A N I 
fimilitucie t6 the vegetable produftions; while, on 
the contrary, the meaner the Animal, the more lo- 
cal it is found to be, and the more it is affefted by 
the peculiarities of the foil where it refides. Num- 
bers of the more humble reptile kinds are confined 
to a fingle plant ; nay, even to a fingle leaf : on 
that they fubfift, increale with it's vegetation, and 
fecm to decay as it declines. Thefe are the cir- 
cumfcribed inhabitants of a fingle vegetable: if re- 
moved, they inftantly die ; being entirely afTimi- 
lated to the plant on which they feed, partaking of 
it's medicinal qualities, and often affuming it's 
very colour. Hence an infinite variety of the 
liumbler animated tribes are never feen but in one 
particular country; they are incapable of exifting 
apart from their kindred vegetables, which are only 
the produce of certain climates. More perfeft 
Animals, however, lead a life of lefs depcndance; 
and fome of the more generous kinds are found to 
fubfift in various parts of the world at the fame 
time. Yet, of all the tribes of animated nature, 
man, the nobleft Animal, appears leaft afteiSted by 
the diverfity of foil, and the leaft influenced by 
the variations of vegetable fubfiftence: equally 
unaffedted by the luxuriance of the warmer cli- 
mates, or the fterility of the frozen, he has fpread 
his habitation over the whole w^orld ; and finds the 
means of fubfiftence as well amidft the polar re- 
gions, as the burning deiarts of the equator; Man, 
therefore, may be called the Animal of every cli- 
mate, as he is neither circiimfcribed to zones, nor 
confined to territories; but exifts in every climate, 
and fufi^ers but veiy gradual alterations from the 
nature of his fituation. 
As to Animals of a meaner rank, whom man 
compels to attend his peregrinations, thefe being 
habituated to live in a kind of conftraint, and 
upon food often different from that of their native 
foil, foon alter their nature with their nourifhment, 
andafTimilate themfelves to the vegetables on which 
they are fed. Thus man, the lord of the creation, 
himfclf unaffefted in any very perceptible degree, 
dire£ls the nature of other Animals at pleafure, and 
trains them to his ufe or his humour. In thofe 
wide uncultivated wilderneiTes, where man, in his 
favage ftate, pofTefl^es inferior ftrengdi, and the 
beafls claim divided dominion, the whole forefb 
i\varmswith noxious Animals and vegetables ; Ani- 
mals in a great meafure yet undefcribed, and vege- 
tables which want a name. 
The aim of man has ever been to fubdue the 
earth to his ov/n ufe; and where arts and civiliza- 
tion have been introduced, this is in a confiderable 
degree happily effefled. In a ftate of nature, Ani- 
mal life is increafed to the greateft quantity pof- 
fible ; in a ftate of improvement, it is reduced to 
more contradled limits : but the greateft poiTible 
increafe of life would be infufficient, were there 
not other Animals which fubfifted on Animals; 
and which themfelves, in their turn, are food for 
fuperior Animals. Were all Animals to fubfift on 
vegetables, thoufands of beings muft foon become 
extinft, from a deficiency of provifion : but, as 
Providence has wifely conftituted things, one Ani- 
mal fupports another, and thus the infinite variety 
of exiftences which people the earth, are all fupplied 
with food fuited to their refpeftive natures. 
Human induftry has been fuccefsfully employed 
to diminifli the number of Animals, and increafe 
that of vegetables : and, if we take a comparative 
view of the diff^erent kinds, we fhall find that, with 
refpe6l to man, among the vaft variety in the Ani- 
A N I 
mal kingdom, few are beneficial to him; on the' 
contrary, in the vegetable, veiy few are entirely 
noxious. For inftance, how fmall a part of the 
infect tribes are beneficial to man, and what num- 
bers are inimical! In fome countries they almoft 
darken the air; a candle cannot be lighted, without 
their inftantly flying round it, and extinguifhing 
the flame; neither the fleeping nor the waking 
hours of man are unannoyed with thefe pernicious 
beings; the moft beautiful landfcapes in nature 
only invite their rapacity; and even the coldeft re- 
cefTes are no protection from their affaults. As 
thefe minute Animals are injurious from their mul- 
titudes, fo the larger kinds are equally dreadful to 
him from their native ferocity. In tiie moft un- 
cultivated regions, thefe maintain undiiputed em- 
pire; and man prefumes on their territories with 
dread and apprehenfion. Thefe Animals are either 
troublefome or formidable to the human race; but 
there are ftill a greater number entirely ufelefs, and 
which only occupy the room which more beneficial 
creatures might poffefs, incommoding mankind 
rather with their numbers than with their enmities. 
Tlius, on enumerating the amazing variety of 
land Animals, which have been eftimated at twenty 
thoufand, we can fcarcely reckon up a fingle hun- 
dred from which man derives any confiderable be- 
nefit : tlie reft are all either his open or his fecret ene- 
mies; immediately attacking him. in perfon, or in- 
truding on that food he has appropriated to him- 
felf . Vegetables, on the contrary, though exifting 
in a greater variety, are but few of them noxious : 
the moft deadly poifons, being properly correfted, 
are often of the moft elTential fervice in medicine; 
and even thofe plants which feem only to encum- 
ber the ground, ferve for food to a race of Animals 
which mankind either regard with friendfhip or in- 
difference. 
Hence it will appear, that though no original 
fpecies of Animal or vegetable life is entirely ex- 
tinct, when man has long exercifed dominion, 
and become undifputed lord, he has exterminated 
his enemies in every poffible degree, and driven 
them to haunts where he has not yet thought pro- 
per to purfue them Still, however, an immenfe 
variety of exiftences is diftufed around us, and it 
is difficult to determine where we fhall begin to 
confider them ! The number of beings endued 
with animation like ourfclves, at firft view, in- 
deed, feems infinite. Not only the earth, the 
water, and the air, teem with Animals of various 
kinds; but ahnoft every vegetable, every leaf, con- 
tains millions of minute inhabitants, each of which 
fills up the circle of it's allotted life, and fome are 
objects of the greateft curiofity. In contemplat- 
ing this feeming exuberance of nature, it is not at 
all wonderful that ignorance fhould lie down in 
hopelefs uncertainty, and pronounce that abfo- 
lutely infcrutable which requires much labour to 
particularize. The aftive and inquifitive mind, 
however, by no means intimidated with the immenfe 
variety, has invented a method of numbering, 
grouping, and clafTing, all the various animals 
which fall within it's notice : and this fyftem, in 
many refpefts, has ufurped the place of fcience ; 
and fancied relations have induced naturalifts to 
blend animals of heterogeneous natures with one 
another. Syftem, indeed, may be partially ufeful, 
to afhft' the memory, and facilitate the acquire- 
ment of natural knowledge; but, when carried to 
the extent which fome of the moft eminent natu- 
ralifts liave attempted, it ceafes to inftru6t, and 
tends 
