ORDER CHELONIA. 21 



nature is manifested with as much glory in these vile ohjects 

 of universal animadversion as in the more favourite races, 

 which excite our admiration, or awaken our cupidity. Her 

 energies are equally exerted, and her manifold resources 

 equally developed in their production. The philosopher 

 calmly proceeds to their examination and study — to their 

 enumeration and classification. He sees nothing in the class 

 of reptiles but animals singular in their forms, curious in the 

 diversity of colours by which they are embellished, marvel- 

 lous in the metamorphoses of some species, and in the extra- 

 ordinary habits of almost all. Scarcely one-sixth of all the 

 individuals of this entire class is venomous. Many among 

 its species furnish wholesome and abundant aliment, resto- 

 rative medicines, and productions useful in the arts. Some, 

 even the fiercest, such as crocodiles, have been tamed, and will 

 suffer infants to sport upon their backs. So true it is that the 

 superiority and domination of man extend over beings of every 

 class. He can derive from the most ignoble, or the most 

 odious, useful supplies for the necessities of his existence, or 

 new ideas for the extension of his intelligence. Such are 

 among the especial privileges granted to man by the Author 

 of his being, which elevate him so considerably above all 

 other animals, and mark the dignified character of his destiny 

 upon earth. 



Few beings, indeed, are more worthy of the attention of 

 the thinking observer than the proscribed and persecuted 

 animals to Avhose history the course of our labours now con- 

 ducts us. If the graphic and eloquent descriptions, sug- 

 gested to the historians of nature by the two preceding- 

 classes of the animal kingdom, have power to instruct and 

 delight us, with no less pleasure and profit may we accom- 

 pany them in their researches on the present, and penetrate 

 into the sombre retreats of the reptile races in the bosom of 

 the earth, behind the broken masses of the rock, or under the 



