OF NATURAL HISTORY. 377 



is vaftly fuperior to that of the mofl fagacious of the lefs favoured 

 tribes. He reigns over the other animals, becaufe, like them, he is 

 not only endowed with fentiment, but becaufe the powers of his 

 mind are more extenfive. He overcomes force by ingenuity, and 

 fwiftnefs by art and perfevering induftry. But the empire of man 

 over the brute creation is not abfoluie. Some fpecies elude his pow- 

 er by the rapidity of their flight, by the fwiftnefs of their courfe, 

 by the obfcurity of their retreats, and by the element in which they 

 live. Others efcape him by the minutenefs of their bodies ; and, in- 

 ftead of acknowledging their fovereign, others boldly attack him 

 with open hoftility. He is alfo infulted and injured by the (lings 

 of infeds, and by the poifonous bites of ferpents. In other refpeds, 

 man's empire, though comparatively great, is very much limited. He 

 has no influence on the unlverfe, on the motions and afTeiflions of 

 the heavenly bodies, or on the revolutions of the globe which he 

 inhabits. Neither has he a general dominion over animals, vege- 

 tables, or minerals. His power reaches not fpecies, but is confined 

 to individuals. Every order of being moves on in its courfe, per- 

 ilhes, or is renewed, by the Irrefiflible power of Nature. Even man 

 himfelf, hurried along by the general torrent of time and of Nature, 

 cannot prolong his exiftence. He is obliged to fubmit to the uni- 

 verfal law ; and, like all other organized beings, he is born, grows 

 to maturity, and dies. Though man has been enabled to fub- 

 due the animal creation by the fuperior powers of his mind, his em- 

 pire, like all other empires, could not be firmly eftablifhed previous 

 to the infi;itution of pretty numerous focieties. Almofl the whole 

 of his power is derived from fociety. It matures his reafon, gives 

 exertion to his genius, and unites his forces. Before the formation 

 of large focieties, man was perhaps the mod helplefs and the leaft 

 formidable of all animals. Naked, and deflitute of arms, to him 

 the earth was only an immenfe defert peopled with ftrong and ra- 

 pacious monflers, by whom he was often devoured. Even long af- 

 t 3 B ter 



