Essays and observations on natural history, anatomy, physiology, psychology, and geology

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HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

; 1

JffflHW MEJFTIEIS, F.E.S

o

ESSAYS J.ND, OBSERVATIONS^

ON

'. NATURAL HISTORY, ANATOMY,
PHYSIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND GEOLOGY.

By JOHN HUNTER, F.R.S :

BEIXO

HIS POSTHUMOUS PAPERS ON THOSE SUBJECTS,

ARRANGED AND RE\7SED, WITH NOTES :

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

THE INTRODUCTORY LECTURES
ON THE HUNTERIAN COLLECTION OF FOSSIL REMAINS,

DBLITBSEO IN

V

. -THK THEATBE OF THE ROYAL COLLSOB OF SUBQRONS OF KNOLANB,

MABCH 8TH, 10th, A5D 12th, 18^5 :

By RICHARD QWEN, F.R.S., D.C.L.,

BUPERIKTEVDEST OT THE NATURAL HI8T0RT DEPARTMENTS, BRITrSII MUSEUM;

FULLEEIAN PEOFRSSOR OF PHT8I0L0GT IN THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF OREAT BRITAIN ;

FOREIGN ASSOCIATE OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, ETC.

VOLUME^I.

t^'//^

•LONDON:

JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.

MDCCCLXI.

/

'^ "7<^'*S.C

HARVARD COLLECt Lisiirtai

^ 7. S'O

PRINTED BT TAYLOB AND FSANCIS,
KKD LION COURT, FLEET STBEIT.

TO

THE FELLOWS AND MEMBERS

OP TIIK

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND,

THIS EDITION

OP HUNTEE'S POSTHUMOUS PAPERS,

THE PREPARATION OF WHICH TERMINATES THE EDITOR'S

LABOURS IN MAEING KNOWN THE THOUGHTS AND WORKS OF

THE FOUNDER OF PHILOSOPHICAL SURGERY,

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.

ADVERTISEMENT.

It was known to some friends of Mr. Clift, F.R.S., Conservator
of th€ Masenm of the Royal College of Surgeons^ that, daring the
period between 1798 and 1800, when he had sole charge of the
Hunterian Collection and Manuscripts, he had copied some pro-
portion of the latter before they were removed from the Museum
in Castle Street, Leicester Square, by the Executor, Sir Everard
Home.

Of this fact I first became aware when engaged in preparing the
' Catalogue of the Physiological Series of the Hunterian Collection
in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,' having then
received from Mr. Clift transcripts of MSS. containing Hunter's
schemes of classification of animals according to the Heart, Brain,
&c., printed in the third volume of that Catalogue, 1835, as from
" the Copy of a Hunterian Manuscript in the possession of Mr.
Clift,'' p. V ; and, subsequently, copies of Mr. Cliffs transcripts of
Hunter's " Experiments on the Impregnation of Ewes," " ib. of
Sows," and ''Observations on the Humble-bee," which are printed
in the fifth volume of that Catalogue, 4to. 1840, pp. 38, 131,
and 185.

A short time previous to Mr. Cliffs decease, he placed in my
hands the whole of his transcripts of the Hunterian Manuscripts,
with an autograph statement of the important fact ; and a ' Note '
respecting those MSS. which will be found in the Appendix B,
p. 497.

VI ADVERTISEMENT.

They were much more numerous than I had anticipated^ and
included copies of most of those MSS. which are specified in Mr.
Clift^s evidence before the *' Medical Committee of the House of
Commons'' (Appendix B).

After Mr. Cliffs decease I proceeded to classify the Subjects of
the MSS.; to prepare 'press-copies' of them; to determine the
Species of animals therein referred to^ and especially of those of
which Himter's 'Notes of Dissection' were thus preserved; to
compare the descriptions of structures in those notes with the
Preparations in the Hunterian Collection^ in order to refer to the
preparations of parts of animals which are described in the
Anatomical MSS.^ or which relate to propositions recorded in the
Physiological Essays.

Where the number only of the Preparation is given^ as at vol. i.
p. 20^ or where the abbreviation " Phys. Series " is added in the
foot-note^ it refers to the '' Physiological Series of Preparations in
Spirits/' as numbered in the ''Descriptive and Illustrated Cata-
logue " of that series^ 4to, 5 vols. 1833 — 1840. These Preparations
are now (1861) arranged in the galleries of the 'third' museum of
the Boyal College of Surgeons^ Lincoln's Inn Fields. Where
Hunterian specimens in other series are referred to^ the name of
the series or its Catalogue is added^ as ' Osteol. Series^' ' Series of
Monsters/ ' Dry Preparations^' 'Catal. of Fossils/ &c. The numbers
of the Osteological specimens are those by which they are referred
to in my " Descriptive Catalogue of the Osteological Series/' 4to,
2 vols. 1853 : those of the Fossil specimens, as at pp. 814, 817, vol.
i., are the numbers in the " Descriptive Catalogue of the Fossils/'
4to, 3 vols. 1845, 1854, and 1856.

Explanatory Notes have been sparingly appended. I believed
that the Physiologist, Anatomist, or Naturalist might prefer to
frame his own explanation of phenomena alluded to, and would be
able to make his own comparison of Hunter's views with the
present state of science.

The Editor's notes are distinguished from Hunter's by being
placed below the line, within brackets, and by having numerals
prefixed instead of the usual marks of reference. Those by Mr.
Clift are marked by his initials W. C. The parentheses of Hunter
are bracketed thus ( ) ; those of the Editor thus [ ] .

ADVERTISEMENT. Vll

Save in the eaae of grammatical error, or some very obvious
omission, which has been supplied in the brackets [ ], I have rarely
meddled with the text : it is here and there obscure enough to teat
the acumen of a skilled logician to decipher the sense. But it is
always a matter of interest to endeavour to make out the meaning
of a deep and original thinker ; and different minds, unbiassed by
any suggestion of the Editor, may be induced to give their views of
Hunter's meaning, and their opinions of his conclusions. It may
be interesting also to some, standing on the vantage ground of
seventy years' progress, to know what such a self-taught philosopher
did not know on the subjects he grappled with : and a small pro*
portion of the present writings of Hunter may chiefly serve to illus*
trate his mental peculiarities and shortcomings.

To those who are conversant with Hunter's style, other testimony
of the authenticity of the present writings will be superfluous : and
it has seemed to the Editor that the requirements of science would
be best met by presenting these writings ' pure and simple,' as
Hunter left them.

With the exception of the very small proportion, of which the
subjects are noted in the 'Table of Contents,' or in 'Appendix B,'
they are now for the first time published.

That Mr. Clift had himself contemplated their publication, is
probable from the annotations which he had himself appended to
his transcripts. These are given, with his name, in the present
edition, which is, indeed, the fulfilment of his last wish on the
subject.

Mr. Clift's original Copies of the Hunterian Manuscripts have
been deposited by me in the '' Library of the Royal College of
Surgeons," in order that my additions or alterations may be tested,
and involuntary omissions or errors corrected.

Some may wish that the world had never known that Hunter
thought so differently on some subjects from what they believed,
and would have desired, him to think. But he has chosen to leave
a record of his thoughts, and, under the circumstances in which
that record has come into my hands, I have felt myself bound to
add it to the common intellectual property of mankind.

VUl ADVERTISEMENT.

The Portrait of John Hunter, the frontispiece of Vol. I.,
is from a bronze medallion, executed in 1791, liberally presented
to the Editor by Charles Hawkins, Esq., F.R.C.S., Inspector of
Anatomy.

The Facsimiles of the Hand- writing of Hunter and Solander,
the frontispiece of Vol. II., are from the original Hunterian MS.
on the ^ Vegetable Economy,^ for which the Editor is much indebted
to Edward Rushworth, Esq., nephew and executor of the late Capt.
Sir Everard Home, Bart., R.N.

CONTENTS.

OBSERVATIONS ON NATURAL lUSTORV.

Intkoduction to Natvbal History. "

P«go

Origin of Natural Productiou^ not to be traced ^ 4

Existing Species are varieties of the original, in the Natural aa well m

the Domesticated Animal 4

Order of the study of Nature 5

Of Matter ii

Its Properties cause Sensations and found the idea of Spirit 7

Its different states, as Solid, Fluid, Vaporous 8

Its different species, as Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal K)

Principle of Classification 10

Nature particularly careful of * Forms* 10

Species and Varieties : 12

Of Animal Matter 12

Comparison between Vegetables and Animals 10

Comparison in the mode of digestion 16

Comparison in the circumstances of ^grafting 18

Comparison in propagation of Species 19

Comparison in being affected by Impresnons 20

Comparison in respect to Matter 21

Comparison by means of Chemistry 22

Comparison in respect to Colour 28

Vegetables and Animals, their point of connexion , . . 23

Vegetables and Animals, their mutual dependence 23

Of Motion in Vegetables 24

Writers on Natural History 24

Arbitrary and Natural Divisions in Natural History 25

Classification of Animals.

Classes of Animals according to their Hearts > 25

Classes of Animals according to their Breathing Organs 26

Classes of Animals according to Essential and Circumstantial correlated

Characters 26

Affinity of Fowl and Amphibia 28

Classes of Animals according to their Brains 28

Classes of Animals according to their modes of Generation 34

X CONTENTS.

Page

Classes of Animals according to their modes of Coitus 34

Classes of Animals according to their Temperature 35

Classes of Animals according to their Size * 35

Classes of Animals according to their Element 35

Of perfect and imperfect Animals 36

Progression and Declension of perfection in Animals 36

On the Origin of Species 37

Varieties of Animals 38

On the Natubal History op Man.

Superiority of Man according to Mind 39

Superiority of Man according to Frame 40

Of the Use of the Feet in Man 40

Of the Bow-leg 41

Difference between Man and the Monkey 43

Comparative Observations between the Human and Brute-kind 45

Special Observations in Natural History.

The Uses of Animals to Man 45

Of the Sociability of Man and of Animals 49

Influence of Parents on manners of yoimg Animals 53

Of the Natural Disposition of Animals towards one another 53

Of the Combative Principle in Animals 54

Of the Rising of Animals 56

Loose Notes, &c. on the Limbs of Animals 57

Progressive Motion of the Newt 57

On the Horse 57

Of the effects that Medicines have on the Horse 58

On the Ass 59

Economy of Crows 59

Economy of Humble-bees 60

Economy of Hornets 73

Loose Notes on Hornets 81

Economy of Wasps 82

Loose Notes on Wasps 92

Economy of Beetles 93

On the Maychafer [ Geotrupes stercoraruui] 93

On the Cockchafer [Melolontha vtdffaris] 95

On the Rose-beetle [ Cetonia aurata] 96

On the Grasshopper [Pfuisgoneura viridissima] 96

On the Dragon-fly [JEsthna grandis] -. 98

On the Aphis Ahietis 99

On the White Evening-Moth [^Porthisia chry8orr?K£a'] 100

On the White Butterfly [Pmtia Brassica] 101

On the Ant 101

On the Rat-tailed Fly [Mmca (Eristalis) tenax] 102

On the Gnat ICulex piptens] 102

^

«

C0NT£NT8. XI

Page

On the Bug [^Cimex lecUdarius] 108

On the External Characteis of Insects 104

On the Senses of Insects 104

On the Nourishment of Insects 106

Of the Store or Fat of Insects 105

Of the Food of Insects 105

Of the Digestion of Insects 106

Of the Teeth of Insects 108

Of the Weapons of Insects 108

Of the Heart and Blood of Insects 107

Of the Circidation in Insects 107

Of the Respiratory Organs of Insects. : . . , 106

Of the Water Spider IHydraehna] 108

On the River Crawfish [Astacusjbtriatilis] 100

On the Earthworm [^iMmbncua terredria] 100

On the Oeographical Distribution of Animals Ill

OBSERVATIONS ON PHYSIOLOGY.

Op Life and the Livtno Principle.

Analogy of Life to Combustion 113

Living Principle, its union with Body 114

Living Principle, its Nature and Degrees 114

Living Principle, illustrated by the mutual attraction of Parts for union 115

Of Simple Life 116

Loss of Simple Life 118

Degrees of Simple Life 118

Action adverse to Simple Life 118

Degrees of Excitements and Sedatives 119

On Animal Heat 120

On Respiration^ Igl

On the Blood 126

On the Circulation 126

Of the Arteries -. 127

Of the Veins 127

Of the Absorbents ^ 128

Of the Heart^ 128

Of the Uses of Arteries 132

Of the Vitality of Arteries 133

Of the Origins of Arteries 133

Of the Food 136

Of the Teeth» 137

Reasons for a space between the Cutters and Grinders of Quadrupeds 140

^ [An extract from this MS. had been prefixed by Hunter to the MS. Catalogue
transferred with the Collection to the Museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons,
and is printed in the Physiological Catalogue, vol. ii. p. 66.]

2 [lb. vol. ii. p. 26.] » [lb. vol. i. p. 77.]

Xll CONTENTS.

I

Page

Of the Fonnation of the Teeth of the Horse 141

Of the Kelation of Teeth to Food 143

Of Eating 143

Of Drinking 144

Of the (Esophagus 144 <

Of the Stomach ^ 144

Of Digestion 146

Of the Intestines 148 (

Of Air in the Bowels 160

Of the Excrements 160

Of the Absorbents ; 161

Of the Lymphatic Glands 163

Of the Natural Lubricating Fluids 164

Of the Organs of Secretion 166

Of the Liver 165

Notes and Queries on Bile 166

Of the Gall-bladder 167

Of the Pancreas 168

Of the Kidneys^ 168

Notes and Queries on the Kidney 162

Of parts whose uses are not known [Supra-renal bodies and Spleen] . . 162

Of the Oil or Fat 168

Of the Brain and Nerves 163

Sensibility arising from involuntary actions of Voluntary Parts 166

1' i

Of the Senses.

Of Seeing 166

Of the Orbits 167

Of the Choroid Coat 168

Of Motion of the Iris 168

Ofthe Flatness of the Bottom of the Eyes 168

Of the Size of Eyes in diflerent Animals 168 ^

On Squinting ; 169

Of the Gutta Serena 169

Of the Organ of Hearing ^ 171

Of Hearing 175

Of the Effects of Sound upon Animals 176 g

Of the Organ of Smell ^ 177

Of Smelling 179

Of the Organ of Taste ' 180

Of the Progress of the Senses, especially Taste 182

Relative Durability of Impressions in the different Organs of Sense .... 182

Of the Organ of Touch« 182

Of the Voices of Animals 183

1 [Physiological Catalogue, vol. i. p. 112.] ^ [n,. vol. ii. p. 111.]

3 [lb. vol. iu. p. 100.] * [lb. vol. iii. p. 85.]

5 [lb. vol. iii. p. 61.] * [lb. vol. iii. p. 53.] ^

- 7/

CONTENTS. XIII

Pago
Observations on Qrnkbation.

On the diatinctiTe ChaiBcten of the Sexee 1H4

Sexes^ distinctive characten of, inappreciable at early agpe 18t)

Sexes, distinctive characteis of, are deviations from a common t^-pe 18()

Sexes, relative degree of deviation in the two 1H(I

Generation, physical causes of pleasure in the act of 1H(1

Generation, mental influence over the act of 1H7

Sexes, their relative pugnacity when in heat 1^

Seasons for Breeding 1^7

Seasons for Breeding, influence of heat on 1^7

Testes, relation of vesicul® seminales to size of 1H7

Testes, their shape 1H8

Testes, exit from abdomen in Brutes 1H8

Testes^ condition of tunica vaginalis of^ in Brutes 188

Testes, origin of vessels of 18H

Prostate, its relative position in Man, as deducible from disease 1^<H

Seminal reservoirs in the Fowl and Shark 1^W

Semen, its smell and taste 1H()

Mucus of Urethra IHJ)

Penis, cause of erection. . . « l8i>

Penis, its sympathy with Bladder IW)

Penis, its muscularity in the Horse 180

Ovaria, persistent in Yertebrata, except Osseous Fishes 100

Oraria, temporary also in Crustacea and some Insects 100

Oviducts, in ' Ovipara' 101

Oviducts, in ^ Vivipara vera,* or ' Fallopian tubes' 101

Uterus, where doable 101

Uterus, its functions 101

Uterus, is the seat of the menstrual discharge 102

Uterus, round ligaments of, analogous to cremaster 102

Vagina, pecidiar to ' Vivipara vera* 102

Vulva aiid Pudenda 102

CUtoris 103

Menses, source of 103

Coitus, why debilitating 103

Coitus, difference of desire for, in male and female l&l

Coitus, exemplified by male Ass and female Zebra 104

Saperfoetation in the Goat 106

Superfoetation in the Negress 105

Motion of Foetus in Utero , 105

Modes of matemo->foetal communicatioa 106

Foetus and its membranes in the Utenis Bicomis 106

Impregnation, experiments on Sows 107

Impregnation, experiments on an Ass 100

Pboobess and Peculiabtetes of the Chick^
Of the Egg of the Bird 100

^ [The original MS. accompanied the Himterian drawings of the development of

XIV CONTENTS.

Page

Principles governing the Formation of Animals 203

Methods of examining the progress of the Chick in the Egg. , 206

Of the Membranes of the Chick , 207

Of their use 210

Of the Formation of the parts of the Chick 211

Of the Blood's Motion in the Chick 212

Of the peculiar Arteries in the Chick 213

Of the peculiar Veins in the Chick 213

Of the Brain and Spinal Marrow 214

Of the Formation of the Intestine 214

Of the Vivification of the Embryo 216

Gbnebation of Fish and Shbll-fish.

Generation of the Eel 216

Generation of the Lamprey. 218

Generation of the Limnea stagndlis 221

Generation of the Paludina vtvipara 221

Generation of the Anodon cygnem 221

Generation of vthe Ostrea edulis 222

Gknbbation of Insects.

Of the Parts of Generation 223

Male parts of a large Moth 223

Male parts of the Kose-beetle [Cetoma aurata] , 223

Of the Laying of the Eggs of Moths 224

Longevity of Insects according to period of Oviposition 224

Two-fold Birth of Flying Insects 226

Notes and Queries on Insect-metamorphosis 227

Notes and Queries on Generation.

Relation of G^erative Parts to Grade of Species 227

Influence of the Male on Gestation, in sexes of different species 228

Relation of size of offspring to number produced and mode of develop-
ment 229

Different proportions of parts in Young and Old Animals 230

Of the Breast 230

Relation of Nipples to the Number of Oflfepring 233

Query, On the Suckling of the Whale-tribe 284

Effects of Castration and Spaying 234

Case of Testes not influencing the Constitution . , 237

Enlargement of the Breasts in the Male 238

On Monsters.
Introduction 239

the chick, and is preserved with them in the Boytd College of Surgeons : it is printed
with my notes in the Physiological Catalogue, vol. v.]

CONTENTS. XV

Monsters in Crystals 5^

Monsters in Vegetables 241

Monsters in Animals. . , 242

Monsters before Birth 24S

Monsters after Birth 245

Monsters Hereditary 246

Supernumerary parts, how fiur affected by the Will 247

Are particular Species subject to particular Monstrosities P 248

Classification of Monsters 248

On Hermaphroditism 249

Notes and Queries on Monsters 260

Double-headed Snakes 251

OBSERVATIONS ON PSYCHOLOGY.

On Consciousness 252

On the Mind 266

Affections or States of Mind 260

On the Action of the Brain 261

On Eeason 262

On Ideas from Sensation 263

On Command or Presence of Mind 264

On Fear 287

On Superstition 267

On Deceit 268

Periods of Life as characterized by Mental Operations 271

On Hereditary Right 275

On Sympathies 275

On Appetite and Passion 276

On Instinct 277

Notes and Queries on Imitation and Custom 278

Miscellaneous Notes and Apophthegms 279

OBSERVATIONS ON PALAEONTOLOGY.

Lectttbe I. On Huntbb's pbinted Papeb on Fossils 281

Modes and Aims of studying Anatomy 281

History of Hunter's published Paper on Fossils 286

History of Hunter's posthumous Paper on Fossils 292

Lecture H 296

Lectube hi. On Hunteb's MS. Papeb on Fossils 297

Definition of 'Extraneous Fossils' 297

Extension of the term to ' Moulds,' ' Casts ' and ' Impressions ' 298

True mode and limits of the study of Geology 299

Historical sketch of Geology to the time of Hunter 299

Comparison of JFossils to Historical Monuments, Coins and Medals .... 303

XVI CONTENTS.

Page

Changes on the earth's surface superficial, not deep 304

Fossils coeval, as a rule, with the strata in which they are imbedded . . 305

Relative age of granite and igneous rocks 306

Alternations of sea and land in the same place 307

Vast lapse of time during such alternations 307

Changes of climate due to change in the ecliptic 308

Probability of extinction of species 311

Subsequent proof by Cuvier 312

Definitions of Fossils 313

Ichthyolites of Verona (Tertiary) and Pappenheim (Permian) compared 314

Processes of fossilization 316

Processes of imbedding of fossil remains 316

Fossil woods 317

Antiquity of the Human species 319

Inadequacy of Mosaic Deluge to account for geological phenomena .... 322

Aqueous causes of these phenomena 323

Inferences as to their nature from fossil shells 325

Special geological observations, Valley of the Thames 325

Special geological observations, Alentejo in Portugal 326

Igneous causes of geological phenomena 329

Organic causes of geological phenomena 330

Subsequently discovered geological dynamics 334

Demonstration of extinction and succession of species by Cuvier 336

Conclusion 338

OBSERVATIONS ON PHYTOLOGY.

Of Vegetable Life 341

Of suspension of its Actions 342

Of the movement of Sap 343

01 the Bark 344

Experiments by barldng Trees 345

Of the Growth of Plants 348

Of Climbing Plants 354

Solander's Letter 355

Of Motion in Vegetables 356

Experiments on the Sensitive Plant 369

Of Relaxation in Vegetables 360

Of Sympathy in Vegetables 360

Of the Action of Lighten Vegetables 362

Of the Leaves and their Fall 363

Of the Naturid Decay of parts of Vegetables 365

Of Buds 365

Of generation and germination in Vegetables 367

Of monsters in Vegetables 368

Loose Notes 368

A TREATISE ON ANIMALS.

Book L On the Structure and Composition of Animal Bodies.

Introduction 369

• •

CONTENTS. . XVU

Page

Order or Progress of the Study of Anatomy 371

Of the Skeleton in general 372

Of the Membranous Skeleton. 374

Of the Cartilaginoas Skeleton 375

Of the Homy Skeleton 376

Of the Bony Skeleton 376

Of the Spine 881

Of the Limb-bones 383

Of Ligaments 383

Pbacticaii Anatomy.

Of the Arrangement of Anatomical Preparations 384

Of Injected Preparations 385

OfSyringes 386

Of Inj ections 386

f common 386

, oily 886

y watery 387

y by the veins 387

Of Corroded Preparations • 388

y injections for • 380

, colours for 300

Treatment of parts after injection for corrosion 301

after corrosion 301

Of Dry Preparations 802

y colours for 302

y vamiBhing 303

Of the Preparation of Bones 304

Of Transparent ditto 805

Of Wet Preparations 305

y their colour 305

y their preserving liquors 806

y exposing parts of 307

y suspending in spirits 307

y tying over the bottles for 808

^—y shifting 308

y of diseased parts 308

Of Embalmiog 808

1

t

^

ESSAYS AND PAPERS

OBSERVATIONS ON NATURAL HISTORY.

Introduction to Natural History.

UUE. ideas of the first formation of the world, of the production and
distinctioiis of vegetables and animals, and of the alteration which has
taken place in the course of time, can only anse from observation on
the present state, or £rom history, of things.

As to History, the Sacred Writings, which are probably some of the
earliest, give us an account of the beginning of the world and its pro-
ductions. But as Moses derives his authority from powers we cannot
admit into natural causes and effects, we must leave the first formation
of things, and take them up as formed.

However, if we. were to take up this subject as it now appears, and
apply that to what is past, we should deceive ourselves, for time is
continually producing changes.

It must be confessed that in Moses' accoimt of the beginning of the
world and its productions there is something classical or scientific ; for
he divides the labours of the Six Days very naturally. The first two
days were employed in the formation of the globe, and everything
relating to it. Then on the third day the earth brought forth grass,
&c., yielding seed of its own kind. On the fifth day the waters brought
forth fish and fowl ; and on the sixth day the earth brought forth the
beasts of the earth ; and last of all Man was formed. Now this is a
natural rise or progression from the most imperfect to the most perfect.

Moses has been [more] particular in his account of Man than of any
of the other creatures ; but, from him, it would appear that only one
Man was formed in the supernatural way he describes. Yet, from the
history, we are naturally led to suppose that there were more, either
produced, or existing at that time, as Cain went to another part of the

2 INTRODUCTION TO

globe and got him a wife; he was also afraid of being killed by
strangers on being turned out.

The same history brings us much nearer, viz. the Flood ; where it is
positively asserted that every living thing was drowned, except seven of
each species that were clean and two of every sort that was unclean*.
And likewise that there were but one man, his wife and offspring
saved. Later historians have throvm but little light upon this subject,
and many have only endeavoured to make the present appearances clash
with the account given in the Old Testament.

Man is bom or comes into the world ignorant ; but he is furnished
with the senses, so as to be impressed with the properties of things ; by
which means he gradually, of himself, acquires a degree of knowledge.
But Man goes farther, he has the power of receiving information of
things that never impressed his senses : and, if he has that power, it is
natural to suppose that one Man has the power of communicating his
knowledge of things to another, each giving and receiving reciprocally ;
which we find to be the case.

And it must also follow, in a connected series, that the mind is
capable of connecting signs or types of things with the things them-
selves, so as to form in the mind a something simileir to an impression
on the sense to which the sign or type refers, called an ' idea.' If this
was not the case, knowledge would never increase.

This of signs, although natural in themselves, yet are arbitrary in
their modes, therefore varies^ : by which means, knowledge is in some
degree preserved, and by which means it increases ; which leads the
mind on further and further ; and which, as it were, leads the mind
into the study of natural things. Therefore, impb\,ady of Natural
History is ah effect of considerable advancement in ciHilization and in
the' cultivation and improvement of natural things ; and, therefore, the
study is posterior to those advancements.

Men, at first, hardly considering those things which were the cause
of their sensations, therefore were guided by instinctive principles, and
a kind of habit arising out of practice ; for civilization, cultivation, and
improvement took place at first by slow and almost imperceptible

* The idea affixed to clean and unclean were those that were eatable and those
that were not eatable.

^ [The following is an attempt to make the meaning clearer in the above charac-
teristic example of Hmiter's occasional obscurity : —

"This [subject or system] of signs, [which signs] although natural in themselves,
yet are arbitrary ia their modes, therefore varies." Although why an unvaiying
(system of spoken or written) signs of ideas, might not have served as well as a varying
one, for the preservation and transmission of knowledge, is not very apparent].

NATURAL HISTORY. S

degrees. Men, then, hardly considering what they did know, hecanae
perhaps they knew bnt little in proportion to what they saw, the
transition from one improyement to another was gradoal ; whereby
they almost lost sight of the past by its having become ikmiliar to
them ; and they had not the means nor the disposition to record it
farther than by narration, which is called ' Tradition/

As cnltiyation makes considerable changes and improTementB in
natoral things, and as, from the aboye reasons, we are in a great
d^pree ignorant both of those improvements and their cause, it becomes
difficult to know what these improvements are and to acconnt for the
causes of many appearances now existing, or to know with any degree
of certainty what [natural things] were original and what are still
original, viz. what has not undergone any change from cultivation and
what has. JPor it is evident by cfassing nature, and so by bringing
things into their ultimate dass, viz. species, that there is in a great
number of species a considerable variety in the same : and, from this
variety in the same species, it becomes a doubt whether they were all
original, or whether any one of them are original, or none of them ; or,
if any one be original, which that one is.

But those improvements, &c. in natural productions can only take
place in vegetable and animal matter, those being the only matter that
has the power of reproducing itself. For the common mass of earth
appears to have no power of reproduction, therefore no permanent
principle of variation : for, when parts of the mass do vary, it is from
some immediate cause as a mixture of different substances, &c., which
terminates withJtf*^^'* '^ I therefore may be called accidental.

If the study of JCfaWal History had been coeval with its own ad-
vancement, anonad that advancement been communicated to the world,
as it arose, for the improvement of mankind ^ we should not now be at
a loss to account for many appearances that owe their birth to changes
that have taken place in the productions of Nature by Time, of which
we are at present ignorant. But, as the advancement in knowledge
had gone considerable lengths before the certain means of communi-
cating it was known, as also what may be called a permanent mode of
communication, — and as, where those means were known yet a dis-
position [to use them] was wantrog, [there being] besides, a d^ree of
superstition and a bias for the marvellous, which is always introduced
with ignorance, — ^it is no wonder we are left in the ignorant state we
are in at present.

^ [If the study of Nature had been coeyal with the changes in Nature, and those
changes had heen recorded as they arose, &c.]

b2

4 INTRODUCTION TO

Therefore, to make up the loss as much as possible, it is incumbent
on us to go as far back as our knowledge directs us ; to compare those
[states of things] with great care and accuracy with the present ; and
to mark down what state things are now in ; [in order] that future
ages may be able to account for what we are now ignorant of. Por,
by their being acquainted with what has happened within the History
of Natural Things, the state that things were in prior to such in-
quiries — ^those changes prior to the present — ^may be hereafter toler-
ably well accounted for.

To attempt to trace any natural production to its origin, or its first
production, is ridiculous ; for it goes back to that period, if ever such
existed, of which we can form no idea, viz. the beginning of time.
But, I think, we have reason to suppose there was a period in time in
which every species of natural prdttuction was the same ; there then
being no variety in any species ; but the variations taking place on the
surface of the earth, such as the earth and water changing situations,
which is obvious ; as also the change in the poles or ecliptic, which
I think is also obvious. The varieties [so produced] are but few and
are still existing in what may be called the ' Natural ' Animal. Also
civilization has made varieties in many species, and without number,
which are the 'Domesticated.*

In the study of any science, the principles of which are not univer-
sally known or understood, it becomes not only necessary to teach the
science itself or what its principles are, but it is always necessary to
say what it is not ; for, from a want of a sufficient knowledge of the
subject, many sciences have been blended with one another so as to
unite them where they had no connexions, and thus [they have been]
falsely made to appear to belong to each other : by which means it was
difficult to say where one principle began and another ended, or that |

there was any one principle inseparable from another.

The most familiar or most known is commonly used to explain the
most unintelligible. Thus, for instance. Mechanics were introduced to
explain the effects produced by Chemistry, and both Mechanics and
Chemistry (which last was partly explained by Mechanics) have been
introduced as the cause of many of the operations both of the Vegetable
and Animal productions, in which they have not the least share.

In the Natural History of Vegetables and Animals, therefore, it will
be necessary to go back to the first or common matter of this globe,
and give its general properties ; then see how far these properties are
introduced into the vegetable and animal operations ; or rather, perhaps, (

how far they are of use or subservient to their actions. i

All matters, of whatever kind, have properties common to them all, '

I

f

NATURAL HISTORY. 5

b7 which they are called * Matter/ as Solidify, Fluidity, Vapour, Form,
Weight, so as to become the immediate object of the senses : bat all
Matter has properties abstracted from those which may be called the
specific properties by which one species of matter is distingoished from
that of another — ^the knowledge of which arises from investigation ;
which [properties] may be called ' secondaiy,' some having one, two, or
more secondary properties, others having others, all having some, and
many of these secondary properties being more confined, not being
common to all matter. It is therefore * secondary properties' that in
some degree distingoish one kind of matter from another. Two solid
bodies may have the same solidity, form, weight, &c., yet [consist of] a
very different species of matter from each other — ^for instance, crystal
and calcareous earth may have the above properties in conmion with

^ each other, yet differ very much from one another in many other pro-

perties.

When they are to undergo some change, one will not be affected by
any acid, while the other is totally dissolved, which becomes one dis-
tinguishing mark between these two substances or species of matter.
But, although dissolving in an add is one characteristic of calcareous
earth, yet it must have others to distinguish it from other earths that have
the same property of solution in an acid. Magnesia \_e, g, so resembles

« c^careous earth], but its forming a selenite with the vitriolic acid makes

a distinction. But, perhaps, the true character of calcareous earth is,
its affinity to animal and vegetable substances, when simple ; although
this last property is not peculiar to this earth, for alkalies are endowed
with the same. Alkalies have properties that the calcareous earths
have not, by which they are distingmshed from one another. So that
its fonning a selenite with the vitriolic acid and its reunion with the
vegetable and animal substances become its specific property, while its
solution in an acid in general was only its specific property in the
second degree.

The same observation holds good respecting fiuids : for two fiuids
may have the same fluidity, specific gravity, 4fec., yet be very different
in their other specific qualities. Water is a fluid, so is oil of turpen-
tine, spirits of wine, &c., but their specific properties are very different.
Many earths are vitrifiable, others not ; however, such as are vitri-
fiable have other properties by which they are better known than by
their vitrifaction or not — ^by which they are distinguished — ^the vitrifac-
tion being only considered as a collateral property.

S> Is it possible for an absolute existence to be mutable, or in other

words, is anything that is really existing changeable ? I should be in-
clined to believe that whatever does exist or can exist is not changeable.

6 INTRODUCTION TO

Of Matter.

In the investigatioii of Matter it may be a questLon whether the
thing impressing or the thing impressed, ought to be considered first,
being in themselves coeval or necessarily depending on each other ; but,
as the thing impressed appears to itself to be passive, and as it receives
intelligence of the impressor, it is naturally, from cause and effect, led
to the thing impressing ; and, when it considers itself, it is an abstract
consideration. And, in this iavestigation, we are to consider ourselves
as matter, because we have within ourselves the power of impressing
either ourselves or others ; therefore, ourselves appear to ourselves to
be matter as much as anything else that we call matter.

By matter, then, we mean everything that is capable of making such
impression as to give us some sensation, or, everything that is capable
of affecting by some means or other our senses. This globe, with all
its attendants and modes of action, comprehends every material fit to
produce such effects.

The universe has been divided into * Matter ' and * Spirit ; ' but,
admitting the possibility of such a thing as * spirit,' we cannot possibly
have an idea of it, as it goes beyond matter ; beyond which we cannot
go even in idea*.

Matter is endowed with properties which become the cause of our
sensations ; for it is only the properties in common matter and our im-
pressions combined that produce sensations, or the knowledge of matter
at aU. Therefore, without sensation, no knowledge of matter would
have existed ; and, without matter, no sensation could have existed ;
therefore matter and our senses perfectiy correspond. But our senses,
simply, do not give us an exact idea of the immediate impression ; m
many [instances they give us] a reference only to something else, to
that which becomes the immediate use or application of such impression ;
and that is owing to the mode of immediate impression being invisible
in itself, or being incapable of affecting in this action any other sense,
and therefore is referred to another cause.

* This world has been diyided into ' Matter ' and • Spirit.' Matter abstracted
from proportion could only just strike our senses ; but there were properties that
could, in idea, be abstracted from Matter, which [abstractions] were called ' Spirit.*
Spirit was a something superadded to, and therefore distinct from, matter; but
a mor» just idea of these two is to suppose that ' Spirit ' is only a property of
• Matter '1.

1 [This is an instance of one of those * Notes ' in which Hunter endeavours to
make more intelligible, some idea the expression of which he found difficult or
oppressive.]

NATURAL HI8T0BT* 7

Toucli is probably the only seiifle that is cognizable by another aenae
besides the immediate sensation ; and, indeed, taste may be suppoeed
to be the same ; but taste certainly goes a step further.

If we see a body in motion before us, we are [led] from the habit of
combining this motion and the impression of its touching us, to act
accordingly, either by avoiding, meeting, &c. ; so that these two be-
come the great cause and guide of most of our actions : but all this is
no more than what is, probably, common to all animals endowed with
such senses [as ours]. Therefore Man goes further into the cause of
sensation : finding that sight only helps out touch, but touch not sight,
he inquires how sight is produced. The same in [regard to] sound:
for, although touch remotely and sight immediately help us to the
remote cause of sound, yet not to the immediate cause of the sensa-
tion. The same [may be said] of smell and taste.

Man is not satisfied with the modes only of immediate impression, or
with the combiuation of sensation simply in the mind ; but he goes into
the investigation of such masses of matter as produce these effects,
comparing them with each other, and [investigating] the common pro-
perties of each as a whole, which gives us the principle of what is
calLed ' Experimental Philosophy.' Thus he considers solidity, fluidity,
and vapour, the difference in the attractions called weight, with all the
different properties of which it is composed. He then applies these
different properties to different purposes, which constitutes * Mechanics ; '
but that is taking matter only in the gross. But he takes any one
species of matter, separates it, and considers it abstracted from our sen-
sations ; and finds that it is, or may be, composed of a variety of such
matters as strike our different senses in common ; and then we say
that such is composed of such other species of matter, and we again
combine or unite.

Observation carries him still farther ; for he finds effects that are not
cognizable by any of our senses : therefore he reasons from analogy,
as in the case of that [ideal] substance [concerned in reducing] the calx
of metals to the metallic form, commonly called ' Phlogiston.'

He even goes further, for he forms in the mind abstract data to
reason upon, which is the groundwork of * Metaphysics.'

Matter being endowed with properties which become the cause of our
sensations, and the modes of action of those properties being hardly
known, these properties become the foundation of the idea of spirit, viz.
a species of intelligent quality that presides over and directs the actions
of matter. But, as causes and effects of matter seem to be entirely
connected with matter itself, and to be a property inherent in and
inseparable from it, and as these are becoming better known, the * pre-

8 INTRODUCTION TO

siding spirits ' axe every day vanishing, and their authority becoming
less^

Although ' spirit ' is a good deal exploded from having a share in
the actions of common matter, yet it is still retained in animal matter ;
and, most probably, because the action of animal matter is much more
extensive and has two states, — ^the living and the dead : and, as there
is no difference in the visible mechanism between the two states, it
was natural to suppose that there was what is called an animating or
living spirit.

But matter can have some of its properties changed by very trifling
circumstances. A piece of glass is transparent ; bat, if that piece of
glass be split, it will become less so ; split it into three, still less so ;
and so on tUl it becomes the most opaque body that can be : and still the
whole is composed of transparent glass : therefore, opacity in a whole
does not give the least idea of the transparency of its parts.

The first and great property of matter is what is called its 'vis
inertise ' or resistance, which produces or is the cause of many of the
mechanical effects of matter ; but the effect of this property is increased
by another property in matter, viz. solidity.

Matter is naturally in a solid form, or its parts are united and kept
together by a property called the attraction of cohesion. The effect [of
this property] increases its resistance, because a greater quantity of
matter is brought in to act upon impulse, viz. all that matter that is so
connected.

Eesistance of matter is as the power of union by the attraction of
cohesion and the quantity of matter so united, making one whole, called
a solid body ; but, if divided into small parts which are only in contact,
so as to easily move upon one another, as gravel, &c., then the resist-
ance is as the quantity that is made to move and the friction of the
moving parts upon one another.

Matter in a solid form admits of every possible shape, the attraction
of cohesion of each part being stronger than the attraction of the whole
to its own centre, and which may be called centripetal attraction, or
stronger than the attraction of its parts to the earth. Prom external
shape, joined with sufficient solidity, arise many properties, when
matter is opposed to matter; which becomes the cause of all the
mechanical effects of matter.

But matter can have its attraction of cohesion destroyed, so that its
parts can be made to move upon one another, when it is called a fluid :
then it has only the attraction of fluidity. The resistance of the fluidity

1 The dominant idea of the ' Philosophie Fositire ' of Comte.

NATUBAL HISTORY. 9

of bodies bears some proportion to the resistance of the same bodies
in a solid form — e, g, the resistance of melted lead to that of water
bears some proportion to what solid lead bears to that of ice.

Although matter in general may be rendered fluid, yet it is an nn«
natoral state, and requires other properties in matter to effect it. But, in
some, it is so easily effected, that the common operations in the general
system are in most parts capable of effecting it ; therefore we have
that snbstance, called water, preserved in that state almost everywhere
on the globe, or easily rendered so by art.

Fusion implies solidity. If an impalpable powder is ftised it will
form a solid when cold ; therefore, when quick lime is so heated as to
take on the properties of a fluid, yet it cannot be considered as such,
because it does not become a solid on cooling, but remains a powder as
before.

Vapour is another state of matter where both the attraction of oohe*
sion and the centripetal is destroyed. [It is a state dependent on a
force] which may be called centriAigal or repulsive ; but most probably
is not [due to] a property inherent in the matter itself, but [to its]
being joined with matter which has this power in a great degree, as
fire. The resistance of vapour is as the quantity of matter in a given
space, perhaps bearing no proportion to the solid form of the same
matter ; e, g, perhaps the vapour of mercury may make as littie resist-
ance as that of water. Matter being thrown into vapour is only an increase
of the power which produced fluidity, so that the same principle which
produces the one effects the other.

All matter may be reduced to such smaU parts as to float in any
medium ; for their cohesion to that medium may be increased so as to
destroy the power of gravity.

Does solidity depend upon there being no matter situated between
the particles of matter, such as water, air, or heat ?

We may observe that in Natural Things nothing stands alone ; that
everjrthing in Nature has a relation to or connexion with some other
natural production or productions ; and that each is composed of parts
common to most others but differentiy arranged. Therefore, in every
natural production there is an appearance of aBinity in some of the parts
of its composition [with those of another natural production] ; and
where there are the greatest number of these afiinitics or [correspond-
ing] parts, as also the closer the correspondence or afiinity between
those of one production with those of another, the nearer are those
[natural productions] allied \

* [The principle of * unity of plan' and of 'homologouB parts' is here ex-

10 INTRODUCTION TO

This is not only in the arrangement of the different species of
common matter, but also in the arrangements of the same species of
matter, which constitute the classing of vegetable and animal matter.
Therefore, almost every subject appears to be composed of parts of a
great variety of other subjects ; and, as each part of which it is com-
posed not only belongs to one but to a great variety of other subjects,
every part of any subject becomes classible with those various subjects
to which it belongs. This might be illustrated by anything in Nature.
Every property in man is similar to some property, either in another
animal, or probably in a vegetable, or even in inanimate matter.
Thereby [man] becomes classible with those in some of his parts. But
if one whole was in possession of a single part of every other, then it
-w^ould be impossible to class it. But there is no whole but possesses
several properties that are peculiar to some others ; by which means
wholes can be classed with each other. Thus the four-stomached
animals have somewhat similar teeth and cloven feet. But as these
[resemblances] spin out ad infinitum, the subject of classing, instead
of bringing things together that have a connexion, for the easement of
the mind, would complicate [the matter] so much as in the end to be
unintelligible. Therefore, in classing of things, it is only the great
distinguishing parts that should be arranged. Mankind are classible
into sizes, but it would be very absurd to be very nice in this class.

Natnre,inherfirstformatio;ofbodies,seemstohavebeenparticnlarly
careful of forms, establishing a principle of formation in every distinct
class of beings, whether Mineral, Vegetable or AnimaP ; which principle
becomes their future guide from which every mechanical property arises.
In common matter we have the different crystallizations, which seems
to be the most simple [principle of form] of any ; as it arises entirely
from the nature of the matter of which they^the crystals] are com-
posed ; [as, e. g,'] simply earth, each earth producing a crystal of its own
kind ; or, if compounded, then a crystal according to the compound.
But, in vegetables and animals the principles of formation do not ap-r
pear to arise from the same cause ; although it might witJi more pro-
priety be supposed [to be so] in the vegetable than the animal;
and therefore the different classes of vegetable might be supposed to

pressed ; as well as its application to classification, which Cuvier enumerated in the
following axiom : " Deux espSces quelconques d*dtres organist ont n^oessairement
quelques points d'organisation par lesquels elles se ressemblent. Ces points d'orga-
nisation sont oe qu'on nomme leurs rapports natureh. Plus ils sont nombreux, plus
ces rapports sont grands. — ^Tableau El^mentaire de I'Histoire Naturelle des AniTnu-nT,
p. 15, 8vo, 1798 (An. 6).]

^ [The principle of * morphology * of modem naturalists.]

NATURAL HISTORY. 11

arise from thifl cause [yiz. the nature of the constitaeiit material].
Bat I rather suspect that the true matter of which a Tegetabfe ia
composed is the same in all TegetableB, and that the diffnenoe in the
properties extracted from them when dead, as gums of different kinds»
as also resins, are no more than so many secretiona from them, Ibnned
when alive, as we find in animals.

When those forms correspond with other properties in the bodj,
then they prove one another to he more nearly allied. If a certain
shape of spar denotes it to he calcareons, and if [it he] found ealcareoiis
upon analysis, then there is a correspondency of properties. Chemistiy
detects this analogy ; hecause it is only fmding out first properties of
matter, or separating the first prindples from one another, and then
saying what might be its properties in a solid form or when it formed a
complete body from its compound : but there it leaves us, giving us no
analogical assistance in either v^etables or animals; because the
component parts of either prove nothing in the compound, as they do
in common matter. We cannot say frt>m the analysis of vegetable
or animal matter, what [may be the] kind of vegetable or animal such
matter belongs to : there we must have recourse to another mode of
investigation.

The reason why a v^etable of any particular kind is not detectible
by chemistry, is because vegetables are peculiar arrangements of the
same matter, viz. matter of one kind in all, and are all reducible there-
fore to the same kind by analysis.

In animals we must observe the natural operations of the animal ;
and, where opportunity does not serve us to observe Nature in her
operations, we must put her in the way of [yielding the means of] ob-
serving those natural processes \ We were probably led to the di-
stinct sexes of Plants analogically ; they being found out in this way
in the Date Palm ; and much in the same way we are led to the di-
stinct sexes in Animals.

It is from this universal principle that different arrangements of the
productions of the earth have been formed ; and it is the observing
these affinities and distinctions that constitutes the greater part of
Natural History ; forming it into a science, beginning with oombina-
iions of the most distant affinity and also the fewest in number, and
gradually combining nearer affinities as [knowledge of the] connexions
may arise, fixing appellations to each [combination or group] for the
farther benefit of mankind. In vegetables and animals such [groups]

^ [That is by physiological experiments^ in the derinng and performing ci which
Hunter was pre-eminent.]

12 INTRODUCTION TO

have been distinguislied by the terms dass^ Genus, Species, and varieties
of the Species. The first and third are easily distrngmshed from each
other, as they are at the greatest actual distance ; but it is often
difficult to distinguish between the second and third; as also of the
third itself, whether it be a variety of the Species or only belonging to
the Genus.

This is like the gradations of shade, the two extremes having the
least affinity : but it may not in aU cases be so clear how far the two
last in affinity are in aU their parts really distinct ; that is, it may not
be clear what is a distinct Species of any Genus, they being so nearly
allied in their affinities both in appearance and number.

By Species I believe we now mean, things that have the same rela-
tionship in their most essential properties, however they may differ in
others. ATn'malft breeding in the frill extent of that process constitute
the species, although they may differ in some of their parts or other
circumstances ; but which [differences] are less essential, only consti-
tuting a variety. These varieties in the same species are much greater
in the domesticated animals than in those that are wild ; and this ap-
pears to arise from the unnatural life the domestic animals lead,
giving changes to the constitution so as to affect propagation. Another
cause for it will also be, the preservation of, and the endeavour to pro-
pagate, any accidental variety that may take place [in the domestic
animal] which might be lost in the wild, or at least not cultivated by
human industry, this seldom being in man's power.

Of Animal Matter.

Every thing in Nature is directly classible, and as most things bear
a relation to some other, such relationships are also classible, and that
according to their nearness.

' Species ' is the immediate or direct and ultimate class, and is the
common term for anything that appears to be indivisible or immutable
(it is here to be observed that I do not mean simply species of matter);
but which may vary in a number of other properties, such as being
either simple or compound. If it be simply matter, then it is strictly
a species of matter, and cannot in itself vary but when making one part
of a compound : and, if it be a compound, then it is a property of that
compound arisiag out of the combination that forms the species ; and, if
decomposed, it is no longer that species of compound, but may form
many. A simple species of matter we are probably not acquainted
with; but many species arisiag from combination we are well ac-
quainted with, as water, acids, alkali, &c. ; and we know the species

NATURAL HISTORY. 13

arismg from their being farther compounded ; such as fonning a neutral
salt^ whieh beoomes a species from its peculiar properties.

A watch is a species of instrument for diyiding time, whatever ma-
terials it maybe composed of; and though a watch is indiTinble, yet it
has relationships, such as to a clock or a dial. The relations aooording
to their affinity are also to be classed, which constitutes a genus ; there-
fore we have to every species a genus. A * divider of time' is a genus,
and genera form tribes, &c. Perhaps colours would illustrate this
doctrine oa well as any subject. There are three primitive colours, and
by uniting these by equal proportions thoy appear to give fresh pri-
mitive colours, but which arise from the combination ; and by mizing
them in various proportions all the varieties of colours are produced.

If we consider the vast extent of properties arising from the various
combinations of ten numbers, or the immense variety of ideas expressed
by twenty-four letters, we must see that very few primitives may pro-
duce a vast variety of properties arising from their various combinations.
Although all these divisions are not applied to matter in common, yet
they are as proper for matter at large as for those substances te which
they are applied.

Animal matter is what I should call a species ; not as matter simply,
because it is probably the greatest compound we have, but from its
properties as a combination. The genus may comprehend only the
vegetable and animal [species of matter].

In my Lectures on Surgery I began with disting^uishing the difference
between vegetable matter and animal matter, and also the matter of
the globe ; saying, that common matter had undergone a very consi-
derable change in producing the vegetable and the animal, in which
was not to be found a particle of any species of common matter, there-
fore an entire new arrangement or combination of common matter ; but
that they had sprung from common matter, were supported by it, and
returned to it again.

This was with a view to make our distinctions in the actions of the
body more accurate ; distinguishing with more precision between the
actions of animals, the decompositions and combinations of common
matter which are chemical, and the operation of combinations of com-
mon matter on each other, which is mechanical. Also to show that the
vegetable and animal had powers and modes of action totally different
from those of common matter, either in its chemical or mechanical
operations, and which depended upon their combination with the living
principle ; the whole operations of Nature appearing thus to consist of
a chain of four links.

I observed that animals were formed from and supported by vegetable

14 INTRODUCTION TO

and animal matter ; that the vegetable was formed from and supported
by the matter of the globe, as a medium between the globe itself and
the animals ; for without the vegetable the land animal could not exist.
But, in the waters, more especially the sea, the more inferior orders of
animals are the support of the more perfect, answering to the vegetables
on land ; and being well adapted to that office, the more perfect [sea-
animals] being larger and fewer in number : and, as water alone appeared
to be capable of supporting a vegetable, I observed, that water was the
intermediate medium between earth and vegetable. There is great
reason to suppose that water may be converted immediately into animal
matter by the animal, and that air is only necessary for the completion
of animal matter, let it be formed from whatever materials ; therefore
air is not necessary simply as nourishment, yet may be added to it to
complete it.

As water appears to be capable of supporting both the vegetable and
the animal, but more particularly the vegetable, but the animal ulti-
mately through the vegetable, it must be supposed to be as great a
compound as any substance whatever that has no water in its composi-
tion ; yet, to appearance, water is the simplest ; but it must be of itself
a compound of every species of matter into which we find it capable
of being converted. And, a vegetable or an animal being formed out
of it, proves it. For, there must be in water all the materials for
forming either a vegetable or an animal body ; and, [in its relation] a^i
nourishment to either, it can only be deficient in quantity, not quality.

How far it is possible to make experiments that would prove it im-
possible that anything else could go into the composition of a vegetable
or animal save water, I will not at present determine. If water [is such]
a compound, then Chemistry, we might suppose, could be so applied as
to produce out of it all the different substances we find in either vege-
table or animal matter ; but I should be inclinable to imagine that the
same variety of species of matter, when combined in one way, would
give a very different result when combined in another ; and vegetables
and animals formed from water would give very different results from
chemical analysis.

The late experiments in Chemistry have gone far to analyse water,
even to form it ; for, from Mr. Cavendish's experiment, it would appear
to be composed of common and inflammable air, the proportion of com-
mon to that of inflammable being as one to two and one-fourth*.

These combinations of matter form species having specific names
given them, as Wood, Brass, Clay, &c., to which nothing can be added

* Phil. Trans, vol. Ixxiv. part 1, p. 119, 1784, [which shows that this MS. was
written within ten years of Hunter's death.]

NATURAL BISTORT. 15

but what goes natmally into the composition, to make them more peHiMt
as a species of matter ; for, if it [the bodj not natuimllj a conetitnent]
united with the combination, it would then alter the spedea.

Solution comes the nearest to this idea ; it is a onion of two spedea
to make a third; and, however compounded [the Bptoes of matter may
be], yet they unite as two species ; which is either by solution or
fusion. But all bodies will not fiise and mix, they most hare a relation ;
perhaps such only [will fuse or mix] as constitato a genua.

Thus, if we make salts a genus, two qpedes will mix and retain the
general property of salt. If we make metals a genua, they mix or loae,
retaining the property of a metal. But species of two different tribes
will not fuse, excepting to produce a very different compoond, such aa
glass ; and this requires much more violenee than the union of two
species of the same genus.

Glass by this means becomes a spedea, although we know it to be
made up of several species. Therefore, in any spedea of matter,
although compounded of a variety of different spedes which were
themselves compounded, the compound from a new combination may
become a distinct spedes. There cannot be in the spedes of ^asa now
formed a single part as a spedes of any of the species of which it is
composed. For instance, neither calcareous earth, clay, or fixed alkali
is to be found [as such] in glass ; they are all decomposed [and the
characters lost] on which their species depended. Nor is calcareous
earth, clay, iron, or volatile alkaU to be found in animal matter, till
after this is decomposed, and they then have combined as such ; therefore
such is not in animal matter. A piece of animal matter is wholly dis-
solvable in a caustic alkali ; but, if that animal substance is analysed,
parts of it will not dissolve ; or, if allowed to putrify, parts of it will
not dissolve ; therefore it is its combinations that give it the properties
of solution. Sulphur is not soluble in water ; but it becomes so when
compounded with an alkali. Oil the same.

A block of marble gives us a figure when cut out ; but we cannot
find a figure till cut out : the ^gaie arose from the hand of the stetoary.
Calcareous earth, therefore, is not in animal matter; but it can be
decomposed out of it, which shows calcareous earth te be a compound ;
nor is calcareous earth or day to be found [as such] in glass. However,
we have bodies compoimded of different spedes of matter, as above
defined, mechanically mixed, having a specific name te be known by,
such as hone. A bone is composed of two species of matter — calcareous
earth and animal matter. Therefore a bone is not a spedes of com-
bination of matter, but is composed of two [such species].

16 INTRODUCTION TO

Animals and ^effetables, Canqjarison between*

It is a oommon observation that there is a gradual change from the
most perfect to the most imperfect animal. Man is given as the most
perfect ; but which is the most imperfect is hard to say. They have
carried this still farther, and say the change is continued into the vege-
table ; but they are not determined where the animal ends and where
the vegetable begins. However, if there be any justness in the obser-
vations, I should imagine that this might be determined by careful
observation to find out absolute principles peculiar to each ; for, in the
Animal Kingdom, each distinction differs sufficiently from that nearest
to it to determine to which it belongs, and the same thing with regard to
the Yegetable Kingdom : so that if the change be equal, it will be easy
to fix on the animal and on the vegetable. To clear up this point, it will
first be necessary to give a true and absolute definition of an animal.

One great difference between the animal and the vegetable is in the
mode of digestion. In the animal the food is digested or animalized in
the stomach, and afterwards absorbed and taken into the common mass
of juices. This is the great use of the stomach, viz. to animalize all
digestible substances for the future nourishment of the animal.

What other changes, processes, additions, or reductions it may after-
wards undergo in the lungs, is, I believe, not yet known. But whatever
it be, it sets out from that point to all parts of the body ; as the vege-
table juices set out from the roots, <S^c. to all parts of the plant. But
the difference between these two is, that, in the animal the juices are .
first animalized, and become a moving part of the body, while the
yegetable juices are to be considered as no part of the vegetable. In
the vegetable the [nutritive] juices are taken in unaltered, and are
propelled through the canals of the plant to all the different parts,
similar to the [movement of the] blood ; but whether they undergo any
change in this passage is not, I believe, as yet known.

However, this juice must be changed somewhere ; it must be vege-
talized before it can become a part of a plant. The question, therefore,
will be, whether this juice is changed in its passage through the canals
of the plant, so as to be really vegetalized before it arrives at its place
of destination ? Or, whether it passes on, in its mineral form, to its
place of destination, and is only changed there ? Whichever way it is,
there must always be a change at the place of destination, for there the
different parts are formed from these juices, whatever they are, and
therefore a second change must take place.

The circumstance of engrafting or inoculating would make us, at
first sight, suspect that the juices are changed in the part to which tiley
are ultimately destined ; for whatever the part is that is engraftel, it

NATURAL HISTORY. 17

always continues to be of the same kind ; so that it might be supposed
that the juices came to the part crade and unchanged in the part,
and formed the addition just as they were changed. But I am apt
to believe that there is a strict analogy between the animal and the
vegetable ; for although the vegetable has no stomach to vegetalize the
food of the plant, yet I look upon the vegetable to be in every part
< stomach/ and that it vegetalizes all the absorbed juices admitting of
such alteration; that the juice goes on to the parts of destination
v^getaHzed^ as the blood goes on animalized; and that, there, each
juice changes according to the nature of the part to which it is assimi-
lated, and according to the action of the parts in which it circulates, and
the parts to be formed. In the animal it forms skin, muscle, bones,
tendon, ligaments, brain, &c. In' the vegetable it forms wood, bark,
leaves, flowers, fruits, &c.

Vegetables which have only water to convert into their own sub-
stance are always the best ; therefore it is reasonable to suppose that
water' is more capable of being perfectly altered into vegetable matter
than any other, and a certain quantity is only necessary ; for, when
there is too much, it is not so perfectly decomposed as to give aU the
distinguishing marks of the plant, nor is the plant itself so fine ; its
growth becomes luxuriant, but its mfitter not so good.

The stem, tendril, and footstalk of the vine have a vast number of
spiral threads running through their substance in the direction of these
parts. The sensitive plant has the same kind of spiral threads, but not
so many. The way to know the above is to break the plant more than
half-way through and bend the remainder, and they may be seen passing
between the broken parts.

Animalfl and vegetables have two different irritations ; one is in-
ternal, arising from circumstances within the machine ; the other is the
property of being affected by external stimuli.

Vegetables have a degree of sympathy ; for, if a branch is cut off,
the whole plant suffers ; and this much more in some than in others ;
therefore gardeners say that such a tree cannot bear the knife'.

^ [Water alone is insufficient ; it must contain atmospheric air in solution, and there
must be access of carbon to the plant ; that which the water contains in solution and
which is derived from decaying vegetable and animal substances, is peculiarly adapted
to nouifth the plant, and constitutes fertility of soil. Salts, earths, even silica, are
held in solution and thus taken into the system of the plant to be there disposed of.
The superfluous water is exhaled from the pores or stomata of the leaves, the oxygen
of the carbonic acid is, during daylight, evolved, and the chief materiab of the phmt
are detained, &eed from the impurities with which it was blended when absorbed
by the roots.]

^ ^he circulation in Chelidonium, observable in the vessels containing the milky

c

18 INTRODUCTION TO

Vegetation appears to be the easiest transition from common matter ;
for it is supported by common matter, or it has a power of conrerting
common matter into its own kind. Animal matter appears to be a
second remoye from common matter ; for it cannot be continned or
supported by common matter, therefore it is obliged principally to the
vegetable ; however, it is often dependent upon itself [or matter of its
own kind for nourishment]. But these last [or the carnivorous animals]
are few in comparison to the others, and without the other resource
animals would annihilate themselves. Let us reckon the whole animal
creation as three ; two parts of the animalB live upon vegetables, and
the third of the animals live upon the two other parts : in this way the
three are still preserved.

Of the Similarity of the Vegetable to the Animal in the Circumstance

of Engrafting.

Animals and vegetables in this respect are exactly similar. For
example, a part of an animal is engrafted upon another ; that part does
not in the least partake of the part of the animal it is engrafted upon,
but keeps the original disposition and continues to grow exactly as it
would have grown if it had not been removed from its original stock.
The same thing attends a vegetable.

In many things animals differ from vegetables ; viz. a part of an
animal is truly a part, but the part of a vegetable is a whole ; for every
part of a vegetable in general is a whole ; therefore a vegetable that
is engrafted, not only continues to grow in the same manner that it
would have done, if it had never been removed, but is a perfect tree. It
not only forms its own leaves after its own kind, flowers of its own
kind, fruit after its own kind, but it is also capable of producing seed,
which completes the tree. In the last [property] it differs from all
those animals which produce their young from seed.

As a vegetable is a perfect plant in every point, every point is capable
of producing what the whole is capable of producing ; but this is not
the case with an animal. An animal is a compound of parts totally
different in their sensations, stimuli, powers, and uses, from one
another ; each part doing one office and no more, and all obliged to
one source for support and sensation. Their specific stimulus [is]
within themselves; or their specific stimuli, and the powers and
operations arising therefrom, are [severally] within themselves, having
no connexion with any [other] part of the body ; therefore [a part is]

fluid, ceases the moment that the plant has received an injury ; and is more active
in proportion as the temperature of the atmosphere is higher.]

NATURAL BISTORT. 19

rendered useless when separated. If all these parts had not been made
distinct, bnt had been blended through the whole animal, so that eveiy
part formed a componnd of the whole, e.g.y if every part formed bile,
every part formed nrine and secreted seed, &c., then each part of an
animal would become a whole ; so that, when any part was removed,
it might be considered as a perfect animal. This is, in &ct, the case
with many animals^, but in other respects they are different from v^;e*
tables.

As most aTiimals have parts allotted for every purpose, [each] to
answer its purpose and no other, the testicles and ovaria then answer the
purpose of generation and no other purpose. They are parts whose actions
are independent of all other parts of the body ; only [they are] obliged to
the circulation for supplies, and to the nerves for powers of action. But
their particular actions depend upon themselves ; therefore, the testiclea
and ovaria produce the distinct species independent of the whole.

To illustrate this with a supposed experiment : let us take a testicle
from a cock and put it into the belly of a gander. If it was possible
that the ducts could unite so as to carry the seed that was secreted in
that testicle to the female, the produce would be the same as if a cock
had trod a goose ; so that the powers of the testicle would remain the
same as if they had never been transplanted, and would continue to
secrete the same kind of semen. The inclinations of the gander would
not be towards the hen but towards a goose ; for, although the testicles
are the cause of the inclination, yet they do not direct these inclina-
tions : these inclinations become an operation of the mind, after the
mind is once stimulated by the testicle.

Vegetable and animal life are very similar. They are both capable
of being engrafted by parts that are similar to themselves. Whether
an animal could be engrafted upon a vegetable, or a vegetable upon an
animal part, is not yet known'.

Similarity in the Propagation of the Species between some Animab

and some Vegetables, .

Vegetables are not only similar to all animals in the circumstance of
i^ple life, but are similar, iur the propagation of their species, to some

^ [The infusory and other Protozoa ; the hydra polype and other Hydrozoay !k/e.
Hunter's preyious proportions will be understood to refer to the more conspicuous
and higher animals, constituting the ordinary idea of the class.]

* [The parasitic growth of certain cryptogamic plants (e. g. Sphaeria) in and upon
the larrsB of certain insects, giying rise to the combination called in New Zealand
the ' tree-caterpillar/ would be, perhaps, the nearest known illustration of Hunter's
idea.]

c2

20 INTRODUCTION TO

classes of animals. For instance, they are similar to the second class
of the Ovipara^, for the seed and the eggs are the same step.

Animals of any particular dass have not one way only of propagating
their species (excepting the more perfect or 1st class of animals') ; for
we have the second^ and even the third dass^ aping the first, and
attempting to be viviparous ; such as vipers, lizards, and some fish*.
We have the third class aping th^ second in being oviparous, with a
* white ' to the e^^, such as [some] fish, which in general are oviparous
with the yolk only : the skate is of this class [viz. oviparous with a
white to the egg*].

We have animals that propagate their species by slips, and that in
two different ways : one by a piece cut off, the other a natural process,
viz. buds growing and these falling off and producing a distinct animal ;
which can only take place in animals, as only that being has the power
of separation and the power of afterwards catching its food, which
admits of a continuation of life'.

Many vegetables are propagated in the same manner : the WiUow is
a striking instance of this^. %

Vegetables being easily affected by Impressions,

Vegetables are very much affected by external impressions, much
more so than animals. They have their peculiar climates in which they
thrive best ; and there are climates in which they cannot live, and this

1 [By this Hunter means the third class aooording to his * generatiye ' system of
classification, yiz. the Fishes which propagate by *■ roe/ or numerous simultaneously
deyeloped eggs, of small size, and consisting almost wholly of yolk.

^ [Mammalia.]

* [The ' Ovipara * with fewer and successively developed eggs, in which the yolk
is surrounded by albumen and defended by a calcareous or coriaceous shelL]

* [Third of the ' generative system ; ' second of the oviparous division.]

* [Certain sharks, e. g. Scoliodon^ Spinax: Hunter's Preparations, Nos. 3255, 3256,
3258. See also the Viper, No. 3310 ; Rattlesnake, No. 3316 ; Slow-worm {Anguis),
No. 3326 ; the Viviparous Lizard (Podarcis muralis\ Nos. 3346 and 3347.]

^ [Hunter's Preparations, Nos. 3236-3240.]

^ [Mr. Clift had added the following note to this passage : — " Mr. Hunter was not
aware that some plants have young plants which grow from the serrated edge of a thick
fleshy leaf, and, when the leaf separates from the tree, it fiiUs to the ground, but
nourishes the young plants till they strike root in the ground. Quiere, the name ? " —
Ans. The plant is the BrpophyUwm ca^yctnum, Salisbury; the Preparations are
now numbered 2226 A^ B and C, and are described in my 'Physiological Catalogue,'
vol. iv. 1838, p. 8.]

® [A curious exemplification of Hunter's devotion to truth, even where he imme-
diately contradicts himself. His preparations illustrative of this property of the
WiUow are Nos. 2224, 2225.]

NATURAL HISTOBT . 2 1

more particularly on acooimt of the temperature of the air, eveiy v^e-
table haying its proper temperaturey and not being able to bear mach
heat or cold beyond that point. They have their particiilar foods S
which agrees much better with them than others : some are capable of
liying on dry ground, others on moist ; some in day, others in sand ;
some on stones, others in water.

Perhaps vegetables have not the power of retaining either their
natural internal heat or cold, which is peculiar and proper for them, so
much as auimam have. Animal heat yaries but a degree or two from
the greatest external cold they can bear to the greatest heat. That
many auimalB can retain their heat in the greatest cold is verified in
the whale of Greenland. The £rog is as cold in the hottest day in
summer as it is in the coldest day in winter'.

Of the distinguishing Marks between Vegetables and Animals with

respect to Matter.

Vegetable and animal matter contains the same materials, but dif-
ferently arranged and in different proportions. This is, in some degree,
proved by chemistry ; in some degree by putrefaction ; but most of all
by digestion.

Chemistry is capable of decomposing, but only in progression, in
every stage of which a new combination takes place, which gives great
variety ; but no one ultimate is produced from a new combination of
the whole.

There is so great a similarity between the vegetable and the animal
in many of their principles of life, that we should be apt to suppose
they were made up of the same composition of matter. There is
nothing in their structures that could induce us to suppose this ; but,

1 [Here Hunter expresBes an important truth; heedlees apparently, or unoon-
BciouB, of itB opposition to his preriouB statementB respecting the all-sufficiency of
water alone as the food of plants, and his reasonings thereupon as to the essential
complexity of water ; such supposed nutritiye power of water and the consequent
complexity of the fluid depending on the real nutritiye particles contained in solu-
tion or fine suspension.]

^ [TbJB assertion neither tallies with some of Hunter's own experiments, nor with
any subsequent ones. In his paper entitled *' Experiments and Observations on
Animals, with respect to the Power of producing Heat," Hunter writes : — " That
the imperfect animals will allow of a considerable variation in their temperature of
heat and cold, is proved by the following experiments. The thermometer being at
45^ the ball was introduced by the mouth into the stomach of a frog which had been
exposed to the same cold. It rose to 49°. I then placed the frog in an atmosphere
made warm by heated water, where I allowed it to stay twenty minutes ; and upon
introducing the thermometer into the stomach, it raised the quicksilver to 64°."—
PhU. Trans, vol. Ixv. (1775).]

22 INTRODUCTION TO

in many of their operations and actions, they would appear to be
so nearly allied as to make it reasonable to suppose that it was
possible, even probable, for them to be composed of the same mate-
rials. But these actions are not sufficient for us to form our judg-
ment upon [this question] ; we must take eveiy circumstance into the
account before we can determine [it]. Perhaps the mode of inves-
tigating this matter is not to depend upon active principles, or the
principle of life ; but to consider the matter of both [vegetables and
animals] when they are dying and when dead. In the first they may
show a peculiarity, and in the second they can both be considered
only as matter.

Chemistry was, perhaps, the first mode of investigation : but that
science only considered them in two lights, viz. spontaneous changes,
and those produced by fire ; and, perhaps, the common modes of ana-
lysation by chemical processes have already gone as feu* as it was pos-
sible on this subject : nor was even chemistry employed to observe the
similarity between the two substances, but to find out the products of
each ; which, of course, gives us the similarity and dissimilarity of the
products. But, to prove the one or the other, a thousand experiments
might be made which would tend to throw some light upon this subject.

I shall first consider what happens to both in the act of dying.
When an animal dies it soon becomes stiff; this arises from the mus-
cular fibres contracting in this act and not relaxing again; besides
which, all the juices coagulate, which increases the rigidity. It con-
tinues in this state till putre£EU)tion begins to dissolve the whole.

When a vegetable dies it becomes immediately flaccid, and loses that
brittleness or crispness which a living vegetable has*. However, this
can only happen to those whose texture will admit of it, for the woody
part of a vegetable is so firm in its texture as to be little affected by
death : it is like a bone in an animal. Most of the circulating juices of
an animal coagulate, each by its different process : some by standing
either in or out of the circulation ; others by heat, alcohol, acids, &c. ;
excepting the red blood, which admits of being mixed with alcohol f.

The juices of plants in general do not coagulate by any process yet
known J. They readily dissolve or mix with alcohol, by which means

* Many subetances kiU yegetables sooner than others : Tinegar is one. Therefore,
those who know how to make a salad will never mix the vinegar till the salad is just
going to be eaten. This effect might be supposed to be like an animal being killed
by electricity or lightning ; but I can only say that we have not an instance of a
vegetable becoming rigid by death in any way.

t It is to be understood I speak of very fresh animal juices, for if they become
putrid they will dissolve in it

^ Caoutchouc (India-rubber) may be supposed to be an exception to this.

NATURAL HI8TOBT. 23

wehaveallthe ^Tmctures' [of the PhannaoopoBia]. This is bo remark-
able that I think it might also detennine the &ct of itself. I find it
almost impossible to keep the spirit dear [in anatomical preparations]
even after a dozen shiftings ; and this mnch more so in some [prepara-
tions] than in otheis.

Certain animal substanoes retain their native ooloors in spirit the
same after death as before ; as^ e.g.y the shining colour of many fishes ^
the shining surface in the bottom of a cat's eje (tapetum)*. A carti-
lage, tendon, &c., are as bright in spirit as when alive ; the two last are
not so transparent, &om the coagulation that takes place.

The native colours of vegetables do not keep in any liquor after they
are dead; they all approach to the white or yellow: but this effect
will take place sooner or later according as they die fast or slow. If
they are made to die fiEist, they will retain their colour longer ; if slow,
they will lose it in the action of death*.

Minerals and animals give the shine to colours much more than ve-
getables. Polished metals are the best instances of this. Silk, some
chrysalises, and beetles [have shining colours]. Vegetables give fine
colours, but never polished or shinings.

The more imperfect ^tTiiniRla are, the more they approach towards a
vegetable in many circumstances, if not all. The casting of hair is
similar to the casting of leaves : much more so is the moulting of fowls,
and their debility and withered combs at the time. Vegetables may be
said to sleep all winter : and the winter sleeping of snakes is, as it were,
living in some measure in a state of non-existence.

In their method of propagation they are similar. The egg of the
animal is like the seed of the plants ; and the eggs and their manner
of hatching in the more imperfect animals are very similar.

Of the Dependence that Vegetables and Animals have on each other ^
especially the last tq^on the firsts both in breeding andfutiare support.

Many terrestrial animals, and probably most so those of the Insect
Tribe, depend very considerably on vegetables for their support. In
many of the Insects, both in their maggot and changing states, they
not only feed upon the vegetable, but oblige the vegetable to grow

* Cooks and picklers are very sensible of this.

^ [Huntenan Preparations, No. 1884.]

3 [lb. Nos. 1732, 1733. See also the red pigment in parts of the skin of the Turkey,
Preps. Nos. 1880, 1881.]

3 pVIr. Olift has added the following Note : — " They are never so hard a« those
shining parts of minerals and animals. Some seeds are as brilliant and shining as
many metals."]

24 INTRODUCTION TO NATURAL HISTORY.

suitably to their wants. Thus the female insect shall either stimulate
a leaf, when it lays its eggs on it, or the ^gs or the young when
hatched shall stimulate the leaf to such action as shall oblige it to en-
close the egg or maggot, and to prepare its future nourishment while
in the maggot state. For instance, the insect while in the maggot
state shall live on the leaf of a tree, using it as food ; and, when it
goes into its chrysaUs state, it shall stimulate the leaf, which stimulus
shall make it roll up and enclose the insect.

Of Motion in Vegetables.

As vegetables have not progressive motion, it must necessarily
happen, that, whatever motion they have must be only a change of
position of some of the smaller [and moveable] parts upon the larger
and fixed; making the larger parts always the fixed. This change in
the position of their smaller parts I believe arises in general &om two
causes, viz. stimuli or influence, and internal irritation.

To understand more thoroughly the motion in vegetables, we are to
consider the vegetable itself, in most instances, as consisting of three
parts : one, an old almost completely formed part ; the second, a new
forming part, viz. the new circle of wood and the new shoot ; the third,
a temporary part, as the leaf, flowers, &c., which only serve a present
purpose, carrying on the operations of the plant when in its active life.

The first very probably has no motion with respect to space ; the
second very probably is the cause of the whole bending in consequence
of external influence, as when a tree bends towards the light, or a
tree on the edge of a thicket bends towards the open air and recedes
from the thicket. As to the third or temporary parts; the leaves
are, most probably, necessary for the growth of the new circle of wood
and the new shoot ; and the flowers for the seed. It is in this third
[class of parts] that we are to expect the greatest quantity of motion :
the already formed parts appear to be almost stationary, with respect
to growth, in themselves or to that of other parts.

On the Study of Natural History,

In Natural History we are oftien made acquainted with the facts, yet
do not know the cause. Therefore we are obHged to have recourse to
experiment to ascertain the causes which connect the facts, one leading
into the other, making a perfect whole ; for, without the knowledge of
the causes and effects conjointly, our knowledge is imperfect.

Writers on the Natural History of animals have been of two kinds
—-one [concerned in] only what they could observe externally, such as
form and mode of life ; the second [studying only] the internal parts

CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS. 25

and the stmcture of the whole animal, which was perfomied by
the anatomist. Ab the [subject of the] first has an immediate con-
nexLon with [that of] the second, the describers of form canjectnred
what the stmctore ought to be by consulting the works of the anatomist;
and the anatomist conjectured what the lining history is or ought to be
£rom the Natural History of the others ; filling up what he conceived
to be just, and fancy supplying the rest. But such union of knowledge
does not properly match. It is one building built at different times, —
an addition to an original plan. It is no wonder, therefore, that the
whole is imperfect.

This [partial or restricted study] confined them yery much in their
mode of classing or arranging. Thus, for instance, Linnaeus, catching
the idea that aU the animals which were formerly called ' Quadrupeds *
had mammsB, therefore called them by that name [mammalia], which
included the whole ^ But, from the want of farther knowledge, he has
divided these again according to the situation of those parts ; bringing, for
example, the human kind, the elephant, the bat, &c,, into one order ;
whereas he should only have reduced the situation of the parts themselves
into different classes ; [thus classifying nipples] according to situation ;
but not [to have] classed the animals according to those situations'.

Of the Classes of Animals.

We divide Animals into Classes, Tribes, Genera^ and Species. The
three first are perhaps arbitrary ; but the last is absolute [or natural].
Yarieties depend neither on species nor choice, but are a kind of
accident.

Classes of Animals according to their Hearts.

1. Tetracoilia, those that have four cavities [in the heart].

2. Tricoilia, those that have three cavities, which includes both land,
sea, and amphibious animals^.

3. Bicoilia, those that have only two cavities, as Gill-fish.

4. Monocoilia, those that have but one cavity, such as all kinds of
Insects.

^ [f. e. not only the hairj warm-blooded quadrupeds, but the whale-Idnd and
mankind.]

^ [The subsequent classifications of the Mammalia by Cuvier and others show the
perspicuity with which Hunter detected the artificial nature of the principal character
employed by linnsus in some of the earlier editions of the ' Systema Naturss.']

' [As, for example, the Land Tortoise, the Turtle, the Frog, &c.]

26 CLASSIFICATION

5. • Acardia, those whose stomach and heart are the same body, as in
the Blubber (Medusa), Polypus, &c.

Classes of Animals according to their Breathvng-Organs,

The ' first daas ' includes all those animals which have lungs, with cells
through the whole, and a diaphragm.

The ^ second,' all those which have their lungs attached to the ribs,
so as to confine them to their place.

The ' third,' all those whose lungs come into the belly and are loose.

The ' fourth,' all those whose lungs are in their necks, called giUs.

The * fifth ' are reptiles, whose lungs are in their sides*.

Classes of Animals according to Essential and Circumstantial

Characters,

The characters of the ' first class,' which includes land and sea ani-
mals, are : — ^A heart made up of four cavities : essential. The lungs
confined to a proper cavity, the enlargement of which is the cause of
respiration : essential. Lungs divided into small cells : essential. Ee-
spiration quick : essential. Viviparous, and I believe the only «,nimals
that are [truly] so : essential. Give suck : essential. Parts of gene-
ration : in the male, made up of testes and one penis, the testes some-
times within and sometimes without the abdomen, but pass forwards :
in the female, a clitoris, vagina, uterus, os uteri, fallopian tubes, and
ovaria : all essential. Kidneys high up in the abdomen : circumstan-
tial. An external canal to the ear : circumstantial. Membrana tympani
concave externally: circimistantial. A cochlea: circumstantial. By
much the most perfect animals, whether sea or land.

There is a gradation from the land to the sea-animals, viz. Otter,
Seal, Hippopotamus, Whale.

The ^ second class ' is composed of the Bird entirely. I do not know
of any animal of this class but has all the characteristics of the bird.
They vary less in any of their parts than the first class.

Lungs : attached to the ribs, that they may move with them ; lungs
perforated : membranous bags in the abdomen that receive the air in
respiration : something similar to a diaphragm.

Parts of Generation : ova crustaceous ; one oviduct ; one penis, and
that grooved ; no bladder ; [outlet of the] oviduct [in the female] and
penis with the [openings of the] vasa deferentia [in the male] all in
the same cavity with the anus.

^ [By * reptiles ' Hunter signifies * creeping things,* or Inyertebrata in general ;
and consequently his fifth class would include most of those which possess respi-
ratory organs, as Insects, Crustaceans, MoUusks, and most Anellids.]

OF ANIMALS. 27

Liver: divided into two lobes ; cjst-hepatic ductal

Organ of If earing : little external passage to the ear ; membraaa
tympani conyex externally^ and with bnt one bone [oaaicnliun anditos] ;
no cochlea^

Feathers ; wings ; two legs; long neck ; a bill ; a membiana nicti-
taos ; bursa [Fabiicii].

None of this class are entirely sea-animals ; but it may be said to
possess in some measure three elements, viz. air, earth, and water : but
they live no more in the air than other animals ; it is only for their
progressive motion ^

In the ' third class ' we shall find some parts similar [to those in the
second]. The third class may be divided into two ; for they are not
exactly alike, but one seems to partake of the second and tfaird, aa it
were, made up of both. The first diyision of the third dass, then,
is the Lizard and Serpent kind. They have : —

Heart : two auricles, one ventricle, two aortas which unite in the
abdomen.

Lungs : loose bags, which lie in the thorax and abdomen, only par-
tially divided^. No diaphragm.

Kidneys : in the lower part of abdomen. No bladder'.

Parts of Generation : two penises, which are in the tail, and are
grooved. Some are oviparous, eggs without [hard] shells ; others are
viviparous, but not as in the first class.

Some have legs, others none ; some a membrana tympani which is
convex outwardly, as in the lizard" ; others none, as in the snake''.

The other part of this class, which may be called the ' fourth,' or the
Amphibious, is more fishified than what the fish of the first class
[Cetacea] are. The common amphibious animals are frogs, turtles,
crocodiles, &c. This [class] is very similar to the two former, and is
nearly, as it were, a mixture of both ; yet the most essential parts
belong, or are similar to the last : —

Heart : two auricles, one ventricle®, as in the Third.

Lungs : as in the Third ; aorta as in the Third ; no diaphragm.

Kidneys : as in the Third.

1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 816.] ^ [Hunt. Prep. No. 1681.]

^ [Air is not more essential to the life of birds than of other animals ; their espe-
cial relationB are to air as a medium of locomotion.]
* [Hunt. Prep. Nos. Iia5-1109.]

^ [This character applies only to serpents, not to all lizards.]
® [Hunt. Prep. No. 1576.] "^ [It exists, but adheres to the skin.]

^ [Hunt. Prep. Noe. 915-919 (Am]phivma\ (Chelone mydas) : the preparation of
the heart of the crocodile, No. 921, is so dissected as not to show the complete sep-
tum of the ventricular cavity, peculiar to the Crocodilia, among reptiles.]

28 CLASSIFICATION

Parts of Oeneration: one penis^ as in the Second; penis grooved ^
as in the Second and Third. Some are oviparous^ as frogs^ &c.^ ; others
yiyiparous, as the salamander'.

Organ of Hearing : some have a memhrana tympani, as the frog ;
others none^ as the tortoise^.

The Fowth or Fifth Class is very distinct from the former, as far as
I know.

Of the Similarity of many Parts of the Fowl and Three-camty-hearted

Animals, especially those called Amphibious.

The Inngs of the fowl open into thin cells or bags that are in the
cavity of the belly. The cells of the lungs are large. The lungs in
the TricoUia are continued into the belly, are cellular at the upper part,
but in most, e. g, the snake, become smooth bags at the lower end'' ; as
it were, answering the same purpose as the abdominal bag in fowls :
the cells of the lung-part are large. No proper diaphragm in either
class : but fowls have something similar to one. The gall is green in
both. The kidneys are placed in what may be called the pelvis, in
both® : they are conglomerated in a particular manner, have the ureter
ramifying through their whole substance'', and it enters into the rectum.
The urine is a chalky substance in many of both classes, and is a kind
of sHme in others. The testes are situated in the abdomen, in the
males of both. The vasa deferentia enter the rectum in both. The
penis is grooved in both. Both are oviparous. The structure of the ear
is similar. The heat [of the body is] very different [in the two classes].

Classes of Animals according to their Brains.

Of the First Class of Animals that have Organs of Sense, and conse-
quently have Brains^, — ^The brain in this class of animals is scarcely

1 [Hunt. Prep. Nob. 2444r-2462.] ^ [pj^ ^^^^ 3270, 327I.]

8 [lb. Nob. 3296-3299.]

^ [The homologue of the ear-drum eziBts in all Chelonia ; but, as in Ophidia, the
membrane is less distinct and free from adhesion than in lizards and frogs. Hun-
ter's division of the Beptilia of Cuyicr into two classes is founded on the generatiye
organs. The Crocodilia and Chelonia are separated from HheLacertUia and Ophidia
by having the intromittent organ single, instead of double. Hunter's error lies in
associating them with the Cuvierian Batrachia^ which haye no intromittent organ ;
and have modifications of the procreative system which led Hunter himself to make
the separation, and place the Batrachia with Fishes in the ' generatiye ' system of
classification.]

« [Hunt. Prep. No. 1088.] « [lb. Prep. Nos. 1179^1183.]

■^ [lb. Preps. Nos. 1189-1195.]

^ [The preparations (Nos. 1304, 1305, 1306) which illustrate the condition of the
neryoufl system characteristic of this ' class ' are derived exclusively from the Mol-

OF ANIMALS. 29

similar in any respect to that of the most perfect animals with which
we are in general more acquainted. It oonsLsts of a polpj snbstanoey
somewhat transparent, which is easily sqneesed out when the brain is
cut into. It appears in some, and perhaps in all the lower daases
that have brains, in the shape of a ring, from the circumference of
which arise the nerves, as radii from a centre. Through this ring (in
such) passes the oesophagus. I am apt to beliere, however, that this
ring is not wholly brain, but a union of two large lateral nerves, which
unite under the oesophagus. This at least appears to be the case with
the next class. It is not enclosed in hard parts, and is not defended
from pressure or injuries more than any other internal part.

This class would appear to have but two senses, viz. feeling and
taste, having neither seeing nor hearing, and most probably without
the sense of smell. There appears to be no organ for such a sensation,
and the respiratory organ is so situated as not to be of any service to
taste, to which smelling is certainly a director.

Of the Second Class, or Insects, — ^The class of animals immediately
superior in sensation to the foregoing is (I believe) that dass called
' Insects,' both aerial and aquatic. We find in them an increase of
senses. The first class we were inclinable to believe had but two senses ;
but here we are pretty certain of four, viz. touch, taste, hearing*, and
nght : how far they have smell I have not been able to discover, but
should doubt itf.

The brain lies in the head of the animal, and consists of a small
rounded body, giving off nerves in all directions to the different parts
about the head, such as the optic nerve, &c. The brain is a pulpy
substance, somewhat transparent, which gives it a bluish cast. Erom
the posterior or lower part of the brain, dose to one another, go out
two large nerves ; one passes on each side of the oesophagus, and they
then unite into one, forming a knot at this union j:. They disunite
again, and so unite and disunite alternately through the whole length
of the animal, at every union giving off the nerves, as from the brain.
This structure I suspect answers both the use of a meduUa spinalis and
the great intercostal nerved

* It is pretty certain that bees hear.

t Yet it would appear from obseryation that it is very probable that bees and
wasps have smell.

I It is the union of these two nerves, and the oesophagus passing through between
them, which made me suppose that that in the SnaH was a sunilar structure.

lusoous sttbHngdom of Cuvier, whence it may be inferred that Hunter had a percep-
tion of that great natural subdirision of the animal kingdom].

^ [The complicated abdominal cord of Insects has since been accurately figured
and described by Lyonet and other anatomists, and has recently been successfully

30 CLASSIFICATION

Of the Third Class, or Fish, — ^This class of animals is a oonsiderable
remove from the former in compHoation of structure. We have obserred
that they have a complete circulation, making in the whole almost a
second.

They are endowed with five senses.

The brain in this class is, upon the whole, much larger in proportion
to the size of the animal than in the former. It 'is a very irregular
mass ; but the several parts that are similar to those in a still superior
order may be picked out. The brain varies in shape in this very much
more than in any other class of animals. The cerebrum in some, as
in the Skate, is detached to some distance from the other parts ; in
others it is pretty closely connected. There are more parts in some
than there are in others.

They have a medulla spinalis, or continuation of the brain down the
back.

In the first class we had the brain surrounded by soft parts only. In
the second it was closely surrounded by soft parts, but these were sur-
rounded by hard. In the present class the brain has a case of hard
parts for itself, called the skull ; but it is too large for the brain, there-
fore this is attached to the skull by a cellular membrane, which makes
a kind of tunica arachnoides\

The nerves arising from the brain in this class are very large, and
there seem to be nine pairs.

Of the Fourth Class, or Amphibia, — ^The brain in this class is very
small in proportion to the size of the animal, smaller than even what
it is in the former, or Fishes.

It would seem from external appearance to be made up of many

studied in relation to the modem discoveries of the functions of the seYeral parts of
the spinal chord of the vertebrate animals. Mr. Newport (Phil. Trans. 1834, p. 405)
describes the abdominal cords of insects as composed of two tracts, a ganglionic or
sensitive which is anterior or ventral, and a motor tract which passes over the
ganglions on the posterior or dorsal aspect. In addition to these there is a narrower
column on the posterior part of the motor tract, which he calls the involimtary
tract, and would therefore more immediately answer to the sympathetic or great
intercostal nerve. These parts in the Crustaceans and in the imago of the Insect
are protected by a specially investing substance, of which Hunter appears to have
been aware from his assigning the floating or nnprotecfced condition of the nervous
centres as a character of his first class.]

} [The mode of progression of fishes requires that the head should be of large
size, to divide the water and to afford adequate attachment to the mass of muscles
passing to it from the bodj. The mode in which this is effected ydthout incurring
an undue accumulation of ponderous matter about the brain, is now acknowledged
to be that which Hunter has described, viz. by an extraordinary development of the
arachnoid covering, the cells of which are filled with a serous fluid ; and upon this
is the skull moulded.]

0¥ AKIMAL8. 31

parts, which are not hidden, or do not lie one upon another, bat are
very mach detached and follow one another, or are more in one line or
direction, and not compacted. The whole is an oblong body composed
of five eminences, with their common baBis.

The two anterior consiBt of the cerebrum ; the two middle I ahoold
suppose of the nates and testes, which I suppose to be the middle lobes
detached ; because, in the Bird, they are more underneath, not so much
between the cerebrum and cerebellum. The posterior is the cerebellum,
consisting of one body entirely.

It would appear as if the order of size was inyerted, yiz. the two
middle bodies seem to be the nates and testes, yet they are much too
large to bear the same proportion as in the higher classes. Every
eminence has a cavity or ventricle in it, therefore, in this class, there
are five cavities or ventricles. The cavities in the cerebrum are larger
than in the others, and are similar to those of the higher classes, t. e.
they have a large eminence projecting into the cavity, which is the
major part of the brain in the Bird. In the others the cavities seem
to be pretty near of the shape of the body or protuberance in which
they are ; and they are very large in proportion to the size of the brain.
The tunica arachnoides covers almost the whole brain. It does not
adapt itself to the eminences and cavities, but is connected with the
pia mater by a ceUular membrane on its inside, and to the akuU, or
dura mater, on its outside.

There are no convolutions on the external surface of the brain, but
it is covered smoothly by the pia mater.

The nerves arising from these brains are very large, nearly as large
as in the human.

There are ten pairs that go out of the skull, and the aooessorius
joins the ninth pair.

The first pair are very large at their beginnings, becoming very small
at once, which has the appearance as if they arose from two small
round bodies.

Although the Crocodile is classed with the Amphibia, and really
comes nearer to that class than to any other that I know of, it has not
all the same character, as has been observed. It comes nearer the Bird
than any of the other Amphibia [do], and therefore is a degree higher \

^ [The justness of this ohservation is oonfirmed by the systems proposed by many
modem naturalists for the classification of the Amphibia of Linna3us. Merrem
separates the Crocodiles from the other Sauna of Cuvier, to form a distinct order,
which he terms ' Loricata.' Lafcreille also separates the Crocodiles from the Lacert£e,
but joins them with the Chelonians to form his section Cataphracta. My expe-
rienced colleague Dr. Qray joins the extinct Enaliosaurii with the Crocodiles to
form his order * Loricata/]

32 CLASSIFICATION

The brain, although it has the same parts, yet it has them closer
connected, and the skull is more in contact with it.

Of the Fifth Class, or Fowl. — ^The brain in this class is laiger in pro-
portion to the size of the animal than in the foregoing. It consists
of the pulpy substance, but is not very distinctly of two kinds, cortical
and medullary.

It would seem to be made up of six parts, viz. the two hemispheres
of the cerebrum ; the two round bodies, one on each side of the medulla
oblongata, pretty much detached, which would seem to answer to the
two middle lobes, although their situation with respect to the skull is
different, for they are under the lateral processes ; fifth, the cerebel-
lum; and sixth, the medulla oblongata, which is the common base.
The cerebellum is considerably behind the posterior lobes, and is large
in proportion to the size of the whole brain.

The two hemispheres do not seem to unite, although they are so
close to one another as to be hardly separated by means of the inner
sides of the two lateral ventricles. The two lateral ventricles are
very large, and may be called the broad cavities ; they begin forwards
near the anterior points where the olfactory nerves arise, and near that
surface where the two hemispheres are in contact with one another ;
each ventricle passes backwards, and winds round the posterior end,
but does not extend so far to the outer or lateral parts of the hemi-
sphere as to come forwards again. The part of the brain which makes
the inner and posterior wall of this cavity is very broad, and so thin in
many places as to appear like a membrane or pia mater only. On the
inner surface it is concave, on the external it is convex, and the oppo-
site or inner side of the cavity, which is the major part of the brain,
is convex, which answers to the concavity of the outer ; so that the
two surfaces are moulded to, and in contact with, one another. When
this outer portion is taken off, the brain is nearly of the same shape
and size as before. The plexus choroides is a vessel which comes from
the lower part of the cavity of the two thalami, or from the upper sur-
face of the medulla oblongata, and runs backwards and upwards through
the cavity, and spreads into a broad loose flat fringy end. At the
lower part of the division of the two hemispheres is the third ventricle,
like a groove ; the anterior end terminates in the in^mdibulum below
the optic nerves, but at some distance ; the posterior end is continued
into the fourth ventricle in the quadruped, or the sixth ventricle in
this class. »:

The two lateral bodies^ which are on the sides of the medulla ob-

^ [The optic lobes, or bigeminal bodies.]

OF ANIMALS. 38

'longatay and somewhat under the posterior lobes of the oerebram, some-
what in the situation of the cerebellum in the next class, are equal in
size to one-sixth of the whole brain. They have each a cavity in the
middle^ which make the fourth and fifth ventricles, and these commu-
nicate with, or enter at, the coimnunication of the third with the sixth,
so that all those six ventricles communicate with each other.

The cerebeUum is a prominent pyramidal body, standiug on the pos-
terior and upper part of the medulla oblongata, behind and somewhat
between the posterior lobes of the cerebrum and in contact with them :
it is more convoluted than the cerebrum, which convolutions are some-
times similar to the human.

Of the Siodh Class, or Quadrupeds. — ^The brain in this class is, in
general, larger thau in the preceding, and the parts more compacted,
the whole mass being brought into nearly a globular figure.

The cerebellum is more immediately under the cerebrum, and the
convolutions in the cerebrum are deeper \

The nates and testes are four small bodies, with no visible cavities,
which are not seen externally, but lie at the posterior end of the third
ventricle.

The ventricles are only four in number*. The two lateral ones com-
municate under the lower edge of the septum lucidum, and are pretty
large ; beginmng in the anterior lobe of the cerebrum by a blunt end
pretty far forward, going directly back, and when got some consider-
able way, bending outward and downward, then forward and still
down- and also inward, and ending nearly under their origins. In them
lie the corpora striata, the thalami nervorum opticorum, the plexus cho-
roides, and the fornix. The third ventricle is directly under the fornix,
and communicates forwards by a small opening with the infundibulum,
which goes down to the pituitary gland ; behind, it communicates with
the fourth ventricle, which is partly in the medulla oblongata.

The cerebrum and cerebellum end by four peduncles in the tuber-
culum annulare, and the medulla oblongata goes out from it ; at the
going out of which are four pyramidal bodies, viz. the corpora oHvaria,
and corpora pyramidalia.

In the brain the cortical substance is on the outside, in the medulla
spinalis within ; in some it is in one line running down, in others two.

> [This applies only to the orders Cetacea, Ungulata, Camivora, and Q^adrvmanay
associated together as * Gyrenoephala* in my " Cerebral System of the Mammalia,"
Proceedings of the linnean Society, 1857.]

^ [The interspace between the layers of the septum lucidum is now regarded as
constituting a fifth ventricle, and is peculiar to the Mammalia.]

34 CLASSIFICATION

The nerves which go out of the skull are nine pairs, and the acees-
sorius, which goes out with the eighth.

Classes of Animak according to their modes of Generation.

1. Vivipara; those that bring forth [living young, formed] in the
uterus, from a mixture of male and female influence : such are all of the
first class [according to the structure of heart and lungs], both sea and
land.

2. Vivum ex ovo [ovovivipara'] ; those that may be said to hatch their
young from an egg in the oviduct ; as, e, g,, most vipers, slow- worms,
some lizards, salamanders : and this is confined to part of the second
class of hearts [TricoiUa'] and to some of the third [Dieoilia'], as in the
[piked] dog-fish.

3. Ovipara ; those that throw their eggs out and are hatched out of
the body. This takes in a large field, viz. part of the first class [Tetra-
eoilia, i. e. Birds] and of the second class [2Vicoi7ia], the greatest part
of the third [Dicoilia^, and perhaps all of the fourth [t. e, those with
lungs in their sides].

4. The mode of producing a continuation of the species in animals
may first be divided into two kinds : the one [by products of organs of
generation, as above defined] ; the other, which is the most simple, is
a part of any one animal becoming a whole, and, what is somewhat
similar, producing an animal out of itself — ^like a branch of a tree or
a sucker from a root : these [fissipaiious and gemmiparous modes] admit
of considerable variety.

There are three classes of animals which may be called oviparous^ ;
the Bird, the Amphibia, and the tribe of Bay-fish.

The Bird and the Amphibia are nearer each other in their operations :
but in some circumstances the Bay-fish is the same as the Amphibia,
in others very different. They are different, e,g,, in the construction
of their eggs : they are somewhat different in their mode of receiving
the yolk into the abdomen.

Classes of Animals according to the Coitus.

In the first dass they are male and female, and they insert'. In
the second they are male and female, but do not all insert ; some only

^ [Here the word is restricted in its applicatioii to the animftla which exclude
oomparatiyely few and large ^ggs, and those saooessiYely, in contrast with the nume-
rous and simultaneously discharged small eggs of frogs and roe-fish.]

^ [This applies to the Mammalia.]

OF ANIMALS. 35

aping the firsts In the third' they are male and female, but do not
insert. The fourth* are some male and female distinctly ; others an
Hermaphrodites, but [of these some] propagate with each other, while
some copulate with themselTes ; thus some ape the more peifect, others
not.

Division of Animals according to their Ten^^ature.

Animals should not be divided into the ' Warm' and ' €k>ld.' They
should be divided into those of permanent heat, in whatever climate,
and those that change [in heat] with the climate. For the snail, which
lives in the hot baths in Italy^, lives in a warmer atmosphere than the
heat of the animals of permanent temperature ; therefore it must be
warmer than the permanent.

These divisions [of 'warm-blooded' and 'cold-blooded' animals]
were made by Naturalists of cold climates.

In proportion to the coldness of animals they cannot bear cold wea-
ther ; viz. snails, snakes, Hzards, &c., cannot bear the cold. A whale
can live in Greenland all winter, but the cold fish come south in winter.

Classes of Animals according to Size of Body.

The Quadruped [Mammalia] is the largest class of animals [t. e. in-
cludes animals of the largest size, e, g. whales, elephants, rhinoce-
roses]. The Amphibia probably next [«. g. crocodiles]. Eishes are the
third [sharks]. Fowl the fourth (ostriches, &c.). Insects of the first
class [Crustaceans, t,g, crayfish, lobsters], the fifth. Insects of the
second class, the sixth.

Division of Animals according to the Element they frequent.

All animals must have certain general principles, or they would not
be ' animals ; ' and it is the different combination of these principles
that produce different animals : the classing of f^TiiniRla is no more than
the classing of those different combinations, for there is a great regu-
larity in the variations.

' [This character would apply to Aves, the exceptions being the Struikumida,
Anseres. If by the ' second' Hunter means his ' second class according to hearts,'
or * Tricoilia,' then intromission is the rule^ and the Batarachia the exception.]

^ [Here the * Dicoilia,' or third class according to hearts, i. e. JPtsres, is evidently
meant.]

' [Hie * Monocoilia' may be here meant by the fourth class ; but the generatiTe
character would apply to the Invertebrata at large.]

* [The Cyclosiatnum thermdU of the hot-springs of Abano moves about with great
actiyity, and propagates in water of the temperature of 100^ Fahrenheit]

d2

36 CLASSIFICATION

The first principles are but few ; but it is the various forms of those
principles that produce such variety of animals. Out of these principles
Nature has first produced three classes of animals to answer the three
elements; therefore there is a similarity in each class, more than between
any two of these classes. This is the first division : these are subdivided
into a great many fitted for other variations of nature. As a general de-
^ scription would answer all animals, viz. what an animal was, and as the
ftTn'mala are divided into three classes, so must the description ; then
each class is again subdivided, which subdivides our description \

In treating of any one animal, tracing it through the circle of life,
we move as it were in a circle : for, at whatever stage of its progress
we begin, we come to the same stage again before we complete the
whole circle. If we begin at its rise and go through its whole progress,
we are led naturally to the same point again, viz. to the production of
another animal similar to the present^.

Of perfect and imperfect Animals.

Nature has, in the most perfect animals, formed parts very distinct
firom one another, for all the different Ainctions or operations of the
body ; whereas, in the more imperfect, she has huddled parts together,
and made some serve two purposes, or has joined two into one. For
instance the ureters of the Bird enter the anus ; — ^the penis, vasa defe-
rentia or oviducts, enter the anus^. Still more imperfect animals have
heart and stomach in one.

The more imperfect animals are, the greater is the tendency or dis-
position they have for parts which have been removed to be restored.

I gelded a yoimg cock ; and, after having let him live eight months,
I found that a small part which had been left was become much larger.
[By the way, talking of cocks] cocks' combs are parts that do not in-
flame though ever so much wounded ; this we see in cutting them when
they have fought, &c.

Progression and Declension of perfection in Animals,

What we call * perfection' in animals does not increase in regular
progression in every part, but as flniTnalft are complicated ; and each

' [This characteriBtically Hiinterian MS. may healthily exercise the ingenuity of
some readers to decipher its fall meaning.]

* [" The organs of animals form the links of a chain, and their functions form a
continued circle of renoyation and decay." — Cuvibb.]

' [Here Hunter enunciates the principle of * differentiation of structure ' as cha-
racteristic of grade. He might have cited many better examples, and such wiU
readily suggest themseWes to the naturalist.]

OF ANIMALS. S7

complication has its degrees of perfection. These degrees do not cor-
respond in perfection ; [they are not] r^^nlarly progressive in every part
fi^om the most imperfect to the most perfect [animals] : although they
go on in pretty regular steps of perfection among themselves. Thus,
Fish are an inferior order of heings to Fowl ; yet Fish have teeth, a
property belonging to the highest order ; therefore Fish in this part
step over FowL The Amphibia, which are between Fish and Fowl, in this
respect resemble both, having both teeth and bill ' ; but then they are most
like the Fowl in the vital parts, whilst they have teeth like the Fish.

Perhaps the declension of animals from the most perfect to the most
imperfect is in a regular order or progression ; but that progression is
far from being an equal one ; for the di£Eerences or distances between,
or amongst, the most perfect are great and obvioUJ^ ; but when we oome
among the imperfect they are much closer, or less observable, if at all.

This makes the most perfect but few in number in comparison with
the others ; and, in these, increases the number of genera and species ;
and removes the Human to the greatest distance, which is an agreeable
reflection.

The declension of animals from the Human to the brute, or more
distant brute, is faster in the head and trunk than in the four extre-
mities. The trunk of a mangoose, &c. (LemuridcB), is nearer that of a
cat or dog, than its four extremities. The trunk of a bear is quite that
of the brute, but the extremities are nearer the human hand and foot.

The more perfect animals, as Man, dogs, &c., grow in size in all sea-
sons of the year ; however, it is probable that the cold season may have
some effect in hindering the growth of the animal very sensibly. The
more imperfect animals have their particular seasons of growth, similar
to vegetables. This I should suppose is peculiar to all those w.T^inni.lft
which sleep through the winter.

On the Origin of Species.

Does not the natural gradation of animals, from one to another, lead
to the original species ? And does not that mode of investigation gra-
dually lead to the knowledge of that species ? Are we not led on to
the wolf by the gradual affinity of the different varieties in the dog ?
Gould we not trace out the gradation in the cat, horse, cow, sheep, fowl,
&c., in a like manner^ ?

^ [The lizard, Prep. No. 386, haa teeth ; the tortoise, No. 2105, a bill; the siren.
No. 1063, has both.]

^ [The best attempt to answer this supreme question in zoology has been made by
Charles Darwin in his work entitled "On the Origin of Species by means of
Natural Selection," &c. 8vo, 1859.]

38 CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS.

It may be difficult to find out the original of any animal that is not
probably now found wild. It will be difficult to say which is the
original cow, whether the East India cow or the European ; but, as the
East Indian has the least variety of the two kinds, it is therefore more
probably the original cow than the European. Besides, this animal
came from the East, and was more likely to go through varieties in
new countries [i, e. under new external influences] than in its original
country.

Varieties o/Animak.

Any variety in animals that is pretty constant is commonly called a
* breed : ' such as of hogs, cattle, sheep, horses ; although such, in some
species, as in dogs, gA by particular names, as buU-dog, mastiff, grey-
hound, &c. ; and, therefore, in such the word * breed' would be applied
to each ; as a breed of bull-dogs, &c. In hogs, cattle. Sec., a breed often
goes by a particular name, as the Chinese breed of hogs, the Welsh breed
of sheep, the Holdemess breed of cows, the breed of running-horses, &c.

These different breeds of the same species, although they be pretty
constant in their hereditary properties, and by getting the breed we are
pretty sure of the produce, yet they are often varying from the true
breed ; and these are either better or worse than the original : but,
whichever it may be, it in some degree becomes an hereditary principle.

The varieties among the original of any species of animals are much
less than the varieties of any of the varieties. Thus wolves have less
varieties among themselves than we find in any of the varieties of dogs ;
whether we take the bull-dog, mastiff, greyhound, &c. The same may
be observed of Man.

Varieties are so regular as to be classible : thus we have dogs of par-
ticular kinds, cows, cats, fowls, horses, sheep, &c.

How far varieties in jmimals are gradual, or in what degree they, at
• once, produce a very distinct variety, is perhaps not to be ascertained.
But, if it be gradual, we should then be able to trace most varieties up
to their original. Did the peacock, the turkey, the guinea-fowl, &c.
become first spotted or pied, and the pied then produce the white ? Or
was the white produced at once by an original ?

I believe that all varieties that seem to be an amendment in them-
selves, such as increase of size, are as little profitable respecting breed-
ing as what the originals are. For, where the profits depend on the
readiness to have young and their number, I believe they are less profit-
able. Thus the common pigeon breeds better than the varieties, especially
the runt : the common fowl better than the larger, or shaklebag.

It would appear that a variety was more permanent in its principles

NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN. 39

than an oiiginal. I do not mean a variety arising out of an original ;
for the wolf that was lined by a dog, had the puppies more like the dog,
at least in colour, than the wolf. The same with the jackall, both in
the first change and the second litter.

However, this was not the case with the ofbpring of the white Negio :
therefore we must suppose that such are only half monsters respecting
breeding, similar exactly to a mixture of two original varieties. Ori-
ginal varieties are, therefore, either perfect or imperfect : and next
come the varieties of mixture, or of one original with another.

Aymals in proportion to their powers of sagacity are more easily
moved firom their instinctive principles than those that are less so ; and
such therefore are more easily domesticated ; and, probably, fit>m this
circumstance, they may more readily admit of greater variety in their
ofGsfpring. The dog appears to explain this, as strongly as any other
species. The dog is a sagacious animal ; the varieties he has gone into
are almost endless, as also the dispositions of each, for they seem to
have gone as far from the original, or the wolf, in disposition — ^in what
may be called their instinctive principles — as they have in size, shape,
colour, &c.

Mr. Walsh ^ informed me he put a wolf-puppy among some dog-
puppies. The wolf was asleep aU day and awake all night ; the dogs
the contrary.

On the Natural History of Man.

Superiority of Man according to Mind,

AM animals bear a pretty dose comparison with one another', ex-
cepting the Human ; because they are all ruled by natural and instinct-
ive principles. But the Human, being an animal of art, when he is com-
pared with others, it should be in regard to his instinctive principle only.
Aninfiftlft may be compared to one another in their facility to learn, the
Human being at the head ; and probably brute animals are capable only
of learning, the Human being the only animal capable of invention.

Is not the Human Being a congeries of every animal ? Has he not
the instinctive principles of every animal, with this difference, that he
chooses or varies the mode of putting those principles into action ?

1 [John WaLah, Esq.^ F.B.S., the friend of Benjamin Franklin, and to whom
Hunter was indebted for the specimens of Torpedo which he dissected and described
in the Phil. Trans, vol. bdii. 1773.]

3 [Animals, in regard to psychical qualities, bear a pretty close resemblance to one
another (?), excepting, &c.]

40 NATURAL HISTORY

He adapts the instmctive principle to the situation or to the whim.
He must eat; but he varies the mode of eating: he takes the ad-
vantage of circumstances and applies them ; he takes the advantage of all
nature. Each bird builds its nest in a way peculiar to the species ;
Man builds lus, but he does it in a way most suitable to the situation
or pleasure.

Nothing shows more the superiority of the Human over the brute,
than the variety of ways in which he shaU perform any natural and
instinctive action.

Superiority of Man according to Frame,

Every circumstance in life, and most things in the structure of the
body, show that it was intended by Nature that the Human body should
be, in general, erect, especially in its progressive motion. The position
of the face ; the shape of the chest, beiQg wider from side to side than
in animals which are horizontal; the spine projecting forwards in the
thorax so as t5 throw part of the chest behind, and the different curves
of the column, vnth the head at the upper part, to break the force of
concussion in walking, jumping, &c. ; the pyramidal figure of the
whole spine ; no * ligamentum nuchsB ' to supersede muscular contrac-
tion ; the strong attachment of the os sacrum to the ossa ilii ; the great
disproportion of the length of the legs and arms (excepting he had
been a jumping animal) ; the length of foot is also a strong proof of
the erect position.

Nothing can be more absurd, more unphilosophical and more un-
graceful, than the satyrs of the ancients.

The erect position of Man is probably the worst calculated for either
natural offence or defence of any animal posture. His body becomes
wholly exposed : it is even unfit for resisting the force of either wind or
water. But, at the same time, we must allow that it is the best cal-
culated for artificial defence ; it is more capable of bringing in aids to
this end ; the arms are at liberty : the whole body can move on the
feet as on a centre to increase the action of offence or defence.

