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peculiarity of its own ; that the differences between individuals 
at what may be termed opposite ends of the chain of 
development were absolute, notwithstanding that one per- 
vading plan was apparent through all. But in their manu- 
facture, artisans as numerous as, it may be, or more so, than the 
articles of furniture themselves, were at work upon them ; in 
the case of animal, as indeed of all life, only one Power, 
namely that of the Great Architect of the universe. 
The phenomena of life in man differ in degree according 
to the circumstances and condition of individuals. Those 
observable in the natives of New Guinea, for example, furnish 
no criterion applicable to the higher and more civilised races 
of Europe and America. Each of these differs from the others; 
so do the life characters of the denizens of arctic regions from 
those of tropical ; of feeders upon oils and fats from those 
on mixed diet, as do the latter from those on farinaceous ; of 
men according to social position, training, associates and asso- 
ciations ; in health as distinguished from illness ; in illness as 
distinguished from health ; and many other conditions of an 
altogether individual nature. In all that concerns intellec- 
tual life, the characters of races and individuals are no less 
distinctly marked and demarcated than those that are more 
purely corporeal. This phase of our subject, however, is of 
too extensive a nature to be entered upon now. 
As in man so in animals, predisposition and temperament 
affect and modify the performance of the vital functions to an 
important degree, not in any way to be accounted for by 
materialistic or “ chemical” theories. Various domesticated 
animals have a differential predisposition to contract particular 
maladies. Ruminants are affected by diseases which are not 
seen either in the equine or carnivorous animals ; while these, 
again, have severally their peculiar affections. The tempera- 
ment of particular animals is taken into account by veteri- 
narians in relation to the nature, gravity, and probable com- 
plications of maladies affecting them.* And so, also, in regard 
to constitution, age, sex, and various other conditions familiar 
to observers, but not to be enumerated here. In fact, each 
individual creature must by itself be held to constitute a 
separate sphere for study by whoever would rightly com- 
prehend its vital actions. Compare for a moment the 
characters and evident phenomena in the great and most 
important order, the vertebrates. These include cold-blooded 
animals, hot-blooded animals; those that live in the water, 
those that live upon the earth, and in it ; those that fly, run. 
* Veterinary Sanitary Science , by G. Fleming, vol. i. pp. 87, 88. 
