INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 89 



sight i« the only one which they may be truly said to possess : 

 perhaps it is almost the only one which they need. The unin- 

 terrupted silence which prevails in the lower regions of the 

 ocean, and the uniform noise of the waves on its surface, render 

 the sense of hearing of little use to them ; nor is it necessary to 

 apprize them of the approach of danger, as the silent gliding of 

 their enemies through the watery element, is unattended with 

 any noise ; and Nature, which has so perfectly suited the powers 

 of animals to their wants and propensities, has bestowed no 

 faculty without a purpose of utility. As the palate of fishes is 

 bony and hard, it is supposed that their taste is defective ; but 

 of this we are not competent to judge. Of the sense of smelling, 

 which in many beasts and birds is known to be exquisite, the 

 fish seems to possess only a very moderate share, but yet as much 

 as is necessary to an animal residing constantly in an element 

 where any great variety of odours can scarcely exist, or must at 

 least be very imperfect and faint. The sense of touching cannot 

 be supposed very lively, in an animal covered with scales ; nor 

 is it indeed very needful, where the objects with which it can come 

 into contact are so little diversified. Creative Wisdom has en- 

 dowed every creature with faculties suitable to its place in the 

 scale of being ; and fishes undoubtedly possess a share of happi- 

 ness corresponding with their nature and situation. They ap- 

 pear, it is true, inferior to beasts and birds, in acuteness of sen- 

 sation and instinctive sagacity ; and their brain is found to be 

 exceedingly small in proportion to their size, when compared 

 with the same organ in quadrupeds and volatiles. These defi- 

 ciencies are, however, in some degree compensated by their as- 

 tonishing longevity, several species being known to live more 

 than a hundred years; and if the inhabitants of the ocean be 

 capable of fewer enjoyments than those of the earth and the air, 

 they are, by residing in an element that is liable to little varia- 

 tion, far less exposed to the inconveniencies resulting from the 

 changes of the atmosphere, and the inclemencies of the weather. 



The longevity of fishes, however, is less astonishing than their 

 singular fecundity. A single codfish is said to produce at a birth, 

 if they escape depredation, no fewer than nine millions of young, 

 a number equal to that of the inhabitants of all England. The 

 flounder produces at once above a million, and the mackarel 

 not less than five hundred thousand. From this abundant fecun- 

 dity, as it has been already observed, the predatory system of 

 fishes is supported and their aliment supplied. 



Amidst the general observations on this class of animal beings, 

 we cannot omit recommending to notice one of a more paitic- 

 ular nature, which eminently tends to demonstrate the agency 

 of an all-wise Contriver in their formation. The nature of the 



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