58 THE PHILOSOPHY 



there be any thing reprehenfible in the manners and difpofulons of 

 carnivorous animals, Nature alone is to blame ; for all their actions 

 are determined by the irrefiftible impulfes of their organization. But, 

 even in this feeraingly cruel arrangement, Nature muft not be rafhly 

 accufed. When we come to treat of the hoftilities of animals, I 

 hope to be able to {how, that Nature, in the formation of rapacious 

 creatures, has aded with her ulual wifdom, and that beings of this 

 kind have their ufes in the general fyftem and oeconomy of the 

 univerfe. 



As to the herbivorous tribes, or thofe animals which feed upon 

 grain and herbage, a flight variation of organs produces the greateft 

 effects upon their difpofition and manners. The inteftines of this 

 tribe are very long, capacious, and convoluted. Vegetable food, 

 efpecially herbage, contains a fmaller quantity of nutritive matter 

 than the flefli of animals ; neither is it fo eafily reduced to chyle, 

 A larger quantity, therefore, as well as a longer detention in the fto- 

 mach and inteftines, is neceflary for the nourifliment of thefe crea- 

 tures. Several quadrupeds comprehended under this order rumi- 

 nate or chew the cud. Thefe are furnifhed with no lefs than four 

 ftomachs. The food, after maftication, is thrown into the firft 

 ftomach, where it remains fome time ; after which, the animal for- 

 ces it up again into the mouth, and gives it a fecond chewing. It 

 is then fent diredly into the fecond ftomach, and gradually paffea 

 into the third and fourth; and, laftly, it is tranfmitted through the 

 convolutions of the inteftines, and the dregs, or faeces, are thrown 

 out of the body. By this machinery, herbivorous animals are e- 

 nabled to devour large quantities of vegetable aliment, to retain it 

 long in their bowels, and confequently to extradl from it nutritive 

 matter fufEcieni for their growth, fupport, and multiplication. Here 

 the quantity compenfates the quality of the nutriment. 



It 