Of the Use of the Feet in Man,

The use of the length of foot in the Human is to increase the basis
from the fore to the back parts: the two feet increase it laterally.
They add to the length of the step, and they are to the legs what fellies
are to a wheel, which are to make the whole go more equally round ; they
serve therefore to make our steps more equal. This is evident by com-
paring the walk of a man with wooden legs with that of one having a

OF MAN. 41

natural pair of healthy and sound legs. The former goes like a wheel
upon the spokes, but the latter equally and easy. A man with a wooden
leg is obliged, likewise, to turn his side forwards, belonging to the leg
that is moved, so as to humour the step.

Of the BovD'leg.

What is commonly understood by a bow-leg is where the knees are
at a greater distance [than usual] from each other ; in which case the
femur and tibia are more on a line with each other. Therefore, upon
a more critical knowledge of this part, what is commonly called a bow-
leg is, in reality, a straighter one than where they have the general
appearance of being straight.

This is the natural or original construction, for all children have what
is commonly understood as * bow-legs ; ' and, if strong, they continue so ;
and, any deviation from that, is a mark of weakness ; for the support, or
perpendicular columns, are the bones ; and, the straighter these are, the
stronger they will be, or the abler to support the weight.

Bow-legged people generally have their toes turned directly forward.
This I should suppose arises from the original cause, vi2. that of
strength ; for sH children are bom in-toed, corresponding with the
bow-legs; and what supports this [view] is, that all those who are
in-kneed turn out their toes very much. Thus it is demonstrable,
from the foot being at a right angle with the leg, why strong children
should turn their toes directly forward, and weak children turn theirs
outward.

Children are not only weak in their bones, but also in their muscles.
The child is not in the least conscious of a weakness in the bones ; they
obey the intention of the muscles : while at the same time it has a
desire for these motions, and therefore tries : and, in these trials, finds
out the easiest method for motion : for these trials naturally throw the
parts into such positions from the weight of body, or from the resist-
ance, as are easiest for the child to move in, but very &r from being the
best.

The foot is to be regarded as of considerable length, compared with
breadth ; and, as has been observed, the most projecting part of the foot
is turned forward beyond the column of the body, in the line of pro-
gressive motion. In walking, then, it requires considerable muscular
strength to raise the body, and throw it forwards, as it were, upon or
over the toes : for, if there was no projecting part of the foot, no mus-
cular strength would be required, and one, then, would walk as people
do on wooden legs.

42 NATURAL HISTOEY

In proportion, as the toes are turned forward it requires a greater
strength of muscular action to throw the body upon the toes ; for the
force or resistance of the bodj acts with the longest lever^ and this lever
becomes less in proportion as the toes are turned out. Now, as this is
the case, we see a reason why young children, who are weak, turn their
toes out : they find that they can walk in this manner when they cannot
in the other way ; and, in proportion to their weakness, will they turn
out their toes*.

We find, too, another circumstance that allows them to move ; which
is, the joint of the ankle being allowed to flex more than it otherwise
would be allowed to do if the raising power was sufOlciently strong to
keep the foot extended. They find that they can throw their bodies
forward without being obliged to raise the heels ; which they are not
able to do, and which bends the leg forwards upon the foot. And in
this way are children allowed to move, which is allowing them to act
before they have strength to use their joints properly and give them
those determined motions that the mechanism of the parts require.
Therefore, the joints are obliged to submit to the inconveniences arising
firom too great a weight of body. Mothers and nurses are so fond of
seeing their children walk, that they are always endeavouring to teach
them what they are unable to perform ; and, finding that a child cannot
reaUy stand without a strength proportionate to the weight of body,
they have contrived * leading strings ' to support the superabundant
weight, so that the child may be enabled to use its legs (that is, to set
one leg before the other). By the time it arrives at its strength of
standing perpendicularly, it has not, however, arrived at a strength
sufficient to support the body in motion, where it must be often thrown
out of the perpendicular, when one leg, for example, must be able to
raise the whole body upon its toes, while the other leg is in motion.

But the child has unluckily, by this time, acquired a knowledge of
progressive motion and a desire for it ; yet has not acquired strength
equal to perform it properly : and, therefore, the muscles and joints
must submit to give way to the weight of body and to fall into those
positions that require the least strength of body to move in.

Dancing-masters apply this position of foot, which arises from weak-
ness in children, to their profession: for, in many of their violent
motions, a greater strength is required than what the parts are capable

* It is not to be suppoeed that the child toms its toes out by design ; but it is
in eonsequenoe of weakness. When the child endeayours to raise itself upon the
toes, the muscles are not able to do it, but the heel is brought forward, which turns
the toes out ; and at last the child gets a habit of it, and the foot naturally takes
this turn.

OF MAN. 43

of exerting : but this position of foot allows of much quicker motions
than what otherwise conld take place, and likewise allows of those easj
graceM lateral motions, that they practice, from the base being enlarged
laterally ; and it does not in the least hinder the peipendicalar spring.
These observations I was led to, from an accident which prodaced
that weakness in me that attends children, — which was a rapture of the
< tendo Achillis ;' for, before the tendon had sni&cient strength to raise
my heels, so as to raise myself upon my toes, I was obliged to torn my
toes out, to avoid the pain that I had when I acted with my * gastro-
cnemius ' and ' soleus ' muscles, and in this way I could walk tolerably
well.

TTie Difference between Man and the Monkey,

The monkey in general may be said to be half beast and half man ; it
may be said to be the middle stage. However, tliere is one thing that
makes the monkey come nearer the brute, viz. the toes being similar
to fingers. Our toes bear but little resemblance either in sixe or use to
our fuigers ; our feet are made for walking upon, but our hands are made
for laying hold. The toed brute has its hands and feet made to answer
nearly the same purpose ; it walks upon them almost equally, and lays
hold of things with both ; and [the limbs] are therefore very like one
another. The monkey [is, in this respect], quite the same ; for they use
either hand or foot, or either feet, with the same ease. In this circum-
stance also the monkey is like the brute ; viz. the fore- and hind-toes are
like one another ; but they differ Yerj much frt>m tlie toes of brutes.

The monkey cannot bring its body and lower extremities into so
straight a line as the human [kind can] ; tlie foot is not arched, but is
a little bent in the contrary direction ; it is longer in proportion, but is
not so broad nor so thick, as in Man. The thighs are flattened between
the inside and outside; but are broader in the other direction; the
joint of the knee is not so straight ; the legs are flattened like the thighs.
The joint of the elbow does not extend so far; the rotation of the
radius is not so great. The four extremities are more of a length. The
two first bones of the extremities, viz. the humerus and femur, are
shorter in proportion to the radius and ulna, or the tibia and fibula.
The toes or fingers are narrower laterally, but thicker between the back
and fore-parts, which make their nails so much the narrower. The
thumb of the hand or fore-foot is not so strong, and has not that opposing
motion [in the degree which man's has]; some [monkeys] want this
altogether [fore-thumb] \ The thumb of the foot is not at aU like that

1 [Soe Ogilby, " On the Opposable Power of the Thumb in certain Mammals,"
&c., Proceedings of the Zoological Society, toI. iv. p. 25.]

44 NATURAL HISTORY OF MAN.

of the Human. The sternum is not so near the back-bone. The trunk
of the monkey is not so flat from fore to back, so that the ribs are not
so crooked ; especially the first rib, which makes it flatter between the
right and left sides ; and this obliges the vessels arising from the great
curvature of the aorta to be fewer and closer to one another. The iliac
bones do not spread forward and fly out laterally, but rise higher or
are longer. The sacrum is not so pyramidal. The symphysis pubis is
longer. The tuberosity of the ischium projects further back or down.
The whole pelvis is not so much thrown back. The spine does not
project so much in the thorax. The clavicles are not so long ; so that
the shoulders do not project so far out and back ; therefore, of course,
they are more forward and are nearer the sternum.

The head is not so broad laterally, but la longer between the upper
part of the occiput and the mouth, and is not so deep between the os
frontis and basis cranii. The face is oblique, and is not transverse as in
many brutes, nor in the direction of the body, as it is in the human
[i. e, the face between the forehead and nostril]. The nose is longer
in proportion; the upper jaw projecte forwarda; and, as it were,
encloses the nose, which seems flat. The jaw is rounded, making half a
sphere, which is completed by the lower jaw. The jaws are narrower
from side to side, but the opening of the Ups is longer. The chin is
rounded off [in the direction backward as it descends].

The head of a monkey is just as if a human head had been pressed,
between the basis and upper part of the os frontis. It would, in that
case, be squeezed out backward and also at the mouth ; but as this
would increase the length of the head, it is as if a semilunar section
had been taken off the upper part of the head, and another smaller
section off the occiput, — ^the vertex being left entire, which would become
more pointed, and the alveolar processes being allowed to push forward.

The penis is not so detached from the body when flaccid, and throws
itself more into a serpentine course.

The mocock, the mongoose \_Lemur], and the sagouin [^Hapdle], are
not to be reckoned in with the monkey-tribe ; they have more of the
quadruped in them than the monkey in general has, but are very near
the monkey in many respects. They have the agiHty and manners of
the monkey.

The next animal to the Human, after the monkey and mocock, in the
shape of body, is the bear ; and his actions, of course, are equally near :
but he is not equally near in every part. His greatest likeness is in the
four extremities ; the head and trunk are not much (if any) nearer to
the Human than a lion's or dog's.

Beasts have oftener stones or gravel in the pelvis of the kidney than

OBSBRVATIONS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 45

tlie human subject has ; but they very seldom have them in the bhidder.
This must arise from the horizontal position of the body not allowing
the urine so free a passage into the bladder as in the human.

Comparative Observations between the Human and Brute kind.

The contents of the human pelvis adhere to the sides by a much
greater extent of surface than in any other animal. The intention of
this is perhaps to prevent a protrusion of these parts from the weight
of the viscera above, in the erect position of man.

What may be called the * contents of the pelvis' in the human are
not the same as in other animals. The [pelvic] contents in the human
are, the urinary bladder and its appendages ; the uterus, vagina, and
their appendages; the vesiculae seminales, the rectum, the sigmoid
flexure of the colon, and the lower part of the iHum. But, in the
brute, the two last are never in the pelvis ; and the fiinduses of the
former [uterus, bladder] are in the abdomen. In the human foetus,
however* it is as in the brute.

The cheek-bones in the human race appear to be the last parts of
the face that change. Every other part of the face shall be modelled
or softened down to the true European type, while the cheek-bones
shall continue high.

The human is probably the largest animal which has a clavicle \
Those quadrupeds [possessing the bone] are much smaller. It would
appear that the feet of the larger quadrupeds are only for progressive
motion and fighting. For progressive motion a clavicle was unneces-
sary, and their motion of fighting is very confined ; but, in most of the
smaller quadrupeds the fore feet serve as a kind of hands, and are used
in a variety of ways, as catching food, assisting in the division of that
food ; climbing, fighting, &c.

The human is the best- grown animal of any when he is shedding his
teeth.

Observations in Natural History.

Tlie Uses of Animals to Man.

Large animals are employed in our service through the whole of
their life ; some for work, as horses ; others for their produce, as cows
for milk, and sheep for wool : so that we rob them of their whole labour

^ [He is the largest existing clariculate animal : the extinct Megatherium, through
whose pelris a man might creep, had complete clayicles.]

46 OBSERVATIONS IN

either in one way or other. But, in recompense, we support them ; so
that they do not provide for themselves in any shape, either in food,
lodging, or other needfuls in the economy of life.

In smaller animals, viz. insects, we seem to reap small advantage
from their labours, except we destroy their means of Hfe, viz. their
subsistence : therefore, we are at no pains to support them ; and their
whole labour is to provide for or support themselves, both in food,
lodging, keeping themselves clean, and a number of small economical
practices. When they are of service to us, we either kill and use them,
or we rob them of their magazines.

"We see, then, what a difference there is in the disposition of these
two sizes or kinds of useful animals ; one kind never provides for the
manner of living and futurity, the other does ; and, therefore, it is more
like the human kind in this action.

ATn'mftlfi in general may be supposed to be useful or hurtful in pro-
portion to their size : however, there may be exceptions to this. If
it be generally true, we may judge of any animal's use comjMuratively.
This is the reason why the large animals are made generally to live
upon the less ; and is the reason why we cultivate the largest of the
useful, and destroy the largest of the hurtful. It would seem strange
that any should be hurtful ; but, if we consider things rightly, we shall
find that it arises only from [or relates to] human government, not
from natural government ; and is therefore made to answer the present
system of the cultivated part of the world ; but none would be hurtful
in a natural state of the world.

It was necessary that many animals should be made to prey upon
others ; else we should be overstocked with the smaller ; for it would
be too much for the human race to attend to the proportions that ftTiiTnala
ought to bear to one another. It would, firom this, seem strange too
that nature should make them [the smaller] so prolific ; but this was
necessary to supply immediate wants. As we must suppose that they
are all useful, supposing the use of every one is not known, yet many
seem to be useless, and indeed are so in certain governments, and may
be so in every one ; and are only to be considered as the correctors of
quantity of others that are useful both in a natural and artificial state ;
which circumstance gives us the use of the others. In many governments
some j^TiiTTiftla are absolutely useless ; but this arises from the human
kind doing what those animals did [in a natural state].

In Britain wolves are of no service at present ; but they would be of
great service if the land was not inhabited ; for then the land would be
overrun with such animals as wolves live upon, which increase would
be a cause for those animals starving. Therefore, when parts of the

NATURAL HISTORY. 47

world are left to themselves, independently of human policy, there is
an equilibrium kept up among the ftnimftla by themselyes. But this
natural government does not concern the human ; and, as no use arises
&om it [to man], it rather becomes matter of curiosity to consider it.
But, to make this natural disposition of animals subservient to human
society, we are to consider only those animals that destroy other animals
that are hurtful to that society and are of no hurt themselves ; or, at
least, [if the animals so destroyed are not hurtful, yet] the good that
arises from them is more than the evil.

It is very remarkable that this [relation] has been so little attended to,
as very great advantages would arise from it ; and it is still more re-
markable that those animals that are of most use in this respect [in
destroying other animals] are some of the most inoffensive, and yet are
supposed to be the most offensive and are the most dreaded by the
people in general.

Natural historians are more pleased if they can dass an animal, than
they would be if they could show any use such animal could be to society.
Indeed all philosophy would be of much more use than it is at present
if it was adapted to common life : but this is letting themselves [the
philosophers] too low ; therefore they must seem learned by some jargon
or other. I shall here keep as free of that as possible, and adapt this
[Essay] to the ignorant, or rather to those that have an opportunity of
applying it to practice.

The animals that I shall talk of are of the Insectivorous and Yermi-
vorous kinds ; vi2. the snake, the viper, the lizard, the hedgehog, the
frog, the toad, the mole, and the bat. These animals live entirely upon
worms, snaUs, beetles, flies, butterflies, both in their grub- and fly-
state, spiders, grasshoppers, ants, locusts, mice. Now, few of these
creatures are of any use that we know of; but we shall suppose that
they are of use : yet, from our first observation we must suppose that
they are not of so much use as harm if left to themselves ; or, in other
words, as the use arising to the others in destroying them [i, e. of no
other use than as prey to their destroyers] : else we must be obliged
to suppose the others [destroyers] to be of no use.

Many worms seem to live upon earth ; but that is of its fattest parts :
for, we And them most plentiful in fat ground ; and, indeed, we might
reasonably suppose so. As most animals naturally take that which is
most substantial, what service they (worms) can be of in living upon
earth I cannot say ; but we at once see the hurt that must arise from it.
Gtardeners suppose them hurtful, which is the reason of their destroying
them. Snails would seem to be more hurtful than worms ; for, though
they do not eat the fat of the earth which is to produce vegetables, yet

48 OBSERVATIONS IK

thej eat the vegetables when grown. Gardeners find the inconveniency
of this ; for they find the young pease and beans eaten as they rise,
yonng cabbages with other plants, also the leaves of trees, and the fruit
when lipe.

The natural history of beetles I do not so much know, but should
suppose that they live upon smaller insects, as I know that some of
them live upon fiesh, such as cockroaches [which, however, are not
beetles, though commonly so called].

Flies are known to be very hurtfiil, besides being very troublesome.
They spoil meat by blowing it, fruit, &c. ; and are very troublesome in
this fly-state.

Butterflies are very hurtful when in their grub-state : they eat the
leaves of trees ; also of cabbages and other greens.

Spiders are not so hurtM ; indeed, in one sense, they are useful, as
they live upon flies : but they are very nasty in forming webs in rooms,
&c. However, the good I think arising from them is more than the
inconveniency ; but, a^ some of our n-niniftlR live upon others as well as
spiders, we must let them be destroyed ; for of two ^* goods" choose the
*' greatest."

Grasshoppers. Their natural history I do not know ; but, as they
are something like the locust, I should suppose that they live like them.
There is a kind of them (crickets) about bakers' shops, that live upon
the flour.

Ants live mostly upon com, but they also eat meat.

Locusts live upon greens, as we hear of their destroying whole fields
of com ; but, I should suppose, when green.

Mice. We aU know their natural history.

Now it will be necessary to adapt each animal to its proper food,
which will show the most useful animals, and at the same time will
lead us to keep or destroy them as we find occasion for them.

The snake and the viper I believe feed alike, and I believe they liye
mostly upon land-mice. Lizards live upon snails, worms, flies, beetles,
and spiders. Hedgehogs live upon mice, frogs, &c. Frogs live upon
worms, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, both in their grub- and fly-
state ; besides, they keep water dean of smaller animals. The Bel-
leisle ^ green frog \Rana arhorea] is of great service, as it lives principally
in trees upon insects, &c., while in their grub-state. Toads : their
natural history is much like the frogs. Moles live upon worms prin-
cipally. Bats live principally upon night-flies.

Many animals, besides these mentioned, are of vast importance in

^ [Hunter was at the siege of Belleisle, in 1761.]

NATURAL HISTORY. 49

killing animals that are hurtful ; but they are such as are agreeable to
people in general, therefore are allowed to live. Such are the swaUow,
the owl, all the smaller birds that live upon worms, such as larks, —
indeed all those of the spear-bill class. Now these animals have
nothing in them that is disagreeable to the sight. Indeed many, I
think, of our first class [mole, hedgehog, &c.] are agreeable : but any-
thing that is disagreeable in them is from a notion that they are hurt-
ful. The viper indeed is so ; but, I believe, seldom save when they
are meddled with. However, we could dispense with the vipers if all
the others were saved ; indeed, not only saved, but cultivated Instead
of rewards offered by every parish to those that bring such and such
beasts, rewards should be offered to those that form places of residence
for them. The notion that hedgehogs eat fruit and suck cows is
entirely without foundation^.

Many of the above-mentioned [insectivorous] animals would be of
vast importance in gardens ; such as the lizards, frogs, especially the
green frog, the [harmless] snakes, and hedgehogs : the mole might be
hurtful by forming mole-hills. Hedgehogs have been found of great
service in magazines in devouring the mice.

The mole, the shrew, the hedgehog, &c., although animals of prey,
or Kving upon other animals, yet are not animals of offence or defence :
they do not attack any animal that can make resistance.

Of the Sociability of Man and of Animals.

The mixing [or associating together] the different tribes of men is much
more diffieult than that of other animals. Men's minds are linked
together by a much greater variety of circumstances than other animals
are : men become attached to systems, to peculiarities ; and, in propor-
tion to the attachment to their own, they despise those of others.
Animals confine their connexions to acquaintance only.

The instinctive principle in animals to associate with each other may
be classed under the following heads, each head having its degree of
power ; viz. acquaintance simply, tribe, genus, species, sex, and, last of
aU, femily [in the sense in which we use the term in common life,
meaning the parents and offspring]. However, I believe the instinctive
principle of family to associate beyond the first, or acquaintance, is only
in those cases where the family is large, more especially where each is

^ [Except the necessity that cow-boys, &c. have to account for the empty
udder. The slayes of Virginia charge the absence of the looked-for supply, when
the cows are driven home to be milked, upon the snakes.]

E

50 OBSERVATIONS IN

to assist in the economy of the family ; this will include the human kind,
common bee, humble bee, hornet, wasp, &c.

This instinctive principle of * family ' is that only which I shall here
notice. It is in such of the bee-tribe as form large colonies ; e,g, the
humble bee, wasp, hornet, and common bee. They will not allow their
own species to pay them a visit ; therefore, will not become an acquaint-
ance. This I saw strongly marked in the wasp. I had at one time,
three wasps' nests with the wasps alive ; some in the chrysalis state,
as also maggots and eggs : they were kept under glass covers.

These hives I shall call^rs^, second, and third. I took two portions
of hive No. 1, and I put under a glass a portion which consisted of one tier
of cells,'with e^s, maggots, and chrysalises, and about half a dozen wasps.
The other portion of the same nest, consisting also of chrysalises,
maggots, and eggs, was put under another glass. I put imder each
glass some food, which was for the young as they came out of the
chrysalis state, and also for those six wasps to feed the maggots of the
tier they had to take care of. This they did very attentively ; and the
chrysalises, as they hatched, soon took upon them to assist in the duty
of the family.

I, one day, put imder this glass shade a wasp some days hatched,
belonging to hive No. 2, which was immediately attacked by the wasps
of No. 1, and killed. I put into the same glass three wasps of hive
No. 3, which they also killed. These had one wing clipped, to know
them by. It struck me, as they did not destroy the chrysalises of the
comb they had the care of, as they came forth, that they probably
might not destroy those that had come forth of their own nest under
the other shade, which had been above eight days separated from them.
I, therefore, took one of the wasps of the other portion and put it under
the shade [covering the first portion] ; and upon its being put in they
immediately assembled about it, some laying hold of a leg, <&;c. ; but
they soon let it go, becoming reconciled to it ; and, in a few hours, I
found this wasp feeding the ma^ots of this tier. From these experi-
ments it would appear that wasps by some instinctive principle know
their own relations.

Here, then, was the sixth cause of association, or that of family,
strongly marked. These experiments I carried stOl further, to see how
far I could make wasps of different hives associate with one another by
stealing slowly upon their instinctive principles. I took three pieces
of comb of hive No. 2, with maggots in each piece, and covered each
with a glass shade, numbering them 1, 2, and 3. To No. 1, as a
standard, I put some of their own workers, the old queen and a young
one. These fed their maggots without interruption. To No. 2 I put

NATURAL HISTORY. 5 1

workers and two queens, from hive No. 1, to see if they would feed the
ma^ots of hive No 2, which the workers readily did. There was no
difference hetween these and the first. To the third piece of comb I
put two queens of the same hive and workers of the hives Nos. I and 3,
in equal numbers ; so that there were young queens of hive No. 2 with
labourers of hives Nos. 1 and 3. For the first day they were very
restless, and a good deal of fighting took place ; but they afterwards
settled and assisted in feeding the maggots. Here, then, the maggots
became the bond of union between the labourers of the two hives.
They united, contrary to their instinctive principles, to relieve the
distressed.

This instinctive principle to associate is natural to all animals, but is
much stronger in some than in others : and, when increased by acquaint-
ance, it becomes stronger ; and, indeed, so much so, as to appear at first
view rather an acquired principle : for, the natural bent of strangers,
even of the same species, is to quarrel and fight ; but then they associate
afterwards. However, I believe that it is not so much the natural
disposition in every species, except [it be] excited by some circum-
stance, viz. towards a stranger.

A hornet, bee, wasp, &c., will fight any animal (perhaps those of
their own species more readily) that may intrude on their domestic
concerns ; but they will not pay attention to one another, when they
meet on the same fiower, on a ripe peach, &c.

The same principle exists in the Human race ; lien have their degrees
of attraction towards each other according as they are circumstanced in
life. In close connexions he is sociable, excepting interests clash (in
which case no animal is sociable). In the crowd he forms his likings,
dislikiugs, and indifferences. But, take him to Siberia, and let him
meet the man he most disliked in his own country ; he will immediately
become sociable with that man. He is, in such a situation, deprived of
the acquired cause of sociability, viz. acquaintance ; and he feels the
want of such : so that the moment the object of acquaintance presents
himself, he associates with him ; for the dislike arose from having had
great choice. This becomes exactly similar to an appetite. A man,
in the midst of a great variety of foods, forms his likings and dislikings,
which arises from having choice ; but, take away that choice, and let
him have new kinds of foods which his appetite does not associate with,
he will immediately take to the old food he had been in some degree
accustomed to, but which he had disKked.

Upon this principle, animals may be made to associate that otherwise
would not. Thus if we wish a strange animal to associate with others
accustomed to a place, take the whole into a strange place, and let

e2

52 OBSERVATIONS IN

them all stay there but one day ; and then bring them home, and they
will all seem as well acquainted as if they had been brought up to-
gether.

A gentleman gave me a lamb with three legs^ which my other sheep
had nearly killed ; and^ after repeated trials^ the farmer put it into a
house. I ordered the whole flock to be driven to a strange field which
they had never been in before ; and, the moment they were out of their
own territories, they allowed the lamb to herd with them ; and, when
brought home in the evening to the old field, they took no more notice
of it, at least by way of hostility.

I may be allowed to observe that these properties are not in a
regular progression, as here set down, in every animal : some having
one or two of those principles much stronger than others, and the first
acquaintance, which is rather an acquired property and which is often
very strong, is the most uncertain; some species acquiring it very
readily and strongly, which becomes the basis of domesticating animals ;
others having hardly any disposition of that kind, as e,g. the fox.
Probably all those animals which live entirely upon animal food have
the disposition of association least ; and this may be necessaiy in them,
as they may be said to be at war with every other animal, and even
shy of their own species through selfishness.

Animals have a degree of sociability in them. They generally choose
to reside in one place and herd together if allowed. Thus magpies wiU
always stay about one place and build their nest in the same tree every
year, even if they should be disturbed. It is very likely that this last
is the case with birds of passage. Dogs go together, &c. ; but they
differ in degrees of sociability, some kinds having it more than others.
The more they are so, the more sensible they are, or capable of being
taught : they are more capable of associating their ideas than the others
are. Hawks and cats have least of this desire of a social Hfe, and are
the most stubborn creatures to be taught any art. Men, monkeys,
parrots, crows, jackdaws, starlings, &c., always herd together, and are
the most sociable animals we know of: they have all more or less
memory, [association of] ideas, and reflection.

This property of sociability in animals has its gradations. The
strongest is a species to itself, i. e. of any one of a species to another of
the same species. Where the second is I do not well know ; I should
suppose, with some other species that has the nearest relation to it, as
a crow with a jackdaw. But a horse seems to have little sociability
with an ass.

K animals in a state of nature herd together, they may, I imagine,
be domesticated, and vice versd. Thus wolves, or the natural dog, go

NATURAL HISTORY. 53

in herds ; goats^ sheep, black cattite, horses, pigeons, crows, starlings,
ducks, fowls, guinea-fowls. As a proof of this, those that do not go in
herds or flocks will not be domesticated : thus, although the wolf maj
be domesticated, the fox will not ; although the pigeon may be domes-
ticated, the dove will not. However, I do not know if this is a uni-
versal principle ; for many insects herd, as locusts, cockchafers, &c.,
which shows, probably, that simply herding with each other is not
enough, although it may be essentiaUy necessary.

Manners of Young Animals influenced hy the Parents.

Young animals take much of their manners from their parents. K
the parent is perfectly tame and fEimiliar with Man, the young are
never allowed to have any suspicions ; for, then, they are taught on all
sides. But, if the parent has any degree of shyness, although the
young are placed exactly in the same situation respecting Man as the
others, yet they will acquire a degree of wildness, exactly similar to
the parent. Thus the three-parts jackall could never be tamed in a
greater degree than the mother ; for, although they were very tame
when very young ; yet, when they began to understand the mother,
-they became more wild and could hardly be tamed afterwards. But
one that was taken from her early, retained its tameness. The half-
bred wolves were very tame, from the bitch-mother being so.

Mr. Walsh informed me of wolves being in the East Indies : he has
jseen them and shot them. . We know there are jackalls. He says the
wolves pair ; and that the male and female together take care of the
same brood or litter.

Of the Natural Disposition of Animals towards one another.

The natural disposition of animals towards their fellow species or
genus, when divested of all [superinduced] habit, is the desire of de-
stroying one another; not by way of prey, but through desire of
superiority ; or, as if in support of some hereditary right. This is a
principle seemingly implanted in all the common ftTiirnal^ that we are
acquainted with. However, some have it much stronger than others ;
and it belongs much more to the males than the females. It does not
belong more to those animals which devour or eat other animals or
flesh, than to those which do not.

This, then, is the first principle implanted, or the first desire that
animals have towards one another, upon the very first sight of any one
of their own kind. But, as soon as this superiority is known, they be-
come more sociable for the future ; and more so on the side of the

54 OBSERVATIONS IN

victor than of the vanquished. The vanquished would seem to possess
an envious fear. However, these principles, on both sides, lessen by
the animals being kept together. This principle is greatly lessened by
habit ; for no Einimal that comes into the world comes with any other
principle than self-preservation. They have neither the desire of oflfence
or defence, but they soon get this ; first for defence and then for offence.
As they are gradually reduced to a sociable state, in the same degree
they lose the other principle ; or, perhaps, we should rather say the
other principle is not allowed to grow so strong as it otherwise would
do ; so that they are insensibly deprived of it towards their acquaint-
ances ; but they still retain it towards entire strangers, although not so
strongly as if they never had been brought up in a social state.

That this principle can be lessened by habit is well known by those
who delight in seeing one animal destroy another ; for, to bring the
animal entirely out of this social habit and allow him to fall into the
natural habit, which he will do, they keep their gladiators from the
sight of any of their own kind, till they have totally forgot one another
or anything like themselves. They go so far as to keep them in the
dark, that they may become still more ignorant, and, as it were,
astonished, and have no idea left but the present object in question ;
so that they only seem to have this combative principle left. This is the
practice of cockfighters, dogfighters, &c. From habit, then, this dis-
position lessens, and the effects become less violent ; and, when once an
animal finds himself conqueror, fear is removed ; he finds himself easy
and uncontrolable ; which, in its turn, produces a benign disposition,
and a desire for sociability. Cats, if brought up from their infancy
with birds and mice, never once attempt to kill them ; I have seen a
hawk and a pigeon in one cage. I have likewise seen a tiger, a cat, a
dog and a guinea-pig, all lying together in one den.

On the Combative Principle in Animals.

I believe that the animals that are most disposed to fight, are those
that are not beasts of prey : therefore, fighting has no tendency to-
wards food. Animals which have the greatest disposition to fight, have
it towards their own species, not with others ; the dog is a kind of
exception.

Animals which are either subject to be pursued or to fight with their
hind feet, generally have their eyes placed on the side of the head, and
projecting so as to throw the eye backwards. A hare, rabbit, many
squirrels, &c., are instances of the first; the horse, deer, &c., are of
the second.

NATURAL HISTORY. 55

The strength of animalfl of the same species is I believe best known
in their fighting ; yet, as that depends so much on the strength of mind,
and the two not always going together, this does not become an absolute
role : but all this respects voluntary strength only. However, I believe
that in some degree, constitutional strength keeps pace with voluntary
strength. Thus, the males of any species can commonly beat the
females of the same species, which is voluntary : and we find that the
constitutional strength of the male is stronger than the female. Then
the male grows faster and larger; he is earlier for the female than
she is for him : but, the difference in strength of constitution is, per-
haps, best measured in the growth of transplanted parts ; viz. between
the spurs of a cock and those of a hen.

We know that the spur, or what may be called the rudiment of a spur,
in a hen, remains the same through life, only growing in proportion to
the size of the animal, like any other part : but, the spur of a cock
does more ; it shoots out at a certain period of life and grows much
faster than any other part.

To know what this difference was owing to, whether it was not the
nature of a hen's spur to grow at all, or whether the hen had not that
vigour of constitution requisite to make it grow, I made the following
experiments. I removed the spur of a young cock and the spur of a
young pullet, and changed the spurs by what ia called transplanting
them. Each spur united to the parts on which it was placed. Tune
now could only determine the event. In a few months I found that
the spur taken from the pullet [and transplanted on the young cock]
began to grow, although not nearly so fast as the spur on the other
leg ; and in time it became a tolerably sized spur. The cock's spur
on the hen's leg did not grow for years, which made me at first sup-
pose that the spur of a cock would not grow on any animal but a cock :
nor did they ever grow to that size on the hen that the fellow spur
which was allowed to remain on the cock did.

From the above experiment, it would appear that the spurs of hens
do not grow because there is not that vigour of circulation, or living
powers, in the hen which exists in the cock ; but still there is a weak-
ness of growth in the hen's spur itself; for it does not grow upon the
cock equal to his own spur. As the weakness of growth of the cock's
spur upon the hen may not be attributed to a weakness of power in
the hen, nor the weakness of growth of the hen's spur upon the cock
be attributed to a weakness in the hen's spur, but to the circumstance of
transplanting, independently of everything else, I made the following
experiments.

As the comb of a cock appears to have more blood, and of course

56 OBSERVATIONS IN

more vigour, than the leg has, I conceived it to be a proper part to make
a comparative experiment with the leg ; the more so, since transplanting
would be against the experiment, if it had any e£Eect. I took oif a
cock's spur from one leg and placed it in his comb ; and I found that
this spur grew much faster than the one left on his leg ; indeed, more
than twice as fast\

From all which, I conclude that the power of growth is equal to the
power in the hen herself, and [to the power] which is within the spur ;
but, when transplanted to a stronger soil, the spur grows equally to the
powers of that soil. And this is in some degree reversed in trans-^
planting the spur of a cock upon a hen : for, although the cock's spur
has fuU power of growth within itself, yet as the hen, on which it is
transplanted, has not so much power as the cock, it only grows at half
the rate it would have grown if it had been left on the cock.

That it requires a certain quantity of powers, in either or both, to
make the spur grow, appears from the fact that some hens have their
spurs grow pretty considerably ; but we may observe that such hens
are strong and vigorous, usually coming nearer the cock. They com-
monly have their combs longer, which I imagine arises from the same
cause*. They are more given to fight, often crow, and I believe are
bad * layers ;' from all which, it would appear that the true or perfect
female character is attended with a degree of weakness, but endowed
with health.

0/ the Rising of Animak*

All the ruminating class of animals, I believe, when they rise, raise
their hind parts, and at the same time get upon their fore knees : this
is the first step. Then they raise their hind parts entirely upon their
hind feet ; then the fore feet are raised, but one before the other.

When they lie down they first get upon the knees of the fore legs ;
then the hind parts fall down ; and then the fore legs are folded in
under the body of the animal.

A horse, when he rises, first raises his anterior parts upon his fore
feet, the fore legs being then very oblique and the feet under his head :
the hind legs are brought alongside his belly and the feet are under
him. He then raises at once the hind parts; in which action the
fore legs are brought erect, by the whole body being brought forwards
upon the feet.

* To know how far the comb of a hen might grow larger on a cock, I trans-
planted eeveral, but never could get them to attach themselves.

\} Hunterian Museum, Pathological iSeries, Prep. No. 64.]

NATURAL HISTORY. 57

Animals when very weak, hardly or ever lie down. One might be
surprised at it ; but it is very evident why it should be bo. Because,
when very weak, they find great difficulty in rising ; almost impossibility.
Now this as an idea they cannot possibly have [t. e, they cannot bo sup-
posed to foreknow their inability to rise]. But, what answers the
purpose, or what produces this intended effect, is the difficulty in lying
down ; which difficulty, of course, keeps them upon their legs ; the
thing intended. When they can no longer rise it is all over with
them.

Loose Notes and Queries on the Limbs of Animals.

Do animals which use their fore legs as arms, clasp their young to
their breast, besides those that have their nipples in that situation ?
Is this [clasping to the breast] an instinctive principle at large, or is it
only an instinctive principle arising from the situation of the breasts ?

Hares and rabbits never use their hind legs alternately, but always
together. This arises from the great disproportion between the length
of their fore and hind legs ; for the fore legs are only used to catcH the
body when it falls, but the hind legs are used to give the body the
spring forwards.

Progressive Motion of the Newt,

The water-newt lifts its right fore foot, then its left hind foot ; after
its left fore foot, then its right hind foot.

Animals have numbers of legs in proportion to the length of hori-
zontal body they have to support.

On Horses.

The breeders of horses ought to observe well and early the manner
in which colts use their legs, especially their fore legs. If a colt is
inclined to go near the ground, he should never be turned out on a
smooth common, but on such places as are very rough. This brings him
into the habit of raising his feet high. If he is inclined to point his
toe down, so as to make him, from that alone, trip, he should be shod
early, and the shoes made thick before and thin behind, to give him a
habit to raise his toe, as we find that women acquire a habit of lower-
ing their toes by being high shod behind. If he is apt to turn his toes
out, he should be early shod, thick on the inside and thin on the out,
in one foot, two, or all four feet, if necessary. When a horse is hot
and let stand, he should have a cloth thrown over him, which prevents
quick evaporation : by which means he does not so readily catch cold.

58 OBSEEVATIONS IN

more especiaUy if he has been caught in the rain when warm, for
water evaporates faster than sweat.

A horse that has not freedom enough in the joints of the shoulders to
allow him to step freely forwards with his fore legs, and therefore puts
his foot to the ground before he has made his fdU step, which makes
him kick the earth, never goes down a hiU but with difficulty. For his
step will be still shorter as his legs are thrown forwards with respect
to the line of body, in order that they may be perpendicular with
respect to the body, by which means the centre of gravity is sup-
ported.

As horses are commonly put to strong exertions, everything that
accelerates, retards, or in any degree influences those actions becomes
immediately an object to those who are concerned with this animal,
either as a matter of profit or amusement. Some horses when pretty
hard worked in any way, which always affects the breath, take to what
is called roaring, which is a sound in the chest near about where
we may suppose the bronchia open into the trachea. What the cause
of this is I do not know ; it does not seem to produce shortness of
breath, nor what is called * broken-wind ;' nor does it obstruct their
actions ; it is only disagreeable to the ear.

But a very remarkable circumstance attends this complaint, which is,
that a ' roarer' cannot be made to cough ; the common modes cannot
excite coughing. Therefore when a horse cannot be made to cough, a
complaint of this kind is to be suspected.

Of the effects that Medicines have upon Horses.

Mr. Hayes ^ gave to a horse of his own, which had a locked jaw,
Dover's powders 5ij, Camphor grs. v : the horse sweated very much,
but died. Mr. Hayes was of opinion that if he had only given him
one drachm, it might have recovered him of his complaint.

Dr. Chadwick told me that he killed a horse in a few minutes by
giving a pound of Epsom salts, and that he could not in the least
account for his death. This was certainly owing to the solution
either getting into the lungs, or stimulating the glottis so much as to
hinder anything from passing that way.

I am informed by the feiriers, who, when giving drinks to their horses,
are first obliged to raise up the horse's mouth so as to allow the drink
to descend to the throat, that they are, in general, obliged to let his

^ [Probably Mr. Hayes the Surgeon, who, conjointly with Hunter, gave an ac-
count of the dissection of the eyes of Miss C^ Brushby, in the ' Medical Obserrations
and Enquiries,' vol. iii. p. 120, 1767. Pathological Preparations in Spirit, No. 2242.]

NATURAL HISTORY. 59

head down again that he may swallow it ; and they often find that
something has happened in this operation, which has distressed the
horse much, for before they can give him another they are obliged to
let him recover; and some horses are some time before they do recover.

On the Ass.

With respect to this animal I have nothing new to say ; since it is
in every part of Europe nearly the same in size, colour, and habits of
life. In Arabia and Egypt this animal is much larger, fleeter, and
more beautiful than in Europe. Its favourite food is the alkaline
plants, which are produced in great plenty ; and for drink it prefers
saline springs to fresh water. This animal sufifors groat violence on
its natural habits in being accustomed to these northern countries.

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the breed was extinct in this
kingdom ; and, to this day, in Norway and Sweden, an ass is never
seen, but as a curiosity in the stables of the groat.

Economy of Crows^.

«

The male and female both sit upon the eggs ; probably the female by
day and the male by night ; for the male appears to be the one that.^
goes in quest of food and feeds the female ; probably while she is sitting ;
but he certainly feeds her after the young ones are hatched. When the
young ones are hatched, the female sits upon them, and the male goes in
quest of food for the whole family. When he comes home she leaves
the nest, sitting either on its edge or on a neighbouring bough, and
flutters her wings for food to give the young ones, like a young one
that has just flown ; and he gives her some, but appears to give no more
than what she takes for herself. Then they both go to the side of the
nest and feed the young, who stretch up their necks with open mouths.
They seem to put it pretty feur down the young one's throat. If the
quantity the male has to give is in small portions, as worms, &c., he
seems to give, from his throat, each his share, and then flies away for
more. If the poitLon of food be too large for any one young (me, the
parents both tear it to pieces, and then feed the young with it.

If the male is long in any of his returns, the female seems impatient
and sets off either for herself or for her young ones. They bring the
meat in their throats, which makes a considerable lump at the root of
the lower jaw.

^ [As Hunter's obeervatious relate exclusiyely to the Corvtts frugilegvA, the oom-
mon name of that social species will be substitated for the term now usually applied
to the solitary Conms carone,]

60 NATURAL HISTORY

It is curious to see bow the female is employed while the male is
abroad; especially when the young are very young. She sits occa-
sionally on them ; but occasionally goes off and looks over the nest,
removes any excrements and cleans their feathers; for, at an early
period, the young are not able to throw their dung over the nest. The
mark of distinction between the male and female is the voice. The one
that stays at home has by much the softest voice.

When we examine Nature in her operations in things that have an
affinity, we find this affinity not only in one thing but in many, if not
(in a less degree) in all. Let us take the rook, for example, and see
how far in their economy they have not a very near affinity to the
human kind ; however, so far only as their instinctive principles are
allowed to act.

Eooks are instinctively social animals: they herd together, have
their distinct colonies or villages ; and the only distinction betwixt the
economy of the rook with her house and the human is, that the rook
only uses it in the breeding season, having no other use for it.

Books not only associate with one another, but they in some degree
associate with Man. They often bmld their villages near or in towns
or villages.

Economy of Humble-bees.

This insect is a striking instance of the union of the different parts
of nature with each other, each part acting immediately for itself, yet
collecting for others, and each depending on another, making in the
whole one uniform machine, although made up of many and various
parts*

An early spring brings forth a vast variety of things upon which
there is a vast variety of animals to live : it brings forth flowers, it also
brings forth the humble-bee, &c.

The history of this bee [Bomhus terrestris] does not interest us nearly
so much as that of the common bee^ [Apis mellificd], neither as to
curiosity nor profit : therefore it is not necessary to be so circumstantial
in the facts; for the humble-bee does not deserve the admiration
(when known) that we would naturally bestow upon it from a slight
acquaintance ; for there are some things we should suppose belong to
its labours which in reality do not.

I imagine it is not so universal as the common bee, for it is not worth
cultivating or transporting from one country to another. They have
the same bee in Newfoundland, both the dark cross striped with brown,

* [See * Observations on Bees,' Animal Economy, p. 422.]

OF THE HUMBLE-BEE. 61

and the brown ; and therefore it is probably a bee of a cold climate
rather than of a warm one\ They propagate there in the same manner
as they do in Britain.

This genus* is the largest in size of the bee-tribe in this country; and
probably every country may have its hiunble-bee, and it may also be
the largest in that country. They are male and female. The females
are of two kinds : viz. queens whick are annual, and labourers which
are semi-annual, and which breed along with the queens, which is of
course in the same year in which they are themselves bred ; this I
believe not to be the case with the queens, they being bred themselves
too late to breed the same year.

They come nearer to the species of the common bee than to any of
the others, considering the bee as a tribe, being composed of queen, male,
and labourers; but there appears to be a gradation in this tribe of
insects, one leading into the other. Although there are bees whose
size and shape entitle them to the term of humble-bees, yet I shall
consider none under this term but those which form a &mily, all the
others coming under the appellation of '< solitary bees." There are
different species which go by the name of hiunble-bees. The distinc-
tions which would make us suppose there were different species are
their size and colour, with a difference in the length of tongue or pro-
boscis, but probably the colour is mostly to be depended upon. But
this question of species is to be determined with certainty, every bee
in a hive being of the same species, although we shall find great variety
in size in the same hive, but then not in coloxir, shape, and length of
proboscis. I believe the humble-bee has the longest proboscis of any
of the bee-tribe, by which it can suck the honey from flowers whose
cups are deep.

In a hive consisting of 157 female humble-bees, their proboscides
were nearly all of a length, proportioned all to their size, but not of a
very long kind. Long and short proboscides are common to both female
and male ; but I should suppose that the female of any one species has a
longer proboscis than the male of the same species ; for in the above hive,
where there were only twenty-one males, the proboscides of these males

* I oonoeire this bee forms a genus even in this country : if they are all one
species, then there are some varieties ; but this I doubt, for no one hive has an j rariety,
yet I could conoeire that the Dim might be a variety. [Latreille has sanctioned the
correctness of this opinion of Hunter's by the formation of a distinct genus {SombuSy
Latreille) for the reception of the different species of humble-bee.]

^ [This conjecture has been subsequently confirmed by the capture of a species
of humble-bee in the most northerly latitudes yet visited by arctic voyagers. — See
Kirby's Description of the Insects collected in Captain Parry's Northern Expedition.]

62 NATURAL HISTORY

were shorter, especially the sucker. The proboscis has a sort of fold-
joint at the head, by which it can be conjsiderably lengthened. It is
the females, as also the female workers, similar to all the females of
the bee-tribe, only that have stings, none of the males having any ; and
as it is the females only that are employed in the oeconomy of the hive,
it is Qnly these that are furnished with weapons.

The humble-bee is more a defensive than an offensive animal. I
believe they seldom attack, only sting when laid hold of; and their sting
has very little effect either as to sensation or swelling. When attacked
they throw themselves on their back by first raising one side, and tdso
raising the legs of that side, and then they tumble over. They are very
hardy, and labour in weather that the common bee will not go abroad in,
and this is owing to their having but little store, and their heat much
less than that of the common bee ; and for the same reason they work
much better in the evening than the common bee does, but not near so
late as either the hornet or wasp ; for they are not in constant employ in
finding food for their young, as the young feed themselves, and they
have store for immediate use for themselves and the young bees as they
hatch. They will not admit of being removed from their first situation
to another ; for when removed with the whole hive, as also with all the
bees, and confined under a shade for some days with their cells filled
with honey-food, they gradually leave it, but do not seem to go back to
their former situation, if it is distant half a mile ; from which circum-
stance, and from all the labourers dying, and the queen leaving the hive
in the winter, they are not capable of being domesticated. They are
not fond of having their hives meddled with or disturbed ; for then they
appear to get lazy, and do not breed so fast, their combs or ceUs not
answering any future purpose, not being what I have called * the furni-
ture of the hive,' as in the common bee. From these circumstances they
are much more liable to accident, as also from their mode of forming
their hives, which is liable to many accidents.

A wet season shall drown many hives, by [their] being begun by a
single bee, which is the mother of the colony, and which at first
labours abroad ; but if killed, which is often the case, the whole falls.

It would appear that they are attacked by their own species ; for in
the place where I enticed them to build their hives I have found
another queen dead, which I supposed to have come there to take
possession, but to have been killed by the other queen and her offspring
or labourers, who then were but few, being only two or three. They
collect honey for store, but it is not of such extensive use as that of the
common bee, although for a time answering the same purpose.

A family is first begun by a simple female, not colonizing like the

OF THE HUMBLS-BEE. 63

common bee^ but she is afterwards assisted by ber own offopiing. Sbe
is very sparing of ber labour, as also of tbat of those which she breeds ;
for I believe sbe never makes any provision to have her hive formed,
but in making it often chooses some accidental place, as a mouse's nest ;
and, although we find cells, yet these are not formed by her, but only
by the maggot going into the chrysalis state ; so that they appear to
have been more busy than what they really are, for the whole of the
cells are formed by the yoimg maggot-bees ; the queen's whole labour
is the formation of one cell of wax, bringing in feaina, and laying eggs.
It is to be remarked, that when I speak of ikty or ihemy I mean
principally the labourers, although the queens may often be included,
more especially at first, when she is beginning to form her colony, but
never the males ; for the variety in the actions of the humble-bee, or
the oeconomy of the hive, belongs chiefiy to the laboi^rers.

There are two periods where we may begin the history of the humble-
bee : viz. either in the autumn, when the female is copulating, just
before she goes into winter-quarters ; or in the beginning of summer,
when she comes out to propagate, which last is the only time that can
be called a beginning of their histoiy, as the going into winter-quarters
is only a simple act of a young queen bee, but which I shall begin with,
because it leads to the coming forth in the spring. We shall find that
the labourers are capable of breeding the same season, which produces
a variety, as also an irregularity in the history of this bee.

Of the Winter Habitation of ike Queen, — ^None but the young queens
live through the winter : they leave their hives, and go into such places
as instinct directs them to ; but as those places are what may be called
hiding-places, they are not easily detected. Not finding any on the
taking down of old houses, nor in the removal of old brick walls, nor
being informed by carpenters and bricklayers in the country that they
ever observed any, I gave orders to my gardener to observe, whenever
he took down any bank or dug up any old dry ground, to have an eye
on this subject ; and two humble-bees having been found in the winter
in the bank of a haw-haw, therefore I conceive a certain degree of
moisture is necessary for their preservation. Their holes are, I believe,
such as have been made by moles, and probably shrews and land-mice.
It would appear they go to them at once ; for we do not find humble-
bees fiying about in autumn in search of such a place, as we find them
in the beginning of summer in search of holes to form their hives in, — a
sleeping-place in the winter requiring less of everything than a place
for the hive in the summer, although there are at this season fifty
queens going into winter-quarters for one that comes out.

According to the state of the weather in the autumn they go sooner

64 NATURAL HISTORY

or later into their winter-quarters ; but if the autumn is cold and wet,
we find no humble-bees flying about in the latter end of September.
In the autumn of 1791 1 found the humble-bee but little abroad; and
on the 28th of August, in digging a bank, we found a large humble-bee
about a foot beyond the surface of the declivity. It appeared at first
dull and inactive, but when held in the hand and was warmed, it flew
away. The weather had been showery, cold and windy for some time.
I conclude that this bee had taken up its winter residence, for it could
not have any home to go to. They remain in those places through the
winter; but most probably not one in a hundred live through the winter,
especially if the season is either severe or wet.

Of the Time when they come forth, — ^They continue in their winter-
quarters till the weather becomes warm, which is in the spring ; how-
ever, they sometimes come forth in good weather in the winter, but go
to rest again most probably when the evening grows cold. About the
beginning of January 1787 a humble-bee was found in the grass very
weak ; it was brought in and put under a cover, but it died. On the
15th of the same month another was picked up, which was a large
queen, and very lively ; that was also put under a cover, but it slowly
became weaker, and on the 20th of February it died ; it had no fat in
its belly. It is probable that those that came forth so early had not
provided for themselves sufficiently in the autumn with a store of fat,
and were obliged to come forth in hopes of food. In March I found a
humble-bee in a forcing-house, on the flower of a Persian lilac ; it had
come in at one of the windows, and was probably drawn there by the
scent of the flowers. It was a large female or queen. It had a quantity
of granulated fat in the abdomen, but not so oily as in the autumn.
About the middle of April, when the apricot and peach blooms are come
forth, then we find humble-bees ; but this depends on the season, for
in the spring of 1790, after a very nuld winter, as also a mild spring,
when the apricot and peach blossoms were blown before the middle of
March, we then had the humble-bees flying abroad. About the latter
end of March or beginning of April the humble-bee is seen flying about.
At this early season we find them on the blossoms of trees, &c., but only
sucking for their immediate food, as they have not yet fixed on places
for their hives. At about the beginning of May they fly about, and
near to the ground, then lighting upon it, creeping upon the earth, and
going into the holes of waUs : these are in search of proper places for
their summer residences for propagation. Such bees are all females,
and of the largest size, but they do not seem to be at this time ready
for propagation, for we seldom find any hives till May.

In their times of propagation they are not so regular as the common

OP THE HUMBLE-BEE. 65

bee, for they cannot begin till the season will allow, having no pTOvision
in store. I found in the summer of 1791 some young humble-bees
abroad about the beginning of June, viz. small ones ; and after this
period we seldom find the first or large queens abroad, and when they
do come out, I suspect that they have been disturbed or have.had their
first hives destroyed, and that they are beginning anew.

Of the Situation of their Hives. — Their hives are found in various
situations. They are in holes in the earth, especially in dry banks, in
holes in walls, in thatch, in hay, in dry dung on the ground, at the
roots of grass, in meadows, in trees, in an old nest of some bird, in a
laurel-bush.

The same species will build either in grass or under ground, for I
have found the queens in both, as also in dung. In whatever situation
they choose, they are commonly led there by some other circumstance
than simply situation, or else probably situation would be attended with
less variety ; but it seems to be more the materials of the nest that
induce them, than this or that situation ; for often, or almost always, when
they can, they build their first or honeycomb in an old mouse's nest.
What makes me suspect this, is the similarity of the materials between
their hives and a mouse's nest ; and a servant, who had orders from me
to preserve every mouse's nest as well as humble-bee hives when mow-
ing, found a mouse's nest in the meadows, and upon opening the moss,
dried grass, &c., he found five young naked mice, and with them a humble-
bee, which immediately flew away: this was in the month of June.
This bee most probably would have put up here if there had been no
mice ; or if they had been further advanced, she might have made them
leave their quarters. I have found them in a rat's nest under ground*.

Upon this principle I made several experiments to entice them to
certain places, in which I succeeded. For instance, on the 4th of June,
I dug small cells or cavities in the ground, and bored a hole aslant into
each of sufficient size for a bee to enter. Into these cavities I put some
fine soft hay, and covered the cavities over with a flat stone or tile ; I
found humble-bee hives in several of these, for I had only to raise the
stone or tile and examine the hay. The first thing I observed in those
cavities where breeding was going on, was, that the hay where the bees
had taken possession was perfectiy dry, while in the others it was

* Although the humble-bees would appear of all the bee-tribe to be the greatest
slovens in their mode of propagation, jet most probably, like most sloTens, they take
more pains on the whole than many of the others. The regular and methodical way
in which the common bee, the wasp, and the hornet begin their hives, appears to
giye but little trouble afterwards. There seems in the humble-bee much more left
to the instinctive principle, as they go on, either of the young or the mother, than in
the above-mentioned species.

66 NATURAL HISTORY

mouldy. A hole was to be observed either at the top or at one side,
leading into the centre of the hay ; the hay itself surrounding this hole
was more regular, and as if turned round the hole ; and this kind of
regularity was carried down some way where the cell was formed, for
honey-storing and breeding were begun. As this hay had been put in
irregularly, the bee must have produced this regularity ; and, I imagine,
by twisting herself round and round, so as to give the hay for a little
space round her this circular form. By this contrivance I could at any
time examine their progress : but they do not always confine themselves
to places where the materials are collected for them ; for I am of opi-
nion that they may have the power and disposition to collect materials
for themselves.

However, I am apt to think that they are directed to situations by
some favourable circumstance ; for in one that had built its nest in a
laurel-bush, it had been led to this situation by the nest of a bird that
had bred there the preceding summer; but the bird's nest was filled
with moss, which was carried higher than the brim of the nest, and in
the centre of this she (the bee) had deposited the materials and laid
her eggs : but the question is, what brought the moss there ? I can con-
ceive it possible for this collection of moss to have been the labour of a
mouse ; and I am inclined to think that they (the bees) may not have
the mode of bringing soft materials for the hive ; for in some which I
found under ground, where the straw had been either very scanty, or none
at all, they had covered their work over with a sheet of substance like
farina. However they may wish to cover their combs, &c., when exposed,
with such soft materials as they can get, yet I do not imagine they
bring it from any distance ; for I believe they have not the power of
carrying it : I rather conceive that they scrape, as it were, what is near
them along to the hive ; for I have put their comb on the ground with
very short grass, and they have with their fore-legs scraped the grass
under them, and in this manner they have gone backwards with it
towards their hive and covered the hive at last.

In the hives under ground I have observed that they form a covering
for the whole. This covering is a very clumsy one, yet formed in some
degree similarly to the external covering of the nest of the wasp or
hornet ; the external surface having a kind of oblique hollows passing
upwards, but which do not pass through. However, this covering has
several passages through it, through which the bees pass : it is com-
posed, I imagine, of the farina, at least it has the same visible pro-
perties. I should suppose the intention of this is to keep out the wet
that soaks through the ground ; for in such situations they have but
little hay or moss. In some nests which I have moved from under

OF THE HUMBLE-BEE. 67

ground and placed on a tile, covered with a garden-pot, above ground,
just at the opening of the passage by which the bees formerly entered,
I have observed them to have covered their comb or cell with a sheet
of this substance, and I have found that they have removed it again.

Their nest is always begun by a single female, which was one of the
last year's brood, and is inhabited only one season. When the proper
place is fixed upon, and the moss or hay (when there is such) is so
prepared, as above described, in the centre of which she has formed a
small space, or kind of cavity, then into this cavity she first makes a
large cell or hollow ball, about the size of a nut (some larger), in which
she deposits some honey, and often covers it entirely over\ This globe
is made of wax, and is, I believe, the only wax she forms. It melts by
heat, but is commonly softer than the wax of the common bee ; nor is
it so white, but appears of a dirty yellow, which I suspect is owing to
its being mixed with fiEuina, somewhat similar to what the common bee
covers the chrysalis with. This honey would seem to serve the queen
as a reservoir or magazine of food, when the weather is too bad for her
to go abroad ; as also the first brood of bees, when just emerged &om
their pod, till they are able to go abroad; which pods now become
reservoirs for honey for the first brood as they come from the chrysalis
state. Having formed the hollow globe, she then begins to breed, and
one would suppose to form her comb. She first brings in some farina
on her hind-legs, similar to the common bees ; but I think she gathers
it from a greater variety of flowers, as it is composed of a greater
variety of colours and consistence when on her legs. I imagine she
mixes it with some juice, for it is more tenacious than simple farina,
and is of a dirtier colour. She now deposits it in an irregular square
mass a Kttle way from the hollow ball. On this substance she deposits
her eggs, one upon another, lying parallel, and then covers the eggs
with the same kind of materials, forming a cavity in which they lie.
There shall be half a dozen of these eggs or more in this little square.
This becomes the basis on which all the future cases are formed.
These eggs, so deposited and covered over, hatch, and produce a
ma^ot ; but in what time the egg is hatched after being laid I do
not exactly know, but I have reason to believe their progress is pretty
quick ; for in those which I have examined at different times, I found
that such as had been laid on the day of examination had large
maggots on that day fortnight'*. When hatched, they leave the soft
shell of the egg in the cavity in which they are contained. This sur-
rounding substance is the food of the maggot, as it is of the common

» [Hunt. Prep. No. 3121.] 2 [ib. No. 3122.]

f2

68 NATURAL HISTORY

bee, only that the present species feed themselres, while the labourers
in the common bee feed the maggot. They feed upon the inner side
of the surrounding mass, by which means they increase the cavity as they
themselves grow ; and as they destroy the inside, the old one lays more on
the outside, so as to keep them always covered, which both incloses them
and serves them for food ; and as they grow, this square mass becomes
larger, commonly of an inch or more square ; so that the humble-bee
does not feed her young as the common bee, wasp, and hornet do.

Their growth is pretty quick, for in about two weeks after hatching
they are ready to go into the chrysalis state. like the wasp, hornet,
and common bee, their excrement is lefb in the cell, and dries, which
has often the appearance of bee-bread. When pretty large and ready
to get into the chrysalis state, they have almost ate up their sur-
rounding materials, which now make a very imperfect covering for them,
each maggot being of fall size.

They spin themselves a covering, which is at first attached to the
inner surface and edges of the holes of this mass, in which I have
detected them in all the stages of the formation of the cell, which is
similar to the food of other chrysalises ; but as there is a series of these
cells, and as they afterwards contain honey, they have, I believe, been con-
sidered as formed by the old bees for the purpose of breeding. Having
now covered themselves over, I believe that the old one, or ones, re-
move that part of the mass which remained ; for the cells become dean
on the outside, excepting on the under surface, which forms a union
between them, and, I believe, allows the cell afterwards to contain
honey the better. This cell is a complete cavity, similar to all that
make an entire pod ; not similar to the bee, wasp, or hornet, which only
line their cell formed by the labourers, and do not line the bottom.
These cells form a very regular cylinder, rounded off at each end, and
are very strong and thick in their coat. They tire united at their
bottoms to each other with a brown substance, which, indeed, covers
the whole bottom of the cell : in this cell they cast their last maggot-
coat, and change into the chrysalis state, placing their head uppermost,
and in about eight days they are ready to come forth. Before the bee
comes forth from the pod, the queen deposits on the upper surface and
towards one edge of this square mass of pods, a mass of farina, in which
she lays some e^s, which she covers with the same materials as before.
These cells are placed at the beginning parallel to each other pretty
regularly, forming the first batch of pods, and are small; but they
become more and more irregular as the formation of the mass of
cells proceeds. "When the chrysalis has formed all the parts belonging
to the bee-state, it emerges from this cell or pod, throwing off, or

OF THE HUMBLE-BEE. 69

creeping out of the chrysalis coat which covered them in this state.
It requires a great deal of lahour to get out of the cell ; they are
obliged to tear and destroy the upper end with their lateral teeth or
pincers : we can hear them at work before they have made an opening ;
and when their heads have got through, but not their body, they
work at the edges to enlarge it. As the maggot is constantly enclosed
in this mass of fiirina, it is not so easy to say when it changes into the
chrysalis state, but now as it forms a well-formed cell for itself its
progress is more detectable. In the common bee, wasp, <&c., the change
is known by their covering the mouths of their cells; but in the
humble-bee they enclose or line the cell of farina. These ceUs, from
whence the young bees have emerged, I have observed become a de-
posit for honey for the whole hive in wet weather, and for the young
bees that are bred in fiiture. As the cells are to contain honey, they
are strong and durable in their substance; but that it might retain
fluid honey, it is lined with a substance ; and to render the honey more
secure, they often cover over the mouths of their cells ; likewise deepen
many by raising their edges with the same kind of substance that forms
the first cell or globe.

When the young bee comes from the ceU the hair is wet, but it soon
dries. Those parts which are (afterwards) of a dun or brown colour, are
at this time white, but in a short time they become brown. For some
time the young bee seems incapable of flying, and is provided by the
mother with honey, which they begin to lap as soon as they emerge
from the cell: indeed I have put honey before them when only the
head was through, and they have lapped it up : but they are soon able
to assist the mother in collecting materials for the further support of
the increasing family. The dab of farina, which she placed on one of
the edges of the square mass of chrysalis-cells in which she deposited
her eggs, is kept increasing as the maggot grows ; she goes through the
same process as before, forming another batch of cells on this edge,
which does not accord with the first mass in regularity in any way.

The queen is now assisted by this her first of&piing of labourers :
they assist in bringing in honey to fill their own ceUs from whence
they came ; they also bring in farina for a new or third of&pring, which
is placed upon another edge at the top, or on the top of one of the
chrysalis-cells into which she deposits her eggs, which goes through all
the above-described processes ; and, while the chrysalis is completing in
the second batch, they are placing their dabs of farina on them for a
fourth : and so they go on increasing their number of batches, as also
the cells in the same proportion.

This mode of increase of cells by different batches obliges them to be

70 NATURAL HISTORY

very irregular ; for although each batch has a kind of corresponding
regtdarity respecting itself, yet it has none respecting that on which it
is placed ; so that by the time that they have done breeding, the whole
makes a very irregular mass of cells, the first cells being undermost ;
and as new ones become completed by the successive births, they are
neglected, and, from their situation, they are allowed to moulder away,
and often they become the nidus for the eggs of flies.

To asceH^in with accuracy the circumstances attending their in-
crease, I continued the before-mentioned mode of enticing them to
proper places, from which I had an opportunity of examining a great
number of hives at different periods from each other, so as to bring out
what was going on.

When we observe the progress of the hives only, we find that the
first and second tier of chrysalises in their cell are very small, being
those of labourers ; that the second or third tier are larger, which are
principally males; and that the succeeding and upper tier are com-
pd^ of much larger chrysalises, which are the young queens. The
female labourers are of very different sizes ; the males are all nearly of
the same size, as has been already observed. After the queen has made
some progress in the hive, we find two kinds of females with males ;
therefore there may be said to be in each hive three different kinds of
bees, having three periods for their production and Uves. The small
females and the males are produced first, and the queens last. In the
month of June we find nothing but small bees, but in July, especially
about the latter end, we find the large chrysalis-pods, and aUo young
queens.

I before observed that the hay, moss, &c. placed to attract the
humble-bees was dryer than the hay in similar situations without the
bees ; this is owing to a greater degree of heat in this inhabited place
than the heat of the part abstracted from them. I found the difference
near twenty degrees. We may observe, that no insects inhabit such
nests ; the place shall be surroimded with ants, grubs, &c., but none go
among the hay or cells ; but the moment such a nest is forsaken, the
honey, maggots, or chrysalises are immediately devoured.

Of the Food of the Maggot Humhle-hee, — It must have appeared, from
what has been already said respecting the progress of propagation, that
the farina of plants, which they bring in on their legs, is the food of the
maggot, for I have found it in the stomach of the maggot ; but it often
seems to differ from that on the legs in consistence, although I have
found it in some the same to appearance, being very different in different
bees as they are collecting it. It does not dry as the farina does, but
keeps nearly of the same moisture, similar to the bee-bread. Probably

OF THE HUMBLE-BEK. 7 1

they mix it with some juice that does not dry readily ; or, to prevont its
drying, it is possihle they may mix it with the juice of some other phints
which does not dry ; for instance, the inspissated juices of the leek and
onion do not dry.

I took some of the materials that enclosed the maggot, and some of
the matter from a humhle-bee's leg, and put them on a piece of alean
white paper, and humt them to see if they melted, and all smelt alike :
the materials &om the humhle-hee maggot melted a little, and humt,
and gave a pretty sensihle smell; that from the leg of the humhle-bee
much the same, only it did not smell so strong ; hut their scents were
the same in quality although not in quantiiy. This suhstance is hoth
their food and their covering.

To see if there could be extracted anything like wax, or even oil, I
boiled a very large hive, and got a very small quantity of a substance
that floated on the water ; and when I had dried it, it hardly melted,
although it did in a small degree, and burnt pretty clear, by leaving a
tolerably large cinder ; but I conceived it had [wax].

In one of my places which I made to entice a female to begin her
colony, after she had formed her hive and bred several small bees, I took
from them the whole comb to see if they would set about a new hive,
which they did : but on examining it on the 12th of August, I was
astonished to find there were no young females, only the large queen
and labourers, nor were there any large cells containing lai^ bees in
the chrysalis state. I examined the hive again on the 8th of Septem-
ber, when I found only one queen, with several labourers and males. All
the chrysalises were come forth, and I observed one cell which I con-
ceived had belonged to a young queen. Why she did not breed queens
as usual I cannot imagine. The queen was very weak, not able to fly,
and died the day after she was taken, which would appear to be much
sooner than the queens of former hives died ; but when there are many
young queens, it is not so easy to ascertain when the old queen dies ;
and probably this circumstance explains it, and she had lived her na-
tural life. In June I took away from a hive, where there were a good
many bees, the last-formed chrysalis-cells, which either contained males
or queens, to see if the future were to be all queens ; but they appeared
to have become lazy.

To ascertain whether any of the labourers or young queens laid eggs,
I took the whole hive of bees, and examined their oviducts to see what
state they were in, and I found but one queen whose oviducts were full
of eggs^, which made me conclude she was the mother of the whole ; all

1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 2616.]

72 NATURAL HISTORY

the other queens having small oviducts and empty, or at least no eggs
fit for laying^ ; and I found what I did not expect, viz. that some of the
lahourers, even the smallest, had their oviducts fall of eggs, and others
with none. This observation led to the following experiments. I re-
moved the queen after she had bred some labourers and males, and also
every ma^ot and egg that lay on the comb : this being done, I found,
in about a week after, dabs of farina with eggs and maggots : these I
allowed to remain tiU about the 8th of August, and upon examination
I only found six females and seven males, one of which had just come
forth, which males I think were smaller than common. There were no
queens bred by the labourers, and I observed that they did not continue
the hive equally with those whose queens were left in the hive. There
always became fewer and fewer of them till the whole hive was deserted,
probably about the time the queen would have begun to breed young
queens. This experiment I have repeated, and with the same
success.

Of thdr Copulation, — On the Ist of August, 1789, having before
taken a hive with the whole bees and put them under a large glass
shade, they went out and into their hives ; but one day I saw a large
bee on one of the sides of the shade, and another, as it were, standing
on its tan with its four feet on the back of the other. Suspecting they
were in the act of copulation, I caught them both, and immediately
immersed them into spirits*. The male did not let go his hold, and they
both died in this position. I found the two holders fast on the sides of
the beginning of the vagina. The sting of the female was, as it were,
projecting between the two : this was at a period when breeding was
over ; for in this hive there were neither maggots nor eggs, and only a
few chrysalises, so that copulation could answer no good purpose for
this season, therefore only fitting them for the next. As we never find
them copulating abroad like many other insects, it is reasonable to
suppose that they copulate at home, and more especially, as they will
by this means keep to their own family in their propagation.

About the latter end of August the humble-bees are becoming indolent
or inactive, more especially the males. This indolence increases through
the month of September, and some way into October, if the weather is
tolerable ; but by the middle of October there are hardly any to be seen.
The males are now many more in number than the labourers, about eight
or ten to one. On the 29th of August I caught thirty bees, and only
one of them was a labourer. The males about this period get into large
flowers, probably for food, such as the flower of the hollyhock ; but not

1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 2615.] 2 [Hunt. Prep. No. 2852.]

OF THE HOBN£T. 73

finding much, and the weather becoming cold, and having now hardly
any home to go to, they become benumbed and die.

To see what would become of them, if I were to take better care of
them than the season now allows, I had caught for me, throughout the
month of October, all the humble-bees that could be found : I put
them under a large glass, with honey for them to feed upon, which they
did, but they all died in the course of some days after being confined.
The- intention was to see what bees lived through the winter and what
not. It was in these trials that I observed the disproportion between
males and females : they both died equally fast ; and of the females,
whether lai^e (which I supposed to have been the last year's) or small,
they died equally soon. Most of them died with the proboscis erected
or elongated.

Of the Progress of Breeding. — ^The progress of breeding appears to be
in this manner : the first step is the female bee of the last year's brood,
which has lain dormant through the winter: she begins the hive;
and the first brood are the small bees or labourers, which assist the
mother in the labours of the family, bringing in farina for the future
maggots, and also probably honey, to fill the pods or cells from whence
they come ; and, towards the latter end of the season, they even lay
eggs. Some males are in the nest to impregnate the breeding labourers ^,
and then the young queens are bred. How far labourers are continued
to be bred along with the males and young queens I do not yet know,
but I believe some are, for I have found small pods or chrysalises along
with the large. I have reason to suppose that the males give no
assistance to the females in collecting either the farina or honey: I
have never been able to detect a male with farina on its legs, although
I have examined many hundreds. Nor do I imagine that what are
to be the next year's queens give any assistance in the year they
are themselves bred in; indeed they are hardly bred early enough
to breed much that season.

•

Economy of Hornets.

The hornet ( Vespa Crahro) and the wasp ( Vesjpa vulgaris) are two
species of the bee-tribe, yet they are so much alike that I could almost
suppose them the same species. They are much more so than any
other two species of the same tribe. They are exactly the same in
form, and nearly so in colour ; and their anatomical structure, mode of
life, food, offence and defence, structure and materials of combs, and

^ [Further experiment and observation may be requisite to establish this necessity.]

74 NATURAL HISTORY

mode of feeding the young, are nearly the same. This is so much the case
that a history of the one would almost answer for the other. The only
difference appears to he size, the hornet heing by much the lai^est :
the situation of their nests may differ, although that is often the same
in both ; the hornet commonly building its nest in some dry cavity, as
in a summer-house, hollow of a tree, &c., while the wasp commonly
builds its nest in the ground; sometimes, however, in the hollow of a tree.
Hornets are much fewer in number than wasps, although they appear
t,o breed as many young ones. The only reason I can assign for this
difference is that the hornet builds its hive in very conspicuous places,
and it is therefore much more readily destroyed than that of the wasp.
Or, probably, the winter quarters of the queens are less secure.

Of the Homet^s Hive. — ^The hive of the hornet is a very regular
building ; for as they commonly build in an area where there is room,
they are not encumbered. It is commonly attached to some surface which
composes the ceiling of the area in which they build. The complete
structure is a ball nearly round, but rather longer from top to bottom
than from side to side ; from about 12 to 15 inches in diameter. This ball
has not a regular smooth surface, but has a great many openings leading
obliquely into it, which pass for several inches between what might be
reckoned its different coats, and often terminate iu a blind end. A
section of the outer coat from top to bottom would almost give the idea
of its being built with the wafers made by the confectioners. This
mode of building gives thickness to this shell ; for from the outside to
the inner surface is about an inch and a half; it also gives lightness.
The colour of the materials when formed into this shell is a dun or light
brown, but not uniformly so; it is a stratum of lighter and darker
alternately, and that pretty regularly. This we can hardly suppose to
arise from design, yet its regularity gives that idea. It is extremely
brittle ; it will hardly cut with a pair of scissors without chipping, and
when wet, it is like wet paper, but not nearly so tenacious, for it can
hardly be kept together.

In this shell are placed horizontal partitions or platforms, one tier
above another ; or rather, following the order as they bmld, one tier
below another. These platforms are near an inch from each other, but
the lowest two or three are rather at a greater distance than the upper.
The uppermost is attached to the under surface of the dome : the second
is attached to the under surface of the first by columns that suspend
rather than support ; the composition of which is much stronger than
that which either composes the outer shell or the platforms, having
probably more animal matter mixed with the old wood. The platforms
are of a size answering to their situation in the shell ; the largest m the

OP THE HORNET. 75

middle answering the largest diameter of the shell and becoming
narrower towards the top, as also towards the bottom. These horizontal
platforms are composed of combs or oellsy distinct in themselTeSy but
each side is oonmion to it and its next cell. Each cell is a kind of
cylinder with a mouth and bottom ; and the platform is composed of
these, being placed nearly parallel to each other, with the months on one
side, the bottoms on the other ; one side making a series of cells, the other
making a pretty smooth surface ; howerer, as the bottoms are a little
rounded, the surfSace looks like a pavement.

The mouths of the cells are downward, making a kind of ceiling
composed of compartments, and the bottoms of the ceUs make a floor
above. A cell is not a perfect cylinder, but is rather narrower at the
bottom, and a little bent, which makes them diverge more and more as
they are further from the centre ; the centre one being perpendicular,
and those on the circumference a little oblique ; and also, by their taking
a little bend, this curve becomes more and more towards the circum-
ference.

Hornets work day and evening till about eight o'clock, in September ;
that is, they go out and into their cells till that time> as I was informed
by Mr. Eden's gardener ; and when I went to take the nest about eight
o'clock on the 24th of September, they were then going out, and others
coming in. An old stump of an oak-tree, rotten on one side, afforded
them plenty of materials for building with, of which they had availed
themselves : they were busy, and had carried off a great deal of it. They
are not so easily disturbed as bees and are not so ready to make an attack:
they are less offensive than the wasp : but this is probably owing to the
females only having the power of attack, and seldom leaving the hive
or nest.

Hornets are distinct males and females. The females are rather
more numerous than the males. There is great variety in the sizes of
both males and females ; but not so great in the male as in the female.
The males in general are, in size^ between the largest and smallest of
the females : this I apprehend is owing to the largest females having
eggs in them, which always increases the size.

Of the Males, — ^The males may be easily distinguished from the
females by several well-marked differences. The first and most con-
spicuous is the horns [antennae], which in the males are longer by one
half, are thicker, and the first joint from the head is only one- third of
the length of that in the female : the circular joints to the end of the
horns are as long again as in those of the female. The head is smaller,
and on the top of the head there is a black mark resembling a crescent,
on which is placed three small eyes at right angles from one another,

76 NATURAL HISTORY

the point of which being in the middle and fore part of the head, they
are not a pin's breadth asunder. The females have the same eyes
placed in the same situation, but without the above black mark. The
yellow on the head of the male is brighter. The body of the male
is shaped very much like the female's, excepting at the point of the
abdomen, where the last scale is rounded off; while that in the female
is pointed: and in the male the penis may be seen projecting a httle. The
number of the scales of the abdomen also differs, being seven in number
in the male, in the female only six. The colour of the male is not
much different from that of the female, excepting that there is not as
much of the bright brown on the thorax ; nor are the marks on the back
anywhere different : but, on the under side of the abdomen, the bright
brown marks which are on the middle of each scale are smaller and
sharper than in the female, and of course there is more of the bright
yeUow: the last scale on the belly is much smaller, has very little
yellow on it and is blunt, while in the female it is much larger, sharper,
and of a brighter yellow, with a small fissure at its point, beyond which
the sting and the feelers on each side may be seen projecting a little
almost at all times.

Of the Females, — The females differ much more in size than the males ;
and this does not depend entirely on their being impregnated, for there
were several whose oviducts were small, which were as large as the one
which was found fiill of ova. Others were smaller than the males, and no
way different from the large ones, except that the small ones were brighter
in colour. Females of the common size were rather smaller than the
males, and nearly of the same colour. The largest females were not so
bright in colour ; the yeUow appearing dirty, but the brown equally as
bright everywhere.

Of the Fat, — On opening the abdomen the fat appeared much whiter
and more in quantity in the males than in the females. It is diffdsed
among the intestines in small flakes slightiy attached to one another,
and lies principally on each side of the intestines. In the females the
fat is very much in quantity in the autumn, but in the spring it is
much less, and of a brown colour. The oesophagus is very small, about
the size of a large horsehair, as it passes through the union of the
thorax with the abdomen, and enlarges a little before it enters the
stomach. The stomach is situated under the first and second scale of
the abdomen, and is a transparent bag of the shape of an e^'^y about
the size of a large pea, the large end towards the oesophagus. The
oesophagus enters on the top of it. The small end terminates in the
pylorus about the size of a hair-pin, which continues of this size for
the twelfth of an inch, then suddenly contracts to a very smaU neck,

OF THE HORNET. 77

which oontiiiiies for the eighth of an inch^ and then dilates to the size
[of that] above ; the intestine increasing gradually in size for about an
inch, till it is of the thickness of a crow-quill^ and, for one-fourth of an
inch, continues of this size. It then diminishes a little for one-fourth
of an inch, and here receives a vast number of small ducts, which pro-
bably answer the purpose of liver and pancreas. These ducts enter all
round the intestine ; the intestine afterwards gradually diminishes to
the size of a hair-pin, and then opens into a large oval bag half as
large again as the stomach. It is transparent, and has six small opake
oblong bodies placed in the direction of the gut at equal distances,
nearer to the upper part of the intestine than the lower. They are so
closely attached to the gut as hardly to be separated &om it ; but I find
they are only attached by the principal part of their surface ; and at
the lower end, or end next the anus, they are united to the gut. I sus-
pect they are glands, and that at this end of union the duct enters.
This bag is sometimes filled with a greenish fluid, and sometimes with
a few fseces of an oblong shape, of a brown colour and shining appear-
ance, like the ova of a grasshopper. The intestine contracts to the
size above, and terminates in the anus, under the upper and last scale
of the back, and superior to the first of the belly counting from below
upwards. The upper part of the intestine above the liver is more
transparent than the lower part, and appears to be convoluted, but it is
only the circular muscular fibres appearing through the coats of the intes-
tine ; and the inner surface appears to be plain in the lower part of the
intestine from the liver, but the muscular fibres run in a longitudinal
direction. The intestine from the pylorus to the anus takes three
spiral turns, and is about twice as long as the whole animal. What I
conceive to be liver consists of a great number of small single ducts
which seem to enter the gut separately. They are exceedingly small
and numerous, about an inch in length, and folded up in all directions.
On opening the abdomen and exposing the liver I have seen among
these ducts a greenish fluid which looked like transuded bile.

The lungs consist of air-bags and vessels : there are two white bags
as large as peas, placed on the upper part of the abdomen on each side,
from the bottom of which goes a large air-vessel down each side, that
receives the smaller vessels that have been distributed through every
part of the lower part of the abdomen. The bags above receive the
branches from the parts contiguous: the air-vessels are white and
shining, and consist of a spiral thread in a circular form from end to
end, which may easily be unravelled by pulling the vessel asunder,
when the thread will wind off very easily. The air-bags and lai^e
vessels going down the sides are not of the above construction ; they

78 NATURAL HISTORY

are white and opake^ appearing as if covered with a fine white
powder \

The nerves are like those in the silk-moth while it is in the cater-
pillar state. They go down the belly to the end, consisting of two
small strings, and small round opake bodies placed at equal distances,
upon the beginning of each scale of the abdomen. These white bodies
or gangHons give off nerves on each side. In passing down the abdo-
men it goes over the division of the vagina [in the female], and a
ganglion is placed upon the division which binds the vagina down close
to the under part of the abdomen, giving off nerves to the termination
of these parts.

The three eyes [ocelli] on the head project above the skidl like half
globes; they are shining black, and are fixed in the skull. When
viewed in the microscope they appeared polished and black, but on re-
moving the projecting part it appears transparent. They are hollow,
and the lower part is sunk in the skuU, at the bottom of which is a
little fluid, and lined with a black paut like the * pigmentum nigrum '
in the eyes of the more perfect animals, which gives them their black
colour.

Male Parts of Generation, — ^The males may be easily distinguished
externally by the above description. The penis, &c. is like that of the
silk-moth. It is secured dn a strong brown shining homy case, about
the size and shape of a barley-corn, with two blunted hooks which bend
downwards, with a sulcus in the upper part in which the penis lies.
This case consists of two parts joined together above and below, with a
tough union. At the end are the two hooks above mentioned, each of
which open and shut, like forceps ; probably to secure the female in the
act of coition, like the hooks in the male silk-moth. These hooks project
beyond the penis near the breadth of a pin. The case has muscles at-
tached to it, by which the male can make it project and draw it in. The
penis lies in the sulcus or groove and is about one-eighth of an inch in
length, about the thickness of a common pin, is rather fiat, of a light-
brown colour, darker towards its end. At its end, it has two small
projecting parts on each side, going off obliquely : they are thin, homy,
and are smaller at their attachment, suddenly swell out, and are rounded
off in an oval form. On the under side of the penis is a groove in
which the duct for the conveyance of semen passes, which opens at
the end between the two above-mentioned projecting parts. The penis
seems not to be capable of being pushed out far ; for I have never been
able to draw it out more than the breadth of a hair-pin'*. The testicles

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1073-1079.] » [Hunt. Prep. No. 2349.]

OP THE HORNET. 79

are two small white bodies about the size and shape of hemp-seeds,
sometimes larger and flattened : they lie in contact with each other,
but may be easily separated : the right is rather higher than the left :
they are placed under the second scale, and seemingly not attached to
the back. The ducts or vasa deferentia come out from the testicle on
the under side, nearer the upper than the under end, by very small ducts
bending downwards, and pass down on the outside of the intestine, soon
beginning to swell gradually to three times the thickness. At about half
an inch from the testicle is a projection like a small bag or caecum ; the
duct from above to this part appears rather opake and shining. Almost
close to this bag another 'caecum arises, on the other side and in an
opposite direction, nearly three times as long as the other. This bag is
generaUy more opake than any other part of the duct, and loses the
shining pearly appearance ; then diminishes quickly in size and makes
a bend upwards, becoming very small ; turns again downwards, and is
about the size of a horsehair; is continued into the penis, where it
unites with its corresponding duct at the beginning of the penis, and is
continued to its end.

Female Organs of Generation^, — ^The vagina begins or opens under the
last scale of the belly, just before the root part of the sting ; so the
sting vidth its muscles, &c. are placed directly between the opening of the
vagina and anus. The vagina runs along the inside of the abdomen for
some way. As soon as the vagina enters the abdomen there is a bag at-
tached to it, similar in situation to that in the female silk-moth, about
one-fourth of an inch in length, and the thickness of a pin ; round in the
impregnated state, but in the unimpregnated it is flat, thin, and trans-
parent, though of the same size. The length of the vagina, from the
external opening to the division of the oviducts, is about one-eighth of
an inch. It then divides into two ducts of the thickness of a hair-pin,
which pass on singly for one-eighth of an inch ; then each divides into
six oviducts, which are slightly attached by small filaments of the air-
vessels and ducts. The ducts appear knotty in some places, and gra-
dually diminish till they are insensibly lost. They may be easily
separated by dividing the small twigs of the air-vessels by which they
are attached. The two divisions pass up distinctly for some way, through
which division the largest part of the intestine passes. The ducts di-
minish in size, and terminate almost insensibly under the second scale
of the back without any seeming attachment. The oviducts lengthen
after impregnation in proportion as the ova advance in size ; so that, in
a female ready to lay, the oviducts are increased to near six times their

[Hunt. Preps. Nob. 2632-2637.]

80 NATURAL HISTORY

length in the nnimpregnated state. The number of ova which is con-
tained in one of the oviducts cannot be easily ascertained ; but I have
been able to count fifty, so that at this calculation she will lay 600
eggs. The eggs nearest the vagina are largest, of an oblong oval
shape : the largest are about one-eighth of an inch in length, and they
gradually diminish in size till they are insensibly lost. As the ova
diminish in size they become rounder, till at last they become perfectly
round.

Hornets copulate like the common fly, by the male getting on the
back of the female, but in the act of coition he is bent almost round.
The female is also bent, but not near so much ; and during the act the
male shakes his wings, and seems to emit like the male silk-moth \ &c.
The two which I saw continued between five and six minutes : this
was in the beginning of October.

Of ike Sting, — The sting is placed between the vagina and anus in
the anterior perinseum, on a convex shell which is divided in the middle.
It is about one-fourth of an inch in length, of a black shining colour.
It is thickest at its origin, and flat, having a little groove on the end
inside, which is lost in its middle, becoming flat, and the sting ends in
a round sharp point. The sting is attached by a joint above the vagina^
and is flat and broader at this part. The sting from this joint takes a
bend which answers to the convexity of the shell. In the shell there
is a groove in which the sting is received when not in use, so that when
drawn back into this groove it does not project above one-half of its
length. On the upper part of this shell are placed two small homy
parts, about one-eighth of an inch in length, of the thickness of a
bristle : they are convex on their outer side, flat on their inner, and when
the sting is drawn in, it comes in between them and is of the same
length exactly : they are darker coloured at their ends, and are there
beset with small hairs : they are nearly of the same thickness through
their whole length, are not perfectly straight, but take on a little bend
laterally in the middle ; they may be called * feelers,' for they would
seem to have a power of knowing what to sting by these two parts.
The glands for secreting the poison are two small ducts about two inches
in length, of the thickness of a horsehair, and nearly of the same thick-
ness through their whole length, excepting within half an inch of the
reservoir for the poison, when they become smaller, and enter that bag
separately, on the upper part, about a pin's breadth asunder. These
glands or ducts lie doubled up several times on each side above the
vagina and beginning of the oviducts, and may be easily dissected or

['Animal Economy,' p. 461.]

OF THK HORNET. 81

imravelled by dividing the small twigs of air-vessels which go to
them.

The reservoir or bag for the poison is placed under the fourth and
fifth scale of the back of the abdomen, and is about the size of a very
small pea ; it is of an oval figure and of a shining tendinous appearance.
It is not a plain uniform bag, but the fibres of which it is composed
take different directions, and there are small furrows in the direction of
those fibres. It seems always turgid, and, when cut into, has but a
small cavity in its centre. At the opposite end of this bag arises a duct
for the conveying the poison to the sting, which is about one-eighth of
an inch in length, of the thickness of a horsehair and very transparent,
which is continued on the sting. The females only have stings \

Loose Notes,

The comb of the common bee is all of one colour, although the mate-
rial brought in on the legs is of various tints of yellow, therefore some
change is produced [in that material]. The same of the humble-bee.
The combs of the hornet and wasp are of a darker and lighter colour,
and that pretty regularly variegated. "We should naturally suppose
that the materials were of very different tints, they therefore probably
imdergo some change.

If the hornets* nest is taken away with only a little left, they begin
anew. The males are the workers ; they fly abroad for food, and feed
upon ripe fruit, as grapes, in the beginning of October, while the females
remain at home. They eat meat and ripe firuit, especially if it contains
much sugar, as ripe figs t they are fond of sugar when wetted.

In the maggot-hornet, we see on each side ten dark spots, or tracheal
openings [stigmata]. In the winged insect seven of the lower [openings]
belong to the abdomen, and three to the trunk : the first [hindmost] of
the trunk is behind the wings ; one is between the [hind and fore]
wings ; and one is before the upper [or fore] wing.

I fed young hornets in the maggot state with bits of meat, by putting
it in between their nippers when they opened them. The maggot-
hornet, when full-grown, spins its web over the mouth of the cell, but
not on the inside. When they have spun themselves in, then they
change their maggot coat.

Mr. Grant sa\^ only one hornet at Gibraltar.

" Beckenham, Dec. 4, 1784.
" Deab Sib, — People never give attention to matters which are con-
tinually before their eyes ; and, therefore, I do not find it easy to collect

» [Hunt. Prep. No. 2156.]

o

82 NATURAL HISTORY

from any of my labourers or woodmen a single idea respecting the hornets ;
and some of them are acute intelligent fellows. They say that in
splitting old trees in the winter they often find deserted nests ; and I saw
the remains of one which they had broken last week in splitting an oak.
They are confident that these nests are always mere combs, and without
grubs. They also say that they often find in old trees, a solitary and
dead hornet, but never more than one at a time in the winter. When
you ask them about the regeneration for the ensuing year, they stare,
and know no more than my Lord Mayor. I have often seen Mr. King's
nest, and will revisit it as soon as this heavy weather ceases. My hornets
disappeared gradually, and were all gone in the first week in November.
I think it probable that there will be a new nest in the same place next
year, and yet I firmly believe that all of this year are gone to the devil,
and are as dead as Julius Caesar. We send three dozen swans' egg-
pears, &c., with our compliments to Mrs. Hunter and you.

" Yours ever truly,

" William Eden\"

Economy of Wasps.

Of the Progress of Breeding, — ^At any time of the summer, excepting
at the beginning and termination of their colony, we find all the dif-
ferent stages of propagation, from the half-formed cell to the qq^, the
maggot, the chrysalis, and the fly. At the very first we only find eggs,
and those of different ages, then those are hatched into maggots in
succession ; while the maggots are increasiag in size other eggs are
hatching, and fresh eggs are laying. The first laid are then becoming
chrysalises, while at the same time the wasp or wasps are increasing
the hive ; so that we have in a nest, at this stage, eggs of all ages,
maggots ofall sizes, and chrysalises; all on each platform. As a platform
is beginning to be formed at its centre, by probably forming at first one or
more cells, we find as soon as one cell is finished an e^g is laid in it, and
as the comb extends in circumference so are the eggs laid ; so that we
have the whole progress of generation in the same platform beginning
at the centre and extending towards the circumference. Some time
afterwards, in the centre of the platform, the first eggs hatch, be-
coming maggots, then chrysalises, then flies, and they are gone ; leaving
empty cells half-broken down and probably a second set of eggs in

^ [William Eden, Esq., son of Sir Robert Eden, Bart., of West Auckland, was
raised to the Peerage of Ireland, by the title of Baron Auckland, 18th November,
1789, and was created a Peer of England, under the same title, 23rd May, 1793.]

* OP THE WASP. 88

them. Then the order becomes inverted, and we find the youngest to-
wards the centre, and the oldest towards the circxunferenoe, while there
are new-formed empty cells on the onter edge of all. But this order at
last becomes irregular ; and they go on in irregular succession : the
centre cells at first held eggs, while tiiie circumference was only forming ;
the cells, here, have eggs when the centre cells have ma^ots ; and then
the circumference-cells have maggots when the centre ones have chry-
salises, and by the time that the circumference-cells have chrysalises,
the centre cells have a second set of eggs ; for every platform produces
several successions of broods. At the latter periods in the season, when the
lower platforms are making, we have the same succession going on in
them, but they are larger ceUs, having the eggs, maggots, and chry-
salises of the males and young queens in them; and sometimes we
shaLL have in the last platform small cells, and either queen-eggs,
maggots or chrysalises in them. By this time the upper tiers are for-
saken, although they may be still forming lower tiers of large cells ;
and, towards the latter part of the season, we have only the lower cells^i
filled with queens and males ; and in the month of October only queen
chrysalises in the lowest of all.

Of laying ike Eggs and Breeding, — ^I have already observed, in the
description of the formation of the comb or platform, that, as soon as
she [the mother- wasp] had begun her first platform, consisting of only
three or four cells, she immediately lays in each an egg^ even before they
are completely deep, which eggs are hatching while this platform is
enlarging in the number of cells ; and she continues to employ the
cells as they are forming. The grubs, when hatched, she must feed ;
and, probably, the cell not being complete, fits it better for her to
perform this duty; for it appears impossible for her to get to the
bottom of one of the smaU cells when complete.

At this time she has a great deal of emplo3nnent till the offspring
are capable of providing for themselves and of assisting her ; then they
probably leave her entirely to the office of laying eggs ; and they are
employed in ftiture in carrying on the increase of the building. Im-
mediately upon the formation of a few cells in the second partition the
female lays e^s, so that the laying of eggs goes on progressively with
the formation of the cells. On removing a part of the external case
and looking in laterally between the platforms and observing their
actions, we may see that they most commonly pass along the under sur-
face of the platform with their backs downward, by which means they
can more readily pay attention to their young. At the time the
young queens are beginning to be formed, the nest consists only of
queens and labourers, and it is now at the fullest respecting labourers ;

g2

84 NATURAL HISTORY

but these decay, being either killed or dying abroad ; and about thes
month of October the males and queens are in the greatest number
in the hives.

Of the Egg, — ^The time the egg takes to hatch is not known, nor is it
easy to be known ; at least, I have not been able to inspect the parts
at stated times : but, by taking the whole progress, I am led to sup-
pose it cannot be long ; probably only a few days ; for, in a wasp's
nest in which I observed its progress from day to day, I could make a
guess. When the egg is hatched the maggot becomes the object, first
of the queen, and then of the young brood themselves ; they are con-
stantly employed in feeding the young, and for that purpose the maggots
have all their heads towards the mouth of the cell, and of course
downward\ It may be difficult to find out all the modes of feeding
the young. We must suppose at present that the queen or mother of
the whole feeds the first brood of labourers ; but, when once two or
three are arrived at the wasp state, then they immediately release her
of that office, as well as of the office of building. As the labourers
serve the queen in building and feeding, a question naturally arises, —
Do the males and the young queens take upon them the office of
feeding ? I think it is probable the males do, as they go about for
their own food, and come forth early enough in the season to feed the
maggot-queens; and from an experiment, they seemed to feed the
maggots. The maggots are fed probably with the same kind of food
which the old ones eat themselves. I have caught the labourers
coming into the hives with the materials in their . mouths or forceps.
In some it has been a small fly ; in others the pulp of fruit ; in some,
pieces of meat ; and, in squeezing by accident some of the mt^ots,
I have squeezed out the juice of the cherry. They have two teeth, or
rather pincers, which open laterally, and which they are often opening
and shutting. As their tails are towards the bottom of the cell their
excrement must be deposited there, which is allowed to dry : it is of a
black colour lying at the bottom of the cell; so that the old ones
never clean them. The maggots can live a long time without eating:
I have known them three weeks before they died. This power of
abstinence must often be put to the trial, as often as the weather is
such as will not allow the old ones to go abroad.

The maggots cast their external coat ; but how often I do not know.
I have found them, when about half-grown, with their coat half off, as

^ [Nothing is said of the attachment of the eggs to the sides of the cells wheh
they are deposited in them, which I beliere is always the case, by a pedicle. —
W. Clipt.]

* OF THE WASP. 85

if creeping out of it, and the part which had freed itself of the tail was
at the bottom of the cell adhering to the excrements. They have no
progressive motion even when taken out of the cell, and their motion
in the cell is but little. I observed, when the comb or partition was
perfectly free from motion, that the maggots were motionless ; but by
touching any one part of it the whole of the maggots would instantly
move ; so that the whole surface was in motion, and then immediately
became quiet again. This was probably in expectation of food, like
young birds. Whether they see or not, I have not been able to deter-
mine ; but I can observe two dark lines on the sides of the head, placed
on two globes which are hard to the touch.

If by accident the chrysalises are misplaced, the old ones replace
them. I observed wasps take some maggots that had tumbled out in
their forceps, and carry them from place to place and put them in an
empty cell. When the maggot- wasp is ready for the chrysalis state,
it makes its own covering for the cells, and also lines it at the bottom ;
but the lining becomes thinner and thinner towards the bottom. I
observed them at work weaving the white lining, before mentioned,
from a small thread which came out of their mouth, by which weaving
the maggot becomes much smaller in size. It then seems to rest from
its labours of eating, and begins to change the present parts for those
peculiar to the fly-state, which now begin to form. Their maggot-
coat seems to get loose, and the parts within may be seen through it.
What was the head of the maggot seems to decay, and the two eyes of
the fly are seen on the shoulder part of the maggot ; the head of the
fly having formed on the shoulders of the maggot.

It would appear, then, from the above observations \—firsty that the
e^g is laid in a cell ; secondly, that it is not necessary the cell should
then be complete, perhaps better that it be not ; thirdly, that most
probably the cell is completed as the maggot grows ; fourthly, that
the old wasp feeds the first young in the maggot-state, and the suc-
ceeding ones are fed by the labourers ; fifthly, that the maggot, when
ready to faU into the chrysalis state, covers itself with a juice spun out
of its own body like the silk- worm. While in the cell, a complete
change is made ; there is not a single part of the old body remains,
and the new parts formed are much more numerous than the old ;
of which transformation, although probably the most curious part of the
whole, yet as I do not conceive there is any material difference between
it and that of insects in common, I shall not take notice here.

Of the internal j^aris of the Maggot, — ^The oesophagus is very short
and small, and swells into an oblong bag, the stomach. The stomach
is very near the whole length of the animal : it passes in the direction

86 NATURAL HISTORY

of the l)ody, surronnded by the air- vessels and the silk- vessels. To-
wards the anus it becomes smaller, forming what may be called gut,
and which is afterwards elongated into a g^t, lying coiled up on each
side of the stomach ; under the above described air-vessels, there are
also four long canals, two on each side : their beginning is forward, near
the beginning of the stomach : they pass backward and toward the begin-
ning of the intestines, becoming rather larger ; they then unite into one
on each side, and at last enter into the gut, or termination of the stomach.
This is what I suppose to be the Hver ; probably they may secrete a
liquor (juice) similar to that of the pancreas^ These appear to become
longer and smaller in the adult oj wasp-state. In the interstices of
these parts is a kind of cellular membrane, having also a vast number
of white bodies in it^ which appears to be analogous to the fat in the
old ; for we find in young animals in general that the substance in the
place of the fat in the old is hardly fat : the same in the belly of the
chrysalis. They have a number of lateral air-openings, which all unite
into one canal that passes from head to tail ; from which passes inwards
toward the stomach, a vast number of air-cells, as also laterally into
the different parts. These are now mere ramifying vessels, probably
from air being only wanted for respiration and not for flight ; therefore
they are not enlarged into cells.

Of the Silk Glands. — On each side of the body intermixed with the
above substance, are canals for the purpose of secreting the juice for
the covering of the cells, somewhat similar to the silk- worm. They
begin by two canals on each side near the tail^ and pass, very much
convoluted, towards the head. These unite into one duct which opens
at the mouth, through trhich the juice passes to form the silk. These
canals make up the largest part of the substance between the skin and
the stomach, and which makes the animal shrink so much after it has
spun the lining of its cell. These substances immediately under the
skin are divided into two portions, one on each side ; which division
we see through the skin on the back, being divided by the heart : and
we also see it divided on the fore-part by a dark line, so that the
cellular membrane on each side do not commonly unite with each
other.

I began my account of the wasp in the summer with one female
wasp, and have traced her operations till she produced assistants, and
I have still continued the work till the whole was completed ; but I
have yet only spoke of her breeding at large. It is now necessary
I should take notice of her of&pring, because there is a peculiarity in

[Urea has been disooyered in it]

OF THE WA8P. 87

their prodnction that I believe belongs to no other kind of animals,
and only a few of this kind.

All animals of distinct sexes, so far as I know, produce distinct
sexes ; but for a male and a female of any species to produce naturally
one of themselves in every respect but in sex, is I believe peculiar to
some of the species of this tribe of insects.

From these observations we must suppose there are two kinds of
wasps bred in every hive; one kind are the 'male' and 'female,'
which complete the species ; the other kind is that which does not
breed, although having the female parts, and it constitutes the
' workers.' These are not bred promiscuously with the others, as the
male and female are, but they have their two stated times. As the
first parent requires assistance, the first wasps she breeds are the
' workers ' ; and her instinctive principle goes hand in hand with the
necessity for her first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth platforms
of combs, aU of which have only small cells fit for the hatching of
' workers ' ; so that a hive consists at first only of the queen and
workers. The latter are increasing fast ; and we may observe them to
be the only useful part of the community ; for neither the males nor
young females are probably of much use. About the middle of August
or September they are increasing their seventh, eighth and ninth plat-
forms, the cells of which, especially of the seventh, are some large, some
small, but those of the eighth and ninth are mostly large. In the small
cells, I believe, the queen lays the eggs that are to be males ; but late
in the season, and ui the lai^e cells, she lays the eggs that are to form
the fertile females ; so that the male and the female are the last that
are bred ; the reason of which we shall see by and by.

Of the Workers, — ^The workers constitute the largest number in the
hive. They are, upon the whole, the smallest in size, and they have
more variety in size among themselves than either the male or female
have. They have the female parts of generation, which are extremely
faint, but easily distingnished ; I never found them impregnated, and,
as I have already observed, they have the stmg, which also is another part
peculiar to the female*. Their beUy tsrminates in a very sharp point,
coming to it quickly. Their feelers or horns are shorter than the male ;
six scales on each side ; of which the upper overtop the imder entirely,
and the anterior overtop the one behind. The workers are what are
found abroad, especially towards the beginning of the summer. By size
alone, they are immediately to be distinguished from the breeding
females, but not otherwise ; from the males, to which they come nearest

* The parts of generation of the working wasp are much more evident in some
individuals than in others. (Loose note.)

88 NATURAL HISTORY

in size, they are to be distinguished both by the shape of the abdomen and
by length of their feelers, besides their having a sting. The abdomen in
the worker is shorter and more pyramidal than in the males, being thicker
at its base, and coming almost to a point, having the two last scales
terminating in a point. Their feelers are not so long as in the males. They
are called 'workers' because properly they do all the work of the family;
for as soon as one or two are formed, they are immediately employed,
and as theyincrease in number the greater proportion of the hive is built.
Their employments may be reckoned three : — ^first, the excavation of the
ground, when the hive is formed under ground ; secondly, the building
of the hive ; and thirdly, the providing for and feeding the maggots.

When a hive is examined any time before the months of May, June,
or July, we shall find nothing but a queen, which is very lai^e,
being full of eggs, and workers ; but this time [or state of things] will
differ in different hives. About this time they are strongest in labourers,
for their season of breeding is now over, and as they are considered a
common enemy they are all destroyed, when possible, besides the
common chance of unfavourable weather, &c. : so that by the latter end
of September or beginning of October they are becoming few in number ;
for in a hive that I took on the 8th of October, I only found fifty-eight
workers, and a little later they are probably dying a natural death.

Of the Female* — The fertile females or queens are considerably the
largest, above three times the size of the others ; but so similar in
shape as to appear like a worker magnified. The anus terminates in a
sharp point, like that of the workers, and they have a sting. Their
feelers or horns are similar to those of the workers. From this de-
scription, they m^ust appear to be similar to the workers, only much
larger. I believe the old queen never goes abroad after having produced
the workers. In the month of August or September, I have observed
that the young queens are bred in the lower and last three or four tiers
of platforms ; and, of course, they are the latest in the season. They are
much larger than the males, and in shape, &c. are exactiy similar to the
workers, excepting being much larger: they are like a worker magnified.

They do not come out of the hive to get food for themselves, but have
their food brought home to them by the workers, and probably by the
males ; for the males feed themselves abroad ; but whether they bring
anything home I do not know. I never could see the females going out,
like the others, nor do we ever find them feeding on fruit, meat, &c.

As they are bred in autumn, and are never seen in the winter, they
can only be examined at the former season ; and they are then extremely
fat ; the abdomen being filled with small granulated fat. When the
parts of generation of young queens are examined, we find the oviduct,

OF THE WASP. 89

&c,f but in what may be called a maiden-state ; consisting of ducts only,
without contents. About the beginning of October they copulate^ and
then leave the hive and go to their hiding-places ; leaving behind some
labourers and males to die : but this will be sooner or later according
to the weather, which affords them provision.

Of the Female Farts. — ^They consist of a vagina which lies under or
behind the first scale of the belly, just before the root of the sting ; so
that this opening is between the sting and the last scale : it passes a
little way into the cavity of the belly, and divides into two ducts. Each
of these two ducts receive at once six ducts ia which the eggs lie,
making what may be called the ' ovaria ' of the right and left sides ;
which are separated from each other by the stomach or gut passing back
between them. These two portions come into contact behind the
stomach, are united by the air-vessels, makiag but one bundle, which
becomes smaller and smaller towards their begionings, where they seem
to begin insensibly small. The length of these ducts is very consider-
able ; for they pass up slightly convoluted, and would seem to arise as
high as the thorax ; when in an impregnated state the convolutions are
very considerable. When we examine the queen, when she is in the
height of breeding, we find these twelve ducts very much thickened,
being now filled with eggs of all sizes ; and when in such a state they
are much longer; too long for the length of the abdomen, and are
therefore thrown into folds. They first pass up convoluted as high as
the thorax, and are again bent down upon themselves, passing along the
back, near to the termination of the abdomen, and up again to their
origin, which is as high as at the heart, where the canal passes out of
the thorax. As they pass from their origin, in the impregnated state,
they are becoming larger and larger, and of course the ova which they
contain are also larger, the lowermost being such as are just ready to
be laid.

Cf the Male, — ^The males are next in size ; they are rather larger than
the largest workers. They are longer in their beUy, which is more
of an equal size through its whole length, terminating at the anus more
in a blunt end ; the last scale of the back of the abdomen terminates in
a broad edge, which projects much further than its corresponding scale
underneath. Their feelers or horns are much longer than those of the
workers or queens. The males I believe are the next formed [after the
workers] ; they are begun to be bred in August. In a hive that I
examined which had about six tiers of cells, there were a great many
eggs, maggots, and chrysalises in the cells. I deprived them of their
queen, and the labourers repaired the hive, continued to feed the
maggots that were hatched and those that were hatching, and, when

90 NATURAL HISTORY.

I examiued the hive in September, there were but few labourers, and a
great many males, but no young queens. The males have no stings.
The males go abroad and feed themselves ; for we find them on fruit,
ifec, yet I could conceive that they also receive food at home ; for in
one hive that I brought home in September, where there were few
labourers, the labourers were lively and restless ; but I saw no males
for several days, when they became very hungry, and then they [the
males] came out of the hive ; but whether they carry home anything to
feed the maggots of the yoimg queens, I do not know. But from an
experiment I made to see if they fed the young queens, I suspect so ;
for the males and young queens were often seen having their tongues
or mouths together, and raising themselves up against each other,
keeping themselves together with their fore-feet ; but I could not say
that the mcdes were actually feeding the females. The females often
appear to be feeding themselves.

Of the Male Parts, — ^They appear to have but one testicle, which lies
on the back near the middle of the abdomen ; at least if there are two,
which most probably there are, they are united so as to seem but one,
like the udders of animals : it is large, and of a quadrangular form.
From the lower surface, and at some distance from each other, pass two
small ducts towards the anus, which, when got a little way, dilate into
two long bags, or open into two large oblong bags. These bags pass
on in the same direction, and either enter into or are joined by two
canals or long ducts which are curved, lying on the top of the others.
The common duct of these two joins the corresponding duct of the two
of the other side, forming what may be called < urethra.' The gut passes
over the testicle, and then between the two small ducts, and gets behind
the other side to reach the anus. The penis is a homy substance, as
is I believe the case with most insects, both for the purpose of con-
veying semen, and for holding the two parts together. The passage for
the semen passes in the centre of this body, and projects a little way
between the two holders.

Of what becomes of Wasps after having finished their Propagation, —
A wasp is of that class respecting propagation in which the females live
through the winter, but the males die; for I have shown that the
queen begins the colony in the summer, therefore she must have lived
all the winter. The better to enable her to do this, she is at this time
extremely fat, which fat is of a very pure white. I have shown that
the workers are first bred, with a view to be ready to assist in bringing
up the future workers, the males, and the females or young queens ;
and when that is completed, I have reason to suppose they are dying
away ; for in the instance of a wasp's hive which had been very strong

OF THE WASP. 91

in the sununer, when I took it on the Sth of October, there were only
fifty-eight labourers in it, and at this period thej are very lean, there-
fore unfit for living through the winter.

About this period I suppose the males and young females copulate,
and when this is over, that the males all die ; and what makes this still
more probable is that they are at this season very lean, similar to the
labourers. I also conceive that the old queen dies in the autumn, but
at what time I do not know. The young queens about this time become
very indolent, and would appear to be weak, although it cannot be
supposed they are so, being now extremely &t. Their oviducts are
pretty large, and have small ova in them, which is not the case with
the workers.

Of their Winter Retreat. — By the latter end of October the hive is
deserted, by the workers first, then by the males, and lastly by the
young queens. The two first I suppose die ; but what becomes of the
queens I believe has not been commonly known : they hide themselves
in winter in holes in dry banks.

Many things are discovered when in pursuit of something else, more
especially if it is a subject we may at the time be engaged in. It was
one of the orders I had given to my gardener, that, when he was digging
in the winter, he would be attentive to what he dug, and see if he ever
dug up a wasp, hornet, or humble-bee. In digging a dry bank about
the beginning of April, he dug up three wasps aUve ; they were in holes
like worm-holes, not a great way from the surface. They were coiled
up like a wood-louse. He brought one into the hot-bouse, and it
became lively.

