524 \ THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
and none of them are marked with the hackneyed inscription 
No Admittance. 
Should these machines stop, or should they only rest for a tit 
we should be exposed to the chances of not being able to eo 
the nakedness of our shoulders ; the fine lady would have no mi 
cashmere, nor silk nor velvet; as for us, we should have not 
flannels, nor cloths to cover us; the shepherd even, as also the 
mountaineer, would no longer have his goatskin to protect himself 
against the inclemency of the weather. It is by the kindness 
this good creature which gives us its flesh and fleece, that we‘ 
leave the south to brave the rigor of the northern climates and 
tablish ourselves by the side of the reindeer and narwhal 
perpetual glaciers.* aa 
e have science and steam, of which we are justly proud, bat 
in order to manufacture their marvellous textures, the es i 
have only their simple instinct, and yet make them much He 
than we. How instructive is this parallel between the products 
nature and those of man! How it lowers our pretensions! 
The pretended blind forces of nature produce offspring that es 
genius of man may seek in vain to replace, and we would 3 : 
dream of contending with these living machines which we evs 
day crush under foot. 3 
The greatest industry would be invariably surpassed did 
place in one of our great universal expositions its products ert 
by side with those of the insect or spider. In order to conform 
the ideas of equality of this age, we should not in taking ** 
forget our pretended ancestors. __ 
There are all sorts of pursuits in this world, 
them are honest, we can say that there are others 
deserve this qualification. In the old as in the new 
blood and carnage. The number is even as great as eee 
of the far West who always escape, whether by some © 
audacity, or by a superiority of wickedness, social pun 
* The mouflon (Ovis musimon) and the bouquetan (Cap 
our sheep and onr goats, 8 
he Paguri, or B hardus), Cenobites 
iin t 
others, ani rally. 
t The beef-eater, the starling, the kite. § The sharks gen 
