INTRODUCTION. XV11 



South to Michelet, "is the beautiful hair of a woman: 

 the softest wool, the finest cotton, is very far from 

 realizing it." The Southerner seemed to forget that 

 this soft wool, as well as this fine cotton, was not the 

 product of our manufacturers any more than the 

 woman's hair. 



Were these animal machines to sustain injury, or 

 even to be idle for a certain time, we should be reduced 

 to have nothing wherewith to cover our shoulders : the 

 fine lady would have neither Cashmere shawl, silk, nor 

 velvet in her wardrobe ; we should have neither flannel 

 nor cloth to make our clothes ; the herdsman even 

 would not have his goat's skin to protect him from the 

 inclemency of the season. Thanks to the animal which 

 gives us his flesh and his fleece, we are able to leave the 

 southern regions, to brave the rigour of other climes, 

 and establish ourselves side by side with the reindeer 

 and the narwhal, in the midst of eternal snow. 



We have our science and our steam-engines, of which 

 we are justly proud ; the animals have only their simple 

 instinct to enable them to fabricate their marvellous 

 tissues, and yet they succeed better than ourselves. 

 The so-called blind forces of nature produce thread, the 

 use of which the genius of man seeks in vain to super- 

 sede ; and we do not even dream of entering into com- 

 petition with these living machines which we daily crush 

 under our feet. 



All these occupations are openly carried on; and if 

 there are some which are honest, it may be said that 

 there are others which deserve another character. In 

 the ancient as well as the new world, more than one 

 animal resembles somewhat the sharper leading the 



