no 



MOLE. ClafsL 



to the ancients to deny it the fenfe of fight *',) is to 

 this animal a peculiar happinefs : a imail degree of 

 vifion, is fufficient for an animal ever defined to live 

 under ground : had thefe organs been larger, they 

 would have been perpetually liable to injuries, by the 

 earth falling into them ; but nature, to prevent that 

 inconvenience, hath not only made them very fmall, 

 but alfo covered them very clofely with fur. Anato- 

 mifts mention (befides thefe) a third very wonderful 

 contrivance for their fecurity •, and inform us that 

 each eye is furnilhed with a certain mufcle, by which 

 the animal has power of withdrawing or exerting 

 them, according to its exigencies. 



To make amends for the dimnefs of its fight, the 

 mole is amply recompenced, by the great perfedbion 

 of two other fenfes, thofe of hearing and of fmelling : 

 ihefirft gives its notice of the moil diflant approach of 

 danger : the other, v/hich is equally exquifite, dire<5ls 

 it in the midft of darknefs, to its food : the nofe alfo, 

 being very long and llender, is well formed for thruft- 

 ing into fmall holes, in fearch of the worms and in- 

 fers that inhabit them. Thefe gifts may with reafon 

 be faid to compenfate the defect of fight, as they fup- 

 ply in this animal ail its v/ants, and all the purpofesof 

 that fenfe. Thus amply fupplied as it is, with every 

 neceflfary accomodation of life ; we mufl avoid af- 

 fecting to an obfervation of M. de Euffon^ and only re- 

 fer the reader to the note, where he may find the very 



* Auc cculis a^pti fodere cubilia talps. Virg.Georg, i. 



words 