Mr. Fergusson told me that Lord Auckland's^ gardener told him that
he turned up a Hve wasp among some leaves of trees in the month of
December. They sometimes come abroad in fine weather in the winter :
my gardener saw a wasp of the large kind in March, but could not
catch it. The weather being fine, one was caught in the month of
April, which was a female, which had eggs in the ovaria, but not
farther advanced than those in the month of October. To see if I could
keep wasps through the winter, I closed up the hole or door of a wasp's
nest about the beginning of November to confine them in ; but they
set to, and made a passage out. However, I was at last able to confine
them ; but by the end of November they were all dead, and I found
they had filled the space between the nest and ground or vault with
surrounding earth, all loosely mouldered down, which probably was the
earth they had removed to work their way out.

1 [According to the date of this MS., 1789, Hunter's friend and correspondent
had obtained his title : see note \ p. 82.]

92 NATURAL HISTORY

In October, 1788, 1 took some workers, some males and some females,
and enclosed some of each in the following places : in a box under
ground, so deep as not to be affected by the frost ; in a thick wooden
water pipe, which was closed at each end and left above ground ; and
in a hole in the middle of a brick wall, the wall being built up again.
About the beginning of May, 1789, those places were opened, but the
wasps were all dead ; from which I should suspect that very few survive
the winter.

Loose Notes.

Wasps bear being removed from their first place of destination, taking
kindly to a new place of abode, and pursue their labours. I have
moved a hive out of the ground to a considerable distance, placed it
under a glass shade, and they have continued their works just the same
as before. Hence we must imagine they are a manageable set of
creatures, and, I think, much more so than bees ; but they differ very
much from bees in the advantage to man arising from cultivating them.
They are extremely destructive in their labours, and no advantage arises
from those labours ; while the bee is perfectly inoffensive in its labours,
and is advantageous in their result. K deprived of their queen, the
labourers still go on with the work ; if the hive should be very much
injured they will repair it, and they will even increase it in size. What-
ever eggs may be laid, they are hatched, and the maggots are fed, and
go through all their stages.

As the wasp commonly builds her hive under ground, and as she is
obliged to excavate the place lower and lower, the cavity is at first
commonly of a rounded figure, but it becomes more and more oblong as
it descends. However, the roimded end is still rounded off, which
makes the last tier or platform narrower than those above ; and these
they would widen in the end, if the season for leaving off did not pre-
vent them. But where they are not obliged to mine, and where the
hollow is of equal size, they make each platform of the width of the
cavity. This I saw in a bee-hive, as also in the hollow of a tree, where
wasps had built.

The best mode of killing the inmates of a wasp's nest, is to dig a hole
by the side of it lower than itself. If you come upon the nest, have a
piece of glass and clap on the hole ; then go on, and when below it,
make an opening up to the nest. When this is done, make a kind of
vault from this hole sufiicient to put a match in, made of wetted gun-
powder, and set fire to it, and by stopping the opening of this vault,
the whole of the smoke will ascend round the nest. Immediately stop
up every crevice to confine the air as much as possible.

. OF BEETLES. 93

There is a small long wasp, which is not a snutll common one; for in
one of these, in the beginning of June, I found eggs fit for laying ;
therefore she mnst have been a queen.

Lord Gage informed me of a gentleman who, eating an apricot, was
stung in the tongue by a wasp. That a gentleman present immediately
applied a piece of onion to it, then another ; and after three or four
applications the part did not swell, nor was it painful \

Economy of Beetles.

Of ike Beetle-trihe [_Coleapterd]. — ^The beetle differs from other flying
insects in several particulars. A beetle is very strong in the legs ; it is
difficult to confine them in the hand, and I imagine the intention of
this is, because they burrow. I imagine also that, because they burrow,
they have two moveable scales like wings [elytra], which cover the true
wings, and guard them in the act of burrowing.

The abdominal viscera adhere only to the under scales, not to the
upper ; which renders the viscera loose after the under scales are re>
moved, being only then attached to the thorax, at its upper parts ;
however, there is a thin membrane which covers the upper sur&ce of
the viscera, to which the viscera are attached.

Beetles I imagine do not feed upon the wing ; and, as they do not,
their powers of flight are not equal to many of the flying insect tribe.

A maggot-beetle I believe does not spin a web over itself when it
goes into the chrysalis state.

Of the May-Chafevy or Black-Beetle [Oeotrupes stercorarius], — In
the month of June the young ones are found in their maggot-state, in
their nests, pretty far advanced, going almost to change into the chry-
salis. These nests are in the ground, and generally grass-ground
where there is cow-dung, and mostly under the place where the dung
lies. They are about twelve or eighteen inches deep. There is but one
young one in each cell : its maggot-coat is becoming very loose about
it, and about the latter end of the same month they would appear not
to be much farther advanced. In the month of July they throw off
their maggot-coat, and become chrysalis. Whether they change their
coat in the maggot-state I know not.

. Their nests are in clusters, three, four, five, six, or more, close
together. Most probably these belong to one or two female beetles, as

^ [Cake indigo, wetted and rubbed on the part stung, has the same effect. This
application is universally resorted to in Epping Forest, where wasps are plentiful.
— Wm. Clift.]

94 NATURAL HISTORY

we generally find about four eggs in the female. They have two teeth
[mandibles], one on each side. The excrements which belong to the
maggot only, are soft, of a brown colour, and pretty uniform ; which
last shows a considerable degree of digestive powers. The chrysalis
does not become so dry as that of the fly, moth, &c., by which means
their extremities are not bound down by the drying of the chrysalifl
skin. This difference may arise from the chrysalis of the beetle beiug
in a moist place, such as underground ; while those of the moth and fly
kind are suspended in dry places. The maggot-beetle has no occasion
to enclose itself before it forms the chrysalis, as that of the butterfly
does.

There are nine nervous centres, one of which is near the head, having
a vast number of white radii passing out from them, which ramify on
all parts of the animal. The stomach passes down almost through the
whole animal as in the silk- worm : it is hu^, making near the whole
bulk of the animal ; near to the extremity of t\ie animal it contracts
and forms a gut ; but it immediately dilates into a very large bag which
has a fissure ia it, making it appear externally like two bags or bodies:
these appear as if quilted on an external view, which arises from the
structure of the inside. The bag again contracts, and opens externally,
forming the anus. Lying close to the outer surface of the stomach are
the same vessels which are found in the silk-worm, like threads, and
coiled up irregularly ; which enter the canal a little above the bags be-
fore mentioned. Some of these are yellow, others white.

This beetle is fully formed at the latter end of July, and all the
month of August, and often in September; and in general they fly
about in the evenings, and with considerable force. They are found
very commonly upon cow-dung, under which they often bury them-
selves all night, but not deep. In the month of August and September
they are found in the evening crawling and flying about cow-dung,
which they would appear to live upon, and are found digging holes in
the ground either under the cow-dung, or near by it. Those holes are
about twelve, fifteen, and sometimes eighteen inches deep ; and when
below the surfEice some way they often divide into two, three or more
holes : into these holes they carry a small quantity of dung, which just
covers the bottom of the hole upon which they lay an egg ; they then
fiU up the hole above the egg with more dung, for about two inches.
The dung is not aUowed to touch the e^g, for it is formed into a small
cup round it. In the month of November I found that the eggs had
hatched, and pretty large maggots were formed, about one-third of the
fall size; and the cup in which the egg had lain was now become
larger from the feeding of the animal.

OF BEETLES. 95

About the latter end of Augost, September, and often in October,
according to the fineness of the weather, they begin to disappear, and
are found buried in the ground about six, seven, or eight inches below
the surface in perpendicular holes made by themselves. These holes are
often made in loose ground. When they first take up these habitations,
the passage leading down to the animal is not filled up ; but the earth
which they dig and bring up in making the hole, lies about just at the
mouth of the hole, and is extremely light, so that the least blast of wind
blows it into the hole, by which means they are covered over.

They also bury themselves in the holes where they have laid their
e^s, just above the nidus or dung. They bury in societies, so that we
find ten, fifteen, or twenty or more holes, all dose upon one another.
Whether these little societies are one family or not, is not easily deter-
mined. In these holes they lie the whole winter ; and I suspect that
most of them die before the spring comes in ; however, not all, for I
have seen some of them in April and May, which is much too soon for
the hatching of the eggs ; but their numbers at this season of the year
are very few, and most probably they die soon.

Upon digging away some earth close upon these holes, I was able to
split these holes in their direction downward, where I found the beetle
always placed at the bottom with its head upward. They were very
lifeless, but upon placing them in the sun they became very brisk. At
this season of the year it very often happens that the ground is tilled
where vast numbers have buried themselves. When this is the case,
and if it happens to be good weather, they are seen flying about in great
numbers.

Of the. Cockchafer [Melohntha vulgaris], — ^This beetle flies about in
the beginning of the months of June and July ; commonly about the
tops of trees, houses, &c., to copulate. They became very few about the
20th of July, 1788, and in a few days were entirely gone. However,
I found one alive on the 26th of August in which was food in the
bowels ; and the ovaria were pretty empty.

So far as the shell- wings [elytra] cover the back, so far are the scales
on the back soft ; but, towards the tail, the two last scales are hard, not
being covered by the shell- wings.

The feelers terminate in three branches, which are flat, and which
close one on another, so as to look like an oblong body on the end of a
stick. Those of the males are larger than those of the female ; and
when in copulation they spread them ; but the female does not.

The males are smaller than the females. The same with the lady-
birds of Barbadoes, both white and dark, which appear to be a species of
cockchafer. They are of the same size with ours. The males have

96 NATURAL HISTORY

more hairs on their posterior thoracic scales. The thoracic scale in the
female is mottled or tortoise-shell. The penis is homy and terminates
in two hooks, which I imagine lays hold of some part of the vagina.
Towards the last of the season I found a vast number of males whose
penises were separated and the root projcfcting.

The female parts are two ovi- clusters ; each consisting of six ducts,
having in each only about six eggs which are oblong ; each of these six
terminating in one duct, making two ducts for the two clusters, which
again terminate in one. This common duct to the whole communi-
cates with the receptaculum seminis ; or they both open externally by
one common opening ; so that there is no duct passing from the one
into the other, as in the moth, &c.

The receptaculum is pretty large. There are not the glands for the
sticking mucus, as I suppose that is not wanted, the eggs being laid in
moist places, &c. ; but [in the female] there is the second or single bag,
filled with a white mucus, whose duct enters the common duct of all
the ovarian tubes, as in the moth. This part must have a fixed use, as
it is found in all \ The opening of the anus is distinct, nearer to the
back of the animal. They copulate somewhat similar to the qua-
druped, or perhaps rather like a bird ; the male gets on the back of the
female. They are about fifteen minutes in the act ; sometimes more,
and sometimes less.

On the Bose-heetle [Cetonia av/rata], — This is a flat green beetle with
some small irregular specks of yellow, found commonly on the flower of
the Spirea, also sometimes in the male parts of the rose, and which I
believe feeds on the pollen. It is seen in the months of June, July,
and tiU the middle of August ; it is seldom seen to fly, but it flies if
much disturbed. When confined on the ground under a shade, it buries
itself and comes up again. The male is I believe the larger of the
sexes. The female is of a brighter green, having few or no yellow
specks.

Of the Grasshopper \Phasg(meura viridissima] .

A large green grasshopper with small eyes and a long projecting
tail, was caught in the latter end of August 1789 ; it was a female.
Her belly was full of eggs, which were black, and pretty long ; but when
they were small they were of a lighter colour. She had a long oviduct
like an intestine that passed between the two ovaria. Just before the
termination of the oviduct, or near its opening externally, was a round
bag fall of inucus [spermatheca], whose duct entered the oviduct.

^ [It is to receive the fertilizing fluid from the male, and apply it to the eggs as
they pass outwards.]

THE GRASSHOPPER. 97

The air-canals were of a reddish colour, just as if containing some
red blood. They seemed to contain no more air than what mig^t serve
for respiration.

It had two very strong forceps [mandibles] making the upper part
of the mouth, the tongue lying on the under side or behind, and a thin
flap on the fore-part. There are other two, smaller and a little longer
[mayJllflB], just under them, which would appear to be conductors of the
food. There are, also, short tentacula [palpi]. The tongue is a broad
fiat body, and seems so attached to the under part of the mouth, as that
both move together.

The oesophagus begins on the posterior part of the tongue as in other
animals, passes through the neck, and in the thorax it becomes wider
and wider. It then contracts and immediately terminates in a little
pyramidal body, which is lined with a homy substance, which forms
longitudinal ridges, and which are serrated, fit to divide the food before
it passes into the stomach. The stomach at the upper end forms two
kind of csBca, and the above pyramidal body lies between them. One
of these caeca is forwards, the other posterior, answering to the form of
the body, which is deeper between back and belly, than from side to
side. This stomach is just at the termination of the thorax into the
belly.

The large green grasshopper feeds upon animal food, for it eats
boiled meat. It tears it off with his two pincers, and the four short
tentacula guide it. They will hold a piece of meat between their fore
legs and chest and bite at it. I put a caterpillar to this grasshopper
and he devoured it soon.

A grasshopper has two claws on the extremity of each foot ; also two
on what may be called the heel of the hind foot only. Along the sole
of the foot of the hind leg are two rows of eminences, four in each row ;
the two next to the external daws are the largest ; those at the heel
the next in size. The eminences on the fore and middle feet are some-
what different. Their legs are in pairs, and each leg of each pair moves
alternately. The two pairs of fore legs generally move twice for the hind
legs once, by which means the hind legs move a great deal at once.
He moves two legs at a time ; if he moves a right fore leg first, he also
moves a left middle leg : then the left fore leg and with it the right
middle leg ; so that in the motion of the four fore legs or the two
pairs, there is only the progress of one pair. This is exactly the same
with the trot of the quadruped, only it has not the jerk.

The feelers [antennae] are moving constantly and in aU directions ;
they are sufficiently long to touch bodies behind the grasshopper.

When walking upon glass standing on edge, they very often nibble
at the soles of their feet with their mouth, which I suspect is wetting

98 NATURAL HISTORY

the eminences with something a little sticky, for it is those eminences
that they seem to be at work upon. This grasshopper drinks freely,
and ate a chrysalis of some butterfly.

There is an iris to each eye. Each eye is a hexagonal tube. The
eye of the large green grasshopper has the appearance of a dark spot in
that part directly opposite to the point of sight of the spectator, and
therefore appears to move as that point of sight moves ; but this pro-
bably is a deception, for most probably it is owing to the cornea per-
mitting only the rays to pass in the direction of the axis of each of the
ocelli, which, being dark at the bottom, the rays are not refracted at
that part ; but the tunica sclerotica of each eye, being green, and the
sides of it reflecting the green rays, ihe whole eye appears green, excepting
the above-mentioned dark spot. This fact of the sides of each eye
being green and reflecting the green rays, shows that the object must
be made at the bottom of the eye, not at all at the sides ; and the green
colour being reflected in every direction from the eye, excepting the spot,
preserves the universal green colour that is necessary for the animal.

Their eyes would appear not to be fitted to near objects ; for they
seem to trust more to their long feelers, moving them in all directions; and
when they touch anything with them they make a spring ; and this takes
place in the light, and yet they do see. When they make a noise,
which is with their wings, their abdomen contracts and expands much
faster than common.

Of the Dragon-fly [_JE8thna grandis] .

August 18th, 1778, at eight o'clock in the evening, I saw the dragon-
fly flying about, making short turns, which were performed very quick.
I also observed gnats flying ; and, what took my attention most, was his
making up to a gnat, and then the gnat was seen no more ; therefore I
conjectured he was feeding upon them. I caught him and opened him
the next morning, and could observe in the stomach the scales of some
insects.

The stomach is a straight canal, the termination of which is sur-
rounded with what I suppose to be the pancreas. The gut goes on
pretty straight to the anus, and opens just below the tail. Near the
anus is the entrance of the ducts which I suppose to be the lLver\

The ovaria of the dragon-fly is a distinct kind from any of the others ;
they consist of two, one on each side of the gut, reaching as high as the
thorax. They are large at the upper end, becoming smaller down-
wards to the anus ; each consists of a long bag ; and on the inner side

* [Now regarded as urinary tubes. Prep. Nos. 598 & 784.]

OF THE APHIS ABIETIS. 99

there are a vast number of small canals opening into it, something Hke
the grains of com going from the stalk. Each of these canals contains
one egg or more. The large and long bags hold the eggs as they come
from the smaller canab till the time of laying.

Near the anns these two nnite into one, or open into one which may
be called vagina, which is a common duct to them, and the reservoir of
the male semen. The reservoir for the male semen is a round bag
whose duct opens externally, and is the passage for the penis. There
are two small glands, one on each side of this bag.

A dragon-fly has the largest eyes of any insect : it has a vast num-
ber of black spots which move with our eye, as they do in the grass-
hopper, but there ia one principal one in the centre of the others. They
copulate in October,

The attitude of the dragon-fly in this act is very singular. The penis
is about the middle of the body of the mcde, and the vagina of the
female at the extremity of the abdomen ; and, during the act, the male
embraces the head of the femcde with the forceps at the end of the tail.
The female is in a circular position, the male, therefore, has his head
and wings at liberty and manages the flight.

Of the Tenthredo Abietis. Linn. Syst. Nat. 193. [Aphis Pmi, or
Aphis Abietis. The description does not apply to any of the
Tenthredinida.']

This fly has four wings like the bee ; two very large and two much
smaller. The wings are very large for the size of the body, do not
lay flat or honzontcd over the upper part of the abdomen, but their
inner edges are raised, and they fall off slantingly on the side : how-
ever, this position varies. The colour of the body is of a light brown,
but the wings are green, being the colour of the tree they frequent.
They are of two sizes, at least in the abdomen, which is longest in the
female ; at least the smaller one does not lay eggs, therefore I suppose
it to be the male.

They are different from the common insect in having but two states :
the first being neither maggot nor chrysalis, but rather appearing to
be an insect of the second class, viz. spider, bug, <&c. [Aptera] and
afterwards getting wings.

Although possessed of long wings, yet I suspect their flight is but
very short ; for in a spruce fir I found them breeding for several years,
although this tree was only a few feet from others of the same kind,
where none were ever found.

I suspect their life is but short, something like the silk-moth : that
the male dies when he has completed the copulation ; that the female
lays her eggs, and dies ; and that probably neither sex eat when in the

h2

100 NATURAL HISTORY

%-state. I suspect they lay their eggs in the bud of the fir, which
remain through the winter and hatch in the spring, when the bud is
going to shoot forth. The little animals feed on the inside of the cell,
which increases the cavity ; and as those cavities are increasing, the
substance of the cells is also increasing. There is a whitish matter like
dust that lines the cell everywhere : whether this is excrement or not
I cannot say. While in this state I do not believe they change their
caterpillar coats. They have but one state before they get tbeir wings ;
therefore they have but one change, and thus differ from the common
flying insect.

The wingless state cannot be called a grub, maggot, or caterpillar ; it
has more the figure of those of the apterous ? kind, having six feet of
considerable length, two antennae, with the projecting abdomen some-
thing like a louse^ only a little rounder, and a shorter abdomen. It is
of a light brown colour. When the fir-shoot has done growing and
the buds are formed, then the little animals are ready to make their
escape ; each cell opens like the openings of the cone of the pine, and
forth the animals come. When it comes out it crawls on to one of the
leaves of the pine, and there it rests, and throws off its coat, or rather
slips out of it, and leaves it on the leaf, with the skins of the feet as it
were grasping the leaf. The little animal now begins to have the wings
shooting forth. They appear like two little green knobs on the lateral
and posterior part of the thorax. They soon come to their full size.
The vrings are green, but the body is of a darker colour than what it
was before.

It is to be supposed that they now copulate and lay their eggs.
Each of the parts of the fir-bud is a kind of capsule for the leaf, so that
by having the eggs laid in it, either the egg or the young insect can be
conducted to that which is to form the stem ; and there it stimulates
the stem to form itself in such way as to make a regular cell at the root
of each leaf, while the leaf itself is prevented from growing, which
makes this part of the shoot appear like a cone of the pine, and the young
insect or eggs appear like the seed of the cone. The structure, ap-
pearance, and the different processes that go on in the part, would at
first seem to be the natural process of the plant, not depending on a
foreign stimulus ; for, in the month of May, when the shoot is swelling
and beginning to elongate, we find that it begins to swell as if inflamed ;
but when sliced down I could not observe the eggs.

Of the White Evening Moth, [The * Broum-tail/ Porthisia chrysor-
rhcea, or the ' Gold-tail,^ Porthisia auriflua."]

The white evening moth, the female of which has a [tuft of] browm

OP THE WHITE BUTTERFLY AND ANT. 101

hair at the anus, almost like a hair-pencil cut short, and which is
easily removed, has some of the hair carried along with each e^ as she
lays them. I suspect that the mucus on the egg entangles the hair.
There appears to be more hair deposited on the whole clutch of eggs
than we see at the anus ; therefore I suspect it grows in the time of
laying. I caught one of these moths laying its eggs on the leaf of the
* paper-tree ' * on the 8th of June.

Moths fly about in the dark, seek their food and see in the dark.
Look at the eye of a silk-moth by candlelight, and you will see it
shine in particular lights. As the eye of a cat [shines in the dark], so
does the eye of a moth.

On the White Butterfly \Pontia Brassica, or Pontia Rapix].

This insect comes forth in the month of May, and about the latter
end of May the female is fall of eggs. In 1790 I saw one about the
middle of April ; the winter and spring had been remarkably mild.

They have a crop like the common fly, <&c. I found a chrysalis in
the latter end of June, and the winged insect came out of its cell, July
2nd. Query, was this chrysalis of the same summer's growth, or of the
last year's ? If it was the last year's, then it was late, when we com-
pare it with those above mentioned, that came out in April or May.
Or, do they breed twice in the same summer ? Or, do the first brood
in the summer bring forth the second brood, and those that brought
forth the first die ? and when the first brood has laid the eggs, does that
brood also die ? I should think this most probable.

It would appear from Mr. Marsham's account of the inductions of
spring*, that the yellow-butterfly lOonopteryce Rhamnt] is the earliest
butterfly that comes forth ; and that they are coming forth earlier now
than formerly. This cannot be called civilization among them.

Of the Ant.

The natural history of the ant is very curious ; they perform every
function in life before they are complete ; when complete they appear
to be idle, only walking very gravely about. If so lame that they
caimot walk, they are attended by those which ore yet but workers.

They are both offensive and defensive animals ; they make an attack,
and they defend. I have put a large ant among some small ones, and
they have attacked it. If they are disturbed, and you move the hand

* Philosophical Transactions, vol. lixix. part 2.
^ [The Paper Mulberry-tree {Brucea pa^i>yrifera),]

] 02 NATURAL HISTORY

over them^ they immediately draw in their belly under them, and rest
on the back part of their belly, upright, with their trunk ready to
defend or attack ; and, if the finger comes within their reach, they im-
mediately lay hold of it and bite.

They breathe air similar to other winged insects ; it is seen in the
abdomen. In those that have wings there is a good deal of oil or fat ;
for in dissecting them in water, a considerable number of small globules
were seen rising from them and floating on the surface of the water.

When they have got their wings they stiU work, for I put some of
them into a glass with some earth, and they burrowed; and I saw
them busy in going down their subterraneous cells and bringing up the
mould in their pincers. I also saw them carrying the egg or chrysalis
like the common wingless ant.

Many of these flying ants are of a very pale brown, I suspect that
when they get their wings they cast off their ant-coat, and get a new
one, which is white at first, and becomes brown afterwards.

Of the Musca [Eristalis] tenax.

This fly lays its eggs on the dry sides of vessels, or cavities con-
taining putrid animal matter in a fluid form, or on substances projecting
above the surfaces of such fluids. I believe this is performed in the
month of June.

The progress of hatching, the period of the maggot, and the continu-
ance in the chrysalis state, are all very short. My gardener caught
one about the beginning of June. I caught one on the 4th of April,
1790 : the winter had been remarkably mUd. About the latter end
of June the yoimg are coming forth, and then they are more in numbers.
In the months of July, August, and September they are in great
numbers. About the latter end of September they are getting into
houses, especially out-houses^ half insensible.

I caught one on the 20th of October, a female ; its stomach was fall,
but it had no fat\

Of the Gnat [Cvlex pipiens].

This animal may be said to be an aquatic one while in the maggot
or second state. They live in the water tiU they go into the chrysalis
state; yet I imagine they breathe air; for, like the Musca tenax y
they keep the end of the tail afloat, which is their trachea ; but they
differ from the Musca tenax in having considerable progressive motion
in the water, although the power is seldom or ever used but when they

* [Hunt. Prep. No. 696.]

OF THE GNAT AND BUG. 103

are disturbed, and then they sink, or make to the bottom directly ; and,
as soon as the agitation in the water has ceased, they directly make
their way again to the surface. When they move down they go with
their heads foremost; and they ascend without changing the same
position, moving with the tail uppermost or going backward. Their
progress is by the alternate zigzag motion of their body. When not
disturbed they hang by their tails on the surface of the water ; and,
when there are many of them, they make a pretty object. The end of
the tail, which stands out £rom the end of the body, making with it an
obtuse angle, has, I suspect, either some oil in it, or it can throw out a
hollow cone, which, being filled with air, suspends the body ; for, when
the end of the tail comes to the surface, the water is repelled, not
allowed to touch the very end. When not suspended by the tail, nor
moving with their bodies, they slowly sink, and therefore are specifically
heavier than water.

. To ascertain whether they breathed air, I filled up the glass in
which they were with water full to the brim, and then covered it with
a piece of flat glass so that the surface of the water touched the under
surface of the glass, by which means no air was opposed to the surfEUse
of the water : they immediately came to the top, but they could not be
suspended, and in those attempts they soon died, being drowned for
ihe want of air. When suspended in the water, there are some parts
about the mouth or head constantly in motion.

The gnat can hardly be said to go into the chrysalis state, as in
many other insects : it does not leave the water, nor does it enclose
itself in a coat spun out of itself, but seems to be more motionless or
less frisky, more coiled up upon itself, forming a round body with a
globule of air on the back, which makes it swim. Its head-part seems
to become larger and of a darker colour, and the belly, or what is
commonly called tail, becomes rather less ; yet in this state it has
motion when disturbed, and sinks by its motion. I imagine that ia
this state new parts only are forming imder the skin, not a change
going on, and that, when completely formed, they emerge out of the
old skin, leaving it swimming in the water, as it were hanging by the
tail.

The Aphis Ahietis also does not go iuto the chrysalis state.

Of Bugs [Cimex lecttdaritut].

Query. How do bugs live ? what do they eat ?
They suck blood and fill themselves full. It is supposed there are
some people that they do not bite, and others they do ; but most pro-

104 NATURAL HISTORY

bably they bite every one, but the bite is insensible to some. I once
supposed that they did not bite me, but I now suppose they do. Going
to bed at night J have observed them marching down the curtains and
head of the bed : such when I caught and killed had no blood in them.
In the morning I have observed them marching back, and all such I
have found full of blood ; and in a very large one which had got under
my shirt at the shoulder I felt a something move, which I rubbed with
my hand on the outside of my shirt, and immediately found something
wet ; and when I took off my shirt I found it was a very large bug.
The shirt was stained for some breadth with blood, and yet no marks
could be observed anywhere on the skin. The bugs I caught in the
evening had no smell, when killed ; which made me suppose that they
had smell only when fall of blood. I next killed them when full of
blood ; and then they also had no smell. This was in the month of
August. The question now is, at what time do they emit the peculiar
odour ?

Of the External Characters of Insects.

The flying insect is, in common, made up of three parts, the ' head,'
the trunk or * chest,' and the * abdomen.' But in some the chest is com-
posed of two parts, which in such makes the whole body to be composed
of four parts. The common fly of all kinds, the Miisca {Eristalis) terujuc^
all of the bee-tribe, have the chest divided into two.

All of the fljring-kind have six legs, which arise from the chest ^; . and
in those where the chest is made up of two parts, the anterior part is
smaller than the other, and it gives rise to the two fore legs.

Of the Senses of Insects.

It is more than probable that insects have all the ^ye senses. We
know that they see, that they feel and that they hear ; for thunder, or
the firing of a gun, or the ringing of a gong, or of a large brass kettle,
will frighten bees. They certainly have taste ; and it is most probable
they have smell ; for I think that I have led a silk- worm to different
parts of a table by drawing a mulberry leaf before it ; and, by shifting
the leaf and placing it behind it, the worm has turned : but how far all
this might be accident I will not pretend to determine. Whether the
whole of that tribe are endowed with the five senses, is not easy to
determine : it certainly is not a reason why the whole should have them,
because one or more have ; for, in the most perfect animals, we find one

■ ' ■ 1-1—1 I I 11 ■■■III ■ ■ ■■-■■■■-■■-■■ ^ i» IIMM 1 II _^^— I ^

^ [This applies to all true insects.]

OP INSECTS. 105

tribe where some species of them are entirely deprived of the sense of
smelling, viz. the porpoise, although others of the same tribe [viz. the
whalebone whale] have [that sense].

Of the Nourishment of Insects,

The nourishment of this class of animals, problably Hke that of all
others, is, first the common food, secondly the store or reservoir of
nourishment laid up while food was plentiful, and thirdly, part of the
animal itself, as the wasting of muscles, &c.

The common food varies in different classes of insects. The store
consists of a substance, like fat in some, but not of an oily nature;
while in others there is a fat which is oily, as in the humble-bee. The
wasting of parts [in its relation as a source of food, by absorption], is
probably the same in aU animals.

Of the Store or Fat.

All winged insects, as far as I know, have a store of nourishment
laid up as gleanings out of the common food after having become bloo^.
In the maggot or caterpillar it is hardly oil. This is somewhat similar
to this store in most young animals ; but in the full-grown it is a fine
oil, in very small cells, like marrow in quadrupeds. This, like the
fat in most other animals, is situated in every cavity or interstice of the
body, and is most in quantity according to circumstances. It is most
in quantity when the caterpillar is going into the chrysalis state : and,
in those that live through the winter, as the common fly, female
humble-bee, wasp, hornet, &c., it is largest in quantity in the autumn.

In the chrysalis state many parts are formed out of it, such as the
extremities, parts of generation, &c. In those that go into a state of
torpidity, the fat is wholly gone by the time the fine weather comes in.
We need only kiU a fly at each season to be sensible of the truth of
this.

Of the Food of Insects.

The food of the caterpillar and maggot often differs very much from
that of the fiy-state in the same insect. Perhaps there are few insects
which eat the same food when in the perfect or third state, that they
did in the first. However, I beHeve the wasp and hornet are exceptions,
for they seem to feed their young with what they eat themselves.

The food of insects, when in the maggot or caterpillar-state, is com-
monly very juicy, and they themselves are full of moisture. However,
this is not always the case with the insect when in the second state ;

106 NATURAL HISTORY

for the'ma^;ot of the common moth [Tinea tapetzelld] lives upon feathers,
hair, wool, &c., which seem to formsh much water or a much moister
substance, for they are as fall of juice as any.

Of Digestion in Insects*

The food in many insects, and in the more imperfect animals, does not
undergo so much change as in the more perfect ; or at least not so
much of the food is digested ; wherefore they eat much more, and
produce much more excrements, and that excrement is very much the
same as the food when first eaten. This we find verified in the snail :
the excrements of this animal appear to be nearly the same as when
eaten. In fieas we find the same thing ; also in the sUk-worm, and
perhaps in all caterpillars.

Of the Teeth of Insects.

All insects I believe are not endowed with teeth. Those that only
suck, as the common fly, have none ; yet some that suck have them, as
the bee. But in the bee they are used as weapons of offence among
one another, and as modellers of their cells, not as eaters. The teeth
of insects are, I believe, always of a homy nature. They are commonly
in pairs, and are placed laterally, opening sideways, as in the bee,
spider, lobster, &c. They are of various shapes, some like two claws as
in the grasshopper, which are more parts of offence and defence than
for eating. They are placed externally like the bill in birds.

Of the Weapons of Insects.

Many insects, like many other animals, have weapons entirely of
offence and defence ; others have weapons for a compound use, for
offence and defence, and for the catching of their food or prey. But
those that have them for the compound use, when they use them other-
wise than in catching their prey, do so generally upon the defensive,
as, for instance, the grasshopper; for if a grasshopper be caught, it
bites with considerable force. However, in the grasshopper it may be
an offensive instrument among themselves. The weapons which appear to
have no other use but for offence and defence, are such as the sting of
bees. In those insects that have the weapons comxK)und, both males
and females possess them, both having the same [need and] mode of pro-
curing their food ; such as the grasshopper. This is similar to the lion-
and dog-tribes ; also to eagles, &c.

Those insects that have weapons of offence and defence, simply, such
as the bee-tribe, have them only in the female. These instruments are

OF INSECTS. 107

similar to the horns of quadrapeds^ the spurs of the cock, the poisoning
teeth of vipers, &c. ; bat there is a singolaiity attending the possession of
those weapons in the insect that is not in the other animals. In other
animals these weapons of simple offence are either common to both male
and female, or are peculiar to the male, so that there are more males in
possession of such weapons than females. And in those animabwhere such
weapons are common to both sexes, and are used for offence and defence,
the males have them better fitted for action than the females. The tusks
and claws of the lion, the tusks of the boar, the horns of the bull and ram,
antlers of the stag reindeer, are all better fitted for action than those in
the lioness, the sow, the cow, the ewe, the hind of the reindeer, &c. But
weapons of offence are so peculiarly wanted bj the male, that many
males have them and the females not ; such weapons are the horns of
the buck, the spurs of the cock, the tusks of the horse ; so &r then the
males have the superiority in point of offensive and defensive weapons ',
but this is not the case with insects, for the females possess the weapon
in many kinds where it is peculiar to one sex.

Of the Heart and Blood of Insects.

The heart of the caterpillar runs aU along the back its whole length.
[When it acts] it begins to contract at the tail of the animal, and the
contraction runs from thence to the head : it can be traced all along by
the eye.

The circulation of the insect is probably very slow, if we may
judge of the whole class by the motion of the heart in the caterpillar.
In the silk- worm, for instance, the heart beats only 34 in a minute :
however, I have known m the adult human the pulse as low, when in
visible health; and this for many years. The blood in the winged
insect mTwt be smaU iB quantity, for when we open any one, we haxdly
observe any moisture. But, as an insect has two active states, viz. the
maggot, and the complete, or fly-state, we find the blood very different
as to quantity in these two states. In the maggot or caterpillar it is
large in quantity ; in the fly-state it is hardly perceivable : this last
circumstance takes off weight in flying.

Of the Circulation in Insects.

The circulation of the blood in the insect is in itself very simple ;
yet from our being very fSamiliar with the most complicated, viz. that
in the Tetracailia, it at first might seem complicated.

Insects may be said to have neither pulmonary arteries nor veins,
having but one simple circulation ; nor can they be said to have one

108 NATURAL HISTORY

aorta, but many; all going out from the long canal of the heart.
Whatever blood is sent out from the heart in the insect is prepared
blood ; therefore the arteries serve the purpose of the aorta ; and the
veins, both of the veins in common, as also those called pulmonary [in
the TetracoUia]; for the conmion veins have the blood prepared in
them, serving the purpose of pulmonary veins in the insect.

I conceive that there is a great regularity in the vascular S3rstem in
the insect, although it is not easily unravelled.

Of the Arteries, — ^The arteries would appear to go out laterally,
in a kind of plexuses ^ and would appear to form the same on the
stomach, &c.

Of ike Veins, — ^The veins of the insect would appear to be simply the
eeUular membrane ; but they are regular formed canals, although not
such distinct cylindrical canals as in the quadruped, &c., nor branching
with that regularity. They would appear to be, or to fill up, the inter-
stices of the flakes of fat, air-cells, muscles, <&c., and therefore might
be called in some measure the cellular membrane of the parts ^.

Of the Respiratory Organs of the Flying Insect.

The organs of respiration of the flying insect answer two purposes ;
one, the purifying the blood, the other for flying.

It is probable that they are much too large for the first use ; for, in
the beetle they are much larger than in the fly, because it is much
heavier in the body ; therefore the beetle requires more of those organs
to give it levity [and has wider and more numerous air-cells].

Of the Water Spider (Hydrachna),

Observing a small spider in the water where I had two cuttle-fishes
crawling about, I took it out, and put it into [another vessel of] water ;
and it lived there very well for above two weeks. It laid its eggs and

^ [The parts here described answer best to tbe attaching musdes, or ' aliform
ligaments* of Straus Durckheim, and to the entering sinuses, of tbe heart.]

3 [CuTier supposed the whole of the blood of insects to be limited to receptacles
of this description, and consequently denied that they possessed a true circulation,
or that the dorsal tube acted as a heart. The more accurate views of Hunter, based
on the analogy of the already commencing irregularity and extent of the venous
sinuses in the crustaceans, have been amply confirmed by the researches of Prof.
Cams, on the * Circulation of the Blood in the LarysB of Ephemerides and Lib^vltB*
jSee Bltitkreislaufes in den Larven neteflufflicher Insecten, 4to. 1827. See my
' Prefstce to the Animal Economy,' p. 22 ; and ^ Physiological Catalogue,' 4to. vol. ii.
p. 31.]

Of THE BABTHWORM. 109

spun its thread about them in the water, and then died. The colour
of the spider was dark, with yellow dark sides, with a yellow back and
beUy.

The silk with which spiders cover their eggs is firom the mouth, as
in the silk- worm ; not from the anus like that with which they spin
their web.

Of the River Crawfish [Astacusfluviatilis].

The freshwater crawfish spawns in June ; casts its coats in July ;
the new coats becoming hard in a day or two.

The male is like to kill the female, about October, with lewdness ; so
that it is most probable they copulate about that time. If so, then
they go with egg all the winter, as I have suspected the snakes to do.

Their four small legs have daws like pincers at the end, with which
they lay hold of bodies for their progressive motion.

Economy of Earthworms [Lumbricus terrestrisi.

Earthworms eat vegetables, for they are found in their stomach, but
it is seldom that they are seen eating. They, not having teeth, will
confine their food to such kinds as do not require dividing. Their
principal food would appear to be earth, from such vast quantities being
found in their stomach and guts ; and the vast quantity thrown [up at
the mouth of their holes.

After a shower they come up from the earth and lie flat upon the
surface, having their tail within the hole, and they eat the earth which
is quite on the surface. Upon the least motion of the earth, they
immediately withdraw themselves into the hole. A worm of one foot
long can contract in length to about three inches; so if they leave
three inches within the hole it is sufficient to bring in the whole body,
and it has nine inches out. They go vast depths into the ground. I
have found their holes leading down six feet in a loose sandy soil.

September 30th, 1774, I observed a large earthworm upon the
ground with a white spot pretty near to the anterior end. On the
same morning I observed two worms in copulation. They had come
more than half out of their holes, which was about half a foot from one
another; they lay alongside of one another; the head of the one
beyond the ring of the other ; they had turned upon their side, so that
the belly could come in contact. They had fSast hold of one another,
but in what way I cannot say ; whether by an endeavour to form a
vacuum between them like the ends of a leech, or by laying hold of one
another by their claws on the belly, with which they can hold fa^t to

110 NATURAL HISTOBT.

any thing they have a mind to hold ; as is eyident in their keeping
hold of the side of the hole in the ground, so as that the animal will
break before it can be pulled out.

This contact was so strong, that they did not separate upon being
cut through at the part which entered their holes, and also allowed
themselves to die in one another's embraces when put into spirits of
wine. At the annular part, in the angle between worm and worm,
were several white spots, which appeared like very small drops of milk,
which were removeable with the point of a pin.

Worms have four rows of claws running from one end of the animal
to the other, which are in pairs ; each ring having eight daws or four
pair. They are placed on the belly, and are pointed backwards ; they
do not appear to act as feet ; but when the head is moved forwards,
they hold till the tail is pulled forwards.

They are composed of rings which serve as joints. At the union of
every two rings there is a transverse partition which fixes this part to
the intestine, so that the whole cavity of the worm is divided trans-
versely into as many chambers as there are rings (excepting at the
anterior end). These valves or diaphragms act as so many fixed points,
and always keep the external and internal parts properly together, or
in apposition : these diaphragms also make so many constrictions on the
intestine, which gut swells between them. At the anterior end the
external part of the worm is connected to the cesophagus by a soft
spongy substance : then the partitions begin, a little way before the
first heart.

The oesophagus, stomach, and intestine is one straight canal running
from one end of the animal to the other. The oesophagus and intestine
swell into bags or kind of aneurisms between each diaphragm. The
stomach is composed of two parts ; the first, a pretty large bag, serving
as a kind of reservoir ; and then a gizzard part, or a circular ring,
which is strong and thick, capable of using considerable force upon the
food, and serve in the place of teeth, as in the fowl.

The Copulation of the Earthworm, — ^The earthworm is a copulative
hermaphrodite. They copulate in the month of October*. They come,
in part, out of the ground, having their tail remaining some way in the
hole, so as to be able to make good a retreat. The fore part of the body lies
along the ground, and this protruding part is elongated or shortened
according to the distance they are from each other ; and they move
this exterior part round about the enclosed part, as round a centre
in search of a mate ; and when they meet with each other and touch,
they throw themselves on one side to oppose the under surface to each

* They also copulate in the beginning of the summer.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Ill

other. Sometimes they are at such distances from one another as not
to reach, without one coming entirely out; and sometimes they are
both out.

This need only take place where there are but few in number. Some
one shall come out when there is no mate near to engage and be
engaged. They do not oppose the same parts to each other, as head to
head, and of course tail to tail, but in contrary directions, by which
means the male parts of each are opposed to the female of each. Some
way behind the anterior end there is an annular part which belongs to
one of the parts of the sexes, and, before this, about an inch, there are
two orifices, one on each side of the under surface, which I suppose
belong to the other parts of the sex. They copulate before they are
above one third or fourth grown in size.

They generally come out of their holes about nine o'clock in the
evening ; and in the morning, by daylight, we find them united, and by
ten o'clock they are all retired again to their holes. When it is cold,
or when there is a hoar-frost, they are not to be found in this act.
They continue in the act for perhaps about twelve hours, but whether
this time of retiring arises from the influence of the time of day, or by
being disturbed by what is passing during the day, I will not say.

I placed marks to several in the act, to see if the same repeated their
operations next morning ; but they did not, although there were many
that were in the act.

Geographical Distribution of Animals.

The locality of some animals would make us believe that their forma-
tion was of late date when compared to the world ; or else that the
present face of the globe was very old or original. The first we can
hardly suppose, and as to the last '^ very old," if that was the case it
would still show that the origin of animals was progressive and of course
local.

It is a curious circumstance in the natural history of ftnimals^ to find
most of the northern animals the same both on the Continent of Ame-
rica and what is called the Old World; while those of the warmer
parts of both continents are not so. Thus we find the bear, fox, wolf,
elk, rein-deer, ptarmigan, &c., in the northern parts of both. How-
ever, birds are not to be considered as entirely explanatory of any
theory of this kind, as they can so easily move from place to place : yet
if we can show that it is upon the same principle that the same animals
occur in the northern parts of both Continents, one fact then explains
the other.

112 NATURAL HISTORY.

The reason why the same animals are to be found in the northern
parts is the nearness of the two continents. They are so near as to be
within the power of accident to bring the animals, especially the large
ones, from one continent to the other ; either on the ice or even by
water. But the continents diverging from each other, southward, so
as to be at a very considerable distance from each other, even beyond
the flight of birds, is the reason why the quadrupeds [of those southern
regions] are not the same [in both continents].

It is reasonable to suppose that those animals were natives of either
continent, and of the northern parts, and that those animals which are
spread over aU the old continent, but domesticated, such as horses,
asses, cows, sheep, some deer, hogs, &c., were animals of the more
southern parts, and that their universality in the colder parts is only of
modem date.

Most animals, probably, have the disposition to keep to their place
either of nativity or adoption. Those that are not animals of passage,
of course keep to their place of nativity ; but this is much more con-
fined in some than in others. A pigeon [the Eock-pigeon, Columha
livia, e. g.] keeps to the very spot, viz. house or rock, even to the
same hole ; a dove [the King-dove, Golumba Palumbus, e. g.] keeps to
the wood, but not to the same spot or tree ; therefore, it wanders a
little. But birds of passage, I believe, only keep to their place of
adoption, and this very strictly. A swallow builds, if allowed, in the
same nest or same comer of a window. Thus animals which have taken
up a residence, whether their native one as in the case of the pigeon, or
their adopted one as in that of the swallow, crow, magpie, &c., keep to
the same place. The circumstance of adopting a place, shows that the
young of these do not keep to the same rules, only those which keep to
their place of nativity.

Some animals burrow for protection, habitation, &c., as the badger.;
others for their livelihood, as the mole, and probably the mole-cricket.

1

J

OBSERVATIONS ON PHYSIOLOGY.

ON LIFE AND THE LIVING PRINCIPLE.

Analogy of lAfe to Combustion.

In the works of Nature, where we see a similarity ia principle, or effects
produced from similar causes, it is reasonable to suppose that they
[those works] are similar in their great principles, and therefore may
arise from one cause. K this is reasonable, we see that what we have
been saying with regard to fire and air in the Introductory Treatise,
may be applied to the lungs. There we explained in what manner air
has an effect upon fire ; but, without being able to explain this, we see
that air, some way or other, is of great service to fire. It is from this
that we draw the analogy ; and what we want to do here is to see if
the explanation of the one will apply to the other.

I would consider life as a Fire, or something similar, which might
for distinction's sake be called Animal Fire.

like common fire, it wants a constant supply, without which it would
be extinguished ; and, Hke common fire, it seems to be let loose in the
lungs, so as to be fitted for animal life, before it sets out on its great
office : and this letting loose of the animal fire seems to depend upon the
air, as much and in the same manner as common fire. So that, instead
of something vivifying being taken from the air, the air carries off that
principle which encloses and retains this animal fire. I do not mean
real and actual fire ; but something that is similar, and is effected and
brought sibout much in the same manner. And by understanding the
one, we are led, in some measure, to the knowledge of the other ; so
that the aliment we take in has in it, in a fixed state, the real life ; and
this does not become active until it has got into the lungs ; for there it
is freed from ite prison \

' [Both Hippocrates (Opera, torn. i. p. 112) and Harvey (Exerdt 71) were in-
fluenced by this analogy of the animal operations to the consumption of bodies by
fire, and identified the vital principle with that element, as tl^e Calidum inna-
tttm, &c.]

I

114 PHYSIOLOGY.

Living Principle^ its union with Body.

The Living Principle is not simply diffused, but it is combined, or
makes one of the constituent parts of the whole, and the variety of
actions arises from the construction of the parts. I should call theharmony
between one part of the body and another * vital harmony;' as, for
instance, the harmony of the blood with itself; the blood with the
vessels ; one part of the body with another, where the connexion is only
contact, which parts can be shifted without injury owing to this
harmony.

Living Principle^ its Nature and Degrees.

A young animal has the Living Principle more lively, but perhaps
not so strong, as an old one. Injuries that do not affect the whole, are
sooner repaired : a broken bone unites sooner ; a cut unites or heals
sooner. But the whole living principle is sooner destroyed: young
animals cannot endure hunger and cold so long : pain throws them into
convulsions, so as to destroy life itself.

Whatever Life is, it most certainly does not depend upon structure or
organization^. In contradiction to organization being a cause, we find
in general that the least organized are the most tenacious of life. Thus we
find that, in general, the most imperfect animals 'are the most difficult
to be killed, when the actions of the parts ar» stopped upon which life
is continued. But this is not constantly ^,.. therefore peculiarity of
organization is not in the least necessary.

A still stronger proof than the one above, that organization is not
essential to life, viz. that different organizations make no difference
[in respect to life in the abstract], is, that different animals with the
same organization are very different with respect to their being easy or
difficult to be killed by the stoppage of those operations that continue
life. For instance, an eel will Hve out of water for many days, while a
mackerel dies instantaneously : a carp will live many weeks out of water
if kept in a moist place. These differences only respect respiration ;
which, however, is essential to life, although not so much so in some
animals as in others.

A very great difference will take place in the same organization with
respect to food ; a sparrow, a linnet, &c., vnll soon die, if not regularly
supplied with food; while an eagle, hawk, swallow, &c., will live a
great while without a supply. The food indeed is different, but the

* [I leave these passages without oomment : they may serve to throw light on the
often mooted question of Hunter's real opinions on the subject.]

LIVING PRINCIPLE. 115

construotion of the two animals is exactly the same, and therefore do-
pends upon some peculiarity in the ' Principle of life.'

Living Principle illustrated by the mutual attraction of Parts far

union.

How do parts of a living body grow into one another ? I should
suppose that this is entirely owiug to the simple living Principle ;
that whenever two parts which have an affinity — ^which are sensible of
one another — come into contact, and the impression each receives is the
same, the effect on both must be the same, and the desires from such
sensations the same, like a kiss. The result of which is, that they
come into mutual apposition, vessel to vessel, and the two become one
substance ; all similarities on each side attaching themselves together.

The Living Principle appears to be the same ^ in all animals ; for
whenever two parts of the same animal, or two parts of different ani-
mals, come into contact, they unite into one ; and if both have con-
nexion with the heart or hearts, each part is in some measure supplied
as before ; only, that each part is capable of supplying its neighbour.
But if either part be deprived of its heart, either before or after its
union, that part is immediately supported by the other, and its Living
Principle is supported ; but nothing more is done ; for, whatever dis-
position either or both had, they still retain that disposition and acquire
none of the other. For instance, a spur of a cock still continues to
grow a spur when transplanted to the comb. Nor does the stock on
which a sucker of a tree is inserted seem to be altered iu its disposition.
Each with regard to disposition seems to be a perfect Being, with one
Living Principle.

Of Simple Life.

We find this principle called ' Simple life ' much more in some animals
ihan others. This difference is not confined to peculiar classes of animals
entirely, although it is so in some degree. I believe it is pretty equal
in all the Tetracoilia. Few, if any, live long after being deprived of
the action of respiration, or of communication with the brain ; life,
indeed, is then of but very short duration. However, as none of this
class are uniformly constructed throughout, there being some parts
which have a greater dependence upon their connexion with the first
principles [of Ufe] than others, we find that ' Simple Life' is of much
shorter duration in those parts than in those which have not this con-

^ [The same in essence, not in degree] is here meant.

i2

116 PHYSIOLOGY.

nexion. For example, the voluntary muscles lose this [simple life]
much sooner than the involuntary. This is carried still further in such
involuntary parts as are mere appendages of the animal, among which
the secundines may be reckoned. I find that the umbilical artery and
veins of a calf will contract, after being cut, four times twenty-four hours
after the death of the animal, while the other arteries of the same calf
will not contract when cut in the same manner, after it has been
dead twenty -four hours. So far we find a very material difference in
parts of which the construction and use are the same. This experi-
ment was made in the winter of 1780. Probably they could not live so
long in the summer. However, both the experiments were made at
the same time, which shows the comparative powers of these two vessels
of the same animal.

This principle of simple life is much more universal in one class of
animals, viz. the Tricoilia, than in those we have been speaking of. It
exists, I believe, universally through the whole of this class [Tricoilia],
in a much greater degree than the above \Tetracoilia]. The Tricoilia
have also some parts of their body which are possessed of a greater share
of it than others, viz. the voluntary muscles, which have much less of
it, or lose it much sooner, when deprived of their sensation, than the
involuntary [muscles do] : so that this class of animals is pretty uni-
form one with another, as is the case with the first, only they have
more of [irritability or * simple life '] ; but we have reasons to suppose
that they have less of the sensitive [life].

In another class of animals, viz. the Fish, which is inferior to the last,
this principle [of Simple life] is not nearly so uniform through the whole
tribe as it is in the two above-mentioned classes. We find some fishes
dying instantaneously upon being deprived of the sensitive Hfe, or that
upon which the sensitive immediately depends, viz. proper circulation.
Such is the case with mackerel upon being taken out of water; while others
will live for a considerable time when all sensation is gone, and when,
of course, there is a cessation of all voluntary motion : such is the case
with the eel, when either taken out of the water, or when its head has
been cut off, or its heart taken out. There is, then, a great inequality
in the same class of animals with respect to this principle. I shall not
at present pursue the subject into other classes of animals ; the above
three classes, with the variations they admit of, are sufficient for the
explanation I at present can give.

There is nothing in the nervous system, that I know, that can give
any light on this subject; although it is possible that they [Simple
Life and Nervous System] may be immediately related, or that some
other principle may be the original cause [of Simple life]. That there

LIVING PRINCIPLE. 117

is another principle [or cause] is evident and demonstrable ; this is the
blood. Bnt whether this fluid is immediately conoemed, or is a re-
mote cause acting upon the nerves, may not, perhaps, be easily deter-
mined.

Let us now trace this cause by comparing the bloods in [the above]
different [classes of] animals, and see if, where the blood is similar in
any two difwimilar animals, the principle above mentioned be similar ;
and, if so, in what respect the two bloods are similar to produce this
similar effect. In the first class ITetracoilia] the motion of the blood
is extremely [rapid and the blood is] perfect ; and this perfection de-
pends upon the single circumstance of its having been thoroughly ex-
posed to the external air by means of the lungs ; so that none of this
kind of blood goes to the body but what is truly pulmonaiy [in the
sense of having circulated through the lungs]. In the second class
ITricoilia] the blood has not this advantage ; the construction of the
parts upon which the motion of the blood depends will not admit of it :
and we find the blood passing to the different parts of the body very
imperfect in this respect. It is composed of a mixture of pulmonary
[i. e, arterial] and venal. So far these two [classes of animals] are not
similar ; and we observed that they were not similar in the affair of the
continuance of Simple Life, when deprived of the sensitive, and of the
motion of the blood. So it would seem from this view, that the
greater power of Simple life in the one over the other was owing to
an imperfection in the blood ; but, most probably, this is not the case,
as wiU be mentioned hereafter.

Let us see how far the third class IDieailia] will throw light upon
this subject. The mackerel and the eel are exactly of the same con-
struction as fjEur as relates to the motion of the blood ; therefore, from
the mere construction of the parts upon which the blood's motion de-
pends, no argument can be brought to bear. We find that a mackerel
loses the Simple Life immediately, whether it be deprived of the blood's
motion, or be deprived of perfect pulmonary blood ; either of these causes
having the same effect. The eel retains the Simple Life for a consi-
derable tune when, either deprived of the blood's motion, or when de-
prived of the perfect pulmonary blood. Hence we might conclude that
this principle of Simple life does not require perfect blood, and there-
fore will exist a considerable time without blood at all. And it will
follow, that an animal which has a superabundance of this principle,
will have, in the same proportion, less need of a perfect blood or even
blood at aU, and will retain the principle of simple life a much longer
time than those who have less of it and more of the sensitive life. .

Do animals which are easUy killed sooner putrefy than those that

118 PHYSIOLOGY.

are not? A mackerel, for instance, which dies the moment it is taken
out of the water, also putrefies very soon : Is this circumstance owing
to the first ? Does an eel, a turtle, or a snake, &c., which are very
unwilling to give up life, keep a long while after life is gone ?

Loss of Simple Life,

A young man, aged about twenty, came to St. George's Hospital for
consultation about his leg and thigh. They were much smaller than
those of the other side, had no motion in the ankle-joint, and but very
little in the knee. The limb hung like a motionless body : it was very
cold ; while, with the same covering, the other limb was warm. In
the winter he had chilblains aU over the affected foot and leg, which
were very painful ; for he had sensation in it^ He had some motion in
the thigh-joint, and the little motion in the knee-joint seemed to be
owing to the long muscles of the thigh having some power at their
upper end.

Degrees of Simple Life,

Animals in proportion to their simplicity have the Simple life in a
much greater perfection than the more complicated and perfect. All
the natural functions go on with more regularity, and their powers are
more. They can make up losses much better. Our simple life is much
more confined, and can do much less for the body in case of accidents.

Is that principle we call 'Habit ' in any way akin to Simple life, or
is it a kbid of substitute ?

Simple Life is in proportion to the imperfection of the animal : even
in the most perfect classes of animals it decreases as the animal becomes
perfect. Perhaps this is owing to a want of habit in it ; for, as the
sensitive life increases in the ratio of perfection, it takes off from the
employment of the other principle, which is much less the case in the
more imperfect animals. Quaare, How is it in an Idiot ?

Action adverse to Simple Life.

Simple life is much stronger in vegetables than in animals ; for a
vegetable, when removed, will live the first year, but [sometimes] die
the second. This is owing to the original life still existing, but the
roots are not capable of keeping up its continuance. K Simple life
had been of as short duration as in animals, it [the plant] would not

* [An interesting case of affection of the motory nerves and not of the sensory ; and
explanatory of the meaning of Hunter's ' Simple Life,' which seems synonymous
with the ' Irritability ' of Haller.]

LIVING PRINCIPLE. 119

have continued its growth for many days or hours. Its death is gene-
rally in the summer, when it is necessary to have an inct^ase of life ;
but the roots being unable to procure it, it dies. It has just life enough
to keep it longer aUve in the winter state. This is similar to lizards
which have been in the cold and are yery weak. A lizard which would
have been capable of living a month in such a weak state, and would
show but little alteration in the cold, would die in an hour if brought
into a warm room. It would seem as if a certain quantity of Simple
life was necessary to support the acquired life, or that life which de-
pends upon particular circumstances. Some trees have much less of
this life than others ; for, in them, they ^re not able to shoot forth the
first year.

The more complicated a machine is, the more nice its operations are,
and, of cotirse, the greater dependence each part has upon the other ;
and, therefore, there is a more intimate connexion through the whole.
This holds good in society. It also holds good in the animal economy.
The most perfect animals cannot be hurt in part without the whole
suffering, while the more imperfect may be considerably hurt without
the other parts suffering much. Thus we find that a man cannot lose
a leg without the whole fnme sympathizing with the injured parts, as
if conscious of a loss ; while a frog appears to be but little hurt. A
snail, lobster, lizard, &c., can lose many parts which will be restored
again. A polypus is stiU less hurt by amputation ; for a new animal
arises out of the wound or cut. So far we find a gradation from the
animal to the vegetable.

Bodies which have a living principle can be acted upon by mechanical
or chemical principles ; but not by such a process as the fermentative,
that is, they have not fermentative powers in themselves.

The act of freezing, simply, does not Idll either vegetable or animal ;
it is the quantity of cold that kills. A vegetable that cannot bear the
cold of 5(P dies, although it is not frozen ; a vegetable that cannot bear
the cold of 30° or of 2(P dies, although it may not be frozen before it
dies, but will be frozen after ; which will give the idea of its having
been killed by the frost ; but a vegetable that can live in a cold of 10°,
may freeze at a cold of 16°, but will not die\

Degrees of Excitements and Sedatives*

We have natural actions ; then stimulus, or increased excitement,
to perform the same action ; and then irritation, which is to perform

^ [This assertion needs experimental proof, e. e, of the actual change of the
tissues consequent on being frozen and thereby showing the fact]

120 PHYSIOLOGY.

a new action ; which is two removes. We have actions, then sedatives,
which is a diminution of either natural or acquired action, and which
is the opposite to stimulus : but we have not a something that shall
produce indolent disease, which would be the opposite to irritation.

Stimulus is either mediate or immediate. The mediate often arises
from the immediate. The immediate is mostiy local, the mediate mostiy
constitutional. Every part of an animal that acts from impression, acts
from an instinctive principle. A specific action in the body is similar
to an abstract idea in the mind ; it is separating and combining. When
a morbid poison is applied to an animal that is not capable of taking on
the [specific or poisonous] action, from what does this [incapacity]
arise ? Is it from the animal not being susceptible of the irritation ?
Or is it from the vessels not being capable of taking on the action ?

Perfect health in every constitution requires for its preservation a
regular influence or application of every natural thing. But this can
never be obtained ; for, from the changes going on in the natural sur-
face of this globe, and the natural predicament in which it stands with
respect to the heavenly bodies, it becomes affected ; all becoming either
predisposing, immediate, or contaminating causes. Thus, damp situa-
tions produce agues, or become a disposing cause to this disease.
Pry or wet weather, the seasons, the situation respecting the sun and
the moon, become an immediate cause by hastening on the action of
the disease.

Every motion in matter produces waste ; whether it is a mechanical
motion, as from impulse of any kind, or a motion within itself, arising
from an internal power of action, as in vegetables or animaJs. The
supply in the first need not be of the same species ; although the better,
if so : but the supply in either the vegetable or animal must be of the
same [vegetable or animal] nature.

Animal Heat.

Animal heat is hardly to be accounted for upon any principle that
we know of, excepting the decompositions and combinations that often
take place in the body.

The quickness of both [causes of animal heat] is very strange. James
Campbell, from being excessively hot, would become almost at once
extremely cold; much sooner than he could have done if his head had been
struck off, and left to cool, and in an instant would become hot again.

The injections of nitre and ipecacuanha into the blood of animals show
this quick transition from the one to the other. See my Experimoits ^

» [Where ? (asks Mr. CUft)]

RESPIRATION. 121

The new combinations cannot be in every part of the body, as Dr.
Stephens supposes ; for that combination will go on in the greatest
cold as well as in the greatest heat, and will produce the same heat in
both. If this were true, then we should never be cold. But we find
we may become so cold as that a part shall mortify. I do not imagine
that animal heat arises from putrefaction, or from actions at all of the
putrefactive kind; but from the chyliferous fennentation in the
stomach, the sanguiferous in the lungs, and [the molecular in] the vessels
in general in the body^

The heat of an animal cannot arise from respiration [alone] ; for no
animals respire so fireely as fishes^ : yet they generate very little heat,
but when called upon [as in a freezing mixture], and then their powers
of respiration must be very imperfect.

On Respiration.

Every part of an animal so exposed to the air as for the blood to be
affected by it in such manner as to support life, may be called Lungs,
or Respiratory Organ ; but what is commonly understood as such, is
an apparatus formed for that purpose, as a distinct part of the animal.
But I conceive it very probable that there are animals so simple in
their construction as not to require a peculiar. structure for this purpose.
I even know there are many so constructed, where an apparatus of this
kind could not be applied, such an apparatus not according with the
other parts. Yet I do conceive that in such the application of air is
as necessary as in those where an apparatus is formed; but where
there is a distinct respiratory apparatus, there must be other corre-
sponding apparatuses.

Where there is such an apparatus, we find it admits of forms fitted for
the different modes of respiration ; yet all are included in the terms
Branchice, or Gills, and Pulmones, or Lungs. But there should be a
generic term, admitting of divisions into species, so as to be charac-
teristic of the orders of animals to which they belong.

^ [In a bat the animal heat can be raised or depressed at pleasure, saj from 50^
Fahr. to 65°, and inversely, merely by accelerating or retarding respiration : which
seems to show that where the whole* constitution is adapted for a high temperature,
combined with the faculty of losing it by torpidity, the animal heat may be gene-
rated by the respiratory independent of the digestive process ; but as circulation is
directly as respiration, the change of the blood in the capillaries may also assist]

'"* [The visible movements of respiration in fishes are stronger and more frequent, in
reference to the denser medium to be moved, but the actual amount of respiratory
change is less than in the warm-blooded animals that breathe the air directly. A
truer view of the breathing of fishes is taken in the next paragraph.]

122 PHYSIOLOGY*

Without a collectmg and a motion of the nntritive jtiioeB^ I can con-
ceive there can be no respiratory organ ; for I find that the different
circulations in the different orders of animals, as far as I know, are so
connected with different kinds of lungs, as for either system not to be
intelligible alone. For, first, the different circulations cannot be de-
scribed without including the respiratory apparatus, as this makes a
portion of the circulation : nor will the mere structure of the lungs in
different animals explain their Ml purposes : and as their whole use is
upon the blood, and they are thus connected with the circulation, it is
impossible to understand the one without the other ; and this so much
so, as to make it difficult to say which ought to be described first.

In animals where there is no circulation there can be no lungs ; for
lungs are an apparatus for the air and blood to meet, and can only accord
with motion of blood in vessels. But where there is no circulation, yet
we must suppose £rom analogy that the air affects the juices that are to
carry a continuance of life and support to aU the parts of the body*.

As the lungs are to expose the blood to the air, they are so. con-
structed as to answer this purpose exactly with the blood being brought
to them, and so disposed in them as to go hand in hand. The lungs in
all animals are therefore placed near the heart, because it is the circu-
lation only that they are concerned in.

The immediate action which puts the lungs into use is called
' breathing,' and this action is commonly performed by the surrounding
parts, being a motion of dilatation, which produces or is called ' inspira-
tion ;' and of compression, which produces or is called ' expiration :' these
motions of course are alternate f.

The respiratory organ, which must be considered as an appendage to
the heart and vascular system, is so constructed as to allow the blood
to be placed in such circumstances with respect to the external air as
to give or receive some influence from it.

In the most simple animals, and such as breathe water, the whole

* It may be observed that the foettis in utero is a contradiction to this ; but we
must suppose that the effect of air in the lungs of the mother is conveyed to the
foBtus. But the respiration of the fcetus in the viviparous from an egg cannot be so
easily accounted for, since there is no communication with either the mother or
external air ; but the egg in the oviparous would seem to be in the same predica-
ment, yet I know they will not hatch without air. It is probable that all those
animals within animals [Entozoa] are similar to the viviparous from an egg.

t Some animals do not sweat by the skin ; in all those we find that their breathing
becomes much quicker in warm weather or from exercise than what it does in those
that sweat freely. They generally breathe with open mouths, viz. dogs, sheep, goats,
oxen, fowls, &c. &c This would hint as much as that the sweat and breath were
nearly the same.

RESPIRATION. 123

apparatus is to have a considerable quantily of very yascnlar sm&ce
brought in contact with the medium in which the animal lives.

In the air-breathing orders above fish, there is a simple bag, very
vascular, for the reception of the air, and this is divided and subdivided
as we proceed towards the more perfect animals, till at last the cells
are infinitely small.

The lungs may be considered, respecting their blood-vessels or circu-
lation, as similar to a gland ; for the blood sent to them is not for their
own proper use entirely, and indeed only a very small portion of it is
for their own use, the larger portion being intended as a secretion from
them, as also to receive.

The lungs maybe called the Spring of life ; I conceive them to have
two powers, one to receive, the other to give. I should consider them
giving to the air what was rendered useless or detrimental as a consti-
tuent part of life ; and exchanging it for that which it had lost, the
essential part.

The minute division of the lungs into cells, the arterial and venous
system ramifying upon the surfiEUie of those cells, and of course the
whole of the blood passing through them in every circulation, with the
loss of life upon the missing three or four breathings in the most per-
fect animals, show tne great nicety that is required in the due properties
of the blood for the life of those animals. This nicety is not near so
great in many of the less perfect animals. The Amphibia have not
this minute division [of the lungs] : the whole of the blood does not
pass through the lungs ; and they can live a considerable time without
breathing. It is still less essential in the more imperfect animals, such
as fishes, and still less so in some fishes than in others, such as eels ; and
these live a long while out of water.

What proof is there that respiration continues life throughout the
body ? and how come the Amphibia to have so great powers of life
with so littie respiration? Whatever the effects of respiration are,
such effects should keep pistce with the cause. There is reason to pre-
sume that heat has some natural connexion with the respiration of air ;
for the degree of heat is in proportion to the degree of respiration.
From the chemical change produced on the breath, is there not reason
to think that one purpose of respiration is to produce a chemical change
on the blood ? Expired breath is loaded with fixed air or aeria^ acid
[carbonic acid], and this has been proved by the French chemists and
by Mr. Muire to be a compound of charcoal [carbon] and vit«J air
[oxygen]. It would appear as if charcoal were an excrementitious
part of the blood separated by combining with vital air.

Lungs that are full of blood and of a dark colour soon become florid

124 PHYSIOLOGY.

when exposed to the air. The liver the same. This shows that the
influence of the air can act through the coats of the vessels.

When I was injecting the lungs of a man, the injection did not run
freely ; I then inflated them, and found that the injection immediately
ran with freedom.

I And that in the human lungs there is a thin cartilage at the angle
of inflection of two branches [of the bronchia], where it is membranous
both in the trunk and in the two branches.

The cells of the lungs seem to increase in size the farther from the
trunk, or trachea; so that tl^e trachea and its ramifications bear no
proportion to the cells.

It is impossible for the lungs to be so collapsed, while air is excluded
the chest, as to obstruct mechanically the passage of the blood through
them ; and, if that were reaUy the case, there never could be dark
blood in the left side. For if there is a coUapse, then there is no
motion of the blood : all stands still. If removing the collapse be the
essential thing, or what is absolutely necessary in the recovery [of
drowned or asphyxiated persons], how have so many recovered where
such attention has not been used ?

When an animal dies whose circulation goes on through the lungs
after respiration ceases, the collection of blood in me two ventricles is
not exactly of equal heats, the right being warmer by one or two
degrees than the left ; and if an animal dies while the lungs are in-
flated along with the actions of the heart, where the blood in the right
side is dark and the left red, the heat in the right side will still be
greater : but, upon waiting Ave minutes, the left will be several degrees
warmer, so that the right either loses its heat faster or the left generates
heat. But this last part which I am going to relate has not been tried,
when both sides were black, with that accuracy as the flrst ; viz. which
side of the heart ceases to act flrst when respiration is kept up, and
which side begins flrst upon inflation.

Coleman^ asserts that inflating the lungs alternately, and the heart
acting, there is no change of colour in the blood of the left auricle,
which cannot be true.

The only time that water can possibly get into the lungs, in drown-
ing, is just at the last inspiration, which is an inspiration of extreme
necessity.

Th? proportion of the blood contained in the two sides of the heart
after a violent death, as by dro3vning, hanging, or suffocation from bad
air, is commonly as 12 in the right to 7 in the left side. But, in

^ [ProfeBflor Edward Coleman, of the Veterinai-y College ; the work referred to
bj Hunter is " A Dissertation on natural and suspended Eespii'atioiL" 8yo.]

RESPIRATION, 125

hanging, if the kings be kept distended in the time of hanging, then
the left will have the largest quantity.

As the right side of the heart acts longer than the left, one might
suppose that the left side should be the foller ; but I imagine that its
action at this time is with so little force, that no blood is sent to the lungs.

As most of the blood in the body will always be rather conducted to
the larger vessels and of course the heart, and as the right side contains
12 where the left contains only 7, does this not support a presumption
that the proportion between the [blood of the] body and [of the] lungs is
as 12 to 7 ? However, I shoidd think the body [would have] much more.

The blood being in the larger veins and heart is a proof that the
arteries act longer than the veins; and that the capillary veins act
longer than the lai^er ones, or even than the heart ; and the blood in
the left ventricle will be the florid red.

By letting the blood out of the heart when much distended, it acted.
Was this produced from emptying it, or from wounding it ?

What is the connexion of muscular action with respiration? For it
is weU known that violent exercise excites respiration to a great degree.

The true amphibious animal, if such there be, is such as can breathe
both air and water. The turtle, frog, &c., breathe only air ; and are such
as can live without breathing for some time, similar to many ftnimftlg that
never go into the water : but they live in and by the air. K these ftnimftla
are amphibious, all animals are amphibious, although in a less degree ;
for all animals can live under water for some time, viz. as long as they
can refrain from breathing ; longer than which no animal can live.

The knowledge of the differences in the circulation in the different
classes of animals, has gone no further than [as they exist in] the
Mammalia, the human subject, the foetus in such, and what are called
the Amphibia : and, of course, every piece of reasoning respecting the
circulation, which includes respiration (these being immediately con-
nected), has been brought in to explain, upon those differences, the
other variations between the two classes of animals. But [the circu-
lation] cannot be a cause of such variation ; because other classes of
animals shall have the similarities [in regard to circulation] of the one
class, while they shall have the varieties of the other ^ : and, in some
classes of animals, where the circulation and respiration is the same in
the whole class, yet the heart in some shall be like the human, and in
others it shall be like the amphibia*.

*

^ [Birds, for example, have the four-chambered heart and perfect respiration of
mammals, but have the oviparous generation and the general plan of structure of
Reptiles.]

^ [Crocodiles, for example, have the four- chambered heart ; but with an arrange-

126 PHYSIOLOGY.

Itoose Notes and Queries on the Blood,

I think it is probable that not anything that is mechanically diffused
through the blood, can agree with it, and I conceive that it wUl most
probably kill. Thus air, milk, &c., kill in very small quantity. There-
fore whatever agrees with, or does no hurt [to the blood], must be in
solution in it, although at the same time every thing that may be in
solution may not agree with it.

What would be the consequence if a part of the circulating blood
was deprived of life, as from a part being struck with electricity ?
But probably a part cannot be struck so as to kill the blood only ; the
whole must die.

Arterial blood becoming dark in the living body by rest, as when
extravasated, and not in a vessel, shows its living powers.

There appears to be a greater variety in the quantity of red blood in
birds than in any other known animal : some have little, others a great
deal. It is also thrown more on particular parts in the bird, because
they have two modes of progressive motion ; therefore as the one [by
the wings] or the other [by the legs] predominates, so is the red blood
thrown.

On the Circulation.

In many animals, especially the more perfect, the nourishment, or
whatever is taken into the system, is taken up and carried from the
stomach and other parts, by the absorbents, to an engine called the
heart ; from which it is thrown out intcT tubes which conduct it to
every part of the body, and thence it is again returned to the heart by
other vessels.

An animal body has in general been considered under the idea of an
hydraulic machine, because it appears to be almost wholly composed of
tubes in which fluids move. I shall not at present enter into all the
different opinions concerning the uses of these tubes, especially of that
system called arteries, how they are variously affected, and how they
produce their various actions according to the different stimuli either of
health or disease ; but shall only give some general ideas of the most
immediate uses of the three different systems of vessels.

The vessels in general would appear to have more powers of per-
fecting themselves, when injured, than any other part of the body; for
their use is almost immediate and constant, and it is they which per-

ment of the arteries permitting the mixture of venous and art^ial blood, as in the
tortoises, lizards, and lower reptiles.]

CIRCULATION. 127

form the operation of restoration on the other parts, therefore they
themselves must first be perfect. They would seem to have more of
the Polypus in them than any other part of the body. This is, perhaps,
more in the absorbents than in the arteries or veins, for we can conceive
a part injured by accident, and, as it were, standing still for a little
while ; but we see ulceration going on very rapidly, which proves an
immediate formation of vessels for absorption.

The first two, viz. the arteries and the veins, belong immediately to
the motion of the blood, or the Circulation. The arteries carry the
fluid from the general reservoir, the heart, to all the different parts of
the body, and the veins bring it back again.

Of the Arteries,

The arteries, which carry the fluid to all the parts of the body, con*
stantly dispose of part of that fluid in the diflerent operations of the
body, according to their diflerent affections ; adding to the whole while
growth is necessary, making up losses where the old is either improper
or destroyed, and throwing out of the direct line of their motion parts of
that fluid, which, according to the various affections and actions of these
arteries, become considerably altered in this passage, called secretions.

The juices so secreted are intended for various purposes in the ma-
chine : some for stimulants, as the bile ; some for mechanical purposes,
as the tears, synovia, saliva, (&;c. ; some for a store of nourishment, as
the fat ; while others are thrown out of the body as useless, because
they have already performed all their purposes, as the urine, (fee.

Of the Veins.

The other set of tubes — ^the veins — ^were considered as less active,
being principally employed in bringing the red part of the blood back,
after it had lost its most salutary parts, or performed those offices,
whatever they are, for which it was sent out.

This act of carrying back the red blood was not considered as the
only office of the veins; many of their beginnings were not only
supposed to arise from the terminations of arteries, but were also sup-
posed to arise from most, if not all, the surfaces of the body, both in-
ternal and external, making so many inlets into the general system,
bringing in matter into the conmion mass of fluids for the support of the
whole ; and also to bring back many of the parts which were by the
arteries secreted from the blood for the different purposes of life, such
as the synovia and lubricating fluids of all kinds ; which fluids having
answered their different purposes, and having become unfit for any

128 PHYSIOLOGY.

further use in the machine, were obliged to be brought back again into
the circulation, to be thrown out of the constitution by the arteries.

So far the use of the veins was considered ; but part of their supposed
power of absorbing they were deprived of, from the discovery of that
part of the absorbing system called lacteaJs, which were found to absorb
the chyle. Though by this discovery the veins of the mesentery were
deprived of the supposed use of absorbing the chyle or nourishment, yet
even then they were supposed to absorb matter from the cavity of the
intestines for the secretion of the bile.

Of the Absorbents,

The other part of this system, called lymphatics, though long known,
was not in the least suspected of performing the operation of absorption,
but they were still supposed to be continuations of the extreme ends of
arteries, which were not large enough to carry red blood, only carrying
the serum or lymph ; but from their similarity to the lacteals, which
now were known to be absorbents, it became at last plain and evident
to common sense that they must also absorb.

Before this idea was started, the general opinion of the vascular
system ran thus: — The arteries carried the blood for the growth, nourish-
ment, secretions, <fec., in the machine: — ^the veins returned the red
blood, as also absorbed from every surface of the body : — the lymphatics
returned the lymph of the blood, which came along the arteries ; and
the lacteals were sharers in the intestines by absorbing part of the
chyle. But from some experiments I made to ascertain whether the
veins of the mesentery absorbed or not, it was proved that they had
not the power of absorption \

Of the Heart.

The heart is an organ or machine that is not common to all animals,
many being entirely without such organ : how far it accompanies the
brain I have not yet discovered, but I suspect that a distinct brain and
a distinct heart go together. Where there are both brain and heart,
they keep an exact analogy ; so much so as to teach from the one what
the other is like, which would make us suspect that they are always to
be found [together] in the same animal.

The situation of the heart is generally near the upper, or what may
be called the anterior part of the body of the animal ; but this is not
universally so, only in those animals where nature would keep pretty

^ Subsequent experiments have invalidated that conclusion.

CIRCULATION. 129

near to general rules, such as in the general stnictare of the more per-
fect animals down to fish ; but beyond them it is not clear where the
heart may be placed in an unknown animal, and it is even differently
situated in the same genus ; for example, the situation of the heart in
the shell-snail [Heliai] ^ is not the same with that of the black snail or
slug ILimdx'] ^.

The external form [of the heart] varies in different animals, and that
difference most commonly corresponds with the shape of the part in
which it lies. In the human, for example, it is flattened on the anterior
surface, answering to the flat breast^ ; [it is] more so in the seal, otter, <&c.;
but this does not always take place in flat chests. In general it is a
cone * more or less flattened on one or two sides, but principally on one ;
this flatness generally constitutes the great difference in shape in any
one class ; the shape of each class differing from each other according to
the different purposes of each, or number of parts of which it is composed.

A heart is essentially simple in its construction ; the use of each part
is perfectly understood and of course [that of] the whole. It is a
muscle or muscles making the parietes of cavities which have no flxed
point of action, excepting an imaginary one, viz. the centre of the cavity,
to which the whole body of the muscle mc^es in its action, by which
means the cavities are lessened.

The heart is, in general, divisible into a number of cavities, the
greatest number consisting of four, the fewest consisting of one only.
The first [or most complex] division constitutes [causes] a distinct and
double motion of the blood ; the second, a mixed motion ; the third, a
single circulation, but attended with a very singular circumstance in its
passage, viz. in gills ; and the fourth, not a circulation, but an undulation.

Of the First Division of Hearts. — ^Here the body called heart is formed
of two distinct hearts, each having its auricle and ventricle, with distinct
veins opening into the auricle, and each ventricle its artery passing out.

Although the above division is true, from whence it might be con-
jectured that there was no communication between the two circulations,
yet nature has connected them by means of the viscus, viz. the veins
corresponding with the arteries of the right side, shift sides and go to
the left, and vice versd of the left side. The valves are similar in all.

This division comprehends the most perfect animals, which have a
double circidation, one through the lungs, the other through the whole
body, and for that purpose are furnished with a double heart. The
two auricles and two ventricles make up the four cavities by which
these animals are distinguished, whence they may be called TetracoUia,

1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 882.] « [lb. No. 883.]

» [lb. No. 929.] * [lb. No. 928.]

130 PHYSIOLOGY.

Of the Second Division of Hearts. — This is a mixture between the
first and third, by which means it is more imperfect and much less
distinct than either. This heart consists of two distinct cavities, and of
two others which are not so perfectly distinct^ and which act only as
one cavity. The two distinct cavities are the auricles ; the ventricles
communicate so freely with one another, that they are to be considered
as only one cavity ; therefore these [animals with the above structure
of heart] may be called Tricoilia. There the blood from the lungs,
and that which has gone through the other parts of the body, mix
together, instead of being separated, as in the more perfect animals ; so
that some of the last sort is thrown back through the body again with-
out passing previously through the lungs, and some of the first sort is
pushed a second and perhaps a third time through the lungs, without
being first employed in the general circulation.

The veins of each auricle enter distinctly, as in the first division of
hearts ; but the arteries arising from this mixture of ventricles are
more complicated. They are not exactly the same as to anatomical
structure in all of this class, although much the same as to use, pro-
ducing nearly the same effect in all of them. To give an idea of this,
we shall describe them in the turtle (Chelone Mydas), which will
sufficiently explain their use in all the others \

From the compound ventricle of the heart in the TricMia arise three
arteries, two of which are anterior, the third posterior. Of the anterior,
that to the left hand, which is also the lai^est, is the pulmonary artery,
going to the lungs nearly, as in Man ; that to the right hand is the left
aorta ; and the single posterior artery is the right aorta, which alone
gives off the carotids and subclavians. These two aortas make a curva-
ture downwards, descend together along the back, and when got to
about the middle of the cavity of the animal, imite into one trunk. This
imion is similar in some degree to the union of the two arteries coming
from the gills in fish.

This description is taken from the turtle, and although it may not
exactly agree with all of the above class, as the frog, <fec., yet it will in
the essentials. Here the lungs and the whole body are evidently
supplied horn portions of the same mass of blood. But no use appears
for the two aortas in this division, and they seem so very superfluous,
that one might be tempted to suspect they were only provided to lay
the foundation of an analogy with the animals of the immediately in-
ferior class, the Pneumobranchiata^,and of the class below them, the Fish*.
For in fish that have only one auricle and one ventricle, the single

^ [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 918, 919, 920.] 2 [lb. Nos. 912-917.]

» [lb. Nos. 904-911.]

^ CIRCULATION. 131

artery which the heart sends off is immediately distributed to the two
sets of gills ; from these the blood passes out in two trunks, one on
each side, which after running a little way join into one vessel, as the
two aortas do in the turtle ; which now runs on as an artery to supply
the rest of the body with blood, without having first entered a heart, or
what is called the left auricle and ventricle.

Thus the difference between the two classes is considerable; but
nature, always proceeding by the nicest gradations, has formed two
animals which partake so much of the structure of the two classes, that
they gently lead us on from the one to the other. The first of these, as
being nearest to the amphibious tribe, are the animals now before us^,
which, indeed, fomr the next link in the chain that we are acquainted
with, as will be easily seen by comparing them together. The present have
but one auricle^ and one ventricle, sending off one artery, which is com-
mon to the gills and lungS/ and which might be called ' pneumobranchial.'

Here is a falling off from the Amphibia of an auricle, and in some
measure of a ventricle, notwithstanding which, the effect of the heart
upon the blood is nearly the same.

The artery passes out of the heart, sending off the pulmonary arteries,
which are ramified upon the lungs as usual, and then divides into two
branches, which are analogous to the two arteries in the turtle ; but as
these animals (Amphiiuma and MenopoTrui) are a degree nearer fish,
these arteries are each again subdivided into two, which afterwards
wind round those singular parts — ^in some measure similar to the gills
of fish — with which they are ^imished. Having made this circuit, the
subdivided vessels again unite so far as to form only two trunks, and
these two presently join into one in the same manner as we have re-
marked in turtle and fish.

The other animal — ^the siren — completes the gradation by being one
remove nearer to fish : in this the subdivision is not into two branches
only, as in that above described, but the whole aorta divides and sub-
divides into infinite ramifications, similar to the artery in the gills of
fish, while the lungs are supplied in the same manner as those of the
preceding animal and of the Amphibia.

Thus the gradation is formed from perfect lungs, first to perfect lungs
and imperfect gills, then to perfect lungs and perfect gills, till at last
we have no lungs, but simply perfect gills, as in the fish.

The animals of this class have but a single circulation, and of course

^ [Amj^hiunm didactylum^ Cuv., and Menopoma AUeffhaniense, Harlan.]

2 [I found this auricle divided by a complete septum in the Street lacertina. — Trans.

Zoological Society, vol. i. p. 213 ; 'Animal Economy,' p .396, note. Prep. Mus. Coll.

Chir. No. 913a.]

K 2

132 PHYSIOLOGY, ^

are famished only with two cavities to the heart, viz. an auricle and
ventricle, similar to and answering the same purposes with the right
half of the heart in the most perfect animals ^ To this order belong
all the fish with gills ; therefore these may be called DvcMia. The
last order comprehends the ftTn'mftla whose hearts have only one cavity,
as is the case in the insect', therefore they may be called Monocailia.

Of the Uses of Arteries.

The arteries may be said to have three uses. The first and most
simple is, the conducting, as canals, the blood to all the different parts
of the body. For this purpose they are acted upon by the heart, which
is the cause of the motion of the blood (the veins would seem to be, in
themselves, passive). But as this motion is by jerks and not by a
uniform regular motion, the arteries are made elastic, which [makes
them] serve, in some measure, as a reservoir ; while their contractile
force continues the stream, although not with the same velocity. This
is something like [or upon the same principle as] the air-fountains, or
jets, which might be made to imitate the elastic force of the arteries,
such as this figure ; but as there is a continued elastic canal, which may

f Q^f, ^ -.Syringfc tlirowing in

j^^^^^ V y ^^ the water uter-

This jet of water wUl 'I'll ^^?vr3G:l:l~~riL3P^

be continued, but'il/'ljl f "5ri= I^HIL rJLj

higher at the •y-'f/lljS t^--^i^^t^-rszzi

stole of the syringe. |l;,''jl ^z}zJzrs:n.'ZZ'SZZ^'Zj

be looked upon as a succession of elastic bodies, every one having some
effect, it may be reasonably supposed that in the smallest arteries there
is very little pulsation, which we find to be the case ; so that the jerk-
ing force of the heart is gradually spent, or fades into the continued
[force]. All this is simply mechanical.

The second use of the arteries is the first purpose answered by this
motion of the blood, or the disposing of it. This depends on the living
and sensitive principles with which the arteries are endowed, joined,
with a power of voluntary motion in arteries independently of the
general will of the animal, and according to the impression made, joined
with the disposition or feelings of the arteries at the time. Then such

^ l.l-^- ■ ■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■»■- — ■■ ■■! .^B, , . ^■^■- ■■■■■..,■■ ■ I ■■ .^ . ■ .1 . ■-■» — ■— ■■ I ■■ I ,■

» [Hunt. Preps. Nob. 904-911.] » [lb. No. 979.]

CIRCULATION. 183

and such actions are brought about, and such and such effects produced,
which can only be in the small arteries. When the blood is good and
genuine, the sensations of the arteries, or the dispositions for sensation,
are agreeable ; then the offices of the arteries are carried on suitably to
the intentions of nature. It is then that they dispose of the blood to
the best advantage, increasing the growth of the whole, supplying any
losses, keeping up a due succession [of organic particles], &c.

The third use of the arteries, is that of secretion in all its various
forms. This must in some measure arise from stimuli which are of this
or that kind ; and from the arteries of particular parts being susceptible
of such and such stimuli. Without both uniting or concurring, secretion
could not take place.

These actions depend upon a principle similar to that which is the
cause of the second use of arteries.

The most perfect proofs of the actions of the arteries in propelling the
blood forwards, is in an aneurismal sac. If the artery above the sac be
compressed so as to prevent the blood flowing, the sac which was just
before pulsating and turgid shall immediately become flaccid and wholly
empty. Nothing could produce this but the action of the arteries
beyond the sac, and principally the smaller arteries \

Of the Continuation of Life in an Artery after the Animal is said to

be killed,

I injected the uterus of a cow that had been separated from the
body of the cow above twenty-four hours ; and I found next day that
it had contracted very much, and that the vessels had also contracted ;
for the great trunks were more turgid than when injected, so that the
injection had been squeezed back again ^. This also shows that the
small vessels have a greater or a longer power of contraction than the
larger have.

Origins of Arteries,

The force of the blood's motion. in an artery is stronger the nearer
to the heart, therefore it is reasonable to think that the situation of
the heart in the body is such as [that it should be nearest the parts
which] require the briskest circulation. But the difference in the
circulation, if there was nothing to retard it, would be too great for
the difference in the parts, as there are similar parts near and at a

^ [In the production of this phenomenon Hunter assigns no share to the emptying
of the Teins by the diastole of the heart and expansion of the chest.]

^ [May not this be the effect of elasticity in consequence of the parts haying been
put into hot water while being iiyected ? I have seen that happen. — ^Wm. Glut.]

134 PHYSIOLOGY.

great distance. To keep up a circulaticMi sufficient for the part, and
no more, nature has varied the angle of the origin of arteries accord-
ingly. Thus we find that near the heart the arteries arise by obtuse
angles; some of them reflected; which become more and more so, till
they arise by very sharp angles. The more remarkable instances of
this are in the intercostal arteries ; because there is not another set of
arteries in the body whose origins are so much the same, whose offices
are so much the same, whose distances from their origin to the place
of use [distribution], and whose uses are so much the same. There-
fore, if there be any difference in the angles at the origin of the
arteries at equal distances from the heart, it must be with regard to
the distances of their insertion [termination?] from the heart. And
there is such a difference. Even the arteries that arise from the in-
tercostals are much more obtuse at the beginning of the intercostals
than at the termination.

The reason that it is not so evident in all the arteries, is that there are
not two arteries on one side of the body that take the same course, go
the same distance, and are to do the same thing ; for some parts re-
quire a stronger circulation than others, which wiU make a difference in
the origin of two arteries, supposing they go the same length and the
same course.

"We see the same thing in the secondary arteries, such as the sub-
clavian. It sends its branches off near its origin by much more obtuse
angles than it does further on ; for in this artery all the branches are
to do nearly the same things, and are to go nearly the same length,
which was what we observed in the intercostal and lumbar arteries.

The vasa vasorum seem to come from a neighbouring artery, not
from the artery that it supplied. This we see in dissecting them. But
to see if some of these should arise from the artery itself, I injected a
carotid artery out of the body, but none of the vasa vasorum were
injected.

The nearer you come to an artery in the living body, the less the
pulsation is either felt or seen ; and when dissected bare, the motion of
the blood is not to be seen or felt with the finger in the least* [viz. in
Dr. Hunter's servant's sister's external carotid].

1 [That the arteries are dilated during the pnlfie, Flourens saw by enclosing the
abdominal aorta, in a rabbit and in a dog, in a ring made of very fine watch-spring,
the ends being merely in contact : at every stroke of the heart these ends were di-
varicated, but in a very slight degree. Weitbrecht (De Circul. Sang. Oogit. Physiol.)
was the first who saw that the principal cause of the pulse was the displacement of
the artery by the jerking power of the heart.]

CIRCULATION AND FOOD. 135

We find, on the contrary, that the more they are covered, especially
with solid bodies, the more the pulsation is felt ; yiz. in tumours covering
the carotid, &c.

There is certainly a pulsation in veins* ; for, when we bleed a per-
son in the hand or foot, we evidently see a strong jet ; much more in
some than in others, and much more than in the bend of the arm. The
query is, does this arise from the immediate stroke of the heart, or is it
by the lateral pressure occasioned by the swell of the arteries ? To
ascertain this the better, it is necessary to observe several things. [One
of these is, thatj the veins on the back of the hand are superficial and
not surrounded with vascular parts: but stiU it may arise from the
impulse given to the blood in the smaller arteries occasioning their
lateral swell, and that this acceleration given to the blood's motion in
the smaller veins is communicated to those on the back of the hand.
But I think I have seen the difference in the projection so great, as hardly
to arise from that cause alone ; and if this were the whole cause we should
have it in some degree in every vein ; for every vein is in some degree
surrounded, and of course in some degree affected by the swell of the
arteries of the part ; but we certainly do not observe it in so great a
degree in the bend of the arm.

The veins in the spleen of a dog do not anastomose. I tied up one
of the veins going to one end of the spleen ; that end immediately be-
came turgid and of a dark red, while the other end remained flaccid and
of the former colour.

The spleen is the reddest part of any in the animals of those classes
which have red blood ; so that there is more red blood in the spleen
than in any other part.

Of Food.

Food may be divided into two sorts ; viz. that which is wholly dis-
solvable in the stomach, and that which only yields its juice.

The first is the most profitable, and includes all animal food, ex-
cepting cuticle, hair, nails, horns, &c. ; [it also includes] roots without
the skin, all fruits without the skin, and all seeds without their skin
or husks.

The second includes all the other parts of vegetables that have not
been mentioned above, such as the wood and leaves. Many yield so little

1 [Flourens observed in the venous trunks of frogs altematmg movements of con-
traction and dilatation : Miiller is inclined to attribute this to Ihe influx of the lymph
propelled bj the lymphatic hearts ; but Flourens thinks the veins he observed to
beat were too remote from the lymphatic hearts to be so influenced. Jones has ob-
served a pulsation in the veins of the bat's ear.]

136 PHYSIOLOGY.

as to have lost apparently nothing [by digestion], only having yielded
[some small proportion in] a solution. This food yields nourishment
chiefly by expression ; and least so in those animals that have a
stomach of but one cavity. In order that more of this juice might be
expressed in some animals, nature has furnished four stomachs [or
cavities]. But even this does not dissolve it entirely ; for we find the
dung of such animals a good deal of the colour of the food ; for example,
a cow's dung shall be green when she lives on grass.

The instinctive principle of food in animals is a curious fact : a stork
which swallows birds, mice, rats, frogs, <&;c., will not swallow a toad.
He takes it up in his bill, and after nibbling it, as if to kill it, he lets it
fall ; and this he wiU do several times, and at last leaves it. The sea-
gull, which will eat the same food as the stork, will not touch a toad.
Animals do not seem to distinguish food accurately by the eye ; they seem
to be only directed to it, and give a kind of general guess ; but they are
obliged to have recourse, for further particulars, to the other senses.
Quadrupeds commonly, if not always, have recourse to the nose ; there-
fore they seldom take into their mouth what is not fit for them to eat :
but the burd seems to have but littie smell ; and therefore the nostrils
are at some distance from the end of the bill^; and when they are
directed to food, [the fitness of which] they axe not certain of, they
take it into the mouth, and, if it be unfit for food, they throw it out
again^

We do not distinguish things at once by the senses : the simple
sensation does not in all cases inform the mind with the true idea of
the thing represented : the mind is often obliged to inquire how it is
that a hollow of any particular shape, and a round of the same shape
(a concave and a convex surface), give the same shades and will appear
concave or convex according as the mind is most susceptible of the
idea, or has been accustomed most to conceive it to be. But a little
reasoning upon the collateral circumstances attending the sensation will
determine the simple impression in the mind to be what it reaUy is. It
is often extremely puzzling in paintings or drawings to make out what
the painter means; for, if the corresponding relative parts are not
attended to, the reasoning faculty has not its materials or data to direct
it, so as to be able to draw its inference, or make its conclusions. This
must be always the case with things, the knowledge of which is ac-*

^ [Except in Apteryx^ where, from the terminal position of the nostrils, the smell
would seem to be a much used and important sense.]

2 [This I have observed in the ostrich, where a piece of leather was repeatedly
picked up, tested by frequent nips with the mandibles, and then rejected.]

OF THE TEETH. 137

quired ; of which things our knowledge always becomes more perfect
by habit.

The food of ahnost all young animals is principally of an animal
nature. In the sucking kind, whether of cRiiyorous or granivorous
parents, the young- have the milk, which is a compound of animal sub-
stance and sugar. In birds, animal substances are principally the food
for the young granivorous, which live, at first, principally on insects,
worms, &c.

Are there any granivorous animals that feed only at night, as there
are mftny carnivorous ? I should suspect not : because there are no
herbs found at night but are to be found in the day ; but this is not the
case with the animals [which serve for food]. However, it is possible
that there may be some animals which live only on the fiowers that are
open at night.

Of the Teeth.

As the stomach is the digesting organ of the food of animals, — ^is in
common a containing part in the form of a bag or bags, — and as it is
generally placed on the inside of the animal, there must be an external
communication to that cavity : and as the food is either passive, as
vegetables, or active in contradiction to that process, as jjiost animal
food, there must be a mode of collecting, catching, adapting, and con-
veying that food to, and through that communication to the stomach.

Various are the means of doing all these operations ; and this variety
of modes £uises, from the nature of the food which the animal lives
upon, [jBrom] different modes of digestion (as the diflference between a
ruminant and a horse), also ffroml a great variety of circumstances
attending that food, thl nature of whiS when caught may be often
similar. The first of which [circumstances] I shall reckon fluidity, as
honey, the juices of plants, such as what many insects live upon, <fec.
Secondly, [the food] being aUve, therefore [involving] a mode of catching
and killing, which requires a greater extension of parts [concerned in
those actions], and then to separate parts from the whole. Thirdly,
collecting parts of growing vegetables. All of which [circumstances
require] parts formed and adapted for such purposes. Most of these
operations are performed by the mouth, or beginning of this communi-
cation in some animals; and in many others by the mouth with its
other apparatus, as teeth ; but it has often still more exterior assistance,
as hands, claws, feet, &c.

These operati(5ns may be divided into three, although all the three
are not necessary in every animal. The catching and collecting is the
first ; the fitting some food for digestion, and adapting most for degluti-

138 PHYSIOLOGY.

tion, is the second ; and the conveyance of that so collected and adapted
into the stomach, is the third.

The mouth, which is tiie principal actor in these operations, is, in
many, formed alone fo^hese operations; and these formations are
according to the nature of the food, and circumstances attending that
food, yiz, its natural situation ; as honey, which requires an apparatus
to get to it, which is a mode of many of the winged insects ; [in other
instances requiring a particular form of] the lips, as in some fish, e. g., the
sturgeon ; [or of] the tongue, as in the ant-bear, &c.

The parts of an animal immediately preparatory to deglutition and
digestion are divided, in those that live on solids, into two kinds, viz.
bills or beaks, and teeth : to which, probably, may be added a third,
viz. those [parts] of iiisccts which are exterior to the mouth. A mixed
kind may, also, probably be added, viz. those that may be chussed either
with the teeth or with the bill, such as the dividers of some reptiles, as
the snail, leech, &c. The bills are exterior, and are placed on, or
surrounding, the mouth of the animal : they are of the same shape with
the mouth, making a case for it ; and as the mouth is made up of two
parts opposing one another, commonly called upper and lower jaw, the
bin is also composed of two parts, or a pair.

That class of parts of an animal preparatory to deglutition and
digestion, called teeth, is so extensive, and of such various forms and
uses, that it is uncertain in some cases what parts ought to be classed
among the teeth and what not ; and in those where they are evidently
for this purpose, it becomes difficult to class them either according to
their various uses or their forms.

In some animals there are teeth for deglutition and others for diges-
tion ; for example, there are the nippers [rnandihuloe et maanllas] of a
crab or lobster, while those for digestion are in the stomach: and
where teeth are not necessary for [preparing the food for] digestion,
they are wholly for deglutition, as the' grinders [camassial or flesh-
cutting teeth] in a lion, cat, &c.

The teeth are always placed between what may be called the brim or
margin of the mouth, and the first intestine; viz. [in the] mouth,
OBSophagos or stomach. Those subservient to deglutition are always
placed in the mouth, viz. between the margin of the mouth and the
oesophagus, having at the mouth a border of soft parts surrounding
them, called lips, which is much more in some animals than in others,
and which is the beginning of the mouth.

The mouth is the most frequent situation of the teeth, at least in
those animals we are most acquainted with, viz. quadrupeds, amphibia
and fish. In some reptiles they are placed in the oesophagus, as in the

OF THE TEETH. 139

and '; and in some animalfl they are placed in the stomach,

as in the water-insect or crab, <fec.

Those in the mouth may be divided into two situations : — ^Pirst, all
those forming two rows in each jaw (t. e. one row in the right, and
another in the left jaw), and opposed by similar rows in the opposite
jaws; secondly, where the teeth are placed on other parts, as the
tongue. The first situation admits of divisions, as where those rows
are single, as in the quadruped and amphibia ; [or where] they are
double, triple, &c. rows, as in many fish, where the four rows mentioned
are composed of a vast number of rows of teeth.

They may be classed according to their uses, which I shall at present
reckon four, viz. holders or retainers, which may be called killers,
dividers, crackers, and grinders ; the two last of which may be thought
the same.

The dividers are always more external than the grinders. Some
dividers are always external, others are some way within, some more,
as in the — (nereis?); some less, as in the snail. Some of the grinders
are as far forward as the dividers will allow them, as in those which
have mouths filled with both kinds, as in most of the more perfect
animals ; but in many those grinders are placed in the stomach, but
then those have their dividers wholly external [as in the lobster].
Teeth are commonly fixed in. or upon some bone, which [bones] are
commonly the jaws of the animal : but this is not always the case ; in
the lamprey there is no jaw-bone.

Some teeth grow to a given size, and then become stationary, as in
most animals, viz. the htmian, &c., some of which teeth last through life ;
others, of the same animal, are thrown off at given ages, called shedding
of the teeth, and are again supplied by others, which last through life.
In some other animals there is a regular succession of teeth, by the
falling ofi^ or destruction of the teeth, and new ones continually growing
and gradually coming into use ; the new teeth being always a pro-
portional size longer than the old ; the jaws of which [animals] follow the
same course, so that there is a regular succession of jaw and teeth
growing: this is the case in many fish, as in all the ray-kind. In
others there is a succession of young teeth growing at the basis of the
old, or rather within the old, so that the old (tooth) drops out like a
conical case, and the young one is uncovered [Crocodile]. Probably
the young tooth grows on the same pulp, so that these teeth never

* [Qusere, Myxine, Nereis? The term Beptiles is commonly applied by Mr.
Himter to the Vermes of Linnaeus ; whilst the Reptilia of the modem zoologists he
tisually denominates Amphibia or Tricoilia.]

140 PHYSIOLOGY.

draw towards a point at the base, but always keep open or conical, yet
do not always continue to grow, as the tusks.

Some teeth are whoUy composed of bony substance, which is a mixture
of two different substances, viz. a mixture of animal substance and
calcareous earth: such are those of the ray-kind, alligator; as also
some peculiar teeth of some animals whose teeth in general are not so
simple, such as the elephant's tusk, boar's tusk, &c. The teeth of many
animals are composed of the two above-mentioned substances, but in one
degree in a different manner, viz. one part being composed of bony
substance, the other of calcareous earth alone [called * enamel ']. The
teeth composed of bone and enamel belong to man, the cat, the hare,
the horse, ruminating animals, &c.

The bony part of both genera are formed upon and by a pulpy sub-
stance; therefore the whole of the first genus [with teeth wholly
composed of bony substance] is formed by this pulp, but only the bony
part of the second ; the enamel is formed by an opposite pulp, which
makes it complicated. How far homy substance may be so shaped as
to deserve the name of teeth, I do not yet know^

Teeth continually growing I have divided into two species : first, the
* dentes scalprarii ; ' and second, the ' tusks.' The first belongs to the
hares, &c., the second to the boar-tribe ; as also to the narwhal, and
probably many more.

Reasons for a vacant space between the Cutters and Grinders,

Most animals have avast length of mouth from the symphysis of the chin
to the posterior grinder or the root of the coronoid process. The incisors
or cutters must be placed at the fore part, where the opening into the
mouth is, because there the food must enter and be divided from what
is to remain out of the mouth. The mouth being properly filled with
food, it is then thrown back, or up, to near the centre of motion of the
jaw where the grinders are placed. Now, in all long-jawed animals
there is a space in which teeth of any kind of shape can be of no use ;
they could not, from the position, separate the internal food from the
external, and the space is too far forward for grinders to be of any use.
This vacant place is shorter in proportion as the jaws are shorter, [and
more so] in some animals than in others ; and in some there is very

^ [The Bubstanoe resembling bone in the proportaons of eaith and gelatine, is
diyided into 'dentine' and 'cement,' which latter Hunter had recognized as 'a
second kind of bone.* There is a minute proportion of gelatine in enamel, and this
substance covers the crown of the teeth of the alligator. Since Hunter wrote the
above, the Omitharhynchus has afforded the reply to his remark on homy teeth.]

OP THE TEETH. 141

seldom any vacuity at all. The gradation from the least to the greatest
is evident. The hmnan subject is the least of any ^ ; then the monkey,
mocock, sagouin, bear, lion, dog, and horse. The question is, why have
some animals longer jaws than others ? This great length of jaw may
be on purpose to increase [add to] the length of neck in eating such
food as is near the ground, as grass, &c.

Animals that are truly carnivorous, such as lions, wolves, dogs, foxes,
&c., have their teeth pointed with one or more points, and smaller
points surrounding the base of these points. They have the enamel
surrounding the crown, and the bony part entirely in the middle of the
tooth ; the fang terminates in a point, and has no enamel. The fang is
long, and the body of the tooth is short, at least that part which is sunk
in the gam and socket.

Animals that are eaters of vegetables, such as elephants, horses,
cows, sheep, goats, deer of all kinds, also all of the ' Scalpris Dentata'
kind \_JRodentia, or rat and rabbit kind], have the grinders terminating
in a surface equal to the thickness of the body of the tooth. The
enamel in all of them runs through the whole tooth from end to end,
in a kind of veins very irregularly, and the fang or fangs do not ter-
minate in a point, and are very short from the body of the tooth, which
makes the body of the tooth longer than in those of others ; at least
that part which is sunk in the gum and bony socket [before it divides
into the fangs] makes the largest portion of the body of the tooth.
Those animals of the mixed feeding kind, such as the human, monkey,
sagouin, &c., have the teeth, with regard to the body, .the fangs, and
the enamel, similar to the carnivorous. The teeth, in the gradual
change from the carnivorous [type] to the most herbivorous [one], begin
[the change] first at the posterior grinder, and become more of the
herbivorous forwards, till they are lost entirely in the fore teeth*.

Of the Formation of the Teeth of the Horse,

The bony part first begins on a substance similar in consistence to
that of the human, but of very considerable length, and four or five in
number, in the grinders.

This [complex dentinal pulp] lengthens as the teeth lengthen, so
that the tips of them [divisions of the pulp-substance] are always near

^ [No existing species has the tooth-series so compactly in contact as man : a few
extmct animals (IHchodony Anoplotherium) resembled him in this respect.

^ [The teeth, especially of the lower jaw, of the hog illustrates the meaning of this
statement.]

142 PHYSIOLOGY.

the grinding surfaces of the tooth. The external membrane of the
tooth [matrix] does not adhere to it at first, but forms the enamel on
the outside of the bony parts covering the jellies [divisions of dentinal
pulp]. As there are more jellies than one to each grinder, there are
inequalities on the external surface, or narrow notches, into which
these pass in folds of the external membrane, like the pia mater, so as
to fill or lie close to all the external bonv surfaces.

These bony processes, which we might term sheaths, unite at their
edges to one another ; so that there are cavities between them through
their whole length, running parallel to the others which contain the
jellies.

These cavities or canals are filled up with gelatinous substances, which
pass into them firom the general covering at the base [of the matrix]
and terminate at the bottom of the tooth in a ragged white end between
it and the basis of the other jellies touching them ; for, at first, these
interstitial cavities are pervious at both ends [top and bottom], and
continue so till the tooth is almost completely formed.

These interstitial jellies form the enamel which runs the whole length
of the tooth, along its centre in a very irregular manner, answering to
the form of the irregular cavities formed by the union of the bony parts.
The doublings or folds of the internal part of the external covering
which we mentioned as pressed in laterally, have the same white ter-
mination at bottom which we took notice of in the above described.
A^en the tooth is pretty far advanced, ihe bottom or apices of these
interstitial cavities close up, and then may be said to form but one
cavity, all the jellies uniting into one : afterwards, two or three fangs
arise, as in the human grinders.

The external membrane, with its folds, forms the external enamel ;
and, when that is formed, it then forms a thin bony covering [cement]
to the whole, which fills up the niches and makes the external surfiace
more equal at this time ; at this time, too, it unites with these bony
coverings, beginning first at the bases and proceeding to the root or
fang, as the tooth advances through the gum. The interstitial jellies,
also, form the interstitial enamel ; and, when that is completed, they
line the whole with a bony matter [caementum], or, in other words, fill
up the whole interstices with a bony matter. When the interstitial
jellies begin to form this bony matter, they also adhere to it as the
external membrane did first, beginning at the bases ; which adhesion
goes to the bottom as the external adhesion did. The interstitial jeUy
becomes more and more membranous as it fills up this cavity. By the
time the tooth is just ready to cut the gum, these interstitial cavitiea

OF THE TEETH. 143

are entirely filled up, so that the tooth is one solid mass of two different
substances \

Relation of Teeth to Food^

The teeth of animals are not always answerable to the food they
eat. The horse and cow feed upon the same food ; a snail also lives
upon the same food, and the tooth of a snail is very different from the
teeth of either [cow or horse]. iN'or do the teeth of animals correspond
with their stomachs. Animals that have nearly the same stomachs
have very different kinds of teeth.

The formation of the mouth, so far as respects the teeth, seems to be
adapted to the catching or laying hold of the food. Thus, those animals
that Kve upon animal food have the shortest mouths, and their teeth
are regularly set ; but those that live on vegetables have their heads
long, much longer than is requisite for the number of teeth. Therefore
the jaws are prolonged to allow the catching teeth to be removed farther
from the grinders.

Most land animals have the upper jaw the longer, overshooting the
under ; but this is not so much the case in fishes. In most of these
the lower jaw is the longer. The anterior parts of the mouth of a fish
is not [rarely] made for dividing*.

Of Eating.

Those animals that have no upper teeth I should imagine eat more
of the roots of grass than others, because they do not cut the grass,
but pull it, which brings it out by the roots in some measure. All ani-
mals that chew their food, have lips, which are to confine the food : but
those that swallow it without mastication have none.

Motion of Lower Jaw, — In carnivorous animals there is not that
grinding motion of the lower jaw, in eating, that is to be found in
others : the articulation will not allow it, nor will the canine teeth ; but
still they have a little ; and the motion of the two condyles of the jaw,
in that case, is not forward, but from side to side, in a groove : this is
quite contrary in other sorts of animals ; for in them one condyle is
always the centre of motion, and the other condyle with the symphysis
of the jaw moves ; but in the former the symphysis is fixed and the
two condyles move.

