469 



brahmin, consistent with his idea of the Hindoo metempsychosis, 

 remains in a slate of happy ignorance; he views the tint of the 

 mango and the bloom of the fig as only the beautiful colouring 

 of nature; and innocently slays his thousands and ten thousands 

 at a meal of fruit and vegetables. The European philosopher, 

 in contemplating the great scheme of Providence, beholds a super- 

 fecundity in many parts of the animal economy ; which, though 

 of great occasional use and importance, exceeds the ordinary 

 capacity of nature to receive or support its progeny. " All super- 

 abundance supposes destruction, or must destroy itself. Perhaps 

 there is no species of terrestrial animals whatever, which would 

 not overrun the earth, if it were permitted to multiply in perfect 

 safety, or of fish, which would not fill the ocean: at least, if any 

 single species were left to their natural increase without disturbance 

 or restraint, the food of other species would be exhausted by their 

 maintenance. In almost all cases nature produces her supplies 

 with profusion; a single cod-fish spawns, in one season, a greater 

 number of eggs than all the inhabitants of England amount to. 

 It is necessary, therefore, that the effects of such prolific faculties 

 be curtailed. In conjunction with other checks and limits, all 

 subservient to the same purpose, are the thinnings which take place 

 among animals, by their action upon one another. In some in- 

 stances w r e ourselves experience, very directly, the use of these 

 hostilities. One species of insects rids us of another species, or 

 reduces their ranks. A third species, perhaps, keeps the second 

 within bounds; and birds or lizards are a fence against the in- 

 ordinate increase by which even these last might infest us/' 



Such is the wide difference between the contracted system of 



