66 HOG. Class t, 



should have its respective inhabitants. By this 

 (economy of nature, the earth is never over- 

 stocked, or any part of the creation useless. 

 This observation may be exemplified in the ani- 

 mal before us ; the hog alone devouring what is 

 the refuse of all the rest, and contributing not 

 only to remove what would be a nuisance to the 

 human race, but also converting the most 

 nauseous offals into the richest nutriment : for 

 this reason its stomach is capacious, and its 

 gluttony excessive ; not that its palate is insen- 

 sible to the difference of eatables, for where it 

 finds variety, it will reject the worst with as 

 distinguishing a taste as other quadrupeds.* 



This animal has, not unaptly, been compared 

 to a miser, who is useless and rapacious in his 

 life, but on his death /becomes of public use, by 

 the very effects of his sordid manners. The hog 

 during life renders little service to mankind, 

 except in removing that filth which other ani- 

 mals reject: his more than common brutality, 



* The ingenious author «f the Pan Suecus, has proved this 

 beyond contradiction, having with great industry drawn up tables 

 of the number of vegetables, which each domestic animal chuses, 

 or rejects : and it is found that the hog eats but 72, and refuses 

 171 plants, 



The Ox eats 276. rejects 218 



Goat 449. 126. 



Sheep 387- 141. 



Horse 26%. 212. Amcen. /iced. ii. 203 