^ [A study of the Hunterian preparations, Nos. 333-349, 373-375, will much
assist in the comprehension of the above description, and will give the grounds of
the interpolated terms which seemed needful for the understanding of the text.]

* [The beaks of the parrot-fishes (Scartis) and globe-fishes (Diodon, Tefrodon) are
exceptions.]

144 PHYSIOLOGY.

Of Drinkinff.

All carnivorous animals, as far as I know, drink by lapping up the
liquor with their tongues ; e, g, dogs, foxes, ferrets, &c. The reason,
perhaps, may be because they have very short lips and very little use
of them in taking their food of any kind ; for, as they are made to
catch animals, they must make, at once, use of their teeth ; and Hps, in
that case, would be in the way of the teeth.

All herbivorous animals, as far as I know, such as cows, horses, sheep,
&c., suck up the liquid in the same manner as the human kind ; but the
goat sometimes sucks and sometimes laps. These animals make use of
their lips to catch and conduct their food between their teeth.

I beheve that the mouths of herbivorous and granivorous animals
have many more [mucous follicles], or are much more glandular, than
[those of] other animals.

Of t/ie (Esophagus.
Those a.nima1s that chew their food, such as most granivorous, have
a smaller oesophagus than such as only mash or squeeze it, such as the
carnivorous, and stUl smaller those that swallow it whole, such as &hes
and many birds. According to the teeth is, in some degree, the size of
the oesophagus.

Of the Stomach.

The apparatus necessary for the operation of digestion is as simple as
anything we can well conceive. It only requires a bag or cavity fit to
contain the substance to be digested, joined with the power of furnishing
the fluid capable of digesting or animalizing the said substance. In
such a light, it is only to be considered as a gland with a cavity. But
it was necessary that there should be some part added to furnish this
bag with materials to be digested ; for which purpose there are, in some,
arms ; in others, both arms and teeth, &c.

Besides the simplicity of the apparatus for the operation of digesting,
there is another apparatus added to fulfil the intention, which is the
system for absorbing the animalized parts for the nourishment of the
same bag ; and added to this power of secretion and absorption, is the
power of throwing out of the bag the indigestible parts, acting as a
kind of excretory duct*.

From this account, nothing can be more simple ; however, it com-
pletes a whole animal, and nothing more can be necessary for the sup-
port of such an animal ; but when we come to such stomachs as have
parts superadded for other purposes than the above, then we find that

* Nothing more is neoeesary to complete an animal, than the power of continuing
the species, which power is superadded to this hag in many.

OF THE STOMACH. 145

this same apparatus for digestioii has also parts superadded for the pur-
poses of digesting; so that the parts preparatory and subservient to
digestion, become more complicated, and indeed so much so, that there
is hardly any system in an animal more complicated in itself; and when
we consider the varieties of these complications which take place in the
various animals, they appear to be almost without end.

It is these complications and varieties that we mean to consider, and
reduce, as £Eir as they will admit, to their several classes.

The parts subservient to digestion in the complicated animals bear a
great relation to the other properties of the animal*.

In classing the organs of digestion in the complicated animals, many
parts are to be considered which appear from a slight view of the sub-
ject to be only secondary, and therefore might be thought necessary to
be considered apart : but we shall find that many of these parts have
peculiarities, and these are adapted to the peculiar food and peculiar
mode of getting it, and not at all belonging to simple digestion in
particular.

These superadded parts, which have their mechanism adapted to the
way of life with respect to digestion, are the powers of mastication, —
in some, reservoirs, — ^the varieties of stomachs, — whether or not a
caecum, and of what kind, — and colon ; so that in classing the organs
of digestion, we must consider teeth, stomachs, csecums, and colon.

The stomach varies less than either teeth, cfficum, or colon. One can
easily see a reason why the teeth should vary according to the mode of
procuring the food, and according to the food ; and one can easily con-
ceive why the stomach need not vary much, because it can only be
considered as a bag ; but why so much dependence is to be had upon
the csecnm and colon, is not so easily conceived. In classing stomachs,
it might be thought proper to take in all these relative parts ; but that
method would breed confusion. Therefore I shall class all the different
stomachs with their varieties; and in classing the other parts they
must be referred to their respective stomachs. This will appear most
natural when we consider that there are many stomachs that have no
relative parts, which I shall naturally begin with, as the first class.

Our first class is the simple stomach with one opening, which I call
Regurgitators^ ,

* AmmRla in general might be tolerably well classed by these organs, most being
reducible to a few general classes, which again admit of many subdivisions.

1 [As in the Hydra^ or fresh-water polype, and the Actinia ; the other classes of
stomachs, as they rise in the scale of complexity, may be studied in the Hunterian
Preparations, Nob. 409 to 590 inclusive. — ^Physiological Catalogue, voL i. 4to, pp.

114r-181.]

L

146 PHT8I0L06T

It is hard to determine what is the tme shape of the stMnach while
in the living body, as it takes on different shapes in proportion to the
fullness of it and different pressures ; but it will always have a ten*
dency towards that which it takes wh^i inflated. Stomachs cannot be
divided according to the food which animals eat, because the shape in
many, whose food is very different, is nearly the same.

In all quadrupeds, as far as I know, the stomach is shorter and
thicker than in the human, and does not become so gradually smaller
towards the pylorus.

Of Digestion,

Digestion is a process that is similar to no other process in nature : if
it was in any way similar to the natural changes that animal substances
alone, vegetable substances alone, or where both substances mixed,
undergo when left to themselves — I say, if it were so, then— digestion
would be equally good in all animals and in all people. But it is so
unlike these natural changes, that in all bad digestions these natural
changes are in a smaU degree allowed to take place. Digestion depends
upon a principle that belongs to the containing, and not to the con-
tained, parts.

The [power of the] containing [organ] may, and does depend on the
disposition of the body and mind, not so much on the constitution or
strength of the body ; for many weak constitutions have vast power of
digestion, and others the reverse. Its effects are immediate on dead
substances ; almost as quick as the effects of an acid on an alkali. Its
power depends upon life ; for, as soon as life is gone, even in the most
healthy, this power is lost, excepting what may be going on [at the time
of death], which continues for a little time. It depends on a living
principle in itself ; but that which is to be digested must be dead, or
have lost this Hving principle, or it cannot be dissolved.

like all other fermentations, it cannot act upon any living principle,
either animal or vegetable ; that principle must be flrst lost before any
change can be produced. If it was possible for an animal to Kve in
the stomach of another animal, supposing digestion not to be going on
in that stomach, it would then live while digestion was going on ; for
that animal would not be in the least dissolved, because the living prin-
ciple in the animal would prevent or counteract the digestive quality of
the stomach. If this was not the case, then we might readily suppose
that even though the animal Hfe was not immediately affected by the
digestive power, yet at last it might be destroyed by the external and
extreme parts of the animal being digested, and so the animal be obliged
to die, like a person with a mortification. But that a living animal

I

<

OF DIGESTION. 147

will not be so dissolved is every day proved by worms, maggots of flies ^
living in the stomachs of many animals ; and if it was a power that
could act upon a part that had the living principle, as well as an acid
can, then the stomach itself would certainly be dissolved.

If one could conceive a man to put his hand into the stomach of a
lion and hold it there without hindering the digestive powers, the hand
would not in the least be digested ; and if the hand of a dead man was
put in at the same time, whether separated or not from the body, that
hand would be digested, while the other would not*.

All carnivorous animals, as far as I know, both quadrupeds and
birds, throw up from their stomachs any substance that is not fit for
digestion which they swaUow with their food : the eagle, hawk, owl,
&c., when they swallow hair or feathers and bone along with the meat,
afterwards throw it up ; because these substances not being dissolved
with the meat, they are left in the stomach, and by its action they are
coiled up into the form of a ball and then thrown up. The bones and
hair of a mouse coiled up, with dirt or sandy substance, is thrown up
from the stomach of an owl.

It ia the same with the dog ; for if a dog happens to swcdlow any of
these substances, they throw them up in the same manner. I have seen
a dog eat hay which was sticking to the meat, and afterwards throw it
up matted together.

The blood which a leech sucks is not digested in the belly, but lies
pretty pure and but little coagulated ; and is absorbed into the substance
of the animal like the nourishment of a vegetable, and is there assimi-
lated, and the excrementitious parts are sweated through the skin.
Leeches are of that class which have no anus'. They are fond of
blood, but a very little kiUs them. If they have not sucked a great
deal they wiU live a long time with it in them, and spew it out a little
at a time ; but they seldom recover. The blood they suck is both venal
and arterial, because when we open them we find it is mixed, and of

^ [The stomach bott, or larva of the (Estrus Equi^ is the most familiar instance of
this kind.]

^ [The Hyd^a viridis occasionally performs such an experiment for us, swallowing
one of its own arms along with its prey ; but, while this is dissolved, the living part
of itself is disgorged uninjured and resumes its functions. Nay, sometimes one
individual is swallowed entire along with a worm which a stronger polype may have
seized ; in this case the worm is digested, but the weaker polype soon disengages
itself from the stomach of its conqueror, apparently unaffected by the digestive
solvent. As Hunter's matured conclusions on the digestive process were published
by him (Animal Economy, pp. 81-121), his speculations in MS. on its * fermentative
nature,' &c., are not here given ; having been, apparently, abandoned by him.]

^ [The medicinal leech has a rectum and vent opening above the hinder sucker.]

l2

148

PHYSIOLOGY

two colours^ but principally arterial. It does not coagulate so finnly
as when exposed to the air. This blood is preserved from putrefaction
by the animal's powers for months ; however, it becomes more black
than what it is at first. By adding fresh water to them, it will often
make them throw up their blood after it has been in for months : this I
have seen.

That the juices of the stomach have the power of coagulating many
substances, is clearly seen in the stomachs of some fishes that eat
crabs, lobsters, craw-fish, &c. ; for if you open a grig a little while
after it has swallowed a craw-fish, you will find that the shell is turned
red, as if it had been boiled or steeped in spirit of wine\

Many animals which feed upon green v^etables have those vegetables
ferment and they burst. The seat of fermentation is very different in
different classes of animals. In ruminating animals it is in the first
cavity of the stomach, where a great quantity is taken in much more
than they can ruminate, so as to get it to the digestive stomach before
fermentation commences. Accordingly the air which is let loose is
more than the stomach can contain, and it bursts. As such animals
have the power of regurgitation, one would conceive they might throw
up the air, but they do not.

For such complaints they pierce the abdomen and the < first' bag with
a trochar ; but I conceive that if a hoUow tube was introduced into the
stomach, the air might be evacuated that way.

The other situation of rupture from the fermentation of green v^e-
tables is the colon in horses ; the stomach has the power of preventing
this process, as also the small intestines where its passage is pretty
quick.

Of the Intestines.

As the intestinal canal in brutes is more detached than in the human
subject, and only adheres by the mesentery, it is almost impossible to
say exactly what is the true situation of these parts, they being so
subject to vary in their situation.

The reason why the duodenum is seen in all its length in brutes is,
because neither the ccecum nor colon adheres [to the abdominal walls],
as in the human subject ; it is only that part of the mesentery that is
seen on the right which attaches the ileum to the colon and csBcum
that covers the duodenum, as the caecum adheres lower down than the
transverse part of the duodenum.

The small intestlaes of herbivorous animals are generally smaller and
longer, their great iutestines much larger and longer, than those of the

[This rather exempliflds the acid quality of the gastric juice.]

OP THE INTESTINES. 149

carnivorous animals. Why there should be this difference in the first
[small intestines] is not so easily accounted for ; but perhaps the last
[difference] is to allow of a longer continuance of absorption, as the
food is less similar [to the animal it is to become part of] in the herbi-
vorous than in the carnivorous [species] ; and therefore it has a less
tendency to putrefaction, as we find to be the case ; for in aU herbivorous
animals we have their excrements less putrid than in the carnivorous
ones. Those animals that have but a short csecum or none, and which
generally have but a short and small colon, have their excrements always
thin.

What is the use of the villous coat olt the intestine ? It cannot be
for absorption, as many of the surfaces of cavities that absorb copiously
are entirely smooth. Is it for sensation ?

In many animals it was necessary to have the last part of the intes-
tines [colon is meant] larger than the others, that the food might be
deprived of its thinner parts ; and, perhaps, the lymphatics are not so
large here as in other parts. The colon is largest in those animals
whose food has the least nourishmAit in it ; which food does' not go
wholly through the stomachic process [is not completely digested in the
stomach], and which food undergoes but little change, consequently
such animals, e. g, the horse, &c., have a much larger quantity of ex-
crements : therefore the contents must stay longer [in the colon] than
in the other intestines.

However this may be, it is certain that the feeces have not such a
quick passage, therefore must become putrid; which was the cause
perhaps of a valve at the termination of the ileum, that these putrid
contents might not regurgitate. If we understand the use of a valve,
we shall understand the use of a cascum. This seems to be no more
than the valvular insertion of the ileum ^ ; for if it had been a sudden
swell in the gut, there could have been no valve. The csecum is longer
in some animals than in others. In all animals that I know, the length
is in proportion to the width, except in the human subject, where it is
shorter ; and in man it is more fixed^ which may be one reason of its
proportions.

A new-bom child has no air in its stomach or guts ; of which one
reason is, that they do not take down anything by the mouth ; nor
is there any putrefSaction, or anything analogous to it in the guts.

In the human subject there is a difference between the intestines
of the foetus and the adult. In the foetus there are no * valvulae con-
niventes;' but the intestines are longer in proportion. Thus in

[Hunt Prep. No. 724.]

1 60 PHYSIOLOGY

a child a week old^ 1 foot 4 inches in length, the small intestines
measured 13 feet 2 inches, which is 9*25 times the length of the child ;
and the great intestines measured 1 foot 8 inches : so that the whole
length of the intestines was 15 feet, heing ten times the length of the
child.

In another child, 1 foot 9 inches long, the small intestines were 13
feet, and the great 1 foot 8 inches, which makes the whole 7*99 times
the length of the child.

In a third child, the intestinal canal was 7*28 times the length of
the body.

These three had [each] theii^' appendix ca&ci ' 2 inches long.

In a child that was 3 feet 1 inch long, the small intestines were 20
feet 1 inch long, the large intestines 3 feet ; being 7*12 times the
length of the body.

In a man that was 5 feet 7 laches long, the small intestines were
25 feet 9 inches, the large intestines 5 feet 2 inches, the whole 30
feet 11 inches ; which comes to 5*53. times the length of the body.

In another man of 5 feet [in stature], the small intestines were 23
feet, the large 4 feet, the whole being 27 feet; which is 5*4 times
the length of the body^

Of Air in the Bowels.

Much air in the stomach and bowels is a sure sign that these bowels
are weak. It first shows a bad digestion, the food running too much
into the putrefactive kind ; and it shows that they are not able to
expel it when let loose ; for air is much more difficult to expel than
common foBces, This we see to be the case in the guts out of the body,
for it requires closer squeezing to expel the air than the other contents.
It will regurgitate if the intestine is not held tight ; so that if the guts
are not able to contract upon the faeces so as to shut up the passage
entirely, it will be impossible to expel the air. In people that die in
full health, we find little air in the intestiues; and what there is,
is found in the ileum, which is the weakest intestine.

Of Excrements.

The excrements would seem to be made up of the parts of our4S[>od
that do not animalize, of the parts that sure changed in the digestive
process but not animaHzed, of the parts that are not digestible, of the
parts that the lacteals have not taken up, that are or may be animalized,

^ [In comparing the relative length of intestinal canal to body in the human and
lower animals, the length from vertex to vent should be tiie measure taken for the
body in man ; whereas the lower limbs are included, a£ in the instance in the text.]

OF THE ABSORBENTS. 151

and of the juices of the body ; which juices may be either thrown out
of the body as useless^ or be such parts as were intended to stimulate
the guts, as the bile.

The thickening change which takes place in the excrements as they
pass through the alimentary canal, would appear to arise from rest ;
for, when into the colon, the motion of the excrements cannot be so
quick as in the small intestines ; and when the parts are in a sound
state, we never find anything like thick excrements, even in the Heum,
or even like thin excrement ; for there is a very material difference
between the contents of the ileum and the contents of the colon : but
that this does not arise from any pecidiar property in the colon, but
from rest, appears from the dissection of Miss limm ! [Where is this ?
(asks Wm. Ciift.)]

Of the Absorbents,

It would appear from experiments that the absorbents do absorb
after aU communication is cut off between them and the brain and cir-
culation*. This is no more than {hat contracting or acting power
which parts have that are not dependent on the will, which is fax
more lasting than those powers where the will has any influence. I
observed in a dog, whose carotid artery I tied, that the lymphatics
were likewise tied, and that by next morning the lymphatics were very
turgid with a clear lymph. I collected it in a tea-spoon, and found
that it coagulated with heat. It is most likely that every cavity of the
body has absorbents, excepting the cavity of the stomach ; for, from all
the observations that ever I could make, I never could find any there.
I collected some lymph from a lymphatic on the loins of a new-killed
dog, and observed that it had a good deal of the coagulable lymph in it,
but the serum that was expressed by the coagulation of the lymph did
not coagulate by heat. How is this? for the lymph in cavities has
none of the coagulable lymph in it. Do the lymphatics communicate
with the arteries ?

The absorbents seem to be capable of taking in some things and not
others; or they reject some things and receive others; and, in one
state, they can reject, while in another they receive the same thing ;
for instance, the small-pox [virus] is not received by the skin, but by an
ulcer. The lymphatics would seem to be affected by stimuli, for where
there cannot be the least reason to suppose an absorption, they are
affected, and the glands also.

* Vide Book of Experiments on Absorption. [Where is that Book? — W.
Clipt.]

1 52 PHYSIOLOGY

Mr. Williams, who pricked his finger with a clean needle, had the
glands in his arm-pit swell, and had small rigors ; almost immediately
upon receiving the wound, a line of pain ran up the whole arm to the
glands.

The lymphatic glands being only in the Tetraeoilia, and the absorbents
being much more neat in their construction, having a number of valves,
in that class, would show that the fluid absorbed is to be more perfect
than in other classes. The lymphatics appear to be entirely influenced
by the living principle^ not by the sensitive. We know of no power
which the will or the mind has over the absorbents.

The absorption is certainly not begun according to the principle
of attraction by capillary tubes. In the first place, it would require
rigid tubes for such eflfect*, which we cannot suppose to be the case, as
so vast a number of such tubes upon the skin would be liable to a
thousand accidents which would render them imfit for their purposes.
Secondly, if absorption was left to such a uniform acting principle,
there would be no choice : every substance would be absorbed equally,
for a capillary tube cannot refuse any fluid. Things that were insalu-
tary would be as readily absorbed as things that are salutary, which we
find not to be the case ; for we find some things absorbed with difficulty,
till a disease is produced similax to the kind of substance to be absorbed,
such as the venereal matter ; for it is seldom absorbed excepting from
a venereal sore.

It is more in concord with the general principles of the animal
machine, to suppose that none of its effects are produced from any
mechanical principle whatever ; and that every effect is produced from
an action in the part ; which action is produced by a stimulus upon the
part which acts, or upon some other part with which this part sympa-
thizes, so as to take up the whole action.

Major Hughes had b. fistula in ano, for which he had been cut ; but
it never entirely healed from the bottom ; however, it sometimes healed
at the mouth, which produced an accumulation of matter at the bottom,
which produced inflammation, ulceration, &c. ; but what was most
remarkable, was a swelling of some of the glands of the groin of the
same side.

[Vide my own case, viz.] I had the point of a pair of scissors run
in for a little way into my hip, just behind the great trochanter, and a
gland of the groia became sore the next day, viz. when the inflamma-

^ [The term is here used in the sense of the * Automatic life * of Bichat, which is
a compound of ' Organic Sensibility and Contractility.']

3 [This structure is not required for that passage of fluids through animal mem-
branes termed ^endosmose' and 'exosmose,' or imbibition.]

OP THE LYMPHATIC GLANDS. 153

tion attacked the wound. If this was from absorption, then the lym-
phatics behind the great trochanter pass forward to the glands of the
groin ; if by sympathy, it is most probable that it is from their taking
the same oonrse.

Dropsies of the legs are always observed to be most swelled towards
the evening, and least so in the morning. This is generally attributed
to the legs being the most depending part, and that aU the water natu-
rally falls to these, and by lying in bed it as naturally returns back
again, and difluses itself over the whole body. This may often be the
case ; but I am persuaded that this is not always the case, and that the
swelling through the day arises frx>m extravasation taking place in the
day, and that the subsiding of the swelling in the legs through the
night, is from absorption.

This was certainly the case with my own leg ; for, first, the bandage
was so tight round the calf, as not easily to allow the water to pass up
into the thigh ; and, if it had soaked past in the night, it would have
been obliged to stagnate a little above this bandage before it could get
to the ankle, as it would be in some measure retarded by the bandage ;
but nothing of this kind happened.

If this bo the case, then the extravasation must be owing to the
small vessels in the weakened part not being able to sustain the column
of blood while the body is erect, or nearly so ; but when laid in a
horizontal position, the vessels are then able to support the force of the
circulation ; and then the lymphatics absorb this water already thrown
out in the day.

Of Lymphatic Glands,

Lymphatic glands become larger and larger towards the thoracic
duct. If lymphatic glands were guards upon the absorption, then
there would be no occasion for internal lymphatic glands ; or, if guards
upon internal absorption as well as external absorption, then they
would produce worse disease in themselves than that which they were
intended to prevent. I should imagine the glands are ceUular, because
the lymphatic ones are filled when we blow into their substance. Now
if the substance of the gland was only ramifications, I should expect
the veins and arteries would fiU as soon as the lymphatics. But this
is not a sufficient argument ; because whether the lymphatics open into
cells, or are only branched, they make the largest part of the gland,
and are much wider than either arteries or veins. As to any use that
we know the lymphatic glands to be of, it seems to me immaterial
whether they are ceUular or are divisions of the lymphatics ; for both
would seem to answer the same purpose.

From the black mucus often hawked up in the morning, after being

154 PHYSIOLOGY

accumulated through tiie whole nighty it was supposed that it was
secreted «by the dark-coloured lymphatic glands that lay about the
trachea ; but it certainly is not; these being truly lymphatic glands.

Of the Natural Lubricating Fluids,

AU cavities have a fluid of some kind for the more easy motion
of their sides [and contents] upon one another. Some have it in large
quantity, as the ventricles of the brain, pericardium, joints, &c. ; some
have it in small quantity, as the thorax, abdomen, tunica vaginalis
testis, and common cellular membrane. Where it is in large quantity
we can judge of its nature, but where it is in very small quantity it is
almost impossible to judge. One way of judging is by comparing one
with the other in the diseased state of both ; or in that disease which
produces an increased quantity [of the natural fluid]. "When there is an
increased quantity of fluid in the ventricles of the brain (excepting
from inflammation), the fluid is the same as when it is only natural in
quantity. The same [may be said] of the pericardium and of the joints.

From thence it is reasonable to suppose that when there is an
increased quantity in the thorax, abdomen, tunica vaginalis testis, and
cellular membrane, this fluid is similar to the natural [fluid].

Our internal canals are passages for our secretions, as also for extra-
neous matters, as faeces, air, &c., in which cases they may be said to be
both passive and active, although [they are] probably never entirely
passive. They are most passive in the ureters and urethra, but princi-
pally the last, as also in the trachea ; and are most active in the intes-
tines. But even where they would appear to be least active, as in the
trachea and urethra, yet they are active so far as concerns their own
matter or themselves. Thus the urethra acts to press its secretions, or
any extraneous matter forwards, and I am persuaded the trachea has
the same power.

It is more easy to conceive how a flexible canal, such as an intestine
or urethra, may have this power, when we know that they can act so
as to shut up the canal. Their actions are all directed one way,
beginning at one end ; but, as we cannot suppose that the trachea can
shut up its passage so closely as to compress its contents forwards, and
if they do come forwards and even upwards, mostly in the human sub-
ject, then there must be some other mode of action to effect this. That
the mucus of the trachea is gradually conveyed up is a fact, and the
only thing wanting is the mode in which it is done*. I conceive that

1 [The aotion of the yibrafcile cilia of the tracheal mucous membrane would have
been a welcome spectacle to Hunter, if it could have been shown to him in a good
modem miorosoope : it would have realized his pre-oonoeption ' of a const-ant action
of the mucous surface, tending to convey the mucus upwards.']

OF SECRETION. 155

the inside of the trachea is in constant action, and that that action is
always directing the substance attached to it in its own direction.
This might be attempted to be illustrated by the effect produced on a
hair when rubbed between the fingers and thumb ; for, although the
motion in the finger and thumb does not direct the hair to take any
course, yet it moves in one direction. This arises from the surface of
the hair. But the same thing would happen if the fingers had the
same kind of surface with the hair, and the hair the same with the
fingers. It might be supposed that the air passing out might give this
direction [to the mucus in the trachea] ; but I should hardly conceive
that sufficient ; for the air must also pass the contrary way, which, if
equal in current, would keep it stationary. However, we may observe
that the air passes out with greater velocity than it passes in.

Organs of Secretion.

Secretion cannot be called fermentation, nor can it be called filtra-
tion, but it is a separation of such parts of the blood as the particular
glands are fitted for ; and such as are either obnoxious to the constitu-
tion, or, as when combined, or united again, have properties according
to the parts separated.

In all our secretions there is a great deal of that substance called
mucus : indeed mucus would seem to be the basis of most. The other
ingredients are the distinguishing marks by which means they are
called * this' or * that.' The urine, sweat, perspiration, and the tears,
would seem to contradict this opinion; but there is mucujs in all of
them. The formation of mucus seems to be the natural animal change
into which she forms herself when she intends throwing part of herself
out of the constitution, either for waste or for other purposes, such as
digestion and motion of the parts already formed : so that most of the
secretions that are to answer some particular purpose, as the bile,
semen, &c., have the particular property mixed with mucus.

In many of our secretions, there is mixed with the mucus something
which gives us the idea of bitter. The bile has this constantly, but
less in some animals than others ; and less at one time than another.
The wax of the ear has it. The mucus on the tongue in a fever, or
after a debauch, has it. I should be apt to suspect that this principle
is of a vegetable nature, similar to the bitters of that kingdom.

Of the Liver [loose note"] .

From the liver being but one long lobe in snakes ^ &c., it would

appear that the vast division in the Kver of the dog*, &c., is not for

■ ' ' . .1 ., , . — ___ . ■>-

» [Hunt. Prep. No. 802.] 2 [lb. No. 806 (Cat).]

156 PHYSIOLOGY

motion; as notliiiig has so much of the bending motion as a snake.
However, where the liver is divided into many lobes, they will admit
of a sliding motion on one another.

In a dead woman, sitting on a chair, the lower angle of .the right
lobe of the liver came as low as the angle between the colon and ileum ;
thence it ran obliquely upward to the angle of the cartilage with the
seventh rib on the left side. The gall-bladder was perpendicular,
three inches below the angle of the cartilage with the seventh rib on
the right side. The lower end of the spleen was just two inches
below the cartilages of the ninth and tenth ribs, which is just opposite
the navel. The stomach was below the navel and on its left side. On
laying her on her back, all these parts went three inches higher.
Every part seemed to be in its natural situation and size, only the
stomach was lower than usual.

Notes and Queries on Bile.

What is bile ? It mixes more readily with spirit of wine than with
water ; but still very readily with water. Bile is a secretion, not a fer-
mentation. It is a decomposition of the parts of the blood made by the
vessels of the liver ; or, in other words, a straining off of such parts
as, when united again, make a combination called bile.

Has not bile more vegetable juice in it than any other secretion
excepting the milk^ ? It is bitter ; gives a tinge to water, alcohol, <&;c.

"When the bile is stopped from going into the intestines, then follows
a costiveness. This shows that the bile acts as a stimulant to the
intestines, and is a kind of natural purge. As this is really the case,
we cannot suppose that the bile goes through the stomachic fermenta-
tion ; therefore it is not digested. Again, we cannot suppose that the
bile assists in digestion or the stomachic fermentation, as it never
enters the stomach in a natural state, and, when it does, it produces a
contrary effect, viz. a nausea. This shows that digestion is carried on
in the stomach alone, and shows why the bile should not enter the
stomach, as its natural effects might be destroyed by being obliged to
undergo a change in its nature*.

It appears very evident that the bile is only a natural purge, for it
undergoes no change in its passage through the intestinal canal. Hie
contents of the duodenum are white, with a faint yellow tinge ; but the
lower they go the yellower they become. This is owing to the greater

^ Does soap go through the stomachic fermentatioD, as it is found to IdU worms ?
^ [Here Hunter is thinking of the ' sugar' of milk.]

OF THE GALL-BLADDER. 157

dilution of the bile in the duodenum ; and, as the contents are absorbed,
the bile becomes less and less diluted, so that it becomes more and
more apparent ; and, as it becomes less diluted, it, of course, acts more
as a stimidant to the last intestines.

These circumstances are plainly seen in some animals whose bile is
of a bright or high green colour, and which have a large quantity ; for
in them the contents of the upper part of the intestines are only a little
tinged, but those of the lower part are of a strong colour. This is still
better seen in those animals that have fasted long, where the bile is
but little diluted. Bile is, I should suppose, bitter in insects, but not
in the oyster, muscle, lobster, &c. This last circumstance is a strong
proof that the bile is not digested and absorbed ; for in very hungry
animals we should not expect to see anything in the state of bile in the
intestines, if the bile went through the stomachic digestion.

If the bile is intended as a natural purge, and as many animals
regurgitate the excrementitious part of their food, the question suggests
itself. Is bile necessary for regurgitation, and have those animals bile ?
We can regurgitate without bile, and many birds regurgitate part of
their indigestible food without bile. Therefore probably all those
animals which do regurgitate their excrementitious parts IMedttsce,
Actinice] have nothing analogous to liver and bile, but only those ani-
mals that have intestines.

We often find gaU-stones transparent. Is this the salts of the bile
crystallized?

On the Gall-bladder.

Some animals have gall-bladders and some have them not. Those
that have a gall-bladder, must have part of the bile passing into the
gall-bladder, and the other part into the gut at all times. Those that
have no gall-bladder, must have the bile always passing into the gut.
This difference arises from two crrcumstances ; the first is, that the bile
which is constantly used must be thin; and bile that is only used
at certain times is required to be thick.

Now it would appear that some animals require bile equally at all
times; therefore they have a constant supply of bile, which is thin.
There are other animals which seem to require bile, but more at one
time than at another ; the bile which they are constantly in want of is
thin, whereas the other is thick.

Now if this were not the case. Nature could easily have made it
otherwise ; for instance, if that bile which is always wanted by right
should be thick, then Nature could have placed a bladder in the middle
of the duct, which would have served as a reservoir, where it might

158 PHYSIOLOGY

have become thick, and yet in a continual flow. But where there was
a continual flow, she wanted thin bile. Again, if she wanted thick bile
where it continued to flow, in those animals which have the gall-
bladder she needed not to have made a hepatic duct, but only a
hepato-cystic duct ; which would have poured it always into the gall-
bladder, which again would have poured out nearly the same quantity
by the cystic at all times ; but then it would have been thick bile. We
see something like this in fowls ; but then they have a hepatic duct
which constantly pours in thin bile.

Supposing that we wanted thin bile at all times, both that which is
wanted at certain times and that which is wanted constantly ; then it
would have only been the not making lymphatics to come from [and
absorb the watery part of the bile in] the gall-bladder.

Now the thing to be considered is, why the constant bile should be
thin and the other [intermittent bile] thick ?

It is disputed whether the gall-bladder secretes bile or not. This
perhaps can only be determined by diseases of this part. When Lord
Bristol was opened, there was foimd in the cystic duct a large gall-
stone which appeared to flU tightly the duct, so that no bile could pass.
The gall-bladder was very much contracted although not diseased, and
its contents were a pellucid slimy mucus, not in the least tinged nor
bitter to the taste. Fw?e Dissections, vol. p. [? Wm. Clipt.]

As some a-rn'mRlR have gall-bladders and others none, it may be asked,
What is the use of the gall-bladder ? Is it to keep bile for particular
times, or is it to keep a constant flow of bile ; supposing the liver to
secrete only at particular times ? However this be, the last does not
seem to be so probable as the flrst.

Of the Pancreas,

The pancreatic juice would seem to be absorbed. The cuttle-fljsh
would show this. [How? asks Wm. Clift^]

Of the Kidneys,

The bodies called kidneys are glands intended for a secretion of a
fluid, which in common language is called * urine.' Their use is imme-
diately to carry out of the circulation such parts as are useless and

^ [Hunt. Prep. No. 775 : " Pancreas of the Cuttle-fish." It shows the numerous
foUides, communicating together so as to form small elongated groups or lobes,
whose common duets open not directly into the intestine, but into the hepatic ducts,
extending along them from the lower part of the Uver to the spiral laminated
duodenal cavity. Vide Physiological Catalogue, 4to, 1833, p. 229. Swammerdam
observes, of the spiral ciecum of the Cuttle-fish, — " It contains a matter like the
pancreatic juice of other fishes."— Bibl. Natur», fol. p. 889.]

OF THE KIDNEYS. 1 59

obnoxious, becoming the common-sewer of the constitution ; but those
parts must be carried off by a change being performed in them, consti-
tuting a secretion.

These bodies probably do not exist in every animal ; at least they are
not to be found in every one, most of the inferior orders of animals
having visibly no such bodies, which is one mark of their inferiority ;
although it is probable that in them other common parts may serve the
same purpose, or perform the same action ; for instance, it is probable
that the intestines of such perform the same office.

As these bodies, in those animals which possess them, are to perform
an office peculiar to themselves, they are distinct parts from all others
in the body.

They are, from Fish upwards, in .pairs ; but below Fish, as in the
cuttle-fish, snail, &c., there appears to be only one. Their situation in
the body varies in different animals. From Fish upwards they may be
said to be placed within the belly of the animal, near to the back ; but
below them, in the inferior orders, where both their number and situa-
tion are not the same with those where they are evident, it becomes
uncertain whether such bodies, whose use is not immediately seen or
obvious, are the kidneys or not ; nor is it so determined where they
may be placed; as, for example, in the cuttle-fish the kidney is in
the anterior part of the belly, in the snail by the lungs \

In some orders of animals they are very circumscribed bodies, being
enclosed in a proper membrane or capsiQe, as in the most perfect orders,
and in some degree so in Amphibia ; but in Fowl they are more obscure,
being placed in the hollows of the pelvis ; while in Fish they are still
less detached, lying all along the sulcus made by the spine, and are
closely attached to the parts behind, not having there any particiQar
capsule.

In some animals the kidney is a very oblong body, extending in
length for a considerable way, and very narrow, as in some Fish*, while
in other animals it is almost globular, as in the leopard^.

In some the external surface is smooth and regular, as in the human
subject ; in others covered with large branches of veins ramifying on it,
as in the lion tribe, &c. In others, again, the whole mass is lobulated
into several parts, and very irregular on its surface.

Hie consistence of the kidney is in general a pretty solid substance,
but most so in the most perfect animal, appearing to become less and
less so to the inferior orders, for in fish they are of a very tender sub-
stance, and still more so in the snail.

1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 1176.] » [lb. No. 1185.] 3 [lb. No. 1202.]

1 60 PHYSIOLOGY

In the inferior orders of am'malfl the kidneys are pretty much of the
same uniform substance through the whole ^ ; but in the quadruped they
appear, when cut into, to be formed of two different substances, one
called the ' cortical/ from its being exterior, the other the ' tubular^.'

The cortical substance has ltd distinguishing appearances from its
vessels running in all directions, having no particular direction of fibres,
and also having the cryptae interspersed everywhere through its sub-
stance. The other substance, or tubular, is placed towards the centre
of the kidney ; when cut in one direction it appears to be made up of
parts or fibres passing pretty parallel to one another towards the centre,
and when torn in that direction it splits into numberless fibrous parts.
This substance begins insensibly in the surrounding secretory part, and
passing inwards, they of course converge and terminate at once, forming
one side of a cavity, called the ' pelvis.'

As the kidneys have another action of their blood-vessels superadded
to that of support, similar to every other secreting body, and which is
to dispose of some of the blood in secretion besides the nourishment to
the part it^lf, they are therefore endowed with supernumerary blood-
vessels for such purposes, and are of course extremely vascular when
compared to many other parts of the body.

These vessels in Fish and upwards arise from the great artery, or aorta,
as that artery passes along the back-bone. In ELsh this great artery is
giving off the arteries to the kidneys through the whole course of the.
kidneys, therefore there are a vast number of small arteries going to
those bodies. In Amphibia and Fowl the kidneys are more collected
and of course their arteries are less numerous, and larger in proportion ;
but in the still more perfect animals [mammals], where the kidneys are
more circumscribed bodies, there we have in common only one artery
to each kidney, which is of a very considerable size.

In those kidneys where the arteries go into them in small branches,
as in fish, <&c., there is not that necessity for their very quick ramifica-
tions, for being originally small, they come soon to their ultimate
arteries ; but in the others, where the artery goes into the kidney by
one trunk, and therefore is large, it is obliged to ramify very quickly,
in order to form the ultimate arteries.

As the arteries of the kidneys in Eish come to them in innumerable
small branches, and as the motion of the blood in those animals is slow
and languid, the arteries therefore appear to terminate in their ultimate
branches, as in other glands. But in the more perfect animals, especial-
ly the quadruped, — ^where the artery goes into the kidney in one short

1 [Hunt. Prep. 1186.] « [lb. No. 1218.]

OF THE KIDNEYS. 161

large trunk, whe^ the motioii of the blood is very rapid, and where
they are obliged to terminate soon in the ultimate branches, which
continue the rapidity of the blood's motion in them, — there we find that
the arteries necessary for the performance of the secretion of urine, take
on a little twist, convolution, or spiral turn, called ' crypta,* intended
for the retardment of the blood's motion, to allow of secretion ; but the
termination of every artery in the kidney has not these cryptee ; and as
they are confined to the external parts of the kidney, they give a peculiar
appearance to this part distinguishable from the rest, whence the sub-
stance of the kidney in this order of animals is divided into the two
kinds above mentioned, viz. the cortical and the tubular.

The veins of the kidney in common follow the arteries : however,
there are exceptions to this rule. In the lion kind, cat kind^, as also
in the hy»naS we find that perhaps one half of the veins get on the
external surface, and are either, strongly attached to, or pass in a
doubling of the capsule of the kidney, and then pass along like the veins
of the pia mater, afterwards joining the trunks from the inside just as
they pass out.

The excretory ducts of kidneys in general may be reckoned inter-
mixed everywhere with the secretory, forming a regular ramification of
branches and trunks. The ultimate branches are of two kinds ; first,
where the excretory, or what may be called the first order of ducts,
arise in every part of the kidney, then unite and form trunks, which
may be called the second order, and these unite and form- the third, and
so on, forming at last the ultimate trunk, called the ureter, as in Eish^,
Amphibia*, and Fowl ". The second is where the secretory and excretory
are pretty distinct, not intermixed as in the first, the secretory being
the most external, the excretory the most internal®; and where the
excretory do not at all unite into larger and larger branches, forming in
the end one common trunk, as in the first ; but where they all open into
a cavity or reservoir, called pelvis, which is placed in a pretty deep
sulcus in the inner edge of the kidney''.

The mode of opening into this reservoir admits of some variety, but
may be divided first into two species. The first species is where the
excretory ducts, after forming the second and third order, open into the
pelvis on a concave surface, as in the horse, ass, &e.®; the second is
where they form a projection or projections, called mamma or mammilla,
which are projected into this cavity, and the excretory ducts open on

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1200-1205.] » [lb. No. 1206.]

3 [lb. No. 1186.] * [lb. No. 1192.]

6 [lb. No. 1196.] e [lb. No. 1222.]

' [lb. No. 1218.] * [lb. Nos. 1208-1216.]

162 PHYSIOLOGY

the point or edge of 8uch\ In some there is only one mammilla, and
one infimdibulnm, as in the lion tribe* ; in others there are a great many
mammillae and infimdibiila, as in the bonassus'.

Loose ' Notes and Queries * on the Kidney,

The kidneys of all viviparous animals are much higher than those of
the viviparous * ex ovo/ or of the oviparous animals. Why so, is perhaps
not so easily accounted for, excepting it be to allow of more room for
the growth of the uterus. The kidneys in the two last are in what may
be called the pelvis, and the urethra, in them, enter the common passage
of the oviduct and rectum.

Why do the ductm urinarii of the kidneys enter the pelvis on a convex
surface ? This may perhaps be to prevent a regurgitation back into the
blood ; as we see in the liver from a stone in the ducts*.

Of Parts whose uses are not known.

The eajpsula rents is a wrong name for those [suprarenal] bodies, as
they are not attached to the kidneys in all animals: in the lizard
they are placed between the testicle and epididymis.

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1219, 1242.] 2 [n,. No. 1219.]

« [lb. No. 1268.]

^ [This query could only relate to the higher animals, to which, as Hunter has
just shown, the * convex surface ' or mammilla is peculiar. In all oyiparous Yerte-
brata the * ductus urinarii ' are directly continuous with the ureter, of which they
are indeed ramifications ; and, among mammalia, the soHpeds and some other odd-
toed hoofed beasts {Tapir f Bhinoceros) have the tubuU terminating on a concave
surface, and can be injected from the pelyis. Nevertheless the structure of the
TpiyTnTtiillfln in othor mammals seems intended to prevent regurgitation. Does the
disposition of the renal ducts in the Ovipara depend on the absence of constriction or
resistance at the end of the ureter, which is so placed as to allow of a ready and
constant discharge of the urinary secretion ? Does the absence of a urinary bladder
permit the superabundance of earthy salts which characterizes the urine in these
classes, there being here no intermediate cavity or receptacle in which that matter
can accumulate to form a calculus ? It is evidently at variance with the structure
of the bird that it should be encumbered with an accumulated excretion, and conse-
quently it is in the ostrich and similar birds without the powers of flight, that the
convenience of a urinary receptacle is met with. This is, however, lees perfectly
adapted to that end than in mammals. In the cold-blooded O^para a greater or
less proportion of the allantois remains. The accumulation of fluid contents in this
cavity can be of little physical consequence to animals which never raise their bodies
from the earth ; and are in general characterized by the sluggishness of their motions.
The bladder, however, appears in these to serve other purposes than that of a
urinary receptacle ; if it ever be filled with mere urine at all. (Tie up the ureters in a
frog or tortoise, and see if the urinary bladder becomes empty, also what kind of
urine accumulates in the constricted duct. Is it from the possibility of regurgitation
into the tubuU, that a horse stands still, and allows nothing to interfere with the
evacuation of the bladder in staling ?)]

OF THE BRAIN AND NERVES. 168

The spleen seems not to have any immediate connexion with life.
It can only be classed with the extreme parts of the body; for animals
can go on as well^ to all appearance^ without it^ as those that have it.
The common use assigned to it seems to have no foundation, as it is of
so very trifling a size in some animals. In the lizard it is not half the
size of one of the testicles. In fowls it is in the middle of the body,
and therefore it cannot be formed for a balance to the Hver.

Of the Oil w Fat.

The oil or fat of an animal increases with age ; but, even in the young
animal it would appear that it was necessary that there should be some
substance as a substitute for fat ; for in those places where oil is most
to be found in the adult, there we find another substance in the young
subject. It is not an easy thing to say what this substance is ; it is
more or less oily. In the new-bom child it is hardly dissolvable with
heat, and hardly inflammable ; and is of a greyish white. It is not
universal through the interstices of parts, as in the adult. As the animal
advances this substance is changed more and more for oil, and becomes
more and more dissolvable by heat, more and more inflammable, and
also more and more diflused, and of a yellow colour ; for instance, the
tallow of an ox, the oil in the [human] feet.

Of the Brain} and Nerves.

As the nerves are hage in proportion to the size of the brain in the
more imperfect animals, and as these animals have life in a greater
degree than the more perfect in proportion to the size of brain, we may
reasonably suppose that the nerves are the cause of simple life.

It seems evident that the brain has such power over the nerves as is,
in some degree, mechanical ; for the nearer to the brain the nerves [are,
they] seem to have more influence, or are stronger in their action ; and,
therefore, the medulla is sent down the spine, and the organs of sense
are placed in the head ; and in animals whose nose is some way from
the brain, the olfactory nerves run a considerable way pulpy, as in the
crocodile^.

Injuries of the brain seldom or ever affect immediately the actions of
the heart and arteries. The pulse is regular and soft, but often full.
The brain would seem to have two powers; the one, sensation^ or a
consciousness of the body, by which means it regulates the motions
depending upon it ; the other, where it supplies simple life ; for we all
know that an animal may live after such injury has been done to
the brain so as to take off all sensation, as we see in many fits.

* [For Hunter's views of the leading modifications of the brain in the animal
series, see p. 29.]

* [Hunt. Prep. No. 1316.]

m2

164 PHYSIOLOGY

The voluntary energy of the brain is not in proportion to its size,
and seems to bear no kind of proportion [thereto]. The power of the
brain to stimulate a nerve to action, and the effect or power of that
action of the nerve upon a muscle, is as strong in the insect as in the
human subject ; therefore, whatever properties size of brain may have
in an animal, they are not, in the brain, employed upon the body, but
employed about its own actions, as in a greater effort of the mind, and
a greater scope of reasoning. Nor does a large brain require 'larger
nerves to make the impression of sense ^ ; I believe, rather less.

A nerve is a sensitive organ, but has no business with the mind ;
for if a nerve has informed the mind of anything, that nerve may be
totally lost, and yet the remembrance of the thing will continue ; so
that the nerve has done its whole business in communicating its im-
pressions to the mind. We are too apt to take effects for causes ; and
it ia natural for us to do so, because the effect comes first, makes the first
impression, and in most cases it is not necessary to look out for a cause.
Impressions or sensations are effects : — the causes of the impressions
are external bodies.

Nerves have nothing to do with muscular motion [in itself]; a
muscle has all the powers of action without nerves ; but muscles must
have a stimulus.

Muscles are divided into two kinds, one having a constant stimulus,
and which never tire, [others having the stimulus of the will, and
which do tire.] There is also a mixed kind ; where muscles act by the
natural stimulus and do not tire, and where they are exerted beyond
that stimulus by the will, when they soon tire. Therefore it is the
stimulus of the will that tires.

It is impossible for the mind to form just ideas of causes and modes
of action where neither cause nor mode of action is known ; nor, pro-
bably, within the reach of human sagacity. These reflections are
immediately applicable to the causes and actions of an animal body.
We see the body move. We go farther ; we see the parts that have
within themselves motion, which is the immediate cause of the motion
of the whole ; and we see how that motion can be excited. But all this
does not give us the first cause of motion in those parts, nor does it
explain the mode of action of the parts themselves.

The only thing, probably, left for us to do, is to observe, as much as
possible^ all the visible causes of motion in those parts of motion ; which
of course will give us all the visible effects : carrying these researches
into every class of animals ; seeing how far they vary, so as to be able

* [The organs of sense are generally inversely to the brain as to size : compare
the eyes and internal ears of fishes with those of birds and mammals.]

OF THE NERVES AND MUSCLES. 165

to demonstrate by one, that which in others may not be essential [as a
cause of motion], only fitted for particular purposes ; for the essential
must be the same in all. A musde is the power that acts, or has the
power of action in itself.

Our sensations are our regidators respecting good or evil ; but that
is only respecting our bodies. A considerable degree of heat, above
lOCP, e, g., so as to give pain, will coagulate the juices. A pinch that
will give pain, will also do mischief to the part.

Is sensation a sympathy of the brain with the part injured ?

The senses inform the mind, the mind in return informs the senses.
Sight gives us light and shade; feeling gives us the cause, viz. inequality;
and habit of the two makes the last [touch to teach the eye] unneces-
sary. When habit of another kind takes place, then light and shade do
not give the idea of inequality. A slab of variegated marble does not
give the idea of an irregular surfeu^e.

When a disagreeable sensation takes place joined with a disagreeable
reflection, or is accompanied with some disagreeable circumstance, then
it becomes too much for the human frame ; for instance, the sawing off
a man's leg, or, what is still worse, cutting the human flesh with a
rough instrument ; it becomes horrible.

Pains of the inflammatory kind arise from the nerves of the parts
beuig affected by the parts themselves being affected ; but pains of the
nervous kind arise from the nerves themselves being affected, without
the parts being affected that these nerves go to.

The senses are not always regularly proportioned in every person ;
some sense being acute, while another is obtuse ; and the contrary in
another person.

The intellect or understanding has an immediate connexion with the
senses, and the senses with the intellect. But we And that the different
senses have not always the same share of this connexion ; some sense
being capable of informing the intellect much more than another, and
the intellect using that sense upon every occasion, and neglecting the
others. To explain this by example : we And that some people cannot
pay attention to what they hear, but search for objects of sight, in order
to be informed by the eyes ; these retain what they do see, and can
readily reason from it, while they lose the connexion [between the sub-
jects addressed to the eye and the ear], and forget the half of what
they hear. On the other hand, one shall not be able to pay attention
to what is before his eyes ; and, if nothing be said, nothing is noticed ;
but he will listen to trifles while grand objects are before his eyes.

If it were possible to have more senses than what we have, it is very
probable we might lose by the gain. We are certainly not capable of
managing more variety of sensations than what we have at present,

166 PHYSIOLOGY

t

and many are not capable of managing those. Take away a sense from
some, they wonld be tolerably sensible.

Of Sensibility arising from involuntary actions of Voluntary Parts,

Although muscular action arising from the disposition of the muscle
itself, called spasm, is almost always attended with sensation more or
less, often [with] pain, and that very violent, yet this is not universally
the case; for I saw a gentleman who had involuntary contractions of the
orbicularis muscle of the left eye, and the muscles of the angle of the
mouth of the same side, and there was no pain, not even a sensation in
the muscle that acted. This is the first case of the kind I ever saw.

What was also curious in this case was, that the antagonist muscles
seemed to have lost their voluntary power of action while the others
were acting involuntarily, as if they [the involuntarily acting ones] had
been acting at the command of the will ; and the antagonists accordingly
keeping at rest.

Voluntary actions would appear to be as if the part were compelled
to act by the will. Those actions arising from the state of mind would
look as if they were only influenced by it.

Sneezing is an involuntary act, arising from a local stimulus, and
requires a fdUer inspiration than coughing.

We can imitate coughing and do it with any degree of inspiration ;
but we cannot imitate a sneeze, even when we fill the chest full, for it
is a peculiar action. When I wanted to sneeze, when I had a rheu-
matic stitch in my back which deprived me of making a complete
inspiration, I could not ; but I could cough with the inspiration I was
able to make.

The difference between coughing and sneezing is, that coughing is to
clear the throat, sneezing the nose. In the action of coughing, the
parts being moveable, adapt themselves to the operation, and it is an
operation of their own. But, in sneezing, the part that is to be cleared
is fixed, having no motion in itself ; therefore, to difluse the air over
the whole surface as much as possible, the head makes a shake suitable,
imd turning with the blast of air.

Of the Senses,

Of Seeing,

The human is the only animal that judges of things in general by
the eye. It is the predominant sense in man ; therefore it becomes
more improved than the other senses, when some accident has cast the
scale in its favour for a greater frequency of action than them. We are

OP SIGHT. 167

comparatively inattentive to things by our other senses as they are less
affected by things : the most wiUing and most useful are always first
employed.

One reason why intelHgenoe by the eye surpasses in accuracy [that
by] the other senses, is that the object is or may be permanent, and
may be compared with other objects, and considered in itself at the
same time, at our leisure.

In brutes the sense of smell seems to be the most predominant.
They only see and hear things to avoid them when at a distance, but
not so much to distiaguish them or examine their properties; and,
indeed, as brutes are not capable of examining things with attention,
the sensation of seeing does not strike them beyond the bounds of
simple sight.

Of the OrbiL

The human kind and the monkey have the most complete orbits
of any animals that I know. This is owing to the sphenoid bone
making a considerable part of it by its union with the os malsB
and OS irontis : this makes an almost complete orbit. But there are
three sorts of orbits : viz. the one we have given ; the second, where
the sphenoid does not go in [to the orbit] with the os make, nor make
any considerable share of the orbit; so that there is a large hole
between the orbit and the sulcus for the temporal muscle : this sort of
orbit belongs chiefly to graminivorous animals, as horses, cows, sheep,
deer, &c. : the third sort of orbit, which is the most incomplete, is
where the sphenoid is like the former ; but, besides that, the os malse
does not join with the os frontis ; so that, in place of a hole, we have
a large notch which is filled up in some animals with ligaments, in
others with muscles and ligaments : this sort of orbit I think belongs
to carnivorous animals, as dogs, cats, &c.

Hie human orbit is larger than in any other animal in proportion to
the size of the eye.

From the human kind there is a gradual change of the [position of the]
eyes from the anterior to the lateral parts of the face ; for in many
animals the eyes are placed on the sides of the head. Besides this
change there is another, viz. from the [axis of the] eyes being at right
angles with the face, to [their forming] oblique angles ; that is, the axis
[of the eyes] turning downwards. THs last change is owing to the
change from the perpendicular to the oblique position of the head.

The prominence of the eyes of animals, and their angular situation,
is for the larger sphere of vision, and at the same time to see better any
thing that is near their feet, as the head projects so much : this we see
to be the case with the horse.

1 68 PHYSIOLOGY

Animals which are either subject to be pursued, or which fight with
their hind feet, have their eyes placed on the side of the head,: and pro-
jecting, so as to throw the eye backwards. A hare, rabbit, many
squirrels, &c. are of the first kind; the horse, deer, &c. are of the
second.

Of the Choroid Coat

That part of the choroid coat of the eyes of animals that is covered
with a pigmentum album, is much thicker and stronger than any other
part of the same coat.

Of the Motion of the Iris.

The eyes of a.Tiima1s have the motion of the iris increased in pro-
portion to the size of the eye ; but those that see in the dark have
a greater motion of the iris than those that do not, in proportion
to the size of the eye ; and, perhaps, the oblong shape of the pupil is
to allow a greater opening when it is brought to a round form than
possibly could have been done if it had been always roimd.

It would appear fix)m the disease of the eye called * gutta serena,'
that most probably the dilatation of the pupil was owing to elasticity ;
for although the iris cannot be stimulated by the retina being affected
by light, so as to contract by muscular action, yet we can hardly sup-
pose that the dilators [if there are such] can or will act so constantly
as we find by the pupil being kept dilated for so long a time without
tiring. (D. Anderson's case, p. .) ['WTiere ? asks Wm. Clift.]

I conceive the iris is endowed with a sphinctoric property, or power
of contraction.

It is very common for the Angola cats to have the iris of the two
eyes of different colours.

Of the Flatness of the Bottom of Eyes.

The flatness of the bottom of the eyes of some animals is, perhaps,
to have distinct vision on more parts than one, not as in the human
subject ; for the flatness keeps a greater surface of the eye at an equal
distance from the crystalline lens, therefore a greater [surface] at the
focal point of distance ; so that they can see lateral objects nearly as
perfectly as direct ones ; and we may observe that they do see lateral
objects sooner or quicker than we do, and can throw the eye in dif-
ferent directions on the same object.

Of the Size of Eyes in different Animals »

There is a great difference in the size of eyes in proportion to the
size of body in birds, and such difference is also observable in other

OF SIGHT. 169

animals. All those of the lion kind have remarkably large eyes, and
all those of the bear kind remarkably small ones ; and the intention of
this is very evident ; for we may always know the sphere of motion of
the animal in search of its food, or in the common exercise of life, by
the size of the eyes. Moles have very small eyes for that reason [in
that relation]. This difference is not so much in animals that are
always on the surface of the earth, as in birds.

Civilization appears to have considerable effect on the eyes. Many
people have sore eyes ; many grow blind. Are the same [effects as
common] among savages ? Civilized horses, dogs, &c., are more apt to
gfow blind than those animals which lead a more natural life, as
deer, &c.

Two toads, after being under ground thirteen months, saw very well
on a strong light being let in upon them.

Vide * Book of Experiments,' vol. i. p. 84. [Quaere : What Book is
this ? — ^Wm. Clift. Vol. i.. implies another or more. — R. 0.]

On Squinting,

Some people squint with one eye only, and never in common vision
turn that eye to the object ; it is then commonly turned in towards
the nose; but when the other, or active eye, is covered, the affected
eye then turns itself towards the object. Other people only squint
in some directions of the eye, not in others ; and this is according to
the- position of the object. If the object be nearly in the direction of
the natural position of the [affected] eye, it will find little difficulty in
directing its axis towards it. Other people, again, squint with both
eyes alternately, respecting the position of the object. Such, I think,
find it more difficult to turn the eyes inwards than outwards : they look
at the object according as it is placed. If it is a converging squint,
they look with the eye which is on the opposite side of the object ; if it
is a diverging squint, then the contrary.

This shows that the squinting eye is not able, or has not been habitu-
ated, to turn its axis to all the positions of the head with respect to
objects, while the other eye is doing its office ; for, when not under
this circumstance, [when compelled to act by itself, the squinting eye]
it becomes a good eye.

On Gutta Serena.

The disease called ' gutta serena ' explains the power of motion of the
iris, without which we could not form a just idea of it. Every impres-
sion [of Hght on the retina] excites a contracting power in the iris ;
which word impression says it is muscular ; but as the iris also dilates,
it was not so easy to say whether that was performed by elasticity or

170 PHYSIOLOGY

muscle ; for a want of impression becomes a cause of action [a mnscle,
antagonized by elastic tissue, ceasing to act, permits the elastic motion].
In a gatta serena the iris is sometimes paralytic, and in others it is not,
which, when under certain circumstances, can be discovered ; and this I
shall now consider under the four following heads ; —

First, a total loss of the susceptibiUty of impression of light in the
immediate organ of vision, in both eyes : second, such [loss] attended
with a paralysis of the muscles of the iris : third, a total loss of the sus-
ceptibility of the impression of light in the immediate organ of vision of
one eye : fourth, [such loss] attended with a paralysis of the muscles of
the iiis of that eye.

The first and second of these will produce no variety ; because, as the
stimulus of light upon the retina becomes the cause of action of the
sphincter of the iris, it will be impossible for the iris [in the absence of
that stimulus] to have any motion ; and therefore it cannot be deter-
mined whether the sphincters are paralytic or not.

But the third admits of variety ; for if the muscle is not paralytic,
then we shall find that the stimulus of light upon the retina of the
sound eye becomes a stimulus to the sphincter of the iris of the diseased
eye; so that it will contract upon the light being thrown upon the
sound eye, but not so much as if its own retina could have been afiected
by light.

The fourth admits of no variety; but it informs us whether the
sphincter of the iris is paralytic or not ; for if it does not contiact
upon the light being thrown upon the sound eye, we may be sure it is
paisdytic.

From all which we may judge, or reasonably suppose, that the dila-
tation of the pupil arises from elasticity, and not from muscular con-
traction ; for its greatest dilatation is always attended with the greatest
paralysis of the other parts.

Whenever a person is totally blind in both eyes, we find that the
pupil is dilated to its fiill extent ; but when the blindness is only in one
eye, and [there be] no paralysis in the sphincter of the iris of the dis-
eased eye, we find that the pupil will contract if the light is thrown
on the sound eye.

Dr. Eobertson's (of Kingston) case belongs to the [fourth condition].
There is a total paralysis of the left eye, both of the retina and of the
sphincter ; so that his pupil is very much dilated, and shows no signs of
contraction when the light is thrown either upon the same eye or on
the sound one. He was electrified, but it did him no good.

It is a common observation, that people, as they grow old, grow longer-
sighted, {. e, the focal point appears gradually to move to a greater
distance ; but this is not the case. It is not a change in the position

OF HEARING. 171

of the refracting power (which might be supposed to be a canse), nor
an alteration in the form of the refracting power (either of which wonld
oblige the focal point or whole shape of the eye to vary) ; but it is a
defect in adapting the eye to near objects ; for all such do not see
distant objects better than formerly, but they do not see near objects
so well as formerly.

The circumstance takes place in those only who. have been used to
see well objects both near and at a distance, and they lose the near
sight ; whereas those who only saw well objects that were near, have
the natural focal point near, and continue to see them at that distance.
But it must be remembered that they never had a great scope of focal
action in the eye, or else they would have adapted it to more distant
objects.

Every eye has a natural focal point, viz. that point which requires no
exertion of the eye to adapt itself to it ; whereas every object within,
or beyond [the natural focal point], requires an exertion of the eye to
adapt its focus to that object; and, the further [the object may be]
from the natural focal point, either way, the greater the action required*

Of the Organ of Hearing.

The organ of hearing is peculiar to certain classes of animals ; the
more imperfect do not appear to be endowed with this sense. Insects
certainly have it, if what is related of bees be true : however, I have
not been able to discover the organ itself below fish^, where it is very
conspicuous.

It is a specific or peculiar organ for the sensation of sounds, the
organ itself answering no other known purpose, which is not the case
with the nose and tongue.

As the matter, or body, which is the first cause of sound, is not in
contact with the organ, there must be an intermediate connexion or
medium between the two. This medium is not confined to any one
species of matter, which circumstance we may suppose produces a
variety, and therefore the organ must vary in some degree according to
the medium. The air appears to be the proper medium for us, but
water is the medium for fish : however, even to us the medium is not
confined to air, nor C6tn we justiy suppose that it is confined to water in
fish.

^ [In the year 1782, Hunter stated, in his account of the Organ of Hearing in
Fish, read before the Soyal Society, " that the class called Sepia has this organ also,
but somewhat differently constructed from what it is in the Fish." — Phil. Trans.
1782, p. 380.]

172 PHYSIOLOGY

As sound is communicated by vibration, everything that does vibrate
is either capable of producing sound or of increasing it ; and perhaps air
has the least power of vibration of any substance or modification of
matter we are acquainted with : and, from experiment, water has been
found to be a much better vibrator than air.

As this is the case, it would from thence appear, that an ear destined
to hear in water need not be so nicely constructed as one in an animal
whose way of life confined it to live in air ; and accordingly we find
them very different.

The vibrations of the medium of sound in many animals are in-
creased before they reach the organ of sense by outworks, called the
external ear ; but this is not universal, belonging only to some of those
whose ears are adapted to the vibration of air, and even in them it
varies considerably in the different animals that have it : besides this,
there are other increasers of vibrations, such as membranes stretching
across the cavity, and other apparatuses besides.

The most simple construction of the organ of sound in any of the
fiuimals that I am yet acquainted with is that in fish. It is composed
of three canals, describing nearly a circle each, and so placed as to
make a triangle. Some of these communicate with one another at their
ends, others not. They all open into one cavity common to the whole.

These canals, in this class of animals, are thin and transparent, and
of a cartilaginous substance, pretiy regular in size through the whole,
excepting at or near to their unions, where they swell immediately into
round cavities. They are placed in the bones or cartilages of the skull
or head, and in canals or passages in these parts by much too wide for
them, and are supported in these passages by a very fine cellular mem-
brane. In many they project into the caviiy of the skull. They appear
to have no external communication whatever ^

The cavity formed by the union of the whole is pretty large ; in it
there is a bone of a particular shape in some, while it appears to be a
chalky substance in others, as in the skate, or ray tribe ^ ; in aU it is
perfectly detached : it is very large in all the cod tribe. Besides the
bone there is water, or a fluid, in the cavity.

The nerves are very distinct in this order of ears : it appears that
they do not enter the cavity of these canals and spread upon their inner
surfaces, as is generally supposed to be the case in the human ear, but
seem to be attached to the external surface only, on which they spread
so as to enclose a little more of the canal.

The next class of animals above fish is the Tricoilia. Their organ
of hearing becomes a little more complicated, having a greater variety

1 [Hunt Preps. Nos. 1560-1568.] « [lb. Noe. 1569-1574.]

OP HEARING. 173

»

of parts annexed to it. They have the three semicircular canals as in
fish, but they are smaller and not so long. They lie in the bones of
the head, where there are very wide passages for them : they unite
into one common cavity, which has a chalk in it, as in the skate, &c.

The additional parts in this class of animals.— From this hall, or
common caviiy, passes outwards to the external surface a long small
bone, which is broad at its inner end or base, where it makes a part of
the hall : its outer end is attached to a membrane in most of this tribe ;
but to a cartilage in the turtle S which is of an oblong figure, convex
externally and concave internally : this membrane is also convex on one
side and concave on the other, in the same position as the cartilage.
In most it is nearly in a line with the common surface of the body, as
in the lizard^, toad, frog^, &c. ; but it is placed somewhat deeper in the
crocodile^, which has something similar to an external ear ; and it is
covered in some by the common integuments or scales, as in the turtle.
This cavity has an opening into the mouth, which is very probably no
more than a duct.

The next class of animals above the Tricoilia is the birds. Although
their ear is not much more complicated than that of the Tricoilia, yet it
differs from it in some degrees. There is a neatness and precision in
the structure that ia not to be found in the Tricoilia, The semicircidar
canals in the bone are smaU and regular, and appear to answer the
purpose of these canals. If there are also the membranous canals^
then they are to be considered here as only linings to the bony. The
hall is smaller than in the former.

The passage between the hall and membrane is enlarged and extended
into the meditullium or cells of the bones of the head, and much more
in some birds than in others.

The membrane of the ear is not so superficial, so that there is a
canal, or a continuation of the same canal, beyond this membrane,
leading to the external surface, which terminates in particular forms in
different birds, which may be called an external ear, passage, or focal
[cavity*].

The communication between the hall and membrane by means of
bone is similar to the former [Tricoilia, viz. by a single bone].

There is a passage from the ear into the mouth [Eustachian tube].

The next class of animals above the bird is that commonly called
quadruped. Their ear is much more complicated than any of the
former, having actually more parts.

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nob. 1578-1580.] » [lb. No. 1576.1

3 [lb. No.1575.] * [lb. No. 1577."]

5 [lb. No. 1581.]

1 74 PHYSIOLOGY

In this class the semicircular canals are similar to the former^, but
we have passing from the hall another or fourth canal, which is coiled
upon and within itself, called cochlea^.

The tympanum is extended some way into the bones of the head^ ;
in some much more so than in others, as in the elephant, similar to
many birds. The membrane is more internal than in the former, which,
of course, makes the distance between that membrane and the external
surface still greater. It is concave externally, contrary to the fore-
going. The communication between the hall and membrane is by
three bones ^ instead of one.

The passage from the membrane outwards is of considerable length ;
first in the bones, then continued further by means of a chain of carti-
lage, making a pipe, which when got to the external surface spreads in
most into various forms and length, called the external ear. But this
last part is not to be found in all : it is not in any of the whale kind,
perhaps because the water is sufficient of itself^; nor is it of any size
in the seal kind, perhaps because they are intended to search after their
prey in the water, therefore not necessary. Nor are they to be found
in many animals whose life is principally led underground, such as the
mole ; and perhaps because the earth assists considerably in vibration.

Query : Does the membrane of the ear increase the sound by increa-
sing the number of vibrations, or by increasing only the same vibration ?
or does it only communicate the first vibration in the air ? I should be
apt to suppose the first.

All animals that have no external ear projecting from the head, as
birds, lizards, and, I believe, many of the amphibia and sleeping
animals, have their membrana tympani convex externally. How far
this is a substitute for an external ear is not easily determined ; but it
would appear to have some such effect, as it is so universal. This class
have no cochlea". Snakes and tortoises have no [obvious] external
passage to the ear.

It is most probable that aU animals which are capable of forming
sound have the organ of hearing, but not conversely ; for there are
many animals that are not capable of making sounds themselves that
have the organ of hearing, e, g.y fish.

In those animals which have external projecting ears and a condder-

1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 1603.] » [lb. No. 1599.]

3 [lb. No. 1601.]

* [lb. No. 1602 : from this passage it would appear that Hunter considered the
OS orbiculajre as an epiphysis merely, as it has subsequently been regarded by several
anatomists. See Carlisle, Phil. Trans. 1805, p. 201.]

6 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1582-1598.]

OF HEARING. 175

able motioii in them, such as hares, cows, sheep, &c., the ear describes
a half conoid ; but the circumference of that cone is not a section of a
circle, but a side of an ellipse, with the long axis turned forward and
backward. Besides this conoid motion, the ears have a rotatory motion,
which attends the conoid ; so that, when the ear is turned forward, the
mouth of the funnel is likewise turned forward '; and when the ear takes
its sweep outward, the mouth of the fdnnel always corresponds to that
motion. All this order or division of animals has the membrana tym-
pani concave on its external surfeu^e ; and as all of this class are Tetra--
cdlia, they have all a cochlea.

Of Hearing.

The hearing of animals is either acute, distinct, obtuse or obscure ;
fitted to the various ways of life. Some animals have only one of those
properties, while others have two or more.

1st. The ^ acute ' is for those animals, as mice, ^., that are a prey
to others, by which means they avoid danger. The acute is also for
those animals that prey upon others, as cats, &c., that they may the
better find their food.

2nd. The ' distinct ' is where the animal can distinguish between one
sound and another, and take in the whole variety of sounds, such as the
human kind, many birds, some beasts.

3rd. The 'obtuse' is for those animals that are not in danger of
being preyed upon, nor is it their way of life to prey upon others.

4th. The 'obscure' is where animals cannot attend to, or are not
capable of taking in or distinguishing, the variety of sounds. This is
perhaps the largest class [or may characterize the majority of animals].

These four circumstances are the cause of such a variety of forms of
ears.

The human kind, perhaps, possess the greatest share of any, espe-
cially of the second (quality), for they certainly can distinguish sounds
better than any other animals.

The animals of the first class will require some degree of distinctness
as well as of acuteness : as by the particular sounds they will judge of
their proper food ; as, in the case of cats, the sound of mice or rats, the
fluttering of birds, &c. ; and so of other animals according to their
different kinds of food. The hearing of the third class wiU generally
be attended with obscurity and indistinctness ; for those animals, whose
way of life requires no great variety of action, which are in no great
danger themselves or endanger others, and which make no great variety
of sound themselves, will generally be attended with the fourth [quality
of hearing]. Animals will have distinctness in sound in proportion to

176 PHYSIOLOGT

their variety of action, and the great variety of sounds that they are in
the habit of making themselves. The same thing may be observed of
all the other senses.

Of the Effects of Sound upon Animals.

The effects that sound has upon animals may be divided into two.
The first is simply sensitive; [the second reflective. The first is]
when it affects the mind, and increases or diminishes the passions or
the operations of the mind and body. This is only by simple sounds,
varied in such a manner as to make the mind sympathize with, and, as
it were, imitate the sound itself ; by which means every part of the
body sympathizes therewith, and is, as it were, put into such motions
as are in unison or concord with the sound itself. It will not be an
easy matter to account for this universal effect of sound upon the
body, excepting it be in this way, that every part of the body is a
conductor of sound, and of course is affected by it ; and therefore the
body is more ready to sympathize with the mind, or is more ready to
receive the impressions of the mind, than if it had not that immediate
connexion with sound.

Sounds having this universal effect upon the minds and bodies of
fluimalft can only be determined to some fixed object or idea ; for, the
moment it goes further in the mind than the immediate effect of the
sound, it becomes a compound [idea] which the brute does not readily
perform. It always raises in the human mind some fixed and deter-
mined passion, which may be called its * first combination;' and then,
again, that passion is directed to some object for which it has the
easiest or greatest inclination. For instance, it will raise strange com-
motions in the animal system, plant the seeds of love or the suscepti-
bility for love ; and, if that man is already in love, these sounds will
raise the passions in the mind which only wants the absolute object to
fix or determine it ; which [object] will be brought immediately into
the mind, and will even increase the passion at the time in proportion
to the simple effect it has upon the mind.

If a man has a turn for war, for conquest, <fec., there are certain
sounds that will raise him above himself, and make him feel irresistible ;
which will be determined to some fixed or general objects, just as his
mind happens to be pre-engaged.

Nothing shows the effects of sound upon the body more than music.
No man would be inclined to dance without music : the music also
determines the kind of dance. Music is universal ; the mind imme-
diately feels its effects, and has recourse to it, as much as the body
for food.

When we say that we are conscious of a thing, it implies two things,

OF SMELL. 177

viz. ^ consciousness,' and the ' thing.' But, in fact, it is only one thing, for
consciousness is the whole. But from the manner in which we form
consciousness, it is always referred to that manner ; for, being in a state
of consciousness is seldom or ever simple consciousness, but is com-
pounded of a number. And, as consciousness arises originally from
impressions, it must always suppose, or have, the impression at the
time. The memory of hearing is always a compound of hearing and
seeing ; our remembrance of some sounds is owing to having fixed ideas
annexed to them. The remembrance of sounds that we have fixed no
ideas to is owing to our being capable of imitating them. If we had
not this power we never could remember a tune, for instance. Sounds
have two powers [sources ?] ; the first is natural, as melody, sounds of
fear, of anger, <fcc. ; the other is firom art, or is descriptive, by which
we form ideas and make impressions on our passions : the first is of
the head, the other is of the soul.

Animals have not those fixed ideas that we have ; and the reason is,
perhaps, that the sensation does not make the same impression upon the
mind ; for the impression on the mind is not in proportion to the
sensation.

Seeing makes a strong sensation upon our minds, but not on the
mind of a dog ; for a dog will hardly know one he is not allowed to
smell at.

The sense of hearing and seeing both require an action of the organ
for distinct sensation. How far all the other senses are obliged to
adopt themselves to the impression I do not know ; but probably tiring
or being accustomed to impression, so as to be insensible to it, may in
some degree arise from the loss of action of the parts not adapting
themselves to the impression.

Elasticity in bodies is the cause of sound, but they must be quick or
short vibrations. Those bodies that give short vibrations, are hard and
brittle, that is, they yield but little before they break, because their
power of yielding is but short.

Of the Organ of Smell.

The sense of smell has an organ for receiving the impression called
the nose. I suspect it is not so universal as what taste is ; at least no
organ that can give the idea is found in many of the more imperfect
animals, and even in one tribe of the more perfect.

The organ of smeU is a simple organ, being principally fitted for this
sensation, and therefore presenting less variety than the organ of taste.
However, the oi^an may be said to answer other purposes, as it gives
passage to the air for respiration; so that the two purposes are answered

178 PHYSIOLOGY

by the same act. Besides, in some animals it is elongated so as to act
as an extremity or arm, as in the elephant ; or to dig, as in the hog :
but in these cases this elongation is only to be considered as a useM
part placed here for the convenience of the organ of smell, as this
extremity is generally employed in the affair of food.

It is situated (as far as I know) near to, and above, the mouth in all
animals.

In the Fish, which is the most imperfect animal that I know which
has this sense, the organ is distinct from all others^ ; but in the Amphi-
bia*, Bird'', and Quadruped*, it communicates with the mouth. This
situation allows it to be an assistant to taste, or rather the remote
judge of proper food, while taste may be reckoned the immediate : for
the body which possesses the qualiiy of odour, need not itself be in
contact with the organ, but only the parts possessing that quality raised
into vapour, and that vapour making the impression ; or the substance
becomes soluble in water, and that water coming in contact with the
organ, which becomes similar to taste. This happens to be the case
with Fish, which is no more than smelling the medium in which they
live, so that smell becomes much more extensive in its mode of reception
than what taste is. Indeed, I believe it is in the same proportion
more useM to those animals which have both : for many animals might
do very well without taste, which would do very ill without smell,
as the dog, fox, wolf, lion, cow, horse, &c. In such it would be
extremely inconvenient not to have it, for the operation of tasting is
considerable, requiring a movement of the body to be tasted, and also
to undergo a change, while smell is done at once.

As the mode of application of the matter which makes the impression
in smell is more delicate than in touch, the organ is also more delicate
in its structure. The structure in the sensitive part appears to be
pretty much the same in all the animals possessing this organ : it is a
spongy or soft membrane and very vascular ; which is known by injec-
tion. It does not appear to be covered by any cuticle. The acute
reception of smell by the mind is caused by quantity ; therefore the sur-
face of impression is extended or increased; and more especially ia
those auimals which are to, or can, distinguish their food by this sense
alone, and still more so in those which are to go ia search of it by the
smell, such as the dog, &,q.

The operation of smell is performed, I believe, in the act of respira-
tion in all animals that breathe air ; and in all, excepting man, this

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1527-1530.] 2 [ji,. ijog. 1531_1535.]

8 [lb. Nos. 1536-1540.] * [lb. Nos. 1552-1559.]

OF SMELL, 179

operation of respiration is principally performed through the nose, so
that the passage in them answers two purposes.

Smelling is no more than the atmosphere or medium in which the
animal lives being impregnated with such matter as to make an impres-
sion on the organ ; therefore the air becomes the medium to the aerial,
and water to the aquatic. There is, however, a tribe of fl-nimfllH whose
construction is that of the most perfect, but which live entirely in
water, which search and catch their food in water, yet from their
general construction they must breathe air. [Whale and porpoise kind.]

Here arises a difficulty : an animal to breathe air which it need not
smell, and not to breathe water which it should smell, if smelling were
necessary ; and to make a water-nose, was making the animal, in this
respect, like a fish, which would be deviating from the first principle ^ :
therefore nature has made them entirely without the organ of smell^.

Of Smellirtff.

The third sense is that which is called smelling : it is where the
matter is too refined to be able to affect any of the other senses. To
affect this sense it must be in vapour, but it does not entirely depend
upon matter being in vapour ; it most likely depends upon a particular
modification of matter, or a particular modification of vapour which
naturally arises out of the volatile body. Whether the impression is
by impulse or by simple application is not so easily ascertained.

This sense has a degree of refinement above taste ; and is, much in
the same proportion, less hurtM in its disagreeable sensations. It is
so connected and so subservient to taste, that I am inclined to think that
we can in some measure judge of the taste of a body from the smell,
and vice versd.

Whether or not this imagination arises from custom, as we taste but
few things that we have not smelt before we taste, may be a question.
The moment that we smeU food, we that instant have an idea of its
taste ; just as when we hear a bell ring we have an idea of the beU,
But what is most certain is, that smell and taste give us general ideas
of one another ; for, whatever is rich and fragrant to the smell, is also
such to the taste ; and I should suppose that whatever would give taste
in solution, would give smell in vapour, and perhaps such a smell as
woxdd give a pretty just idea of the taste.

^ [Tl^e * hoxnological' principle, or tihat of Unity of Plan.]

2 [This was probably written before Hunter had dissected the piked and true
whales, in which he discovered the organ of sxyielL See Animal Economy, p. 377,
and Hunt. Prep. No. 1546.]

ir2

180 PHYSIOLOGY

The sense of smell in the goat is so acute, and the nicety in their
food so great, that they will not eat anything, such as a piece of bread,
that has been breathed upon by a human being.

Quadrupeds seldom breathe through their mouths, almost always
through their noses, so that it may be said they are always on the
scent ; for the nose seems to make up for the deficiency of the eye, and
they chiefly receive information by the nose. For this purpose, too, the
nose is more free from mucus in other animals than the human, so that
the glands are not so numerous. I believe that herbivorous animals
elw&ys breathe through the nose, and this constancy fits the nose better
for choosing the food.

Of the Organ of Taste.

The sense of taste has an organ fitted for its reception, and nerves
for its conveyance. It appears to have a greater analogy to touch than
any of the others, and appears to be as universal, few animals being
endowed with touch but what are most probably also endowed with
taste.

This oi^an is placed as a sentinel at the beginning of the passage
into the stomach, called the mouth, lying on the lower surface of that
cavity, so that the substance to be tasted comes more readily in contact
with the organ. It gives intelligence to the mind, which permits only
such food to pass as is in general salutary.

It is, in most animals, a projecting body, but much more so in some
than in others. Its shape is various, being in general nearly the shape
of the lower jaw, in those animals that have that bone, as in Fish,
Amphibia, Birds, and Quadrupeds ; but in many other animals the shape
is adapted to the various purposes or uses it is put to, as in the bee^
the whelk^ ; and in others it varies its shape considerably, according to
the various motions it is performing, as in the toad^, chameleon^, wood-
pecker*, ant-bear* ; where, when at rest, it is of the same shape with
the jaw, but when in use it forms itself into another shape.

It has motions in all animals, but more so in some than in others :
when its motion is least it is perhaps nearly simply the organ of taste,
which is probably the case with most fish'' ; however, in many fish it
serves as a retainer of the food, having teeth placed upon its surface, as

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1439-1440. See Animal Economy, p. 456.
a [lb. Nos. 1441-1444.1 a [lb. No. 1461.]

* [lb. Nos. 1463-1466.1 » [lb. Nos. 1477-1479.]

6 [lb. Nos. 1502, 1503.1 ^ U^- ^os- 1447-1449.]

OF TASTE. 181

in tiie trout ^ and many other fish. The grinders and retainers are placed
at its base. Bat in all those whose motion [of the tongae] is considerable,
it becomes a very compound instrument : it becomes in them not only the
judge of the food brought in by other means, but it becomes the immediate
instrument for providing/ as in the woodpecker, chameleon, toad, bee,
fly, whelk. It is most probably the conductor of the food into the
oesophagus in all animals. Indeed, this instrument of taste is extended
to various purposes, as in the lion^ and cow' kind, for scratching ; in
aU quadrupeds and birds, for the modidation of sound.

Its structure varies equal to the various purposes, but the structure
fitted for receiving the impression of taste is pretty similar in them all.
The exterior or upper surface is principally the organ of taste, as the
sldn is the organ of touch. It is in general very villous, but this dif-
fers very much in different animals, which arises from animals appear-
ing to differ very much in their acuteness and delicacy of taste, some
being more obliged to the sense of smell than taste for the formation
of their judgment in food.

The tongue in all animals is most probably covered by a cuticle, at
least in all that I am acquainted with. This covering, in those which
(we may suppose) have the most acute taste, is very ihin, as in the
human subject^, monkey' ; but in many others it is extremely thick
and hard, being of the consistence of horn, such as the little claws on
tiie tip of the lion's toi^;ue, the horn on the tip of many birds' tongues.

The tongue in all animals is a compound instrument ; its uses may
be reckoned three: viz. a sense, the voice, and several [mechanical]
purposes, as scratching, &c. As a sense of taste, or rather with respect
to food, it is capable of two uses ; first, for taste ; and secondly, for
catching the food in some animals, and for modulating it in all, or that
action which may be called the first operation of deglutition.

These different uses are not in an equal degree in all animals ; some
having one of these uses in a considerable degree, while [the other
functions of the tongue may be] weak, and vice versd. In most animals
there is but one organ of this kind, as in the human, birds, snakes,
fish, &c. ; but there is a class of animals that have a great many such, as
the priapism®, sea anemone, &c., which may be called the * polyglotts.'

The sense of taste is perhaps stronger in the human than in any
other animal of the same class ; and most probably tMs arises from

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nob. 394, 396.] « [lb. Nos. 1609-1613.] » [lb. No. 1694.]

* [lb. No. 1624.] 5 [lb. Nob. 1617-1623.]

* [lb. No. 1438 : " Fart of the priapus showing the tentacles, which in this
animal serve the purpose of tongues.*' The specimen is of the Hoiothuria ttdnUosay
Lam. See * Physiological Catalogue, Mus. OoU. Chir.' 4to. vol. iii. p. 63.]

182 PHYSIOLOGY

there being a deficiency in the sense of smell in the human species ;
and we find that the tongue in the human species is better calculated
for taste than it is in many other animals. Its surface is vastly
increased by the villi and papillee, and by its cuticle being very thin.
It is of considerable use in the first operations of deglutition, such as
the management of the food in the operation of mastication, and, when
the food is masticated, to eonduct it to the oesophagus. It makes, per-
haps, a principal part of the instrument of sound. The other uses
(which in many other animals are considerable) are but few in man,
the hand supplying the deficiency.

Of the Progress of the Senses, especially Taste,

It is some time before children are sensible of different sensations ;
everything that strikes the senses is the same ; but by degrees they
begin to distLOgiush and separate one from the other; first, by the
agreeable and disagreeable [impressions]. A new-bom child is not
sensible of taste : all tastes are alike : the whole business of a child,
at first, is to swallow everything that touches the lips ; nor have they
at this time the power of rejection.

A child laughs when it is but a few days old ; and this cannot arise
from any pleasing ideas, as it cannot have formed any ; but it must
arise from an agreeable state of body : not from mere absence of
uneasiness, or perfect tranquillity, or insensibility, but fr^m a certain
irritation that is agreeable, without thought. Some sounds have the
same effect at so early an age. Children swallow whatever is put into
their mouth, let it be ever so (what we call) iU-tasted ; this shows that
taste is some time in forming, and requires a variety of impressions to
cause even agreeable and disagreeable tastes ; besides, at first children
have not the power of rejecting ; they gain that by habit.

Relative Durability of Impressions in the different Organs of Sense.

The sense of smell is the least durable of any ; when the application
is continued we very soon lose the sense of it. Taste has something of
the same kind. Sight is the most permanent ; we always see when the
object strikes the organ of sight, excepting when the mind is attending
to something else, or when the organ is tired, as when going to sleep.

Of the Organ of Touch,
Although every part of an animal feels, yet the skin and all exposed
parts are perhaps the most sensible of the simple impressions of touch*,
and not only most sensible, but most capable of distingmshing the

* Here I would be understood to make a material distinction between the sensa*
tion of touch, and irritation to action or pain.

OF THE VOICE. 183

different impressions, such as roughness, smoothness, heat, cold, &o.
However, many internal surfaces are also capable of communicating
many of the same sensations, such as the mouth, rectum, and urethra,
for we are very sensible in those parts of heat, cold, &c. Nevertheless,
we find the superficial surfaces more capable of giving with nicety the
superficial structure of bodies than any of the others ; and this much
more so in some parts than others, such as the skin on the ends of the
fingers, lips, glans penis, even the tongue. Perhaps this perfection of
touch in some of these parts may in some degree arise from habit ;
however, we find the organ more perfect in those parts than in others,
being covered by a structure which is fitted for the purpose of sensa-
tion, called villi, not of acute sensation, but of delicate, or perhaps
more frequently of distinguishing, sensation. This is confined by an
increase of this structure in those parts that are most sensible, as on
the ends of the fingers, lips, &c. ; and also in many animals where it
was necessary for them to have the parts well defended frx)m external
injuries ; such we' find in all those animals which have hoofs ; there
the villi are very long and placed very thick and closed

This structure is much better adapted for sensation than what a
smooth surface possibly could be, because as we always feel a rough
surface or body better than a smooth one, this roughness in ourselves
supplies in some degree the place of roughness in the body touched.

This structure, fitted for the impression of touch, is perhaps perfectly
mechanical, being only adapted for the impressions of resistance*.

Of the Voices of Animals.

All n.niTna.lfl of the same species have the same voices. For instance,
all horses neigh ; aU dogs bark ; let the differences be ever so great in
every other respect, as to size, shape, or colour. A lion therefore is
not a cat, and indeed it is not in other respects. ( Vide Dissection of
the lion.)

Blacks from the Guinea coast never articulate sounds so clear, so
distinct from one another, and so sharp, as the Whites do. Whether
this is a defect in the organs themselves arising from the form of the
mouth, lips, (fee, or from any other of the organs of speech, is not
easily determined. Phyllis, a negro poetess, left the coast of Africa so
young that she had not the least remembrance of it. She was taught
to read and write and became a critic in the English language, but

* The sensation of heat and cold may be brought in as an objection to this idea ;
but heat and cold require perhaps no peculiarity of structure for receiying their
impressions, it being that of simple sensation only^ as of pain, &c.

1 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 1410-1413.]

184 GENERATION.

still had some of that thickness in her speech which all the Guinea
Africans I ever saw have.

The cuckoo being educated by [or brought up with] various turds,
and always having the same voice^ is a proof that the young do not
take their sounds or voice firom the parents.

OBSERVATIONS ON GENERATION.

On the distinctive Characters of the Sexes.

All the most perfect ftnimfllH axe of two sexes, male and female. The
chief distinction between the two is in the parts of generation : but,
besides this true and certain one, there is [an outward] character peculiar
to each. The male may be always distinguished from the female by
his noble, masculine, and beautifcd figure. This holds good in all
animals, but in fowls it is most remarkable \ This difference depends
on the effects that the ovaria and testicles have upon the constitution,
which is not tiU a time of life when they become useful ; so that both
sexes are alike at an early period of life, some time before puberty
[excepting simply having different parts of generation] ; but about the
time that they both are fit, or rather becoming fit, a change in disposi-
tion takes place both in make and in beauty ; but this is most remark-
able in the male. He, as it were, leaves the female state and undergoes
a kind of change or metamorphosis like the moth, the female remaining
more stationary ; however, the female is not quite so, for she acquires
properties peculiar to herself. These properties in the female, although
they would appear to differ or rather appear opposite to those of the
male, yet, in another point of view, they will be found to have a certain
similarity, and which similariiy is only known by bringing the male
and female under the same condition ; this is by castrating the one, and
spaying the other. In either case the operation produces a [kind of]
third animal, different from either male or female, and of course
different from what the castrate would have been if it had been allowed
to imdergo the natural changes arising from the retention of the natural
parts. This Hhird animal' is more like the female than the male,
because the male undergoes a greater change than the female does.
The female in her changes follows the male in a small degree ; which
change gives the difference between this ' third animal' and the female.

To put this in a simple point of view, we may observe that at
one time of life, the male, the female, and the neuter, are aU three

[ ^ The diurnal AccipUres, or Birds of Prej, form an exception to this rule; the
female being the larger and 'nobler' bird.]

SEXUAL CHARACTERS. 185

equal [or similar], viz. when very young. Take of any one genus,
for example pigs, at a very early period of life, two males and two
females ; geld one male and spay one female, and observe the gradual
differences as they take place. It will be observed that no difference
takes place for a while ; and, when it does, it will be first observable
in the male ; for as the male undergoes the greatest change, so the dif-
ference is sooner observable : the male also is fitted at an earlier period
of life for his purpose than the female, therefore [effects of castration
show themselves] sooner in him.

The female then begins to change, following in a small degree the
male ; but as the change in the female is in a much smaller degree, she,
as it were, remains more like the castrate than what the male does.
The castrate, both of the male and female, goes on equally [in a
course], as it were, natural to an animal which has no purpose to
answer but that of its own support ; and therefore it may be reckoned
the standard, and the male and female the variations*

The differences between the male and female in its ftdlest extent,
exclusive of the parts of generation, are * size in general,' ' size of
particular parts,' and ' disposition to be fat.'

After these general observations let us illustrate them by example :

First, as to size in general. Those animals, of which the male is
larger than the female, have the castrate of either still less than what the
female is ; so that the female has in some degree followed the male.

Secondly. Those animals, of which the males are smaller than the
females, have the females smaller than the castrates ; so that the males
are comparatively contracted in their growth, and also the females, but
in a less degree. Instances of this we have in many animals. The
black cattle- are strong instances of it. The bull is smaller than the
cow, and the cow is smaller than the ox, or than the spayed cow. The
swine-kind are also convincing instances of it.

Thirdly. Those animals, of which the males and females are of
nearly the same size, have their castrates nearly the same, viz. horses.

It may be impossible to show the use of change of f<»in [in the two
sexes], from what may be called effeminate to the contrary. Yet it
would look as if it were to please the vain ideas that the female has,
Vtrhich Nature has given to all animals, — ^a passion that was very
necessary, for it prompts on some and gives a kind of happiness
to others.

That this change depends upon the testicles and ovaria is plain.
This we see, that in the castrated cock the comb does not grow, nor
his spurs ; he has not the tail nor the shining feathers. Castrate a
young buU, and his neck will not grow ; but the hair of his for<^ead

186 GENERATION.

and his horns will grow to the length of those of a cow, or longer.
Take a boar, and his tusks will not grow. In the eunuch the child's
voice keeps the same [at maturity].

Distinction of the Sew inappreciable at early Age,

The distinction of the sex, exclusive of the parts of generation, is
but very smaU in childhood and youth. Boys and girls are very
similar in all their features when first formed ; even the parts peculiar
to each are similar to one another [in the embryo] ; both seeming to
shoot out from one point, but each on a different plan ; therefore they
become very different by the time they arrive at perfection. We not
only find this circumstance in the most perfect animals, but in the less
perfect, viz. Birds. All young birds, male and female, are very much
alike: the distinction does not take place till they cast their first
feathers ; and then the second begins to distinguish the sex, viz. the
cock becoming different from what it was before.

It is to be observed, that in the whole progress of separation
[departure from the common character], it is always the male that goes
off from the female. However, the female has her distinctions ; but
they are not all peculiar to her : the male has the very same, besides
those peculiar to himself, viz. the adult female has the hair on the
pubis, so has the male ; the swan has the second growth of feathers,
so has the male.

Acts of Generation,

The parts of the male and female, in their natural state, bear a
pretty near proportion with regard to variety ; but as the female parts
are subject to changes from impregnation, this produces a variety of
itself; and as these changes vary in almost every anima., it produces
in the whole a vast variety in the one sex more than [occurs] in the
other.

The act of generation seems intended by Nature to give pleasure.
Those animals that are male and female, and those which are her-
maphrodites, have it in a strong degree. How far those have it which
cannot be called of either sex, or wholly of both, such as the Polypus,
is not easily determined ; but in the others it is obvious.

In those that copulate, the pleasure is in the copulation, whether
viviparous or oviparous. Those that do not copulate are oviparous,
and have their pleasure in the evacuation of their eggs ; such as frogs,
toads, and aU the roe-fish kind. This pleasure, most likely, is not in
the simple passage of the eggs ; but, in one class, in the embrace of

SEASONS AND ORGANS. 187

the male, although there is no iiifiertion ; and in the roe-fish it would
seem to arise from the rubbing their beUy against some hard body.

Mental Influence over the Act of Generation,

The act of generation arises from two causes of motion : one em
internal stimulus in quest of external influence^ the other external
and mechanical. A strong effect upon the mind hy means of nerves is
capable of doing it; so that the action of the nerves is similar to
external influence. A dream does it more completely, which is a
stronger action of the mind than when awake ; for, when awake, the
mind is fluctuating between the delusion of idea and the truth, which
only produces half the effect ; but in the dream it is all idea, or the
mind is allowed to act on the parts with full force ; therefore the nerves
do not act of themselves, they only become a stimulus to other parts.

Relative Pugnacity of the Sexes when in Heat^

Most males fight for their female when she is in heat ; but I believe
no two females in heat fight for the male : — ^the human perhaps may
be considered as an exception to this rule ; but, if it is, it most probably
arises from reason joined with the strong principle of desire of being
possessed.

On the Seasons for Breeding.

Animals which are obliged to have recourse to the fruits of the earth
for food for their young, breed early or late according to the season for
their respective foods, which ' season ' generally includes warmth ; and
animals which have the power of provision within themselves, breed
according to the warmth of the season, joined with the modes of pre-
serving their own heat, either by the economy of the parent, as [exem-
plified in the nests of] mice, rats, &c., or by their own covering, as in
the case of lambs, <&;c.

Warmth brings forth seeds faster than cold, therefore there is no
determined time for their development, but that which relates to heat.
Warmth also brings forth insects from the eg^ sooner than cold, and
makes eggs hatch faster. But does a warm climate make a woman go
less than nine months ? or a cow, &c., less than the usual time in cold
climates ? Precocity in the human species is a consequence of warm
climate.

On the Organs of Generation,

Relation of VesiculoB Seminales to Size of Testes, — The testes of animals,
with or without vesiculsB seminales, are pretty much upon a par with

188 GENERATION.

regard to size. If the vesiculse seminales were really such, we might
suppose that the testicles would be much less in those animals that
have the ' vesiculsB' than in those that have them not ; as a small body
that is always secreting, is capable of secreting as much in twenty-four
hours as a much larger one is in five minutes^.

The testes in all animals, so far as I know, are oval. One might
suppose that this shape would give an easier exit out of the abdomen ;
but the testes of fowls, <&;c., are of the same shape.

Tkmica Voffimdis Communis*

In the adults of [mammalian] quadrupeds, the tunica vaginalis testis
communicates with the abdomen, but it keeps nearly the same size,
between the testes and abdomen, that it had in the foetus ; so that this
part of the canal does not increase in proportion with the lower end where
the testicle is, and with the abdomen.

The origin of the spermatic arteries and veins of the ovaria are the same
in all animals, let the situation of the ovaria differ as much as possible.
The origin of the spermatic arteries and veins of the testes and of the
ovaria is the same in all animals.

The spermatic vesBsels go out from ihe abdomen higher up in the
quadruped than in the human ; they pass under the peritonaeum along
the psoas muscles before they get to the lower part of the cavity of the
abdomen, so that any pressure upon this part makes it act like a valve.

Of the Prostate Gland.

I suspect that the prostate gland does not go round the urethra [in
the human subject], and that there is none of this gland upon the ante-
rior part [of the urethra]. The reason that I suspect this is, that I
have seen that gland twice^ swelled and diseased, but none of the disease
was on the fore part.

Fowls have no bags similar to what are called the ^ vesiculae seminales,'
and one would naturally think that they had the greatest use for them,
because the cock treads the hen at once, without any previous prepara-
tion ; but as the semen must be ready secreted for such quick demands,
nature has enlarged the terminations of the ' vasa deferentia' in him.
This would seem to support [the opinion of] the use of these bags in

1 [In the feline tribe, hyaena, dret, weazel-tribe, which have no * yesiculffi semi-
nales,' the testes are proportionally smaller than in Bomequadnipeds, boar, 6.^., that
possess them.]

3 [This must have been an obserration made a great many years ago, as Himter
must haye seen many such cases aftervmrds. — ^Wm. Clift.]

1

t

MALE ORGANS. 189

RniTnalft [as being reservoirs^]. I observed tbe same in the dog-fish;
the termination of the vasa deferentia were enlarged and fall of semen,
which was white and creamy.

Generative Secretions tested by Taste.
The semen would appear, both from the smell and taste, to be a
mawkish kind of substance ; but, when held some time in the mouth, it
produces a warmth similar to spices, which lasts some time.

On the Mucus of the Urethra.

The fine transparent mucus of the urethra is strongly impregnated
with sea-salt, which is immediately known by the taste. The use of
this mucus would seem to assist in lubricating the inside of the vagina ;
for it is similar to that from Cowper's glands in women, and it is only
secreted in the time of copulation ; none is to be found at other times.

Of the Penis.

From experiments, it would appear that the erection of the penis is
not through a greater influx of blood at one time than at another, but
from a stagnation in the common passage of the blood through the part,
as in the veins when we tie up an arm'*.

The penis sympathizes much vdth complaints of the bladder, and even
with complaints of the kidneys ; for when either of their parts are
irritated, the pain is mostly in the glans penis ; but if either are much
irritated, then they become sensible of it*.

Penis of the Horse.

The cavernous structure of the penis of a horse is plainly muscular
to the eye^ ; and, from circumstances, there is reason to suppose that
the human [corpus cavemosum] is the same ; for we find that the penis
is sometimes, in erection, much larger than at others, yet equally turgid
at both times. When in the laxgest state, it is always at a time when
the parts are warm and relaxed, when the whole constitution is free
from all kinds of rigors ; it is largest, e. g.^ when erect in the warm bath.

* Vide Dissections of Morbid Bodies (No. 6).

^ [See the more mature conclusions of the author on this subject, in his work
' On the Animal Economy,' pp. 20-29.]

3 [See Animal Economy, p. 32, and Note.]

» [Hunt. Prep. No. 2649. See Animal Economy, p. 30, where Hunter states that
in a horse just killed the cells of the cayemous structure * contract upon being stimu-
lated.*]

190 GENERATION.

On the contrary, when the body is cold, and when the penis is ex-*
posed to cold, it does not sweU to that size that it does in the other
case. •

In both these cases it is equally rigid, and is not capable of farther
distention. It is well known that cold applied to the skin becomes a
stimulus to the muscles of the body, and of course to [those of] the
penis ; so that it is not capable of its full distention [under the influence
of cold].

Of the different Kinds of Female Parts of Generation, commonly

called ' Ovaria.*

The first kind includes those where the ovaria exist in the unimpreg-
nated state ^ ; and the only difference between that state and the impreg-
nated one, is the increase of the size of some part of these ovaria.
Probably the only part which constitutes the ovum in the imimpreg-
nated state, is, in birds*, the part which forms the cicatricula in the in-
creased state, and that the increase is due to the addition of the yolk only.
The class called amphibia', and the class of fishes called cartilaginous^,
also present this kind of ovaria. All that exemplify this kind have the
oviduct, which I believe adds to the egg a second part, viz. the al-
bumen, so that the eggs of such are, I believe, always composed of two
parts.

The second kind includes those which have no ovaria in the unim-
pregnated state, and where there is a new creation every time they are
preparing or prepared for propagation, so that the whole body of
the ovarium is removed each time they do propagate. These have no
oviduct ; and it is probable ^m this circumstance that the ova are
only composed of one substance ; such I believe is the case with all the
pectinated gOl-fish, or those which have roes".

The third kind would appear to be a mixture of both, partaking of
the first from their having oviducts ; and of the second, from their
having no ovaria in the unimpregnated state. The ova are, therefore,
entirely formed at the proper seasons, as in the second, but differ in
respect to situation ; for here they are formed in the oviducts them-
selves. The number of these ducts is increased in many, so as to allow
for the proper number of eggs, while in others there are only two ducts.

^ [Or rather * unexdted' state ; the oyary of the bird acquires its Ml size without
any impregnation.]
2 [Hunt Preps. Nob. 2726, 2730, 3380.]
« [lb. No8. 2696-2724.] [* lb. Nos. 2676-2694.]

* [lb. Nos. 2660 (Eel), 2661, 2662 (Salmon), Ac., 2663-2674.]

FEMALE ORGANS. 191

Of the first of this class is the moth^ and butterfly ; of the second, the
beetle^. The structure of such eggs I have not yet ascertained.

Of the Ovidticts,

All oviparous animab' have one or two oviducts. Fowls have one.
The amphibia and lizard-kind have two. These have nothing like a uterus
or a vagina, and have a common passage to the oviducts and rectum.

Oviparity belongs to the inferior order of animals, both as to powers
or principle, and as to size.

Of the Fallopian Titbes.
If we consider the use of the fallopian tube in animals, where its use
is very evident, and then apply that use to where it is not so self-
evident, we shaU be led, in some measure, to infer the same use to it in
them also, although, perhaps, not to the same extent of use. All the
viviparous classes have them. Many of the oviparous have them, and
many are without them. It is in the oviparous that we are to examine
their use, and then apply that to the viviparous*.

Double Uterus*

Many animals have two uteri, viz. the rabbit", a particular kind of
hog called the * peccari,* ' Le Cabiai®,' <fec.

Of the Uterus.

The operations of the uterus, when impregnated, do not go on in all
parts of that viscus at the same time, but only where the foetus is. For
example, the increase of size of vessels, the alteration in the structure
of the uterus itself, both of which appear to depend on the increase of
the size of the uterus, do not take place save at those parts which are
distended by the increased growth of the foetus''.

The woman who died at the London Hospital in consequence of a

^ [No0. 2602-2605. I have described the tabes where the oya are developed, as
the ' oyaria,' agreeably with the accepted determinatiou of their nature. — ^Physiolo-
gical Catalogue, 4to. vol. iy. p. 114.]

* [lb. Nos. 2641-2643 {Mehhntha), 264-45 {Geotru^pes).-]

^ [See p. 34, where Hunter defines his proper ' oviparous' classes, excluding the
roe-fish.]

^ [The ' fallopian tubes' in mammalB are homologous with the major part of the
* oviducts' in oviparous Yertebrata possessing them. They transmit the ovarian
ovum, and add material to it]

« [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 2743, 2744.]

^ [lb. No. 2751 : the preparation is of the AgvM (JDas^fprocta) : the &c. includes
the Marmpialia. lb. Nos. 2735-2741.]

' [This is best exemplified in the long divided uterus of rodent and other quadru-
peds. See Hunt. Preps. Nos. 3469, 3470.]

192 OENKRATION.

bubonocele^ and who had the oyaria^ faUopian tube, <&;c. in the hernial sac,
had also a tumour in the subetance of the uterus at its fundus; but very
probably this substance grew on the inside of the fundus. It was about
as large as a small foetus's head, and did not affect the lateral parts nor
* cervix' of the uterus. But what was most remarkable was, that the
substance of the uterus was not diminished in thickness where it was
extended by the tumour, but, when cut into, presented the appearance
of a pregnant uterus of corresponding size, viz. the same thickness and
softness of texture; the veins forming what are called 'sinuses,'
which cause the softness of texture and the lameUated appearance.
The parts of the uterus not concerned in this tumour were of the usual
texture*. She died in the time of her menses, which were confined to
the cavity of the uterus.

The size of the nerves of the uterus do not alter in impregnation.

Of the Round Ligaments.

Those of a mare had plainly red muscular fibres passing up from the
[abdominal] ring along them, exactly similar to the cremaster in qua-
drupeds where the testes have not come down, or in those where they
never come down (as is sometimes the case in sheep). The round
ligament is an inverted cremaster ; and in the female would seem to be
something analogous to the nipple in man, viz. an imitation of the
opposite sex.

Vagina,

All viviparous animals, excepting the ' viviparous ex ovo,' i. e. the
viper, and perhaps the piked dog-fish, have a vagina^, which is placed
in the middle of the body, before the rectum, and has one or two
uteruses at the farther end of it.

The veins of the parts of generation in the female increase to an
immense size when impregnated.

The veins of the testes of the skate -kind also increase very much at
the season of copulation. In the female skate the veins of the ovarium
and fallopian tubes [oviducts], and of the glandular bodies, are so enlarged
as to surround them like cellular membrane.

Of the Pudenda,

The skin of the pudenda grows redder and redder to the years of
puberty, and seems to have little or no rete mucosum. When a woman

* Fwfo Preparation. [Quore: Where? — ^Wm^ Clipt.]
^ [Tl»e homologous part, in MarsupiaMa, is diTided or double, like the uterus.]

MENSES AND COITUS. 193

is with child these parts grow darker, even darker than the other skin,
like the nipple ; which colour does not terminate at once, hut is gradually
lost. This darkness extends to the ' nymphsB ' and * carunculae myrti-
formes.' In a woman the vulva is before the rectum ; in a hen it is on
one side ; in the lizard, &c. it is on both sides ; in the shark, skate, &c.
it is above, or rather behind, the rectum \

The clitoris in all animals is similar to the end of the penis of the
male of the same species.

On the Source of the Menses.

A young woman died at St. George's Hospital. There was some
blood oozing out at the vagina ; therefore I suspected that she had died
while the menses were upon her. I took out all the parts and injected
them. ' The parts became more red than common : the fallopian tubes,
the outd.de of the uterus, the inside, and the vagina, were loaded with
injection. In the cavity of the uterus was found extravasated injection ;
and on the inner surface there were dots of injection, as if swelled
out at the end or opening of a vessel, just ready to drop off.

On Copulation,

Frequent copulation seems to be the most violent discharge that can
attend an animal ; yet the quantity discharged is very inconsiderable.
It is nothing to the discharge of a blister, a sore, a purge, a cold, or a
bleeding; yet it shall relax and weaken more than any other. In
explanation of this, it is supposed that the most balsamic part is lost to
the constitution ; but this is mere conjecture, arising from a notion that
the £uid must be very fine that can form an animal ; but surely, when
this animal is formed, it is not a bit more * balsamic ' than the parents
it sprung from ; and we cannot suppose that it becomes less balsamic in
course of being formed. I beheve the truth is, that the semen differs
very little from common mucus ; it may have something more of the
volatile salts in it, as it is the only juice that has any degree of smell
when newly secreted. What I should suppose is the cause of this effect
of copulation, is the spasm produced for the discharge of the mucus
secreted. Spasms of all sorts weaken much ; the cold fit of an ague
weakens as much as anything we know of; and fainting fits relax the
system so much as to take off the violent constriction of a fever.

^ [See the series of Hunterian Preparations illustrative of the cloaca! structures,
Nos. 744-756, and No. 2825.]

o

194 GENERATION.

The great weakness arismg immediately upon the ejecting of the
semen does not arise from the eyacuation of the fluid out of the circula-
tion^ but from the universal spasm produced ; for like aU fainting fits
it produces sleep ; and in many it is so great as actually to produce
actual fiEunting, especially in men of irritable habits. Indeed, before
this spasm comes on, the semen is secreted ; therefore the constitution
is already deprived of it ; and the same spasm happens when there is no
secretion, as in many who have been using venery too frequently.
Perhaps the [final] reason of this spasm weakening so much, is to
prevent the testes from secreting till the constitution is again restored,
and also to carry off the universal stimulus when it is not lessened nor
carried off by the secretion, but rather frightened by it. All this is
from a design to limit venery ; for, as the pleasures arising from such
practices are too great to be checked by reason, it was necessary that a
stop should be put to the desires, and that a want of desire should put
a stop to the secretion ; for this stimulus is not simply taken off by the
spasm, but the whole animal is considerably weakened.

It would appear that the female is not so desirous for copulation as
the male. We find in most animals, if not in all, that the male always
courts the female ; that she requires being courted to give her desires,
otherwise she would not have them so often. Lord Olive's zebra is a
strong proof of this. When she was in heat they brought a common
male ass to her, but she would not admit his addresses. Lord Give
ordered that the male ass should be painted similar to the female zebra ;
and this being done, she received him very readily. In this curious
fSact we have instinct excited by mere colour ; for we cannot suppose
that she reasoned or judged of the male frt)m herself, as she never could
have seen herself so perfectly. Colour had so strong an effect in the
present case, as to get the better of everything else. But the male did
not require this ; [she] being an animal somewhat similar to himself,
was sufficient to rouse him.

My brown cow generally wanted the buU every three weeks when
she was not allowed to take him. Sir John Chetwodc told me that
cows well kept, if not with calf, would take the bull every three weeks.

My cow at 'Earl's Court ^ ' had some blood come from the vagina;
we suspected she was not well ; but a day or two after she took the bull.

Another cow at Earl's Court took the bull several times, but did not
conceive. The distance between each time was about three months,
but not regularly so. I intended to dispose of her, but gave orders
always ta give her the bull till I could dispose of her. After being at

^ [Hunter's country residence, at Broxnpton.]

SUPERPCETATION AND MOTION OP POSTUS. 195

the bull the last time, she fell off her milk the day following, and there
was a change in the milk. I suspected that some change was going on
in the constitution, and therefore kept her. For five months we could
not tell whether she was with calf or not ; but she had not taken the
bull all this time. Before the sixth month she proved with calf.

A she animal that has more than one young one at a time, as, e. g,, a
goat, ^., can be impregnated by more than one male. I had a she
goat that had, at one time, two young ones to two fathers. The fathers
were very different sorts of goats ; one was very large, rough, white,
and had large horns ; the other was small, smooth, black and grey, and
had no horns. The young ones the same [showed respectiyely the same
differences].

