences, cr are thrown so 

 immediately under our care and direction ; that 

 they appear to be only a subordinate part of the 

 same family; and though a few, from their soli- 

 tary and predatory propensities, have been placed 

 beyond the pale of human protection, and are 

 inimical to our species or to our property; yet 

 even these, as we previously have had occasion 

 to observe, are indirectly useful to us, by calling 

 forth our energies to destroy them, or by the 

 application of some parts of their bodies, which, 

 our wants and our luxuries, have rendered it ne- 

 cessary we should possess. And if from the su- 

 periority of our intellectual capacities they have 

 been placed lower in the scale of animated beings, 

 than ourselves ; yet this has been amply com- 



