OF NATURAL HISTORY. 6j 



number of inftlnds than any other animal. The fuperiority of his 

 rank, however, does not proceed from this fource alone. Man enjoys 

 beyond every other animal the faculty of extending, improving, and 

 modifying the different inftindts he has received from Nature. It is 

 this faculty which enables him to compare his feelings, to form 

 ideas, and to reafon concerning both. The bee makes cells, and the 

 beaver conftrudts habitations of clay. The order of their archie 

 tedture, however, is invariably the fame. Man likewife builds 

 houfes : But he is not forced, by an irrefiftible inftind:, to work 

 always on the fame plan. His habitations, on the contrary, vary 

 with the fancy of the individuals who defign and conftrudt them. 



Upon the whole, the dignity of man's rank depends not uport 

 the ftrufture of his organs. It is from the powers of his intellect 

 alone that he is entitled to claim a fuperiority over the brute crea- 

 tion. Thefe powers enable him to form ideas, to abftrad:, to rea« 

 fon, to invent, and to reach all the heights of fcience and of art. 



The remarks formerly made are applicable to quadrupeds in ge- 

 neral. But, before concluding this branch of the fubjefl:, we fhall 

 point out a few peculiarities in the ftrudlure of particular fpecies. 



Befide the four ftomachs common to ruminating animals, the ca- 

 mel and dromedary have a fifth bag, which ferves them as a refer- 

 voir for holding water. This bag is capable of containing a very 

 large quantity of that neceflary element. When the camel is thir- 

 fty, and has occafion to macerate his dry food in the operation of 

 ruminating, by a fimple contradion of certain mufcles, he makes 

 part of this water afcend into his ftomach, or even as high as the 

 gullet. This fingular conftruftion enables him to travel fix, eight, 

 or even twelve days in the fandy defarts, without drinking, and to 

 take at once a prodigious quantity of water, which remains in the 



refervQur 