Case of Superfoetation in a Negro Woman,

" Dr. H. Allen of Bardadoes, now of Hatton Garden, gave me the
following account of a case which happened to a negro womem belonging
to the estate of Mr. Mapp, a practitioner in medicine in Barbadoes (and
Dr. Allen's father-in-law), about the year 1750. A negro woman
went the full period, and was delivered of twins, one black and the other
a mulatto. She had cohabited with a black man commonly, and had
received the embraces of a white man on the estate occasionally. Dr.
H. AUen did not see the children, both of whom were dead when he
arrived in the island ; neither can he recollect whether they said they
were male or female. But he has no reason whatever to doubt the fact,
which is besides remembered by his wife. — N. L."

(Leicester Square, 1784. " Twins bom, one black, the other white.")

JOHNT HUNTBE*.

I saw a male gold-fish in pursuit of a female carp ; therefore very
probably they would breed.

I have seen two flies in copulation some hours ; they will allow them-
selves to be drowned before they will separate.

Motion ^ in Uiero ' of Human Foetus,

The human foetus has probably more motion in the uterus than that
of any other animal : the single circumstance of the greater length of
the navel-string would give that idea. But in many foetuses, if not in
all, it would appear that they cannot even turn, the width of the horn
of the uterus [in quadrupeds] not admitting of it : this at least is the-
case with the horns of the uterus of a sow.

The circulation of a foetus is somewhat similar to that of the Am-
phibia, a mixture of the two circulations. There is more blood (in

* [Hunter would seem to hare receiTcd the above caee, at third hand, from N. L .]

o2

190 GENERATION

proportion) passing through the liver of a foetus than through that of
the adult : this is also similar to the Amphibia.

Modes of Maternal and Foetal Communication,

It would seem that the communication between the mother and the
foetus is carried on in two ways^ and in the two combined. In the
human subject it is entirely by extravasation^; in the mare and sow by
apposition of vessels ; and in the bitch and cat by both ways combined.

When a calf is about half the size of a mouse, the membrane [chorion]
on which the cotyledons are placed, passes through the whole horn of
the uterus, or lines the whole. Where the embryo is situated the coty-
ledons are pretty well formed or risen, and as the membrane rece<&s
from this they are fainter and fainter ; and towards the two ends they
are not observable. The external membrane on which the cotyledons
are formed is spongy, and would appear to act like a cotyledon. This
[membrane] is lined everywhere by a thin membrane [allantois], which
is slightly attached to it : this [allantoic] bag is above half -full of water
[serum]. The fcetus lies in a circumscribed bag [amnios] about four
times its own size, filled with water, and slightly adhering externally
to the inside of the former. The chord goes out and appears to per-
forate the proper bag [amnios], as abo the lining [allantois], and
divides into two portions ; one runs along the spongy chorion towards
one end, the other towards the other end'.

Of the Situat%(m of the Foetus and Membranes when there is bui one

in the two-homed Uterus.

In a sheep that had one lamb in the uterus, it was in one of the
horns. I observed two spongy parts in the ovarium of that side, and
that the membranes passed into the other horn, and were there attached
to the cotyledons as in the same side where the foetus was*.

Experiments on Sows.

December 24th, 1781. — ^In a sow which took the boar on Tuesday
and was killed the Thursday sennight following, in the morning, which

' ^ [By the matenuil blood pajssing into cavities which have lost the form of vessels,
and form the ' sinuses ' mentioned at p, 192. See Animal Economy, pp. 60-70.]

2 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 3499, 3500, 3601.]

3 [The experiments on ewes to determine the effects of impregnation on the ovaria,
are printed in the Physiological Catalogue, vol. v. p. 120, from a copy of the MS.
supplied to me by Mr. Clifl;, whilst I was engaged in describing the Hunterian pre-
parations, Nos. 3481-3495. The ovarian ovum, of which Hunter appears to have
been in quest, being pellucid, colourless, and much more minute than he anticipated,
escaped his observation.]

OF th£ sow. 197

was about ten days after, the glands of the ovarium [ovisacs or Graafian
vesicles] were swelled a little, and, when cut into, contained coagulated
blood. Some of them contained pieces bigger than a cherry-stone, others
were less. The horns of the uterus seemed preparing for the ova, being
divided into partitions by a tightness or stricture, but of unequal lengths,
some being as long again as others ; and those divisions corresponded
with the number of glands in one [the ovarium of that] side, being
eleven in number ; [those of] the other side could not be counted, owing
to its being opened later, by which means the parts were not so distinct.

A sow that had taken the boar, April the , was killed April ,
viz. days after.

[The dates are lost ; however, it is not material ; it shows the progress
and difference in the same animal, some being further advanced than
others. — J» H.]

The following appearances were observed : — The ovarium of the right
side was larger than that of the left. There appeared several ova
[ovisacs] that were more vascular and larger than the others. These
were eleven in number, each of which had a part projecting like a
nipple, which was more evident in some than in others. The remaining
number had this appearance beginning to take place ; the other ova
[ovisacs] were smaller, of a yellowish white, harder and firmer in con-
sistence. When cut into, they appeared of the same colour [throughout]
their whole substance.

One of the eleven [ovisacs] appeared as if it had burst. When cut
into, it had an irregular appearance of a cavity, in which there was
extravasated coagulated blood. On cutting into the other ova [ovisacs]
which seemed impregnated (viz. those which had the projecting appear-
ance), they seemed to be taking on more the appearance of a cavity ;
which in some of them contained a yellowish serum, in others coagu-
lated blood, but of irregular form, like extravasation into the substance.
This was much more in some than in others.

In the other [ovisacs] that had not the above projection, their cavities
appeared more circumscribed and perfect ; their inner surfaces were very
vascular with partial exudations of coagulated blood, and they contained
a serum. The left ovarium had seven of the ova [ovisacs] of a red
colour, four of which had a projection. One of them seemed ready to
burst ; and in cutting into its substance, one cavity, whose surface was
vascular, was covered with coagulated blood, and contained also serum.
The other three were not so much advanced ; but all contained coagu-
lated blood, which might be separated from all sides of the cavity \

^ [Here the process of examination seems to have been sections across, or cutting
into the substance of the ovisac, whereby the true ovum was most probably destroyed,

198 GENERATION

In the uterus of a sow sixteen days gone, the foetus was formed, and
its purse-shaped membrane [chorion and allantois] was above a foot
long in some. This membrane, with the foetus nearly in the middle
between each end, occupied nearly the whole length of the cavity of the
uterus, like a tape- worm in the intestines. Through the whole course
of the uterus was a white mucus almost like cream ; and where the
foetus lay, this was most in quantity \

In two other sows that were only allowed to go ten days, I could not
observe any change whatever, and there was none of the mucus to be
found in either uterus.

The connexion between the outer covering of a [foetal] pig and the
uterus appears to be only one of contact ; for they separate with as much
ease as any two wet substances can do that have no connexion but
that of having lain together. Upon close examination, there appears not
to be the least violence committed upon separation. The inside of the
uterus is thrown into circular rugse, and so is the external surface of
the outer membrane of the foetus, which appeeirs to confine the mem-
branes in their situation.

There are on the outer surface of the external membrane of the foetus
a vast number of small circular spots, which are rather whiter or paler
(from being thicker) than the parts of the same membrane, with a
darker centre. These spots do not appear to be more vascular upon in-
jecting, than any other part of the same membrane^.

In the year 1777 I spayed a young sow of one ovarium only. When
she was of age, I gave her the boar, and she brought forth six pigs.
The second time she had eight (I slit her ear to know her) ; the third
litter was only six ; the fourth litter of ten ; the fifth litter, March
1782, she had ten ; the sixth litter, September 1782, she had nine pigs.
In this instance she had been served with the wild boar ; five of the
nine were like the father, three like the mother, and one like neither.

The sister of the above sow, although not spayed, did not take the boar
so early as the spayed one did. When she did so, I only allowed the
boar to serve her once (as was also the case with her spayed sister).
This was with a view to see if once was sufficient to impregnate several

and its contents only obserred, which might have been the * serum ' that Hunter
mentions. Had the exterior ooyering of the mammillary eminence been carefully
scratched open, the oyarian ovum might have been detected and removed entire.]

^ [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 3538-3541.]

^ [Wben the veins and arteries are injected with distinct colours, the venous
capillaries form plexules in the centre of each of the circular spots. See the Prep.
No. 3541 A, presented by Professor Eschricht, of Copenhagen, the discoverer of this
arrangement.]

m,mm^mi^amem^^mm^mtM^^3kM^^^S^SS^

OF THE ASS AND BIRD. 199

ova, and she brought forth nine pigs, being three more than her sister's
first litter. The second time she had only six pigs, being two fewer than
her spayed sister. The third time she had eight ; the fourth litter,
Decemberl781, was of thirteen pigs; the fifth litter, June 18th, 1782, was
of ten pigs ; the sixth litter, December 6th, 1782, was of sixteen pig8\

Experiment on an Ass.

On Friday, the 2nd of October, 1789, the ass took the male, and I
killed her on the Tuesday following, about seven in the morning,
making in all what is called four days, but only ninety-two hours. The
uterus was immediately taken out, and it was observed that one ovarium
was much larger than the other. It was injected on both sides, and by
both veins and arteries. When injected, the increased ovarium was
much redder than the other, as also was the horn of the uterus on that
side. I cut through the small ovariimi first, to see if it led to the
better exposing of the other which was in a line.

I then slowly divided the other, in which I cut across several small
hydatids [ovisacs ?], but I came to a glandular substance distinct from
the surrounding parts in structure ; and, dividing that, along with the
other parts, I came to a kind of cavity in which there seemed to be a
kind of fine and loose cellular membrane, in the centre of which was a
small rounded body, which was a little bag ; for in dividing this part, I
had cut off a little of the side of the bag, into which hole a small
globule of air had entered. Within this was an oblong body, which,
when taken out, looked like a little coagulable lymph.

The secondines of a mare and an ass are the same. The urachus in
the foetus of a mare and in that of an ass is a small canal, which passes
along the [umbilical] cord, and opens [into the allantois] between the
amnios and chorion, which membranes do not adhere anywhere; so that
the urine must lie between those two membranes.

" ON THE PROGRESS AND PECULIARITIES OF THE CHICK." *

Of the Egg of the Bird.

To understand the progress of incubation, it is necessary we should
first understand the anatomy or structure of an egg ; and as it is in

^ [See Animal Economy, p. 50, for further experiments on the effect of extirpating
one ovarium on the number of young produced.]

2 [This MS. has been printed, with my annotations, in the concluding volume of
the ' Physiological Catalogue,' 4to. 1840. The original was not taken possession of
by Home, in 1799, and remains in the Archives of the Royal College of Surgeons.]

200 GENERATION.

the Bird we are here describing, it is only necessary to understand the
structure of the egg of that order of animals.

The mass of an egg is composed of two parts, the orange-coloured
part, called the yolk, and the transparent surrounding part, called the
< white' or ' albumen :' but this term is only applied to its turning white
upon coagulation ; but as it has all the characters of a mucus called
slime, I shall call it the slime. The yolk is a portion of the ovaria, or
fonhed by it ; which is what I shall first consider.

The ovarium in the Bird is in one of two states : one is the quiet oi'
[unexcited] state ; the other is the state for impregnation. In the first
the ova are small, like millet-seed, composed of a little bag fiUed with
a yolk in miniature. They are formed in a cluster in the loins of the
Bird, upon the vena cava, as if formed upon it or growing out from it,
so as to be inseparable. These small bodies are of different colours in
different birds, and sometimes different in the same bird. As the consti-
tution is changing towards propagation, these little bodies begin to swell,
by becoming fuller of the matter of the yolk. Some advance faster than
the others, in a kind of regular gradation, forming regular series. As
they advance they become attached by a neck, which is small and pretty
long in some. Their capsule becomes extremely vascular, more espe-
cially the veins, which run from the neck as a centre, and spread in a
radiated form on the membrane, and then, as it were, converge on the
opposite side. When nearly arrived at full size, an oblong part of the
capsule becomes very thin, and the yolk can be seen through it. This
gives way and it opens, through which the yolk makes its escape. At
this very period we must suppose that the mouth of the oviduct is so
placed as to catch it, along which it passes.

The yolk is in the centre of the slime, seen through it, as it were
swimming in it. It is round, and is lighter, in the whole, in weight than
the slime, so that it always rises towards the upper side of the egg ; but
it is not in equal weight in itself through the whole, one side being
lighter than the other, which side always keeps uppermost, let the egg
be ever so often turned ; like the needle to the pole, let the compass be
ever so often turned, the point of the needle keeps to the pole. On this
side is the cicatricula, in which the chick is formed ; therefore it is
always nearest the heat of the mother, although the chick is of more
condensed materials, and therefore one would suppose it would destroy
this quality on this side of the yolk ; yet we find it does not, for this
side keeps uppermost till the chick almost fills the whole space or shell,
and therefore cannot turn, and now it is not necessary it should. It
[the yolk] is of the consistence of thick cream, and is coagulable with
heat, solutions of alum, alcohol, goulard, <fec.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICK. 201

At each end* of the yolk, towards the long axis of the egg, we may
obserye a white substance going out, about the size of a white thread,
which does notgcome out at once, but as if its attachment was spread on
the yolk, or that it was the membrane of the yolk contracting and
sending out the cord. It passes towards the end of the egg, and appears
to' be increasing in size, more loose in texture, as if gradually dissolving
and swelling, and towards its termination it looks like a cloud, or white
fumes in the air. These two threads are the axes on which the yolk
turns, and keep its lightest side always uppermost. As the most di-
stinct part or terminations of these threads do not turn with the yolk,
the thread, or that end which is nearest to the yolk, must twist when
the egg is turned ; and if the egg is turned oftener in one way than what
the threads can twist, then the yolk must turn roimd with the egg ; but
as it is not likely this can ever happen in any natural process, no such
inconvenience can ever occur.

On one side of the yolk is a lighter spot than any of the other,
which is called the * cicatricula ;' in this is the chick formed ; but before
incubation no traces of the embryo can be discovered, there being no
difference between this part that is impregnated, and one not impreg-
nated \

The * slime' is a secretion from the oviduct t, and is collected by the
yolk in its passage along this duct, in its way to the shell-forming part,
by which means it surrounds this yolk everywhere, but mostly at the
two ends, as the egg is of an elliptical form : and here it appears to
adhere to the inner membrane more than anywhere else, probably in
some measure connected with the two ends above described. It is
transparent, having a slight tinge of a yellow in it. Its attraction of
cohesion is such, as allows it to have its figure very much altered, and
recovering itself somewhat like an elastic body ; therefore not a fluid
whose parts can be moved on each other, and always keep the place
they are moved into. It coagulates into a white substance, which
appears to be lamellated.

* I call these ' ends ' because they are towards the long axis of the egg.

t Birds have but one oviduct when grown up, although two are originally formed ;
but it is the left only that remains. In my maiden Preparation' there was one on
the right side, but it was a kind of dwarf one. This duct is thrown into consider-
able oonTolutions (therefore much longer than what was only necessary for a duct),
having a meso-oviduct. It may be said to consist of five parts, which are in some
degree different in structure. The first may be called the mouth or fimbria, which
is an oblique opening looking [like] a slit.

^ [This similarity can only be understood as referring to the absence of visible
traces of the embryo.]
2 [Probably No. 2731.]

202 GENERATION.

These two parts [the yolk and white] are enclosed in a pretty large
opake membrane, which is lamellated, for it can be divided and sabdi-
vided into a number of layers ; but it would seem to Jbe divided into
two, the innermost the thinner. At the great end tlds membrane is
separated into two laminse ; the outer, or that next to the shell, con-
tinues to line the shell ; but the inner passes across, leaving a space
between the two of about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and is
concave on that side next to the slime ; though not so much as the
outer one on the side next the shell. This space is filled with air.
Over the whole is the shell, composed of calcareous earth, about half a
line in thickness, the outer surface of which has a vast number of
indentations on it, as it were, looking porous. It appears to have no
regular construction; it does not look like crystallization, as in the
enamel of the teeth. The colour of the shell ,in the common fowl is
generally white, but in some it is brown, as in the Chittagong fowl.
This shell gives the whole a firmness which defends its contents. It
certainly admits air to pass both it and the membrane.

The egg, which is the produce of the female, or of the female parts
in the hermaphrodite, is to be considered in two lights. In one it is to
be considered as the uterus, and in the other as the breast. The slime
is the uterine part, intended for the support of the chick while in its
uterus or egg; and the yolk supports it for some days after being
hatched, in place of milk, although for a much shorter time ; so that
the oviparous animal collects the whole necessary nourishment, and
throws it out at once ; while the viviparous retains the rudiments of
the young, and furnishes it nourishment as it is wanted.

We have reason to suppose that the slime comes nearest to the
nature of blood of any animal substance we know ; and we know it is
alive, therefore not necessary to undergo any change to have this effect
produced; for it is only the absorption of living parts, therefore is
capable of composing the animal without having undergone the act of
digestion ; and in this alone it undei^oes but Httle alteration, as it
composes the whole parts without much loss ; for an egg, through the
whole process of incubation, only loses .... grains S and as that would
produce a vacuum somewhere in the egg, — ^more especially as the parts
formed are more solid than the parts which composed them, — ^therefore
it is reasonable to suppose they would occupy a smaller space. But it
would appear that the cavity at the thick end of the egg, between the

^ [According to Dr. Frout, the loss of weight in the egg of the common fowl
during incubation, exceeds by about eight times that which the egg sustains by ordi-
nary keeping : this latter loss is at the rate of about nine grains daily for a certain
period.— Phil. Trans. 1822, p. 377.]

PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT, 203

two membianes, was intended as a counterpoise for this loss ; for as
the chick grows, and of course the whole loses in weight, as also in
size, this air-bag swells, by a separation of the two membranes, and
fiUs up the space lost. So that this cavity may be said to be in size,
r in proportion to the loss and condensation of parts which nourished the

chick ; and this is one of the purposes answered by it.

As the whole volume of the chick and contents of the egg diminish
both in size and weight, it is necessary there should be a provision
for the first that the space might be filled : for this there is a provision
by means of the air-cell at the thick end, which, in the unincubated
egg, is extremely small, but increases as the contents of the egg
decrease ; and this increase of the air-cell is effected by a separation of
the two lamina of which the lining or internal membrane is composed.

Principles governing the Formation of Animab,

This production of animals out of themselves excites wonder, admira-
tion, and curiosity ; and this is commonly the case in effects whose
immediate causes are so obscure, more especially when we are ourselves
both effects and causes of the same.

The first process set on foot in the formation of an animal is so small,
without that form which it afterwards gradually takes on, and its
situation so obscure, that its operation cannot be traced but by taking
it up at stated times, when we find a new part either added or come to
view, or a degree of perfection having taken place in the part.

The larger the animal is in any one order, the more perfectly the
parts are seen as they rise to view, and, by this, the intermediate steps
in them are more within our view.

If we were capable of following the progress of increase of the
number of the parts of the most perfect animal, as they first formed in
succession, firom the very first to its state of fiill perfection, we should
probably be able to compare it with some one of the incomplete
animals themselves, of every order of animals in the Creation, being
at no stage different from some of the inferior orders. Or, in other
words, if we were to take a series of animals, from the more imperfect
to the perfect, we should probably find an imperfect animal, correspond-
ing with some stage of the most perfects But all our observations

^ [The same philosophical idea seems to have governed Hunter in penning the
following passage : " We may also observe that the first rudiments of every animal
are extremely soft, and even the rudiments of the more perfect are similar to the
full-grown imperfect, and as they advance in growth they become firmer and firmer
in texture." — Croonian Lecture for the year 1782, Animal Boonomy, p. 268.]

204 GENERATION.

can only begin at a visible stage of formation, prior to which we are
left to conjecture, which could only lead us back to still fewer parts ;
but when the iirst and necessary parts were first formed, as a basis to
put the whole succeeding ones into action, so as to increase themselves
and form new parts, is not known, nor can it»

[Magnifying] glasses lead us back far beyond what the naked eye
reaches ; but these only show us the order of priority in the formation
of parts. However, human wisdom can go no further than into the
distinction of parts, with their actions and uses when formed.

The mode of the gradual increase of the parts of an animal may be
considered in three views ; one, where it may be supposed that the
basis of every part of an animal is laid at the very beginning, and that
its visible perfection is no more than the parts beginning to grow as
they are wanted, but that they were there in embryo \ Another,
where it may be supposed that at first the parts were formed, but were
no more in number than just what were wanted for that state of
perfection ; and as they came to a degree of perfection, new parts were
necessary, and they formed, or formed as they were wanted^. And the
third is, where the parts were there from the beginning, but that they
were altered in form, action, &c.' So f£ir as my observations go, I
think I can see all the three principles introduced, but probably not in
the same animal, nor in the same order of animals.

According to the first, I can conceive there are, at the very beginning,
parts which continue through life, and such is, probably, the Materia
Vitas tmivermlis and the Absorbing System, which may indeed, accord-
ing to the third principle, be changed. But according to the second,
as the embryo is moving towards perfection, new parts are formed ;
probably first the brain and heart, with their appendages the nerves
and vessels, and so on of all the other parts of the body, which we do
not find at first. And we know, according to the third [principle],
that many parts are changed in form, adapting their use, arising from
that formation, to the addition of parts with the changes in the parts,,
and this pretty universally.

Perhaps the fiying-insect is the best example of these observations.
This insect has three modes of life, and of course three structures of
parts. The structure suitable to the first life [ovum] we know little
about, but the difference between the second and third we can examine.
In the second Hfe [larva] it appears to have no parts but what are of
immediate use for the growth of the animal, and some of them very

» [The theory of ' Evolution.*] ^ ^rj^^ theory of • Epigenesis.' ]

' [The theory of ' Metamorphosis.']

PRINCIPLES or ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT. 205

different in form from what they are afterwards, while others remain
the same : so that in the insect we have, in the second life, parts that
were probably of use in the first ; we have, at least in the second,
parts that are of use in the third, therefore do not change, such as the
brain, nerves, and circulation ^ ; but in the third life [pupa], we have
new parts entirely, and old ones changed. The new parts formed are,
the parts of generation^, legs, wings, &c. &c,; parts changed are, the
whole of the digestive powers, in some degree the organs of respira-
tion, and probably the organs of sensation'. Thus in the progress of
growth, in the more perfect animals, we have new parts arising, changes
taking place in those already formed, and old parts lost.

It may be observed, that the more perfect the order of animals is, it
comes to a larger size at the first-life than those of an inferior order :
thus, a new-bom quadruped is nearer to the size of the parents than a
bird just hatched, and a bird nearer than a fish, <&c. However, there
are varieties in this respect in the quadruped, for some have several at
a time, which renders them smaUer.

Prom this account we should suppose that a quadruped would be the
first for investigation ; but as Nature gives to every order of animals a
mode of reproduction peculiar to itself, we are led to examine this
process in those where its operations are most easily and certainly come
at. This must certainly be the case with some of the oviparous,
although not with all, and according to the above position the Bird
must be the best, and still more so in those that have fewest young in
number and largest in themselves.

Without this aid our knowledge of this subject would have been very
imperfect, and it would almost appear that this mode of propagation
was intended for investigation.

In the investigation of this subject they have commonly had recourse
to the common fowl, as being the most familiar ; but I foimd the first
appearances so obscure, from want of size in the object, that I had
recourse to the progress of the chick in the egg of the goose; I
attempted the swan, but it was impossible to procure such numbers as
to give me all the necessary varieties. I endeavoured to procure
ostrich's eggs, by having them sent to me in spirits ; but as the getting
such was only a matter of chance, and only one or two in thirty years !
nothing could be made out from them. For this purpose, then, I kept

I ■ ■ — ■ ,^

^ [Theee parts can only be said not to be essentially changed, but -they are remark-
ably modified in form.]

» [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 3025-S028.]

^ [See Heroldt, Die Entwickelungs-geschichte der Schmetterlinge, anatomisch und
phjsiologisch bearbeitet, 1815.]

206 GENERATION.

a flock of geese for more than fifteen years, and by depriving them of
their first brood in my investigationB, they commonly bred again the
same season.

As hours make a difference in the first days, it becomes necessary to
examine in the night as well as in the day ; by which reason, the latter
brood in the summer is best adapted, having then short nights.

Of the different Methods to be taken to examine the Progress of the

Chick in incubated Eggs,

The first thing necessary is the breaking and removing part of the
shell of the egg, which is to be begun at the upper part. In the
breaking of the shell of the Qgg, when the chick is young, as at twelve,
twentj-foiur, or thirty-sia: hours, it should not be broken where the chick
is, that is, not at the very upper part, but a little way from it, and
break it round this most prominent part for the breadth of a shilling :
this is with a view to avoid the sharp comer of the shell wounding the
membrane and hurting the first rudiments of the chick. Then take off
the shell, leaving the lining of the e^ on ; then remove gradually the
membrane from over the chick. This must be done with great care and
attention ; it should be taken off in layers with a pair of forceps. The
egg so prepared should be put into warm water as high as the chick,
but not allowed to cover it, as water soon kills it. In this way it may
be kept alive some hours. It may be necessary to remark, that, while
the heart of the chick acts, the blood keeps red; but as soon as it
ceases to act, the blood becomes almost immediately pale, and soon loses
its red colour ; therefore it is necessary to keep the animal alive as long
as possible*. When it is examined sufficiently in this state, then, to
see the body of the animal stiU better, the membrane should be cut all
round beyond the foetal circle, and the whole taken off under water ;
and then have a piece of thin black ivory to slip under it, and put the
whole into spirits, which will coagulate the completest formed parts,
and bring them to view upon the black ground. In this way I have
been able to bring parts distinctly to view that before appeared to be
involved in a cloud ; also we can bring them under a much larger
magnifier, and bring out parts that neither their situation nor glasses
could expose.

* YariouB were my attempts to effect this, but mostly in vain. I conceived that
when I had just exposed the little animal by putting it into wat«?, heated to about
204 degrees, just covering the egg, I might keep it alive by these means, and observe
in the same chick the whole progress of growth ; but it soon died ; therefore I was
obliged to hare recourse to a succession.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICK. 207

When heat is applied to an impregnated egg, the living parts are put
into motion, and an expansion of what is called the cicatricula takes
place. This very probably begins at the chick as a centre; but it
would appear that the whole did not derive its e3:pansion immediately
from the chick, for this part would appear to have powers within itself,
and the farther from the chick these powers are at an early period, the
strongest is this expansion of parts ; for we find changes taking place
in this circle near to the circumference \ sooner than near to the chick,
which afterwards become distinct vessels, and communicate with the
mesenteric artery of the chick. The chick begins to take form to
itself in the midst of this expansion, and as it increases, its influence
is extended into the surrounding parts.

In the beginning of the formation of the chick, there is great di-
stinctness of parts, for they gradually take place one after another.

Gf the Membranes of the Chick.

The chick at first, or in its hour, is totally void of mem-
brane, only having over it the external membrane of the yolk^, which,
when removed (which is easily done), the animal is perfectly bare*.

The first formation or expansion of its membranes are in pretty
quick succession, and then go on together, some being sooner completed
than others. The first expansion of parts would appear to be the
fonnation of membranes, or changes in membranes naturaUy belonging
to the egg.

The first membrane that is formed is the membrana vitelli^, which
forms immediately under the proper membrane of the yolk; so it
would appear that at this time the yolk had two membranes (but how
far originally so I do not know), the external, a fine transparent one,
and the other, more spongy, and having the power of becoming
vascular.

As the parts of the chick begin to form, such as the head and spine,
with the medulla spinalis, &c., a proper membrane also begins to form,
to cover it. This membrane'^ begins first at the head, and seems to

^ [The formation of the halones and blood-lakes in tbe area yasculosa is here
alluded to.]

* [The meTnbrana viteUi^ or cuticula vitelli.]

^ [In the embryo of the common fowl the amniotic investment begins to be
formed at the eighteenth or twentieth hour, but is not completed until the fourth day.]

^ [The * blastoderm* or 'germinal membrane/ and not the 'membrana vitelli ' of
modem embryologists.]

^ [The ' serous layer' of the germinal membrane: it is also called the 'animal
layer ' by some embryologists ; but that the serous layer is the covering, and not the

208 GENERATION.

arise from the membrane round the head; and, as it increases, it
gradually covers the upper or exposed surface of the head, like a hood ;
then gradually extends itself along the body, covering more and more
of it towards the tail, having always a determined edge : and when
got to the tail, it there closes up the animal entirely, on the upper side,
and which has only the membrana vitelli upon it, making a circimi-
scribed cavity, in which the chick lies, and which I call the ^ amnios,*
as being the immediate covering of the chick, composing a part' of the
secondines or after-birth.

This membrana viteUi [germinal membrane] would appear to have
formed itself from the intestine ; if so, then it was prior to that part
being visible ; or it might be considered an expansion of, or a process
from, the intestine over the yolk, and under its own proper membrane.
That part next to the chick appears to divide into several laminae, or
has the power of forming several ; for we find, by the time the whole

has formed such and such parts, that we can separate it into

laminae, which are seen in Plate , figs. \ This membrane is

extending itself over the yolk, expanding itself till its edges come beyond
the largest diameter, and now, as it expands in length from the chick,
it contracts at its edge, and at last encloses the whole yolk, forming on
the opposite side something like a cicatrix, to which the last part of
the slime adheres.

From this account of the yolk, and this membrane, it might appear
that this membrane was only at first a covering communicating with
the belly of the chick, prepeiratory to, or for the entrance of the yolk
into the abdomen just before hatching. But from its structure it would
appear to have some use while under incubation, for it first becomes
extremely vascular, and on its inside it is thrown into rugae", as if an
increase of inner surface was necessary: wherever this membrane
advances, the yolk becomes fluid, beginning at first where the mem-

fromer or framework of the organs of the animal functions of the chick, seems
evident from its extending beyond those parts, oyer the yolk, to form the false
amnios ; it only forms the cuticle and the amnios of the embryo itself. It is because
the membrane is folded oyer the substance of the medulla spinalis and vertebrae, as
these are formed, that it has been said to form them. It was first described by
Pander, in his masterly Thesis entitled " Dissertatio sistens historiam metamor-
phoseos, quam ovum incubatum prioribus quinque diebus subit." 8vo. 1817.]

^ [See Physiological Catalogue, 4to. voL v. fig. 7. plate 69, fig. 5. plate 70,
and the beautiful magnified view of the chick resting upon the yolk, in plate 71,
where d, the serous layer, is reflected from d, the vascular layer and mucous
layers of the germinal membrane, or ' membrana vitelli ' of Hunter. See also the
mucous layer, /, fig. 5, plate 75, reflected from ^, the vascular layer of the germinal
membrane or vitelline sac, in a further-developed embryo.]

'^ [' Yasalutea' of Haller.]

DEVELOPMENT OP THE CHICK. 209

brane forms, extending itself as the membrane of the yolk extends, by
which means the yolk is rendered fit for passing through the duct into
the intestine, after the chick is hatched ; and it is even not coagulable
with heat, so that we may know when an e^ has been sat upon, when
boiled, for the yolk remains a thin and watery fluid.

As the chick grows, it presses down the middle of the yolk, first
making a deep indent in it ; and as it increases in length this indent is
increased into a groove, which becomes deeper ; and by the time the
chick is at its full growth, the yolk is almost divided into two portions,
between which lies the chick.

When the chick is so far advanced as to have most of its parts begun

to form, such as the extremities, which is about the hourS

then begins to form the third membrane, in form of a circumscribed
bag, which seems to come out from the beUy near the anus, full of
water*. This, by increasing, spreads upon the chick, or over the above
membrane, and covers them, and as it increases, it covers the whole
albumen that remains ; and, as the slime diminishes, it becomes also a
covering for the yolk ; so the chick, albumen and yolk, are at last
enclosed by means of this bag ; but as it is a circumscribed bag in
itself, these parts are on the outside of its cavity ; but, by its forming
a circumscribed bag, in its double capacity it may be said to form two
circumscribed cavities ; and it is therefore to be understood that the
chick is only enclosed between this bag and the membrane of the yolk,
and is therefore not within its proper cavity, but upon its outside.

This cavity, originally arising from the rectum, communicates with
it by a small duct, and probably is formed upon it, through which
passes the urine ; whence this cavity should be called ' allantois,'
although the membrane that forms the cavity has various uses ; it
absorbs the slime as it covers it, and therefore should be called placenta :
it comes in contact with the shell, and acts as lungs*.

The urine in the chick is similar to that of the adult, a white slimy
substance ; that which is in the allantois is firmer in texture, appearing
like strings of coagulated white of an e^^, when thrown loose into hot
water. The water which it contained at first appears to be absorbed,
for none is found towards the last stages of incubation.

* In a ni T n als that have [a urinary] bladder, this duct forms itself into that
carity. In the crocodile the bladder opens into the gut, but in the quadruped the
urachus opens into or forms a passage for itself, called urethra.

^ [In the embryo of the common fowl the extremities begin to bud about the 60th
hour.]
* [See Physiological Catalogue, 4to. vol. v. plate 71 /.]

r

210 GENERATION.

Where the allantois covers the chick it adheres to the amnioSy making
but one thin membrane between them, but it never becomes attached
to the membrana lutei or vitelli\ As it extoids^ it would appear to
push from the chick the remaining slime towards the opposite side to
that of the chick, as it were clearing the yolk of it more and more, so
that the slime becomes smaller, and at last lies like an oblong body
dose and adhering to the cicatrix of the yolk. So far as these mem-
branes are attached to the membranes of the yolk, they would appear
to detach themselves from it by the time it is ready to be absorbed into
the cavity of the abdomen ; for none of the other membranes are taken
in with it, and it has no other attachment to the abdomen in any of
this class of animals.

Of the Use of those Membranes as they arise.

The formation of the chick seems to be but little prior to the forma-
tion of the membrana vitelli [germinal membrane], if at all prior ; for
among the first appearances is a spreading of the cicatricula, and the
centre would appear to contain a fluid. That the formation of the chick is
considerably prior to the formation of the other membranes is evident ;
therefore it might be asked, how the chick is nourished, and other
functions carried on, till those other membranes are formed ? supposing
that they absorb the slime. But the membrana lutei [germinal mem-
brane] performs this office, at least at this time, and there was a certain
space of the membrana vitelli [germinal membrane] that had the powers
of forming vessels and red blood, and which became very vascular. This
membrane would appear to answer two purposes, one for the purpose of
the chick, another as a covering to conduct the whole yolk into the
abdomen.

That the membrane which I have called allantois, from its containing
urine, answers other important purposes, must appear evident from its
extent being far beyond what would answer that purpose. I conceive
that the side of this bag, which surrounds and is in contact with the
albumen, acts as the chorion or placenta, for it must be by this surface
that the albumen is absorbed, and the chick supported. The external
part of this bag, which comes in contact with the shell, and as it
enlarges lines more and more of it, till at last it lines it everywhere, I
conceive to be the lungs, for it is the only part that comes in contact
with the air ; and on opening an q^ pretty far gone, I find that the
blood in the veins is scarlet, while it is of the modena colour in the

* [Vitelliele, or vitelline portion of the germinal membrane.]

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICK. 211

arteries of the bag. Besides, it is much more vascular than any of the
other membranes, which is just the reverse of what we should imagine,
if it did not answer that purpose \

Of the Formation of the Parts of the Chick.

Afl the parts which act in both stages differ very considerably in
their structure, the structure of the first not being adapted to the
economy of the second, we have an opportunity of investigating those
changes which may be said to give us the gradual formation of parts
till completed. The heart is the only visible acting part, and the con-
struction of that viscus in the very young is not similar to that of the
full-formed. From hence we can have its formation through its various
changes.

The first parts that are visibly formed may be said to be the brain
and spinal marrow, although we may conceive the heart and vascular
system is also formed, suited to such a state, and that it is co-esdsting,
but not seen, because transparent, while the brain, <Src. is opake, and can
be rendered much more so ; by which means it becomes still more evident;
for if the brain, &c. was transparent, the heart would be the first visible
object from its motion, and afterwards [from its] becoming reddish.

^ [The yascularity of the external fold of the allantois, the porosity of the shell,
and the difference in the colour of the blood passing from the chick to the allantois,
to that retoming from the allantois to the chick, give the highest probability to the
opinion expressed in the text of the respiratory function of the allantois, and of the
necessity of access of air to that membrane through the pores of the shell, for the
development of the chick.

The experiments by Erman, commenced in 1810, and published in the ' Isis ' of
Oken for 1818, were performed with an apparatus by which the requisite heat could
be applied to a fertile egg in a presumed vacuum, or in an atmosphere of artificial
gas ; but the apparatus being defective in regard to the luting used to cement the
bell-glass to the brass-plate employed, Erman's arguments, that oxygen was not
necessary to incubation, are inoondusiye.

His experiments, repeated by Yiborg, with the substitution of a more effectual
luting, were followed by the opposite result. Oxygen was found to be essential to
development, and atmospheric pressure, afforded by the medium of other gases, as
hydrogen and carbonic add, was followed by no appreciable change in the dcatricula
subject to the incubating temperature.

The requisite pains and precautions, which the present advanced condition of
chemical sdence enables the experimenter to put in practice, appear to have been
effectually taken by Dr. Sdiwann, who has made the question, '' De Necessitate Aeris
Atmoepherid ad evolutionem Pulli in Ovo incuhito," the subject of a most able and
valuable inaugural thesis, published at Berlin in 1834. From which it appears that
the devdopment of the embryo in the common fowl may go on without oxygen in
the ordinary course to the fifteenth hour, and that the life of the germ is not de-
stroyed till between the twenty-fourth and thirtieth hour, but that the presence of
oxygen is essential to further development.]

p2

212 GENERATION.

The animal would appear to begin at the back, as it contains the
spinal marrow, in which is to be included the head, as it contains the
brain, and it seems to build forwards, and the new parts are formed in
succession ; so there appears to be originally no outline of the whole,
and the parts to form in it ; therefore every part is formed on the out-
side of the aninud : thus we see the heart, then the lungs, the intestines,
and over the whole the skin of the abdomen, which is not perfected till
the animal is ready to hatch, and sometimes not even then.

As this only relates to the bird, it may be supposed to belong to it
only ; but there is reason to believe it is the same in other ftTn'mala ; for
in some monsters, in the quadruped, we have no abdominal parietes,
only the bowels covered by a thin skin, which leads us to conjecture it
possible that they also are formed without any abdominal parietes. This
state of deficiency of the parietes of the abdomen has all its d^rees,
some much more, others less.

The chick is formed first on its back, and then turns on its left side ;
and till this period the heart is not seen, or if it exists it must lie before
the medulla, which will, from its transparency, render it obscure ; for
in this side view, we see, as it were, the profile, and from its lying in a
transparent fluid, it can be seen moving in it even before there is any
red blood \

Of the Blood's Motion in the Chick.

The circulation of the blood in the foetus of the common viviparous
animals may be divided into two parts : the first is that which passes
immediately through both sides of the heart with the connexion between
the arteries of the right and left side of the heart. The second is that
which is connected with the membranes for the foetus's nourishment.

In the oviparous animals the motion of the blood may be divided into
three ; first, as above, for instance, its motion immediately through the
heart, and the communication between the arteries of the right and left
side ; the second, as above, viz. the connexion with the membranes for
nourishment ; and the third (which is probably peculiar to them) is the

1 [" The red globules appear not to be a natural part of the blood, but, aa it were,
composed out of it, or composed in it, and not with it ; for they seem to be formed
later in life than the oflier two constituents ; for we see while the chick is in the egg
the heart beating, and it tiien contains a transparent fluid before any red globules
are formed, whi^ fluid we may suppose to be the serum and lymph. Whatever
may be their utility in the machine, the red globules certainly are not of such
uniyersal use as the coagulating lymph, since they are not to be found in all animals,
nor so early in those that have them." — Hunter, On the Blood and Inflammation,
4to. 1794, pp. 45, 46.]

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICK. 213

circulation into the membranes for the influence of air, which membranes
may be called the foetal lungs.

The vessels of the chick are different from the human, more like [those
of] the puppy or kitten, although different from them in some of their
vessels. The motion of the blood in the chick, in and through the heart,
is not different from [that in] the quadruped ; that is, the communica-
tion between the right side and the left is the same, having a foramen
ovale, but the communication between the two arteries is a little
diffBrent, having two ^ canales arteriosi' instead of one.

Of the peculiar Arteries of the Chick,

These arteries are three ; the two first, or what may be called a pair,
and which answer to the umbilical arteries in the quadruped, arise
from the iHacs, and pass by the sides of the bones of the pelvis towards
the opening of the abdomen, and when got out of that cavity through
this opening, ramify on the three membranes above described. The
third ^ is a continuation of the mesenteric artery, and is principally lost
on the membrana lutei.

Of the Veins,

There are two venae umbiHcales ; one (which is the largest) belongs
to the amnios, chorion and lungs ^, and is similar in its termination to
the umbilical vein in the quadruped, the trunk of which passes into
the abdomen, then upwards to the liver, enters between its lobes, and
opens into the vena cava inferior, just as it enters the heart. The other*
belongs to the membrana lutei, and passes into the abdomen, joins the
mesenteric vein, which would appear to divide into two, one forming
the vena portarum, the other joins the vena cava inferior between the
kidneys, and which communication remains through Ufe.

In the diastole of the auricles more blood passes into the right than
what it can contain, and the overplus passes, as it were, through the
right auricle into the left, while at the same time the left is receiving
blood from the lungs, so that the left is fiUed partly from the body,
therefore they are equally filled with blood. But the quantity from
the lungs is increasing every day in proportion as the lungs increase,
for the lungs can hardly be said to be coeval with the heart.

^ [Vitelline or omphalo-mesenteric artery.]

2 [By ' chorion and lungs ' Hunter intends the ' allantois/]

3 [Vitelline or omphalo-mesenteric vein.]

214 GENERATION.

Of the Brain and Spinal Marrow,

It would appear, upon [examining] the most early of these parts, that
they were originally formed in two distinct parts, a right and a left ; at
least there is a transparent line which runs through their whole length,
dividing them to appearance into two ; but these parts are too small
and too tender to allow of ascertaining this as a certain fact ; and
indeed this division takes place in some degree in parts in the adult ;
for we find the cerebrum and cerebellum divided into two, as also the
meduUa spinalis nearly divided into two, longitudinally. The union in
the brain of the chick seems to take place soonest about the basis of
the brain, making the anterior end appear as if slit into two, like a
pair of pincers.

Of the Formation of the Intestines, ^c.

The intestines, and probably the liver, spleen, kidneys^, &c., are the
latest formed ; yet the principle upon which they are formed must be
begun early, for the mouth is early formed, as also we may suppose the
anus, for the bag described as above [allantois] arises from it ; there-
fore there is only the intermediate canal to form, and its communication
with the yolk ; but as aU those parts are only fitted for the second stage
of life, it was only necessary they should be perfected by that time.
The smaU intestines which join the yolk are drawn further out of the
beUy as the chick grows, but before the chick hatches they are gradually
pulled in^.

^ [The kidneys begin to be formed in the chick on the sixth day, and in the
tadpole as it is passing from the embryo to the larva state. But there are excretory
organs prior to the kidneys, called from their discoverer the * corpora Wolffiana/
consisting of hollow cnca attached to an excretory duct, and developed in birds on
the third day, which secrete a yellowish urine ; so that the allantois may contain
mine from the first period of its existence. The corpora Wolffiana disappear in
birds at the time of exclusion, in Batrachia at the hitter period of the larval state,
in Mammalia earlier, and in Man soonest of all. See Miiller, Bildimgsgeschichte
des Qenitahon, Dusseldorf, 1830.]

3 [The observations of Wolff on the development of the digestive organs of the
chick, published va. 1774, are more numerous and predse than those of Hunter. Of
the formation of the glands Hunter says nothing. Malpighi seems to have been the
first who recognized the primitive form of the liver. * Septimd terminate die' —
' Jecur ipsum, subluteo interdum suffusum colore, quandoque dnereo, auctius et
solidius reddebatur, et ipsius glandulss non omnino rotundam et sphsericam referebant
figuram, sed oblongiores et quasi cacales utnctdos^ ductui hepatico appensos, reprae-
sentabant.' — ^Epist. de Formatione Pulli, p. 9. Op. Om. fol. 1687.

Yon Baer and Miiller perceived the first development of the liver in the chick at
the middle of the third day ; it then appeared as two pyramidal hollow cseca
developed from the duodenum.]

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHICK. 215

The parietes of the abdomen are the latest in being formed, and when
that is effected the animal is completed ; but this is much later in some
of the oviparous animals than in the quadruped, and the lateness of
forming this part is owing to the yolk's being taken into the cavity of
the belly at or near hatching ; and to effect this purpose we find that
from the circumference all round the opening into the belly arises a
muscular expansion which enters the yolk (besides its proper mem-
brane), surrounding the whole, which by its contraction draws the yolk
towards the opening, and then by its contraction that part of the yolk
which is close upon the mouth of the opening is shoved into the belly ;
and by this action some of the yolk (which is become fluid) is squeezed
into the intestine, which by regurgitation in that canal is carried up
into the stomach, and is there first coagulated to be afterwards digested.

As birds have air-bags within the abdomen, I find that at a certain
period of growth of the chick they begin to form. They begin at the
lower point of the lungs like a small hydatid, and extend further and
farther into the abdomen, before and on the outside of the kidneys :
they are at first fiiU of a fluid ; as they extend, they are, as it were,
squeezed among the intestines, so as to take on the shape of the intes-
tines of those parts, and at last filling the whole abdomen among them.
Soon after others are forming, or other openings communicating with
this, and the lungs are also beginning to attach themselves so as to form
a communication with other parts, as the ribs, sternum, vertebrse, &c.

The lungs are, at first, detached bodies, as in the quadruped, but
when arrived about the third week (in the goose) they begin to be
attached to the ribs, but not so early to the diaphragm.

Among the latest formed parts of the chick are the eyelids. When
gone through one half of their period of incubation, the whole anterior
surface of the eye is exposed, and the termination of the common
integuments is perfectly round, as in fig. [12. plate 76, torn, citJ] But
in a day or two more it begins to form itself into an oblong opening, as
in fig. [16. plate 76, tom» cif], which becomes narrower, as in fig.
[5. plate 75, torn, df], and then the increase of lid becomes more remark-
able in the lower lid, becoming first almost straight, as in fig. [17. plate
76, torn, ctf], which afterwards becomes rounded on its edge, almost
covering the whole of the lower part of the eye, as in fig. [18. plate
76, torn, cif], and about a day or two before they are hatched the lower
lid has spread upwards so much as almost to cover the whole eye, as in
fig. [plate 78, torn, cit.']

l^e membrana nictitans begins earlier to form than the eyelids, for
in fig. [16. plate 76, torn, dt.'] it is seen at a, and its increase may be
observed in all the other eyes at letter a.

216 GENERATION

It may also be obaerred, that at no period oonld I obsenre a mem-
brana papillaris.

The little homy knob' at the end of the beak with which it breaks
the sheQ when arrived at the foil time and makes its escape, is also
gradnally forming into a more regular and detennined pointy the pro-
gress of which is seen from the first figure to the sixth.

When yery yonng we may observe two oviducts, one on each side ;
they would appear to be behind the kidneys at their first formation,
but become more and more forwards as the chick grows, and before
hatching the right seems to decay.

There are two kinds of down on the chick, one long, which comes
first, about two or three days before hatching ; a second, or fine down,
forms at the roots of the other. It is probably the long down that
comes off with the feather.

The chick some time before birth has a kind of mixed action of life,
for it breathes, and we can hear it pip and chirp in the egg ; and we
find that the adult circulation through and out of the heart is formed
before birth: yet it is receiving its nourishment from the remaining
slime.

Vivification of the Embryo. 1

For this purpose a heat is always necessary equal to the heat of the |

parent animal. In the human female and in the hen, the heat of the
body [is higher than that of the surrounding atmosphere, and therefore '

in the one, vivification goes on in the uterus, in the other, under the
belly of the parent. But in] the turtle, fish, <&c., where the heat of
the animal [is the same as the atmosphere, the ova are left to incubate
at a distance from the parent].

Where the natural heat of the animal is the same with, or very
nearly that of the atmosphere, the parent is not solicitous about its ova,
as, for example, in fishes, in the turtle [Chelone], [in many] insects,[<fec.

Generation of the EeP,

The natural history of the mode of propagation in the common eel
[Anguilla latirostris, Yarrell] has, I believe, never yet been described ;
and this has probably in some degree arisen from a dissimilarity
])etween their [generative] parts and [those of] fish in common, so as
not to enable one to reason from, analogy ; and, as the mode of propa-
gation in animals can only be known when that operation is going on

' [Physiological Catalogue, vol v. plate 76, figs. 17, 18 b. Hunt. Preps. Nos. 3457,
3459.]

2 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 2660 {Conger vulgaris), 3202 (Anguilla lalirosfris).]

OF THE EEL AND LAMPREY. 217

in them, and [by] following it tlirough most of its stages, it has lain
almost unintelligible in the eel from the difficulty of finding them in
this state. It was not even known whether they were oviparous or
viviparous, and from this state of ignorance Sir John TT ill ^ has declared
them viviparous ; probably from conceiving it [to be the] most probable
[mode], as their mode of propagation was so obscure as not then to
have been discovered.

In my pursuits in comparative anatomy, especially [as to] the mode
of propagation in fishes, the eel was not forgotten ; and, as I found in
this fish parts situated similar to the roes in other fishes, although not
similar in the immediate appearance for propagation, yet being such as
demanded attention, [this] therefore made me more desirous of knowing
both the mode of propagation and the use of these parts in case they
might not be intended for such purposes.

That I might be able to ascertain these facts, I got eels every month
in the year from the fiishmonger with a view to catch them in the breed-
ing season, as also of every size, but I never could distinguish any dif-
ference in these parts in any of the months. However, I was told that
this was not a fSedr trial, the fishmongers often keeping them for months
in their troughs, in which time we cannot suppose they are going on
with this [the generative] process ; and to get eels from the river regu-
larly was not an easy matter.

The part which I suspected to be the ovarium, when viewed with a
magnifier, appeared a little granulated like some fatty membranes ; and
there being in some of the amphibia, as the Hzard, frog, &c,, regularly
formed bodies composed of fat, I boiled this part to see if any oil could
be extracted; but it boiled away to a pulp without yielding any*.
Having failed in all my examinations on this part of the common eel,

I and being in the island of Belleisle in the summer of 1761, where there

was a vast number of conger eels, I dissected some of them for their
anatomy, and observed they had the same parts with the common eel

I which I had supposed to be the ovarium or roe'.

^ [The pretenfiions of thia writer to a scientific character are shown in the * Cor-

^ respondence of Linnaeus,* published by Sir J. E. Smith, P.L.S., 8vo. 2 vols. 1821.

Sir John Hill was patronized by Lord Bute, and among other works, including a
satire on the Boyal Society, he compiled a ' Natural History of Animals,' fol.

' 1752-1773.]

^ ^ [If the fat-like fringe on the sides of the air-bladder and kidneys of the eel or

conger be examined during spring with a common pocket lens, or later, to about Sep-
tember, without the aid of a glass, the ova may be seen gradually acquiring their full
size ; in estuary eels taken in October and November, the ovaria are shrivelled and

[ empty. The shotten congers are procurable early in September, and are then

usually much darker than at other seasons.]
3 [Hunt. Prep. No. 2660.]

218 OJBNE&ATIOM

I then opened many to see if I could diaooTer any spawn, but nerer
snooeeded.

As t2ie lamprey and the lampem faayey in some degpree, a similaiity to
the common eel, and as their seasons of propagation are known, I next
examined thCTi with the same view when foil of spawn, and easily
foond their parts for propagation^ which are somewhat similar to those
parts in the common eel, as I had suspected ; and, althoogji not exactly
so, yet sufficiently to show the analogy.

So far encouraged I did not give up the parsoit in the common eel,
and was stiU farther encouraged by Sir Joseph Banks, mentioning
that when yoong, he had observed in an eel the roe fall of eggs or
spawn; bat as be was then not weQ acquainted with the anatomy of
this fish, and only knew there was an uncertainty respecting the mode
of propagation, be therefore only preserved a part, and put it into
spirit for farther examination ; but the spirit eyaporating, it diied and was
rendered unfit for inyestigation. Sir Joseph giving me leaye to look at
some sea-eels caught when on bis yoyage round the world, in them I
found the roe full of egg/i, and have since compared them with the
common eel, in which I haye at last diBcoyered the mode of propagation,
which LB exactly what I suspected from the stracture of the parts.

On the present occasion it may not be improper to giye a short
description of the roe in the common roe-fish, with a view to show the
difference [between them and the eel] which probably was the cause of
its [the mode of propagation in the eel] not being before discoyered.

The roe in fishes in common, or what may be called the ' roed-fish,'
consists of two bags ; in some these are long, extending nearly through
the whole belly of the animal ' ; in others they are round', &ic. They
are smooth on the outside ; and on the inside are thrown into a number
of flakes or folds, increasing the surface greatly for the form and attach-
ment of the eg^ or spawn.

These bags terminate each in a duct near the anus, which ducts join
each other, forming one, which enters the anus near the yerge, through
which the oya pass.

In both the lamprey and lampem the roes are not bags having the
oya attached to the folds on their inside, as in the aboye described, but
are composed of flakes or layers attached at one base along the hack.,
having no cavity. Each flake is composed of two membranes united by
cellular membrane, and on the inside of each membrane are the ova as

' [Hunt Frepe. Noe. 2658, 2659, 3196^201.]

2 [lb. Noe. 2663 (Barbel), 2668 (Mackerel).]

' [lb. No6. 2673 {Cottug Scorpiua), 2674 (Wolf-fiah, Anarrhicas).]

OF THE E£L AND LAMPREY. 219

dose together as they can well be placed ; and they may be seen ex-
ternally through the membrane composing the flake. When these fishes
have spawned the flakes become flaccid, but still the nidi may be seen
in little opaque spots, l^e mode of spawning I shall describe in the
common eel.

In the common eel, and also in the conger, the roe is somewhat
similar to the above, although not exactly. Each roe is composed of a
membrane attached by one edge to the back of the fish^ almost through
the whole length of the abdomen, and continued into the tail some way
beyond the anus : the other edge is unattached, and is longer than the
attached one, so that it hangs like a ruffled On the sides of this mem-
brane are a number of folds, similar to the inside of roes in common ; it
is similar to half of a common roe slit up through its whole length,
having the smooth membrane on one side and the flakes or folds on the
other.

These roes in the lampem, Ijunprey, conger and common eel, have no
duct or outlet directly belonging to them ; therefore the operation of
spawning is uncommon, and probably peculiar to this order offish. The
passage out appears to be by two openings, directly from the cavity of
the belly just behind the rectum, which unites into one, and opens into
the rectum on the further side of that gut just at the verge of the anus*.
From this formation of parts, the question is, how do they spawn ? In
the common fishes the parts themselves explain this operation, and in
the present we must have recourse to the same method.

In the common fish we must suppose that the ova fall off and get
loose into the cavity of the roe or ovarium, and then are protruded out
of that cavity through the duct, by the action probably of both the roe
and of the abdominal muscles, which forces them externally.

In the eel, &c., we must suppose them [the ova, to be] forced out at
the small opening above mentioned by the same kind of action.

From the structure of the parts, this method of accounting for the
operation of spawning appears to be the only possible one ; and
although it may be difficult to conceive how the spawn, when loose in

* All of the ray-ldnd have two openings fi*om the belly, one on each side, hy the
fin at the anus^.

^ [This mode of attachment of the ova to fringes, as compared with the compact
masses of the ovaria in other fishes, is admirably adapted to the vermicular winding
motions of the eel.]

3 [In the Hunterian preparation of the salmon, No. 2662, the peritoneal apertures
are shown, within the verge of the vent^ between the cloacal apertures of the bladder
and rectum ; as described in my Physiological Catalogue, 4to. vol. iv. p. 130. The
proper oviducts are wanting in the salmon-tribe, and the ova are excluded by the
peritoneal outlets, as in the eel-tribe.]

220 GENERATION

the cayity of the abdomen^ should all be bronght to these small open-
ings, and there make their exit, yet it may not be the less troe ; and
that this is the most probable way, is still strengthened by [my] having
seen the eggs in the lampem [^Petr<ymyz<mjluviatili8^, whose stmctnre is
the same [as in the eel], loose in the cayity of the abdomen, in their
season for spawning, and other ^;gs that were not detached, upon the
least handling dropped off from the oraria.

This structure, although in some respects appearing calculated for the
formation of the spawn, yet as that spawn had not been seen and as
there was no visible outlet for the spawn when detached belonging to
these parts themselves, as is in other fish, it was no wonder that in some
minds it remained a doubt whether they were the parts or not. This of
having no outlet belonging to the parts themselves is a curious fact^.

^ [It appean that eels, as a general rule, do not breed in firesh water, but that
there are regular migrationB of those with milts or roes enlarging, from inland waters
to the sea or to the estuaries of rivers, at the end of summer ; and of * elvers ' or
young eels, from those situations to the fresh waters in spring. These, having passed
gradually from the bracldsh or salt to fresh water, ascend streams and drains and
spread themselves through the inland waters. The eels descend the river Yarrow
to spawn in the end of September. The * elvers ' ascend the river Connor about
the 20th of May, in a slender column about two feet wide, along the edge of the
stream. They creep up the wet posts of sluices, and sometimes twist themselves
into round balls about four inches in diameter, with their heads turned outward.
Mr. Yarrell states that " the passage of the young eels up the Thames at Kingston,
in the year 1832, commenced on the dOth of April and lasted till the 4th of May.
It was calculated, by two observers of their progress in that year, that fr«m
sixteen to eighteen hundred passed a given point in the space of one minute of time."
— ^British Fishes, vol. ii. p. 291. Mr. Yarrell's observations on the oviparous gene-
ration of eels, are given in the second series of Mr. Jesse's ' Gleanings in Natural
History,' 8vo. 1836.

A correspondent of Loudon's Magazine of Natural History thus narrates, as an
eye-witness, some of the phenomena of the generation of the lamprey : — " On the
8th of May I observed a number of lampreys in the act of spawning ; and, remembering
the queries of your correspondent^ I stood to wateh their motions. I observed one
twist its tail round another, and they both stirred up the sand and small gravel fr«m
the bottom in such a way as convinced me it was a conjunction of the sexes : each
sexual conjunction was followed by the ejection of a jet of eggs from the female. I
caught them both and dissected them : the sexual organ in the male was projected
above a quarter of an inch, and the body filled with milt ; the female, though she
seemed to have already shed a considerable quantity of her spawn, had still a to-
lerable stock remaining." — ^Vol. v. p. 746.

Lampreys drag out stones from the bed of their river by their suctorial mouths,
and oviposit in the cavities thus left : the Petromygon marinus spawn in pairs, the
Petromyzon fluvioMlis act in concert, forming a common spawning-bed.

Cuvier repeats the current belief of the hermaphroditism of both the eel and
lamprey, and appears to consider the occurrence of a single male lamprey, as noticed
by Majendie and Besmoulins, to be an accidental or anomalous circumstance. See
the Histoire des Poissons, 4to. vol. i.]

OF THE WATER-SNAIL AND MUSSEL. 221

On the Oviparous Water-snail [Limnea stagnalis].

This water-snail spawns its spawn enclosed in a fine jelly, perbaps
about fifty [eggs] at a time. The eg^ when taken out of the jelly is a
j round body, a little flattened and a little oval ; it has a pretty strong

coat. When burst, a transparent jelly comes out; there is no yolk\
In a few days after the spawning, the small shell is seen forming in this
little body like a white spot, which increases till it occupies the whole.
When those little spots, or snails, are only about the lOOdth part of the
size of the whole, we see them moving in the egg'*. The question is,
how are they nourished ? Do they drink the contents ? have they any
connexion by way of absorption ? In about three weeks they begin to
hatch and come out of their shells. The slime in which the ova are
enclosed does not coagulate in spirit.

On the Viviparous Water-snail [Paludina vivipard].

In the middle of July they appear to be completely pregnant, the
uterus fall of young in all their stages ^, from the gelatinous ovum or
embryo to the complete snail, with its shell formed and capable of
moving about with ease. The number in one snail about fifty or sixty.

Generation of the Mussel \Anodon cygneus"] ,

In the beginning of July these appear very fleshy and [their soft
parts] fill the shell. The outer membrane [mantle] appears granulated,
and much like the ovarium of several fishes. This granulated appear-
ance is also seen on that fleshy mass [ovarium or testis, with the liver],
in which the intestine takes its turns. These [granulations or ova]
seem in prodigious numbers; and sometimes I have seen these ova
becoming of a darker colour, but not so as to be clear that they were
young mussels.

The mussel, as well as most other animals, is subject to animals
living upon it. l^ey seem like a beetle in shape, and are about the
size of a large pin's head, with a large body, long legs jointed, and

* [No * food-yolk * appended to the * germ-yolk.']

2 [The rotation of the germ-yolk and embryo on its axis is produced by the action
of yibratile cilia on the surrounding albumen. The development of the Limnea is
well described by Pfeiflfer in^^his * Naturgeschichte deutscher Land- und Siisswasser-
Mollusken,' 4to. 1826. See also my '^Lectures on Invertebrata,' 8vo. 1865, p. 569.
Hunt. Prep. No. 2313.]

3 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 2942, 2943.]

222 GENERATION

anned with spikes like a crab'. These breed by laying their eggs round
that opening where the excrements are discharged, and where the water
is drawn into the gills, and are there hatched, about fifty or sixty in
number. They may be pinched off, being about the sixe of small pins'
heads ; and by viewing them with a microscope, they may be distinctly
seen in their different stages, from the ovum to the complete animal
(preparations of them in their attachment and adult form). [Qusre:
Where ?— Wm. Clipt.]

Generation of the Chester [^Ostrea eduHs],

The mode of generation in the oyster, mussel, &c., has not been in
the least known, which has been from the want of appearance of parts
of generation [in them]. But I haye taken notice in the oyster that
there is a great difference of appearance in the animal at different times
of the year. In the winter they appear fall or fleshy, by a thick white
soft glandular part covenng the stomach, liyer, and intestines. This
part seems to be made up of vessels brandling like veins over the
Hver, and those branches open by two small orifices into that passage
leading to the inside of the gill, on each side of that projecting part
made by a doubling of the intestine ; and at these openings the con-
tents may be squeezed out, which in the winter contain a milky fluid,
or rather like cream, but not so high-coloured ; and at this time, when
viewed in a microscope, [the contents] appear of a uniform texture.
But in June I observed that they were becoming smaller, that is to
say, the gland was decreasing. I squeezed the matter out, observing
that it was more viscid ; and on diluting it with water, and viewing it
with a microscope, there evidently appeared small ova in it, pretty well
determined [in shape] and nearly equal [to one another] in size.

This happened to be in the beginning of July, and now they [the
oysters] were becoming very thin. On opening one, I observed a pur-
plish granulated appearance like very fine sand in the gOLs, [with] in
the shell ; and on viewing it in the microscope, they appeared to be
oysters formed with their shell, and by their transparency I could see
the embryo of the oyster ; but I never could get them so far advanced
in the ovarium.

After this, at the Isle of Wight, I found several where the ovarium
was decreasing ; and on squeezing out the contents, I observed the ova
more distinctly than I had ever [before] seen them.

^ [AcanthMceUsy * Lectores on Inyertebrate Animals,' p. 525. The tme embryo
of Anodon has a hooked apex and spines on the shell, and was supposed to be a
parasite by Bathke, who described it under the name of Glochidium.]

OF INSECTS. 223

ON THE GENERATION OF INSECTS.

Of the Parts of Generation.

Insects cannot be said to have external parts of generation; for,
although the penis in the male can be made to project, yet in its accus-
tomed situation it is in the abdomen.

The females have no external parts, excepting the opening of the
vagina, which is hid by the two last scales \ The opening of the anus
in the beetle is, I believe, in the same homy apparatus with the vagina.

Male Parts of a large Moth.

At the termination of the back is a strong homy hook that bends
downwards, in the curve of which opens the anus. There are two
lateral, but smaller hooks. The penis is a homy body which comes out
under the anus, and has a spongy ^ glans.' It moves backwards and
inwards in a homy groove or ring, which is fixed in a pretty large
homy apparatus.

In a large green grasshopper [Acrida (PTutsgoneura) viridissima'] vnth
hardly any wings and with a long tail [ovipositor], which divides the
anus from the vagina, I found a bag between the rectum and vagina
whose opening was just at the verge of the vagina, which I suppose is
the * depository of the semen'*.

Male Parts of the Rose-beetle [Cetonia aurata].

The male parts consist of a penis, testes, and other glandular ducts.
They are all contained within the abdomen in their natural state or
position, but the penis may be made to project ^. Within the two last
scales of the abdomen there is a homy apparatus for the projecting
muscles of the penia to act from, which may be called their pelvis. The
penis is large, composed of a homy substance, flat upon the upper and
lower surface from edge to edge ; it is a little bent, the hollow of which
curve is on the under surface, so as to be better adapted to enter the
vagina of the female, which is underneath ^. Through the centre of this

^ [The female Lepidoptera poseees two sexaal orifices, one behind the other, of
which the hindmost serres for OTiposition, the foremost receires the male organ in

2 [It is the ' spermatheca ' (Hunt. Prep. No. 3168), and is the homologue of the
*'' bag*' in the silk-moth, which Hunter experimentally proved to contain the semen
of the male. See Animal Economy, p. 461. Also my * Lectures on Invertehrata,'
for * female parts ' of Orthoptera, p. 404, 8yo. 1865.]

» [Hunt. Prep. No. 2328 {Bombyx Moll),]

* [On the ventral surface.]

224 GRNERATION

panBes the urethra. From the root of the penis paaaes a dnct which is
strong and thick at the root, hut heoomes Hmaller and smaller, and
makes a twist or torn upon itself, where it heoomes yeiy smaU. Into
this one canal, enter four pairs of ducts ; the first pair are two long small
ducts, each of which is coiled upon, itself so as to occupy hut a small
space ; the second pair are larger, and are the common ' yasa deferentia'
of each side ; the third pair are two pretty long ducts, nearly as large
as the yasa deferentia, that take a slight serpentine course, there being
room for them in the abdomen ; and the fourth pair are two small short
ducts between the two last. The testes are twelye on each side, [the
insect] haying twenty-four in the whole! They are round flattish
bodies, each haying a duct passing out of its centre like the stalk of a
mushroom, which is of some length ; and the whole twelye ducts unite
into one, which forms the common yas deferens of that side. I once
saw them in copulation, which was exactly similar to [that in] the cock-
chafer.

Moths are a long time in the act of copulation. The large moth is
some days..

Of the Laying of the Eggs of Moths.

In a middle-sized perfect white moth^, about the size of a silk-moth,
the female has a great deal of light brown hair all round the anus.
When she lays her eggs the oyiduct is protruded, and when the egg is
three-quarters out, she moyes the anus from side to side, which brings
the protruded egg in contact with the hair, which attaches the hair to
the egg so strongly as to puU the hair out by the roots, so that the egg
becomes surrounded by them. These hairs, by means of the mucus,
stick agaui to the surfEU^e on which the eggs are laid. Putting some of
these eggs under a glass shade, in about three weeks they hatched ; and
the young worms worked a network all oyer the inside of the glass.

In July 1791, 1 found one of these moths laying its eggs on the leaf
of the Paper-tree*. I took the moth into the house with a part of the
leaf, with some of the eggs on it, with a view to preserve it as a pre-
paration'.

Longevity of Insects according to Period of Oviposition.

I do suspect that the females of insects, respecting longevity, are of
two kinds ; one where the female dies the same season in which she is

* [The acoompliflhed entomologist, Francis Walker, Esq., believes the species here
referred to, to be the * Brown-tail' moth {Portkisia chrysorrhaa).]

* [Paper Mulberry (Brticea papyrifera),']

3 [Hunt. Prep. No. 3043, shows the eggs of a Hawk-moth (Sm^nfkus) attached
to a leaf]

OF INSECTS, 225

hatched, as in the silk-worm ; the other where she lives through the
winter following her heing hatched, and in the summer lays her eggs
and dies ; as I fancy is the ease with most flies.

[The same idea differ endy expressed,'] — ^Insects which lay their eggs
in one season, which eggs do not hatch till the year following, I suspect
are only annual, or liye only that season; such as the silk-worm
[Bomhyai], black-beetle [Geotrwpes], But insects, whose eggs are laid
and hatched the same season, must live in two seasons ; at least they
must hve one winter.

[Tlie same idea differently expressed,'] — I have an idea that all insects
which lay their eggs in the autumn, to keep through the winter, to be
hatched the next summer, and which therefore were themselves hatched
that summer, such as the silk- worm, die themselves in that autumn ;
but that those which lay their eggs in the summer to be hatched in the
same simmier, have the young of those eggs living through the winter to
lay ^gs next summer, as their parent did ; and probably they them-
selves die in that autumn \

The males of some species of insects live through the winter, while
the males of other species die in the autumn of the same summer in
which they were bred.

In the history of most insects there is a chasm which is with difSiculty
made out ; but probably this is only in the insects of those countries
that have great variety in their seasons; therefore such insects as
become inactive in cold weather, and have not provided for themselves,
as bees do, become obscure ia that season. [The history of] those which
do not live above one season is also obscure, for it is not always known
when they die. The history of the silk-moth, which is of this kind, is
probably the best ascertained, because it can be domesticated ; and I
think we have reason to believe that all moths are of this kind [a like
nature]. But what becomes of many flies, and of all of the bee-tribe,
excepting the common bee, is what I do not know^.

AU of the flying class of insects make a complete history of themselves
every year ; so that at any one period of the year their history may be
begun, for it will be completed by the year following at the same period ;
for, although some live only the season they are produced in, such as
the silk-moth, yet the period of the life of their eggs joined with their

1 [The three modes of stating the same proposition are here retained as exemplifying
the pains which Hunter took to record his observations and conclusions with ac-
curacy. He never could have destined such records to indlBcriminate destruction.]

2 [This may have been penned before the observations on the wasp, hornet, and
humble-bee had been completed.]

Q

226 GBNERATION

own, completes the jear. And although some of the females in the
bee-trihe liye sixteen or seventeen months, jet a complete history of
them is to be formed in one year. How fiur the common bee lives
longer than one year, I do not know ; if they do, then it is only a con-
tinuance or repetition of thor last actions of perfection, vis. propagation,
and the few months they live longer than the year is only a continua-
tion of these acts, which they completely peifonned within the twelve
months.

Some insects are ^;gs, maggot, chiysaUs and fly in the same season,
as the common bee, wasp, hornet, hnmble-bee, common fly, &c. Others
are only egg and maggot in the same season, as the privet-moth, some
bees, some wasps which are a cbrysalis through the whole winter, and
fly the next summer. Others, again, are egg one season, [and are]
maggot, insect and fly the next ; as the silk-worm, cockchafer, &c.

Some insects appear to have three stages of life — ^the state in the eg^,
or of the foetus ; the worm-state ; the chrysalis, and the fly-state. It
is very probable that all those insects which form what is called the
* nymph,' * chrysalis,' ^., are of this dass.

I believe the maggot never changes its skin till it is going to form
itself into a chrysalis, so that the skin grows with the animal ; and it
is probably not of the scarf-skin kind, but like Ihe skin of the snail,
earthworm, <kc.

Caterpillars change Iheir skin several times before they go into the
chrysalis state. I believe their skin is to be considered as a kind of
cntide or hom^, therefore it does not grow after a certain period.

Two-fold Birth of Flying Insects,

Animals of this dass have two births, or may be said to have two
conceptions; one from the egg, the other from the chrysalis. The
exact parts formed in eadi state are not as yet known'. One would
naturally suppose that all the vital parts were formed in the first
stage, and the wings, limbs, &c. in the second: the first stage brought
all the vital parts to their full suse ; and as the insect must have an
addition of parts, or become another animal, it must lie dormant till
such parts are formed. If this had not been the case, then they must
have been obliged to change their coats or skin as they grew ; like the
lobsters, &c.

^ [liodem diemistry has shown it to be a peculiar substance called 'chitine/-
Lectures on InTertebrate AniTnals, 8to. 1855, p. d49.]
' See Herold's * Entwickelungeschichte des SchmetterlingB^' fol. 1835.

OP INSECTS. 227

Loose Notes and Queries on Inseci-metamorphosis.

The ma^;ot or cateipillar changing in every part, losing the old, and
forming new oat of the same materials, may illustrate the changes that
take place in the matter of other animals. It may explain the change
from cartilage to bone ; but, probably better, the changes that take place
in newly-formed parts.

The grub, maggot or caterpillar [of an insect] may be reckoned more
simple than when [it becomes] a fly ; at least they are more simple in
their parts of digestion, having hardly any intestine; which would
incline one to suppose that an increase of parts, which of course produces
an increase of action, requires an increase of intestine or digestive
powers.

In insects, do the brain and nerves change equally with the other
parts of the body? or does the same construction of brain, and identically
the same nerves, answer two purposes^ ?

When an insect forms itself into the perfect state in its pod, it cannot
live long in that situation, for then it is a perfect animal, and immedi-
ately requires food, l^erefore such insects as enclose themselves in the
autumn, to live in that pod through the winter, lie dormant in the
ma^ot or caterpilleur-state till the spring or summer before they change
into the fly.

Relation of generative Parts to Grade of Species.

The parts of generation in the more imperfect animals increase in size
almost ia proportion to their imperfect grade, so that the most imperfect
are almost wholly genitals, as the polypus and tapeworm.

Loose Notes and Queries on Generation.

Is not the circumstance of mules not breeding a strong presumption
that generation is performed by a mixture of perfect seed belonging to
both sexes, and not dependent on one only ? It shows that the seed of
two different perfect animals cannot produce a perfect animal ; owing,
we may suppose, to that produce not being capable of producing perfect
seed.

^ Had Hunter b^n acquainted with the great work of Lyonnet, 'Traits ana-
tomique de la Chenille que ronge le Bois de Saole/ 4to. 1762, he would have found
therein the answer to his question. See the abridged results of Lyonnet's and later
investigations of this Interesting subject in my * Lectures oh Inyertebrata,' ed. cit.,
p. 369-366.

a2

228 GENERATION.

The o£&priiig being like both father and mother^ shows that both
sexes are concerned ; that is, both have a share in the thing produced ;
but why the ofispring is sometinies more like the one than the other
parent is not yet understood. Why are twins more like one another in
bodily appearance than other children of the same parents ?

Influence of the male on the gestation of the female, in sexes of

different species or varieties.

On September the 24th, 1782, 1 had my heifer, which was then only
sixteen months old, bulled by a small bufSedo belonging to the Marquis
of Rockingham. In the month of June, 1783, she was letting down her
udder very £Eu»t, also her bearing [vulya] was becoming large and loose,
so that I expected she would calve at about the usual time, viz. nine
months from the copulation, which would have been about the 24th of
June. About this time the udder was become extremely hard, and she
was expected to calve every day ; but she went on tiU the 10th of July,
viz. sixteen days longer than common. By the time she had gone ten
days over the usual reckoning, the udder was become so turgid and so
hard that it appeared like the effects of inflammation, and appeared to
be very painful. She could hardly walk or move her hind legs ; the
udder, either from size, pain, or both, interfered so much with their
motion.

As I had thought it probable that the buffalo -kind might either go a
longer or shorter time than the cow, and as mine had exceeded her time
ten or twelve days, I did now conceive that the buffisdo went longer
[with calf], and that my heifer was dividing the time of her gestation
between that of the cow and of the buffalo. But as the operations of
the udder did not correspond with those of the calf and uterus as to
time, I began to suppose that the operations [or constitution] of the
calf directed those of the uterus, whilst the udder was directed by the
natural and original operations [or constitution] of the cow. Having
formed those ideas from the circumstances attending the present case,
I ordered the cow to be milked, and about a quart was taken away the
first time, and she was milked twice a day till she calved. However,
this was not sufficient to stop inflammation, and she was like to lose
one pap.

Relation of size of offspring to number produced and mode of

development.

The [new-bom] young of animals do not always bear the same size
in proportion with that of the parent. This, in some degree, depends

K£LATION OF NUMBER TO SIZE OF OFFSPRING. 229

on number, and probably wholly so ; bat of this I am not certain. When
we compare the foal with its mother^ we do not find that disproportion
which exists between one pig and its mother, .or one puppy and the
bitch. How far taking the whole litter together, as one, will bear the
same proportion to the mother that the foal does to its mother, I do
not know.

In the quadruped this relation, probably, varies the least of any ; for
if [the proportion be considered which] the whole litter bears to the
mother, then the variation is in common about one to ten or twelve.

In other classes of animals which are oviparous, there is probably
not that necessity for such nicety [in this relation] ; yet, where they
hatch their yoiing, some proportion as to size must exist between the
parent and generative product ; for it must be always within the power
of the parent to cover the eggs. However, even in this there is great
variety, from the dove-kind, which only lay two, to the wren, partridge,
&c., which lay sixteen. Here the bird would appear to be upon the
same footing [as the beast].

But when we come to still inferior classes of animals, we find the
relative size of the ofi&piing to the parent to be much less. For instance,
of a turtle ICIielone] above 200 pounds weight, the egg shall not be larger
than that of a hen weighing only six or seven pounds. But then the
turtle lays some himdreds of eggs, while the hen only lays from sixteen
to twenty at most. The same, I should suppose, may be said of the
crocodile : however, not of all of that class of animals ; for in some
Hzards, as the * savage of the woods' [_Thec(idaetylu8 hjBvUY, 1 never
saw but two eggs in the abdomen ; and in the viviparous snakes they
are upon the same footing [as regards number of young] with those
ftTiiTY^ftlfi which are more immediately connected with the nourishing,
hatching, <fec. of their young.

The same observations are applicable to fishes ; for those which are
viviparous {Spinaof, Scoliodon, Torpedo] have the fewest young : those
which hatch, as the guard-fish [Syngnatkus], the next ; and the common
fish, as the salmon, <&;c., the most of all ; and, in the same order, the
single young or egg bears a smaller proportionate size to the parent.

In the insect class, those which take care of their eggs or young, and
have no assistance, have the fewest young ; such I believe to be the
case with some beetles, as the black-beetle IGeotrupe^], some of the
bee- tribe which have no assistance [i, e. no neuters or nurses], the
wasp-tribe.

These facts show us why the young of many animals are so small.

[Hunt. Prep. No. 3332.]

230 6ENKRATIOK.

although the parent ia laige, and rendan the eramhiattim ai anch
yoong 80 difionlt. Thna it ia toj dHB^ilt to wMmiiw Hie pecohaiitiea
of the foBtoa of a tnitley alligator, ftc'

Of the different froportiom thai Afferent parte hear to the whale m

Young AmmaUf compared with the Old.

The legs of young MiimalR aie much laiger in proportion to the size
of the body than in the adult ; and many which seem to be amved at
their foil growth, yet retain a d^;ree €i dnmaineas in many parts :
these remarks are yery obseryable in the feathered tribes.

Of the Breast.

The breast of the female is covered by the troe skin everywhere ex-
cepting roond the nipple. The skin here is thinner, and seems to haye
more of the rete-mucoeom under it. The cutis is redder, owing to a
greater nnmber of yessels at this part.

This is but little obseryable in children ; but, as they advance in age,
it becomes broader and broader, as if pushing from the nipple as from a
centre, until they attain puberty, and then it seems to be at a stand. As
it advances in breadth it hei^tens in colour, till it is of a fine crimson.

This ' areola' and other circumstances form the fuU bloom of virginity ;
but, when impregnated, and approaching, Kke the flower, to seed, the
areola changes to a dark diriy brown, and becomes considerably broader.
The change in colour is prindpaUy owing to the addition of rete-muco-
sum, which, becoming thicker here than in other parts, and the cuticle
being thinner, it becomes more viedble.'

Upon this part of the breast and on the point of the nipple, there are
placed a great many small glands. Th^ appear yery plainly upon the
areola, making little risings. Those on the point of the nipple are not
to be observed but by the mucus that can be squeezed out of tiiem, being
yerj different from the milk ; and the same with the mucus of the
others, and the orifices leading no farther than the nipple itself. These
glands are more evident after impr^nation. The thickening of the rete-
muoosum, and the discharge from these glands, will hinder any mischief
that might arise from tiie child's gums and lips.

The cuticle part of the breast separates much sooner from this than
any other, owing, perhaps, to the thickness of the rete-mucosum, as it
is principally dissolved when the two skins separate, and the thicker it
is the easier wiU the water insinuate itself.

— -■■■■■■ ■»■■■■ ■ ■■ ■- ■ ■» ■ »— ■■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■ ■■■■— ^^,B I ^— ^^^M^^^^M ■ ■ ■■»■■■■■ ■ ■»■■»■■■ ■■

1 [Which, neyertheless, Hunter had attempted, as shown in his preparations, Nos.
3357-3360, 3363-3374.]

LACT£AL OROANS AND SECRETION. 231

In the nipple of many animalfl there is an elective power^ which takes
place only upon external stunulus ; which erection straightens the dncts,
and allows ihe milk to flow. There is also a sphincter mnsde at the
mouth of each dnct, which, like other sphincters^is always acting, except-
ing when the milk is to flow. How £eu* this sphincter is universal I do
not know, but it is evident m those of laige animals, as the cow, mare,
&c. The relaxation of this sphincter does not arise from any natural action
taking place in another part, like the sphincter ani relaxing from the
stimulus of the feeces with the action of ihe rectum, but from a stimidus
being applied to the external surface, which becomes the natural stimulus
in this case. This stimidus is the mouth of the young, which, by its
application to the ext^nal surface, causes the sphincter to relax ; and by
suction and external pressure, the milk is drawn and squeezed out, but
principally by the last.

It is imagined by dairy maids that the cow has a power of keeping
up, or letting down, her milk. That the milk does not flow so readily
at first, when a calf is taken from a cow, as it does afterwards, I believe
is true ; but I believe that this arises from the maid's hand being anew
and different stimulus from that of the mouth of the calf; and, there-
fore, till the nipple becomes accustomed to it, ilie sphincter does not so
readily relax.

The oil in the milk is formed by the action of the breast. It is not a
straining off of the oil of the body ; for if it was, then the oH in the milk of
every animal would be of the nature of the oil of the animal, which it is
not. The milk would seem to be made up nearly of all the different parts
of the blood ; yet something is wanting, for the blood coagulates sponta-
neously, but the milk does not. However, when mixed with what is
called ' rennet,' or with a solution of alum, or with an add, it coagulates;
then it is like blood.

The milk of animals differing according to the different sorts of
animal, and also differing according to the state of constitution of the
same animal, would show that milk is not simply the chyle ; or else we
must suppose that the chyles differ according to the above differences,
which we cannot admit. It is the same let the food be animal or vege-
table ; and, if so, then it comes to the same thing whether you place
this sugar-making power in the stomach, intestines, or breast ; but as
we do not find any such thing in the juice of the stomach or in the
digestive product which has got into the intestines, we have no reason
to suppose any. It is much more natural to suppose that tins [saccharine]
property is given to the milk in the breast ; and tins is not done by a
fermentation in the nulk, for no animal juices of themselves will enter
into such fermentation ; but it must arise from a power in the breast to

232 GENERATION.

separate sach parts from the blood as constitute a new or saccharine
combination.

The milky being sweet and producing sugary would seem to show that
it went through the saccharine fermentation^ and that its becoming sour
is owing to this sugar.

Milky while in the breast of animals, either separates into its cream
and milk, or else it is very thick when secreted ; for in cows, &c., when
it has been long retained in the udder, the lowermost, or that which
comes first, is the thinnest, and the veiy last of all is very thick and
almost cream. Now this is most Kkely from [the milk's] standing;
because, if a cow is almost continually milked, the milk m veiy thin.

Whatever is secreted from, the breast during the time of gestation is
generally called ' milk ;' but it differs in almost all its peculiar proper-
ties from that fluid, first, it is not white, but of a greenish or yellow
colour, often a mixture of both, has no sugar, is strongly impregnated
with the neutral salts, does not coagulate with rennet or adds, but coagu-
lates with heat like serum, and is much thicker in consistence. From
this it would appear that wh^o. the vessels in the breast are preparing
themselves for the secretion of milk, they are in some degree in a state
of inflammation, or something similar to it ; first, as it were filtering
off the parts of the blood with but little alteration, as in the first forma-
tion of pus ; but as this inflammation goes off, they are preparing for the
true secretion, as in abscess, &c. However, it cannot entirely be a
straining off of the serum, because there are much more of the salts in this
fluid at this time than the serum of the blood contains at that time; there-
fore there is a peculiar power in the vessels of the part to separate these
salts, as must be the case in the lacrymal gland of the eye.

Milk, when collected in the breast, ^., and not drawn off, but a cer-
tain quantity constantly confined, so as in some measure to distend the
ducts, gives the stimidus of a non-secretion, or may be said to act as a
sedative ; but if the breast be emptied, and kept almost constantly so,
which is generally the case when the mother gives suck, then the
emptiness of the ducts gives the stimulus for secretion ; and the more it
is kept so, the more it secretes.

The secreting vessels of the milk are very much affected by the dispo-
sition of the animal for venery. I had a cow that often took the bull
without breeding. Every time she was a bulling her milk was bad,
and but little of it. This is observed by all cow-keepers ; but the reason
they give for the small quantity is '' that she will not give down her
milk."

Cream is an oil chemically combined with an animal substance, which
is specifically lighter than milk. It is composed of round bodies swimming

RELATION OF NIPPLES TO NUMBER OF OFFSPRING. 233

in the milk. This substance does not put on its globular figure because
it is oily^ and from oils having no attraction for water ; because if it was
simply so, as these globules came nearer to one another, they would
be attracted and run into one another till the whole oil became one
distinct part, which is not the case. Also, if this was the case, these
globules would be of different sizes, which they are not; they are
all of one size, whether they are brought near to each other, or are
much diffused in the milk. This combination would appear to answer
the purpose of bringing the oil into a middle state between oil and
water, so as to render it miscible with water. Motion destroys this
combination, and reduces the cream, or rather the oil of the cream, to a
substance called butter, which is perhaps the only process that brings
it to the state of oU. However, butter is not the simple oil ; it is still
combined with some of the animal substance, which induces it to cry-
stallize in a greater degree of heat than does the simple oil. Heat will
destroy this last combination entirely, and separate the oil from the
animal substaace with which it is combined ; the oily part runs into
common oil, and the animal part is coagulated into flakes.

Of the Situation of Nipples as related to the number of Young

produced.

All carnivorous animals have more than two or three at a birth ;
but only some of the graminivorous [have so many] ; Uierefore caroivo-
rous auiipals have a number of nipples along the [abdomen and] breast.
The graminivorous have commonly an udder only, which is placed on
the pelvis. The human subject has but two nipples placed on the
breast. It is said that the sea-horse (or rather mare) of AMca^ has
the nipples also upon the breast^.

There are three situations for the nipples of animals, viz. the breast,
the lower part of the belly or groin, and all along the breast and belly ^.

The first two situations are intended for those that have only one or
two young at a time, because the situation will not admit of many

1 [Hunter here alludes to the manatee, or sea-oow {Manatu;^ SeneffoleTms), which,
like the dugong, has two pectoral nipples: in the female hippopotamus now (1858)
living at the Zoological Gardens, London, the teats are two in number, small, round,
and inguinal in position.]

^ [The ape and monkey-tribe (QuadruTnana)^ the bat>tribe {Cheiroptera)^ and the
elephants, both African and Asiatic, besides the Sirenia above cited, have pectoral
mamm£e.]

' [Hunter has added a note of another position : — *^ The ass has two nipples : they
are placed upon the prepuce, almost close to the opening. The same in the mare
and zebra."]

2S4 OSHBRATIOH.

nipples. The kit is &r tiboee tiiat wan intoided to hsve many, so that
from aedng the atoation of the nipples of animals in genenly we may
jodgo whether thej haye one or more jcmng at a birth; but this is not
an absdnte role, tor the goinea'-pig has only two ni|qilesy iduch are
at the nnder part of the belly, arising from a flat breast, and she has
generally foor, five, or six at a births

Query, On the SueUmg of ike Wimk^ribe.

How does the yoong porpoise or whale tfoxk the motber ? for in
whaterer position they are pnt respecting the maiace of the water,
that is, whether the mother has her back uppermost or undermost, the
nose of one must be under water. The only way I oonoeiYe that they
possibly can sock is by their having a turning motion, so that the back
of mother and young shall come up alternately*.

Of the Effects that Castration and Spaying have upon Animals.

In all animals we are acquainted with, we see ^aAangnialiiiig niaiks
between the male and the female, ezdusiye of the parts peculiar to
eacb. The males are generally strongest made, more compact, bony
and muscular, although not always the laigest, and the parts made for
offence and defence are much stronger and fitter for such purposes. In
many of the feathered class the male has parts fer such purposes pecu-
liar to himself, fer instance, the spurs of the common cock. The male
has a d^;ree of irresistible dignity superior to the female. The natural
covering, whether it be hairs, feathers, or peihaps scales, as in fishes,
are more in quantity, or more beantifhl, especially in the feaibered class.
The mind,like the body,has a superiority; as the body is capableof greater
execution, so the mind seems to be conscious of the superiority that the

^ [TliewiMcBT7orapcraft(C0t»aiEpenBa,Iiiiii,BflDn^
and then has bat one or two young ; domestication and an abundance of food exceed-
uig tbat to be obtained, and with much more risk and labour, in the wild state, hare
in c r e as e d Uie powers of propagation beyond the natural limit, but have not led to
the derelopment of additional nipples.]

^ [Th^ have been obeeryed to lie on the side, with the hind-part of the body a
little twisted upward, so as to expose Uie mamma of one side. — ^Wm. OLnnr. The
mammaiy gland in Uie whale-tribe has a large re s e rv o ir, and is ooYered bj a strong
mnsde. A quantity of milk may be iiyected firam the lacteal reservcnr down tlie
throat of the young animal, the larynx of which is defended by its peculiar form and
connexion with the soft palate. There is a similar mechanism of the larynx in the
mammary foetus of the kangaroo, and the mammary gland in that animal is sur-
rounded by a muscle for the purpose of injecting tbe milk down the throat of the
prematurely bom oi&pring. See Animal Economy, p. 392, and note. — ^R. O.]

CASTRATION. 285

body has, by which means its views beoome more extensiTe ; and thence
it may be said that ' Conscience makes heroes of them all/ Whether
this saperiority of mind be an original formation^ or be dependent on
this consciousness of the superior strength of body^ I will not pretend
to say ; but it is most likely an original formation of the mind, but which
is capable of being improved or increased by this consciousness.

The testes in the male and ovaria in the female are not only employed
themselves and influence other parts in simple generation, but they
influence the whole body and also the mind. This is only known by oh*
serving the difference between those animals that are allowed to keep
their testes or ovaria, and those that are deprived of them. The males
naturally incline as they grow (from the time they lose their testes)
into the shape, &c. of the female of the same species, except that they
do not lose the other genital parts peculiar to them, which however do
not become so large as they otherwise would have done. They not
only grow like the female ; but, especially if deprived of the testes
when very young, they exceed her in many particulars ; for, to what-
ever degree the male has advanced in that shape that is peculiar to him,
he keeps it after the testes are removed, and advances no furth^ in
that course. And if the male has arrived at full age before the testes
are removed, he remains nearly in that state, and does Hot fiall back into
the female [state or form]. But, as the body becomes weaker, or rather
does not grow so strong as it would have done in the perfect male state,
and as the partB of offence and defence do not grow at all (as we shall
see hereafter), the mind becomes suitable to such condition, and the
castrated becomes of a milder disposition than he otherwise would have
been, and indeed more so than the female. The desire for offence is
much less, and the instinct for defence is soon overcome ; so that a great
degree of cowardice results.

This, however, is only in those animals which do not prey upon others
for their food. Those that do so have the addition of the parts which
serve for such purposes, and they retain the desire to use them. For
example, a puppy that is castrated does not continue mild, nor does a
kitten, because they are ferocious from the first. This is agreeable to
. our universal principle ; for the females of such [beasts] as have destruc-
tive parts and corresponding dispositions, differ from the males in fewer
circumstances, and of course the castrated male differs less from the un-
castrated [than we find in herbivorous animals].

In the human species the shape of the whole body is altered, or rather
takes another form, whenever the male is deprived of the testes. He
becomes larger in his. body ; a greater quantity of fat is spread over the
suiface of the body under the skin. The muscles do not swell so much.

236 GENERATION.

which produces softness and delicacy of look. The hair on the hce
does not grow, nor is that which is over many parts of ihe hody so thick
or so strong. His shoulders do not project, or spread out so broadly.
The hips become wider, and the thighs thicker with fat, in proportion
to ihe other parts of the body, especially about the knees ; from the knee
to the thickest part of the calf, ihe leg becomes smaller, and of course
from the calf to the ankle, so that the thigh and leg form a pretty
regular cone with the base uppermost, much more so than in the perfect
male. The voice continues soft and sweet, does not break at the time
of puberty, but continues pretty strong. The perfect male does not
grow so fast as the female, nor does the female grow so fast as Uie cas-
trated male.

Other male animals, when deprived of their testes, have the same
principle for alteration in the form of body, viz. a general declining off
from the perfect male towards the shape, <&c. of the female. For
example, the buU is in general smaller than the cow. His horns are
short ; his face is broad, and covered with curly hair. The neck is
thick, short, and broad, strong before, and deep in the chest. The cow
is the reverse of all this. A bull-calf, if castrated when young, becomes
still larger than the cow, the horns grow much longer, his face becomes
narrower, and there is no long hair upon it ; the neck does not grow
thick, nor is it so deep in the chest.

The horse differs from the mare in his head being larger; his forehead is
broader ; his eyes larger, or he opens his eyelids more so as to expose more
of the white, which gives him a more lively and fierce look ; his nostrils
are wider ; his neck is thicker and more curved ; his breast is broader,
and is strongly made before, but is thin behind. The mare has none of
these properties. A foal, if gelt when young, loses a disposition for
such shapes, and therefore grows up like a mare ; his head, neck, and
fore parts are smaller, and his hind parts are broader and thicker than
they otherwise would have been.

The stag is the animal that well exemplifies what we have been ad-
vancing, a;9 he undergoes the same changes in common with other
animals, and he has also, in some parts, annual changes while he is
growing ; and he continues these changes after he has arrived at his .
fall growth ; which changes entirely depend upon the testes.

The stag has horns ; the hind has none. These horns in the stag
are changed every year, the old ones falling off, and new ones supplying
their places. For the first four years each new pair is larger and more
complete than the former ; and whilst the horns are growing, either
before the first four years, or in any year after, they go through several
stages before they are complete and fit to drop. If a young fawn be

CASTRATION. 237

castrated these homs/'will never grow, in which he becomes similar to
the doe^

In the dissection of a spayed sow the vagina was very small, was
thin in its coats, and pale. The rogee were very faint, became smaller
and smaller upwards, and at last terminated in a blind point. This
shows that in spaying they cut off the horns of the uterus, or rather
the whole of the uterus.

It is hardly possible to fatten a boar. A bull has not nearly the
same fat as a cow or an ox. The perfect female is not so easily fattened
as a spayed one, excepting she be with young. In the castrated state
the mind is perfectly at ease, and accumulation takes place ; for when-
ever an animal, whether male or female, arrives at a certain degree of
health and strength, their mind or constitution is immediately turned
upon venery ; in the male sooner than in the female ; therefore she
fattens more. A castrated and a spayed animal seem both to be in the
same state with regard to the animal economy.

The following I had from Mr. Hutchins [collar-maker], who kills
and disposes of from two to three hundred horses in a year. A stone-
horse has but very little fat in comparison with a gelding or a mare.
The fat of a stone-horse is not so solid as that of a gelding or mare,
and is mostly dif^ised ; but the fat of a gelding is mostly on the out-
side under the skin, whilst that of a mare is mostly in the abdomen.

Case of the Testes not producing their Influence on the Constitution.

A man, 27 years of age, came into St. George's Hospital with a sore
leg. While in the hospital it was discovered that his testes were very
small and soft. I examined them and found them as related to me.
I then asked him the following questions : — First, whether they had
ever been larger ? His answer was they never had. Secondly, if ever
he had any desire for a woman ? Answer : he never had. Thirdly, if
ever he had an erection ? Answer : he never had. Fourthly, if he
played with or touched the end of the penis, if it ever gave him any
pleasing sensation ? His answer was, it never did more than any other
part.

^ [If this be meant for the fallow-deer {Cervm Damd)^ it is not a constant se-
quence. In a male fawn from which the testes, but not the spermatic chords, were
remoTed, antlers were developed and shed annually ; but the j were smaller and were
retained longer than in the perfect buck. See my Osteological Catalogue, Mus.
Coll. of Surgeons, 4to. 1853, p. 590. No. 3559. " Antlers shed by the above * hevier '
when he was five years old, in Oulton Park, Cheshire : presented by Sir Philip de
M. Grey Egerton, Bart., M.P."]

288 GENERATION .

On examining his beard, it was only a kind of down, with some
stronger short hairs in those places where we find them in lads, or
women who have a beard ; viz. principally on the upper lip, and a few
on the chin longer and straggling; nor had he hair on any pert of his
body where men commonly have. The hair on the pubis was as it
commonly is»

From the above facts it would appear that the testes had neyer pro*
dnced their effiBcts on the constitution ; and that so far he was to be
considered an eunuch. He looked older than 27. However, he did
not look like a woman, nor had he the make of one. As the hair on
the pubis is common to both sexes, it was expected to be there as it
commonly is.

Enlargemmt of the Breasts in the Male,

Those cases of hermaphroditical monster in the human body, cha-
racterized by an increase of the size of one or both breasts, are usnaUj
seen about the age of puberty, although not always. It is generally
attended with considerable pain at first, but this afterwards goes off.
Mr. Cadell's son was a strong instance of this pain. His breasts vary
as to size, being sometimes larger than at others.

[Hunter then gives brief notes of five other cases of enlargement of
one breast, in men, from sixteen to twenty-seven years of age, observed
by him between the years 1784 and 1790; and finally dtes the
following : — ]

Extract of a curious case from Gumana, published and properly authen-
ticated by M. Naverrete, Treasurer to the Army and Beceiver-
Oeneral to the Boyal Finances, <fec.

*' Mr. Anthony Lozana, a native of Pamplieya in the diocese of the
Archbishop of Surges, formerly servant Commissioner to the Convent
of St. Francis, and now a schoolmaster among the Indians in the
Canton of Arenas, Tributaries of St. Ferdinand, aged 50, of a middle
size, temperamooLt cachectic, between phlegmatic and biUous, soft fibre
and flesh delicate, like women ; feeble voice ; few hairs in his beard,
and none at all on his breast, with weak eyes ; was married to Leonora
Maiia Parejo, who, fourteen years ago [t. e. from the date of this
Memoir], brought forth twins, the one male, the other female. To
soothe the cries of the male child, the father used to apply his left nipple
to the infant's mouth, who sucked and drew milk from it in such
quantity as to be nursed by it in perfect good health. He treated all
his other children, eight in number and all alive, in the same way,
dividing with his wife the business of nursing the children, and

ON MONSTERS. 289

taking care of their domestic concerns. But^ what is very remarkable
is, that, ever since, he has had a constant flow of milk from the left
nipple, whereas in women it always ceases soon after they give up
nursing.

^^ The man has been subjected to various trials, and examined very
accurately by Messrs. Castallar and CabaUero, physicians and surgeons
to the army. His genitals were particularly inspected, but there was
not the least appearance of his being an hermaphrodite, or of any
difference £rom other men. The lymphatics, blood-vessels and con-
glomerate glands of his nipple presented the same appearance which
they do in women. The fisither himself remarks that his nipples were
more turgid, and that ihe flow of milk was more copious, of a whiter
colour and thinner, when he suckled his first child than at the time of
his examination ; that at the same time all natural excretions were
much diminished, especially the sweat, to which he was much subject
before ; and that he had not the least appetite for venery for several
months after. On Hhe 4th of ^arch, 1786, in the city of Cumana,
before the commandant of the town. Colonel Lascanotegui and the
Lieut.*General Bailets, and several others, Mr. Lozana filled a spoon
with the milk of the left breast, which was of a yellowish colour ; and
he drew a small quantity from the right nipple."

ON MONSTERS.

Iwtroduetion. — ^Nature being pretty constant in the kind and number
of the different parts peculiar to each species of animal, as also in the
situation, formation, and construction of such parts, we call everything
that deviates from that uniformity a ^ monster,' whether [it occur in]
crystallization, vegetation, or animalization. There must be some
principle for those deviations from the regular course of Nature, in the
economy of such species as they occur in. In the present inquiry it
is the animal creation I mean to consider. Tet, as there may be in
some degree an analogy between aU the three [kingdoms of Nature], I
shall consider the other two so far as this analogy seems to take place.

As every animal is formed from a portion of animal matter endowed
with life and actions, being either so arranged in itself as only to
require new matter for it to expand itself according to the principle
inherent in itself, — as in all animals produced from semen, deposited
either in a womb or an egg, or where any portion of an animal shall,
out of itself, produce an animal similar to itself, as in the polypus, —

240 GENERATION.

these first arrangements go on expanding the animal according to the
first principles arising ont of them\

Whether Uie principle of monstrosity be coeval with the first arrange-
ment, or arise in the progress of expansion, is not easily determined in
many [instances of monstrosity] ; but it is certainly not the case in all ;
for many take place at a late period, and would seem to be owing
to accident, or to some immediate impression ; but still there must be a
susceptibility for such, which susceptibility must be original.

Most preternatural formations of the body which a monster is bom
with, arise, I should imagine, out of a defect in the first arrangement
of the original matter. However, it may be possible that accident in
the womb or egg^, or a defect taking place there, might be a means of
producing a double part, or might hinder a part from forming altogether,
or [might cause] even a preternatural formation. Probably Monstrosity
might be reduced to the same principle as that of accidental injury,
from which the parts cannot recover perfectly, but recover defectively
or with deformity.

In animals, it may be a question whether monsters of all kinds are
as common to them in a state of nature as they are in the cultivated
state. I should suspect not. This we are certain of, that so far as
size, shape, colour, peculiarity in the coverings, modes of defence, [<&c.
are concerned, these] are all varied from the natural state by cultiva-
tion. This is shown every day in domestic animals.

Monsters are not peculiar to animals: they are less so in them,
perhaps, than in any species of matter. The vegetable [kingdom]
abounds with monsters; and perhaps the uncommon formation of
many crystals may be brought within the same species of production,
and accounted for upon the same principle, viz. some influence inter-
fering with the established law of regular formation.

Monsters in Crystals,

Monsters in crystals may arise from the same cause, as mentioned
in the * Introduction ;' viz. either a wrong arrangement of the parts of
which the crystal is to be composed, or a defect in the formation, from.

^ [Paraphrase. Every animal is formed from a portion df animal matter endowed
with life and actions, which is either produced from semen deposited in an ^gg, or
from a part, or bud, of the parents' body, haying in both cases a power of expansion
if due material be supplied, and expanding according to the original principle of
growth peculiar to the species.]

2 [Geoffrey St. Hilaire is said to hare made monsters by ooyering part of an egg
with a'layer impenetrable to the atmosphere during its incubation.]

MONSTERS IN VEGETABLES. 241

the first setting out being wrong, and [the formation] going on in the
same [wrong] line. The principle of crystallization is in the solution ;
yet it requires more to set it a going, or into action, such, e, g., as a
solid surface. The deficiency in the production of a true crystal may
be in the solution itself; or, I can conceive, that a very slight circum-
stance might alter the form of a crystal, and even give the disposition
for one [crystal] to form upon another. Quickness in the progress of
crystallization produces irregularity and diminution in size. Crystalli-
zation, moreover, arises out of the property of the parts to compose the
crystal, and the effect is more similar to art than the increase of either
a vegetable or animal.

Monsters in Vegetables,

The formation of a vegetable is, in its manner, very different from
that of a crystal, although somewhat similar in effect. It takes its
rise from a peculiar modification of matter, having a power of action
within itself, capable of changing matter into its own kind, and dis-
posing it for the increase. But the increase is somewhat similar to that
of the crystal", for it is laid on the outside of the part already formed,
increasing the size of the whole both in thickness and length, but prin-
cipally the last.

In the vegetable Nature has not been so attentive to the constant
imiformity in the formation, situation, and construction of parts, as in
the animal ; and therefore such variety is more frequent than in the
animal. Perhaps there are few vegetables but have something of
a variety in them, because they are bound to no regularity in the num-
ber of their parts : but they are pretty perfect with respect to the bad
form of their parts^ ; the parts, whether supernumerary or not, being
pretty perfect in their form : for, in vegetables, an exact uniformity
was not wanted ; because all the parts have nearly the same use, which
is not the case with animals. Each part in an animal has a use
appropriated to itself; from which [circumstance] supernumerary parts
become of no use, and deficiency is an evil.

The frequency of this variation in vegetables seems to arise from a
vegetable being at all times under the influence of that principle which
is capable of producing a variety when the immediate cause is present ;
for this principle exists as long as a vegetable has the power of forming
a new part, which is as long as it grows ; because a vegetable can, and
is always producing new parts. For besides the growth of the new

^ [Meaning that they are less subject to malformation, than to abnormal number,
of parts.]

242 GENERATION.

matter on the end of an old branchy or that of new branches, there is
every year a layer of new wood laid upon the outside of the former
wood. This new layer, when forming, has the power of producing a
new part, and never afterwards. Cut off a branch, and you will find
that the new layer forming round the cut surface receives a stimulus
arising from the want of power to continue this part of the tree,
which stimulus produces a new branch or branches. But an originally
formed part never produces a monster or a new branch ; we never see
a monster or branch arise from the cut surface of an already formed
part of a vegetable. In a vegetable it is always in the production of a
new part, not in the growth of the old, that monsters rise up. If a
vegetable meets with an accident which interferes with the natural
growth, it then forms itself into another growth. If a natural branch
decays, or is destroyed, two or three shall arise in its place, all of
which are so many monsters ; and we may observe that they are similar
to the other parts of the tree from which they arise. If it is in the
root, a new root is formed ; the same of a branch. They are only
supernumerary parts ; and this aiises from a vegetable consisting only
of two parts, the old and the new ; the one only a repetition of the
other ; which is not the case with many animals that admit of mon-

Many plants have a deficiency in their shoots. Hence a vegetable
can be made to grow of a very different shape from that which it would
have done naturally. A taU thin tree can be made to grow short, thick,
and bushy, and vi^^ versd; but, still each new supernumerary part
attains the character of the tree and produces the same seed.

The great principle of monstrosity in a vegetable relates to the con-
stant property of forming new and similar parts, and to a stop being
put to, or a violence committed to, the natural growth of one of these

parts.

Monsters in Animals.

As there are monsters in animals, let us see how far they are or are
not reducible to the same principle as in minerals and vegetables. The
first formation and growth of these are not similar to each other ; how-
ever, the vegetable and animal have the closest analogy^.

I have observed that a crystal forms and increases according to the
nature of the parts of which it is to be composed ; and this is common
to all kinds of earth : but I observed that a vegetable is formed of a
peculiar modification of matter, and that common matter must be first
modified by the actions of the vegetable itself; and this matter is dis-

^ [Hence the present received division of Nature into the Organic and Inorganic
Kingdoms.]

MONSTERS IN ANIMALS. 243

posed on the external surface of the vegetable ; in effect, similar to the
crystal ; so that the vegetable works up itself. Animal growth is so
far similar in being [seated in] matter of its own, formed so by the
animal itself, and disposed of by it : not by accretion as in the crystal ;
nor by disposing its own materials on the outside as in the vegetable ;
but by an interstitial deposit of its own assimilated matter, by which
the whole is expanded.

An animal, like a vegetable, has a portion of its own matter so
arranged as to have the power of growth, and the first principle of
monstrosity may have taken place in this first arrangement ; and what
makes this very probable is, that most of the monsters are formed as
early as we can observe any formation. However, this is not always
the case ; therefore we have monsters before birth and after ; which I
shall consider further.

Monsters before Birth.

The first class of monsters in fl-niTnala are those that are bom so. Now
let us inquire in what respect is an animal, some time before birth,
similar to a vegetable, or to the parts of animals which have the power
of regeneration after birth. We are to consider, first, that the life of an
animal, before birth, is very different from what it is after. This differ-
ence in the principle of life [before birth] comes much nearer to vege-
tation, and most probably the Airther back we go, this similitude is the
stronger. I fancy in this inquiry we must go as far back as the first
formation of the animal, when the majH;er is moving into different forms,
similar to the formation of a new layer or a new shoot in a vegetable ;
for in neither animal nor vegetable are the parts formed at once. A
vegetable is, at all times, similar to the first formation of an animal, or
to the new formation in a Hzard's tail. These [t. e. the growing branch
or regenerated tail] meeting with obstructions to their [proper] forms
readily admit of duplication ; but I believe seldom of more*

That it [the principle of monstrosity in animals] is as early as the
first formation, appears from the supernumerary part being almost
always placed with the natural or corresponding one ; viz. two heads
are always on the shoulders; four legs are always placed at the lower
part of the belly ; a supernumerary finger or toe is on the hand and
foot; <fec.*. Even in the hair, &c. the monstrosity is similar to the
original \

* This, howeyer, is not umyerflally the case, as I have a young duck with a foot
growing out of its head. [Hunt Prep. Series of Monsters, No. 31.]

^ [See also the subsequent 'loose note,' p. 251, for further illustration of this im-
portant principle.]

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MONSTERS IN ANIMALS. 245

Of Monstrosities after Birth,

These occur only in certain classes of animals, and in particnlar parts
of these cltu«es. Under what circumstances are these parts different
from other parts of the same animal ? Or, in what do they differ from
animals in general ? Or, in what respects are they similar to the vege-
table? These parts are such as, when removed, grow again. This
circimistance makes them different £rom every other part of the same
animal, and also from every other already formed animal ; and in this
respect they also differ from the vegetable*.

