54 



THE PHILOSOPHY 



outang, the organs of the different fpecles of apes and monkeys have 

 the greateft refemblance to thofe of man ; and their powers of imi- 

 tation, their addrefs in procuring their food, and in managing their 

 young, their ingenuity, and their fagacious manners, have contri- 

 buted to the amufement, and excited the admiration, of mankind in 

 all ages and nations. The fame relation between form and intellect 

 may be traced in the dog, the cat, the fow, the horfe, the flieep, and 

 the other fpecies of quadrupeds. 



With regard to the general ftrudure and figure of quadrupeds, a 

 great variety is exhibited in the different kinds. But, when exa- 

 mined in detail, it is apparent, that they, as well as man, are all 

 formed upon one primitive and general defign. Befide the organs 

 of fenfation, of circulation, of digeflion, and of generation, with- 

 out which moft animals could neither fubfift nor multiply, there is, 

 even among thofe parts that chiefly contribute to variety in external 

 form, fiich a wonderful refemblance as necefTarily conveys the idea 

 of an oiiginal plan upon which the whole has been executed. For 

 example, when the parts conftltuting a horfe are compared with the 

 human frame, inftead of being ftruck with their difference, we are 

 aftonifhedat their fingular and almoft perfeft refemblance. Take the 

 fkeleton of a man, fays Buffon, incline the bones of the pelvis; 

 fhorten thofe of the thighs, legs, and arms ; join the phalanges of 

 the fingers and toes; lengthen the jaws by (liortening the frontal 

 bones; and, laflly, extend the fpine of the back. This Ikeleton 

 would no longer reprefent that of a man : It would be the fkeleton 

 of a horfe. For, by lengthening the back-bone and the jaws, the 

 number of the vertebrae, ribs, and teeth, would be increafed; and 

 it is only by the number of thefe bones, and by the prolongation, 

 contradtion, and junction of others, that the fkeleton of a horfe 

 differs from that of a man. The ribs, which are eflential to the fi- 

 gure of animals, are found equally in man, in quadrupeds,, in birds, 



in 



