AN I 
'die blood, the circulation of that fluid, and 
the separation of all the humours from it. 
If we, then, who are more perfect than other 
vegetables, are utterly insensible of our own 
vegetable life, why should we imagine that 
the less perfect vegetables are sensible of it? 
We have within ourselves a demonstration 
that vegetable life acts without knowing 
what it does ; and if vegetables are ignorant 
of their most sagacious actions, why should 
we suppose that they have any sensation of 
their inferior ones ; such as contracting from 
a touch, turning towards the sun, or advanc- 
ing to a pole ? As to that power of irritabi- 
lity which is observed in some plants, oui 
solids have it when deprived both of animal 
and vegetable life ; for a muscle , cut out of 
a living body, will continue to contract, 
if it be irritated by pricking, after it has 
neither sensation nor vegetation. Encycl. 
Brit. On the other hand, those who are of 
opinion that plants possess powers of percep- 
tion, allege that their hypotheses recom- 
mends itseif by its consonance to those 
higher analogies of nature, which lead us to 
conclude that the greatest possible sum of 
happiness exists in the universe. The bot- 
tom of the ocean is overspread with plants 
of the most luxuriant magnitude ; and irri- 
mense regions of the earth are overspread 
with perennial forests. Nor are the Alps 
or the Andes destitute of herbage, though 
buried in depths of .snow: and can it he 
imagined that such profusion of life subsists 
without the least sensation or enjoyment? 
Let us rather, with humble reverence, sup- 
pose that vegetables participate, in some 
low degree, of the common allotment of 
vitality; and that one great Creator hath 
appointed good to all living things, in num- 
ber, weight, and measure. 
Animal flower, a name given to a varie- 
ty of creatures of the Vermes tribe, that 
bear some resemblance to a flower. These, 
for the most part, belong to the order Mol- 
lusc* ; the name is, however, frequently 
given to a different order, viz. the Zoo- 
phytes. 
Animal manures, in agriculture, are all 
substances that are formed from the decom- 
position of animal substances of any kind ; 
as the muscles, blood, hair, wool, hones, fat, 
&c. These are generally esteemed as more 
powerful, in promoting vegetation, than 
such as are derived from vegetable matters. 
On account, however, of their being hut 
seldom procured in large quantities, they 
are generally made use of in the state of 
mixture or combination with other materi- 
ANI 
als. By the action of ammonia, which is 
constantly formed during the decomposi- 
tion of animal substances, the mould is 
made more suitable for plants. 
Animal, parts of, substances which com- 
pose the bodies of animals may he arranged 
under the following heads : 
1. Bones and shells 
2. Horns and nails 
3. Muscles 
4. Skin 
5. Membranes 
6. Tendons and ligaments 
7. Glands 
8. Brain and nerves 
9. Hair and feathers 
10. Silk and similar bodies. 
Besides these substances which constitute 
the solid part of the bodies of animals, there 
are a number of fluids, the most important 
of which is the blood, which pervades every 
part of the system in all the larger animals : 
the rest are known by the name of secre- 
tions, because they are formed or secreted, 
as the anatomists term it, from the blood. 
The principal animal secretions are the fol- 
lowing : 
1. Milk 
2. Eggs 
3. Saliva 
4. Pancreatic juice 
5. Bile 
6. Cerumen 
7. Tears 
8. Liquor of the pericardium 
9. Humours of the eye 
10. Mucus of the nose, &c. 
11. Sinovia 
12. Semen 
13. Liquor of the amnios 
14. Poisonous secretions. 
Various substances are separated either 
from the blood or the food, on purpose to 
be afterwards thrown out of the body as 
useless or hurtful. These ai'e called excre- 
tions. The most important of them are, 
1. Urine 
2. Pieces. 
Besides the liquids which are secreted for 
the different purposes ef healthy animals, 
there are others which make their appear- 
ance only during disease, and which may 
therefore he called morbid secretions. The 
most important of these are the following : 
1. Pus 
2. The liquor of dropsy 
3. The liquor of blisters. 
