30 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO i. 



Leaves the cold caverns of the deep, and creeps 



On shelving shores, or climbs on rocky steeps. 330 



As in dry air the sea-born stranger roves, 



Each muscle quickens, and each sense improves; 



Cold gills aquatic form respiring lungs, 



And sounds aerial flow from slimy tongues. 



it. 



So Trapa rooted in pellucid tides, 

 In countless threads her breathing leaves divides, 



complicate animals, existed long before the quadrupeds or more 

 complicate ones, which in some measure accords with the theory of 

 Linneus in respect to the vegetable world; who thinks, that all the 

 plants now extant arose from the conjunction and reproduction of 

 about sixty different vegetables, from which he constitutes his 

 natural orders. 



As the blood of animals in the air becomes more oxygenated in their 

 lungs, than that of animals in water by their gills; it becomes of a 

 more scarlet colour, and from its greater stimulus the sensorium 

 seems to produce quicker motions and finer sensations; and as water 

 is a much better vehicle for vibrations or sounds than air, the fish, 

 even when dying in pain, are mute in the atmosphere, though it is 

 probable that in the water they may utter sounds to be heard at a 

 considerable distance. See on this subject, Botanic Garden, Vol. I. 

 Canto IV. 1. 176, Note. 



#0 Trapa rooted, 1. 335. The lower leaves of this plant grow under 

 water, and are divided into minute cqpillary ramifications; while the 

 upper leaves are broad and round, and have air bladders in their 

 footstalks to support them above the surface of the water. As the 



