| eral, be easily ascertained. 
A —— 
scales; insects their elytra or wing-cases; birds 
their plumage; the armadillo his scaly covering ; 
the whales their horny laminz ; quadrupeds their 
skins and organs of defence; and man, his hair, 
nails, and cuticle. Jn all these beings there are 
to be found some parts which vegetate; and if 
it were necessary to class with plants all beings 
which are found to vegetate in any of their parts, 
we ought, consistently, to include all the animals 
just named with zoophytes or animated plants of 
Linneeus and Pallas. 
The following are the characters by which we 
may always ascertain whether a living being or- 
ganized, growing, drawing in nutriment, possess- 
ing an internal temperature peculiar to itself, 
and reproducing its kind, be an animal or a plant. 
If it be irritable to the touch, and moves spon- 
taneously to satisfy its wants,—if it be not deeply 
rooted in the soil, but only adhere to the surface, 
—if its body be provided with a central cavity, 
—if it putrefy after death,—if it give out the 
ammoniacal odour of burnt horn,—and finally, if 
in its chemical composition there be found an 
excess of azote over carbon,—then we may be 
certain that it isan animal. But if, on the con- 
trary, the doubtful being under examination en- 
joy no lasting or spontaneous power of motion,— 
if it be destitute of an internal cavity,—if it be 
deeply inserted in the soil,—if, when detached, 
it speedily fade and die,—if, when dead, it merely 
ferment, but do not putrefy,—if it burn without 
the odour of a burnt quill or horn,—and if its 
| residue be very considerable and chiefly carbon, 
—then we may venture to declare it to be a plant. 
These characters are sufficient, and can, in gen- 
In this enumeration, 
no allusion has been made to sensation as a dis- 
tinctive mark of the two classes of living beings ; 
because, in the lowest classes of animals, where 
alone any difficulty can arise, it is only from the 
property of irritability that we can infer sensa- 
tion. The phenomena of reproduction have like- 
wise not been alluded to, because it is in the 
lowest animals, which we are the most likely to 
confound with plants, that this power is still in- 
volved in great obscurity, or altogether unknown. 
It is not, as we might at first sight suppose, the 
most perfect, or, to speak more correctly, the 
most complicated plants that are likely to be mis- 
taken for animals. A moment’s reflection will 
readily show how utterly impossible it is to con- 
found a plant, bearing leaves and flowers, with 
any animal whatever. But it is otherwise with 
the less characterized beings; and the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms may be compared to two 
mighty pyramids, which touch each other by their 
bases, while their opposite vertices diverge to two 
infinitely remote points in either direction. 
“Tf we divest ourselves of the popular preju- 
dices in favour of long-established divisions,” say.s 
Cuvier, “and consider the animal kingdom upon 
the principles already laid down, without refer- 
ence to the size of the animals, their utility, the 
ANIMAL. 
greater or less knowledge we may have of them, 
or to any of these accidental circumstances, but 
solely in reference to their organization and gen- 
eral nature, we shall find that there are four 
principal forms, or (if we may use the expression) 
four general plans, upon which all animals appear 
to have been modelled. The minor subdivisions, 
by whatever titles they may be ornamented by 
naturalists, are merely slight modifications of 
these great divisions, founded upon the greater 
development or addition of some parts, while the 
general plan remains essentially the same. 
1. VertEesrata— Vertebrated Animals. 
“In the first of these forms, which is that of 
man, and of the animals most resembling him, 
the brain and the principal trunk of the nervous 
system are enveloped in a bony covering, com- 
posed of the cranium or skull, and the vertebree 
or bones of the neck, back, and loins. To the | 
sides of this medial column are attached the 
ribs, and the bones of the limbs, forming collec- 
tively the framework of the body. The muscles, 
in general, enclose the bones which they set in 
motion, and the viscera are contained within the 
head and trunk. Animals possessed of this form 
are called vertebrated animals (Animalia verte- 
brata) from their possessing a vertebral column or 
spine. They are all supplied with red blood, a 
muscular heart, a mouth with two jaws, one be- 
ing placed either above or before the other, dis- 
tinct organs of sight, hearing, smell, and taste, in 
the cavities of the face, and never more than | 
four limbs, ‘The sexes are always separate, and 
the general distribution of the medullary masses, 
with the principal branches of the nervous sys- 
tem, are nearly the same in all. Upon examin- 
ing attentively each of the parts of this extensive 
division of animals, we shall always discover some 
analogy among them, even in species apparently 
the most removed from each other ; and the lead- 
ing features of one uniform plan may be traced 
from man to the lowest of the fishes.” The fol- 
lowing are examples of vertebrated animals: Man, 
quadrupeds, whales, birds, serpents, frogs, tor- | 
toises, herrings, carps, &c. 
2. Motitusca—Molluscous Animals. 
“Tn the second form of animals we find no skele- 
ton. The muscles are attached solely to the skin, 
which forms a soft envelop, capable of contracting 
in various ways. In many species earthy laminz 
or plates, called shells, are secreted from the skin, 
and their position and manner of production are 
analogous to those of the mucous bodies. The 
nervous system is placed within this covering 
along with the viscera; and the former is com- 
posed of numerous scattered masses, connected 
by nervous filaments. The largest of these masses 
are placed upon the cesophagus, or gullet, and are 
distinguished by the term brain. Of the four 
senses which are confined to particular organs, 
we can discover traces only of taste and of sight, 
~~ 