It is this property of new growth in these parts that gives them a
capability to form monsters in these parts, which they readily do : thus
wei see in a lizard, which, having lost its tail, has the power of gene-
rating a new one, that in such we often find a double tail, arising from
the broken part^ ; siuular to two or more branches arising from the edge
of the cut surface of a branch removed [from a tree]. Lizards therefore
have two or more chances or periods in which they can or may form a
monstrous tail ; for they have the first formation common to all animals,
which should be called the first growth ; and they have the accidental
causes of a new or second growth, all which are due exactly to the same
principle, viz. a new formation of a part. This, however, arises from
an obstruction to the formation of one tail only ; for, if the part which
is to form the tail be slit but a very little into two points, these will
form each a tail; so that an obstruction to the natural disposition
becomes the cause of another taking place. I have seen this disposition
so strong in the tail of the Hzard, that a wound on the side of the tail
has given the disposition for a young supernumerary tail to grow out of
the wound t*.

This sort of monstrosity does not take place in all the parts of animals

* It may be remarked that there is a difference in the setting out of the young
shoot. In the vegetable it is from the circamferenoe, or from the new forming parts ;
but in the animal it is from the cut end. This cut or broken end is exactly similar
to a bud which is elongating,

t It may be remarked that in those b'zards that have the power of regenerating
the tail, the tail is so constructed as to admit of a regular breaking off. The tail is
in regular rings, and readily breaks off at each ring, .and the muscles break off at
their origins and insertions, so that the broken end is very regular^. The separation
is so easily effected, that if a lizard be caught by the tail, it will leave it in your hand
by the strength of the animal only.

1 [Hunt. Preps. Phys. Series, Nos. 2219^223.]
« [Hunt Prep. ib. No. 2219.]
» [Ib. No. 2212.]

246 GENERATION.

which have the power of regeneration ; for the loheter which casts his
claw, does not produce monsters or donhle daws. I am not, however,
certain of this ^

Monsters hereditary. ^

Monsters, or the deviations from the common conrse, or what may be
called the original principles [types], in nature, hare in them an here-
ditary principle. We may first observe that animals, not monsters in
themselves, shall have the principle of producing monsters. I have seen
three ' spins bifidte ' in the children of one &mily : in another fisanily only
having two children, both these had very large exostoses. I have seen
two hair-lips in the children of the same parents. Dr. D. Pitcaim told
me that the two tallest men he had probably ever seen were twins.
They both came and enlisted themselves at Chatham in the train of
artillery. One was six feet seven and odd inches, the other six feet five
and odd inches : so tar they were similar as to size. I have seen two
watermen, twins, both stout men, and so like each other that there was
no knowing which was which. Hence it is reasonable to suppose there
was a disposition^ in the parents to beget such. We find, also, that
such monsters, once formed, have the principle of propagating their
monstrosity. Thus I have seen a lady who had a hair-lip, and had two
children bom with hair-lips. Lady H. P. was bom with a hair-lip :
she had a brother bom with the same, but who died when young ; and
her first child was bom with one. A cow was brought to London for
a show, which had a supemimierary leg upon the shoulder, which is a
very common monstrosity'; but the curious circumstance was, she had
a calf with the same monstrosity. Mr. Hudson, Apothecary in Ponton
Street, well known in the Botanical world, has a breed of cats without
taUs. The breed was first discovered in a farm-house in the country.
The owners of the farm had forgot how long the tail-less cats had been
there. Mr. Hudson has had several families of them, and the last
included a variety, some without tails, others with short tails, and others
with tails of a common length. It is more than probable that this
breed arose from a kitten being brought into the world without any
tail^. 8ir C. C. had but one testicle that had come out of the abdomen.

1 [The Editor has Been a case of doable pinoer-daw on one side of a lobster ; the
two of that side equalling together in bulk the single normal claw of the opposite
side. The antlers of deer offer instances of monstrosities occurring after birth.]

^ [Bj ' disposition,' Hunter here signifies the inherent unconscious tendency.]

' [Hunt. Preps. Series of Monsters, No. 283.]

* [Very likely; but whence that tail-less kitten? In the 'Series of Monsters,'
Nos. 308 and 309 show this * malformation by defect.']

MONSTERS IN ANIMALS. 247

which was on the left edde^ : he was a married man, and had three fine
children. This one [scrotal] testicle became cancerons, and was ex-
tracted ; but the disease fell on the glands of the groin, of which cancer
he died. His son, afterwards Sir C. C, a lad of about eleven or twelve
years of age, died of a complaint in his lungs. I opened him, and
curiosity led me to examine the scrotum, and I found but one testicle
there; it was of the right side: the other testicle was in the ring.
Was this similarity to the father accidental, or was it hei^tary?

How far supernumerary parts are affected by the will.

Supemumeraiy parts may be so complete in their formation, as to
become in some degree a part of the whole as to use. If such super-
numerary part be endowed with powers of volimtary action, it is used
at the command of the will. I have seen a monkey which had two feet
on one leg (but which were rather two hands, each partaking much
more of the hand than a foot)^ ; they, as it were, came out from one
targgs, with a kind of division in the metatarsus ; but with only one
thumb, which was on the inner side of the inner hand. • The tarsus
of course was broader than common. In the muscles on the leg which
move the foot and toes, there was a strange jumble. The * tibialis
anticus ' appeared to make the ' extensor radialis ' of one of the hands,
and the * peronsei ' made what could answer to the ' extensor ulnaris '
which went into the outside of the other foot. The ' extensor poUicis ' was
pretty regular, for a foot, as also the ^ extensor digitorum communis ; '
but, on the outside of these, between them and the two * peroneei,' were
extensors to the outer foot, or hand, which were peculiar to it. The
' gastrocnemius ' muscle, which rose as usual, was inserted into a bone
which might be reckoned either as 'os calcis' or 'os pisiforme", and
made either an extensor of the foot or a ' flexor ulnaris.' There was
nothing that answered to the ^ flexor radialis ' of the fore-arm.

As these were two pretty well-formed hands, had fall and free motion,
and the animal made ready use of both, I found that the sciatic nerve
of this [left] side was larger than in the other [right side] in proportion
to their differences. This would make us suppose that it is not necessary
that the constitution of the brain should perfectly agree with the consti-
tution of the body ; the brain being calculated for a more compound
body than what it has; because a new part, having the powers of

^ [That is, he had one * scrotal' testicle, and the other 'inguinal,' or perhaps
abdominal.]

^ [On the left leg : see the preparation, Hunterian Series of Monsters, No. 279,
< Catalogue of Monsters and Malformations,' 4to. p. 76.]

3 [Perhaps the earliest recorded idea of this * serial homology.']

248 G£N£BATION.

actuni, miut produce an actaan in aome oommon part of the farain^ in
order to put it into motion.

Bo not monfltera ahow that the mind and the finmation of the body
do not neoeaBarilj oonreapond? — that ia to aaj, that the fonnation of
the mind doea not aiiae oat of the formation of the parta; for
althon^ the bodj maj be atrangelj formed, jet the mind, if properi j
formed, ahall hare all the natural diapoaitionB lor the natural actions of
the body ; jnat aa if the body had been perfectly formed in correspond'
ence with the brain ; but aa the parta are not formed for audi action,
they cannot be complicated. My monstrous horse, although the penis
stood out behind, when erected, and did not come along the belly, yet
leaped upon the mare to cover her, which he certainly would not have
done if the instincdye principle of action had arisen out of the con-
struction of the paits.

Are particular Species subject to peculiar Monstrosities^

It is more than probable that monsters aro common to every animal ;
at least it appears so by all those we are acquainted with. From the
rarity of any peculiarity in the production of malformations of any par-
ticular kind of animals, one would be inclined to believe that there is
but one principle governing these formationsr However, there are
some animals that have a species of malformation peculiar to them-
selves, viz. the elephant-pig S which I never saw belonging to any
other animal'.

Classification of Monsters.

Of monsters there are two principal classes, viz. Duplicity of Parts
and Deficiency of Parts ; and there is a third class, viz. Bad Forma-
tion. The first is, by much, the most frequent*.

^ [The malfonuation alluded to is an appendage to the £eM» like a proboflcis, and
is illustrated in the Hunterion Collection hj young specimens of 8u$ acrofa : see
Hunt Preps. Series of Monsters, Nos. 160-162.]

s [Sir Hans Sloane possessed one such in the human subject, which, with other
anatomical specimens, was transferred from the British Museum to the Museum of
the Boyal College of Surgeons. It is now No. 159, * Catalogue of Monsters and
Malformations,' 4to. p. 45.]

' [The specimens of monsters and malformations in the Hunterian Collection
were arranged by its founder under the following heads: —
I. Preternatural situation of parts.
II. Addition of parts.

III. Befidency of parts.

IV. Combined addition and deficiency of parts, as in hermaphroditical mal-

formation.
For other classifications prior and subsequent to the time of Hunter, see my
' Note ' to the Paper on the *' Extraordinary Pheasant," in the ' Animal Economy,'
ed. 1837, p. 44.]

HERMAPHRODITISM. 249

In treatmg of Monsters, it caimot be necessary to give a minute
description of all the preternatural formations constituting them;
because many of their parts can explain nothing with r^ard to their
formation, or the animal economy in general. For example, a super-
numerary leg having vessels and nerves going to it, explains nothing in
respect to either the use of vessels or nerves ; two stomachs explain
nothing in regard to digestion; two hearts nothing with respect to
the circulation ; and so on.

However, some of their structures may explain something in the
physiology of the more perfect animals ; just as the * weight ' in a
clock might explain the use of the ' spring ' in a watch, &c. ; and, so
far, it is right to examine them. The only thing which they would
tend to throw any light upon, is the principle of animal life. One
brain with two systems of nerves — ^two brains with one system of
nerves — ^no brain at aU — ^no medulla spinalis, or the communication
between the brain and the nerves being cut off, — such monstrosities
may explain a good deal with regard to the life and sensation of the
animal. It perfectly explains the two states ; viz. that before brrtk
and that after; both of which are of considerable consequence ^

On Hermaphroditism.

The parts of generation in animals being of a peculiar construction,
and consisting of two opposite mechanisms, called the ' sexes,' we may
suppose two very opposite principles [to govern their formation ?]. We
find that a degree of accuracy in this construction in both sexes is
necessary for the intended use. But these parts are as subject to mal-
formation as is any other part of an animal, and they are subject to a
monstrosity [to which] no other part can be well subject ; viz. a union
of the two sexes, called ' hermaphroditism,' which is the most common ;
and the parts of the one [sex being] formed like those of the other,
which is another kind of hermaphroditism. We have * natural herma-
phrodites' which may also admit of monstrosity: but this is not so
easily ascertained; for we can make out the different parts of the sexes
in a monstrous hermaphrodite much better than in the natural one ;
because we are perfectly well acquainted with the parts in the instances
of their perfect division, as in the distinct sexes ; but we are not so
well acquainted with the distinct parts in the natural hermaphrodite ;

1 [i. e. the explanation of the relations of the monstrosity to both states is of
value in physiology ; life and growth going on under the above-cited malforma-
tions, in utero ; but subsequent air-breathing life requiring more perfect conditions
of the nervous system.]

250 GENERATION.

because they are not smilar to those in the distinct sexes. If we could
have a monster bom a natoial hennaphiodite, in which the parts of one
or other of the two sexes only were formed, then we might make out
the parts, as they are combined, in the natural hermaphrodite \

There are all degrees of monstrous hermaphroditical formations. It
may be in a small or great degree in every part peculiar to the distinc-
tion of the sexes ; or it may be only in one of the parts which distin-
guishes the one sex from the other. The occurrence in one sex of a
peculiarity of the other, may be of tiiree kinds. The first is a simOaiity
of a whole that is common to boUi sexes, such as the body gene-
rally, but which has, naturally, a shape peculiar to eadi: for example,
when a woman is shaped like a man, or a man shaped like a woman.
The second is a similaiity of a part which is common to both sexes,
but which has naturally a edze peculiar to each ; as where the ^ ditons'
of the female imitates, in size, the penis of the male ; the breast of
the male imitating that of the female ; the spurs of a hen imitating
those of the cock ; a hen crowing, &c. The third is where the peculi-
arity of one sex is added to the other ; as an ovarium added to a male,
or a testis added to a female'.

Loose Notes and Queries on Monsters.

A child, bom at Brownlow Street Hospital, had what I should have
called a divided ^rotum, and the penis lying between the divisions ;
but it turned out to be a female. The external parts were the two
labia, which were corrugated nearly transversely.

The natural structure of some parts of a foetus are very different from
those of the adult. These differences belong to the vital parts ; they
are adapted to the different way of life of the same animal [in those
different states], and can be accounted for mechanically. But what is
very surprising and unaccountable is, that foetuses can live, in that
state, with ill-constructed parts, such as are unnatural or uncommon,
and not particularly adapted for that state, and yet they cannot live in
another state. These are monsters ; particularly those whose vital
parts are deformed, defective, or with superaddition.

^ [The diversity of opinions, in later oomparatiye anatomists, as to title nature of
the several parts of the combined male and female organs in the earthworm and
snail, shows how tralj Hunter appreciated the d^culty of their determination.
His preparations Nos. 2294-2315, lowing elaborate dissections of species of Lum-
brumSf HdiXy Limnea, Limax^ &c., testify to the pains he bestowed on the investiga-
tion of the ' natural hermaphrodites.']

' [Series of Monsters, Prep. No. 236, * Catalogue of Monsters,' 4to. p. 60.]

MONSTERS IN ANIMALS. 251

Now, why these foetuses should live and come to fuU growth, ex-
cepting as to the part which may be deformed or defective, and not
live after birth, is not easily explained.

I should imagine that monsters were formed monsters at the very
first formation for this reason, that all supernumerary parts are joined
to their similar parts ; for example, a head to a head, &c. ^

But monsters, in some cases, may be said to be accidental, as the
horn growing out of the forehead of the ox or cow *.

Is not the forked end of the fang of a tooth a species of monstrosity ?
and does not the manner of its formation show the nature of mon-
sters, viz. two fangs being formed from a preternatural process taking
place?

We often find in the human body an appendix or process passing
out from the smaU gut ; and I believe always from the ileum. In the
year 1763, 1 found one of these in a body situated about one foot and
a half from the csecnm. In the same winter I foimd another nearly
three feet from the caecum'.

Dovble-headed Snakes.

America would seem to aboimd more in double-headed snakes than
any other country. I Jjave heard of several, by gentlemen who have
been there, and I have two from that country in my possession* ; but I
do not remember to have heard of any in other countries. Both those
I have heard of, and those I have seen, were small, not large or full-
grown ; therefore we may suppose they are not long-lived, but they are
old enough to prove that they lived for some time after birth, having
ate, <&;c., and that their death was owing to their having been caught ;
and that therefore they would have lived longer*.

^ [Hunt. Preps. Series of Monsters, Nos. 190, 194, 264. The above * Note ' was
probably penned after the reception by Hnnter of the letter dated March 2b,
1790, descriptive of the child having a second head, reversed, and attached by the
vertex to that part of its own proper head. See Philosophical Transactions,
vol. kxx. 1790, p. 296.]

* [Hunt Prep. Series of Monsters, No. 271. " The head of a cow with an addi-
tionid horn growing from the centre of the forehead, &c.," ' Catalogue of Monsters,' *
4to. p. 75.]

8 [lb. Nos. 295-298.] * [lb. Nos. 32, 33.]

^ [Mr. Bembrandt Peale of Philadelphia, when in London with the skeleton of
the Mastodon in 1802, told me that double-headed snakes were so frequently met
with in America, that they considered them as species, and not as monsters : but he
did not recollect if they were similarly marked. There were several specimens in
his father's museum at Philadelphia or New York. — Wm. Clift.]

252 PSYCHOLOGY.

OB8£BVATIONS ON PSYCHOLOGY.

Oft Canfciausness.

What is meant by * oonadoosiiess ' is, an impression of the mind of
our own eziBtenoe at the time, or rather of the existence of the mind
and of its actions : for, I say << I am conscious that I exist ;" which
can be only in thought ; for, that I exist in body, can only inflnence
the mind by its being sensible of the presence [of the body], as it may
be- of any other body ; for, although it feeb its o#n body, and is con-
scious of it, it can also be made sensible of another body and is con-
scioiis of that also ; therefore both [acts of conscionsness] refer to the
mind.

We can remember our being conscious of such and such things ; for,
we also say, that '' I am conscious I did think ;** that is, I have a dear
conception that I did think. We also recollect what we thought about,
and how. I say, ''I thought honestly, and therefore acted accord-
ingly ;" but without a proof or sensation of it ; for consciousness in the
mind is totally different from sensation.

Therefore, when a man is conscious of a thing, he cannot be said to
be sensible of it ; for an act of the mind is not sensation. Conscious-
ness is an act or impression of the mind which it cannot deny.

A man's feelings of himself, or consciousness of his body, is not sen-
sation ; for, when I was ill, my own feelings of myself, with regard to
size, was [that I was] only two feet high, while the sensitive or the
reasoning principle told me I was as tall as usual.

Consciousness is a conviction of the existence of one's self, or it is a
feeling of itself, but is not sensation ; it is the reflection on one's own
existence, both as to personal existence and the existence of the mind.

Being conscious of a thing, is the strongest impression that can be
formed on the mind ; it is the act of the full powers of the mind, and
is that which lasts, or constitutes memory. We often think of an act,
and set about it, but in part forget it; and we go on with the act
without being conscious of it ; and if no drcumstanoe or effect tells us
that we have done it, we do not know that we have done it. A man
shall remember to wind up his watch, and shall set about it; but
anoiher thought shall interfere; yet he shall go on winding up the
watch, put it into his pocket, and immediately shall ask himself whether
he wound it up or not ; he only remembers his having thought of it.

If he was to think of taking off his shoes, and another idea should
come into his mind, but he still should go on taking them off, he
would not need to think whether they were off or not, for he would
immediately And them off as soon as he thought about it.

CONSCIOUSNESS. 253

We often act without being conscious of it ; and that often arises
from habit, and often, in a premeditated action, from the mind having
lost its consciousness of the premeditation.

In another case the effect of the action shall not be exactly what
was premeditated. For instance, I intend taking something into
another room or to some person ; and, instead of the thing intended,
I take something else very different, a something probably I should
not by any means have taken. This is what is called 'absence of
mind.'

Consciousness may arise in consequence of sensation, but not from
demonstratiTe sensation; for consciousness has always a relation to
ourselves. All animals may be said to have consciousness, but cannot
be sensible of it.

Sensation and demonstration are absolute and the same, and stand
the first in order of evidence; they are that to which everybody
gives assent. Perhaps conviction is the next or second [in order, or
degree of certitude], and belief the third ; but these three have a rela-
tion to other bodies. Conviction is an impression on the mind which is
equal in that mind to sensation or demonstration ; therefore it is not
necessary first to produce sensation or demonstration. To produce
actions will be according to the circumstances that become the cause of
conviction, whereby our causes of actions, and our actions, are increased
beyond what they otherwise would be.

A conviction of the truth of any proposition is the same as feeling
the force of any aigument or proposition ; it is a perfect belief.

Belief is another impression of the mind, which is another substitute
for sensation or demonstration, and which becomes also a cause of
actions ; but the impression is weaker than conviction, and is that which
the mind or the reasoning faculty does not insist upon, as it does in
conviction. It arises from a conveyance to the mind of a something
that is supposed to exist but not demonstrated, only possible or pro-
bable ; it arises from reasoning, and it is more than probable it is pecu-
liar to the human species.

The first, or sensation or * demonstration,' is absolute ; but the second
or < conviction,' and the third or ' belief,' may or may not be so. Con-
viction requires the greatest evidence next to demonstration ; and con-
viction is a greater degree of belief.

Consciousness generally relates to ourselves : it is not similar to a
conviction of, or a belief in, other things.

It is of two kinds : one an acquired feeling, as '^ I am conscions to
myself that I deserve it;" or, what is weaker, " I believe I shall get
it." To be conscious one has done a wrong thing, would appear to

254 PSYCHOLOGY.

belong to some brutes : a dog when he has done a wrong thing shows
signs of it.

The other [kind of consdonsness] is a natural or instinctive feeling
or impression ; for consciousness is not only a relation between me and
some other thing as above stated, but has the same relation to the body.
I am conscious of my own strength : I am conscious of my own weak-
ness : we can even carry this so far as to say we feel our own strength
or weakness. All g-niniRla have the same consciousness relative to
themselves, which becomes one of the instinctive principles. A horse
will not take a leap that he is not capable of performing : he is con-
scious he either can or cannot perform it.

Sow far these two [kinds of consciousness] are the same when they
do take place I will not at present say : I cannot separate the impres-
sions themselves if they are sensible, although I can the causes ; but
their effects are so much alike that they would appear to be one prin-
ciple. They produce the same degree of confidence and the same degree
of timidity. Confidence in the power assists the will : the sense of a
want of power becomes a proper check upon the will.

This self-consciousness not only regulates many of our natura.
actions when in health, but the actions of the machine while under
disease, both in the whole and in a part. We have an internal monitor
of our powers, and we use them accordingly. This is often so strong
that many know they are dying, — a thing they cannot know from expe-
rience.

This principle is even remarkable in parts that are diseased. I do
not mean the active parts themselves, as muscles ; for in such the dis-
ease might render them incapable of action, and of course no action
could take place ; but this consciousness of inability in other parts to
support these actions, is a fact which can arise from no other principle
than the effect or intelligence given to the mind of the inability of the
part to support the action.

For instance, if the tendon of a muscle be broken, the breaking that
tendon does not alter in the least the nature of that muscle, as a muscle ;
but, while that tendon is incapable of supporting the action of the
muscle, that muscle will not act, and the mind is conscious of it ; and,
as long as the mind is in possession of this feeling, the will has no
command over such muscle : but, as consciousness can only exist when
we are awake, the mind, which is awake, while we are asleep, can and
does put such a muscle into action \ The same thing happens when

^ [We should now say that, because the mind is asleep, any stimulus exciting to
involuntary or reflex action, operates by the wakeful * sensitive principle,' unchecked,
upon the disabled muscle.]

CONSCIOUSNESS. 255

the mind acts instmctTvely, as when we are falling ; the mind, then,
immediately employs such muscles as are necessary for preservation ;
and, if this muscle [with the broken tendon] is one of them, instinct^
lays hold of it ; and the will which is checked by consciousness has no
share in these actions, when the muscle is instinctively made to act.

A striking instance of this happened to myseK when I broke my
• * tendo Achillis.' While the parts were in a state of inflammation, &c.,
I, of course, did not endeavour to act with its muscles ; but, when that
inflammation had subsided, I found I had no power to act with the
muscles of this tendon; and even when union had taken place and
appeared to my senses, and of course to my reasoning faculty, to be
pretty strong, yet I had not the least power to raise myself upon the
toes of that foot ; not even to make the muscles act upon that tendon.
I endeavoured [to make them act], but to no effect ; and the future
power of the will over the action of these muscles was so gradually
acquired, that I was convinced it arose from a consciousness of the mind
of the inability of the tendon to support the action of the muscles, and
all my voluntary powers were not able to counteract this impression.
But I found that, in my sleep, I often hurt the young union of the
tendon by the action of its muscles. And what was the worst, I fell,
and tried to avoid as much as possible the instinctive action of re-
covery, but could not wholly do so ; and the consequence was that the
muscle acted and strained the young xmion very much.

This eflect I have seen a number of times in strains in the joints ;
where mechanical strength was not in the least impaired, yet contrac-
tion of the muscles of that joint could not be caused by the will. There
was that kind of inability as if the muscles had been in some degree
paralytic, and which is expressed by the patient's weariness in the
joint; although the real weariness is the inability in the mind to stimu-
late the muscle to action, from a consciousness of the impropriety of
that action. The same thing takes place in fractures. The bone of
the leg shall, for instance, be united, so as to have its mechanical
strength as much as ever ; it shall give no pain, yet the person shall
not be able to put any stress upon it when put to the ground. Pres-
sure would hurt the economy of the part, and therefore there is a con-
sciousness of it.

Perhaps what I have called * universal sympathy,' such as the sym-
pathetic fever and the hectic fever — ^two constitutional aflections arising
from local injuries — ^may be a species of consciousness, not of the
mind, but of the whole body ; it being conscious of the state of the

^ [This term shows the double sense in which Hunter uses the word ' mind/]

256 P8TCHOLOGT.

ports. The fini [ sympaU ictic ferer] is a eonKBOumeBB of an injiny
done to a part widdi diatniiis tiie wbole : the aeoonf [hectic fever] is a
coDgaommetm of a local complamty aa if the parts Mi thfansftlvBB
mieqiialtosastaiiiit; whexeby the eonstitiitioii is tBBsed into an action
of which it cannot reBere

OftlieMind.

The mind, or wsiis Ui ve principle, is affected by objects which make
impresaions, which impresBU»is make an alteration in the parts of
sensation, and according to the nature of the impression so is the mind
alEBcted. If we see a man danoCy the variety of actions produces the
same variety of impressions^ which impreaaums haye simply an eflfect
npon cfOT minds. If it is a Hvely or qnick dance, and not joined with
distortioiis (which eqnaUy affect ns), we feel liyely ; if it is a grave
dance, we feel grove. The effect of the motion simply of other bodies
npon our minds arises fecmi an original property in the mind to sym-
pathize with the cause of those actions, and to put itself into the same
state in which the mind, or canse, is in which prodnoes them ; for,
when the actions are varions, tiie impressions are so, and the effect of
these impressions is an inclination to put the body into sadi motions.
This facility of a mind to be pat into sach a state by such impressions,
will always be in jnroportion to the natural torn of that mind ; so that
the state of mind, whidi is natorally desirons of putting the body into
certain actions, is also capable of being affected in the same d^pree by
similar actions in another ; so that a lively mind produces lively acticms
in the same person, and lively actions in another are capable of pro-
ducing an increase of this lively mind and action in that same person.

The mind is not only affected according to the simple impre6Bion,as most
probably is the case in brutes, but from experience, and association of
other impressions or ideas with the present, it arrives at the caose of
the actions which produced these impresdons ; and this always pro-
duces a stronger effect than the simple impression. So that an effect
of the mind on the body is capable of producing an impression on the
senses of a second body, which shall make the mind of that second
body fall into the same state with the first or original mind, which
shall produce the same actions in that second body with the first, and
th^y shall all act in concert. For if the mind of the receiver attends
to the causes of these actions, while the effects of these causes are
producing their effects upon that mind, then the mind is still more
affected ; and the effect which arises from reflection is much stronger
than that arising from simple sensation or impression.

AFFECTIONS OE STATES OF MIND. 257

Whatever actions affect the mind considerably, and more especially if
the affection be joined with reflection, they make in some degree a last-
ing impression on it ; or the mind more easily falls into the same state
upon the simple recollection of the action and of its cause and effect.
Indeed, there are in this affection a great variety of relative circum-
stances, which are so many heighteners of the effect ; and the mind
will fall into the same [state or affection] although the cause and effects
are now become so weak as could not of themselves produce the original
effect upon the mind : so that the mind now falls into that state merely
because it feU. strongly into it before. For instance, a man shall be
strongly affected by a recent event and all its relative circumstances,
&c. Simple recollection of those circimistances, or, what would be
still stronger, if he be put into nearly the same situation as when the
event happened, without its taking place, the state of his mind will be
nearly that which it was in at flrst, although the original cause does
not exist. For instance, a man shall be strongly affected by the death
of a friend; and, more so, if there are at the time a great many
relative affecting circumstances ; such as the grief of other people, &c.,
to heighten the distress. But let some time elapse, and the true state
of the mind will become really indifferent about the death and all its
consequences; yet that man shall very readily fall into the same
state of mind upon a relation of the circumstances, that made the flrst
impressions, especially if in company with those Mends, &c.

The mind is often in opposition to itself; one state of mind, if strong,
shall get the better of another state which is weak, or the stronger state
shall not allow the weaker to rise ; although the mind is so circumstanced
at the time as to have one state raised, if the other state which is stronger
had not already taken possession of the mind, or driven the other out.
Nothing could show this better than two interesting facts which took
place within myself, both happening at the same time. I went to see
Mrs. Siddons's acting. I had a full conviction that I should be very
much affected ; but unfortunately I had not put a handkerchief in my
pocket ; and the distress I was in for the want of that requisite when
one is a crying, and a kind of fear I should cry, stopped up every tear,
and I was even ashamed I did not, nor could not, cry.

What we think of when awake, we only see in the mind's eye ; but
what we think of when asleep appears to be an object immediately of
the senses. The objects in the mind's eye, when we are young, are
almost real : we then can hardly think without the object presenting
itseK strongly in the mind ; and if we Qonnect a few of those ideas
together so as to make a little train of thinking, it is almost like con-
necting real objects together.

258 PSYCHOLOGY.

We are very apt to go back into the same state, [as in dreaming or
childhood] when there is a slight tendency to delirium ; it may indeed
be one of its first symptoms : [also when the] brain is slightly dis-
turbedy as by a fit of gout, &c, Eut as we become used to see
objects in the mind's eye, and to connect these objects together so
as to draw conclusions, we lose the strong impression of the object
on the mind ; we hardly know it made an impression on the mind.
We can connect imaginary objects, almost without seeing them, in
the mind ; just 88 we can work in the end at any handicraft, ahnost
without seeing or hearing what we are doing. When we begin this,
every object — every connexion of that object — ^is a fixed and deter-
mined one in the mind ; and the hand is obliged to be directed in every
movement by the mind ; but, at last, the hand seems to leave the mind,
and appears almost to go on of itself.

It is the same with the mind when it reasons : at first every object
in the mind, not immediately an object of sensation, is almost realized,
and seems to be of consequence ; but as these objects become &miliar,
the impression is slight ; and the acts of thinking and reasoning are
done with so much ease, that the same mind is hardly conscious of
them ; for without being first conscious of a thing no remembrance of
it can exist in the mind.

In many persons the mind hardly ever loses the susceptibility of a
lively impression, and therefore they conceive such to be more than
they reaEy are : and I believe that such as have a lively imagination
move quickly from object to object. This I believe to be a state of half
delirium : I have felt this when much affected. Whatever I conceived
in my mind became, at such a time, almost a reality.

Simple affections of the mind are those that are not immediately
connected with any one particular action in the body, and which pro-
bably affect all actions alike ; except there be one part [of the body], or
the actions of some one part, more readily affected than other parts
by such simple affections of the mind ; which I c«ui readily conceive to
happen, and, indeed, which I know to be true. Mrs. Hutchins, for
instance, was never much affected in her mind, but she had a purging.
Other persons have this or that action increased by affections of the
mind, but not more so by one than by another affection : such actions
are only more readily excited by states of the mind than those of other
parts pf the body. But when a state of mind becomes immediately
connected with an action, and the state of mind is in some degree
formed upon the result of that action, there the mind will hardly allow
that action to take place.

A man who is condemned to die next morning may so far make up

AFFECTIONS OR STATES OF MIND. 259

his mind as to get some rest that night ; and this i^t will be more or
less in proportion to the state of his mind. But if that man is to have
his life preserved on condition that he does sleep, he certainly cannot
sleep; the very anxiety arising from desire and fear will prevent
him.

A fixed principle fixes the mind, but a doubtful one leaves it no rest.
Anxiety is expressive of the union of two passions, ' desire' and * fear.'

The state of mind has more effect on the actions of involuntary
parts than on those that are at the command of the wiU. The reason
of this is plain : the state of the mind finds no obstacle in its im-
pressions on the involuntary parts, except what may be called natural to
the parts themselves, viz. their backwardness to take on unnatural
actions; but the state of mind has more difficulty in exciting the
voluntary parts to action ; for the will is often counteracting the actions
that arise from mental emotion in voluntary parts, which produces an
irregular action, as in trembling.

The actions of the mind of which we are sensible are as much the
objects of sensation as [external causes of] sensation itself; we can
reason about them.

The [state of] mind has two causes of its formation — ^the state of the
body and sensation. Some states of mind are almost formed from the
state of the body, as sexual desire ; but it is heightened by sensation :
other states of the mind are almost formed from sensation, as love,
friendship, &c.

The feelings of the mind we often want to reduce to reason, or to
that principle which arises entirely from sensation, viz. reasoning about
real things. This becomes the basis of religion.

The actions of the body may be called insensible and sensible. In
the first actions the mind is not directly sensible of them, although it
may be so in a secondary way ; as, for iustance, the mind may feel
uneasy or the reverse ; although it does not know the immediate cause
or action of the body which produces such feeling. In the second or
sensible action the mind is made acquainted with them. The insensible
actions or operations are often put into motion by the sensible ones ; for
example, the stomach is made to digest by the sensible act of throwing
food into it. Or the sensible actions or operations may be set into
motion by the insensible ones, as when the muscles of the penis are
thrown into action by the insensible secretion of the semen of the
testes; or when the bladder is thrown into action by the insensible
actions of the kidneys.

The insensible actions are such as go on at all times, during health,
whether we be sleeping or waking. Many of these insensible actions

s2

260 PSYCHOLOGY.

are immediately employed upon the machine itself ; as, for instance,
circulation, digestion, all acts of secretion immediately necessary for
the use of the machine, as those producing bile, pancreatic juice, or to
relieve the machine, as urine, perspiration, &c. But there are some of
the insensible actions that depend upon other causes than simply the
stimulus of the machine. Some depend upon the state of the mind,
as the secretion of the semen ; others have that dependence only for
an increased action, as in the production of tears in grief or even joy,
of the juice of the stomach and of the bile, in such affections of the
mind as produce sickness. In some cases of affection of the mind &om
increase of secretion, the body must be under certain predicaments,
such as hunger, when the idea of food or the presence of food shall
increase the secretion of saliva.

As the increase of the secretion of the saliva arises from a state of
body which is want, called * hunger,' which, when joined with the idea
of the presence of food, produces that state of mind which becomes
the immediate cause of the secretion, so the secretion of the semen
requires 'repletion' in the body, with the idea or presence of the
proper object to produce the due state of mind ; for the want, or the
object alone, would not produce the secretion if a certain state of mind
was not formed. Those insensible actions arising from the state of
body, joined with the idea or presence of the proper stimulus, as food,
or a female for instance, producing the state of mind, may take place
whether we be asleep or awake ; for as an idea can be formed when
asleep, and as the mind can carry out that idea into ideal action, so
the real action often takes place upon those occasions, and the saliva oi*
the semen is secreted. When the semen is secreted, it is insensibly
carried into the urethra ; but when it has got there, it produces or
stimulates the next action or actions immediately arising from it ; but
as this is a sensible action, it is capable of waking the person, and he
often wakes in the act.

' State of mind' is most probably a compound of the state of body or of
particular parts, and of sensation. It is what is commonly called ' the
feelings of the mind.' The actions arising from the state of mind are
* instinct.' State of mind may arise from state of body only, as hunger ;
or from the senses only, as love ; or from both, as love and lust combined ;
for these are two different feelings. A man may be in love, while he
has no power of lust ; a man may be lustftd, and not in love. When a
state of mind takes place without the natural leading causes, where
reason is [not] called in as a director, it is madness.

If a state of mind be a compound of sensation and state of body, * the
foetus in utero ' can have no such state. If it be a compoimd of capa-

OF THE ACTION OF THE BRAIN. 261

bility of sensation and state of body, the foetus may have state of mind.
This state is the first acting principle ; reasoning comes on slowly after.
It is the most universal cause of action in the body, making voluntary
muscles act contrary to the will, increasing or diminishing the actions
of the involuntary ones, and making many [involuntary ones] act which
otherwise would not act at all, as those arising from some of the passions.
The state of mind always arises &-om, or is connected with, external
objects joined to some sentiment, either concerning itself, which may be
called ' passion,' or concerning some other body, called ' sympathy.

The state of body from which the state of mind arises, may be called
either real, as for example a child sucking, a duck swimming ; or it may
be imaginary, arising from habituated states or an acquired state, as
when a man works himseK into a passion, not arising from tiie state of
body at the time, but from a repetition of a former action which arose
originally from a state of body.

State of mind, whether fear or anger, produces many salutary effects
on the body. A hare or fox runs away, and if that fails, it fights, a
different action here arising from a very different state of mind.

State of mind produces actions of volimtary parts prior to volition,
and indeed prior to sensation. A child moves its legs in the womb,
moves the moment it is bom, can and does cry as soon as it breathes.
The calf, pig, foal, walks as soon as bom ; a duck, as soon as hatched,
runs to the water the moment it sees it.

Nothing shows the effects of the mind upon the body more than the
hatching hen. A hen shall hatch her chickens, at which time she is very
lean ; if those chickens are taken from her, she will soon get fat ; but,
if they are allowed to stay with her, she will continue lean the whole
time she is rearing them, although she is as well fed, and eats as much
as she would have done if she had had no chickens.

Of the Action of the Brain,

The brain is often so much employed in action, either in producing
the mind or thought, that it cannot, as it were, be stimulated or impressed
by the nerves, so as to receive sensation. A man shall be so much
affected by some object as to render him incapable of either sensation or
thought ; or a man may be so far absorbed in reasoning as not to feel
impressions on the body, which wiQ prevent any anxiety that might
arise from those impressions. Or the brain can be so employed respect-
ing the mind as neither to feel the body, nor be capable of thinking,
and vice versa.

Many people have powers in the mind^o reason upon subjects which

£62 P8YCH0L0GT.

are not present ; they can start data, reason justly upon them, draw
inferences, make conclusions. But if those data were to exist at the
time, and they were to act justly, which would be putting their reason-
ing to practice, they could no mure do it than they could fly. They
would be bewildered between theory and practice, although their theory
was just.

On the other hand, we shall find people who cannot start a datum, or
form a position in their minds, reason upon it, draw inferences, &c.
But, if put themselves into the position, and the circumstances were to
happen (the same which the other foresaw, but could not act upon),
they would take up the natural actions immediately as the circumstances
occurred, and act rightly upon them.

Wish or desire is not instinctive ; it is the union of two principles ;
it is the natural, attractive, impulsive act of the living principle, with
the knowledge of the thing arising out of the sensitive [principle].

The simple desire in the mind to do a thing well is the first means of
having it done well ; but it has often two veiy different or contrary
effects on the mind, and of course on the thing done. The simple desire
procures the first means of having the thing done well, and the power
of doing it is increased by that desire, and it is, in the end, as well done
as possible for such powers combined. But when the future is in view,
reasoning, or the will, is left free to act, and the voluntary parts are not
whoUy biassed by affections of the mind. This being the case, the
desire may be attended with a species of doubt or anxiety, which always
lessens the power of doing a thing well. Anxiety of mind interferes
with the will, and lays hold of the voluntary muscles, and the well-
performing of any action is in the inverse proportion to the anxiety.

On Reason.

Beasoning may be called either immediate or habitual : the imme-
diate is when we are obliged to go through the whole process before
we can draw the conclusions : the habitual is when we are so well
acquainted with the subject as to draw the conclusions at once, as it
were jumping over the investigation ; but this often leads us into errors
by taking premises for granted. Beasoning is used to determine or prove
some fact that is only supposed [to be one] ; or it may be used to prove
that which has been already brought to light, but is disputed or reasoned
against.

The improvement of the mind is by sensations. The mind has the
power, called ' memoiy,' of repeating those sensations without the original
impressions, and of combining those repetitions so as to form ideas,
and then of combining those i%as so as to form a complete action, story,

OF REASON AND SENSATION. 263

or proposition of any kind. By habit the mind does these operations with
ease, and often goes on doing them almost without being conscious of it.

I believe that the will has no hand in any of the operations of an animal
respecting the machine itself; but it is and can be employed in the
operations that respect foreign matter.

Beasoning is fallacious if not based upon facts ; but facts and reason-
ing should go hand in hand ; for if the facts are not able to support the
reasoning, then the reasoning is good for nothing : they should always
bear a due proportion. If the facts overbalance the reasoning, and it
requires a load of facts to give us a competent knowledge of anything,
then they [facts or teachers] become dull and heavy.

The man who judges from general principles only, shows ignorance :
few things are so simple as to come wholly within a general principle.

"We should never reason on general principles only, much less practise
upon them, when we are, or can be, master of all the facts ; but, where
we have nothing else but the general principle, then we must take it
for our guide.

On Ideas from Sensation.

Perhaps sounds are the most simple sensations we have ; for when a
single body gives a sound, we do not know whether it is a simple soimd
or a combination of sounds. We suppose it simple, because we are not
yet able to make any separation of the sensation ; and by combination
we are not able to bring out any sounds like those that are produced
from the most simple percussion. Until Sir Isaac Newton separated the
rays of light, white was supposed to be a simple colour. A body is of
no colour when there is no light.

High or low sounds depend on the number of vibrations. Difference
in sounds of the same height depends on the smooth or soffc, and vice versd
of their motions.

We certainly know whence sounds come from habit, or by the intelli-
gence of our other senses, as we know that there is something external
that produces it.

The reason why we cannot tell or know what heat is, is because it is
only capable of affecting one sensation, and that only in one way.
Of bodies that are more gross, and capable of affecting the senses in
more ways than one, and more than one sense, we can form an idea of
their manner of action.

Ko man can have any idea of extension at first ; his notion must come
by degrees ; the same thing must be repeated again and again ; and the
sensation that the notion of extension arises from, must become fami-
liar : it is from motion in our bodies at first, joined with feeling, that
we judge of extension or space ; then time is compounded with it.

264 PSYCHOLOGY.

On the Command or Presence of Mind.

Every part that acts in consequence of sensation must be at the com-
mand of the will, for the will is formed out of sensation. The iris of
the eye contracts immediately upon light being thrown upon an eye
sensible to that stimulus, that is an action arising immediately from such
sensibility. It is possible that we might not be able to imitate it by
the wiU. But as the iris also contracts and dilates upon bodies being
placed near or fai off [the eye], we can, in the dark, contract our iris
by putting the eye into that form which it assumes when it is viewing
a near body * ; aud, on the contrary, we can make the iris dilate in the
light [by putting the eye into that form], as when viewing an object at
a distance.

As sensations form the will, so can the will attend to any sensation.
The will can attend to one sensation out of many. In many sounds the
ear can, by the will, follow one of them singly.

The mind is formed by habit, as the body is. The body may be made
to endure many things, as fatigue, heat, cold, &c., without inconvenience
to itself, or without making the mind sensible of it. The mind may be
made to endure almost anything, and it may be so humoured as hardly
to bear any inconvenience.

It is curious to see how much the mind, abstracted from the body, is
similar to the body influenced by the mind. A man, when anxious to
do a thing well, and more especially if another is in some degree con-
cerned, seldom does it well ; and, the more he endeavours, the worse he
performs it ; in like manner, if a man does not readily remember a
thing, aud becomes anxious to remember it, he will not in the least
remember it, excepting some relative circumstance or connexion brings
the thing into his mind. But if he can get naturally into the train
of thinking that leads to the thing, without art or intention, he will
immediately remember it.

Thus if a man were made to repeat anything he did not perfectly
remember, he would probably forget how to begin. When he had begun,
he might go on ; but if he forgot any part, he would not find it out by
the mind endeavouring to recollect it. He might go on if he began
again ; and would go on if he had no fears, doubts, or even thoughts
in his mind, of the possibility of forgetting any part. If he could do it so
carelessly as not to be conscious he was doing it at aU, he most probably
would go through the whole without interruption. So much is the train
of habitual thinking interrupted by the immediate interference of the
will, producing a state of mind which adds to the interruption.

[By the act of looking intently upon an ideally near body.]

PRESENCE OF MIND. 265

Thinking is natural, but reasoning is not ; Vfe can think without
reasoning. Thinking is the forming ideas. They may have a connexion
with each other, so as to keep up a relationship, which might be called
' natural reasoning.' But reason is a kind of voluntary act ; the mind
brings itself to it. The first thing we lose when we are losing the con-
sciousness of ourselves, is the power of thinking. When we can think
we can reason.

That the mind has the power of producing actions in the brain is
evident in many cases. The person who invented or applied the steam-
engine to the sailing of ships, when it was before the Committee at the
Rooms of the Society of Arts and Sciences, was taken at once with an
apoplectic stroke, of which he died in about twenty-four houqi^

Lord Eglinton informed me, whenever two soldiers were condemned
to be shot, but one was to have a pardon, and they were to throw dice
for their lives, that commonly the successful one fainted while the other
remained calm. This would show that it is not the * kind' of affection,
but the * quantity.'

A lady sitting up after every one was gone to bed, saw her door open,
and a servant of the house come in with a pistol in his hand. She imme-
diately blew out the candle, pushed the bed from the wall, and escaped
between them. The servant in the dark pushed down the table she had
been sitting by. This discomposed him ; she came out of her hiding-
place, got out of the door, and had the presence of mind to lock it. She
awoke the hoiise; and, as soon as she found assistance, or was
secure, she fainted, and none knew what was the matter till she came
to herself. The man was secured, and it was found he was out of
his senses.

The various effects of the mind upon the body are almost without
end ; those, perhaps, are best known in many diseases of the body,
but known only by those who have the diseases which can be affected

^ [I have been favoured by the following reply to an inquiry on this interesting
statement : —

" Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce,
Adelphi, London, W.C., 27th December, 1859.
" My dear Sir, — I have had our records carefully searched, and I find no notice
whatever of any such circumstance as you allude to in your note of the 24th
inst The only communication during the period named which had reference to
steam power and boats is an anonymous one, ' On obtaining a circular motion
for moving boats by steam,' which was not thought so good for the purpose as
those already in use. What John Hunter could have referred to I am at a loss
to say. " Yours very truly,

" P. Lb Nbvis.Foster, Sec."
" Rivhd. Owen, Esq., British Museum."]

266 PSYCHOLOGY.

by the mind, and are only noticed by those who are in the habit of
observing.

When I had the spasm in my heart upon the smallest exertion of the
body, as in walking up a small ascent^ or upon the least anxiety about
an event, such as bees swarming, yet I could tell a story that called up
the finer feelings, which I could not tell without crying, obliging me to
stop several times in the narration, yet the spasm did not in the least
take place [then]. Therefore those feelings of the mind we have for
other people are totally different operations of the mind from that anxiety
about events, whether of our own or of others ; because its effects on our
bodies are very different.

LaughiBg and crying are two natural involuntary actions in or of the
body, both arising either from sensations of the body itseK, or sensations
only of the mind. Laughing arises frx)m sensations of the body, as from
tickling, and crying from that sensation called pain ; but such effects
are more common to the young than either the middle-aged or the
old. This arises from the mind becoming more accustomed to sensa-
tions of the body ; it is therefore less affected by them, excepting when
the mind gets into the habit of those actions, which habit may rather
increase than diminish them, as in spoiled children. The mind being
pleased, and in a peculiar manner, produces laughter, and the mind
being in distress, produces crying ; but the same cause in the mind shall
produce either or both, one following the other, as crying with joy.
However, joy may produce crying much sooner than sorrow produce
laughter, except when it runs into disease ; so far [these emotional
actions are] natural ; but we have this carried into disease of the mind,
but not of the body; we have either laughing or crying, called * hysterics,'
which are diseased involuntary acts ; and the same cause shall produce
either nearly equally, and much sooner than in the natural state ; or
the one shall run into the other ; for instance, crying terminating in
laughing, or laughing terminating in crying, which I believe is peculiar
to this diseased state.

Joy and grief are, perhaps, the strongest affections of the mind, and
what the mind has the greatest facility to fall into. They arise from an
impression being made by some external object, or the mind sympa-
thiziDg with the state of mind in some other object.

So far there is a visible and even reasonable cause, such as reason
agrees to, [for those affections, and they then] might be called voluntary.

But the state of mind is often such as goes of its own accord into such
affections, having no object for their cause, so that the mind passes from
the one into the other almost instantaneously. These may, then, be
called involuntary ; the mind being as it is when some volimtary

EMOTIONS. 267

musdes act in spite of the will, as in cases of cramp, locked-jaw, &c.
In the first, it is a state of mind produced by the senses which produces
involuntary actions ; but in the second it appears to be the mind falling
into them of its own accord.

On Fear.

* Fear' is a fixed or absolute principle in the minds of animals, but
never in proportion to the real or apparent dangers ; therefore in most
animals it becomes a relative term. In the human species it is allowed
to act in a less degree upon its original principle ; it generally becomes
BO connected with some acquired principle as to be ruled by it ; there-
fore it is as the quantity of danger, and apparent inutility of that danger ;
so that it would seem to be in an inverse proportion to the inutility of
the hazard. Thus, take any cause for fear under different circumstances ;
one where the natural fear is allowed to act, and another where it is
either heightened or corrected by the imagination ; the degrees of fear
will vary : the first or natural fear wiU be in a mean degree ; in the other
it wiU be either increased or diminished.

A brave man of good sense will endure any pain, or the chance of it,
in a good cause ; while the same pain, or chance of it, in a bad or even
indifferent cause will make him a coward or make him shudder. The
same thing holds good in animals in general ; only with fewer varieties,
these being in proportion to the other varieties of actions. A dog
is bold, although in considerable apparent danger when hungry, and
food is by him, but a coward, perhaps, if without these circumstances.
A cock fights better on his own dunghill than in a strange place.

Is fear a perfect and distinct state of mind ? Does it ever exist but
in a doubtful state of mind ? Is it not a union of hope and despair ?
for whenever hope is gone, fear diminishes. Is it not an anticipation of
evil, and the less an animal has the power of anticipation, the less fear
he has? Dr. Dodd would seem to prove this\

The dull look in the eye in grief is mostly owing to the position of
the eyelids. I can give a dead man almost any look.

On Superstition,
All innovations on established systems that depend more on a belief
than real knowledge (such as religion), arise rather from a weakness of
mind than a fault in the system. Everything new carries a greater
weight with it, and makes a deeper impression on a weak mind.

^ [He was executed June 27th, 1777, which affords some clue to the date of this
MS. He showed much fear of death, and intense anxiety to escape the capital
punishment while intercession was making for him ; but he rose at once to a state
of fortitude and resignation when all hope of mercj was closed.]

268 PSTCHOLOGY.

Having committed acts of violence always weakens the mind ; there-
fore [it IB the] more ready to fly to innovation, or to whatever seems
most severe [hy way of expiation].

On Deceit.

Perhaps there is nothing in Nature more pleasing than the study of
the human mind, even in its imperfections or depravities : for, although
it may he more pleasing to a good mind to contemplate and investigate
the applications of its powers to good purposes, yet as depravity is an
operation of the same mind, it hecomes at least equally philosophical
and equally necessary to investigate, that we may he ahle to prevent it.

The investigation of the mind's various operations at large, hy which
means it feels, thinks, reasons and influences the body either in volim-
tary or involuntary actions, is more than is requisite for my present
purpose. The mind, like everything else, can he employed in promoting
either good or evil actions, but it can as readily be employed in actions
that seem inmiediately to tend to neither good nor harm arising from
some strange or trifling impulse at the time.

When we consider the mind of man as possessing a thousand quali-
ties which are distinct attributes in themselves, each being more or less
contrasted by its opposites, as, for instance, intrepidity, fear; love,
hatred ; generosity, covetousness ; pleasure, pain ; anger, satis£eu;tion ;
complacency, envy ; humiUty, pride ; vanity, diffidence ; probity, deceit
— all producing distinct characters, when acting alone, or when the one
or the other is predominant, — ^we must be sensible how complicated the
mind is ; but as they [the qualities or attributes] are often mixed in the
same person, they produce contrarieties in character which form the
basis of all the oddities or inconsistencies we meet with.

One of the imperfections of the human mind is, the desire to be sup-
posed what we are not, but what we should like to be. This arises from
vanity, which, when well regulated, is perhaps a very necessary and
useful principle. But we often wish to appear to be what we in reality
hate, and are probably afraid of being, which would seem to be a strange
contradiction in the principle of deceit. If the first deceit was always for
noble purposes one would excuse the vanity; but it is generally for
little selfish purposes, and might be called the ' childishness of man-
hood.' We are even jealous of those who may, with justice, be supposed
to possess those qualities, in a degree beyond what we wished the world
to think we ourselves possessed them.

No man is so fond of being thought brave as the coward, who would
be really delighted if he was thought always to have an affair of
honour on his hands; while the truly courageous man would rather

ON DECEIT. 269

affect the contrary. This is the same principle in both, but inverted :
but ^the latter we admire. This admiration may arise from the
amiableness of the person or of the principle, or because we do not feel
him raising himself above us ; so that it may be a selfish admiration.

"No man is so fond of being thought a man of gallantry as he who has
no passion for the female sex ; yet would feel proud if it were conceived
he had always some intrigue on his hands, even at the expense of the
reputation of the innocent ; while the man who is really passionately
fond of the sex, and perhaps their dupe, would rather choose to hide
that turn of mind, as if it were a defect.

We even choose to make our past sufferings a matter of admiration ;
and those who have the least fortitude under calamities, generally recite
them with triple energy; which is a natural consequence, to excite
either horror at their sufferings or admiration at their fortitude.

The same turn of mind is twisted into present distresses or suffer-
ings, where it is to excite pity on false pretences, instead of admiration.
There are many whose finger never aches but it is torture, who never
measure anything that affects them by a common scale or standard,
always over-acting their part, that you might pity ; while, at the same
time, you should think they were suppressing their sufferings that you
might admire their fortitude or philosophy. This might pass with
those who live by it, or have a secondary view ; but when it is simply
vanity, or simply to excite compassion, it shows a weak mind.

It only requires a stronger disposition of mind to continue the deceit,
[as in a patient] when the disease is gone ; when, if the complaint
be such as cannot be wholly imitated, the patient wiU contrive some
other symptom of another disease, or, if he has a lively imagination,
even wholly a new one.

These general remarks must come home to the observation of most,
if not a little to their feelings; and that which concerns disease must
strike the medical man most.

Whoever has paid attention to this subject will agree with me in
thinking that those minds ar« far from what they reaUy wish us to
think them to be ; and that they are little minds. If medical gentle-
men would apply this to their practical knowledge of mankind, they
would see that their opinions of such minds and practice perfectly
coincided ; and, to strengthen this idea, let us see who they are that
are most subject to practise this kind of deceit.

There are two classes of minds capable of carrying on this deceit.
One is [influenqed by] the love of imposition, and rather relates to
those about them than to themselves, — a desire to make every one
about them stare. Yet it cannot be called an amiable mind, for they

270 PSYCHOLOGT.

must see evety one about them in distress. Another class of mind is
[influenced by] the love of ease ; and, therefore, to avoid something dis-
agreeable, is sufficient to make them affect to be unwell. Those who
are most addicted to this kind of deceit, are women and children.
Women have it much stronger than men, because, firom their birth, they
meet with more indulgences. They are not allowed to have the idea of
doing anything for themselves; by which means botli the body and
mind become indolent, relative to action; but [they are] extremely
anxious to be pleased by others ; and, if not so, then they feel un-
happy. This is encouraged by men, till they are married; and the
wives seem never to learn that the way to gain is not the way to
keep ; whereby they become disappointed, and then begin to practise
arts either to excite jealousy or pity, but seldom admiration ; just as
they conceive the husband's mind to be most susceptible of.

Children are nearly in the same predicament ; they are indulged by
their parents ; and, if allowed to keep company with the servants, they
are certain to become deceitfiil and to learn a thousand ways of imposing
on their parents. They are assisted by the servants, who sometimes
benefit by it ; or they, what is called ' curry &vour with the young
brood.' This is even more the case with girls than with boys ; women
being better ikeachers of this kind of imposition than men. If £rom
such situations they go to the boarding-school, they stand but little
chance of being reclaimed. There are numbers to keep them in coun-
tenance. At school they are less indulged, being more tied down to
rules than they have commonly been, and a kind of private or mental
opposition commences. Whenever they are taken ill they are immedi-
ately brought home, and having once regained a footing at home they
endeavour to keep it.

Master Woodcock, twelve years of age, had a fever attended with
rheumatic affection of the right knee. He was sent to the tepid sea
bath, which (we may suppose) cured him, for he came home fat and
jolly. However, the pain in the knee continued, and I was sent for to
see him. When he came into the room he was limping on the left leg,
while the right toe was turned in, from his limping. I conceived the
pain to be in his lefb side, but found I was mistaken. He could hardly
bear the knee to be pressed, it was so sore, nor straightened : he could
not bear the toe to be turned out ; and when I endeavoured to torn
the thigh out, which motion could only affect the joint of the thigh, he
could not bear it, although the knee was not, nor could be, affected.
But his limping on the wreng foot was enough for me\

^ [Mr. Hunter, on the morning of the day of his death, related to the hoiiae-
pupils in the work-room seyeral whimsical attempts at imposition in children to

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OP PERIODS OP LIFE. 271

Deceit appears to be a principle in most of the perfect animals^ or
those endowed with the senses. It is of two kinds, either to screen
the animal itself, for its own safety, or to impose npon another for its
own advantage, or for the disadvantage of the other. Probably in all
animals it is instinctive, and has bnt Httle variety. Bnt Man employs
his reason, which, in most things, he does to improve or extend his
instinctive actions ; even to the creating new instincts. These begin
very early, in the child, to become artificial. It hides its cake ; it finds
its natural and instinctive actions are checked, yet it practises them, of
which practice it soon learns to evade the detection. It is encouraged
by some of the older children ; may even be assisted by those accus-
tomed to evasion. They first put on an appearance as if innocent ; if
questioned, they deny. These lead to deceit of the mind, and may be
called ' passive deceits.'

But the mind becomes more active ; it is inventing actions, which
actions are to deceive, without having committed them first ; as it were,
innocently, and then inventing an excuse as in the former stated cases.
The first inventions are to excuse themselves &om some task imposed, and
they find out what will plead best in their favour. Health in young folks
is a great object with parents, and the children find that out ; therefore
sickness is the great resource, as lameness or fits. Lameness is, gene-
rally, the first, because it requires the least art, and is more in the way
of having been observed by them. Fits are not so commonly observed ;
and it requires a greater degree of mental powers either to put them on
or go through with them ; therefore we seldom have fits until about fif-
teen. The age of fits lasts longer in girls than boys ; it even creeps
into womanhood, but seldom into manhood ; man beginning to employ
his wits in another way.

Periods of Life, according to Appetites and Mental Operations.

The life of man may be divided into three great periods : viz.
* youth,' ' middle-age,' aud * old age.' In considering these three dif-
ferent stages of life, both as to constitution and disposition, we shall
find that there is a gradual and imperceptible change always taking
place; the first going gradually into the second, and the second as
gradually into the third ; so that there is no particular period between

avoid going to school. Referring to the present case, Mr. Hunter had desired the
dessert for a dinner party to be laid out in the room where Master W. was laid up ;
and, being watched, he was seen to skip naturally and very briskly from his sofa,
appropriate a bunch of grapes, and retreat with equal agility to his place of repose.
The imposition was thus exposed, the culprit punished, but the surgeon was never
again called in. — ^Wm. Clift.]

272 P8TCH0L0QY.

any two of them whereby we can tenninate*the one and begin the
other. Therefore we shall consider these periods when in their fall
maturity ; and, as we proceed, shall consider the gradual changes into
the next ; as where the first is gaining, then losing, while the second is
gaining, &g. But as these gradual changes are not so much, or so
directly, to our present purpose, they will only be mentioned as circum-
stances taking place, that may, in some degree, throw a light upon
our subject.

The first period of a man's life is [passed in] the enjoyment of its
natural appetites and sensations, and [in] extending the actions natu-
rally arising out of the union of the body and mind. The mind is con-
stantly receiving impressions by its senses, and constantly forming new
ideas, laying up a store of sensations and ideas ; but, at first, without
form or method.

New appetites are arising as the parts are becoming more fit for their
peculiar sensations and enjoyments, which are always more yigorous in
their early stages. So that a young animal is extremely active with
regard to bodily action ; being fitted for sensations and constantly in
pursuit of them ; yet it is extremely passive with regard to the combi-
nations of the mind : it is just a being receiving impressions, tbinTring
but little of the past ; because the present enjoyment, and the i^ture
which is nigh, are the highest sensations of the body and the mind.
These natural appetites are never improved ; they are most perfect at
the first, and will always be the most vigorous when the mind is least
engaged, or when there is no mind at all. The natural or necessary
appetites are limited : they are such as always destroy themselves by
enjoyment, but are renewed again by the body recurring to its natural
state.

This is the age that in some degree bespeaks the future with respect
to intellect : it is the age that in most cases distinguishes the young
man of feeling, sensibility, quickness of apprehension, from the idiot.
The [state of the] idiot is one where impression produces sensation, not
upon the mind, but upon the body ; where the mind never makes an
application of the present sensation to another ; and where, when the
present sensation is gone, it never recurs.

"When the appetites for any one thing are vigorous, they cany us
great lengths ; but they are not lasting ; for some new object of appetite
appears, and destroys that for the former [object]. An appetite has
but one fixed point in view: it is simple enjoyment. If it be the
appetite of eating, it is intent only on eating ; and if it fixes the mind
on one kind of food, that desire cannot last long, for other food will
exactly answer the same purpose. Or, if that [kind of food] is not

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OP PERIODS OF LIPE. 273

sufficient at the tuue^ hunger will come in and reconcile the whole ;
80 that no man can think of any one kind of food for twelve hours.
Therefore the simple disappointment of any one kind of food cannot
long affect the mind ; and, whatever may be the strength of a man's
relative quality for any one kind of food more than another, it will be
annihilated when he is set down to twenty dishes.

The same observations are equally just with regard to other appetites ;
only that for food, although the most essential to life, is the one that
will produce the least effect upon the mind ; and that arises entirely
from, its being the most essential. The other appetites, being less
essential to life, allow the mind to dwell more upon them; and, to
gratify them in a particular manner- becomes more an act of the mind,
than in the appetite for food. The enjoyment can be suspended in
case all the relative qualities (either imaginary or real) are not present ;
and these relative qualities are more peculiarly mental than simple
enjoyment is.

A man has an appetite to enjoy a woman; but if the mind has
formed itself to any particular woman, the appetite or enjoyment can
be suspended tiU that object is presented; ^and the more the mind
interferes, the greater stress will be laid upon this relation: the
mere sexual enjoyment will be almost foigot, and the whole pursuit
will be after the particular quality of the appetite. But, perhaps, it
requires long habit to establish the influence of such a relative
quality in the mind.

Such is the state of youth till man arrives at fiill possession of all his
appetites and sensations. Then he is in fuU powers of enjoying them ;
and, in this state of possession, he goes on for years ; but his tempo-
rary appetites, as venery, become in time blunted, and often in some
degree his essential ones, as that for food ; and he begins to lose the
substance in pursuit of the qualities, refining away the natural man,
becoming rather ideal ; whence arise * taste,' * graces,' (fee.

The man begins to combine the sensations, and form ideas more
extensive. From reasoning, he looks further forward; which, in a
proportional degree, lessens the present [enjoyment], except it be con-
nected with the future. He is considering substantials for the future,
which always takes in a much greater scope of reasoning ; as there are
always a greater number of relative circumstances. He not only con-
siders substances, but the qualities of substances, and endeavours to
investigate, separate, arrange, and combine these qualjities.

AU these actions are of the mind ; and as they took their origin
from the nervous system, they continue to belong to it.

The mind now becomes the principal actor. It is viewing objects in

X

274 PSTCHOLOGT.

all their different forms and relations ; and^ as futority has both a good
side and a bad one, the mind is apt to be more impressed with the
one or the other, seldom steering in the middle. These different views
of things will arise either from natural, or constitutional^ or habitual
causes.

It may be put down, as a rule, that everything in this world is
absolute : but, as all the leading canses of things cannot be seen,
because they appear to depend upon circumstances that are unknown,
or appear to be accidental, therefore the mind cannot lead up to the
absolute. It is influenced by some impression, arising out of the pre-
sent appearances, which may be totally different from the effect that is
to take place ; and so the present probability, on one side or the other,
determines the mind;

Thus, then, is ftiturity visibly left to be undetermined even to the
mind of the most sang^uine, which is perhaps the most weak. It leaves
in the mind a strange disagreeable uncertainty, which the pursuit of
present enjo3rment does not produce ; because the nearer an event is
to happen, in the same proportion it seems the more certain to happen.

This age is the perfect age of man ; and, at a medium, may be said
to begin at thirty years and to end at fifty years.

This is the age in which the mind is truly employed ; the age in
which both the fear of d'lsappointment, and disappointment, make a
lasting impression, because the object to be gained is not momentary
or immediate. Time hardly establishes a security : it rather exposes
an uncertainty.

This is the age of madness ; or wh^, usually, insanity takes
place.

As people draw towards perfection they become more and more
nervous : the nervous age is at about thirty or forty years ; but as they
go on towards the decline of life, they lose that sensibility. This is
equally applicable to both mind and body.

One, at flrst, would suppose that the nervous state of body would be
the young state ; but it is not : this is a state rather of indifference
to impression, although it may be felt acutely ; there is too much love
of variety to dwell long upon any one ol]ject : it is an age which feels
quickly, but forgets soon.

Thirty is the time when objects begin to last, when they begin to
make an impression, when they take possession of the mind. Eifty is
the age when indifference about all objects begins to take place ; an
insensibility creeps on, the effect of which is similar to the first stage,
although arising from very different causes.

Belief in general is stronger in children than in old people, although

ON SYMPATHIES. 275

cliildren are often deceived ; yet the fondness for the thing carries them
beyond reflection and remembrance of past deceits.
Young people like sugar ; old people like pepper.

On Hereditary Right.

Hereditary right arises from the giver. Every man feels a desire to
have property, and every man has a right to have property ; and every
man feels a desire to dispose of it when he can enjoy it no longer ; and
as it is his property, he has a right to dispose of it.

Every man feels an attachment to relationship. This naturally leads
to bequeathing this property to his relations, and to the nearest : it
is, in some measure, retaining it still. This property goes on in suc-
cession, from the same principle, and, when men unite for the benefit
of the whole, they make this a law ; because each has practised it, and
is receiving its benefits, and wishes to continue them. This becomes a
kind of reward for industry and for accumulation of property.

Ko man wishes to die, to be eternally forgot ; what he leaves he con-
siders, or he feels, in some degree perpetuates his memory, which is a
means of incitement to great and good actions ; and it is not in human
nature to do good perfectly disinterestedly : he likes to have a share.
K a man puts up a monument for a great man, he wishes it should be
known who did it, and that the two should go down to posterity to-
gether. Se is at the same time desirous that his son should come in
for a share ; he wishes the son should be known to be the son of that
man.

On Sympathies,

Sympathies may be said to be of two sorts, natural and habitual.
Without this sympathy few muscles would act; for few muscles are
ever irritated themselves : but it is the part that is irritated which
receives the benefit of the action. Laughing and many other motions
of the muscles of the face arise from sympathy with aU the senses
that receive pleasure. Crying and many other motions of the face arise
from sympathy with grief of all the five, senses. Sympathy seems to
depend on a kind of ignorance or novelty of sensation, which is got
the better of by experience ; therefore old people sympathize less than
young. It is very remarkable that none of the sympathies can or ever
are reversed, therefore they do not arise from the communication of the
nerves, but from the effect of the brain upon the nerves.

t2

276 P8TCHOLOGT.

Om Appetite amd Passion.

Would not the fdlowing be a proper difltiiietian between appetite
and passion ?

Appetite is an actian of the mind, ariaing firom a gtimahis given to it
from some part of the body ; and the nppe^te is this or that according
to the part that so excites the mind ; and, as appetite depends on a
state pecofiar to such a party or natural to snch a part to fidl into,
therefore it is always capable of being satiated. The part under such
irritation pots both mind and body into audi actims as will best satisfy
or satiate the appetite.

Passion is an action of the mind not arising from any mere irritation
of a part of the body, or from a stimalns given to it from parts witfiin
ourselves, bat from caoses and rektums which are from without. No
sensations of the body are to be gratified, bat merely the sensation of
the mind. However, that sensaticm of the mind always tends to some
action of the body, and is to be gratified by certain actions which
natoraUy arise ont of the passion. Passion is confined to no one object ;
almost every object can excite passion ; and while that passion lasts,
the object that first prodaoed it stiU continaes to be the object.

Passions are instinct: they never improve. They are a anion of
two principles, — a certain internal impolse, producing actions which
have concern in, or are connected with, a sensitive body, or which
produce efiects that are roled or guided by our sensations. If they
would seem to improve, it ia only by encouraging them as we would
encourage an appetite of any kind : but their improvement is only in a
greater frequency, or repetition, especially in those the indulgence of
which does not impair the animal powers.

Nature has not only given natural appetites, or internal impressions
for such and such actions, to animals, and an uneasiness while under
the impression, which peculiarity of uneasiness is the appetite itself,
but has added a pleasure in the actions of removing the uneasiness, or
gratifying the appetite ; for example, in eating, in the propagation of
the spedes, See. But animals feel uneasiness when the bladder or
rectum is full, and have no peculiar pleasure in getting rid of the
uneasiness, farther than arises from the cessation of uneasiness.

On Instinct.

Whatever impulse of action we have which does not arise from the
knowledge of the event, or from a motive, is ' instinct ;' and whatever
action arises frx>m an intention, is ' reason.'

The instinctive principle is probably nearly the same in all aniiniila

J

ON INSTINCT. 277

whose wants and oonsequent actions are nearly the same ; and when one
animal appeals to have more extensive principles of this kind than
another, it is because it has a greater scope of action, and of course
attended with more variety.

I shall not instance any of the more imperfect animals [in illustra-
tion of instinct], but take the bird and the quadruped. I can conceive
that a parrot and a crow have a greater extent of instinctive principles,
leading to a greater variety and more neatness in their operations, than
a cuckoo or a partridge has. I conceive that monkeys have more
extensive instinctive principles than dogs, and dogs more extensive
than sheep. And if man could lay aside acting from reasoning, hif
instinctive principles would be more extensive than any : but the actions
arising from instinct are so heightened and made so much more perfect,
that the instinctive actions appear, even te the mind of the persons
themselves, to be whoUy the result of reason. In crows, where the
instinctive principle is pretty weU marked, their actions come near to
those of the human, [there] being no difference in the action excepting
the human varying it a little more according to ciroumstances.

Thus a rook builds its nest according to the instinctive principle of
the animal, and for this purpose breaks off branches of the trees on
or near which it builds : it also gathers sticks on the ground near
the nest : but the curious thing is their stealing from one another. Thus
a neighbouring rook shall steal the sticks of another : they shall observe
the motions of each other, and, when opportunity serves, they imme-
diately become thieves.

It is curious to see how instinctive principles arise. When we see
only the effect, and not the immediate cause, it appears wonderfdl ; but,
when we can trace them, they do not so much surprise us. The im-
mediate cause of the bees' instinctive principles is not all laid open to
us. It is curious to see the young duck run into the water the moment
it sees it.

When two instinctive prindples oppose one another in two different
animals, it is curious to see the conflict. A hen, for instance, with duck-
chickens, seeing them run into the water, is imhappy ; and a duck with
young hen-chickens, invites her brood into that element, while the
chickens are running round the side of the water.

Instinct is in most respects similar to general principles in arts and
sciences ; for neither instinct nor general principles will apply equally
to all cases, with which they have an immediate connexion. Instinctive
principles are not fitted for, nor take notice of, contingencies ; nor do
general principles. A bird, when it builds its nest in a tree, does not
consider accidents; and therefore does not guard against them. A

278 PSYCHOLOGY.

man who lays down a general plan, and does not see the yariations or
deviations that should take place in it, and ther^ore does not guard
against or provide for them, is acting like a bird. The bird, being
wholly ruled by instinct, does not alter its plan (if it could be called
one) ; but the man's, being a principle in his mind, he can and does
vary from his original plan. However, this is not always the case ; for
general principles to many are such as that they cannot alter [their
plans] even to meet contingencies ; therefore their case is very sinular
to instinct.

Animals I believe have the power of repeating actions, which at first
are accidental, but which give them pleasure ; and, of course, of avoid-
ing such as give them pain : and probably that is the utmost extent of
the animal powers below the human, independently of instinct. The
extent of these principles in any class of animals bespeaks their supe-
riority over the others, and gives them a greater facility to learn.

A kitten plays with a ball from finding that it moves, and because
that motion gives delight, from being similar to life in an animal.

I can conceive a monkey to be delighted with the effects of action ;
such as throwing things down, being pleased with seeing them fall :
and the monkey having a greater variety of such amusements, this
gives him a superiority over other animals, and brings himnearer to the
human species in the state of childhood, before the consequences of
actions can be considered.

Than that animals have reason, nothing can be more dear ; for all
animals can go mad ; by which they lose all instinctive and acquired
properties of the mind.

Loose ^ Notes and Queries ' on Imitation and Custom.

Imitation is so much a principle in Man that it distinguishes families,
towns, and nations. Imitation in manner is caught by the sight ; and
as a proof of this, let us observe that a blind man has not the manner
or gait or mode of walking that a man has that sees.

Because we do turn the optic nerves to objects most commonly, is no
proof that it is not done by custom ; for as the most distinct object is
painted nowhere else, custom finds out that proper place. It would be
contradictory to the rule of sensation to say that we would not turn
the most sensible part to objects that we choose to be sensible of.

Closing our eyes when a cannon is fired arises from custom ; for we
do not do so when it is at a distance ; nor would we do it at all, if we
did not know there was a flash : a child does not do it.

Every thing that gives pleasure at first, lessens by practice ; and
every thing that gives pain, becomes more easy.

MISCELLANKOUS NOTES. 279

Bo not all the sympathies that regard eztemal objects^ and are the
principal causes of our moral sentiments^ arise irom custom ? If we
see a person comb his head, our head itches all over, and we cannot
help scratching it [?].

We often do not know how to choose the same kind of thing, among
a variety ; but if we were sure of the right one, which [certainty] is
acquired by custom, we should not be at a loss.

The belief of futurity is from custom. It arises irom the repetition
of events that arise naturally out of apparent causes, and which are
every day showing themselves.

Miscellaneous Notes and Apothegms.

Ambition is a species of vanity : it is wishing or aiming at something
beyond its powers.

There never was a man that wanted to be a great man ever waa a
great man\

Great men have endeavoured always to do some great action that
seemed to tend to some great good ; and the effect made them great.
Wanting to be great is vanity without the power.

In the first, the person himself is not the object ; or, if he be, he is
only the secondary one : in the second, it is the person himself is the
object, and the thing [to be done] is only the secondary.

Kever take a gentleman [fine gentleman, or coxcomb, interpolates
Mr. Clift] as a pupU in physic ; for, depend upon it, it is not simple
curiosity, it is himself that is the object of his attention : and, whatever
knowledge he may acquire, is only to employ upon himself, or tease
others : he becomes his own patient ever after.

Obligations rendered between equals have an equal value put upon
them by both sides ; and that is the value of the thing. Obligations
conferred by an inferior on a superior enhances the value, not according
to the value of the thing itself, but according to the superiority of him
that takes it. This increases the [gift's] value in the giver's eye ; while,
on the other hand, the receiver only values it according to the [degree
of the] giver ; and even does not put the true value upon it ; and not
the same value that he would have put upon it if he had received it
from an equal. This principle is the reason why inferiors blame so much
the ingratitude of the great.

The degree of estimation in which any profession is held, becomes
the standard of the estimation in which the professors hold themselves.

^ [No man ever was a great man who wanted to be one.] Here Hunter shows his
appreciation of the * unconscious' element in true greatness.

280 F8TCBOLOOT.

It is nnoomfintable to be emplojed in anything wkeie the employer
is more interested than theem^byed. lliis is the case with physic and
the law; bat more with the fint ; for, althoo^ it is the interest of
evezy m edical gentleman to attend to his patient^ yet he ean seldom
pve that aatisfoction he coold wislu

Medical men are always very ready to suppose disease, but are never
ready to doubt.

It is mudi more pardonable to fiiU into an enor than to follow an error .

Speaking tmth IB no natoral propensiiy ; it is only rdatingoccoirences
that have struck our senses, and are therefore more livel j in our
imaginations than anything we can feign. Besides, by law or by asso-
ciation, we have made it bad in a man to fie, because we found it pro-
ductiTe of evil to those that choose to speak the truth.

When a man gives up anything, he has either a weak mind, or no
fertiUty of genius.

It requires a great deal of courage in a man to continue poor while
it is in Mb power to get rich\

Accusing Mr. Fox of having debauched the minds of most of the
young men of fiuhion in this kingdom, I was answered, that he was
liked by them all : I made reply, that they were similar in that respect
to the wom^n ; for they could not help having a fondness for the man
that had seduced them.

Mr. Burke's speeches put one in mind of a shrub fall of flowers,
which is pretty while viewed ; but, strip it of its flowers, and it wOl
hardly be taken notice of.

^ [Hunter must hsve penned this from penonal ocmsekKianeflB. He mig^ hare
died rixh, if he had deroied his powcn to the growth of his own fortune, instetd of
to the progresB of sdenoe : he pr e f erred to die poor, and to leaye to hia profession
and the world a mtiaeam unriTalled in ita teachings of the principles of medicine
and surgery.]

i

PALiBONTOLOGT, 281

OBSERVATIONS ON PALAEONTOLOGY.

Lectures easplanatory of Htmter^s Manuscript Essay * On Extra--
neous Fossils/ and Introductory to the Hunterian Course ' On
Fossil Remains/ delivered in the Theatre of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England, in 1855. By Professor Owen, F.R,S.

Lecture I.

Maroh 6th, 1855.
Mb. FKESiDEin: aitd Gsntlemsn, — ^I propose to devote the present
Course of Lectures to the illustratioii of the Hunterian Specimens of
Fossil Organic Eemains. The Palseontological is, in fact, now the only
department of the Museum which has not heen systematically elucidated
in this theatre, to the extent, at least, of the time and ahility at my
command to devote to the ftiMlment of the responsible and honourable
duties which you have been pleased to confide to me.

Nor, remote as the subject of Fossils may seem from their aims to
my purely anatomical and professional auditory, will it be foimd to be
without the connexion which Hunter believed, and the philosophical
surgeon will find it to have with the fundamental principles of medicine
and surgery.

Anatomy, or the scrutiny of animal structures, may be pursued —
irrespective of the various mechanical methods of investigation — in
difierent ways and with different views.

An animal may be anatomized in order to a knowledge of its struc-
ture, absolutely, without reference to any other animal; the species
being regarded as standing alone in creation, unconnected and uncom-
pared with any other being or series of beings. The knowledge so
acquired may, from the very limitation of the field of inquiry, be most
accurate and most minute : it will be most valuable in its application to
the cure of the diseases and repair of the injuries of such single species or
subject. Such, e, g,y is 'Anthropotomy,' or the anatomy of the human
subject; and 'Hippotomy,' or the anatomy of the veterinary surgeon's
principal patient. The * Anatome Testudinis EuropaeaB,' fol. 1819, of
Bojanus, and the * Traite Anatomique de la Chenille du Saule,' 4to,

282 VALiBONTOLOOY.

1762^ of Lyonnet, are unsurpassed examples of this monographical
species of anatomical science.

But the anatomist may apply himself to a particular organ instead of
a particular species ; and may trace the modifications of such organ as
fSetr it can be determined to exist in the animal kingdom: in which
quest, if begun, as anatomy is usually entered upon, by the human
subject, he would, with most organs, find them gradually losing some
feature of essential complexity, and becoming reduced to a more and
more simple condition.

This kind or way of anatomy occupied a great proportion of John
Hunter's time. He thus, so far as opportunities presented themselves,
or could be availed of, followed out organ after organ, until he had
embraced the whole scheme of organs in the most complicated oi^anism ;
and, having so traced down the simplifying modifications presented
by the n-nimftla as they progressively departed from the perfection of
the human type, he then assembled the evidences of his labours, re-
versed the order in which they had been investigated, and beginning
with the simplest form which he had detected of each given organ,
placed after it, in succession, the progressively more complex forms of
the same organ, the series culminating, in most cases, with that which
exists in the human body. Having thus laboriously obtained his
knowledge and his material evidences of the modifications of particular
organs analytically, Hunter strove to impart the higher conclusions
deducible from those evidences by presenting them in the synthetical
order requisite for such generalizations ; as in the arrangement which
governs the disposition of the Physiological Collection in the Museum.

A third kind of anatomy necessarily follows the synthetical route : it
is that which takes the embryo of a particular species for its subject ;
and, starting from the moment of impregnation, or, perhaps, with a
preliminary research into the progressive formation of the impregnating
principle and its nidus, or material for operation — ^the development,
viz., of the sp^matozoid and the ovum — ^then proceeds to follow out
the consequences of their mysterious union and mutual reaction. In
this way each oigan is traced step by step in its evolution, until it
attains the condition suitable for the life-work of the adult parents of
the embiyo under investigation. And when the subject selected for
the inqTiiry happens to have belonged to one of the higher classes of
animals, it has been found that the gradational series of changes which
a given cogan presents in the course of its development, resemble in
some degree the chief steps or links in the series of mature organs
derived from dilSerent species according to the second mode of inquiry.

A fourth way of anatomy is that which, beginning with an investigation

MODES OT STUDYING ANATOMY. 283

of the structure of an animal in its totality, in order to understand how the
form or condition-of one oi^an is related and necessitated hy its functional
connexions with another, the coordination being adapted to the peculiar
habits and mode of life of that species, does not stop at that one species,
but has for its main end, the comparison of those associated modifica-
tions, interdependencies, or correlations of organs in aU the different
species and classes of animals.

The results of this way of anatomical research are made known
according to the class of animals inquired into— as, e. g,, the anatomy of
Fishes, the anatomy of Birds, <fec., in contradistinction to the method
which governs the above-cited arrangement of Hunter's Physiological
Series of specimens, and the order of the descriptions in the ' Legons
d' Anatomic Comparee ' of Cuvier.

But, in his general coUection, Hunter illustrates all the three ways in
which the anatomy of animals may be broadly and philosophically fol-
lowed out.

There is the series of organs in their mature state, traced £rom tiieir
simplest to their most complex conditions, as in the first division of the
Physiological Series.

There is a series of the pn^essive changes or stages in the develop-
ment of each organ in the embryo and foetus of different species, as,
e. ^., in the second division of the same great Series.

There is, tiiirdly, a series of entire animals, occasionally dissected to
show the g^ieral collocation of their organs, and arranged, as in the
Physiological Series, in the ascending order, commencing with the more
simple fonns and proceeding gradationally to the Mammalia and to Man.

The Council of this College has done me the honour to confide to me
the making of the Catalogues of these several exemplifications of animal
structures, and of the methods by which those structures may be studied.
And those Catal(^es have been completed and published, with one
small exception relatiog to the Yertebrated province of the series
arranged according to the classes of animals.

In the performance of another department of expository duties —
those which I have the privilege to fulfil in this theatre — ^I have, in
accordance with the terms of my appointment, and the aim which the
legislature had in view in attaching a Hunterian Professorship to the
acceptance by the CoUege of the Hunterian Collection, endeavoured to
make the successive courses of lectures subservient to the elucidation,
not only of the science of Comparative Anatomy, and of the several
methods by which it may be studied, but of the Hunterian series of
specimens by which those several departments of zootomical science are
illustrated in the Museum. Thus the different systems and organs have

284 PALAEONTOLOGY.

been treated of, tracing their modifications from the most simple to the
most complex forms, agreeably with the order of arrangement of the first
division of the Hunterian Physiological Series, in the lectures which
occupied the first five years of my office as Sunteiian Professor.

Afterwards I made the generation of animals and the development
of the different organs, the subject of two Courses of Lectures, and illus-
trated them by the preparations of the second division of the Sunterian
Physiological Series.

In next entering upon the illustration of the extensive collection of
Comparative Osteology, I felt it to be my duty to go as deeply and
thoroughly as my powers and leisure would enable me, into the question
which the two great luminaries of the School of Anatomy and Natural
History of France, Cuvier and Geoffiroy St. Hilaire, had left undecided,
in the ardent discussions which agitated the dose of their respective
careers : I allude to the subject, or line of zootomical research, which
is commonly called abroad < Philosophical Anatomy,' but which is, in
truth, * Homological Aoiatomy,' or that which aims at determining the
strictly answerable parts and organs in different species, and which
expresses the successful results of such comparisons, by giving to the
demonstrably answerable parts and oi^ans in different animals the same
name. The aggregate results of this fifth way of anatomical research,
exemplify the extent to which the term * Unity of Organization ' can
be applied to the animal kingdom, and they show the kind and amount
of truth which was partly appreciated by Goethe, Oken, Spix, and
Cams, but was obscured by the figurative and commonly exaggerated
expressions by which those gifted and accomplished intellects endea-
voured to express a great and pregnant truth of which they had ob-
tained different partial views.

After this Session, as I have never deemed it the privilege of your
Hunterian Professor to repose upon the repetition of the same annual
course of lectures, with the mere addition of the chief discoveries of the
preceding year, I entered upon the study of the Hunterian Series of
entire animals of which the Catalogue of the Invertebrated Classes has
been published, and arranged the facts of comparative anatomy according
to their correlations in subserviency to the habits of particular species.

In the session of last year I concluded the series of lectures in which
the animal organization was treated of according to the classes of ani-
mals, beginning with the lowest and ending with the highest.

I still look forward to the kind and Hberal indulgence of the Council
of this CoUege for the license, if life and health be spared, to reduce
and make public the manifold materials which I have accumulated for
these several courses of Hunterian Lectures.

MODES OF STUDYING ANATOMY. 285

It might well be thought that the ways in whioh the philosophical
iHvestigatioii of animal organization may be carried out, were exhausted
in the monographical or anthropotomical, organical^ embryological^ zoo-
logical and homological methods just defined. But there is yet another
method.

I do not allude to the microscopical mode of research : that is only
a more refined method of the scrutiny of animal parts, and has now
become an essential one, whether we investigate the structure of an
oigan or of an organism, — ^whether we are tracing the modifications of
the heart, e. g.,ma, succession of animals, or the combination of the
pulsatile and other organs in one minute animal. It is true, that, as
the high powers of the microscope can only be brought to bear on minute
particles, they have been for the most part applied to the constituent
parts of an organ, the tissues, as they are termed, whence the term
* Histology,' now commonly applied to microscopic anatomy.

But this more refined mode of research, so successfully and system-
atically pursued within these walls by my esteemed colleague. Professor
Quekett, must be superadded to the ordinary procedures of dissection,
whether we pursue an absolute anatomy of one species, or enter upon
the anatomy of auimals generally, by either of the routes, organically,
embryologically, or zoologically, which I have just defined. Histology
is a minuter mode of anatomizing, but is not a distinct kind of compara-
tive inquiry. Eeckoning it, however, as a sixth kind, what, then, it
may be asked, is the seventh way in which the highest generalizations
in anatomical science may be aimed at ? My reply is, by pursuing inves-
tigations beyond the animals that are, to those that have been.

Let us assume it to be a truth that the actually existing animal
creation forms but a small proportion of that which has lived and ener-
gized during former periods on this planet.

Each year brings more evidence of this truth, and narrows the pro-
portion which the present zoological series bears to the past, — the living
to the extinct creations !

If all the successive races of beings that hlive peopled, at successive
periods, the same globe be the work of one and the same Creative force,
can we hope to gain a due insight into the laws according to which
that force has operated in their introduction, by limiting our investiga-
tions to the residuary groups of beings that characterize the present epoch?
As well might we flatter ourselves that we had an adequate notion of
anatomy from the results of assiduous anthropotomy, as that we could
arrive at the highest facts in the philosophy of animal structures without
having first observed and compared all the structures at our command.
The soundness of the Baconian principles of induction are too firmly

286 PALEONTOLOGY.

established^ too univeisallj recognized, too brightly exemplified by the
glorious results of philosophical iaquiry conducted in subservience to
them, to permit us for a moment to suppose that they can be set aside
without defeat and loss in the high, if not highest, exercise of the t^th-
seeking intellect, viz. that which has the laws of the animal organization
for its object.

John Sunter had not n^lected the field of onatonuoal inquiry
presented by fossil organic remains.

He lived to publish little respecting them. The scientific world
probably first became cognizant of the fact that he had paid any atten-
tion at all to them, when Hunter communicated to the Boyal Society of
London, in 1793, his paper ** On the Fossil Bones presented to that
Society by His Most Serene Highness the Margrave of Anspach."

That paper was printed in the 84th volume of the ' Philosophical
Transactions,' in 1794, as * by the late John Hunter, Esq., P.R.S.,' that
great man having in the interval been suddenly removed, at the age
of sixty-five, under the distressing circumstances so well known, from
the scene of his surprising and exemplary labours.

Those men accustomed to think, who heard or read that paper,
would recognize in it the mind of the great master. It is characterized
by ihe same broad views and acute insight into the phenomena under
review, by the same unexpected illustrations which only a wide em-
brace of facts could have suggested, by the same bold excursions into
fields stretching away far beyond the immediate subject of the memoir,
which peculiarly mark all the papers from Hunter's pen.

But the memoir to which I refer, would be tax from impressing an
adequate conception of the extent to which Hunter had pushed his
examination and collection of fossil organic remains, A few private
friends might be aware of his zeal and interest in this, at that time,
neglected or scarce known field of anatomical inquiry ; and they might
have marvelled at the cause of such zeal in the acquisition of the
* extraneous minerals,' or 'fossils,' which seemed so little raised in
importance above the ' native minerals ' with which they were then
commonly associated.

In those letters which, since Jenner's death, have come to light,
addressed to the favourite pupil by the revered teacher — both names
now alike immortal ! — ^and which letters are introduced into the life of
John Hunter prefixed to Palmer's edition of his works ^, scarcely one
of them omits a recommendation to Jenner to secure for his corre-
spondent whatever fossil remains might fall in his way.

In regard to the paper in the * Philosophical Transactions,' if hastily

1 [1837, 8yo, Longmans.]

hunter's published paper on fossils. 287

ready that single posthmnous published coiitribution by Sunter to
Falieontology^ might fail to leave an adequate impression of the degree
in which Sunter knew and appreciated the value of fossil remains ; and
accordingly we find that Cuvier, usually so equal and exact in his notice
of the labours of his forerunners, characterizes the memoir on fossil
bones by " le cel^bre chirurgien Anglais/^ as one " qui n'a que leur ana-
lyse ohimique pour objet/' — as one that had only the chemical analysis
of the fossils for its object.

It is true, that in this paper Hunter incidentally introduces the
results of a very extensive series of sudi chemical investigations, and
he describes the different conditions in which the original animal matter
may be found in petrified bones, teeth, and shells more truly and dor
finitely than it has since been done by any modem Palsaontologist, their
attention having been almost exclusively paid to the anatomical and
zoological characters of fossil remains.

Thus he remarks, — ** All operations respecting the growth or decom*
position of animal and vegetable substances go on more readily on the
surface of the earth than in it ; the air is most probably the great
agent in decomposition and combination, and also a certain degree of
heat. Thus the deeper we go into the earth, we find the fewer changes
going on ; and there is probably a certain depth where no change of
any kind can possibly take place. The operation of vegetation will
not go on at a certain depth, but at this very depth a decomposition can
take place, for the seed dies, and in time decays ; but at a still greater
depth, the seed retains its life for ages, and when brought near enough
to the sur&ce for vegetation, it grows. Something similar to this takes
place with respect to extraneous fossils ; for although a piece of wood
or bone is dead, when so situated as to be fossilized, yet they are sound
and free ^m decomposition, and the depth, joined with the matter in.
which they are often found, as stone, clay, &c,, preserves them from
putrefaction, and their dissolution requires thousands of years to com-
plete it ; probably they may be under the same drciunstances as in a
vacuum; the heat in such situations is uniform, probably in common about
52^ or 53^, and in the colder regions they are still longer preserved.

'* I believe it is generally understood that in extraneous fossik the
animal part is destroyed ; but I find that this is not the case in any I
have met with.

<* Shells, and bones of fish, most probably have «the least in quantity,
having been longest in that state, otherwise they should have the most ;
for the harder and more compact the earth, the better is the animal
part preserved ; which is an argument in proof of their having been
the longest in a fossil state. From experiment and observation, the

288 PAUBONTOLOOT.

animal part is not alloired to patrefy, it appean only to be dissolyed
into a kind of mncoSy and can be dLscovered by disaoLying the earth in
an aeid; when a shell is treated in this way, the aninud substance is
not fibrous or laminated, as in the recent sheUy bat without tenacity^
and can be washed off like wet dnst ; in some, howerer, it has a slight
appearance of flakes.

** In the shark's tooth, or g^osBO-petra, the enamel is composed of
animal sabstance and calcareous earth, and is nearly in the same quan-
tity as in the recent; but the central part of the tooth has its animal
sabstance in the state of macas iaterspersed in the calcareoas matter.

** In the fossil bones of sea animals, as the vertebrse of the whale, iJie
animal part is in huge qaantity, and in two states ; the one having
some tenacity^ bat the other like wet dost : bat in some of the harder
bones it is more firm.

** In the fossil bones of land animals^ and those whidi inhabit the
waters, as the sea-horse, otter, crocodile, and tarUe, the anunal part is
in considerable qaantity. In the stag's horns dag up in Great Britain
and Ireland, when the earth is dissolved, the animal part is in con-
siderable quantity, and very firm. The same observations apply to the
fossil bones of the elephant found in England, Siberia, and other parts
of the g^obe ; also those of the ox kind ; but more particalarly to their
teeth, especially those from the lakes in America, in which the animal
part has saffered very little ; the inhabitants find little difference in
the ivory of such tasks from the recent, but its having a yellow stain ;
the cold may probably assist in their preservation.

** The state of preservation will vaiy according to the substance in
which they have been preserved ; in peat and day I think the most ;
however, there appears in general a species of dissolution ; for the
animal substance, although tolerably firm, in a heat a little above 100°
becomes a thiddsh mucos, like dissolved gam, while a portion from the
external surface is reduced to the state of wet dust.

''In encrasted bones, the qaantity of animal substance is very
different in different bones. In those from Gibraltar there is very
little ; it in part retains its tenacity, and is transparent, but the super-
ficial part dissolves into mucus.

'' Those from Dalmatia give similar results when examined in this
way.

" Those from Germany, especially the harder bones and teeth, seem
to contain all the animal substance natural to them : they differ how-
ever among themselves in this respect.

** The bones of land animals have their calcareous earth united with
the phosphoric acid instead of the aerial, and, I believe, retain it when

hunter's published paper on fossils. 289

fossilized^ nearly in proportion to the quantity of animal matter they
contain.

" The mode by which I judge of this, is by the quantity of effer-
vescence ; when fossil bones are put into the muriatic acid it is not
nearly so great as when a shell is put into it, but it is more in some,
although not in all, than when a recent bone is treated in this way, and
this I think diminishes in proportion to the quantity of animal substance
they retain ; as a proof of this, those fossil bones which contain a
small portion of animal matter, produce in an acid the greatest effer-
vescence when the surface is acted on, and very little when the centre
is affected by it ; however, this may be accounted for by the parts
which have lost their phosphoric acid, and acquired the aerial [caxbonie
acid], being easiest of solution in the marine acid, and therefore dissolved
first, and the aerial acid let loose.

'^ In some bones of the whale the effervescence is very great ; in the
Dalmatia and Gibraltar bones it is less ; and in those the subject of
the present paper it is very little, since they contain by much the
largest proportion of animal substance^."

The results of these varied chemical experiments would have afforded
the most convincing answer to the objections so rife, in the century
or two which preceded Sunter, to any scientific deductions from fossil
remains, because, as it was contended, they were mere sportive evidences
of the plastic force of nature, — an idea entertained by the great ana-
tomist Fallopius, amongst others, who maintained that certain tusks of
elephants dug up in his time, in Apulia, were mere earthy concre-
tions. Had he known that those tusks contained a quantity of the
very gelatinous substance which formed the basis of the human skeleton,
and that the earthy matter of the supposed concretion was the same
peculiar combination of lime with phosphoric acid which hardens the
human bones and teeth, the learned Professor of Padua would doubtless
have been led to reconsider his assent to the current delusion of his
day, as to the nature of the fossils submitted to him.

The observations on the chemicid conditions of fossil bones, form,
however, but a small part of Hunter's paper published in the * Philoso-
phical Transactions.'

He compares the fossils which are the subject of his text with the
osteology of recent animals ; determines their generic affinity to the
bear ; and shows not only that they differ from any of the species with
which he was able to compare them, but also that the fossils differed
from each other. For reasons which Hunter assigns, from having

1 [Philosophical TransactionB, vol. IxxxIt. 1794.]

u

290 PALJBONTOLOGT.

observed the difierences of shape which the skull of a canuYOioiis
animal presents at different periods of life, he expresses himself with
philosophic caution on the nature and value of those differences. ^^ How
fSu* the fossOs are of the same species among themselves, I cannot say.
The heads differ in shape from each other ; they are upon the whole
much longer for their breadth than in any carnivorous animal I know of.
They also differ from the present white bear, which, as £ur as I have
seen, has a common proportional breadth. It is supposed, indeed, that
the heads of the present white bear differ from each other. But the
truth of i^iis assertion I have not seen heads enough of that animal to
determine.'' As, at present, my object is to illustrate the spirit in which
Hunter had entered upon this most interesting application of his anato*
mical science, I will merely request attention to the last-quoted remark
of Hunter, as explanatory of the reasons which led him to begin and
zealously carry on his accumulations of comparative osteology, and the
absolute necessity of possessing skulls of the same species of the different
sexes and at different ages, in order to fix our determination of pro-
blematic fossils on a secure basis.

** Some of the fossil skulls," Hunter proceeds to remark, <' when com-
pared with the recent white bear, would seem to have belonged to an
animal twice its size. But the varieties among the fossil bear's bones,"
he affirms, *' is not less than between these and the recent." The truth
of this remark is exemplified by the names Urgiu spdaus, Ursus homhi-
frons, and Urms priscua, applied by Cuvier and later palsBontologists to
the fossils described and figured by Hunter in the memoir of 1793, from
whidi I quote: in which it will be plainly seen that the observed
difference, due to age, in the shape of the skuU of one and the same
species, is adduced as (mly one of the drcumstanees to be taken into
consideration in comparing recent and fossil crania, and that Hunter
by no means asserts, as Cuvier affirms^, " that the differences which
he had detected between the fossil and recent skulls, and between the
different fossil skulls of the cave bears, are of the same nature and d^;ree."

Having concluded his comparative remarks, and shown that the fossils
differed from the recent species known to him, and also differed from
each other. Hunter next briefly alludes to the different situations and
climates of the globe, to which animals are more or less cdnfined. The
terms in which he expresses his general idea on this important topic are
peculiarly characteristic of his style and mode of thought. *^ Bones
of animals under circumstances so similar [i,e, as to their imbedding and
fossilization], although in different parts of the globe, one would have

' • ' ' < ■ — ■ "

' [Ottemens Foaedles» Syo. ed. 18S6, torn, yii p. 236.]

hunter's published paper on fossils. 291

naturally supposed to consist chiefly of those of one class or order in
each place, one principle acting in such places." The principle here
alluded to is the grand result of the extensive zoological researches
which have since established it, under the term of the ' Geographical
distribution of animals.' Hunter's first glimpse of it seems to have
begot as great a difficulty in its expression as that of the resemblance of
the phases of embryonic Hfe to the series of inferior forms of animal
species, which he was the first to enunciate [p. 203]. But, in both cases,
he ha« recourse to explanations of his meaning, and tries to deliver himself
of the same idea in other forms of words ; thus, after the first enunciation
of a supposed localization of particular classes or orders of animals, '' ac-
cording to one principle," Hunter next proceeds to say : —

" In considering animals respecting their situation upon the globe,
there are many which are peculiar to particular climates ; others that
are less confined ; and others again which, probably, move over the whole
extent of the sea, as the shark, porpoise- and whale- tribes ; while many
shell-fish must be confined to one spot."

And here, by the way, it is interesting to find that the migrations of
the marine animals to which Hunter alludes, as ' probable ' in the species
recited, are precisely those regarding which zoologists of the present day
still entertain some difPerence of opinion ; but all seem now agreed that
certain Cetaeea of the southern hemisphere differ specifically fix)m those
of the northern 'Seas. As to the application of the law of Geographical
distribution of animals to fossil remains. Hunter's philosophical suppo-
sition has been abundantly confirmed, by the marsupial character, e, g.,
of the fossil mammalia from the caves and tertiary deposits in Australia
— the land of kangaroos ; and by the gigantic sloths, armadillos and
anteaters, whose remains occur " under circumstances so similar" in
South America, to whidi tract of dry land true anteaters (Myrmecophctgce),
armadillos, and sloths are now, and seem ever to have been, confined.

Hunter, in the memoir from which I quote, next proceeds to touch
upon the nature of the evidences by which fossil remains might eluci-
date the changes of temperature to which different parts of the earth
may have been subject at different epochs ; and he points out more di-
stinctly, and with more detail, the evidence which extraneous fossils
afford, respecting the alternations of exposure and submersion, or of dry
land and sea, to which different parts of the earth have been subject at
different epochs.

" From a succession of such shiffcings of the situation of the sea, we
may," he writes, ** have a stratum of marine extraneous fossils, one of
earth, mixed probably with vegetables and bones of land animals, e^
stratum of terrestrial extraneous fossils, then one of marine productions ;

v2

292 PALEONTOLOGY.

but from the sea carrying its inhabitants along with it, wherever there
are those of land animals there will also be a mixture of marine ones ;
and from the sea commonly remaining thonsands of years in nearly the
same situation, we haye marine fossils unmixed with any others^/'

The importance of the study of fossil remains in the elucidation of
the nature of the changes to which the earth's sai&uce has been subject,
above dwelt on by Hunter, has subsequently been abundantlj confirmed,
and placed in very strong light by the researches more particularly of
Cuvier and Brongniart on the structure of the tertiary deposits occupying
what is called the ' Paris Basin,' and on the fossils, and more especially
those of the Montmartre quarries, which have rendered that locality so
famous. By the light of these fossils Cuvier was enabled to refer the
succession of the eocene strata near Paris to several alternations of
marine and freshwater deposits.

One other characteristic of the paper in the * Philoeophical Trans-
actions,' and I have done with that published evidence of Hunter as a
Palaeontologist, — ^the frequent, and for that date, bold allusions therein
made to the ' thousands of years' required for particular operations, or
the lapse of time appreciated both as regards geological phenomena and
the fossilization of animal remains.

*' Although," writes Hunter, '^ a piece of wood or bone is dead when so
situated as to be fossilized, yet they are sound and free from decom-
position." How true that remark is, the microscope 1^ since abun-
dantly demonstrated. The spiral vessels of plants, the tubular struc-
ture of teeth, are as characteristic in the completely silidfied as in the
recent specimens. ''The depth," Hunter proceeds, ''joined with the
matter in which they are often found, as stone, day, &c., preserves
them from putre&ustion, and their dissolution requires thousands of
years to complete it." It is plain, from these allusions, that Hunter
appreciated the necessity for an ample allowance of past time, in order
to account philosophically for the geological and palseontological opera-
tions which the subject of this paper for the Eoyal Society led him to
investigate and reflect upon.

Before entering upon the next and more important evidence of the
extent and spirit of Hunter's researches into the zoology and anatomy
of extinct animals, and the associated phenomena elucidating the past
history of our globe, I must premise the traditional history of that evi-
dence, as I received it from my predecessor Mr. Clifk.

Hunter, with his usual indefatigability, followed up his first memoir,
on the fossil bones submitted to him by the Marcgrave of Anspach, by

» [Phil. Trans, fom. cii.]

hunter's published paper on possils. 293

a second memoir, summing up the conclusions which he had deduced from
his study of ^ Extraneous Fossils ' in general. Part of this memoir Mr.
Clifb wrote out under the dictation of Hunter ^ chiefly from separate sheets
or slips of paper, on which Hunter had douhtless, from time to time,
noted down the observations he had made and the ideas as they arose
in his mind, out of those observations. This constructive intellectual work
was performed in the evening. Hunter having previously taken his usual
hour's sleep after dinner — ^a sacred hour, in which he was only to be
disturbed in matters of the utmost emergency. Thus refreshed, the
philosopher returned to his study, and passed the hours frt)m eight o'clock
to midnight in the business of writing or dictation. The penning of
the paper * On Extraneous Fossils and their relations,' was one of the
first of Mr. dift's evening-labours after he joined Mr. Hunter's house-
hold. This manuscript completed. Hunter took it, corrected it ; and, as
Mr. CHft believed, communicated it to the Boyal Society'.

What followed thereupon Mr. Clift subsequently heard from Sir
Everard Home. The attention of the Secretaries or Council of the
Boyal Society had been called, by some of the Fellows, to the expres-
sions in the first paper, on the ** thousands of years " required for such
and such geological phenomena ; and, in the second memoir, the Secre-
taries found that a chronology of the earth, widely different from the
usually accepted one, was more directly and emphatically affirmed by
the author, as essential to the rational comprehension of the phenomena
he treated of, while, at the same time, the adequacy of the chief or sole
geological dynamic, at that time recognized, viz. the Mosaic Deluge, to
account for the presence of marine fossils on land was called in ques-
tion. Considerations for the repute and interests of the author himself
may have swayed his advisers in the recommendation to him to submit
the MS. to a geoli^cal friend, before finally sending it in for formal
acceptance and perusal before the Society. Major Eennell, author of
some papers in the ' Philosophical Transactions ' on ' Tides and Cur-
rents,' and other geographical subjects, undertook the delicate task of
submitting to Hunter the misgivings of the authorities mainly respon-
sible for the publications of the Boyal Society. He did it in these
words : " This leads me to remark that, in page 3, you have used
the term < many thousand centuries,' which brings us almost to the
yogues of the Hindoos. Now, although I have no quarrel with any

^ [It is not probable that the other amanuensis was Mr. William Bell, as is
affirmed in the preface to the 4th ed. of this MS., recently published by the Boyal
College of Surgeons : he went to Sumatra in 1789, and died there in 1792.]

^ [I find no record of its formal presentation to the Society, in the Minutes of
Council of that period (1793-94).]

294 PALAEONTOLOGY.

opimons relating to the antiquity of the globe, yet there are a descrip-
tion of persons very numerous and very respectable in every point but
their pardonable superstitions, who will dislike any mention of a specific
period that ascends beyond 6000 years : I would, therefore, with submis-
sion, qualify the expression by many thousand ^ear«,instead of cmJkwriesP
Hunter would not modify his statements, and he withdrew the paper.

If this be the correct history of what took place in reference to
probably the last, and certainly most interesting, of Hunter's writings
— and I give it literally as I received it, and as I know Mr. Clift
implicitly believed it — what a striking illustration it affords of the
immense progress in geological science which has been achieved be-
tween the date of Hunter's demise (1793) and the publication of Buck-
land's 'Bridgewater Treatise,' 1836! What a cheering evidence it
affords of the influence of Natural Truth on the receptive mental facul-
ties of mankind ; and how remarkably it exemplifiies the d^;ree in which
JohnHunter had surpassed,not merely his own age, but the elite of it, viz.
certain of his scientiflc contemporaries and fellow-labourers in the Society
expressly founded for the promotion of Natural Knowledge!

And now I can imagine the eager inquiries of my geological hearers
as to the fate of this traditional contribution, by the greatest physiolo-
gist of his time, to their favourite and fascinating science.

With equal pleasure I can assure them that this precious manuscript
exists.

After the demise of the first Sir Everard Home, it was transmitted
by his son. Captain Sir E. Home, E.N., to this College : the minute
recording its reception bears date April 2nd, 1839.

This manuscript, entitled '^ On Extraneous Fossils," displays the
characteristic plain legible quality of the well-known handwriting of the
amanuensis, — pale, indeed, and faint by lapse of time, and with a boyish
stiffiiess of character due to the early period of Ufe wh^n Mr. Clift
penned it, under the dictation of his venerated master. Above aU, and
most important as stamping its authenticity, almost every pago bears
some correction or addition in the handwriting of John Hunter himself.

This manuscript, moreover, bears the unmiistakeable characteristics of
its author's style and mode of thought. It demands for its ap|n^iation,
if not its comprehension, some approach to the power of mental labour
and application which governed its production. The attention of its
readers and of my audience will not be excited, or their probable weariness
relieved by any graces of style or artifices of rhetoric. Pure truth, the
plain expression of the thoughts and conclusions to which his facts had
led, are here, as in all Hunter's wi-i tings, the sole aim of the author.

What, however, it may bo asked, were the data on which Hunter —

hunter's published paper on fossils. 295

the last man to write upon a subject that he did not believe himself to
have thoroughly investigated, — ^what were the grounds on which he
had based a dissertation on the general subject of * Extraneous Fossils?'
The reply is given, most amply, by the collection of fossil remains
which he had made at the date of its composition, which was close
upon the period of his d^oiise ; most satisfactorily, by the systematic
arrangement of that collection ; by the juxtaposition, in some instances,
of the recent analogue with the fossil, and by the evidence of his dose
attention to the subject in the Catalogue which he left of those arranged
specimens of Palaeontology. In this Catalogue, a greater proportion of
the specimens hear names than in any other of Hunter's MS. Catalogues :
such names, at least, as Hunter could obtain or determine in regard to
them; the locality of the fossil being, likewise, in most instances recorded.

Having completed the descriptive Catalogues of the Vertebrate Fossils
and a general survey and preliminary class-arrangement of the Inverte-
brate Fossils, I am enabled to state that the Hunterian specimens of
fossil organic remains include, of those belonging to the classes Mam-
malia and Aves, 330*; Reptilia and Pisces, 351*; of Invertehrated
classes, 2092; the total number being 2773^.

The classification adopted by Hunter in his MS. Catalogue, with his
posthumous manuscript on Extraneous Fossils, will appear in the general
Preface to be appended to the final volume of the Catalogue now in
course of preparation* [1865].

Meanwhile I propose, at our next meeting, m justice to Hunter, and

^ [The volume including the descriptions of these fossils was published in 1845.]
' [The volume including the descriptions of these fossils was published in 1854.]
8 [The Editor of the edition of the Hunterian MS. on ' Extraneous Fossils,'
hurriedly printed by the Council of the Boyal CoU^ of Surgeons in December
1859, states, with characteristic stupidity and indifference to accuracy, " The num-
ber of Hunterian Fossils in the collection amounted to 415 " (p. ii. pt. 1 ), — ^the precise
numbers haying been expressly recorded in the FrefEW^es to the printed Catalogues
of 1845, 1854, and 1856.]

^ [Haying accepted the office of Superintendent of the Natural History Depart-
ments in the British Museum early in 1856, the Catalogue of the Fossils in the
Hunterian Museum passed out of my responsibility and care, and the completion
of the concluding yolume was confided to Prof. Morris, F.G.S. In the preface to
that yolume, published at the latter part of 1856, no allusion is made to the Hunterian
manuscript, which Mr. Clift had, in 1839, formally brought under the notice of the
Council and Board of Curators, as an * Introduction to the Catalogue of Hunter's
Collection of Extraneous Fossils,' and which had been more emphatically brought
to their attention by my lectures in March 1855. It was not until their attention
had been for the third time called to this manuscript, by my request in October 1859,
to append it to the present collection of Hunter's writings, that it was suddenly
determined to print it without loss of time ; and a reason assigned which will be
found in the Appendix (C.).]

296 PALJBONTOLOGY.

to avoid any diance of intemqitiiig the atteation to hk chain of reason^
ZDg of oome who may he present, and maj he modi hetter qualified to
nndentand the snhject than myself, to lead the paper through without
comment. In a suhaequent Lecture I shall point out the statementB
and eonduatona in which Hunter had heen anticipated hy previous
writers. I shall next endeavour to show how fiir ulterior investigations
may have confirmed or confuted any of his propositions ; and lastly, I
shall give a general or summary view of the diief principles of geological
and palieontological science which have heen detennined rinoe Hunter
wrote on the subject.

Lecture II.

Maidi 8<h, 1855.
[The manuscript read on this day, in the Theatre of the Boyal College
of Burgeons, not having been printed, as I had recommended and hoped,
with the concluding volume of the Catalogue of the Hunterian Fossils
published by the Council of the College in the course of the following
year, and three years having since elapsed, I concluded that the MS.
might not, in the judgment of the Council, have been deemed of snffi-
dent importance to be issued as a collegiate publication. I therefore
wrote, on the 25th of October, 1859, a respectful request to the President
and Council, to which the following answer was returned : —

" Boysl College of So r geona, Ldndon,
11th day of Norember, 1859.

*^ Sir, — ^In reply to your application to be allowed to have a copy
made of the Hunterian manuscript on geology for publication in a
volume you are preparing for the press, which will include a selection
from other Hunterian manuscripts copied by Mr. Clift from the originals
before they passed into the hands of Sir Everard Home, I am desired to
acquaint you that the question of the publication by this College of the
said paper, together with the other unpublished Hunterian manuscripts,
is under consideration, and that the Council does not consider it ad-
visable, pending such consideration, that the paper on geology should
be published in the manner you propose.

*' I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant,

" Edmund Belfoxtb, Secretary."
" Professor Owen, ^e, Sfc.^

The manuscript in question was thereupon sent to the printers, and
was pubb'shed in 4to, by the Council of the College, December 23rd,
1859. Eeference will be made to this volimie in the quotations cited
in the next Lecture.]

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 297

Lecture III.

March lOib, 1855.

Mr. Presideiit and Gentlemen, — In falfilment of the intention ex-
pressed in my first Lectnre, in reference to the Hnnterian manuscript
which I read at our last meeting, I proceed to point out the principal
propositions in it, which, now generally accepted as true, had been,
though perhaps unknown to Hunter, enimciated more or less clearly
before his time : I propose to show what propositions of his were new at
the time when he penned them, and have been subsequently rediscovered.
I believe I may be able to indicate some views of Hunter that are now
novel, and being true, are direct additions to geological science : in a
few instances I shall have to point out his mistakes ; and more frequently
to endeavour to throw light upon his obscurities of expression. Finally,
I shall briefly aUude to the guiding principles of geological andpalaeon-
tological science that have been established since Hunter's time.

First, as to the title of Hunter's memoir "On Extraneous Fossils:" —

In Hunter's time the term ' fossil,' as a noun, was used in the same
sense as that in which we now use the term 'mineral.' Thus Da Costa,
in his ' Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Fossils,' delivered in London
in 1778, begins by stating that " Fossils are not organized bodies, nor
have they seeds ; " and twenty-one lectures are devoted to the various
classes of these fossils, such as earths, days, metals and semi-metals,
which he terms * Native Fossils ; ' the concluding six lectures are devoted
to ' Extraneous Fossils,' or ' Parts of Animals and Vegetables found
buried in the Earth.' These were called, before that time, * Figured
Fossils,' — a term indicative of the still lingering notion that they were of
the same nature as ordinary mineraLs, but had assumed, by the operation
of a plastic force of nature, the figures of parts of plants and animals.

" Extraneous Fossils," writes Hunter, " make one part of a class of
preserved parts of vegetables and animals ; and as most vegetables and
many parts of a great variety of animals can either be preserved them-
selvi or make SI imprLons as mark the origii to be either
vegetable or animal, which are lasting, we are at no loss to say what
had been either vegetable or animal: — ^but for the understanding of
whidi, it will be proper to take a general view of such preserved parts,
and to give some of the principal leading facts to establish a principle
respecting their preservation.

'' Ab vegetables are formed only on the land, and are stationary, and
as <i-niTniLl« are formed both on the land and in the sea, also inhabiting
both ; and may be said to be stationary respecting the elements in which
they live ; and as they are all found in a fossil state now in the earth
which is not covered by water, as if all had been originally formed there.

298 paLlSohtologt.

it natoraDy leads as into an investigation of tiie operations tiiat must
have taken i^aee on the snifuse of this g^obe ; and whidi also, so £ur as
the eztnmeoos fiisnls go, leads to the fimnation of natrre or mineral
fiossilB. Bat it is to be understood that this investigation has nothing
to do with the original formatiffli of the eartii itself; for that mnst have
been prior to the formatian of the ertraneous fossil^ winch has only
a connexion with the dianges on tiie mataeei therefore, as in the
fosnlsy oar mode of reasoning on this sobjeet maybe termed retrograde;
it is siq^osing firom the state of the eartii now, idiat nnut have taken
place fbrmraly ; for we aie obliged to take the facts, and guess at thdr
cause; their history, prior to their discov e ry, being entirely unknown,
and few relative circumstances, leading to it, being almost left idioUy to
co nj ecture ; fior we have £ew intermediate circumstances leading from
one to the other ; the distance of time between cause and effect is too
long £ar observation, and history gjves us but little assistance, hardly
ahint

** In this inrestigation we are obliged to seardi after the causes of
operatians from ^ects completely performed ; but as these maybe made
out at some future period, their history becomes a kind of mark for
future ages to judge by, and will be the means of correcting the errors
we now naturally run into ; all of which we should have been unable to
consider, if we had not the preserved parts of sea-animals, each in a
great d^;ree explaining tiie other.

** The fossils of sea-animals inform us of the change of place in the
waters, otherwise we could not have supposed it; just as we would
trace the remains of former actions in any country by the monuments
left, judging of past by present."

<< As this is a subject connected with, or makes a part of, the Katoral
History of Vegetables and Animals, it has by me been occasion-
ally one of my pursuits, with a view to match the fossil with the
recent animal, and see how the present corresponded with the pest ; in
which time I hare, with the assistance of my Mends, made a con-
nderable collection^, and have arranged them according to a system
agreeing with the recent." — ^Fp. i dz; ii.

Hunter, in defining 'Extraneous Fosols,' does not limit them to 'Parts
of Animals and Y^etables found buried in the earth,' but extends the
term to 'impressions,' 'casts,' and 'moulds of such' — a class of evi-
dences the Talue of which has subsequently been fuUy appreciated, and
which has been found to indnde not only impressions made by the dead
organisms, but those left by the footsteps of living animals, as weU as

^ [See p. 295,]

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 299

by operatioBS of inorgaxkic nature. It has become a distinct branch of
the science of fossil remains, under the name of ' Ichnology ' K

" Yegetables/' he says, ^* are formed only on the land." By this
Hunter probably meant that, whether they grew in an atmosphere of
air or water, they grew on and from the earth ; as the sea-weeds of our
coast are attached by their discoid roots to rocks and stones, and the more
obvious freshwater plants grow, also, from the bottom. There are, how-
ever, exceptions to this rule : a very large one — tiie floating ' Sai^asso '
of the Gulf-stream — ^had escaped the memory of Hunter ; this sea-weed
is generated and developed in the ocean, as freely, as independently of its
bottom, as the whales and fishes that are bom or brought forth free,
and, as Hunter states, are ' formed in the sea.'

I would next request your attention to Hunter's idea of the proper
end and limits of the study of gedogy and fossiL remains : — '' This
investigation," he tells us, '* has nothing to do with the original forma-
tion of the earth itself; but has only a connexion with the changes
on its surface."

^ [" There are ser^ral drcmnstances under which impressions made on a part of
Hie eortih'B surface^ soft enough to admit them, may be preserved after the impressing
body has perished. When a shell sinks into sand or mud, which in course of time
becomes hardened into stone, and when the shell is removed by any solvent that
may have filtered through the matrix, its place may become occupied by crystalline "
or other mineral matter, and the evidence of the shell be thus preserved by a cast,
for which the cavity made by the shell has served as a mould. If the shell has sunk
with its animal within it, the plastic matrix may enter the dwelling-chamber as far
as the retracted soft parts will permit ; and as these slowly melt away, their place
may become occupied by crystallized deposits of any siliceous, calcareous, or other
crystallizable matter that may have been held in solution by water percolating the
matrix, and sudi crystalline deposit may receive and retain some colour from the
soft parts of which it thus becomes a cast.

" Evidences of soft-bodied animals, such as Actinia said MedustBf and of the excre*
mental droppings of higher animals, have been thus preserved. Fossil remains, as
they are called, of soft plants, such as sea-weeds, reeds, calamites, and the like, are
usually casts in matrix made naturally after the plant itself has wholly perished.

" Even where the impressing'force or body has been removed directly or shortly
after it has made the pressure, evidence of it may be preserved. A superficial film
of clay, tenacious enough to resist awhile the escape of a bubble of gas, may retain,
when petrified, the circular trace left by the coUapse of the burst vesicle. The
lightning flash records its course by the vitrified tube it may have constructed out of
the sandy particles melted in its swift passage through the eartb. The hailstone,
the ripple wave, the rain-drop, even the wind that bore it along and drove it wlAn Hiig
on the sand, have been registered in casts of the cavities which they originally made
on the soft sea-beach ; and the evidence of these and other meteoric actions, so written
on imperishable stone, have come down to us from times incalculably remote. Every
form of animal life that, writhing, crawling, walking, running, hopping, or leaping,
could leave a track, depression, or footprint behind it> might thereby leave similar
lasting evidence of its existence, and also to some extent of its nature." — Owen's
' Palaeontology,' 8vo, 1860, p. 152.]

300 PALufiONTOLOGT.

Prior to Himtei^s time the mam InuiiieflB of geology seemB to have
been to disoover the mode in wbich the temqaeooB g^obe originated,
and to traee the efEects of those eoemological causes whidi were con-
jeetnred to have been en^loyed bj the Anthor of Nature to bring this
planet oat of a nascent and chaotic state into its present habitable
condition.

Thns the philoso^ie]* Hooke, the contemporaiy, and, in some respects,
riTal of Newton, who oitertained ideas of the nature and instract-
iveness of liDssil organic remains £ur beyond his age, yet with a mind
biassed by the idea of the Mosaic nniyeiBal deluge, writes in 1688,
<< During the great catastrophe there mig^t have been a changing of
that part which was before dry land into sea by sinking ; and of that
which was sea into dry land by raising, and marine bodies mig^t have
been buried in sediment beneath the ocean in the interval between the
creation and the deluge."

Woodward, Professor of Medicine, the founder of the Cteokgical
Museum of the University of Cambridge, and the collector of the most
complete series of fossil organic remains of his time, mainly employed
the numerous and instructive facts at his command to support a cosmo-
logical hypotheos, according to which ''the whole terrestrial globe
was taken to pieces and dissolved at the flood, and the strata to have
settled down firom this promiscuous mass as any earthy sediment from
a fluid."

After Woodward, succeeded Burnet, with his '' Sacred Theory of the
Earth "(1690), in comparison with which, as Lyell truly remarks, ''Even
Milton had scarcely ventured in his poem to indulge his imagination so
freely in painting scenes of the Creation and Deluge, Paradise and Chaos."

A remarkable comet appeared in 1680, and gave rise to many specu-
lations on the nature and powers of those erratic celestial bodies, the
boldest and most systemaJdc of which were pressed into the service of
geology, and made by Whiston the dynamical basis of his " New Theory
of the Earth." This, like the preceding cosmogonies, retarded the pro-
gress of truth, by diverting men from the investigation of the structure
and the fossils of the earth's crust, and by inducing them to waste their
time in speculations on the power of comets to drag the watera of the
ocean over the land, or condense the vapours of their tails into an over-
whelming deluge.

To come nearer to the time of Hunter, we flnd that Buffon had also
his " Theory of the Earth ; " but as he did not profess, with Burnet and
Whiston, to show that the explanation of geological phenomena and
fossil remains, according to the Mosaic cosmogony, was "perfectiy
agreeable to reason and philosophy," the great naturalist received an

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 801

official letter from the Sorbonne, invitiiig him to send in an explanation
of his ^' reprehensible opinions ; " the result of which was a declaration^
in the next published volume, by Buffon, '* that I abandon everything
in my book respecting the formation of the earth, and, generally, all
which may be contrary to the narration of Moses \" And yet, as one of
our best living geologists has remarked, the principle which Buffon was
called upon to renounce was simply this : that the present mountains
and valleys of the earth are due to secondary causes, and that the same
causes will, in time, destroy aU the continents, hills, and valleys, and
reproduce others.

Werner, like Buffon, attributed all the geological phenomena of the
earth to the operation of the waters. The great German mineralogist,
who flourished contemporaneously with Hunter, appears to have regarded
geology as little other than a subordinate department of mineralogy.
His errors and failings chiefly arose from his miafAViTig the right aim of
his labours, and committing himself, like his predecessors, to a general
cosmological theory, that of * universal formations,' which he supposed
had been *' each in succession simultaneously precipitated over the whole
earth from a common menstruum, or chaotic fluid."

Werner's unrivalled quality was a tact in detecting the nature
and composition of minerals, and their natural position in particular
rocks. He successfully taught their external characters ; and he was
the first to direct attention to the constant relations of supei^sition of
certain mineral beds. To the late venerable Professor Jameson, of
Edinburgh, a pupil of Werner, this country is mainly indebted for the
application of all that was sound in Werner's system to the advance-
ment of geological science.

I have selected the well-known names of the eminent and highly
gifted men who have committed themselves to * Theories of the Earth,'
in justice to the aim I have in view, — ^the exemplification of the truly
philosophical character of Hunter's mind, of its peculiar adaptation to
the discovery of pure truth, as exemplified in a field of his intellectual

^ [Neither Buffon nor Galileo oared to be * Martyrs of Sdenoe/ There is some*
thing, perhaps, in the nature of abstract truth, that is less akin to our mixed and
excitable nature than religious and political beliefs : some qualities in pure science
that fiul to engender so warm a devotion, because they come not so directly home to
our business and bosoms, as the doctrines of State or Church, affecting more immedi-
ately our own special weLfSare here and hereafter. Man is not, therefore, so moved to
lay down a life in the cause of cold abstract scientific truth, in the pursuit and
acquisition of which he too often stands alone, as for a heart-cherished belief, in
which many of his contemporaries eagerly sympathise with him, and are ready to
encourage, applaud, and cherish with veneration the memory of suffering and sacri-
fice endured for the sake of common tenets.]

302 PALEONTOLOGY.

labonra m which he has been, hitherto, almost anknowiL, bat in the
eoone of which he deaily reoognised the great piinciple, that geological
inTestigationB ^* had nothing to do with the original formation of the
earthy hat had only a connexion with the changes on its snr&oe."

There was hat one cognate contemporary mind, so fieur as I can dis-
oorer, who, like Honter, folly appreciated the troe aim of the geologist.
I allnde to Hatton, who, like Werner, was at work at the same time as
Honter.

InHntton's < Theory of the Earth/ pohlished in the < Edinbargh Phi-
losophical Transactions ' for 1788, it was for the first time declared
that ** Geology was in no way concerned aboat qaestions as to the
origins of things.''

''The rains of an older world," writes Hatton, '' are visible in the
present straetare ai oar planet ; and the strato which now compose oar
oontinento have been once beneath the sea, and were formed oat of the
waste of pre-existing continents. The same forces are stall destroying,
by chemical decomposition or mechanical violence, even the hardest
rocks, and transporting the mat^ials to the sea, where they are spread
oat and form strata analogoas to those of more ancient date. Althoogh
loosely deposited along the bottom of the ocean, they become after-
wards altered and consolidated by volcanic heat, and then heaved ap,
jfractared, and contorted."

Evidence of all these operations, prodaetive of geological change,
have since been abandantly made matter of observation. The cha-
racteristic featare of Hotton's mind was its freedom £ram any bias
towards hypothetical violent caoses; its exclasion of all caases not
sapposed to belong to the present order of natare ; and the aim of his
tiieory was to explain the former changes of the earth's cnist by refer-
ence exdasively to nataral agents.

In precisely the sune spirit Hanter writes, '' Oar mode of reasoning
on this sabject may be termed retrograde ; it is by sapposii^, from the
stete <^ the earth now, what mast have taken place formerly." Now,
mark the importance of basing geol<^ on a knowledge of the state of
the earth, as it is now : see the stimalas it gives to intollectaal ac-
tivity in the right direction ; consider the nature and extent of observa-
tion in order to acqaire that knowledge !

Most rapid, most anexpected, and at the same time most sure, has
heem the progress made in geolc^ since men, in place of inventing
caases and conditions anlike the present, have submitted themselves
to search after the nature of those that now are in operation, and- of
whatever in the present stete or inhabitants of the earth may be re-
^ to, or affected by, such operations.

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 303

The extent of this precise and enduring knowledge of the changes
of the earth and the succession of its inhabitants, has been in the ratio
of the investigations conducted on the philosophical principles of Hutton
and Hunter, which are, indeed, those of the Inductive Philosophy of
Bacon. Whether Hunter had perused the 'Theory of the Earth' in
the *• Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions' of 1788, before he penned
the passages copied out fair in 1792, must remain matter of opinion : in
that MS. memoir, he quotes certain authors which he had consulted ;
and I incline, from every evidence of Hunter's habits of labour and
thought in the pursuit of truth, to believe the remarkable essay, now
under comparison, to have been, in regard to this fundamental principle
of the true aim of geological research, strictly original.

At all events ihis is certain, that the success of geology and palsBon-
tology dates from the period when their cultivators abandoned any at-
tempt to explain ''the original formation of the earth itself," and
restricted themselves in their reasonings on " the changes that have
taken place on its surface," and to deductions from the present state
of the earth, as to the nature of those changes that had formerly
there taken place. The great difference between Hutton and Hunter
is in the degree of importance they respectively assign to the evi-
dence of fossil organic remains in the advancement of geological know-
ledge.

Sir Charles Lyell, than whom no modem geologist can entertain a
higher appreciation of Hutton, states that, although " Hutton's know-
ledge of mineralogy and chemistry was considerable, he possessed but
little information concerning organic remains ; they merely served him
as they did Werner, to characterize certain strata, and to prove their
marine origin." The theory of former revolutions in oi^anic hfe was
not yet folly recognized. Hunter rises far above his contemporaries,
when he states that '' we should be unable to consider the causes of the
operations affecting the surface of the earth if we had not the preserved

parts of sea-animals Just as we would trace the remains of former

actions in any country, by the monuments lefb ; judging of the past
from the present."

The truth and beauty of this illustration of the use of fossils, has
been appreciated more and more as the value of the evidences from
organic remains has increased. Most probably (in my own mind, in-
deed, I have no doubt) the simile was original with Hunter. But it is so
natural an idea — so likely to occur to any one appreciating, like him,
the value of fossil remains, and their ^plication to elucidate the
history of the strata in which they are imbedded — ^that one cannot be
surprised at its having occurred to others.

804 PAL^ONTOLOOr.

Thus Hook^ in 1668, writes : — '* However triyial a thing a rotten
shell may appear to some, yet these monuments of nature are more
certain tokens of antiquity than coins or medals, since the best of those

may be counterfeited or made by art and design and though it must

be granted that it is very difficult to read such records of nature, and
to raise a chronology out of them, and to state the intervals of the time
wherein such or such catastrophes and mutations have happened, yet it
is not impossible."

The same figure or simile occurs a hundred years later in Berg-
mann's ' Meditationes de systemate Fossilium naturali/ 8yo, Oxon,
1788, in which that great chemist, for his time, writes, '< Horum con-
templatio multiplicem habet usum. Sunt instar nummorum memo-
rabilium qusB de prseteritis globi nostri fotis testantur, ubi omnia silent
monumenta historica."

Hunter proceeds : — '' But it is to be supposed that any changes that
may take place are superficial, respecting the size of the globe itself; for
we have no reason to suppose that the materials necessary to work a
change are deep, such as water, and whatever it can take into solution,
as also airs ; for, without these two states of matter, no combination of
matter can take place.

'< These changes are, forming solid matter into fluid, and from fluid
into solid again ; and it is in this last process that the recent vegetable

and animal parts are, as it were, arrested or caught Such substances

so caught, are either preserved themselves ; their impressions, which
must be called a mould ; or their substitute, which is a cast : such are

termed Extraneous Fossils, many of which retain some of their form

after many thousand centuries.' — ^F. iii.

We have already had to notice Hunter's appreciation of the true end
of geology and palaeontology, viz. to explain the past by what we know
of the present, and not to invent causes now unknown, by speculations
on cosmogony. How far such were from his habit of thought is shown
by the following : — ^' Any changes that may take place are superficial,
respecting the size of the globe itself; for we have no reason to suppose
that the material causes of change, such as water, are deep."

We have here the indication of the comparatively small part of the
earth that can be profitably or, indeed, possibly studied according to
the true inductive method. The greatest depths of mines, the lowest
soundings yet taken of the sea, the deepest insight which any upheaval
or fracture of the earth's crust has hitherto permitted hiunan eye to
penetrate, or human mind to frame a deduction, as to the structure of
the earth, are extremely small in comparison with the semidiameter
or radius of the globe. Accordingly the best modem geologists define

huntee's posthumous paper on possils. 305

their science as that which treats of the structure and changes of the
* crust ' or ' surface ' of the earth.

Thus the proper aim of geological investigation, the right way of
investigating, and the true extent of the field of investigation, are, at
the outset, recognized and defined by Hunter.

" Finding," he remarks, " upon land more parts of marine than ter-
restrial animals preserved, and at considerable depth, it naturally leads
to the idea of sea-animals at least having undergone this process at the
bottom of the sea ; and if so, then as that [stratum] in which they are
found is now land, and as we find parts of land-animals and vegetables
preserved nearly in the same manner, it leads us into a more extensive
investigation of the permanency of the situation of the waters ; and in
this inquiry we shaU. find that wherever an extraneous fossil is enclosed
or imbedded, the surrounding native matrix was accumulated, disposed,
or formed into that mass at the same time." — P. iv.

Here Hunter enunciates another important principle, the coevality
of the fossils with the mineral strata in which they are found. This
principle has since been abundantly established; the use of fossil
organic remains, illustrated by Hunter's figure of human monuments
and memorials, depends upon the demonstration of this proposition as a
general rule. I do not find it so definitely laid down in geological
writers prior to Hunter ; although it waa evidently appreciated in a
certain degree, and with reference to particular strata, by scmie of
Hunter's predecessors.

The exceptions to the rule arise from the formation of one stratum
out of the ruins of a preceding fossiliferous stratum, when the fossils of
that older stratum become, together with their matrix, a part of the
newer one, with which, however, those fossils are far from being
coeval in respect of the period when they actually became fossil.
Petrified bones of Plesiosaurus, e, g,, have been transmitted to me,
together with unpetrified bones of the beaver, from the comparatively
recent * till ' of Cambridgeshire, the plesiosaurian remains having been
washed out of the subjacent gault, when the sea finally retired from
the uprising land. Such * derivative' fossils were nevertheless actually
I inclosed or imbedded in the newer tertiary matrix when it " was

disposed or formed into the mass," now called ^ tiU.' The exceptions of
such derivative fossils ar^, however, comparatively Tare, and do not
{,, affect the conclusions, as to the relative age of a stratum, afforded by

its obviously and much more abundant proper organic remains.

'^ It might be supposed that the fossils of sea-animals would be found
in every known substance ; because it is natural to suppose, as most
substances have been formed at the bottom of the sea, that every kind

306 PALiEONTOIiOGY.

would be formed there^ but they are not; for no such fossils have
yet been found in granite. Probably no cause can be assigned for this,
although several opinions have been formed, such as granite being the
original matter prior to vegetable or animal ; which may be probable,
although we have no reason to suppose that the formation of granite is
different firom all others." — P. iv.

One of the latest acquisitions of knowledge-— subversive of a generally
entertained idea in geology — ^bears upon the relative antiquity or priority
of the superficial masses of granite, porphyry, basaltic, and other
crystalline non-fossiliferous rocks, which, agreeably with that long
prevailing notion, were called ' primary formations.'

Hunter alludes to the opinion as current in his time, viz. that
'^granite was the original matter prior to vegetable or animal;" but saw
^'no reason for supposing that the formation of granite is different
from any of the others." — P. vii. The subsequent progress of chemical
science has proved tiiat granite is a product of intense heat; and that,
like other crystalline rocks, it differs, in the cause of its formation,
from stratified fossiliferous rocks. But satisfactory proof, since Hunter's
time, has been obtained tiiat some granites are not different in their
formation, in point <^ time, fiK>m strata that contain animal and
vegetable remains, but that they have been poured out since the deposi-
tion of the fossiliferous beds which have be^a upraised, distorted, or
metamorphosed by the heat of such more rec^itiy formed and intruded
crystalline rocks.

I will here merely refer to the section in the twelfth chapter of the
fourth edition of Lyell's ' Prindples of Geology,' headed " No proo& that
these crystalline rocks were produced more abundantly at remote
periods ;" and to the admirable memoir by the Duke of Argyll on the
tertiary age of certain basaltic strata in the Isle of Mull. Only an
accomplished modem geologist will be able fully to appreciate the mind
of Hunter, who in the last century, in reference to the then and long*-
after prevalent belief that such ciystalline rocks were * primitive,' or
prior to the fossiliferous, or to vegetable and animal life, saw <^ no reason
to suppose such difference to exist."

Hunter acknowledged, indeed, that he had obtained remains of sea-
animals firam every kind of mineral, except the granitic or crystalline
rooks. But fri^ments of the greywacke slate, containing marine
organic remains, have recentiy been found entangled in the granite of
the Hartz, by M. de Seekendorf .

'* We find," Hunter proceeds to say, " the remains of sea-animals in
every kind of substance excepting granite. We find wood, bones of
sea-animals, bones of land-animals, in freestone, gravel, day, marl.

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 307

loam, and peat. These are found, and at considerable depth, retaining
most of their original composition ; and we find wood, bones of land-
animals, as also shells of sea-animals, even in the same bed, encrusted ;
each of which I shall consider.

'' The yegetable and land-animal substance show that the sea has
overflowed the land, and that it has afterwards left it, so as a second
time to be land again ; for it is on what is now land that all those
fossils are found which mu^t have been formerly covered with water ;
but previous to that it must have been land, which last is not abso-
lutely necessary where only sea-productions are found." — ^P. v.

'< They show the accretion, crystallization, precipitation, and subsiding
of soUd matter, or of edl the difEerent earths, both common and metallic,
in all their different ways, which must have been dihet mixed or sus-
pended in solution in the water prior to those formaticms we now find ;
they show the vast time the sea must have been in some places, to give
us such depths of new accreted matter.

" Perhaps the depth in the earth of extraneous fossils might give us
the quantity of deptii of earth of native fossils, formed at any one time
of the residence of the sea in the same place ; . . . also, as the fossils now
found in countries whose climate dees not correspond with the climates
now inhabited by the recent (which implies that the fossils can be
matched by the recent), we are led to suppose that there has been an
alteration in the ecliptic ; and they also give us a hint what vegetables
and animals are probably lost, or are not now found. The first of these,
viz. the fossil not being readily matched, when foRy settled, will in
some degree explain the second.

** [N'ot only the formation, or rather the mode of preservation, of wood
and animal [fosdls] is shown by their intermixture with the native, but
the formation of native fossils is also shown by the vast variety of parts of
sea-animals being found encased in them, and of all kinds of earths,
viz. calcareous earth, flint, crystals, day, sand, metals (as we often find
iron and the pyrites joined with the extraneous fossil), and in all states
of those earths, viz. some in powder, as chalk ; wet powder, as day ;
others crystallized, as flint, sand ; calcareous earth, as marble, spar,
&e. : but I have observed that we do not find extraneous fossils in
granite, and yet we have no reason for supposing that the formation of
granite is diSer^it from any of the others.

^* The great depth and quantity of those extraneous fossils show that
the sea must have been a considerable time there ; however, the history
of countries has shown this, without having recourse to collateral cir-
cumstances to prove it ; for no extraneous fossils i^w found are within
the period of history, not even those bones of land-animals found in

x2

308 PAL^ONTOLOGT.

peat, sandy graTel, clay, or those enerusted, which are most probably
the most recent of all.

" The change in the ecliptic would appear by the foseilB and rec^it of
the same species having changed countries respecting warmth ; for the
fossils of this and other cold countries are the most recent in the warm ;
yet this is not imiversally the case, for I believe that bones of the
elephant are found in all climates.

** It is very common to find in this countrjFi, as also in North America*,
bones of elephants which are known by their teeth. It is the same
with the sea-horse, as also the amphibia, as the turtle, with many shells of
warm climates, &c. ; a thing that most probably would not have hap-
pened if a change in the situation of this globe respecting the sun had
not taken place." — P. vi.

This extract brings before us Hunter's views on another great geolo-
gical principle, — ^the alternations of sea and land in the same place.
First, let me beg attention to the perspicuity with which Hunter
interpreted his evidences of the differences, in regard to the time during
which such alternations had taken place ; to his deductions as to the
rapidity of the submersion of a tract of dry land, from the perishable
nature of the fossils, as for instance, leaves, &c,, foimd in such strata ;
and next as to the '^ vast time the sea must have been in some places"
in order to allow of the depth of the new precipitated matter.

Hunter's deductions, that the sea must at some period have overflowed
the now dry land, and that there had been alternations of land and
sea, though doubtless original with him, and strictly in accordance
with his premises, were not new : they are, in the main, the same as
those which the excellent comparative anatomist Steno arrived at in
1669, from the study of petrifactions in certain strata in Italy. Steno,
who had dissected a shark, and had recognized the identity of form and
structure between the teeth of that fish and the fossil teeth, advocated
the true view as to the nature and origin of organic fossils, which
Leonardo da Vinci and Fracastoro had, nearly a century before, main-
tained ; but which, under a mistaken and baneful impression as to the
tendency of natural truth, and a dread of it, was in Steno's day rejected.
Steno, in his remarkable work entitled " De SoUdo intra SoHdum natu-
raliter contento," 1669, declares that he had obtained proof that
Tuscany must successively have acquired six distinct configurations;
having been twice covered by water, twice laid dry with a level, and
twice with an irregular and uneven surface.

* The large tusks found in America do not belong to the animal whose teefh we
find. I have a grinder of an elephant sent me from the same place.

hunter's posthumous pAfer on fossils. 309

^ So also Hunter writes : ** It would appear that the sea has more

than once made its incursions in the same place."

H The proofs of such repeated uprisings and submersions of parts of

n: the earth are now abundant and unequivocal.

re There is no geologist, no observer with a mind capable of appro-

i: dating and interpreting the evidences of the dynamics that have affected

the earth's crusty but admits that the entire surface of the earth has

is' been beneath the sea, but not necessarily at one and the same time ;

ffi that the alternations of land and sea have in many places occurred

h more than once ; and that '^ vast periods of time" have elapsed in the

f course of these changes and operations.

% With regard' to the alterations of climate which Hunter deduced

from the supposed identification of some of his fossils with those of
recent animals, he was induced to refer the circumstance to '* a change
in the situation of this globe respecting the sun," in other words, to a
'< change in the ecliptic." Here he departs from his principle of ex-
plaining the past phenomena by present causes. Newton long since
declared, in reference to a similar supposition borrowed by Burnet from
an Italian author, '' Allessandro degli Allessandri," in the beginning of
the eighteenth century, that " there was every presumption in astro-
nomy against any former change in the inclination of the earth's axis ;"
and Laplace has since strengthened the arguments of Newton, against
the probability of any former revolution of this kind.

It may be a question, however, whether the mental stock now to be
dealt with by the geologist does not yield a truer appreciation of the
duration of time in which the movements of the stellar and solar
systems have gone on, than could be afforded by the observations and
calculations of the astronomer in the times of Newton and Laplace :
whether the inadequacy of the analogy, based by Cuvier on the know-
ledge of the characters of a species during a period of 3000 years,
of such seeming fixity of specific characters, to the effects of infiuences
on generations succeeding each other during 300,000 years, may not be
applicable to the case of Newton, considering the results of his observa-

^ tions and calculations under a preoccupation of the mind by the theo-

logical age of the world.

Hunter's recourse to ' a change in the ecliptic,' as well as to " some
attractive external principle producing a great and permanent tide," such
as Winston's comet, e. g., was, however, the consequence of a mis-
conception or misinterpretation of the phenomena which those hypo-
thetical causes were invoked to explain.

Hunter believed, for example, that the elephants' remains found in
northern and temperate latitudes belonged to the same species^ or at

310 PALEONTOLOGY.

most to a variety of the same species of elephant, as that which now
lives in tropical regions. Its specific distinction from the existing
tropical elephants was then as little understood as the spedfio distinc-
tion of the African from the Asiatic elephants.

The moment that zoology and comparative anatomy had made such,
progress as to discern constant differences interpreted as specific di-
stinctions, and to apply the same principle to the differentiation of the
fossil elephant of northern regions from either of the existing tropical
kinds, the necessity for calling in a cataclysm, either through a hypo-
thetical shift in the ecliptic, or the attraction of the ocean upon the
continents by a comet, no longer existed.

Yet Baron. Cuvier, to whom we are indebted for the first scientific
demonstration of the distinctive characters of the El^Tias prvnUgeniuSf
was as little able to release his mind from the belief in the identity of
the habits and food of the extinct elephant with those of the recent,
as Hunter was, who nevertheless had not the same ground for con-
ceiving a possible difference in its mode of life. Yet nothing is more
obvious in zoology than that different species of the same genus are
adapted by thdr very specific distinctions to different climates, have
different habits, and subsist on different kinds of food.

Species of the genus Site, e. g., exist in a state of nature in the
forests oi the tropics and of cold temperate latitudes. Who can foi^t
that fine painting by Joseph Wdf, of ttie northern wild boar uproot-
ing its scanty winter food in a frurow of snow ? Wild boars are hunted
in Scandinavia and in Bengal. Suppose the northern species to have
become extinct, and the hog, in a wild state, to be known only as
a denizen of the tropics : its remains, found in the cold latitudes in
which it had formerly lived, would have suggested the same ideas, in
reference to the necessity of a tropical climate, ihe eame consequent
appeal to a violent departure from the ordmary course of nature, as were
entertained and mooted by Hunter in the case of the fossil elephant.

With regard to the influence of locality, and of the px>portions and
disposition of sea and land in affecting climate, I b^ to refer to the
6th and 7th chapters of Lyell's 'Principles of Geology,' "On the depend-
ence of the mean temperature on the relative position of land and sea,"
and '' The conditions necessary for the production of heat ;" and to the
chapter on the *' Siberian Mammoth," in my ' History of British Eossil
Mammalia,' for the proofe that that species of elephant, together with
the similarly wa^rmly-dad rhinoceros, were originally Siberian, and
adapted for a temperate if not a cold climate. In the next extract will
be given Hunter's matured and final views on the supreme question of
the extinction of species.

HUNTEE's POSTHUMOtiS PAPER ON FOSSILS. 311

'^ There are very few foesils that can be matched with the recent, or
[else] that the recent are not known now to exist : yet though very few
fosedlfi correspond with the recent, though very similar [to themj^yet they
may not be of different species, but yaiieties ; for there is no more rea-»
son [meaoing there is as much reason] for an animal in the sea varying
from its original, from a difference in soil [sea-bottom] and other eir-
comstances, than [as] there is for those upon land, which we see they
do ; but if they are really different species, then we must suppose the
old are lost ; therefore a new creation must have taken place. But that
many are actually lost is, I think, plainly shown, by the remains of land-
animals that are now not known. Yet how they became extinct is not
easily accounted for." — P. vii.

Hunter puts the entire question hypothetically : he nowhere commits
himseK to a positive assertion. He knew that some fossils were '' not
matchable with the recent," but draws no hasty conclusion from this
fact. Such recent analogues might exist, but be not yet discovered.
The fact of extinction seems, indeed, to be '^plainly shown by the
remains of land-animals that are now not known :'' and, <' if they are
really different species a new creation must have taken place."

But Hunter refrains from drawing, even from the same premiss, that
extreme conclusion ; for, where thq fossils do not correspond with any
known recent forms, and are only similar to such, " yet they may not
be of different species, but varieties." He puts it all hypothetically :
and this caution and reticence are eminently consistent with every
evidence we now possess of his intellectual idiosyncrasy \

Hunter, doubtless, called to mind the vast tracts in the interior of
Africa and Australia which were unexplored in his day, and where
probably such analogues of otherwise uimiatchable fossils might still
exist. On the degree of that probability I may afterwards have some-
thing to say. With the possibility, so much greater in Hunter's time
than the assiduous explorations and extensive collections of Naturalists
have since made it, it was incompatible with his caution and pure love
(^ truth to commit himself to an absolute conclusion. But if even

^ [The fact of extinction being now commonly admitted, the editor of the CoUege
edition of the present manuscript, of course affirms of Hunter, " He had, how-
eyer, peroeiyed the true nature of these fossils as relics of animals no longer liying
on the surface of the earth, as having belonged to a former creation, so that, in his
own phrase, they could not be * matched with the recent * [an absolute assertion no-
where to be found in the MS.] ; he felt that the extinction of such races, &c., can only
be explained by reyolutions in the surface of the globe during periods of immense,
but indefinite and uncertain duration. He may therefore be resided as haying
laid the foundation of that interesting branch of science for which his modem suc-
cessors haye devised the name of Palaeontology."— Preface, p. 3.]

812 PALAEONTOLOGY.

Hunter had been able to exclude from his carefdl outlook all possible
causes of deception, and had pronounced absolutely on the extinction of
species, the honest and competent commentator would feel bound to
quote from the eloquent * Epoques de la Nature/ Buffon's proposition,
*' Qu'il y a eu des esp^ces perdues, c'est-l^dire, des animaux qui ont
autrefois exists, et qui n'existent plus^"

But we may safely assert that neither assertions would have esta-
blished or made current the great idea. Palaaontology must have de-
manded more determinate, fixed, and extensive foundations.

Baron Cuvier, by his comparisons of the fossil bones and teeth of the
land-animals dug out of the gypsum quarries at Montmartre, first and
finally set at rest all doubts as to entire species and races of animals
having perished. The foundations of Palaeontology cannot be said to
have been laid before his time.

Every science more or less depends upon another, and geology has
most of these interdependendes. A rich zoology in the number of
observed animals and their geographical relations, — a precise zoology in
regard to definitions of specific identities and differences, — ^were an essen-
tial preliminaiy to the determination of the specific relations of organic
remains.

Now this truly scientific zoology was but dawning in the days of
Hunter : it is to the great French Natural History School, which suc-
ceeded Buffon and linnseus, that science is indebted for the state of
Natural History which made a scientific Palaeontology possible. Take
the distinction of the African and Indian elephants, e, g., and the
difierence in the dentition of both, from that of the fossil northern
elephant, as exemplifications of the groimds on which specific differences
have been founded. In like manner the determination of the distinct
species of the living and extinct rhinoceroses on the Cuvierian basis was
indispensable for any correct inference from the fossil remains of that
genus.

The fallacy of the reasoning from the fossils of the Elephant and
Ehinoceros, as to changes of climate, and the consequent invocation of
a change in the ecliptic, arose entirely from the defective state of
zoology and of comparative osteology and odontology at the time when
Hunter wrote. He accomplished vast things in his favourite science ;
he could not do all !

Far from offering any explanations, by revolutions in the surface
of the globe, Ac, Hunter, after hypothetically suggesting the pos-
sibility of some species having become extinct, plainly states that

^ [Histoire Natiu'elle, 4to. torn. v. p. 27 (Supplement), 1764.]

hUxNTEr's posthumous paper on fossils. 313

** How they became extinct is not easily accounted for ; for although
we must suppose that the species of deer \_Megaceivs] to which belonged
the bones and horns now found in the island of Great Britain, more
particularly in Scotland, and still more in Ireland, is lost, yet we have
reason to believe they were coeval with the elephant ; for I have the
lower jaw and tooth of an elephant that were dug up at Ougle [Oundle],
in Northamptonshire, twelve feet below the surface, in a strong blue
clay; and with it, one "of the horns of the large deer." — P. viii.

This opinion of the antiquity of the Megaceros has been confirmed by
later observations : in Ireland its remains occur in the shell-marl under*
lying the turbary^.

Hunter proceeds to express his thoughts on the nature of fossil
organic remains, as foUows : — " No definition can be given that will suit
every fossil, except simply that which strikes the eye, which in a general
way is pretty correct. For as extraneous fossils have been and can be
matched by such substances in a recent state, and probably the animalfl
most [frequently], they may in a general way be distinguished, and
this arises from the part in a fossil state having been more or less
deprived of the parts belonging to the recent, which is the animal part ;
and which is what principally gives colour to them : thus fossil shells
have none of those bright colours found in the recent ; yet some shells
retain something of their original colour, though the animal part is
dissolved into a kind of mucus, which would make us conceive that both
the animal and earthy parts were so disposed as to reflect nearly the
same colours, but the animal part is by much the brightest : for it is
not simply the state in which the substance is that constitutes a fossil;
but it is the state, with the mode in which it was brought to that state,
that commonly constitutes a fossil ; for many things might be called an
* extraneous fossil' if considered abstractedly from the manner of their
being brought to that state; [and, so considered,] every churchyard
would produce fossils." — P. xxiv.

'* To establish the principles of fossils, I shall set it down first as a
principle, that no animal substance can of itself constitute, or be turned
into, a fossil ; it can only be changed for a fossil*." Note the acute di-
stinction drawn between * turned into' and ' changed for.' Hunter next
notices the change of animal matter into * adipocire,' and remarks, —

" How far critics wiU consider such to be a fossil, I will not say We

find vegetables preserved in the earth retaining their original properties ;

* What I mean by animal subetance, is eyerytfaing that oonstituteB animal
matter which is not earth.

1 [History of British Fossil Mammals, Syo. 1846, p. 464.]

814 PALEONTOLOGY.

bat which I belieye are seldom called ' fossilB.' But we have manj
extraneous fossils imitatiiig all the appearance of wood, many of
which had wood for their base; we have also the impressions of
leaves, &o.

'< Bat pure animal substance without any mixture of earth, stands
still a less chance of becoming the basis of a fossil ; for they are more
dissolvable in themselves, or perishable, than most vegetables ; even lees
chance of having a mould formed upon them ; Hierefore we have fewer
of them. However, some animal substances are solid enough to pre-
serve them a sufficient time to have a mould formed upon them, viz.
the scales of the turtle, fish, and some insects, &c. : even horns might be
preserved a sufficient time. However, of these two last there are very
few in number that can have the opportunity of having a mould made
upon them ; but as we have no casts of the beaks of the cuttle-fish in
a fossil state, we may suppose that even this substance is not sufficiently
preservable\

'' The difference of the impressions of fish in marl schistus, and in ihe
bituminous scldstus, appears remarkable. In the marl sehisti which
contain impressions, such as those of Yerona' and Fappenheim, it is the
skeleton of the fish which has made the principal impression, whilst
the skin appears like a film (which certainly helps to make manifest the
figure best), through which the impression of the bones are distinctly
seen, as if the soft parts of the animal had decayed before the mould
was made. On the contrary, in the bituminous schist, such as those of
Eisleben', the figure of the fish appears complete, as if the* impression
was made before any part of the animal had suffered any alteration by
putrefaction; it is probable that this difference has been occasioned
by the property of bitumen in retarding or preventing putrefaction." —
P. xxvi.

The principal, perhaps sole, cause of the difference here noted by
Hunter between the Ichthyolites of the tertiary schists of Yerona and

^ [Hunter, when he wrote tfais passage, had either not reoeiTed, or not giTen Mb
ugoal attention to, the beautifal fossil horn the ooUtic slate of Solenhofen, No. 2,
< Catalogue of InTertefarate Fossils,' in ii^iich, after determining its nature under the
name of Leptoteuthis gracilis, I described " the mandibles as moderately long, slender,
slightly arched, trenchant, pointed, and wholly homy, as in other Dibranchiate
cephalopods."— P. 3. 4to, 1856.]

' [Catalogue of Fossil Beptiles and Fishes, No. 641, Smerdis nUcraeantkus,
^* from Mount Yisiena Nova, near Yerona."]

s [lb. No. 613, "Impression of a Fish: the head quite crushed, the tail also
crushed : many of the scales aro bronzed : from Eisleben, near Mansfeldt, Upper
Saxony." Orig. Huntorian Catalogue. In the ' Catalogue of Fossil Beptiles and
Fishes,' 4to, 1854, p. 153.]

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 815

Monte Bolca, and of the Permian sohiBts of Eialeben, is the different
stnictare and composition of the scales of the extinct fishes of those two
remote geological periods. In the earlier (Permian) period the fishes
were ' ganoid/ or had bony and enamelled scales which became petrified :
in the later tertiary period the fishes were ' cycloid' or * ctenoid/ i, e.
had fleidble and solnble scales like those of most osseous fishes of the
present period. With the better dermal ossification of the older fishes
was usually associated a lesd complete osedfication of the endo-skeleton,
and the reverse in the later fishes ; all which circumstances combine to
make the evidences of 'secondary' fishes'to be chiefly scales, and those
of ' tertiary' fishes chiefly skeletons.

Hunter divides fossils into three kinds : first, fossils proper, having as a
basis the earth of bones and shdls, retaining their shape, though not
always their texture ; secondly, ' casts ; ' and thirdly, ' moulds.' '' What
are called ' vegetable fossils' are no more than either a change of matter,
or a cast ; and in leaves or soft vegetables there is nothing but the
mould, the two sides of which are in contact, as if pressed together
after the impression had been made and the vegetable destroyed." —
P. 33m.

'^ Another species of fossil is a giradual decomposition, and a new
deposit; where the whole parts originally composing the bone have
been removed, and an earth. of some kind deposited in its place, keep-*
ing up all tiiie same structure and arrangements as in the original bone.
That this is the case must be evident, as there ib not a single grain of
calcareous substance in the whole composition." — P. xxxiii.

" We find the cavity formed by the two valves [of a bivalve shell]
often filled with different earth ; frequently very beautiful crystalliza-
tion in it ; the same in the univalves, and, which is very common in
the IS'autilus and Oomu Ammonis, their cavities being not easily filled
with gross matter. Some have, in the place of the shell, constantly a
cast of a peculiar crystallization forming calcareous spar, such as the
Echinus, the Encrinus, and probably all of the star-fish kind, which
would seem to have been decomposed, and a new mode of (^stallization
has taken place. Their structure in the fossil state is certainly not
similar to the natural. It would appear that the original had hardly
sufiicientcalcareous matter to form such crystallization, though probably
not new matter. Such are often found in chalk, and filled with the
same, or are imbedded, as also filled with a siliceous matter from a pale
to a black flint." — ^P. xxxiv.

<< The sea has afforded the truest fossils, and the greatest number :
.... Rivers," Hunter proceeds to say, " carry into the sea various
earthy matters either mechanically mixed or in sdution, which matters

816 PALEONTOLOGY*

oonvert themselves into extraneous fossils by forming either a mould
or cast, or both, of the organic remains either at the bottom of the
sea, or which are carried into it. Thus the sea has both the fos-
silizing materials and the bodies to be fossilized. The sea gives life,
and of course contains a much greater number of auimals than the

same surface of the land does Such are constantly dying,

and such parts of them as are not perishable, such as the earth of
bones and shells, will, by losing the animal part, by time, become
what we may call a * Fossil : ' and others, from being in water impreg-
nated with such materials as are capable of imbedding their substance,
or filling their cavities with such matter, will also be considered as
'fossil'." — P. xxxvi,

*' We may observe that the amphibia, and such as inhabit both the sea
and land, as all of the Fhoca-tribe, white bear, (&;c., likewise sea-fowl, par-
take of the before-mentioned mode of fossilization, by dying in the sea ;
for wherever there has been a shore, there we shall find the amphibia ;
as also many of the fowl-tribe, called sea-fowl, which feed in the water,
which may die in the sea near the shore, or be brought down in the
rivers, will be carried into the sea, and be fossilized according to the
fore-mentioned method, and will be found along with the sea productions.
But they will also partake of the second situation, as in large valleys
leading to the sea, which were formerly arms of the sea or inlets, which
are to be considered as having been moving shores, as the sea gradually
leaves the land, leaving materials it had robbed higher land of, raising
the bottom, or forming a new surface, lessening the depth of water at
these places, which renders it slower and slower in its motion, as before
described, at last becoming a river. Such new land will bury in it such
productions, whether of sea or land, but most of those common to both,
as shall either die in it, or being brought into it, constituting chiefly such
a-nimalR that inhabit both land and water, as also amphibia, with land-
animals that came there, or vegetables that were brought there, making
a heterogeneous mixture. And I believe it may be observed in general, -
that the fossil bones of land-animals or birds are commonly found in
such deposited materials, as gravel, sand, clay, <fec." — P. xxxvii.

«But the preservation of vegetables and land-animals is most probably
not confined to such situations alone. A change in the situation of the
sea most probably has been a cause in the production of such fossils,
which constitutes a third situation of the production of fossils. There-
fore, to preserve vegetables, bones of land-animals, and many birds, one
of two circumstances must have taken place : first, a change of the
situation of the sea upon the land where such productions are. But in
[regard to] what may be called * land-birds,' there will be a few of

i.

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 317

them [found fossil] ; for hardly any change in the land or sea can take
place but what they can foUow, — the new risuig land, as it were,
growing out of the waters, and abemdoning the old, which now becomes
covered with the waters," — P. xxxviii.

'^ But we find wood in greater plenty fossilized, according to the first
situation, and which was most probably in the depth of the sea, than
the bones of land animals. We also find wood which has been affected
by the sea at two different periods ; first, when in the state of wood,
[during which period] it has been eaten by the Pholas IPTtoladidcey,
and their canals have been filled with fiint, &c. ; and then the wood
itself has been changed, I suppose, as above described. We also find
wood eaten everywhere and in all directions by those worms ITeredo
antenauta], which we find eating the bottoms of ships at this day, and
their canals filled with spar, and the woody texture changed. I have
also wood whose mucilaginous parts have been destroyed or decayed,
and the interstices, or first canals, which may be considered as sap-vessels,
are filled with calcareous earth, making it hard and heavy ; and when
steeped in the muriatic acid, the wood comes out to appearance entire,
but could have been crumbled down to a powder. I have a piece of
wood which has lost its mucHagiaous part, and its two ends are, as it
were, tipped with agate, as if half-changed."

«' We find fossil wood not much different from wainscot ; and what
makes me call it fossil wood is, its ends, and some of their interstices,
are filled with agate. . . We find agate representing wood in every respect
exceptiag m. the species of matter : we find it imbedded in stone, as
Portland stone, &c. ; and in such it has commonly undergone a complete
change ; and what is very curious, it shall be imbedded in a kind of
hard freestone, and yet itself shall be agate, therefore has probably
undergone a change before it was imbedded : and probably the mode of
decomposition and new combination led to this difference between wood
and agate ; for as one particle of the vegetable is destroyed or removed,
a particle of earth is deposited in its place, something similar to the
double elective attraction, something similar to putting a piece of iron
into a solution of blue vitriol ; but the particles of earth deposited must
be equal in size to the particles of vegetable removed, therefore much
more in quantity than what there was of earth in the particles of vege-
table ; and one could almost conceive that it was simply an exchange,
for the centre of such fossils are commonly much the hardest, while the
outer parts appear hardly to be changed. This mode gives the appear-
ance of the original structure of wood, giving the strata [of growth], as

[Hunterian Specimens, Nos. 1013, 101 4.J

318 PALEONTOLOGY.

also the knots, fiyen colour would appear to arise from this exactness
of dispositioix, for the layers are often of different colours, probably
similar to the original wood. If so, then colour arises more from the
mode of arrangement than from the kind of matter \'' — ^P. xzxix.

'* In peaty one could conceive that the trees had only to fall, and
afterwards to sink down into it ; but I belieye no such wood grows in
peat, therefore they must have been brought there, and that only by
water ; or [they may have] grown there prior to the formation of peat.
But the aoimals which could come there had only to die on the surface,
and in time they would also sink deeper and deep^ into it ; and this I
imagine might be the case with the beavers in this country, whose
bones are found in the peat-mosses in Berkshire. Or, as peat is sup-
posed to grow, we can conceive it rising higher and higher above such
substance.

<' Bones are also found in gravel, day, marl, loam, &c. ; and as we
have found the sea-horse bones lSij[)popotanms'] in gravel, <&c. in this
country, I am inclined to think that such situations have been shores or
arms of the sea, at last constituting mouths of rivers, where the animals
have be^i accidentally swept away by floods, accidentally drowned, <&;c.,
where gravel, day, &c. have Bubsided, as before described ; for it gives
more the idea of being a consequence of the sea leaving the land than
an effect produced by a continuance of the sea in liie part, accordiog to
our idea of the formation of the true fossil. But the difficulty is to
apply this to the bones of some animals that do not now exist in the
same countries where they are found ; as also [to] the bones of auimals
that probably do not now exist in any country.

<' This looks like a destruction of the whole spedes of such animals at
the time [during] which [those] animals were probably conflned to such
countries ; and which might also be the case with the beaver in this
country ; and it being a more universal animal, its spedes is preserved
in other parts. The same observations apply to the sea-horse lHyo>po-'
potamus], as also to the elephant." ....

'^ Thus we have in many parts of this island the bones of unknown
animals, such as a large species of deer IMegaceros], as also the core of
the h<»ns, and bones, of some very large animals of the bull-kind
[Bis(m prisenSy Bos primigenius],

^ [P. zl. I had determined and named a large proportion of the vegetable fossils
of the original Hunterian collection, at the time when I resigned my offices in the
Ck>Uege of Surgeons, and when the completion of the Fossil Catalogue was left to
others. I know not why all notice of these instructiye fossils, together with the MS.
so frequently referring to them, should haye been omitted in the third Yolume pub-
lished towards the dose of that year.]

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 319

'^ There are many more of snch bones as are found in the peat in
Ireland ; many in Scotland, both in peat and other substances." ....

** I also bring into this class the animsD. whose teeth are sent ns from
America [Mastodon gufanteus], as also firom Siberia ISlqihaspnmigemus],
of an immense large size.

*' It is reasonable to suppose that this animal does not now exist
anywhere. And as the deer, whose bones we found in tibis country
and in a similar way also, does not exist, we may suppose that the
destruction of them both was similar ; and as the elephants, sea-horses,
beavers, &c., do not exist in the countries where these bones are found,
we may suppose that in these countries they were subject to the same
fate ; but such being more universal animals, the species are preserved
where such [destructive] cause did not take place." — ^P. xlvii.

With regard to the antiquity of the human race, Hunter quotes a
letter which he had received from Sir James Hall, of Scotland, dated
Rome, February 24th, 1785,

In this letter a hill is described that lies about three miles from
Bome, in tiie road to Loretto. ^' It is about 300 or 400 yards beyond an
old tower, called Torre del Quinto. A tomb, called Ovid's, is dug into
it, and fifty or sixty yards nearer Borne is a gravel-pit, which is the spot
in question. The hill terminates abruptly in a vertical crag, at the foot
of which the road passes, leaving it on the left hand as one goes from
Bome. This crag exhibits the internal structure of the mass, which
consists of horizontal strata. The hUl is about 100 feet high above the
level of the plain along which it passes : —

^* 1st. The upper part, on which the vegetable earth rests, is a bed
60 or 80 feet thick, of a kiud of tu& or soft volcanic stone, full of
lumps of black pumice of the size of a fist, more or less.

^' 2nd. A stratum of roUed pebbles, of various kinds of stone, some
calcareous, some flinty, and some pumice. In general they have under-
gone some action, which makes them crumble when taken out ; in some
places they are bound by a calcareous cement, and in others little
attached, and mixed with sand. This stratum is about 3 feet thick in
one place, and tapers from right to left to the thickness of a few inches,
on an extent of thirty or forty yards." ....

'< We found the bones contained in this box in the first stratum of
gravel between the two beds of tu£&. We got up to this place by a
bank formed by the crumbling of the bill above, and the matters thrown
out of the gravel-pit on the right side of it. There is the greatest reason
to suppose that the place where they werp found had never been moved
since the tufiat came there ; that is, that the bones and the stones of the
stratum were placed there by the same cause, and previous to the

820 PALAEONTOLOGY.

fonnation of the upper bed of tufa [viz. that which is 60 or 80 feet
thick].

" The place in which we found the bones extends 8 or 9 feet from
right to left, and probably goes farther to the left in that place, where
the stratum of gravel passes along the roof of the gravel-pit ; but there
it was inaccessible. "We did not dig anywhere above 3 feet into the
bank, being afraid of bringing down the rock above by undermining it.
It appears certain that the bones were brought there, along with the
pebbles, loose, as bones, not in carcasses, for they lie scattered together
without the least connexion ; and their number is so great, compared
to the space they occupy, that there would not have been room for so
many bodies.

** Their nature is various, and indicates the presence of at least five or
six distinct kinds of land-animals, and among the rest, two individuals
of the human species. — J. Hall."

** This hill [Hunter proceeds to say] must have been formed before the
Eomans took possession of this place, and probably by the formation of
the hill. The Tiber made its way in this direction, for it cuts the hill
across. This is probably the only instance met with of human bones
being in such a state \ But in future ages, when the present rivers may

^ [Flint-weapons, called ' celts,' unquestionably fashioned by human hands, have
been discoyered in stratified gravel, containing remains of iJie mammoth, in the
valley of the Somme, near Abbeville and Amiens, at different periods, from the year
. 1847 (Boucher de Perthes, 'Antiquit^s Celtiques et Antediluviennes,' Paris, 1849) to
the present time. These evidences of the human species have been extracted from
the deposit in question, by Mr. Prestwich, 17 feet from the surface in undisturbed
ground (Proceedings of the Boyal Society, May 26, 1869), by Mr. Flower, at 20 feet
from the surface in a compact mass of gravel (' Times^ November 18th, 1859), by M.
Gktudry ('L'lnstitut,* October 6th, 1869), and by M. Q-. Pouchet, all with their own
bands, in the course of the year 1859. Besides the ElephasprimiffeniuSj remains of Bhi'
noceros tichorhinus, Cervus somonensiSf Ursus speloTia, and of a large extinct bovine
animal have been found in the same bed of gravel. Mr. Prestwich, after a careful study
of the geological relations of this bed, refers it to the post-pliocene age, and to a period
"anterior to the surface assuming its present outline, so far as some of its minor
features are concerned."

Similar flint-weapons had been previously discovered by Mr. John Frere, F.R.S.
('Archaeologia,' vol. xiii. "An Account of Flint-weapons discovered at Koxne in Suf-
folk," 1800), in a bed of flint-gravel, 16 feet below tiie sur£Eu», probably of the same
geological age as that in the valley of the Somme.

Flint-weapons have been discovered mixed indiscriminately with the bones of
the extinct cave-bear and rhinoceros ; one in particular was met with beneath a fine
antler of a rein-deer and a bone of the cave-bear, imbedded in the superficial stalag-
mite, in the bone-cave at Brixham, during the careful exploration of that cave,
conducted by a committee of the Geological Society of London, in 1869.

Dr. Falconer has communicated (Proceedings of the Geological Society, June
22, 1859) the results of his examination of ossiferous oaves in Palermo, and, in respect

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 321

take a new turn [through localities] in which are deposited human

bones, many may be fonnd ; for, in sinking the caissons for BlackMars

Bridge, a human skull was found twelve feet under the bed of the

river." — P. liv.

Hunter again returns to the subject of the evidences of geological

action and of change of climate afforded by fossil remains, in the fol-
lowing passages. *^ As most of the extraneous fossils we find are the
remains of sea-animals, it becon\es the basis of our argument that
the superficial native fossils were formed or accumulated at the bottom
of the waters, and therefore we must suppose that the sea must have
been in those situations where we now find the extraneous fossils, and
there they must have been fossilized while the sea was upon them.
This leads to the investigation of what might be caUed the progressive
motion of the waters ; but how far there is any systematical regularity
in this shifting of the sea, time alone can discover ; for there are little

signs of it.

" We may observe that most countries have some of both vegetables

and animals peculiar to themselves, although many vegetables and

animab are common to every one ; and this peculiarity is more confined

to latitude than longitude ; therefore if we were to reason entirely from

the present vegetables and animals on this globe, we should suppose

that the vegetables and animals found in a fossil state in any latitude

to tihe ^Maccagnone Cave/ be draws the following inferences : — ^that it " was filled up
to the roof within the human period, so that a thick layer of bone-splinters, teeth,
land-shells, eoprolites of Hyana, and human objects, was agglutinated to the roof by
the infiltration of water holding lime in solution ; that subsequently, and within the
human period, such a great amount of change took place in the physical oonfigura^
tion of the district as to hare caused the cave to be washed out and emptied of its
contents, excepting the floor breccia and the patches of materia) cemented to the
roof, and since coated with additional stalagmite." — ^P. 136.

Sir Charles Lyell believes " the antiquity of the Abbeyille and Amiens flint instru-
ments to be great indeed if compared to the times of history or tradition It

must have required a long period for the wearing down of the chalk which supplied
the broken flints for the formation of so much grayel at various heights, sometimes
100 feet above the present level of the Somme, for the deposition of fine sediment,
including entire shells, both terrestrial and aquatic, and also for the denudation
which the entire mass of stratified drift has undergone, portions having been swept
away, so that what remains of it often terminates abruptly in old river-difis, besides
being covered by an unstratified drift. To explain these changes, I should infer con-
siderable oscillations in the level of the land in that part of France — slow movements
of upheaval and subsidence, deranging, but not wholly displacing, the course of
ancient rivers. Lastly, the disappearance of the elephant, rhinoceros, and other
genera of quadrupeds, now foreign to Europe, implies, in like maimer, a vast lapse
of ages, separating the era in which the fossil implements were framed and that of
the invasion of Gkiul by the Romans." — Address, on opening the Section of Qeology,
at the Meeting of the British Association at Aberdeen, Sept. 15th, 1850.]

T

822 PALJ50NT0L0GT.

would correspond with the recent yegetable and animal of the same
latitade ; but we find this not to be uniTersallj the case in every yege-
table or animal, although it is so in some. It therefore leads to a sup-
position that not only had the sea shifted its position respecting the
sur&ce of the globe, but that the position of the poles respecting the
sun had been altered, so as to have thrown different surfaces of the
globe opposite the sun, which might be the cause of the waters shifting ;
and this supposition arises from the fipssil parts of animals of one climate
being found recent in that of another [t. e. animals found fossil in one
climate are recent in another], instances of which we have many;
and many recent animals of a peculiar dimate are found in a fossil state
uniyersally, while many are not yet matched in any. I shall only take
the elephant as an instance of the second : I suppose that this animal
can only live in a warm climate. The preserved bones of elej^iants
being almost universally found, is a proof of their having been either
at one time, or at different periods, a very imiversal animal

^'History gives us no determined account of this change of the waters ;
but as the Sacred History mentions the whole surfiEU^e of the earth having
been deluged with water, the natural historians have laid hold <^ this,
and have conceived that it would account for the whole. Forty days'
water overflowing the dry land could not have brought such quantities
of sea-productions on its suiface ; nor can we suppose thence, taking all
possible circumstances into consideration, that it remained long on the
whole surface of the earth ; therefore there was no time for their being
fossilized ; they could only have been left, and exposed on the surface.
But it would appear that the sea has more than once made its incur-
sions on the same place ; for the mixture of land- and sea-productions
now found on the land is a proof of at least two changes having taken
place." — P. X.

In appreciating the inadequacy of the Noachian deluge to account
for the marine strata and fossils now forming dry land, Hunter had
been preceded by many kindred minds, endowed with the divine feu^ulty
of discovering truth.

In 1517, Fracastoro, an Italian philosopher, in reference to the
numerous marine animal remains brought to light in ihe excavations
made during the repairs of the city of Verona, contended that those
fossil shells had all belonged to living animals, which had formerly
lived and multiplied where their exuviae were found. H^e exposed the
absurdity of haviag recourse to a certain ' materia pinguis' or plastic
force, which it was said had power to fashion stones into organic forms ;
and with no less cogent arguments, he demonstrated the futility of
attributing the situation of the shells in question to the Mosaic deluge.

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 323

Thatimmdation, he observed, was too transieiit, it consisted principally
of fluviatile waters ; and if it had transpoi1;ed shells to great distances,
must have strewed them over the sur^Eice, not buried them at vast
depths in the interior of mountains. The close similarity, in the clear
and philosophical views and words of Eracastoro, to those of Hunter
(who we may safely believe had never read, or probably heard of the
Italian author), are very striking. I need not trespass on your time by
recounting the himdredfold additional and diversified testimony, which
God, in his wisdom, has suffered to be made manifest, and to be irre-
sistible in producing conviction according to the means of appreciating
truth with which He has been pleased to endow the human under-
standing, in demonstrating the utter inadequacy of any of the brief and
traj2sient traditioiial deluges to account for observed geological and
palaeontological phenomena.

As the astronomer in teaching his science gives the results of the
exercise of those faculties of observation, comparison, and calculation
which have been given to him for the purpose of making known the
Creative operations in infinite space, without enlisting any aid or element
of sdence from the records of Creation in the sacred history of the
Jews, so ought the naturalist or geologist equally to abstain from any
foregone conclusk)n as to mode or time of operation which he might
believe himself able to derive from divine teachings given for another
end. He ought to confine himself to the deductions which rest on
observation and experiment, and to teach those natural truths only
which he has been privileged to establish by the exercise of the talents
entrusted to him for the discovery of the Creative operations, or the
power of God, in the immeasurable periods of the past.

Far from confining his notions of the nature of the aqueous force
modifying the earth's crust, to a single transient cataclysmal operation.
Hunter remarks, '^ The motion of the waters is what we m&j consider
as the regular system of the world ; the sea the greater part, the lakes
and rivers the lesser; each formed out of, and forming the other. The
lakes and rivers, l^ough not the greatest, yet not inconsiderable, when
we take in the valleys and low countries that lead directly iuto the sea,
[these] having been formerly the seat of the sea, which, at a certain
period oi its retreat, exposed, first tiie higher grounds, then the great
inlet ; whilst in many places the surfieice of the earth, from its forma-
ticm, retains the water, forming lakes of various sizes, becoming a tem-
porary deposit for ihe water as it flows from liie now land, as also a
permanent deposit of whatever these waters may rob the land of; for
I do conceive there was, in the retreat of the waters, a regular grada-
tion ; firsts the whole being sea ; next, many of what are now valleys

y2

324 PALAEONTOLOGY.

forming the great arms or inlets; then, lakes; and afterwards dry
ground ; and that those lakes that now exist were much larger. For
we may observe that the rivers that supply those lakes are carrying^
along whatever can be mixed with them, and with such rapidity as not
to allow of a deposit tiU [they have] arrived at the lake ; while, on the
other hand, the water which runs out is dear, because it runs from the
surface of the lake." — P. xi.

Hunter then proceeds to consider the mode of operation of water,
by its wearing power when in motion, aud by the deposit of matters
carried along, and retained for a longer and shorter time in suspension ;
as illustrated by the deposits at the mouths of the Scheldt, the Bhine,
and the Maese.

*' This must be more remarkable with the Ganges, which runs through
an extent of 1500 miles, and shall only descend 20 feet in 60 miles ;
the Nile ; the Mississippi, which runs above 2000 miles, and opens by a
vast number of rivers, with many of the other vast rivers in America,
which become the great deposit of the materials of the river brought
from the land above." Speculating upon the results of this aqueous
action, he writes : — " The Bed Sea wiU in time be only a flat valley,
through which the rivers which empty themselves into it will run,
terminating in the sea in one or more mouths, according to the surface
at the bottom, which probably may form a coimtry like Holland ; and
in all probability the Bed Sea and the Mediterranean were one piece of
water, which would have made Africa an island ; and it is very probable
the Mediterranean wiU be some day a lake, like the Caspian and the
Black Sea."— P. xiv.

** The mechanieal substances being of different kind respecting solidity,
are accordingly carried to very different distances. Gravel goes but a
little way ; sand a Httle farther ; clay and chalk still farther ; and if we
were to trace the mould on from an inland country towards the sea, in
the course of a river, we might find the following appearances — ^gravel ;
gravel and sand ; sand and day, forming loam ; or sand and chalk, form-
ing marl ; and at last wholly clay, which wiU be carried more or less
some way into the sea." — P. xix.

<< In these deposits of sand and mud are found the bones of large
animals, such as elephants, rhinoceroses, bufSsdoes, &c, ; and indeed
these are found along the banks of almost all the rivers in Siberia,
scattered here and there, sometimes in greater, sometimes in less
numbers. The beds in which they are found axe mixed with fish-bones,
glossopetrse, wood loaded with ochre.

" Clay, fipom being a compressible substance, will be compressed
more or less, becoming hard as stone, also forming select masses. It

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 825

may eyen have a dispositioii to form itself into nodules ; and probably
some circumstance may lead to it, as having an extraneous body in it,
as part of a vegetable, round which it seems to accrete, assisted in this
operation by what may be in solution in the water, also forming what
is caUed the Ludus Hebnontia." — P. xxi.

** From this account it would appear that there is a kind of system
going on ; that the sea is the great reservoir of the materials of this
globe, and the rivers, tides, currents, &c. of the sea, the active parts,
without which the world would be at rest. When we consider the
consequence of aU these operations, we may be better able to form an
opinion of the mode of new increase of matter in some places on the
surface of this globe, in which will be vegetable and animal produc-
tions, which will give some idea of fossilization." — P. xvii.

Besides the indications of the general principles which Hunter had
discovered for himself, or had accepted for his guidance, in the study and
contemplation of the grand phenomena of the past creations and revolu-
tions of the earth's surface, we find in the remarkable essay recovered from
his posthumous manuscripts some instances of the results of the special
application of those principles to particular geological phenomena.

Take those which must have most frequently presented themselves
to his observation, as, e. g,, in the valley of the Thames, and note the
broad interpretation that he gives of the facts so observed. " Probably,"
he writes, " the whole flat tract of the river Thames, between its lateral
hills, was an arm of the sea; and as the German Ocean became
shallower, it was gradually reduced to a river : and the composition of
this tract of land, for an immense depth, would show it, viz. a gravel,
a sand, and a day, with fossil shells in the day 200 or 300 feet deep,
all deposited when it was an arm of the sea, and above which are
found the bones of land-animals, where it has been shallow." — P. xv.

Hunter does not, indeed, specify the nature of the shells : they are,
however, of a kind that could leave no doubt on his mind of their
marine character. With his fossil specimen of Stromhua coronatits,
Dfr. (No. 561), he has placed the recent Stromhvs acd/pitrinus from the
South American seas. He had also obtained Bostellaria macroptera, Lam.
(No. 670), from the eocene tertiary at HordweU, Hants ; Valuta nodosa,
Shy. (No. 747), from the London clay ; Mitra elongata, Lam. (No. 781),
from the eocene at Grignon, near Paris ; the gigantic Cerithium (No.
783), from the same formation and locality ; the Crassatella tumida,
Dh. (No. 1095), from Nummulitic strata of the Swiss Alps ; and the
great Nautilus tmperialis from Sheppey (No. 137), so like the pearly
Nautilus from the nidia seas : — all these shells, sdected from a hundred
other specimens in Hunter's cabinet, must have presented to their col-

326 PALEONTOLOGY.

lector nninistakeable features of the marine origin of the strata con-
taining them.

Subsequent researches, aided by the refined conchology of modem
sdenoe, haye established the truth of Hunter's conclusion.

All the shells of the London day which forms the bottom of the
tract through which the major part of the Thames flows, are of marine
spedes, and most of them extinct. In the superficial grayel have been
found fluyiatile sheUs, most of them of recent spedes, with the remains
of elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and other large terrestrial
quadrupeds.

The following remarks show how closely Hunter had studied his
fossil shells with a view to geological deductions.

*^ Parts of sea-animals as were capable of being preserved till fos-
silized, such as shells, must hare often lain long at the bottom of the
sea before the formation of the surrounding medimn took place ; this
is plainly shown by the Pholas having eaten into them, which could not
hare been done but when [they were] lying at the bottom of the sea.

'^ Many fossil shells are covered with shells of another kind; but this
may have taken place while the animal was alive in them ; as we often
see the same thing in recent sheUs. But we often find that the shell
has become a mould, and afterwards the shell has been dissolved, and
only the cast left, and on this cast we shall find the shells of worms,
and the holes of the Pholas, so that the cast lay at the bottom of the
sea after the shell has been separated from it or destroyed.

** Many shells are bruised, and hare been afterwards filled with
matter, which also shows that they have lain some time at the bottom
of the sea, and that heavy bodies have been formed, and put or Mien
into motion.

** Many have lain so long at the bottom of the sea as to have their
cavities filled with matter, and afterwards to have the shell entirely
destroyed, so that nothing but the cast remains, and upon this cast
living shell-fish have fastened themselves, similar to their fixing upon
any other stone in such situation ; aU of which could never have been
done if the whole had not lain at the bottom of the sea for a con-
siderable time.

** Many shells have lain at the bottom of the sea, where the water
has been agitated so much as to make them roll ui)on one another, or
other substances, by which they have been smoothed, some of which
have been afterwards endosed in stone, &c.

*' Many sheila would appear to have been lined with stone, and then
the cavity filled up vrith sand. Many have been encased with stone
and filled with the same, afterwards the shell has been destroyed, and
left the cast in the stone almost loose.

hunter's posthumous pap£r on fossils. 327

" Some shells ore turned into chalk. It would appear in all of the
enciine kind, as also the Echinus, that after a mould had formed all
around, and also in the Echinus, the shell fiUed up ; that the shell had
dissolved and crystallized again, and in a particular manner, for they
break in flakes. This appears to be universally [the case] with all
those substances." — P. Iv.

Geological research, since Himter's time, has confirmed his conclu-
sion that the flat-tract, or valley, of the Thames, was once an area of
the sea, or a vast estuary, receiving, however, in addition to remains of
its own sea-inhabitants, occasional contributions, by a more ancient
river, from some adjoining continent, in the form of great serpents, sea-
turtles, singular quadrupeds, like the Coryphodon, Pliohphtts, and
Hyrcico^ierium, of genera now unknown; and plants of a tropical
character, such as the fruits of the Palms of the genus iVi^a, which is
allied to the Pandanus and cocoa-nut palm ; of species of Anana or
custard-apple ; and of Acadaif which, although less decidedly tropical,
imply a warm climate.

Permit me to refer to one other example of Himter's special geolo-
gical observations, made at a comparatively early period of his life,
when he was serving, as sui^eon, with the English army in Portugal.
We have long known that the employment of his leisure and oppor-
tunities, in that capacity, was most exemplary to all young surgeons
similarly circumstanced: the temptations to enjoy, in a flne and
v(duptuous climate, the hours not required in the routine of strict
military duty are such as few resist : the conditions for devoting those
leisure hours to special scientific pursuits, are generally anything but
fEivourable or encouraging. But they in no degree abated Hunter's
ardour in the pursuit of truth : nothing was suffered to impede his
observations, dissections, experiments, and collections of natural history.
His museum still shows the preparations he made of Portuguese lizards
and other indigenous species, which he succeeded in bringing home, in
1763, and which formed, indeed, tiie nucleus of his great eoUection of
comparative anatomy.

That Hunter, whilst with the army in Portugal, laid the foundation
of his principles of physiology, and of the physiological treatment of
disease and injury, finally set forth in his work ^ On the Blood, Inflam-
mation, and Gun-shot Wounds,' is part of the history of surgery.

Most of my physiological hearers may recollect that it was in a
gentieman's garden in Portugal that Hunter made the experiment
determining the possession of the sense of hearing in fishes, of which
sense he believed that he had first discovered the organ in that class.
But science has not hitherto known, or had any ground for surmising,

328 PALiEONTOLOQY.

that Hunter found time^ and had the disposition and the perceptive
faculty to note also, the geological phenomena of Portugal, and the
deductive power to frame and store up conclusions as to the geological
dynamics that had operated on the scene of his encampment. Yet it
was from observations at this period of his life and in Portugal, that he
derived his ideas of one of the modes in which a retiring sea acts upon
an uprising continent, and also of the slow and gradual mode of that
operation.

*^ The extensive flat tract of land in Portugal called Alentejo, shows,"
he writes, '' evident signs upon its surface of having been covered by
the sea. There is a vast extent of flat country going to Portalegra
covered with loose gravel, apparently of considerable depth ; and there
are also considerable heights composed of such materials ; but those
composing heights are cemented together like plum-pudding stone,
only the cement is not so strong ; which cement was probably the cause
of their retaining this situation and form.

'^ But the most striking evidence of the sea having once covered this
tract, and afterwards having left it gradually, is the peculiar shape of
the remains of those elevations of gravel ; for it would appear that as
the sea left their tops exposed, the pebbles were washed off by
the motion of the surface of the water where this motion is greatest ;
and, as the sea subsided, the lower part of such risings, beyond the
general surface or basis, were longer washed by it than the top ; con-
sequently more of the gravel was washed away, till at last they became
of a pyramidal figure standing on their apex .... and all round, on
the flat surface, is strewed the gravel washed off the rising part which
now forms the inverted pyramids."

He adds, **If the sea was to leave the Isle of Wight, the Needles
would exhibit something of this kind." — P. xvi.

The distinguished geologists who may have honoured this theatre by
their presence, will need no other or better proof of Hunter's powers
in his new character, as a pure geological observer, than the instance
which I have just quoted.

Besides the aqueous causes which Hunter recognizes as operative in
modifying the surface of the earth, exemplified by the effects of running
water, as in valleys and river-courses, by the operation of a retiring
sea upon a rising land, by deposition varied according to the different
distances to which matters according to their size, (fee. would be trans-
ported and spread over the sea-bottom, and by the action of the sea on
coasts as moved by tides and winds — ^I would remark that, in addition
to these Neptunian dynamics, Hunter does not overlook the agencies of
the Plutonists : —

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 329

** Besides which [aqueous causes] there are volcanic eruptions taking
place, which break the surface of the earth considerably, probably
destroying the old and forming new : possibly the Straits of Gibraltar
were formed from such a cause ; the Straits between Dover and Calais ;
the west end of the Isle of Wight, broken off from the chalk hiUs that
run through Dorsetshire ; as also raising up considerable extent of the
surface of the earth which is already formed ; either raising up moun-
tains on its surface, or islands, when such arise in the sea ; afterwards
increeusing their height by scattering inflamed matter from its bowels
on the surface ; exposing substances rather than forming them ; leaving
(we may suppose) vast caverns underneath, in which are again, probably,
formed native fossils. This may answer some material purpose in the
natural economy of the earth, but it does not appear so systematic —
not so much a general principle." — ^P. xviii.

'' These may form mountains and valleys ; or mountains may probably
be formed, as heis been supposed, by subterraneous heats raising water
into steam, heaving up large tracts of surface, but which would hardly
form such length of ridges of mountains for many hundred miles with
such regularity as we And them ; at least, the eruptions that now take
place on the land do not produce such. Or whether the vast valleys
are only so many parts sunk, which are equally explicable upon the
appearance, but which are not to the present purpose." — P. xxii.

" In all of nature's operations we may observe that they always tend
to destroy themselves. But there is, on the other hand, a restorative
principle ; it is like the hour-glass requiring being turned as soon as
run down : but in the hour-glass we have not the principle of inversion
arising out of the effect being completed, as we have in natural things ;
and indeed, in whatever way the raising of the bottom of the sea is
accounted for, we must ultimately suppose such a principle ; for if the
bottom is raised by any such power underneath, either by steam or
volcanic eruptions, which arise from the same principle, a space some-
where must be formed, into which the water will rush ; and a repetition
of them would bring the whole water towards the centre under the
surface ; therefore, from such a principle, the waters would be gradually
losing on the surface, and equally require a restorative principle." —
P. xxm.

*^ As the fossils of the sea, or water-animals, can now only be found
upon land, it is a proof that the sea was once there ; and from tlus alone
we may presume that where the sea now is, it was once land. This
leads to two modes of the exposition of the earth ; one, the sea leaving
the land; and the other, the bottom of the sea rising up above the
water by some convulsive motion of the earth at this part. I should be

330 PAL^ONTOIiOGY.

inclined to oonsider it in both views ; probably great continents have
been formed after the first mode, and islands after the second." —
t. xlv.

" I formerly observed that earthquakes very probably raised islands ;
that on the snrfaoe of such there would be found shells, and in vast
quantity, recent, dead, and fossilised. . . . This upraising of the bottom of
the sea above the surface of the water, will also raise up along with it
all the shell-fish that lay on the sur&ce of the bottom, as also dead
shells, and in the substance of the earth all the deeper-seated sub-
stances imbedded or endoeed in stone, chalk, day, dbc, which I have
said constitutes the true fossil. This appears to be the state of the
case on and in the Island of Ascension ; the whole surface of this island
is covered with shells, and some so perfect as to have their ligaments
still adhering. There is, besides, a vast quantvky of lava, and other
volcanic matter ; all of which shows it most probably arose in this way,
because such recent alteration in the sea, so as to have exposed so much
of its bottom, and so recently as to have the animal part of the shell
still adhering ; and the very name implies its rise\ I suspect that
many of those shells found on land near the surface, on the topi» of
mountains, have been exposed in this way." — P. xlvii.

Finally, Hunter adverts to the agency of animal life in modifying and
adding to the crust of the earth.

*^ Although a great part of the calcareous earth is undoubtedly of
animal origin, yet the same cannot be said of the whole ; for without
relying only on those calcareous mountains and strata which do not
exhibit traces of the animal kingdom, and which by some are therefore
to be considered of a more ancient date, we find that several of the
elements of the granite contain a portion of calcareous earth as a con-
stituent principle, schorl, felspar, and even quartz.

<' Now, if we allow the granite to have been formed prior to the
animal creation, we must also allow that calcareous earth has not
entirely originated firom decomposed animal substances, because we find
this earth entering into the composition of several elements of the
granite. This does not, however, in the least militate against what is
mentioned in this part of the paper ; on the contrary, it appears scarcely
to be doubted that chalk, &o., which contains shells and the like, has
itself originated from decomposition of similar productions." — P. xliv.

Qxiartz consists of silex, and is not considered by the best analytical
mineralogists naturally to contain lime: but many of the granitic

^ [This is yerj ingenious ; but the superstitious Spaniard had little thought of the
geological causes oi the island^ when he discovered it on the eyening of * Ascension
Day.']

hunter's posthumous paper on P0SSIL8. 881

SQinerals^ as the sdiorl or black tounualine, felspar and mica, do contain
' calcareous earth/ and ' apatite' contains it in combination with phos*
phoiic acid. Hunter, with his usual caution, puts the antecedency of
granite to the animal creation problematically: later obserrations of
the formation of granitic minerals subsequent to f ossilif erous sedimentary
strata, have made it conceivable, if not probable, that, in parts of the
earth's crust that have been subjected to such heat as has converted
them into ' granite,' such fossilized remains of animals as the metamor-
phosed strata may have contained may have been reduced to the mere
earthy piinciples of carbonates and phosphates of Hme, which chemistry
has detected in the granitic minerals cited by Hunter.

And now, in conclusion, to sum up the general principles whidi
Hunter recognized as having been operative in modifying and producing
the present condition of the surface of our planet, and in introducing
and preserving tiie evidences of organized beings therein found ; — ^finst,
he exemplifies the efeets of running water, as in valleys and river-
courses ; secondly, the deposition of the matters so transported to the
sea, noting the different distances to which such transported matters
would be spread over the sea-bottom according to their size and other
physical characters ; thirdly, the erosive action of the sea on coasts, as
moved by tides, currents, and winds ; fourthly, the power and mode of
operation of a retiring sea on a rising land ; fifthly, igneous expansive
force and volcanic emptions ; and sixthly, deposits through animal or
organic agency.

These are recognized geological dynamics, operating in the actual
system of things, strictiy included in that class of causes, and agreeable
with " our mode of reasoniiig," as Hunter terms it, which is, viz. " by
supposing from the state of the earth as it is now, what must have
taken place formerly."

Only in two iostanoes, already referred to, does Hunter deviate from
this strictiy philosophic track : it is when he brings in the old hypothecs
of a change in the inclination of the earth's axis to account for the
presence of what he believed to be remains of tropical ftnimgla in the
strata of cold or temperate climates ; and where he alludes to the
attractive power of a comet upon the mass of waters of the earth, or
as having the power to add to that aqueous mass.

Other evidence, by fossil remains, of a warmer or more equable> and
perhaps of both a warmer and more equable, climate having prevailed
in the latitude of London, has been since abundantiy obtained : and
there are not wanting Fellows of the Geological Society who still, like
Hunter, advocate a change in the ecliptic : bu^ every accession to our
knowledge of the local circumstances that influence local climates, and

382 PAL2BONTOLOOY.

to our experience of the power which species of tropical generic types^
of both plants and animals, have of not merely existing but flonrishing
in mild and equable climates — ^has tended to remove more and more the
necessity for reference to a hypothetical change in the system of nature,
in order to their intelligible explanation of the presence of fossil remains
of a tropical physiognomy in one set of strata, or of those of an arctic
character in another, both of which evidences abound in England, and
testify to the range of change to which the climate of this now tern*
perate latitude has, firom whatever cause, been subject.

As to the igneous, expansive, upheaving cause of geological phenomena,
Hunter, while admitting it into his category of geological forces, places
it on a lower rank than the aqueous. Yet he duly appreciated and
finely illustrated its power and scope of operation. And in this he
rises above his contemporary, and some subsequent, geologists, who,
though applying their intellectual powers exclusively to this branch of
science, were unable to expand their minds to the reception of the
evidences of the different kinds of dynamics that had acted, and were
still acting, upon the earth, but ranged themselves into one or other of
the rival fiactions of the * Yulcanists' and * Neptunists :' either contend-
ing, with Werner, that water alone had brought about the actual con-
dition of the earth's surface, or, with Playfair, referring it as exclusively
to the operation of fire.

Hunter admits the efficacy of the latter expansive, subterranean
force, in '' breaking the surface of the earth considerably, probably de->
stroying the old and forming the new : — ^in separating lands formerly
united, of which possible examples he cites — ^the straits of Dover and
Gibraltar, and that which now divides the Isle of Wight from the
opposite coast of England :" as *' raising up a considerable extent of the
surface of the earth, which is already formed," or ** raising islands in
the sea, and afterwards increasiog their height by scattering inflamed
matter on their surface ;" thus ** exposing mineral substances rather than

forming them They may answer," he philosophically remarks,

^* some material purpose in the natural economy of the earth ; but it
does not appear so systematic — ^not so much on a general principle."

No Yulcanist could have more graphically or concisely illustrated the
modus operandi of his favourite force, than Hunter does in the few
pregnant sentences and instances above quoted.

And, in reference to the effect of igneous agency in upraising a con-
siderable extent of the already formed surface of the earth, I cannot
refrain here frt>m adducing one of the many recorded instances of this
geological operation which has taken place since the time of Hunter.

In 1822 the coast of Chili was raised by an earthquake, the shock

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 838

of which was felt simultaneously through a space of 1200 miles, from
north to south. St. Jago, Valparaiso, and other towns were much
injured by that great commotion.

The shores of the Bay of Concepgion were similarly affected during
the great earthquake of February 20th, 1835, Mr. Darwin, who felt
the shock, estimates the upheaval of the land round the bay at two or
three feet. At the island of S. Maria, about 30 miles distant, ** Captain
MtzEoy found beds of putrid mussel-shells, still adhering to the rocks
ten feet above high-water mark : the inhabitants had formerly dived at
low- water spring-tides for these shells." But the elevating force which
operates more gradually, and without such violence, is not less important,
and its effects are appreciable within the comparatively restricted period
of human history. Thus it has been determined by successive experi-
mental observations that the shores of the Baltic are rising at the
estimated rate of four feet in a century. Ancient beaches extending
along certain parts of the British coast, at elevations varying from ten
to one hundred feet above the present sea-level, attest the upraising of
such * extents of the surface of the earth.'

Hunter by no means exaggerates the effects of the igneous or elevating
force. He perhaps failed to comprehend its fiiH influence in repeated
operations during a vast period of time. He hesitated, e, g,,m apply-
ing it to the upheaval of such ridges of mountains as had been traced
extending with a certain regularity for many hundred miles. ^^At
least," he says, ^' the eruptions that now take place on the land do
not produce such." It is easy to conceive, however, what wotild be
the result of a succession of such lifts as have been observed to operate
upon the base of the Andes in our own times, if continued through the
* many thousand centuries ' that Hunter so often appeals to. Geology,
indeed, now flnds no numerical term adequate to embody the idea <^
time, which the contemplation of its phenomena forces on the mind.

With regard to the agency of animal life in forming or altering the
earth's crust. Hunter, by virtue of his comparative anatomy and phy-
siology, was, perhaps, the best able of any philosopher in his day to
appreciate this now generally recognized geological force.

Although unaided by such microscopes as have revealed to Ehrenberg
and others the animalcular origin of immense tracts of calcareous and
siliceous earth. Hunter, after showing that the earthy materials of the
skeletons of many animals, and especially of shell-fishes, star-fishes, and
zoophytes, were the same earth as composed part of the globe, and as
imperishable as such earth, boldly aJffirms that '^ a large portion of the
globe is indebted to animals for such calcareous earth," and concludes
by saying, ^^ and indeed many of our islands are no more than super*

884 PALJBONTOLOOT.

straetures of ooraL" But reoognizingy as Hunter did, the different
causeB of geological phenomena, which later observers have established^
he returns to the aqueous ones, in all their modes, with the power ci
solution, .... as the principal and most widely diffused power;" and most
beautifully and truly defines than as being, ^* although not the sole
formers, yet the regulators of the formation, of the surfeuse of this
globe,"

The chief dynamical cause of change of the earth's surfetce which
has been determined, since the time of Hunter, in addition to those
which he recognized, is that of water in its frozen state. The disin-
tegrating power of water in passing from the fluid to the solid state,
though slow, is irresbtible ; and is considerable in every latitude where
the temperature falls below the fireezing-point ; the operation of masses
of ice or glaciers is more conspicuous and violent ; but its sphere is limited
in comparison with those of the great aqueous and igneous causes to
which Hunter refers. The appearances which ^cial action has left
on many parts of the earth's surface were amongst the most remark-
able and problematical, until at length satisfactorily explained by the
observations, experiments, and calculations of some of the ablest geolo-
gists, profoundest mathematicians, and most enterprising voyagers at the
present day.

The surface of the earth is a£Eected by the movem^its of great
ice-masses or glaciers on land, and by the floating masses or icebeigs at
sea.

^* The agency of gkcieiB," says Sir C. Lyell, ^^ in producing permanent
geological change, consists partly in their power of transporting gravel,
sand, and huge stones to great distances, and partiy in the smoothing,
polishiog, and scoring of their rocky channels, and the boundary walls
of the valleys through which they pass." The stones carried along and
deposited by the gladers are called the 'moraines.' There is always
one line of blocks on each side or edge of the icy stream, and often
in the middle, arranged in long ridges several yards high : the latter
medial moraines are due to the confluence of tributary glaciers. This
characteristic arrangement, or rather derangement, of parts of the
earth's surface by the movement of ice, with the scoring and polishing
marks of its transit, serves to indicate the former actions ci glaciers in
localities where they have never been known in the memory of man,
and where the present climate is unsuited to their formation.

In arctic and antarctic latitudes, vast masses of ice are annually de-
tached from the shores, and float off with more or less of the mineral
matter of such shores. Scoresby counted 500 of these bergs drifting
along in latitudes 69° and 7(P N., which rose above the surface from

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 385

the height of 100 to 200 feet, and measnred some of them a mile in
circumference. Many of them were loaded with beds of earth, and rock
of such thickness that the weight was conjectured to be from 50,000
to 100,000 tons. Specimens of the rocks were obtained, and among
them were granite, gneiss, mica-schist, clay-slate, felspar, and green-
stone. They float to the more temperate latitudes, gradually melt,
and let drop their mineral ballast to the bottom of the sea.

Sir James 0. Boss, in his antarctic voyage, saw multitudes of icebergs
transporting stones and rocks of various sizes, in high southern latitudes.
In the voyage of antarctic discovery in 1839, amongst the numerous
floating ice-masses, a dark- coloured angular mass of rock was seen im-
bedded in an iceberg drifting along in mid-ocean in lat. 61^ S. That
part of the rock which was visible was about twelve feet in height, and
from flve to six in width, but the dark colour of the surroimding ice
indicated that much more of the stone was concealed. This iceberg
was between 250 and 300 feet high, and was no less than 1400 miles
from any known land. At what distance from its parent dLff that boulder
rock was dropped to the sea-bottom is unknown.

The great boulder-stone in the vaUey near Derwentwater, will be
familiar to all who have vid^ted that beautiful part of the lake district.
There is abundant evidence that the whole of that district was formerly
covered by the sea. Ancient icebergs then floated over the submerged
land of that latitude and longitude, as now over the same latitude, but
in a diflerent longitude, which then, perhaps, was dry land.

The ' boulder-stone,' as it is called par exedlencA, is one of countless
similar but smalls erratics, which by their distribution over the surfieu^e
of my own native county and the adjoining ones, clearly indicate the
course of the currents that bore along the ancient icebergs which dr(^ped
them as they floated and melted over that old sea-bottom.

To appreciate the extent of geological chaise produced by the annual
operation of ioe in the form of glaciers and bergs, one must endeavour to
multiply tiie observed approximate results of one year, by the countiess
thousands of years during which geology teaches that such glacial
action has been going on.

I must not close this brief notice of a geological dynamic, unknown to
Hunter, without alluding to the property of ice, especially as blended
with earth and forming frozen-soil, in the preservation of animal bodies,
and of the evidence which the nature of those animals, as being speci-
flcally different from any now in being, has yielded of the vast lapse of
time during which such soil has been frozen, and the cause of glaciers
and icebergs has been in operation, in the latitudes where such frozen
animals have been found. To the comparative anatomist these pheno-

386 PALiEONTOLOGY.

mena are of peculiar interest and importance, since by this action of
extreme cold, the soft^parts, integuments, hair, bristles, and other epi-
dermal coverings have been preserved, to testify, in addition to the bones
and teeth, as to the specific characters and peculiar habits of those
extinct species.

Perhaps the greatest and most fruitful principle in the sciences of
Geology and FalsBontology which has been established since Hunter's
time, is that of the limitation of particular oi^anic fossUs to particular
mineral strata, and the regular order of succession of such fossUiferous
strata.

This great discovery was made by an Englishman, and a contempo-
rary of Hunter, though a much ^'^ounger man — ^Mr. William Smith,
justly entitled the Father of English Geology, whose personal acquaint-
ance I have been bonoured and favoured to make, a circumstance
which I shall ever prize amongst my most cherished recollections.

Whilst the tenets of the rival schools of Freyberg and Edinburgh were
being warmly espoused by devoted partisans, the labours tending to the
solution of the dispute of the young land-surveyor were as little known
as those of the great physiologist. But William Smith, fortunately for
science and his own repute, published, in 1790, his * Tabular View of
the British Strata,' and their * Identification by their peculiar organized
Fossils.' This tract seems never to have fallen in Hunter's way. Smith
prosecuted his geological investigations uninterruptedly until, in 1815,
he had completed a Geological Map of all England.

Contemporaneously with the labours of William Smith, were those of
Cuvier and Brongniart. The extensive, minute and exact knowledge
possessed by Cuvier of Comparative Anatomy — especially Osteology —
and of Natural History, enabled and emboldened him to speak decidedly
as to the specific distinction, and of the extinction, of the vertebrated
fossil remains submitted to his examination. Lamarck was able to enun-
ciate the same important conclusions as to the fossil shells. The com-
bined labours of the above great luminaries of the School of Paris, threw
the siftne clear light on the laws of superposition and the characteristic
fossil remains of the tertiary series of France, which William Smith's
single-handed labours had effected for the secondary formations of
England. ^

These independent discoveries — ^these undesigned coincidences of
results of inductive research,-— establish great natural truths on the
unassailable and eternal basis of truth. Cuvier's labours were more
particularly characterized by the rigid character of his demonstra-
tions of the distinction of the fossil remains from the known existing
species, and by the laws which he laid down for the guidance of his
successors in that field of inquiry.

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 337

It has been well remarked, that no period could have been more for-
tunate for the discovery in the immediate neighbourhood of Paris of a
rich store of well-preserved fossOs, than the commencement of the pre-
sent century ; for at no former era had Natural History and Compara-
tive Anatomy been more extensively and successfully studied at the
Jardin des Plantes.

The labours of Cuvier in Comparative Osteology, and of Lamarck in
recent and fossil Conchology, had raised these departments of study to
a rank far above that which they had previously attained. Their inves-
tigations had eventually a powerful effect in dispelling the illusion
which had long prevailed, but from which Hunter was free, concerning
the absence of analogy between the ancient and modem states of our
planet.

A close comparison of the recent and fossil species, and the inferences
drawn in regard to their habits, accustomed the geologist to contem-
plate the earth as having been at successive periods the dwelling-place
of animals and plants of different races, some terrestrial and others
aquatio-6ome fitted to Hve in seas, others in the waters of lakes and
rivers.

By the consideration of these topics, the miad was slowly and insen-
sibly withdrawn from imaginary pictures of catastrophes and chaotic
confusion, such as had haunted the imagiuation of the early cosmogonists.
Numerous proofs were discovered of the tranquil deposition of sediment-
ary matter, and the slow and successive development of organic Hfe.

The application of the binomial nomenclature of linnseus to the
ftniTYialw indicated by fossil remains, and especially of the same generic
names to the fossils and their living congeners, was an important step
towards familiarizing the mind with the idea of the identity and unity
of the mundane system in distant eras. " It was an acknowledgement,"
as Lyell well says, '^ that part, at least, of the ancient memorials of
Nature were written in a living language." The growing importance
of the Natural History and anatomical determination of fossil organic
remains may be pointed out as the characteristic feature of the progress
of the sdenoe during the present century.

This branch of knowledge has not only become an instrument of
great utility in geological classification, but it has added largely to the
facts of Comparative Anatomy and to the physiological relations of
modified parts and organs to the peculiar habits of extinct species ; and
it is continuing daily to unfold new data for grand and enlarged views
respecting the former changes of the earth.

Zoology has gained an immense accession of subjects throflgh the
determination of the nature and affinities of extinct animals, and much

338 PALiEONTOLOOT.

further and tmer insight has been carried into the natural arrangement
and subdivision of the classes of animals since palaeontology expanded
our survey of them.

The knowledge of the type or fandamental pattern of certain systems
of organs, e. g,, the framework of the Vertebrata and the teeth of the
Mammalia^ has been advanced by the more frequent and closer ad-
herence to such type discovered in extinct animals, and thus the highest
aim of the zoologist has been greatly promoted by palseontology.

By this science the law of the geographical distribution of animals,
as deduced from existing species, is shown to have been in force during
periods of time long antecedent to human history, or to any evidence of
human existence ; and yet, in relation to the whole known period of
life-phenomena upon this planet, to have been a comparatively recent
result of geological forces determining the present conBguration and
position of continents. Hereby palseontology throws light upon a most
interesting branch of geographical science, that, viz., which relates to
former configurations of the earth's surface, and to other dispositions of
land and sea than prevail at the present day.

Finally, palaeontology has yielded the most important facts to the
highest range of knowledge to which the human intellect aspires. It
teaches that the globe allotted to man has revolved in its orbit through
a period of time so vast, that the mind, in the endeavour to realize it,
is strained by an effort like that by which it strives to conceive the
space dividing the solar system from the most distant nebulae.

Palaeontology has shown that, from the inconceivably remote period
of the deposition of the Cambrian rocks, the earth has been vivified by
the sun's light and heat, has been fertUized by refreshing showers, and
washed by tidal waves ; that the ocean not only moved in orderly os-
cillations regulated, as now, by sun and moon, but was rippled and
agitated by winds and storms; that the atmosphere, besides these move*
ments, was healthily influenced by clouds and vapours, rising, condensing,
and falling in ceaseless circulation. With these conditions of life,
palaeontology demonstrates that life has been enjoyed during the same
countless thousands of years ; and that with life, from the beginning,
there has been death. The earliest testimony of the living thing,
whether coral, crust, or shell, in the oldest fossiliferous rock, is at the
same time proof that it died. At no period does it appear that the gift
of life has been monopolized by contemporary individuals through a
stagnant sameness of untold time, but it has been handed down from
generation to generation, and successively enjoyed by the countless
thousands that constitute the species. Palaeontology further teaches,
that not only the individual, but the species perishes ; that as death is

hunter's posthumous paper on fossils. 839

balanced by generation, so extinction haa been concomitant with the
creative power which has continued to provide a succession of species ;
and furthermore, that, as regards the various forms of life which this
planet has supported, there has been " an advance and progress in the
main." Thus we learn, that the creative force has not deserted the
earth during any of the epochs of geological time that have succeeded
to the first manifestation of such force ; and that, in respect to no one
class of animals, has the operation of that force been limited to one
geological epoch ; and perhaps the most important and significant result
of palseontological research has been the establishment of the axiom of
the contintums operation of the ordained becoming of new swedes of living
things.

Amongst the circumstances that have most conduced to extend a
knowledge of the nature of the changes in the crust of the earth
and its inhabitants since Hunter's philosophical attempt to compre-
hend and explain them, must be dted the establishment, in 1807, of
the Geological Society of London. By the labours of the distin-
guished founders and early members of that Society, WoUaston,
Greenough, Homer, De la Beche, Pitton, Conybeare, Sedgwick, and
Buckland, Geology was soon rescued from the imputation of being a
dangerous, or at best a visionary, pursuit. By their worthy successors,
so numerous now that to particularize might seem invidious, but
amongst whom common consent would name with honour Murchison,
Phillips, and Lyell, and by the weU-organized Geological Survey of
Great Britain, the combined Sciences of Geology and PalfiDontology have
been most surely and rapidly advanced; and I cannot conclude this
sketch of the leading steps of that advance, made more especially in
England since the time of Hunter, than in the eloquent language of
the most philosophical historian of the progress of the combined Sciences
which owe so much to his own original labours.

" Never, perhaps, did any science, with the exception of Astronomy,
unfold, in an equally brief period, so many novel and unexpected
truths, and overturn so many preconceived opinions. The senses had
for ages declared the earth to be at rest, imtil the astronomer taught
that it was carried through space with inconceivable rapidity. In like
manner was the surface of this planet regarded as having remained un-
altered since its creation, until the geologist proved that it had been
the theatre of reiterated change, and was still the subject of slow, but
never-ending, fiuctuations. The discovery of other systems in the
boundless regions of space was the triumph of astronomy ; to trace the
same system through vmous transformations — to behold it at success-
ive eras adorned with difierent hills and vaUeys, lakes and seas, and

z2

340 PALEONTOLOGY,

peopled with new inhabitants, was the delightful meed of geological,
research.

** By the geometer were measured the regions of space, and the rela-
tive distances of the heavenly bodies ; — ^by the geologist myriads of ages
were reckoned, not by arithmetical compntalion, but by a train of
physical events — a succession of phenomena in the animate and inani-
mate worlds — signs which convey to our minds more definite ideas than
figures can do of the immensity of time.

'* "Whether our investigation of the earth's history, structure, and suc-
cessive inhabitants will eventually be productive of as great practical
benefits to mankind as a knowledge of the distant heavens, must remain
for the decision of posterity. It was not till Astronomy had been
enriched by the observations of many centuries, and had made its way
against popular prejudices to the establishmait of a sound theory, that
its application to the useful arts was most conspicuous. The cultiva-
tion of Geology began at a later period ; and in every step which it has
hitherto made towards sound theoretical principles, it has had to con-
tend against the most violent prepossessions. The practical advantages
already derived from it have not been inconsiderable : but our gene-
ralizations are yet imperfect, and they who come after us may be ex-
pected to reap the most valuable fruits of our labour. Meanwhile, the
charm of first discovery is our own ; and, as we explore this magnifi-
cent field of inquiry, the sentiment of a great historian of our
times may continually be present to our minds, that ' he who calls
what has vanished back again into being, enjoys a bliss like that of
creating \'"

[* Lyell, * Principles of Geology.']

PHYTOLOGY. 341

[OBSERVATIONS ON PHYTOLOGY.]

OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS ON THE VEGETABLE

ECONOMY \

Of Vegetable lAfe. — ^The life of a vegetable comes iinder the same
definition with that of an animal. It is a power of action within the
vegetable itself, independent of any mechanical power whatever. For,
although impulse, which can produce a mechanical effect, may be a
cause of that power being brought into action, yet it can be brought
into action by causes that are not mechanical— causes that cannot pro-
duce any mechanical effect whatever, nor arise from any. A mechanical
impulse may produce action within the vegetable, yet the effect is not
mechanical : that is, although the body impelling may lose some of its
power by this impulse, yet the body impelled [or stimulated] has not
acquired the same power, which would be mechaoical ; but it may exert
a power much greater or less according to circumstances, which power
was not received from the impelling body, nor was the power in the
impelling body lessened in proportion to the action of the body receiving
the impulse [or stimulus].

In speaking of vegetable life, and the actions arising from it, the same
language is applicable as in speaking of the operations of an animal.

^ [The manuscript volume containing these * Observations,* &c., was Kbei»lly pre-
sented to me, in May 1860, b)F Ed. Bushworth, Esq., nephew and executor of
Captain Sir Everard Home, Bart, R.N. : it is a small thin quarto bound in parch-
ment. On the inside of the back is the following mwnorandum in Capt Sir E.
Homers handwriting: — "The handwriting of Mr. Bell, Mr. Hunter, Everard
Home, and others. Two pages oi index, l^e volume wants pages 20, 29, 30,
77, 78; then perfect to page 164; after which there are two leaves numbered 169
and 170, and 175 and 176. There is a strip of paper stuck in between pages 34 and
35, another between pages 38 and 39, between 52 and 53, and one on 53 ; between
96 and 97, one on 176, and two on the cover inside. — ^E. H., Sept. 10th, 1829."

These intercalated strips are, with one exception, in the handwriting of John
Himter : the exception is the letter from Pr. Solander (p. 355), in reply to a question
by Hunter, as to climbing, sleeping and moving plants.

The MS. on the left-hand pages is by the amanuensis ; that on the opposite pages
is in the handwriting of Hunter, supplementing the text, which also contains inter-
lineations, corrections, and erasures by Hunter's hand.

A copy of this volume was presented by Capt. Sir £. Home, Bart., to the BoyaL
College of burgeons, in 1829.]

S42 FHTTOLOOT.

It is expreaaiTe of actions whoae causes and efibcbi are very Bimilar,
although the mode of perfoiming tiiiem may sot be similar.

0^(A« Svgpensionof the Aetityn* of VegeUibU*. — The actions of a v^p-
table depend on the living principle. We see those actions suspended,
althoQ^ the living power is existing ; and probably this power can lie
much longer inactive in the vegetable than in any animal, its own exist-
ence not depending so immediately upon action in the vegetable as in
the animal ; but this varies very considwably in Hie different classes ot
v^etables, as also in Qie di^erent classes of animals. However, it is
probable that the vegetAble, which can the least beai a suspension of its
actions, can do so more than the animal, whioh can bear it loi^est. I
am not alluding here to those natoral sospensions of actions which
appear to be a necessary part of their economy, as where a plant
cannot be active during two seasons without an inteimption to the
vigorous actions, but to those snspensionB of action arising from some
violence, such as transplantmg, or probably disease. Trees shall have
their actions suspended for one, two, or three seasons, but be still
living, and shall die at last.

I planted some Scotch Firs in the month of July, 1772, when the
shoot was full-grown. In the following spring one of them did not
send out fresh shoots, although the buds were firesh and the whole was
groen ; it remained in this state all the summer : the winter follow-
ing it appeared just the same as in the preceding winter, viz. the last
shoot, which was a year and a half old, appeared like those of the
last spring's growth in other firs; the spring following, 1774, viz. two
years, it was stationary, and kept fresh as in the preceding spring,
but it died in the summer. Here was life sustained without action for
two years ; but as it had not powers to act, the tree lost its powers of
life, not being able to live under a longer suspension of its action.

On the other hand, we find that in many vegetables, although thedr
powers are weak, yet their actions ore not suspended when the proper
season is calling them forth ; but often these necessary actions are
more than the powers ore capable either of perfecting or continuing.
If the necessity to act is not greater than the power, then they go on well ;
but if the necessity to act is greater than the power, then they become
weak, and perhaps cannot even support life, and they die. This is seen
in very hot weather in summer, when trees, &c. die through heat,
although well-watered. It is still more remarkable in newly planted
trees, where the living powers are rendered much weaker than at
another time ; for if the weather becomes hot, and continues long so,
they certainly die. We may see them send forth their youi^ ^oots
and leaves, but those shall die upon the approach of the too hot weather ;

LIFE OF PLANTS . 843

aud if mild or cold weather come on, they shall begin to shoot out
stalks afresh, as also leaves. Such trees (if of yalue) should be sheU
tered from the sun for the first summer^ especially if the heat is con-
siderable.

In every vegetable there is a certain power of action. In some, as
the Blackberry-bush, it is much more than in others.

Trees, when they have become very much weakened by a long hard
frost or winter, shall in the spring begin to shoot out their buds ; but
when the weather becomes warm, they are then not able to act equal
to the heat, and they die. This sometimes takes place in the whole
plant, in others only in part, often in one or more branches ; but as the
last shoots of plants are the weakest^ we find this efiect mostly in those.
In hard winters the last shoots may die, and we shall see the living
part next to the dead shoot out its leaves; but as the heat of the
weather advances, those leaves shall fade and wither away, and those
lower on the vigorous stalk or branch below shall live. If such trees
are put into a hothouse to be forced, this eSbct will be more certain and
extensive.

More striking, I have seen fig-trees in tubs suffer very severely
from a hard winter in their last shoots, and those that were put into
a hothouse began to vegetate in those last shoots, but both shoot and
leaves died, while those leaves from the same shoot below lived. In
those trees that were not exposed to a heat above their powers, but
were allowed gradually to recover powers as they recovered action,
the same effect did not take place.

[Separate Note on the same snibjeet,'] — ^I know a Scotch Fir which was
transplanted in July 1772, after it had made that year's shoot ; the
spring following it had not the least sigp. of active Ufe, and was supposed
to be beyond recovery, although on removing the bark at any part it
was found fresh. In the month of July, 1773, it began to shoot, and
continued to grow. The same thing happened to a White Thom.^ A
Spanish Broom was imder the same circumstances, and was attenaea
with the same effects.

On the other hand, we shall find that the actions of life shall be very
weak for a season or two, and die at last ; this is a very common thing
with new planted trees, and probably with everything that is newly
planted. Some, however, do not remain long in this inactive state, but
either recover or die ; as many annual plants, and those that live two or
three years, e, g. cabbages •

Of the Movement of the ISap. — ^The juice of vegetables, commonly
called sap, can either ascend directly, pass laterally or obliquely. Thus
if we bark a tree nearly all round, leaving only a little part, the juice

344 PHYTOLOGY.

of the plant, to supply the tree above, passes directly up through this
part ; and, as it supplies the whole above, it must then divei^ in all
directions. This w best seen, however, in those trees which die to the
heart when barked. But in others it might be supposed that the body
of the tree carried up its juice beyond the barked part, as in many trees,
the Apple, Pear, &c. From this property the juice can be made to take
any direction. If a straight stem of a tree has a piece of bark removed in
an oblique direction, which, when carried on, runs into the spiral, the
sap will be conducted along the remaining bark, which, of coiurse, is also
spiral (^g, l,ab); and these spiral turns may go several times round ; but
this IB as much as many trees can do, and more than some can bear. In
those whose wood does not die when barked, the spiral barking may go
round several times ; for we may suppose that the wood of the tree con-
ducts the juice, when barked in this way, as well as when barked all
round: but in those whose wood dies to the centre, the baik must
carry the whole juice, excepting the little bit of wood that is covered,
which may carry some of the juice ; but the whole or the best part must
go along the spiral bark. And as this in such is not sufficient if the
turns are many, it is necessary [in the experiment] to go at first only
once round the first year, then once more the second year, and so on.
From which it would appear that the parts acquired a facility in con-
ducting the juice ; or rather that the last year's bark on this spiral part
was so formed as to conduct the juice better than the bark at large.

Of the Bark of Trees, — ^The bark of trees is that external covering
which may be said to have no sap in it, and hardly has any particular
arrangement of its parts or substance.

This part of a tree may be divided into two kinds respecting per-
manency ; the first is when it is never changed, and the other where it
is. In the first, as this part of the tree does not grow in the same pro-
portion as the tree which it covers, there must be some provisian in
nature for this ; we find in such that the bark cracks, and those cracks
at their bottom are filled up with new bark, probably from the sides of
the cracks.

The bark appears to be one of the most essential parts of the tree —
it appears to be the life of the tree ; for, first, without it they cannot
Hve ; and, secondly, it is the immediate cause of growth, not only in
the part it covers, — or in other words, each part receiving its increase
from that part of the bark which covers it, — but the bark has a sym-
pathizing commimication through the whole tree ; so that the tree shall
be variously aficcted, just as the bark of any particular part shall be
affected.

Of the Barking of Trees, — ^When a tree or a branch is barked in any

BABK OF TREES.

one part hEilf roimd or more, the remaining bark in the circle forms s
much thicker lajfer than it would otherwise have done, thicker than
anywhere else on the same trunk or branch of the tree ; it is perhaps
equal in amount to a whole circle of the ordinary layer of the same
trunk or branch. The stimulna of growth ia increased by a real
weakneas being produced.

Upon the same principle, when a tree or branch is barked all ronnd,
the cat-edge nearest to the extremity of the tree or branch, close to the
barked part (fig. 2, h), grows fiister or thicker than any other part of
the eune tree or branch (c). Eut this increased growth dose to the
barked part, is, I beheve, only in thoae treee which live at the harked
part (a) ; bat in those (as the Labumnm), which only live that season
in which th^ are harked, the growth of the part beyond where the bark
is taken off ia less near xa the part than it is farther on.

Kg-l

Fig.Z

An apple-tree barked spirally about tmce and a half round (fig. 1),
threw out many branches below the barked part, but near it (as at a), also
in the spiral between the spiral turns of the barked part (J). This ia upon
the same principle j for the unharked part has no sensation of the
part above, therefore it sends oat shoots.

Fear-trees, when barked, often throw out a new bark from the
wood in different parts of the barked part. The same thing takes place

846 FUYTOLOGY.

in the Hazel^ which shows that the soifiaoe of the barked part keeps
alive.

The ejffect that the remoyal of the bark has upon trees is twofold :
one producing death in that part, as deep as the centre or pith ; the
other death only a little way beneath the surface, like an exposed sur-
face of a bone : and I belieye that, in some, life is retained on the very
surface, as is often seen in the Fear-tree.

If the barking be only partial, little or no effect upon the tree in
general is produced, whatever be the influence on the part barked; for
if the barked part dies to the centre, the remaining bark on the same
plane is sufficient to carry on the conmiunication between the two parts
of the tree, viz. the root with the part barked, and the tree beyond the
part barked. But if the tree be barked all round, two very different
and material effects take place in the two degrees of influence ; for the
tree that dies from the surface to the centre, now dies all round to the
centre, and we And that eveiy part of the tree beyond the barked port
dies, although not immediately ; but, in the other case, the wood only
dies a small depth from the surfieice all round, and the parts beyond
the barked part do not die, but produce a number of new parts.

I have said that in the tree which dies to the centre when barked all
round, the parts beyond do not lose their life immediately ; but this
happens sooner or later, according to circumstances, at least so far as
my experiments have yet gone. If the bark be taken off in the autumn,
the parts beyond appear to die sooner than when the bark is taken off
in the spring experiment.

In the month of September 1779 I took off a circular piece of bark
from two branches of a Laburnum, with the view to see if the parts
beyond lived the first year. April 1780 they began to shoot forth, but
they both died. From the drcumstance of their beginning to throw out
leaves, &c., we must allow that they had lived through the winter,
and probably this was because they had at this time little or no action
to perform.

Experiment second, April 1780 : on the same Laburnum I took off a
circular piece of bark from a branch, and it shot forth its leaves,
flowers, &c. as strongly as in any of the other branches. In March
1781 it began to shoot forth its leaves and flowers a second time, but
they were both very small ; and in the autunm it visibly died.

Experiment third. — ^The same experiment was made upon another
Laburnum, in March 1781 and was attended with nearly the same cir-
cumstances ; the only difference being that this was rather more lively
in all its actions.

Experiment fourth. — ^At the same time, viz. March, the same expe-

EXPERIMENTS BY BARKING. 347

liment was made upon a branch of a Walnnt-tree^ which threw oat
leaves, &c., but lost the leaves by the latter end of August, which was
much sooner them the other branches did, and it became dead that
winter ; so it did not live so long as the Labumiuns. So far as to the
effects of barking all round upon the Laburnum and Walnut.

In those trees which live at the barked part, and therefore live
beyond the part barked, nothing particular happens respecting the
mode of throwing out their leaves, branches, or flowers ; but other cir-
cumstances take place. The Scotch Fir, Plum, Fear, Apple, are not
killed by being barked all round; but a very curious circumstance
respecting the vegetable economy takes place, the facts relative to
which I shall now describe.

In those trees which do not die upon being barked, we see the three
following facts : — first, I find that, if barked all round, the part beyond
grows in general as fast as if it had not been barked, while the part
between the root and barked part grows but very little ; so that we
shall offcen see a thick part above, and it shall become small all at once :
secondly, all that pbrt of the tree above the circular barked part (flg. 2, a),
not only grows as if nothing had been done, but it grows faster in thick<-
ness near to the barked part (flg. 2, b) than in any other part, and much
faster than if it had not been barked : and thirdly, the increase of the
new layers over the barked surface to cover it, is much thicker, and
makes a much quicker progress on that side beyond the barked part
(ib. h) than on the side next to the root (ib. e) ; indeed, it hardly makes
any progress at this part at all.

The foregoing facts explain much more of the vegetable economy than
any other circumstance attending vegetables. We may flrst observe,
from the circumstance of the tree dying, but not immediately, beyond
the barked part, in consequence of its dying at the barked part, that
the nourishment of the tree is carried through the wood and not by
the bark (at least alone). But the three facts last mentioned, respecting
the growth of the part beyond the barked part in those which do not
die at the barked part, are still more curious ; for the disproportion in
the growth of the two parts is a very remarkable fact. It shows that
by barking a tree aU. round, the intelligence between the two parts is
cut off, although the nourishment is carried on ; that the part beyond
and near to the mischief is sensible of such an injury, and sets to
work to repair it : and that it should be sensible of this is evident ;
because from this and the consequences of it, viz. the second and third
observations, the loss is repaired, and the intention of this repair is to
support all the parts above. Therefore we may assert that the part of
the tree beyond the barked part is conscious of the injury, conscious of

348 PHTTOLOGT.

a part rendered weak^ azid the stimulas of the necessity of growth takes
place here. Or it may be put in this light : the part near or dose to
the barked part is oonsdons of the injury done on one side, and con-
scious of what is to be sapported on the other, therefore it sets to woik
accordingly, that it may be able to do the last [support the parts
above*].

The part between the root and the barked part growing but Tery
little, is also easily explained: for by admitting that the communication
between the two parts is cut oS, then it is only reversing the above
theory, vis. its not being conscious of any part beyond it, as if it had
been cut quite through, as was mentioned in page [345].

April 1775 I made the following experiment : — ^I slit the bark of a
branch of a Scotch Fir for about two inches in length, and separated
the bark from the wood all round, and put a piece of card round be-
tween the bark and the wood to keep them separate, — ^the slits allowing
me to pass the card all round. This branch shot out as long shoots as
any of the others in the same circle^ but it died in the winter.

I did the same with a Jjabumum : one of the slits of the bark formed
wood in its inner surface, and the branch lived.

The same with a lilac. The flowers of this branch did not blow
so soon as those on the other branches, nor did they come to perfection.
The leaves were of a paler green than those of the other branches.

Of the Growth of Trees. — ^Trees and shrubs grow in thickness by a new
layer of wood being laid every year on the outside of the last year's,
immediately on the inside of the bark ; and, as the new layer is at flrst
but slightly attached to the last year's layer, but every year becomes
flrmer and firmer in its attachment, I find that, when the branches are
cut off in the autumn, after this outer layer is completely formed, such
layer, in the stem, wUl not attach itself to the last year's layer until
the folloYidng year; and even then it will not be attached strongly,
because this year's shoots are not such as give great influence to the
action of the stem.

As wood grows by a new layer being formed every summer on the
surface of the old, and as each layer is several months in forming, the
first formed part of every layer has the whole summer to perfect itself
in, and so on less and less, as the succeeding parts are later and later
informing; so that the last formed part has but little time in the
summer to become good wood ; therefore each layer is made up of wood

■ ■^■.ly.- ■ I ■■'' ■■ ^1 ■■■... ■- ■■■■■!■ — i» ■ ■ um-^m^^^m ■ i ■■■■»■■■■ ■■ ■ ■ i ■ i ^^^^^ ■

1 [This paragraph is eminently characteristic of Hunter's peculiar mode of phy-
siological thought, and of his tendency to personify phenomena. The greater growth
above the barked part is due to the arrest, at that part, of the descending nutritive
currents of the carbonized sap.]

GROWTH OF TREES. 849

of different degrees of goodness. This is evident in the wood itself,
and shows itself upon almost every occasion ; for instance, cut a piece
of wood across, and look upon ihe cut end, you will find the inner part
of each layer the hardest and most solid to the eye, but the exterior
part is porous, and if it be Fir, we find that it is fuller of rosin. The
same appearance takes place upon a longitudinal view of each layer.
This is not only seen in sound wood, but it is seen most plainly in the
decay of wood, for we find that the outer part of each circle or layer is
soonest rotten, and becomes hollow while the other stands.

On the Ist of August I observed that the present summer's growth
of a Fir and of a Laburnum had become the external layer of wood of the
tree ; and what now came off in the form of bark, was a new layer of
wood that had begun to form, which was of a pale green covered by two
cuticles, — one, an outer, thin and brown, the other thicker and green.
The outer surface of the last layer of wood was of a very pale green,
which could be pushed off with one's nail. This new beginning layer
of wood, I apprehend, is formed by a second growth, which trees com-
monly have.

In trees, the first shoot or stalk is always better wood than the
second, the second better than the third, and so on, even of i^e same
age. Thus, if we compare the first year's growth of a sucker, or that
from a seed, with the second year's growth of another sucker, or from
a seed, we shall find that the wood of the first year is much heavier and
much tougher. '^

The stem is always better wood than the branches, even of the same
age ; so that the branches upon the whole are the worst of aU. Thus
if we compare a branch of any given age with the stem of the same age,
we shall find a greater difference than between any of the branches.

The branch from a branch is worse wood than the branch from a
stem, and so on ; so that every succeeding year's wood is worse than
the preceding.

Every branch may be reckoned a stem, or a principal, to the shoot
it gives off; and in this view it is similar to the stem with its second,
third, &c. shoots; and it may be reckoned a principal to its own
branches, and is always better wood. The reason of this is evident, for
the strength or goodness of the wood must be in proportion to what it
has to do, or to support.

The stem has always the strongest wood where it gives off a natural
successive branch ; because, there, it has not only to support the tree
equally with every other part of the stem, but it has to support the
weight, motion, &c, of that branch.

Both the stem and the branch grow in thickness in proportion to

350 PHTTOLOOT.

the quantity and mie of the branches beyond, vis. in proportion to the
support wanted : therefore, if the branches are cnt off from the tmnk,
or the smaller branches from a lai^ger one, the tronk or branch so de-
prived of their dependents will still only grow in proportion to the
decreased dependents.

The leaves of trees increase the necessity of the growth of the stem
or tronk, without the necessity of increasing the number and size of the
branches ; so that the stem and the branches do not bear a due propor-
tion to one another, but the stem does to the leaves and branches taken
together.

Whenever a tree, or probably any plant, throws out strong suckers,
or throws out new, strong, and healthy branches from the stem, be
assured that the top is not so strong as the bottom ; and that there is
not an equal quantity of life or powers of growth in both. It is on this
principle that those plants which are continued by suckers, produce the
suckers or new stem ; for if the old one was continued in full force, no
suckers would arise. This appears to be the case with partly full-
grown trees. A tree beyond a certain period b^^ins to make shorter
shoots, and this goes on in a kind of inverse ratio to its age ; but if a
lateral branch shoot out from the stem, it grows luxuriantiy like a
young shoot. Thus, when we see trees lopped up to near the top, the
side-shoots are strong, while the continued shoots of the top branches
are weak, just the reverse of a young tree.

The lower a new branch arises the stronger i^^is, and in the same
proportion larger, from which principle a sucker is the strongest wood,
and is the longest and thickest.

The branches of a tree on that side where there is something obnoxious
to their growth, such as high wind, too much sun, sea air, &c., do not
grow so strongly as they do on the other side of the same tree. I
suspect that this failure does not arise entirely from the branch itself,
but that the affected side of the tree has not powers equal to the oppo-
site side, so as to give sufficient nourishment to the branch.

The great growth of every shoot is an elongation of the top ; but,
besides this, the part of the shoot that is already formed grows in all
its parts ; but that is only in proportion to the age of the part of the
shoot ; for the last-formed part increases most in itself, and gradually
less and less so to the setting on of the shoot, so that every part of the
shoot has always lost its power of growth within itself in proportion
to its age. This is the case with the fir, asparagus, Buke of Argyle's
tea \_Lycium harhamm, L.].

The greatest growth among all the different shoots of a plant being
the top one, the next degree is in the branch immediately under the

GEOWTH OF TRBES. 351

top slioot ; and the growth of the top [or end] shoots of the branches
decreases downwards, but the top shoot of each branch is always longer
than the side shoots of the same branch. The top shoot is always
perpendicular and highest, or most so of any ; and this falling off from
the perpendicular towards the horizontal, becomes gradually more and
more so downwards to the lowest branch*,

Qu. Is it owing to this perpendicular position, or to the greater
height, of the shoot, that the growth is greater ?

jEJrp. — A Scotch Fir had its top or leading shoot cut off: it had four
principal second shoots or side branches immediately under the top shoot.
On the Ist of July I tied up one of these four side branches ; in three
days that young growing shoot became perpendicular, and in the same
line with the stock on which it grew, and it had also grown an inch
longer than any of the young shoots upon the other three side branches ;
so that it got the impression of the leading shoot.

From the above principle in growth, we should suppose that the
greatest powers were at the top, and [that they] become weaker and
weaker downwards ; but we find that not to be the case. It is not
strength of action, but it is a principle of action : we may as well say
that the powers in a man's legs are greater than in any other part,
because they grow longer; but we know their powers from this
cause are weaker than other parts ; and we also know that the quickest
and longest growing shoot is the weakest in the vegetable, owing to the
same causes. For we may observe that, when anything affects the
general health of a vegetable, such as transplanting, severe winter, <&;c.y
it is always the top shoot that shows signs of weakness most ; and upon
the same principle that the extremities in animals are weaker in their
living powers : and we may observe that although branches do not form
such long shoots as the top, yet they are first in action in the spring.

When trees begin to throw out their leaves in the spring, or rather
form new shoots, it is always on their lower branches first, and in
gradual and regular succession upwards ; but still the upper will make
the greatest progress, having more the principle of growth. Also, if a
tree be newly planted, and does not take kindly to its new situation
and is weak, we find that the most vigorous parts are its lower
branches, strength decreasing upwards to the top shoot, which is the
weakest of the whole. Also, if we cut off the stem of a bean above the
fifth or sixth joint, new stalks will shoot out at the joints ; but it will
be at the first and second, not at the fourth, nor even at the third joint,
from the bottom.

* The weeping'willow is an exception to this, and there may be many more.

352 PHTTOLOGT.

A bean grows by shoots ; every shoot is almoat His only additioii to
the plant ; however, not entirely bo, for it grows a little in all its
former shoots, bnt that growth is proportional to the age of the shoot.
For example, if there are three shoots, and a fbnrtb beginning to grow,
or growing, the third shoot grows a little while the fonrth is increasing,
and more than the second, and the second grows more than the first.
The first shoots seem to lose their power of growth in proptHtion to the
number <^ shoots beyond them ; so that by the time there ore five, six,
or seven shoots, the first has hardly any perceptible growth : or every
new shoot may be supposed to stop the growth of the first one degree ;
or a new shoot does not hepa to grow till the last has grown almost its
fall length. Cut off the top shoot before it has grown its fall lei^th,
and it will continue to lengthen, but not so much as if the top had been
left on.

The last shoot of a plant is alwap the weakest part of that plant,
and the last part of that shoot is the weakest part of that, and of
course the weakest of the whole. This fact is beet known in severe
winters, or a cold beyond the natural temperature of the plant; for
when the cold has been too great, we find that the last shoot either
dies, or if not bo severe as to kill the whole of the last shoot, it shall
kill the last-formed part, so that new shoots are obliged to rise &om
those branches that are two years old or more.

Trees, after a certain period of their growth, which b pretty early,
but more so in some than in others, generally make Sorter and shorter
shoots every succeeding year of their growth. But as the number of
branches increases, it is more than probable tjiat not only the number
of branches of any one year's growth, but also the quantity of vege-
table matter added, exceeds that of any former year. So that, although
this year's shoots (taken separately) are shorter than those of last year,
yet the tree has gained, not merely in an additional pn^ression, viz. by
adding the same quantity yearly ; but perhaps in a geometrical pro-
gression, which is a much greater rate of increase.

Most plants have their periods of growth and periods of rest, inde-
pendently of variationB of seasons, such as heat and cold : for in tho
same degree of heat a tree may rest &om growth, and Uien begin to
grow again. Perhaps this cessation from growtii arises from the forma-
1 going on in the plant, or endeavouring to go on, or because
(ne it should go on in that plant ; and when that period is
jeaaon remaining &vourable respecting heat — the plant begins
gain, produdng what is called the second growth. This
irth of tho branches of plants appears to bo a continuation of

GROWTH OF PLANTS. 353

the first ; for we never find a new branch shoot out from the sides of
the first growth, upon the renewal taking place.

Some plants grow equally at all times La the 24 hours ; e. g. Asparagus,
Fir, Duke of Argyle's Tea. Some plants do not grow equally at all
times in the 24 hours ; some growing only when it is dark ; e, g. Beans,
Peas, Lupins.

The circumstance of many vegetables shooting out branches when the
trunk is cut off, would appear to arise from a certain quantity of action
necessarily taking place in the plant; so that if it be destroyed, or
obstructed in one part, it takes place in another. This is somewhat
like St. Yitus's dance in the human subject^.

"When trees shoot out many suckers, or many and strong lateral
branches from the stem, we may be sure there is a deficiency in the
growth of the top, the growth of the top not being in proportion to the
growing power of the tree.

When a tree sends forth its new shoots, and the leadiug one is
allowed to grow, then the harmony of growth is preserved ; but if the
leading shoot is broke off, then there is an endeavour in aU the lateral
shoots to become leading shoots ; but some one gets the start, and then
the whole affair becomes settled.

Many vegetables form their flower on their extreme shoot: such
can never have a leadiug shoot, but must be obliged to grow from a
lateral shoot or branch t such can never grow taU and straight, but
must grow bushy ; they may grow more or less into large bushes. I
believe all the annuals, without exception, form their flower on their
extreme shoot. In them, the flower forming on every shoot cannot
hinder a repetition of the growth, as the whole dies away in the same
year.

The same observations are applicable to those whose stalk dies away
every year, but which form a new stalk from the root ; such therefore
may be said to live by suckers ; and there should be a term expressive
of this, as it is their great characteristic.

Then there are those which may be said to have no fixed termination
of existence, but live for years, which may include shrubs and trees.
These [perennials] appear to me to be of two kinds ; with an rater-
mediate one like the former, having its flower on its extreme branch,
so that it never can grow to any great height, but must become thick
and bushy ; the large Sumach is of this kind ; every branch terminates

1 [This is eminently characteristic of Hunter's faculty of discerning, like the Poet,
similitude in things to common riew most unlike. It also illustrates the never
deviating aim of his unintermitting investigations of liring phenomejia, to gain mate-
rials for the foundation of a scientific knowledge and treatment of disease and injury.]

2 a

S54 PHTTOLOGY.

in a flower; but it is reasonable to suppose that it is a plant of a
warm climate^ for its later shoots or branches do not come to perfection ;
and as the winters here are too cold to allow it to live, the extreme end
on which the bud is to form, dies, and the flower is prevented from
forming in the summer following. The Elder is also of this kind ; but
as it is a more hardy plant, more of its branches flower, and some live
through the winter to flower next summer, but they still terminate in
a flower.

A mixed instance is that in which, in some branches, the growth
shall go on in the leading shoot for one or two years, but shall be
interrupted in the second or third year by its terminating in a blossom.
The Horse-chestnut is of this kind, as also the Mountain Ash ; but it
is not until they have arrived at a certain age that they flower : until
then they have the true properties of a tree. By this I mean that the
whole plant continues to shoot or elongate in both trunk and branches ;
all of the Fir kind are probably the best instances of this.

Of CflimMng Plants, — ^AU plants are not capable of supporting them-
selves, and thei*efore are obliged to have recourse to some mode of
support ; they are such as grow in length beyond their proper or pro-
portional thickness.

The climbers, the Ivy for instance, are, I believe, not numerous ; but
both the twiners and the dingers are an extensive tribe. We may call
< creepers,' those which pass horizontally; ^climbers,' those which
ascend ; ' twiners,' those that twine round a body ; and * dingers/ those
that lay hold of lateral support. The first is the weakest ; the second
and third are next in strength, and I believe pretty equal ; and the last
is the strongest. I believe most form lateral shoots, although not all ;
the last probably the least ; although they do, as we s^ in the vine.
Those that go on horizontally have gravitation for their principle ; but
those that ascend on trees, walls, &c., I believe have an attractive prin-
ciple ; probably it is touch, as in the climbers and dingers, to which
[the thing touched] they immediately bend or incline ; for instance, the
Ivy. The twiners seem to depend on another principle. There are
some that partake of two principles, and are both climbers and dingers.
The creepers are a large class.

The twiners are a large class, and what is very curious in them,
is the constant manner in which particular kinds twist round bodies.
According to this regularity, they may be divided into two, viz. those
that, as they ascend, always go round from left to right, and the contrary
of the others. The Hop and Honeysuckle go from left to right, or with
the sun ; the Pea and Convolvulus go the other course. This regularity
must depend on some principle, and I conceive it to be the following :

CLIMBING PLANTS. 355

— The fibres of which they are composed grow spiral, and in the same
manner they turn.

The dingers are also a laige class. The Vine may be given as an
instance ; its tendrils move in all directions in search of a hold, and
when got they cling round it, and in any direction. The Passion-
flower is of this class.

The Yirginia-creeper may be given as an instance of both climbing
and clinging. It is curious to observe this plant clapping its tendrils
to the wall ; then they become broad at this part, and stick by a kind
of suction, or attraction of cohesion ; or they will insinuate themselves
into holes or crevices. It is curious to observe its tendrUs always
indiniBg to the waU, although they may arise from the side of the stem
opposite to the wall.

It would appear that weakness in anything that has powers of action
within itself, produces or stimulates the parts so weak to take all ad-
vantage of collateral support. Even a bean, which, when strong, seems
to depend entirely upon its own powers, yet if it grows weakly, as
when not in the sun, or [from] any other cause acting to hinder
strength when growing, — ^in such, if a stick is put into tiie ground close
by it, it will twine-around it in loose spiral turns*.

1 [The following, in answer to inquiries by Hunter, is in the handwriting of the
celebrated pupil of Linnaeus, Daniel Charles Solandbb, M.D., the companion of
Banks in the clrcumnavigatory voyage of Captain Cook : —

" Dear Sir, — I recdred your's, and have considered your Qs., which, as general
questions, are very easily answered : but when we come to particulars, to tell how
many have twining stalks, how many rooting stalks, and what number support
themselves by cirrlii or tendrils, how many by shutting up their leaves at night have
the appearance of sleep, which are affected by the touch, and how many have self-
motion, — ^we shall find it very difficult to ascertain the exact quantity even of the
plants that are known, both for want of observation and recollection. However, the
general answer is, that all the plants in which these different motions have been
observed, bear no proportion to the number of those in which we see nothing but
the common mode of vegetating and growing. Supposing there are 13,000 vege-
tables known, I cannot recollect above 773 out of that number which have any
particular motion. I have made a hasty calculation of these as follows, viz. —

Somniferous plants 448

Caule volubili 195

Caule radicans [sic, in MS.] 16

Foliis cirrhiferis 107

Affected by the touch 6

Having self-motion 1

773

" This calculation can by no means be depended on as near the quantity that has
the different motions mentioned above ; thare is no doubt a great number of plants
that sleep at night which have not been noticed ; and we shall, in all probability, by
observation find many that have self-motion, &c. On the whole, the different modes

2a2

S56 PHTTOLOGT.

Of Motion in Vegelahlei. — All plants are not endowed with eTident
motion, many being perfectly at rest, having no actions going on in
them but those of simple growth, which is the most simple state in
whioh we ean conceive life to exist.

Some, however, have motions produced in parts of them, from par-
ticular caulses, as the rising or settii^ of the sun, &,is. Others are
affected by the touch, bo as to bo immediately put into motion. Some
have diurnal motions going on regularly and uninterruptedly, but so
exceedingly slow, as to bo with difficulty perceived: others, again,
have constant motions, at least through the day, going on so quickly as
to be easily detected by the eye'.

On what cireumstancos these motions immediately depend, — whether
they arise from the action of structures formed for this purpose, or from
a series of contiguous structures so conjoined as to produce the effect
by their successive motions — we are at present ignorant. It is probable,
however, that the power is analogous to the irritabihty of animals.

Some vegetables hare their leaves closed up in the evening, as the
Sensitive-plant ; in most they are not in the least affected by either
evening or day.

To ascertain the cause of the internal influorase which produced
tiiese effects in the first, I made several experiments. As the visible
difference between day and night are heat and cold, light and darkness,
I made the following cxperimente upon these principles ;—

For distinction, I shall call that action which appears to arise from
ihe greatest quantity of vigour, extension; and that action which appears
to arise from a loss of power, jUxian ; although many of the motions
themselves, with regard to the position of parts, are not always
strictiy so.

I took a Sensitive-plant, and in the evening, when it was in a state of
flexion, put it into a room. At five o'clock in the morning, a little
while after sunrise, it was beginning to expand its leaves and erect Ha
stalks, and continued this position till about five o'clock in the evening,
when it began to close ogaiu, but before the light was materially gone.

The second day I kept the room dark till five o'clock in the after-
noon (the time that the others were beginning to dose), and it ex-
panded ilself and kept expanded till dark, when all its extremities
began to collapse.

of planta ore very imperfecUy known. We bate tittle acquaintance with the planta
of hot countries ; and those of Europe have beeo more studied for their uses Uian
for the adTanoing of natural koowiedge."]

' [In the Hedysarum gi/rans (Dcsmod'mm, Decandolle) there ia a continual motion
of Hie leaves b; day, independently of atjnospheric morementa.]

MOTION IN PLANTS. 357

The third day I kept it in the dark room all day, and it kept in the
flexed state ; about eight o'clock in the evening I threw a light upon
one leaf from a concave mirror, by means of two candles put close
together, which was continued three hours, but it had no effect.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth days it was kept in the dark room, and
still continued flexed, but was beginning to decay.

This process of expansion and collapsing does not arise from an
increase and decrease of heat between day and night ; for in the winter,
in the hothouse, where there is very little difference in the degrees of
internal and external heat, and less so in the house, where a pretty
regular heat is kept up, we find this plant performing the same
motion.

If the stem of the Mimosa pudica be touched with a hot wire, the
leaves above collapse.

If the top of a branch or pinnule is touched with the hot wire, the
whole leaf gradually collapses, then all the leaves above, while only
one or two at most collapse below.

Stimulants, such as a strong solution of common salt, did not pro-
duce a collapse, excepting when put on the joint, and this uncertain.

Ether applied to the layers of a pinnule wiU oblige the whole leaf
to collapse, as also other leaves on the stem, both above and below : a
cut into a strong stem wiU not produce a collapse; but if into the
tender part, it will produce a collapse of all above, and commonly on
the same side ; but a deep cut may affect the other side. Tie a liga-i-
ture round the stem or stems of a branch, it may be cut below this
without affecting the petiole or pinnule above ; the branch may even be
cut off without a collapse. K a coUapse be produced, they do not ex-
pand so freely.

It is curious the not collapsing of the leaves upon being gradually
heated, so as to be burnt. It would seem that the presence of the
heat hindered collapsing.

The Sensitive-plant has evidently parts fitted for motion. At the
setting on of the footstalk to the stem, and the joining of the folioles to
the rachis of the compound leaf, there is evidently a part in both dif-
ferent from the other parts of the same stalk, &c.^ It is in these parts
that the flexion and the extension are performed : but when the leaf
performs a rotatory motion, which it will do when the plant is inverted,
the whole of the footstalk appears to join in this motion, so that it is
simply a twist upon the axis of the footstalk.

In the Dionea muscipula, or Tipitiwitchet, the whole of the lobed part

1 [Hunt. Preps. Phys. Series, Nos. 29, 30.]

858 PHYTOLOGY.

of the leaf has an equal motion through its whole length, and it appearo
to he nearly equal on all sides ; for in its yarious motions the lobed
partishent towards that side where the plant hends; it performs a kind
of eonoid motion.

To see if the actions of plants were affected by a continuation of
stimulus similar to those of animals, I made the following experiments.

As I took for granted that the analogy could go no further than as it
related to the actions produced by external stimuli, my experiments
were only made on such plants as exhibited actions of this kind.

As those parts of plants which are capable of the second and third
kinds of motion are generally small^ as leaves, tendrils, flowers, &c.^
it is difficult to discover the mechanism upon which the motions depend :
the sensitive plant is probably the best of this kind that we are as yet
acquainted with. As the motion of the petioles is confined principally
to one part, and that differing from the others in external appearance,
which difference is its increased thickness and uniformity of surface,
upon cutting the footstalk longitudinally, as also the stem on which
it stands through its whole length, the fdlowing appearances may be
observed* : —

For the purpose of making my experiments I took three sensitive
planto, haying seyeral others for any comparative experimente which
might be thought necessary. I first pitched upon one leaf in each plant
which was capable of the greatest motion of collapsing and erection ;
and behind each of these leaves a board was placed, on which was
marked the greatest extent of the two- motions, so that the leaf was like
the index or radius of an arc.

To have the greatest part of the day before me, I began my experi-
ments at eight in the morning, while the leaves were in Ml expansion,
and I contiaued them tiU four in the afternoon, as longer than this
would not have been just, for they begin to collapse of themselves
between five and six o'clock.

^ [The stamens of certain plants oflSer striking examples: those of Saxifraga
approach in regular succession the pistil, and as soon as each has shed its pollen
over it, it retires and gives place to another. The stamens of the barberry show
more active movements. In the tiger-lUy the pistil pends first to one stamen and
then to another.]

' [A blank in the manuscript here occurs, which leaves us ignorant as to the result
of Hunter's examination of the structure of the irritable intumescence at the base
of the leaf-stalks and stalklets of the Mimosa. With his usual sagacity, however,
he rightly refers the motive power to this part, and it has since been the subject of
much diligent and minute investigation.]

EXPERIMENTS ON THE SENSITIVE PLANT.

859

Comparative Trials of the Action and Relaxation of Three Sensitive Plants.

Expi.

The time.

The point they fell to.

The time* they
took to rise in.

The point to which thqr raw.

No.l.

•

No.a.

•

No. 3.

•

<The Ist and 3rd rose

f To the lowest point, "1

mm.

min.

mm.

to the highest point,

1.

8 o'clock A.X.

and became sta- [•
tionary.

f To the lowest point, 1

51

24

32

the 2nd not so high,
and then became

^ stationary.

^The third rose to the
highest point, the

2.

9^ A.M. .

but the second l
lowep down. J

77

18

38

i 2nd and 1st not so
high, and then be-
came stationary.

( The second & third 1

/All three rose to with-
in a little of the

a

11 A.M.

lowerthan lowest >
[ point.

40

30

60

highest point, and
there became sta-
^ tionary.

4.

12 Noon.

Below lowest point.

30

30

36

{ All threewithin a little
of the highest point.

r The 2nd and 3rd to

5.

40 TTiin. P.M.

Below lowest point.

60

65

30

highest point, the
1st not so high.

2 p.m.

r 1st only below low- '
\ est point.

45

45

45

Ditto.

( 3rd to highest point,

3 P.M.

Ditto.

45

45

45

the 1st. and 2nd not

so high.
[ 1st and 2nd to highest

3^P.M.

Below lowest point.

15

15

15

point, 3rd not so
high.

From these experiments we may draw the following conclusions : —

That there is no fixed time for the leaves of any of the plants to move
through its course.

That they are less affected as they become accustomed to the stimu-
lus, but the power of collapsing is increased (although not in the same
degree), so that they do not move through the same arc.

That they require a stronger or quicker stimulus to produce motion
after being some time accustomed to it, which was evidently seen in
comparing these with others which had not been stimulated.

It may also be observed that when these plants coUapse in the even-
ing they have nearly the same quantity of flexion as when roughly
touched at noon ; but if touched after they have coUapsed jfrom the
effect of the evening, they become much more bent than by the same
touch at noon. This would seem to arise from a disposition to collapse
in the evening, and a power of increasing that disposition and action
when stimulated.

Their collapsing more in the day, and erecting themselves less after
a repetition of such actions, may assist in explaining the principle on
which this depends.

360 PHYTOLOGY,

Of Belaxation in Vegetables. — There IB an action in plants which
appears to be the contrary of expansion; it may be considered as a
relaxation, or an action of those parts antagonizing the others which
acted through the day, or at other periods, and takes place at the time
these other parts cease to act.

This action has hitherto been considered as analogous to sleep in
animals, whereas sleep is a total loss of the sensitive principle and all
the actions dependent on volition for the time, and therefore can only
take place in animals endowed with sensation*. It is rather a defect
in the animal than an action or the exertion of a principle.

This action of relaxation is seen in the sensitive plant when the
folioles close upwards and are kept bent by the power of action in the
flexors, till light and some other of its attendants affect it, when the
extensors begin to act, and this action of the flexors ceases. The foot-
stalk dropping down favours the idea of simple relaxation ; but this only
arises from the position of the plant, for if turned upside down it still
bends against its own gravity ^

The one action is produced by the stimulus of light, the other by that
of darkness ; for if the sensitive plant is kept in a dark room it will
keep bent, and perhaps as long as it lives ; and if one part of the plant
is kept in the dark and the other in the light, that in the dark wiU be
bent, and continue so, while that in the light will expand itself.

light and darkness become stimuli to the same plant, and have much
more influenco over vegetables than could at flrst be imagined. Many
plants only grow through the day, others only grow after it is dark.

Sympathy in Vegetables.

Sympathy is the action of one part in consequence of an application
being made to another part, or action in another part.

This power of action is extended to few plants, and even in these ap-
pears to have little variation. It is evident in the sensitive plant ; for
if one of the littie leaves be wounded at its termination it will collapse
immediately, as also its fellow on the other side. This action runs
through the whole of the rachis of the compound leaves, the leaves bend-
ing regularly in pairs.

If it is a middle foliole that is wounded the same thing takes place ;
they all collapse towards the footstalk, but seldom towards the extreme

* The polypus does not sleep.

1 [The powers which produce the depression and elevation of the leaf-stalk ope-
rate in a manner precisely the reverse of the flexor and extensor muscles in animals,
pushing the moving part from, instead of pulling it towards, the fixed point. The
distension and collapse of cells through movement of the sap, appear to be the chief
physical changes accompanying these movements.]

SYMPATHY IN PLANTS. 861

end of the leaf^ and in a little time the rachis is inflected and the whole
leaf drops at the trunk. It may he remarked that a small flexion takes
place towards the tip ; hut this pnncipaUy arises from a disposition in
the folioles, for a middle one cannot collapse without pressing or folding
a little on the one next to it towards the end of the leaf which stimu-
lates it and makes it collapse.

It is evident in the tendril of the vine, for these tendrils generally
divide into two, near their ends : these two going out from the principal
trunk in different directions, if one lays hold of any hody and twines
round it, the other immediately alters its direction and gradually ap-
proaches the same hody till it comes in contact with it, and then hends
round it and encircles it. This motion, however, is very slowly per-
formed.

Sympathy in plants is very slow in producing its actions ; the suc-
cession of stimuli in them heing slow, the consequent actions must also
move slowly along.

Plants have hut one mode of sympathy, which arises from stimulus.
Animals with no hrain or nerves have but one also. Those, however,
endowed with sensation have three : they have one mode from stimulus,
one from sensation, and one compounded of both ^.

Sympathy in animals, arising from stimulus only, is slow, as in plants ;
but sympathy fix)m sensation ia often very quick.

In the Vine, if the stem rises perpendicularly, the footstalk generally
comes out at an acute angle with the stem above; but if the stem
hangs, as it often does, then the petiole makes an obtuse angle with
the same part of the stem. This action is performed at the setting on
of the petioles. But in this last position of the stem the footstalk is
obliged to make a twist of half a circle to bring the upper side again
uppermost ; and this twist is principally performed at the root of the
petiole, but it in some degree runs through the whole.

The flexion and extension, with the conoid motion, must be per-
formed by longitudinal contracting powers, but the rotatory motion
must be performed by oblique.

With the idea that it was possible that the contracting power of
vegetables might be muscular, and therefore the same species of matter
as animal matter, — especially, too, as they yielded the same matter when
analysed, although not in the same proportions, — I made the following
experiments : —

I cutoff from several leaves of the Sensitive-plant the active part of

1 [Animals manifesting only the * reflex phenomena * of the nervous system, are
here contrasted with those exhibiting, also, * sensational phenomena ' associated with
l^e possession of a brain.]

862 PHTTOLOGT.

the petioles, and also of the folioles, and pnt them into a phial of
water, No. 1.

I took as much in qaantitj of the inactive part of the petioles and pat
them into another phial with the same quantity of water, No. 2, and
sank them hoth into the tan in a hothouse. When they had stood thirty-
six hours, I smelt them hoth, and found that phial No. 1 had a pretty
strong sicldsh or faintish smell, but that of the other was hardly per-
ceiyable. When they had stood forty-eight hours, I found the smell of
the first increased, but not that of the second. I took some of the
water of the first, and put to it the syrup of violets, and it turned it of
a very fine green ; No. 2 had no effect upon the syrup. It did not pro-
duce the same effects again, and I continued them in it for more than
three weeks, upon the very same parts, and at last they both produced
an add.

The St. John's Wort opens its flower when it is dark, never when it
is light ; but they never close again when it is light, as do the Con-
volvulus lIpomcBa hona-nox linn.]. Evening Primrose [CEnoihera, several
species], &c. ; indeed, I believe its flower only lasts one night and one day.

I have seen Honeysuckles which flowered m the night, two of them
before twelve o'clock at night. A Holyhock, whose flower was pro-
truding in the morning, opened in the forenoon.

Of the Action of Light, — It was thought, from common observation,
that light was the immediate cause of the green colour of vegetables ;
but upon a further investigation of the subject, it appears to be only
the remote cause. That it is not an immediate cause in all cases is
plain, £nom vegetables of the same species not all being green ; nor green
in all parts of the same vegetable, as the Variegated Holly, Aloe, <&c.
Besides, many vegetables are green through and through their whole sub-
stance, as the &c. ; [some mosses, lichens, confervas]
and many vegetables that are green on their outside, viz. in their cutis
and in their new layer of wood, especially when but newly formed, are
also green on the inner surface of the canal of the pith, as in the young
shoots of the Elder. From all which it would appear that light is not
the immediate cause of the green colour, but a remote cause, viz. the
cause of a certain degree of health or proper action, which produces the
green colour ; and that those plants or parts which are not green, when
exposed to the light, are not capable of taking on this necessary mode
of action, although under the influence of light. In other words, the
light is capable of stimulating most plants to such action as produces a
green colour in certain parts of the plant, no matter whether imme-
diately, or not immediately, under the influence of light.

The leaves of most plants are green, but not of all. In those that

FALL OF THE LEAF. .363

are naturally green, we find that in proportion to the health of the
plant the green is darker ; and when not healthy, it is more of the
yellow cast. Those that are naturally yeUow do not change : yeUow is
more or less the colour that green vegetables take on in the act of dying.
Therefore when plants are not of so dark a green as common, they
have hut few or little powers of life. A dark green in any plant shows
great vigour of life, and the growth is luxuriant.

Of the Leases, — Some plants throw out their leaves much earlier than
others.

Query. Are those plants of colder climates, because they can vege-
tate with less heat than those of warmer climates ? and, conversely, of
vegetables of warmer climates, as they require more heat, are tjiey, in
some degree, kept back in putting forth their leaves ? If so, then we
might judge of the warmth origiually suitable to a vegetable by the
comparative times of their throwing out their leaves and flowers.

We sometimes find trees throwing out leaves, and even blossoms,
about the beginning of October : such I have observed have dropped
their leaves very early in the autumn, so that they had gone through
their suspension of action a sufficient length of time to take on a new
action. But such late growths are commonly, if not always, weaker
than those in due season; the leaves are paler, commonly with a
mixture of yellow, which denotes weakness.

I had a lime-tree that threw off its leaves in August ; I thought
it was dead, but it threw out a second set of leaves in the latter end of
September ; but they were pale, therefore not healthy or vigorous. A
Horse-chestnut tree at the King's Head door, Brompton, had one of its
branches which lost its leaves very early in the season, and by the
latter end of September it had shot out fresh leaves and a full-grown
flower : the leaves were paler than those in due season.

Leaves have considerable motion when the wind blows. Is this in
some degree to take off the force of the wind upon the whole tree ?

Some trees, as the Birch, Poplar, have much smaller branches than
others, the stem being the principal part ; such also have small leaves ;
of course those that have large branches having larger leaves.

Of the Casting of the Leaves of Vegetables.

Every vegetable is deciduous, but differs in regard to times, and pro-
bably may be divided into the following : —

The first is what may be called annual, being similar to those- pljtnts
which die the same year or the same season, or rather when finished
growing, as in all the plants commonly called deciduous ; but to keep
to the true analogy, they should be called , as it is

864 PHYTOLOGT.

similar to thoee whose stalks only live the same summer^ but the roots
live, and shoot out new stalks ; however, it is never the last or former
year's shoots that throw out leaves, it is a new shoot.

The second is what may be caUed , or the second

season of its age, or when it has finished the second growth. This
would be similar to the Baspberrj ; for the Baspberry does not die in
the same season of growth, as many vegetables do, but in the second
season, as do the leaves of the Scotch and Wejnnouth Pines, Laurel, &c.

The third may be called , or the third season of its

age, or when it has finished its third shoot, as in the

There may be a fourth, a fifth, a sixth difference in regard to the
times of casting tiiie leaves ; the last of which seems to be the case with
the Spruce. Every winter exemplifies the first class, and in all of the
Pine-kind this fact is easily known ; but in most others of the second,
third, &c. [difference as to times] the facts can only be known by a
saccession of observations.

The casting of the leaves of plants is most probably similar to
sloughing or exfoliation in animals. It is at least an operation of
the plant, producing a separation of the leaf; and the only thing that
proves it is, that the leaf will not fall off if the plant, and of course
the leaf, be dead ; but if the leaf dies, although long before its destined
time, it withers, is separated, and falls off ; but if both the plant and
leaves die at the same time, viz. before the separation has taken place,
then the leaf will not faU. off, even when dried.

These facts show gardeners whether a new transplanted plant is
dead or alive. If the leaves fall off by passing the hand over them,
then they are sure the plant is alive ; but if they do not fall off of
themselves, nor can be separated by passing the hand over them, then
it is most probable that the plant is dead.

Of the CJuinge of the Colour of Leaves and Stalks of Vegetables from
the Oreen to the Yellow when dying, — This change is an operation of the
living powers of the plant, and not simply death taking place. It is
extremely gradual when the part is as it were allowed to die a natural
death ; but either a great drought or a few frosty evenings wiU hasten
on the decline, and they die sooner or faster. That it is an operation
of the plant arising from debility or the stimulus of death, is, I think,
evident ; for if a plant in full vigour, in which it is at the greenest, be
killed immediately, by putting it into boiling water or by electricity, it
retains its green colour, and will die green, and even dry that colour :
whence we may suppose that the strongest plants, or those with the
greatest powers of action of any one species, will be of the deepest
green ; and I believe that this is shown every day by experience.

BXJDS. 865

They not only retain their colour after death when killed Buddenly,
but they retain other properties ; for if dried in that state and wetted
again, they come back again much more nearly to the fresh plant than
those which die gradually or naturally*.

Of the Natural Decay of Parts of Vegetables.

Vegetables have many of their first-formed parts die while they are
forming new parts. Thus, many trees prune themselves, as probably
all of the Fir-tribe; but this is more or less according to circum-
stances. If a tree stands alone, so as to have a thorough air and light
surrounding its lower branches, there will not be that disproportion
between the branches and the leading shoot, as if the branches were
otherwise circumstanced, and in proportion as the branches are allowed
to grow, the leading shoot is more stinted in its growth. This is the
reason why in woods, where the trees are growing thick, they run
up tall and straight, and have few or no branches below; for the
lower they are they become sooner under the influence of shade and
confined air, while the upper branches are not yet so long as to meet
each other, so as to exclude air and light in a considerable degree.

Of the Effect of different Winters <m Vegetables. — ^It appears from
observation that a long hard winter does more harm to v^etation than
a much severer season of a shorter duration.

The January of 1775, when the thermometer was about 10°, 15%
or 20°, did less harm than the spring of 1780, which was late, although
the thermometer was seldom lower than 20°. However, it may be
remarked that in the winter of 1775 there was a good deal of snow,
while in the winter of 1780 there was none.

Buds.

A plant that continues its shoot for two or more years, has always
terminated the preceding year in a bud.

Buds are the ovum or the embryo of a shoot or flower.

In the bud is contained the whole of the following year's shoot, and
when the shoot is fully blown or extended, then it forms another bud
or buds. It may be a continued bud, as in the ; or a con-

tinued bud with lateral buds surrounding it, as m the Fir or Pine ; or the
continued bud may not be formed, but lateral buds only, as in the lilac.

* The mode of making hay might be improved by this principle*.

1 [It is that on which the edible, soft and succulent vegetables are preserved by the
process invented by M. Masson, for which a * Council Medal ' was awarded at the
" Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations" ia 1851. See " Eeports of the Juries,"
8vo, vol. i. p. 166.]

366 PHYTOLOGT.

When a bud contains a flowor, it also contains everything relative to it.

A bud and a leaf are generally^ if not always^ formed together,
whether on the side or the termination of a shoot.

Buds in most trees, the Scotch Eir and Weymouth Fine excepted,
grow on the sides of the growing stalk, forming as the stalk forms,
each bud having a leaf annexed to it. A bud never forms on the side
of a growing stalk, or on any part of a stalk after it is formed ; but as
the external surface of a tree is growing every year, or rather as there
is a new layer formed every year, there are places formed in the bark
which answer the purpose of a bud, when such place is stimulated to
action by cutting off the intelligence with the parts above, which obliges
it to supply what appears to it to be wanting ; but aU trees have not this.

It is not dear to me but that these parts were originally buds, which
did not sprout, and by that means became flatter and flatter, but
still retained the disposition of a bud when called upon. All buds
are not intended for branches, only for leading stalks, in case the stalk
should be broken, as in the Bean.

The lateral buds in many trees appear to be so much a termination
of the shoot, that the leading bud is obliged to strike off obliquely,
which is more or less the case when the buds form alternately. It
is remarkably so in the Lime-tree, making the whole shoot afber it is
formed take a zigzag course. But when the buds arise or are formed
in pairs or in clusters, then the leading shoot goes on straight, being
equally influenced on each side or aU round. Most shoots go on in a
straight line with the stem, whether of a branch or main trunk ; but
the Vii^inian Creeper would seem to be always growing backwards,
having its last-grown part bent backwards on itself for two inches, and
as it grows, it is in the same proportion unbending itself.

Probably every tree has in its nature an annual cessation in growth.
This is perhaps better illustrated in the Lilac than most others.
This plant terminates its summer growth in two buds, exactly similar
to those on the sides at the attachment of the leaves; and the bud
has no disposition to grow till it has lain dormant some time. Query :
What is the reason of all this ? Is it because the last year's bud has
fully expended itself, therefore can shoot no further, and must form
a fresh bud to go on with next year ?

The bearing part of every vegetable is either one year old or of the
same year, so that those parts that are older are only employed in the
support of the new in every mode of support.

Most plants that have branches, but not all, form in each shoot
the buds of the branches of that shoot ; which either shoot out the same
year, or wait till the year following ; or both may happen in the same

GENERATION OF PLANTS. 867

jflAnt, according to the earlinesB of the shoot, as in the Privet, Cherry, <fec'
Others, as the Holly, have all their buds growing into branches in the
same year. Others, again, never form lateral buds for branches, but
the shoot terminates in a cluster of buds, the outside ones intended for the
branches, the middle for the stem ; such are the Scotch Fir and Wey-
mouth Pine, which confine their branches to clusters.

Some vegetables, as the common bean, would . appear to have par-
ticular places for the formation of branches, or rather of stems, when
the original stem is destroyed by any accident, and which places are
to be considered as so many buds.

Cut off a stalk below the first joints or leaves, then a new stalk
will grow out from the bean in the ground, which would not have
grown if the first stalk had not been destroyed.

Cut off that new stalk below all the joints, and a new stalk or stalks
will still shoot out from the same bean.

Cut off the stalk above the first shoot, joint, or leaf, then a new
stalk will not grow from the seed or bean, as in the former ones, but
from the joint, shoot, or leaf below.

Cut off the stalk above the second joint, leaf, or shoot, and then two

stalks will shoot out ; one from the first joint, and one from the second.

Cut off the top of the stalk above the fifth or sixth shoot, and the

new stalks will shoot fix)m the first and second, &c. joiats, but not

from the last joints, or those nearest to the top.

Cut off the young shoot, and a third will grow out from the root of
that, so that these joints are similar to roots or seeds.

Of Oeneration and Germination in Vegetables, — The male parts in
vegetables for the most part far exceed in number those of the female.
I am not now considering the seeds as a female part, they being only a
production of the female.

The stamens, which are the spermatic vessel and testis, or true male
parts, are in much greater number than the styles or female parts;
and the number of particles of the poUen, which are the production of
the male parts, far exceeds the number of seeds in the female.

The produce or effects of the female parts are pretty well determined
with respect to number, viz. the number of seeds ; but the produce of
the male, although pretty well determined, yet its effects are not ; for
they do not make a part, but only are to affect the female part, and that
affection is in a good measure a matter of chance. It is like shooting
at a bird with a great many shots, when one would kill with certainty
if properly applied.

As vegetables are every year, or are constantly, supplied with an
addition of vegetable matter ever3rwhere on the outside, they must

368 PHTTOLOGT.

liaye their parts respecting external influence renewed every year, sach
as the parts of generation ; therefore they may be said to be always
yonng, because these new-formed parts are yonng, and it is those yonii^
parts that perfonn the natural actions of the plant.

The Hazel-tree sends out its male parts in August and September
on the same summer shoot^ by the side of a bud. Is the male tree
strongest; e. g.ma Pahn ?

To produce seed is the ultimate power in vegetation. In vegetables
there are several stages of perfection. The first is the flower, at which
stage the v^;etable may proceed no further; the second is the froit,
which may be produced, but not with perfect seed ; and the third is
where the whole is perfected.

When a seed is put into the ground the root commonly grows
downward from that seed, although the point from which the root
grows is placed upward. Vice vend with regard to the stem.

The first growth in a seed is the root, and then the stem. Cutoff
the root, a new root sprouts out; bnt the growth of the stem is
stationary till the new root is fit to carry nourishment to the plant.

Monsters in Vegetables, — ^In vegetables we have monsters ; that is, a
deviation from the common principles in some of the productions, either
in form, flower, seed, or colour ; and this it is which has produced the
varieties in species. It arises more from cultivation than any other
influence ; and the cause of varieties, viz. cultivation, becomes also the
cause of their being preserved and propagated. Their propagation is, in
many, perfectly artificial, viz. by budding or engrafting; but, when left
to the natural mode of continuance, they either go back to the original
again ; or, at least, it is not certain what wiU be the produce ; a new
monster may arise. XU our finer fruits are instances of this kind. In
some vegetables, when a monster arises, it never dwindles gradually
back into the original stock; but keeps the. same, excepting another
monster arises, which may be that of the original stock from whence it
came, or any other. Beans, Peas, &c. are changing every day.

Vegetables are much more in [our power to manage than animals.
Thus a plant can be made a dwarf, it can be made to shoot strong, it
can be made to vary, it can be made to bear.

[Loose NotesJ]

Q^. Has any one of the juices of a vegetable the power of converting
either animal, vegetable, or even earth, to living vegetable matter,
dmilar to that [power in the gastric juice] of an animal ?

Mem, To cut off the flowers of the Leek, to see if it will shoot out
more young Leeks than common on that account.

A TREATISE ON ANIMALS,

IN THREE BOOKS \

BOOK I.
Of the Structure and Composition op Animal Bodies.

CONTENTS.

Chap. I. Introduction.

Chap. II. Of the Bones, Cartilages, and Ligaments.

Chap. III. Of the Muscles and Tendons.

Chap. IV. Of the Heart, Blood-yessels, and Lungs.

Chap. V. Of the Brain, Medulla Spinalis, and Nerves.

Chap. VI. Of the Stomach and Intestines.

Chap. VIT. Of the Organs of Secretion.

Chap. VIII. Of the Organs of External Sensation.

Book I. Chap. I, — Introduction.

People who stand up for antiquity, and want to carry all knowledge
as far back as the first teachers, which knowledge really does not
belong to them, instead of raising their character rather injure it. They
are obliged to strain points, wrest meanings, and collect diiferent pas-
sages of such authors which are most to their purpose ; and, after all,
they make it but very imperfect. ITow, if the ancients really under-
stood any piece of knowledge that we look upon as modem, and if
their account be really so dark and imperfect that there is no under-
standing them without previously understanding the subject, it shows
that they were much more stupid in not transmitting to us intelligibly
what they knew, than if they had not understood the subject at aU.
This, however, is not the ancient way of writing ; for, whatever they
understood themselves, they have recorded it to us in a plain per-
spicuous manner, which is much to their honour.

Let us consider how we are to judge whether a branch of knowledge
be ancient or modem. First, let a man that knows nothing of the

' [This is, apparently, the outline sketch of the anatomical part of the great
work on Comparative Anatomy and Physiology, the materials for which form the
Hunterian Museilm in the Eoyal College of Surgeons of England.]

2b

370 ANATOMY.

subject be made perfect master of the ancient notion ; and tiben let ns
see whether or no his notions are exactly the same with the present :
if they are, then the ancients understood it ; if they are not, then we
may conclude that they did not. Secondly^ let us examine what hap-
pened when this notion made its first appearance. If it seemed to be
new, then we may say that it was so ; for we must suppose that
the ancient notion was known at that time : if it met with opposi-
tion, then it was certainly new ; for the opposite must be in &vour of
the ancients : and, if it even met with a Mend, it was a sign that it
was new.

A man with a sufficient fond of knowledge, and a close application
to one art or science, will make great improvements in it though his
talents may not be the best ; or, in other words, though he be not a
great genius.

There are three ways of obtaining a knowledge of physics, which
differ in an equal proportion from one another. The first and least
usefiil, is by reading ; which, indeed, ought not to go first, but to foUow
the second or third. However, it is of more use, as we shall see, to
the second ; for it helps to explain what perhaps we did not understand.
What makes this [reading] of least use, is that it leaves us to conceive
everything, none of our other senses being struck thereby, though it
comes nearest to what we learn by the sense of hearing.

The second way is twofold, ' demonstration' and ^ description^.' The
first of these must always attend the last, but the last may not attend
the first, though it always ought to be joined with it ; so that the second
way includes two methods of acquiring knowledge in one sense, and
but one in another. It will be greatiy assisted by reading, and, without
reading, wlQ be far preferable to reading only. But demonstration
ought to be the first step; for description without demonstration is
littie better than mere reading.

The third means of acquiring knowledge is by much the best : it is
no more than the former two taken together by oneself; that is, for
a person to be his own operator and instructor. This is not so easily
compassed ; for, besides the faculty of comprehension, it requires dex-
terity of hand, and also some preceding knowledge of the subject. So
that demonstration is what we should begin with, then manual opera-
tion, and lastiy reading.

Demonstration shows us matter and its properties. Manual opera-
tions fix these more firmly in our mind, as we are always more atten-
tive to what we do ourselves than we are to what others do. After

^ [Here oral description is meant ; such as is given by the demonstrator of anatomy
to 1^ students in the dissecting room.]

ORDER OF STUDY. 871

that, reading (which is like going through the operations a second time)
will be very nsefiil ; and, as we get by the former a general knowledge,
we are now able to understand, by reading, what we did not know
before, nor could have known without that previous knowledge.

Progress of the Sttidy of Anatomy.

Anatomy, or the knowledge of the structure of an animal body, may
be said to be, first, [£icquired] for the good of the animal itself ; secondly,
for a variety of purposes which have a relation to that structure, such
as sculpture, painting, &c.

An animal body is to be considered in two ways ; one in a mechanical
point of view, the other as regards the internal economy. The first
mentioned is the first to be considered. In the examination of the parts
of the animal structure, the best method is to begin with the most
simple or the least connected, and to proceed in that order ; for, how-
ever an animal body may seem to be compounded, all its particular
parts having a dependence upon one another; yet in an anatomical
sense they are more or less distinct, so as to admit of distinct examina-
tion. This connexion or interdependence is not in an equal degree,
some parts being immediately connected with a greater variety of other
parts than others are. The order or degree of connexion is progress-
ive, and wilL not admit of being reversed ; for, although the second in
that degree has connexion with the first, and cannot be understood
without also understanding that connexion, yet the first may be under-
stood without the second ; and so on. Therefore, the parts that have
the least degree of connexion, should be first considered; because,
when perfectly understood, those which have immediate connexion with
them will be more easily understood. I am not speaking of their
constituent parts, but of the whole part as formed ; and of the way of
examining each part as it is compounded.

The bones, in a mechanical view, appear to be the first that are to
be considered. We €an study their shape, connexions, number,
uses, &c., without considering any other part of the body. When they
are well understood, it will be a great step towards studying the parts
that have an immediate connexion with them.

The next thing is their connexion with the cartilages and ligaments,
forming the first step in the composition : these, when understood, will
give us the motions of the bones one on another. But the ligaments
and cartilages have but little dependence on each other. The size,
shape, number, connexions, and motions of the bones having been
considered, we shall find that they are for the support, shape, and
motion of parts, and of the whole body.

2b2

372 ANATOMY.

The next thing to be considered is the power or powers of motioii.
The muscles cannot be considered by themselves, but in their depend-
ence upon the bones and tendons; without which we cannot brmg
out all their uses. In their investigation, like the bones, they should
be deprived of everything but what concerns them immediately;
therefore, fat, cellular membrane, vessels, nerves, glands, &c. must be
removed.

The viscera are the next in order ; but as the bones, muscles, blood-
vessels, and nerves are common to every part of the body, and the
viscera, sense organs, &c, are particular parts, it is usual to proceed
with the imiversal or common, and afterwards with the particnkr
or viscera.

The blood-vessels form a step beyond the mere mechanical parts ; bnt,
considering the parts only so far as mechanism is concerned, they aie
next in the order of progression. For the knowledge of them depends
on the knowledge of the bones, Hgaments, cartilages, muscles, and
tendons ; therefore, in dissecting them, they should be left in connexion
with these, but be deprived of everything else.

The nerves come next. They are a good deal like the vessels in their
dependencies ; yet we choose to make them last, for these reasons : they
are less understood, are more complicated, more numerous, and in
general smaller.

This appears to be the most reasonable way to proceed from the more
simple to the more complex parts : for, suppose we were to invert the
order and begin with the nerves, we should then begin with the most
complex parts, before we knew what dissection was [or had acquired the
ail], and we should meet, in the attempt, with several parts of which we
knew nothing, such as muscles, viscera, ligaments, bones, &c.

Fat is only a luxurious accidental part; therefore does not come
within the compass of dissection.

The «eUular membrane we have not taken notice of ; for it is what
we destroy in cleaning the other parts. The best way of imderstanding
it is by common dissection, its use being no more than a connecting
medium to all the parts of a body, and dissecting, in general, is no
more than destroying this medium.

Chap. IL — Of the Skeleton in general.

A Skeleton is —

A passive substance :

Sustaining or giving support :

Giving general figure to the parts or to the whole :

J)etermining the places or motion of parts :

SKELETON, 373

And is composed of : —

AniTnal substance entirely : or

Animal substance and calcareous earth : or

Calcareous earth entirely.

"When of animal substance entirely, it may be —

Membranous, as in

Many parts of young animals ; some parts of the skeleton
of some fishes :

Gelatinous, as in

Sofk-shelled sea animals [^runicata] :

Cartilaginous, as in
Some fishes :
Many parts of the more perfect animals :

Or homy, as in

Mying insects.

The hardest or firmest parts of an animal, whose use in the machine
is to give support and form to the whole, ood attachment to the moving
powers, may be called the ' skeleton :' or if only to a part, then it is
the skeleton of that part. Some consist of only one piece \ others are
made up of several pieces, having motion on each other, which at the
same time directs and determines the places for motion.

A skeleton respecting the internal economy of the animal is of no
use, having no action within itself so as to influence others ; it is pas-
sive, as a wheel in a machine, and must be acted upon. However, its
use is not so essential as that of a wheel ; for wheels make a part of
the internal economy of the machine. But wheels neither give sup-
port nor shape, which are two very essential uses of the skeleton.

Skeletons are composed of different kinds of substances suited to the
necessity; some being extremely hard, others soft, yet of sufficient
firmness to give support, and afford fixed points for muscular attach-
ments. These substances may be membrane, cartilage, horn, and
bone. The first three are animal substances, the last is a kind of mix-
ture of animal matter and earth. These different substances are not
entirely peculiar to particidar classes of animals ; some having two
kinds, others three, and probably there may be some which have all the
four. We find, too, that some animals may have one kind at one period
of life* while they have another kind at another period. Some skele-
tons contain the whole animal, as in the oyster ; others are different in

[Hunt. Preps. Phjs. Series, Nos. 225, 226.]

S74 ANATOMY.

this respect, in different parts of the body [as in the tortoise]. We
may observe that, upon the whole, when the skeleton contains the whole
or a part of the animal, it consists of fewer parts, with the least mo-
tion on each other. Of this sheU-fish are the strongest instance, and
next the lobster, turtle, tortoise, &c. And even in the quadruped,
bird, &c., where the bones are in great numbers, having motion on each
other, yet we find the skull to accord with the above-stated principle.
The cuttle-fish [^S^pia] might be cited as an exception to this, for it has
only one bone for its skeleton, which is not on the outside, and in
some kinds [Loligo] the internal skeleton is a homy substance.

I shall begin my history of the different kinds of skeleton with the
most simple in regard to use, which may be as simple in r^ard to
substance and construction. I conceive that where the skeleton has
the least rigidity, it is least complicated in its uses ; and this idea is
verified in those animals where the skeleton is foxmd to be of most varied
use. For in those at the age where this part of the animal can be of
little use, the most rigid skeleton does not exist ; but only the soft, or
that which I conceive to be of least use : and as the actions of the
animal increase, rigidity becomes more and more requisite or nsefhl ;
and the soft is changed to the rigid, as will be observed when on the
skeleton of each class of animals. The membranous skeleton must have
the fewest parts; and we find that the most inferior animals have only
this kind.

The membranous skeleton is the first, and appears to be more of a
tendinous than membranous nature : it is to be considered rather as a
medium for muscular union, so as to give fixed points of action to distinct
muscles in the flexible animals of the lowest order ; a worm may be
given as an illustration. Every ring in this animal may be considered
as a bone, or fixed point, from which muscles pass to the other ring.
The same substance is carried to different parts in higher animals, so as
to supersede bone, where it can answer the same purpose ; and either
where no harder substance is wanted, or would be hurtfiil ; thus tendons
of muscles and ligaments of bone are to be considered as a part of the
skeleton ; they certainly make part of the skeleton of the animal*. In
the head of the infant, as at a period when the contents are in no danger
of being injured, the skeleton is only a membrane, the function being
simply that of a containing part : its becoming bone afterwards is to

* In m J history of muscles, iQ which I treated on tendons, I oonsldersd them
more as a part of the skeleton than muscles^.

^ [Hunter here refers to his " Croonian Lectures on Muscular Motion/' See my
edition of the * Animal Economy/ 8to. 1837, p. 229.]

SKELETON. 375

answer the purpose of a defence from external violence to the contained
parts.

As the membranous skeleton is not stretchabl^, or has a sufficient
firmness in texture not to yield beyond a necessary extent to the natural
actions of the animal, and as, in such, the sections of motion are short,
a pretty regular form is preserved ; for in every natural action there
is such a relationship depending upon it, that no distortion of parts
takes place, and only external violence deranges the form. A worm is
just as regularly a formed animal as any other, although it varies more
than those whose forms are more determined by [the harder nature of]
the skeleton.

The cartilaginous skeleton differs from the former in the nature of
its substance, as in the consistence whereby it retains its form ; but
there are considerable differences in the degree of consistence, and of
course in the power of retaining form. This substance is iatrodueed in
various ways, but seldom alone, as we find in the membranous skeleton ;
in some animals there is more of it, aad in some less, when the skeleton
approaches nearer to the membranous. Cartilage is used as an external
covering, like a sheU, as in those [Salpay Asddia] which I have called
the ' sofb-shelled animals \'

CartUage is used in the body of some animals as a fixed p(Hnt for the
muscles to act from. And as it is not so yielding as the membranous
skeleton, it is composed of parts which are united to each other, ad-
mitting of motion in those parts, and deteimining with more exactness
the places of motion ; although not perfectly, as it is elastic, yielding
and recovering without the aid of antagonizing muscles. These unions
mostly consist of membranes filling up the space between each cartilage ;
although in some the membrane makes a capsule.

This mode of introduction of cartilage is principally in fishes ; and in
some parts of other animals, such as the cartilages of the ribs in man.
It gives more stability to the shape than membrane could, and admits
of more variety of shape in animals.

Cartilage, — ^This is semitransparent ; of various consistence according
to its use ; and is commonly of a determined shape or outline, seldom
losing itself insensibly in the surrounding parts. Cartilages are of two
kinds respecting the power of being changed for bone ; one where it is
forming the skeleton of many animals only before birth ; the other where

' [They answer to the MoUtisca tunicafa of Lamarck and Cuvier. The external
skeleton, shown in the Hunt. Prep. Fhys. Series, No. 76, is a dense gelatinous mem-
brane, containing 'cellulose:' not true cartilage, but resembling it in physical
properties.]

876 ANATOMY.

it is not, becoming the skeleton of some animalfl throughout life^ — ^that of
both kinds is a very uniform mass, breaking equally in every direction.
The one which is changed for bone is vascular, and when going to be
changed becomes more so, these vessels having now more to do^.

The homy skeleton is truly animal, and is placed principally on the
outside of the animal, by which means it is kept dry, which renders it
stronger under the same quantity of matter. In the spade-tailed cattle
ILoligo] there is a homy or tortoiseshell blade that runs through the
whole back' ; besides which there is a cartilage on the anterior end of
the back. In the common homy skeleton the muscles are placed on the
inside, by which means it becomes a compound part of the animal, serving
equally as skin and skeleton, and often other purposes. It is oommon
but not pecuUar to the insect : it constitutes the scales [rings] or e:x-
temal covering of every flying insect, to which the muscles are attached ;
besides which it sends inward homy processes for the further attach-
ment of muscles ; just as bones send out processes for the same purpose.
I believe in the insect this substance is almost the sole, having very
little of the ligamentous, and, I believe, none of the cartilaginoas
[substance combined with it]. We have no generic terai for this sub-
stance^. I believe it is fibrous in all ; growing from an end like hair,
or from the edge like scales, according to its form. But when it acts
simply as a cuticle, I believe it grows from a centre, or all round the
edge, as in the shell® of the tortoise or turtle.

The bony skeleton belongs commonly to the higher orders of animals ;
although it is introduced into some of the lower, where firmness,
strength and determinate motion, with great variety, are wanted. As
it is internal, and of course always kept moist, it is a fitter substance
for those purposes than horn; for horn, when moist, is elastic and
yielding, and therefore when used is external. Eone is not the origiaal
skeleton in any animal, but only of the adult ; for in the first formation
of any animal, which afterwards is to have bone, the skeleton is either
membrane or cartilage, which is changed for bone, but not into bone.

The gradations of this change are beautiful. When the animal has
no locomotion, nothing to support, no action of parts but such as im-
mediately concern life, we find no bone. But as the young animal advances
towards that period in which it is to take a scope of bodily action

1 [Hunt. PrepB. Phys. Series, Nos. 78, 230—237.]

3 [lb. Nos. 133 — 162. The above is an outHne sketch of a histological chapter on
cartilage, which appears npt to have been written.]

8 [lb. No. 77.]

4 [it is now called ' chitine,* having a diflterent composition firom horn.]
6 [This is true 'horn.*]

SKELETON. 877

beyond its own internal economy, when one part is to act upon and to
sustain another, then rigidity becomes requisite, and bone begins to be
formed in preparation for this period. This is similar to what goes on
in every other paxt which is to come into action after birth, with a new
mode of the contmuance of life. Thus the lungs, stomach, intestines,
with every thing relative to them, the brain, nerves, senses, and ex-
tremities are forming, from an early period, so feu* as to be useful when
the animal comes, as it is calculated, into the world. The substitutes
for bone at those early peri^fls are cartilage and membrane, but carti-
lage chiefly. And this varies in consistence according to the age. It
is, at first, almost a jeUy, and becomes firmer and firmer as the foetus
may move upon itself. But as it is not whoUy changed for bone at
birth, what cartilage remains is become, by this time, fit to act as bone.
Where the least power of resistance is wanted, where no action can
take place, there we have only membrane ; and this membrane is only
to contain, and to allow itself to be changed for bone ; such as what
covers the brain ; for, while in the state of a foetus, the brain requires
only to be covered, similar to the abdominal viscera ; but, by the time
of birth, it wants something more,

I shaU here observe that the cartilage of those animals where there
is bone, is of two kinds : the one that is changed for bone is a uniform
mass, but that which does not is fibrous, and is placed on the ends of
bones, forming the cavity of the joint ; and as it is for the purpose of
the motion of the joint, it remains a cartilage through the life of the
animal. The cartilage that b changed for bone is of two kinds respect-
ing the time of change : one is where the change is complete when the
animal has arrived at its fall growth, forming what are commonly called
the * bones.' The other is where the period of change is uncertain,
seldom until considerably after that of full growth. Such commonly
retain their original name of cartilage, and when they do become bone,
are said to be ossified : such are the cartilages of the larynx, and of
the ribs or sternum. The earth in bones is not to be considered as a
part of the animal ; it is like the fat ; for it can be diminished or in-
creased by simple absorption or deposition. It is a secreted substance^
and, as it were, thrown out of the machine simply for a mechanical pur-
pose. It is not required to be of the nature of the machine, for it can
be made up of parts, e, g. madder, that are not altered by the stomachic
process.

The stone in the bladder, which cannot be considered as part of the
animal, is coloured in the same manner as bone ; the urine being the
carrier of the madder out of the blood.

As those cells that contain oil are called * adipose membrane,'

878 AKATOMT.

eeCUUm ad^p&$0B, I think the animal parts of the bone should be called
* oalcose membrane,' eelhdcB terrestrea seu ealearem.

Young bone may always be said to gprow, even the part that seems to
be ahready formed ; for at first it is growing longer, thicker and denser ;
so that there is always new mattw added nntil it is at its fiill growth.
But in the full-grown state, it would appear from the circamstanoe of
reddening a whole bone by feeding the animal with madder, that a
bone, although completely formed, yet is changing its earth, and pro-
bably eyery other part. This effect, howirer, is much slower than in
the growing bone. This would show that the madder does not act as a
dye upon the earth which is already deposited in the bone, bat <mly
upon that matter that is eyery day deposited ; and as there is a great
deal more deposited in a young bone than in an old one in a given time,
in the same proportion must it dye sooner than an old one. The new
matter that is deposited in an old bone is to make up for the waste that
is daily going on in it ; but in a very old bone the waste is more than
the repair ^

Bones would seem to have but very little sensibility. This is best
known in the fractured patella ; where generally there is no cautusion,
no splinters to run into sensible parts, and nothing torn but what is also
iDsensible. People who meet with such an accident, seldom complain
of pain when it happens. It is similar in this respect to the rupture of
the tendo AchiUis^.

The number of bones should be reckoned according to the number of
distinct cartilages which ossify ; for, in general, wherever Nature in-
tended a bone, she first made a cartilage of the shape of the intended
bone. Yet this is not universal ; for I believe in none of the bones of
the head, except the occipital and sphenoid bones, is there a cartilage :
the others being formed in membrane; and even in the exceptions
above mentioned it is only at the union of the ossifications that we find
cartilage : in their circumference we find the bony rays shooting out
into membrane. From this mode of numbering bones, we see that ihe
bones called ^ occipitale' and ' sphenoides' are but one bone. However,
as a general principle, it appears the best ; for we find it almost every
where else in the body. Therefore it seems improper to give the parts
of one bone in the adult two, three, or four different names, because it
•— — ' ' ' " ^— ^-»» I ■ II I I ^1 i» ..

^ [The preparations resulting from the experiments on the growth of hone are
Nos. 188 — ^201, Fhys. Series. See also the memoir on the same suhject " From the
Papers of the late Mr. Hunter,'^ communicated hj Home to the " Transactions of a
Society for the Improyement of Medical and Chirurgical Knowledge/' voL ii.
p. 277, 1798.]

2 [An injury of which Hunter had personal experience.]

. SKELETON. 379

was fonned of two, three, or four different ossifications. It wotdd be
much more proper to give the bone only one name, as, for instance, the
^ OS innominatum,' for two reasons ; because the whole is really but one
bone, and because it was formed in one cartilage \ This last would be
no reason if we found that Nature sometimes formed two bones in one
cartilage, and that they remained so through life ; but this id never the
case. However, we have an exception to distinct cartilages forming
distinct bones ; for the sacrum is one bone, although formed in several
distinct cartUages, these being closely united together by substances
which readily ossify.

Bones in young animals are often so soft;, that they are not able to
support the perpendicular weight of body; therefore they generally
bend; those that soonest give way are the tibiae and fibulee. The
direction in which they do bend is not constant; being sometimes
forward, and often outward. When forward, it is generally higher up
than when outward ; for when outward it is generally just above the
ankle: but this bend forward is not altogether from perpendicular
pressure ; the tendency to it is assisted by the contraction of the muscles
behind. This bend, in the human subject, is produced gradually by
pressure from above. That it is from pressure or some power appUed
beyond the strength of the animal or part, is evident from the case of a
yoimg leopard. It was chained by a chain about a yard long, and had
always a vast desire to go out of the door : in aU its efforts to get loose
it puUed in one direction, pulling with one fore-leg, and pushing with
the other, by which means the bones of the leg that he pushed with
were bent outwards, exactly answering these two motions of the legs,
and the motion of the animal.

Ossification of the cylindrical bones is supposed to begin like a ring
in the middle of the cartilage ; and this ring becoming broader, makes
the length of the bone. But I have reason to believe this is only con-
jecture, arising from what a section of a cylindrical bone would show.
For in a very young bone we never find the end of it hollow, although
the middle of it may be so ; but as the end increeises in length, from
being solid, it becomes hollow ; this scooping out or excavation follow-
ing the growth.

Cut off from the end of an older bone the proportion by which it
exceeds the length of a younger one, and we shall find the cut end of

1 [Hunter, it will be seen, fiails to appreciate the signification and yalue assigned
in homological anatomy to the distinct points of ossification in the common carti-
lage of the compound bones which he cites. It is interesting, howeyer, to find this
approach to the verge of considerations which have subsequently exercised so
strongly the anatomical mind.]

880 ANATOMT. «

f the older bone hollow. From this then we see that the greatest part
. of the bone is soUd, and afterwards becomes hollow; therefore it is
reasonable to think that the first ossification was solid, and then became
hollow.

The bones are sach parts that do not grow or increase in any part
while that part is exposed to the air ; therefore Nature has taken care
to cover bones that are sonnd as soon as possible [if they are by any
accidental drcnmstanoe exposed].

Bones are commonly hard in proportion to their length ; for, in pro-
portion to their length they are obliged to make the greater resistanoe.
Any lateral bias, wrench, blow, &c, more easily breaks a long bcrne
than a short one. It in all cases acts with a longer leyer.

Animals whose bases of support and motion are formed of hard and
solid parts, have them so joined as to allow of motion between them;
which joints, in the formation of their parts, are so related to the appli-
cation of the powers of motion, as to constitate what are called the
mechanical powers or levers. A lever has the moving power, the centre
of motion, and the resistance. And as these may be so placed with respect
to each other as to vary their relative position as much as three numbers
can, so are the joints in an animal variously formed. The joint of the
\ foot upon the tibia is of all the three sorts. It is a lever of the first
; kind when we push anything with our toes ; of the second kind when
{ we raise anything with them ; and of the third when we raise our body
' upon them.

In mechanics, without resistance there could be no such thing as
motion ; but in animals, where there is a self-moving power, this can
act without any resisting point. But this self-moving power cannot be
applied to other parts, even in the animal, without a fixed point of
resistance. However, these self-moving powers, by their simple action
within themselves, may produce immediately the effect, without one
point resisting more than another; as [in the instance of] a worm
simply contracting and bringing its two ends together, or contracting
laterally, so as to push itself out, by which means it is elongated ; but
even here the one half of the worm may be said to be the fixed point
or point of resistance to the other ; but a worm can fix any part of its
body to whatever it lies upon, and move towards that point. A circular
muscle would appear to have no fixed point, only the power of contrac-
tion, or shortening itself; and from the figure the muscle is thrown
into, it produces its effects ; each portion becomes a fixed point to the
other all round ; therefore every moving body which acts mechanically,
acts from some resisting power which may be called the fixed point, or
centre of motion. But animals, more especially the compound ones.

SKELETON. 381

havmg a number of joints or movements [of parts of the skeleton] on
each other, have bo many fixed points ; the larger portion becoming the
fixed point to the smaller ; until, at last, the whole body has its fixed
point, or point of resistance to move upon. Animals that Inove upon
the earth, have that for their fixed point ; birds that fly have the air
for their fixed point ; and fishes have the water for their fixed point.

Besides these general fixed points of motion for the whole animal,
each animal has a fixed point within itself from which the parts of the
body take their principal motion. In the human body this fixed point
seems to be in the joints of the thigh-bones ; and being in the middle
of the body, it must be common to the extremities ; therefore we see
that the trunk either moves on the legs, or the legs on the trunk.
Besides this there are as many fixed points as there are joints ; so that
the body is to be looked upon as a chain of joints whose general centre
of motion is in the joints of the thighs ; but each has its centre of motion,
which is always on that side next to the general.

The greater the motion in any joint, the less nice it is ; therefore,
where correctness and nicety is wanted, the parts of motion are divided
into smaller movements ; as, for instance, the bones of the fingers become
shorter and shorter towards their terminations.

Of the Spine. — ^The spine in animals is that which is the basis of the
whole body, on which everything is built. It gives support to the
whole, and may be said to be like the keel of a ship — ^the first thing
laid down, from which the wh6le superstructure is to arise. From its
great length, it is necessary to have motion within itself; and, as it
would be improper for it to bend at one part sufficiently for the required
motion, more especially on account of the ribs and viscera, it is made
up of a number of bones, that it might have an easy motion through
the whole : this also protects the spinal marrow from being hurt by too
quick a bend.

The other joints have no parts save for their simple motion ; but the
trunk has a great many, which prevents such motion.

The spine is straight in a fore view, because the two sides of the body
are similar parts ; but the . back and fore parts not being similar, the
spine is bent accordingly, to be able to support the different weights
applied to it. However, this is observable principally in the human
subject, owing to his erect position. That part of the spine to which
the other bones of the pelvis are attached [the sacrum], is commonly
nearly in the same line with the rest of the chain of bones ; although,
in most, it is a little bent so as to give space to the pelvis ; but in the
human it is thrown further back, in order that the thigh-bones might
be brought perpendicularly under the spine, and at the same time the

882 ANATOMY.

cavity of the pelvis not at all diminiabed : boUi could not have been
done in any other way.

The canal ofj the Bpine is largest in the neck and loins \ This
answers two purposes ; first, it allows a greater motion in those parts
without the medulla being hurt ; secondly, it makes the parts stronger
wilh the same quantity of matter: this is most remarkable in the
loins.

In man the crooks of the spine vary in different parts, at different
ages, of the same person. In the child it is most in the back, and
is backward ; owing, perhaps, to the weight of head ; in the adult it is
as much in the loins and is forward. This, perhaps, is owing to the
weight of the thorax and head, and the loins being the most moveable

part.

The ligaments between the vertebrae are stronger externally in pro-
portion as they are removed from the centre of motion.

The trunk is made up of three parts, the head, thorax, and pelvis —
aU at a di9tanoe from one another; and this is common to all qua-
drupeds. It was necessary that these parts should have motion ; there-
fore they are placed at some distance from one another, which makes
the necessity for the neck and the loins.

The back-bones of ft T)i"^»^^« differ very much respecting motion, and
especially the degree of curving; they might be divided into the
straight and curved. Horses, elephants, rhinoceroses, and ruminatuig
quadrupeds, which only stand or He, have spines of the straight kind.
However, there is a gradation between the straight and the curved
spine. The curved or bendible spine belongs to those animals which
can sit, either upright as in man, or bowed forward; the monkey^
dog, &c, forming the gradation between the one and the other.

ATiin^<^1g that have very long bodies, and are small^, generally have
their backs bent upwards, archways : the, use of this must be to sup-
port the body as an arch is supported.

In quadrupeds and birds the Uium is a long bone, situated nearly at
right angles with the thigh-bone, crossing its head like the upper part
of the letter T ; giving origin, along its whole sweep, but principally at
its ends, to muscles which fiex and extend the thigh-bone. The middle
part of the ilium is so near the joint as to give but a small surface for

I'll- ■ ' ■ I ■ I I 1 1 ■ I.

^ [ Vide Mr. Henry Earle's paper thirty years after Mr. Hunter's death, for tiiis
single fact, Phil. Trans. 1822 or 1823.— W. 0. Mr. Earle also regarded the ex-
pansion at the two ends of the neural canal in the neck-yertebras of birds as an im-
portant element of his paper. — "R. O.]

^ [See the skeleton of the marten [Musiela Martea]^ No. 4152, and that of the
sable [MusUla sibellina], No. 4168, Hunterian Osteol. Series.]

SKELETON. 883

muscular attachment; therefore there is produced but little lateral
motion. This position and formation of the ilium with respect to the
thigh-bone is remarkable in the bird.

The reason for the great difference between the shape of the pelvis
in man and other animals, is to give a circulax sweep of origin to the
muscles of the human thigh-bones ; the pelvis being adapted to this
purpose by the circular spreading position of the iliac bones, making
a cone, the base of which expands oyer the thigh-bones. The aceta-
bulum is to be c(msidered as the apex : it is placed laterally, looking
downwards and outwards, and gives a free scope to the motions of the
thigh-bone. This position of the bone obliges the thigh-bone to be of
a peculiar shape ; at first it comes out nearly in the direction of the
cone, formii^ what is called ' head ' and ^ neck ;' it then bends down so
as to give the legs a proper position for the support of the body.

This position of the head and neck gives principally a rotatory
motion, upwards and downwards, which brings the body of the bone
outwards and inwards; so that the rotatory motion of the head and
neck, joined with the up and down motion, produces the conoid motion
in the body of the bone.

The body of the thigh-bone makes with the neck an angle of 56°.
This angle confines in some degree the motion of the thigh ; for, on
account of it, the body of the bone has not the quantity of motion that
the neck has; or would have, if the neck were continued out in a
straight line from the body.

The perpendicular column of the leg of a fowl is thrown under the
centre of gravity [by the forward bend of the femur]. For, although
the joint of the ihigh is not, that of the knees is, imder the centre. The
thigh-bone is supported in that oblique position by muscles.

The scapula and clavicle generally move together ; but sometimes the
scapula moves without the clavicle. When both move together, they
may be compared to a pair of compasses.

The motion of the wrist is chiefiy fiexion and extension : the flexion
is between the radius and first row of the bones of the carpus ; the ex-
tension is between the first and second.

The metacarpus is to be considered as the first set of bones ; for they
make the basis for the others to bend upon. The second set of bones,
or first row of the fingers, becomes the basis of the other two ; and the
second row of bones of the fingers becomes the basis of the last of all.
In proportion as these bones become shorter, they describe, in their
movements, the section of a smaller circle. The tails of some animals
are constructed upon this principle.

Of Ligaments. — ^ligaments are parts commonly composed of strong

384 PRACTICAL ANATOMY.

materials wHch are flexible. Their strength has to be equal to tiie
accidental force applied, tending to dislocate the parts which they onite.
Most of our muscles, with their tendons, become, indeed, principally
the ligaments in the motions of the joint, arising from their own action.
But every joint is not sufficiently surrotmded with muscles and tendons
to guard it in every direction; therefore it must have ligaments as a substi-
tute. The thigh-bone at the union with the pelvis, and the humerus at the
union with the scapula, are so surrounded vrith muscles that it is hardly
necessary for them to have ligaments, excepting to retain the synovia.
However, as those large joints are subject to various motions, not pro-
duced by their muscles, it was necessary they should have ligaments of
some strength ; although these are not always equal to the force of such
motions, which are commonly called accidental. The ligaments of joints
are inserted at a distance from the moving point, in a proportion equal
to the quantity of motion, which motion is always from the received
bone, viz. the thigh-bone and the humerus. It is equally so in the
ginglymus and conoid joints; for, in the ginglymus, the ligament is
inserted at a great distance from the point of motion on the flexing and
extending sides, but is much nearer to the lateral, and in the true
conoid the ligaments are insertod at equal distances all round.

The vertebrae of the quadruped are never, in any action of the animal,
in danger of being pulled asunder, but they are liable to be broken
asunder ; therefore the union of the two is such as is a hindrance to
their being broken, the strong part of the union being exterior, and the
weak one in the centre.

The simple motion in every joint is the sliding one ; but from the
difference in the articulations, and the different directions of the bones,
different effects are produced, which have given rise to different classes
of joints, and of course to different names for them\

[Practical Anatomy.]
Of the Arrangement of Anatomical Preparations.

Farts of animals are often so combined, in their connexions and uses,
as to make it impossible to separate them so as to make a series of
anatomical preparations, perfectly classed according to their uses only ;
the vesica urinaria, e. ^., is connected entirely with the kidneys, as to
use ; but is so connected with the penis, <&;c. as to situation, as to make
them inseparable. The urethra belongs equally to both.

^ [The work had not proceeded beyond the second chapter. The following is a
supplemental one on practical anatomy, or the art of making and arranging
anatomical preparations.]

PRACTICAL ANATOMY. 385

In large flTn'-mnlH we are obliged to have recourse only to parts to
make preparations of, and for convenience ; but in small ones we are led
to preserve the whole, and expose as much as possible ; which breaks
in upon the arrangement and classing of specimens : but it is some-
what like nature herself; one property belonging to more a n i m als than
one\

On making Anatomical Preparations, by Injection, 8fc.

TJhe proper house, — A skylight is very improper : a side- or front-
light should be preferred.

The proper place for keeping Preparations. — ^Both wet and dry should
be kept in a cool place. If on a ground floor, and towards the north,
so much the better ; as the evaporation from the wet, and the throwing
out of the wax from the dry, at cut parts, will be less.

The proper siibjeets, — AniwialsL which have been bled to death are
not so flt for minute injections as those which have died a natural death,
because the vessels contract to adapt themselves to the quantity of blood
contained in the body while bleeding ; and all the muscular parts con-
tract after death ; therefore, if there is no blood in the arteries, they
will become almost impervious. In such cases, steep the parts for some
time till a species of putrefaction begins to take place. The parts
should likewise be gently squeezed, to relax the muscular contraction'of
the vessels. These two last circumstances should be punctually attended
to ; for if it is a part of a newly dead animal, it will not allow the in~
jection to go so feur as when the animal has been dead some time : but
great care should be taken not to allow putrefaction to go too far.

Parts of bodies that are to be injected and shown in their natural
form, should be parts of young and healthy subjects ; as they will be
less altered from their form than by disease, and the vessels will better
bear the injection. If possible, the water that preparations should be
steeped in should be distilled, for it preserves animal bodies above six
times longer &om putrefaction than common water ; and by this means
the parts will have time to become more free of blood, especially thick
parts. If not distilled, it should be dear and often changed. If the
part be suspended near the surface of the water, so much the better, as
the part will not be allowed to soak in its own blood, which will gravi-
tate to the bottom.

In all injections use a pipe as laige as you can get into the vessel, as

^ [The degree in which Hunter overcame these impediments in carrying out his
great idea of a physiological collection of anatomical preparations, may be estimated
by a study of that part of his museum containing his dissections of animals of every
class, and of plants ; or of its Catalogue, * Physiological Series,' 5 vols. 4to. 1833— 1840.]

2c

886 PRACTICAL ANATOMY.

it will allow the injection to moye in a greater oolmnn, therefore £aster,
uid wiU prevent stagnation.

Where a vessel is cut too short to fix a pipe in, in the common way, it
IB proper to pass a couple of pins through the mouth of the vessel, in-
troduce the pipe between them, and tie the ligature below the pins.
This also becomes more necessary where the vessel bears a large size in
proportion to the pipe, as in the vena cava hepatica of an ox, ele-
phant, &c. Also, where we are obliged to inject cavities from the side
of the cavity itself, — as the urinary and gall-bladders, vesiculse seminales,
often the heart, and sometimes a large artery that has only been par-
tially filled, — ^pins may be used, as in the case of vessels which are cut
too short to be tied up in the common way. Also, where there is a hole
in a cayity, aa in the bladder, or in an artery or vein, the pins can be
used with advantage.

Of Syringes, — ^They shoidd not be too long and small, as they will
cool the injection too fast ; nor too short and thick, for they are then
very inconvenient for many purposes, as injecting small parts, &c. There
should be two sets of syringes, one for oily, and the other for watery
injections. Syringes are, in general, too large. In injecting minutely,
care should be taken that no air gets before the injection ; to prevent
which, before you ^ the syringe into the empty pipe, pour some of the
injection into the pipe till it is frill, and then ^ the syringe. Push the
injection pretty quickly at first, until the vessel is full, and then gently,
to prevent extravasation.

Of Inje4:tions, Sfc, — ^First, injections, with regard to subtleness, should
always be fitted for the purposes intended ; secondly, the nature of the
injection to answer the design ; and thirdly, its consistence should be
considered, both when it is hot and when cold. As we generally make
more at once than is used at one time, heating thickens and hardens it,
and therefore its consistence must be tried every time before it is used.

Some injections reqxdre much more exactness in this respect than
others ; in corroded preparations we cannot be too nice in th'is respect,
as the injection is to support itself afterwards without tmy coats of
vessels.

Common Injection, — ^The corroding injections are too hard for man^
purposes, and the fine ones too soft : therefore we need something
between them ; e, g, —

R, Resin, Jij. — ^Tallow, Jij.
Colour q. s. ft. Injectio.
These we generally use for parts to be dissected, as legs, arms, &c.

Oily Injections, — These are made of many kinds, as 01. Terebinth.,
hog's lard, taUow, &c. The 01. Terebinth, is rather too thin of itsel£ :

INJECTION BY VEINS. 387

but when joined with tallow two parts, they correct each other, as the
one is too thin, and the other rather too thick. Butter or hog's lard
make of themselves pretty good injection.

Watery Injections, — Glue dissolved in water alone makes a good
minute injection. Before you dissolve it hy heating it, steep it in
water twelve hours ; then heat it gently till the whole is dissolved ; after-
wards strain it and drop some of it on any cold substance, and you will
know its consistence. When it is somewhat thicker than common jeUy,
it is of a proper consistence. * Size ' is better than * glue ' for white
injection, being clearer. Isinglass, prepared in the same manner with
the preceding, makes an injection similar to it. All fine injections
require more colour than coarse ones ; for, as it is to run into much
smaller vessels, it often becomes more and more transparent, cmd there-
fore requires such a quantity of colour as to render it opake when it is
most minutely diffused, either in very small vessels, or on any surface.

A watery or spirituous injection is best for injecting thin parts that
are to be dried and rendered transparent ; viz. all sorts of membranes,
and such parts as seem to be membranous when dry, as the stomach,
intestines, &c.

Preparing parts to he injected for Veins, — We can only inject the
large trunks of veins in the extremities ; for when we put a pipe into a
veiu and throw in our injection, it in general only passes in a straight
line from that to the heart, for at the entrance of other veins into this
vein there are generally placed vedves which keep the injection in a
straight line to the heart ; and if these valves are not sometimes exactly
at the mouths of collateral veins, yet you will generally find they are
within an inch of it, so that you have only so much injected. However,
on the foot and back of the hand the veins in general form an arch on
both sides, and we have all the veins arising from this arch injected ;
but still this would not inject all the large veins if there were not
other communications between the veins of different parts ; but we find
that a vein on one side shall send a canal of communication to a vein
of the other side, which canal having no valves, the injection passes
freely, and injects the veins of the other side.

Warm water jshould be injected into veins before injection, for two
reasons ; first, to warm the parts ; and secondly (and indeed the most
material), to wash out the blood, especially if the injection is of a white
colour ; and great care should be taken that all the water is squeezed
out before you throw in your injection, or any air that may be in the
veins ; for these often make interruptions in the larger trunks. One
would imagine that the air, water, or blood would be carried along the
veins before the injection, and would be let out at the great trunk of

2c2

/'

1

I

888 PRACTICAL ANATOMY.

the vein or at the hearty if it was a whole body ; but practice shows ns
the contrary, and it is easilj to be accounted for ; viz. the small vein
that jou put yoTir pipe into is not only to inject the vein leading £rom
that in a straight line, but to inject many collateral ones. Now, if
there be any air, water, or blood in any of the collateral veins, that air,
4!bc. will be carried on towards the lai^ tronk before the injection ; but
the injection will by this time have got into the large trunk beyond the
mouth of this collateral vein, by means of the vein that led immediately
from the pipe. This air, <&c., then, being thrown into the large trunk,
where there is injection both before and behind, it must make an inter-
ruption at that part; but the interruption will not rest here if yoa
continue to throw in your injection, for it will be carried forwards by
the succeeding injection, and it will at the same time forward the column
of injection that is before it.

Now that we have explained the cause of one interruption, we can
easily see how many may be formed, as there are more than one collateral
vein. One would remedy this by throwing in the injection till all
those collateral veins have communicated with the common trunk, and
letting the injection run out at the other end, till the last interruptioii
had come out at the end of the vein, and then tie up the end to keep
the succeeding in ; but we cannot always throw in so much injection
by such a small pipe as one would in such cases ; however, we always
leave the end of the great vein open till we see the injection come out
by it.

When the veins of a leg or arm are injected, they should not be
handled or compressed while the injection is fluid in them, but should
be hung up by their ends that are next the body. This will prevent
the injection from getting out of the smaller veins into the large ones,
because the valves will not allow it to return again, and of course will
become empty.

The gravid uterus should be injected by both veins and arteries at one
and the same time, so as to have them run nearly equal where the
placenta adheres.

Of Corroded Preparations,

The whole affair of injecting for corrosion, or making corroded pre-
parations, requires more attention than any one other method of making
anatomical preparations. They are always intended for the common
distribution of the lai^er vessels, and therefore in parts that cannot be
dissected with any degree of perfection or accuracy. As the animal
parts are to be destroyed, and only the injection saved, the injection is
only to be considered as a cast, and the vessels the mould ; therefore

CORRODED PREPARATIONS. 389

the great concern is the perfectness of the cast, and the goodness of its
consistence for such purpose.

The substances for this purpose might be as various as any other in
the art of casting, if our moulds admit of it. We might have casts of
all the metals or any other substance that admits of fdsion or fluidity
in any way, and afterwards becomes solid ; but such is the nature of
most of the animal moulds, that they cannot support a heat sufficient to
allow of carrying this art to any great length.

The parts to be injected are the first consideration. They must be
extremely sound or free of all disease, and they should be very fresh
or free from putrefaction. The parts to be injected should be taken
out of the body with great care, so as to have the principal trunk or
trunks of the different systems of vessels preserved for the fixing the
pipes ; for few parts that are injected for corrosion anastomose so freely
as to admit such injections to pass from one branch to a neighbouring
one ; therefore there will be no more injected than the part to which
this vessel went or supplied. Besides preserving the principal trunks,
it gives distinctness to the different systems of vessels, and an elegance
to the preparation. The different systems of vessels or cavities are to
be considered, by way of a leading step to the different coloured in-
jections.

The injection is the next consideration, and as it is wholly a piece of
art, and the only thing which is to be saved, it becomes an object to
carry it to the greatest perfection we can. The first property of an
injection is fluidity at one time under certain circumstances, and solidity
at another. The nearer a substance can be brought to these two states,
the more it is calculated for an injection in this respect ; but there are
many substances which have these two properties to a great degree, yet
the circumstances necessary to bring them to such a state may make
them very imfit.

Every injection for this purpose owes its fluidity to heat, and its
solidity to cold (excepting plaster of paris), therefore the degree of
fluidity necessary, and the degree of heat the parts will admit of, are
the things to be considered. The degree of soHdity when cold is to be
regulated according to the degrees of heat of the atmosphere in which
the preparation is made or to remain in ; for there are many substances^
such as many of the metals, whose heat when fluid is by mueh too great
for an animal substance, although very proper when oold ; while there
is another metal, viz. mercury, whose heat in a fluid state is very proper^
but whose solid state is not to be procured by the heat of the atmo-
sphere in which the preparation is made or to remain, nor indeed by
any cold we are capable of producing. The d^ree of heat of an injec-

890 PRACTICAL ANATOMY.

tion is to be that which an animal sabstanoe wOl bear withont altering
its textnre, or at least very Uttle ; and the more flnid it is in this degree
of heat, jpined with a sufficient degree of solidity in a heat of 70^ or
80^, the greatest heat of the climate of Great Britain, it is so far a
proper injection. Another property when cold, besides solidity, is
tenacity ; for there are many sabstances which, when cold, become very
brittle, and will not bend or yield to pressore, which renders them veiy
nnfit for casts of this kind ; nor should they be such as will alter in
tenacity by time, which is an effect arising from most substances that
are yolatile, therefore are bad ingredients in such injections ; however^
in some cases they may be admitted with advantage, as will be men-
tioned. Injections for such purposes should be such as do not imme-
diately become solid upon being exposed to cold, or at least that degree
of heat that the part can bear which is to be injected, for there are
many substances that can be made very fluid by heat, but in the d^ree
of 60^ become immediately solid. Wax and tallow are of this kind.

As it will very often happen that the corroding injeetian may run
more minutely in some vessels than others, it becomes neceesaiy that
we should be able to adapt our injections to the various purposes. This
will in general arise from the smallness of the vessel, in proportion to
its length, which is to be injected. If it is a part that has several
vessels, some very laige, and others very small, as in the liver^ the
large, viz. the vena portamm and vena cava, should be injected with
firm injection, as a support to the small, and the small vessels, viz. the
artery and duct, may be injected with a softer injection.

Wax, resin, turpentine varnish, and taUow, in proportions according
to the kind of preparation, form the menstruum or body of the injection
for receiving, when melted, the required colour.

The right consistency of our injection may be known by dropping a
little of it, when melted, into cold water ; and when soft, form it into
the shape of a vessel, and put it into the water again : when quite cold,
try to bend it. If it breaks, it is too hard ; if it bends very easily, it is
too soft. It must be of such a consistence as not to bend without some
force. If it breaks, then you may be certain that there is too much
wax ; therefore some resin and perhaps a little tallow should be added.
If it be too soft, then some more wax should be added. Those that
have the turpentine varnish, the Venice turp., or oil of turpentine in
them, must be tried every time they are heated ; because they lose part
of their volatile oil, and become too hard and brittle, and therefore want
an addition of one of these ingredients.

Of the Colours. — To these injections add as much colour as makes
them appear of a proper bright colour to the eye. Those generally used

CORHODED PREPARATIONS. 391

are vennilion, king's yellow, blue verditer and flake- white. Others may
be used. They are in general to be mixed with the injections when
melted ; bnt there are some exceptions to this rule, particularly with
regard to the verditer, and in some measure to the flake- white, for they
both unite (at least in part) with the injection chemically, and effer-
vesce; to prevent which we find it necessary to melt some of the
ingredients alone, and add the colour to these before the others are
added. The following experiments will particularize these exceptions.

1st. Blue verditer with taUow alone causes no fermentation. 2nd.
Blue verditer with wax alone does not ferment. 3rd. Blue verditer
with resin does ferment, therefore mix the verditer with the tallow or
wax either alone or together, and afterwards add the resin, which causes
a small fretting. If you use 01. Olivar. instead of taUow, use it in mixing
the colour as you did the tallow. If, instead of tallow, you use the
turpentine varnish or 01. Tereb., mix the colour first with the melted
wax ; then add either of those ingredients you intend to use, and then
the resia. These observations are equally applicable to the flake- white.

When we make a white injection, instead of the yellow wax we use
the white ; it will not even then be of a good colour, imless we load the
injection, and make it pretty thick with the colour. It would seem
that we have not yet any good green colour ; but as blue and yellow
make a green, blue verditer, added to yeUow wax or resin, gives us a
fine green.

Treatmmt of Parts after being injected for Corrosion. — A part that ia
injected for corrosion, whose figure alters by taking it out of the body,
should be put into its natural form when put into the acid, and into
such a vessel as is best adapted for such a figure. The distance of time
between the injecting and the putting it into the add, should be just
when the injection has taken a sdid form, which it will do sooner or
later ia proportion to the size of the preparation. If it cannot be put
iuto the acid before the injection is quite cold (from the want of acid),
take care that you put it into the vessel it is to be corroded in, that it
may take the right shape, and afterwards you may add the acid ; but
if both these rules should be neglected, and it is allowed to cool in a
wrong position from its natured one, then it must be put into warm
water till the injection has acquired that degree of softness as to allow
the part to take its natural form in the vessel it is to be corroded in.

When you inject a part for corrosion in the summer, you must put it
immediately into spirit of sea salt ; because it will soon begin to putrefy,
by which means the vessels will be either broken or bent by handling
afterwards.

Of washing Parts after they are corroded. — After a part is sufiiciently

392 PRACTICAL ANATOMY.

corroded, it is to be cleaned by pooling water npon it. This is best
done by pouring it in a gentle stream from a tea-kettLe till it seems
quite dean, yet it will be afterwards necessary to immerse it in water,
and move it pretty briskly, by which means you will be able to wash
off a great many small pieces of its substance, and small pieces of broken
branches that were entangled when out of the water.

Of Dry Preparatiang.

While preparations are drying that are afterwards to be yamished, it
IB necessary to haye the parts so disposed that eyery part may easily be
touched with a brush ; for, if this is not attended to, it will yery often
happen that there will be comers and interstices which it is impossible
to touch, but which were easily to haye been got at or exposed when
dissecting, by the flexibility of the parts. K preparations could be
dipped into yamish, it would answer better than any other method, but
that can hardly be done with large preparations, such as a whole body
for the blood-yessels, nor eyen with a leg or an arm ; and, indeed, these
are the preparations which would require this attention most.

Preparations while drying should neyer be allowed to freeze, for in
that operation the air is let loose or collected into larger parcels, which
does not diffuse again in the thawing ; therefore a yast number of small
cayities are formed, and of course a yast number of reflecting surfaces
like powdered glass, which takes off from the transparency of the pre-
paration.

A part of some considerable size, such as the testicle of a horse, &c.y
which is to be dried, especially too if it is in the summer, should be
particularly prepared for that purpose, independently of the exposition
of its parts. The artery should be injected with water till it returns
by the veins, and made pretty clear of blood, for blood first tends to
putrefy. These should be injected with spirits of wine only, if it is
afterwards to be injected with a watery injection ; but if to be injected
with an oily injection, it should be injected with oil of turpentine after
haying been iajected with spirit, and then it may be injected with the
intended injection. The spirit coagulates the juices, which is one
method of preyenting putrefaction, and permits eyaporation. The oil
of turpentine also preyents putrefaction, and permits evaporation.

Colov/rsfor dried Preparations. — ^Those preparations that are to be
dried, such as stomachs, intestines, membranes of any kind, and more
especially such as are thick in substance, such as hands, feet, <&;c. either
for turpentine or not, — children for the blood-vessels, muscles, arms, legs,
, — in short any preparation that is to be dried, especially those that do not

DRY PREPAEATIONS. 893

i dry very transparent and of a light colour, — should be injected with

vermilion, if we use red, for vermilion is the lightest red of any that

*^ can be called a good red ; therefore it makes a greater contrast between

*■ the vessels and the thing itself. But the kind of injection will make a

s: good deal of difference in the colour, for all reds become much deeper

by being mixed with oily substances, therefore the colour that is fit for

oil, is much too pale when mixed with water and spirits, and vice versd.

Many parts of fishes that are intended for dry preparations should

first be steeped in spirit ; this coagulates all their juices, preserves them

c from putrefaction, and allows of a quicker evaporation, all of which

]t are often absolutely necessary.

7 Of Varnishing. — ^Varnishing dry preparations has three advantages ;

u first, it prevents their being destroyed by insects ; secondly, it preserves

I them from the dirt, as any dirt will easier come off a smooth coat of

s varnish than off the preparation itself; and thirdly, it gives the prepa-

B ration a much brighter colour, and makes the part shine by entering its

I pores, thereby rendering it more transparent. The varnish being a

[ transparent body itself, and entering the pores, fills them up : thereby

the whole becomes a more uniform mass, having fewer reflecting sur-
r faces, and therefore the deeper-seated parts that are bright (viz. the

injected vessels) are better seen. Yamishing preparations is as neces-
sary a part as any, as it keeps them clean and free from insects; and
for this last purpose it is necessary to be extremely nice : the parts that
are easiest varnished are those which have least occasion for it, it being
the hollow comers or crevices that require it most, as it is there the
insects lay their eggs, the worms from which destroy the preparation.
Insects often eat their way through the varnish into the preparation ; to
prevent which, dissolve corrosive sublimate in spirit of wine, and mix
it with the varnish before it is laid on the preparation.

The spirit varnish is most proper for those preparations that are to be
handled, because the gum that dissolves in spirit does not in water ; so
that the moisture of the hand does not soil it. It likewise does best for
those preparations that have any grease in them; for it in some
measure mixes with the grease, and therefore adheres more firmly to
the preparation ; whereas the watery gum does not, so that it rises in
blisters.

Spirit varnish is best for corroded preparations ; it is better than the
copal, because it does not dissolve any of the injection on the surface,
which is the case with the copal, and all the turpentine varnishes ; and
when they dissolve the wax on the surface of the smaller vessels, it al-
most goes through and through, by which means they bend or collapse.
Mr. Henry's copal varnish dries very readily, but when perfectly dry

S94 PEACTICAL ANATOMY.

is apt to crack by bending the preporatioii. The cracks appear white
and mealj, as if the giun had lost its cement by drying. If a litUe
more tenacity conld be giTen to it so as to ayoid its cracking and not
prevent its drying, it would be preferable to the copal ramish commonly
used.

Of the PreparaHon of Bona, — After roughly removing the flesh, &c.,
tho quickest way, without boiling, to clean them, is to put the bones
into a tub, with a loose cover, so as to let the flies get to them ; they
wiU fly-blow them immediately, and in a fortnight's time they will have
entirely destroyed the flesh. However^ this can only be done in
summer.

Bones that have been steeped in water, either after boiling or not,
are generally either of a black greyish colour, if they have been steeped
long enough, or they are of a pretty good white : these colours arise
from an entire want of grease, and these colours are always brightest
in the middle of the bone where there is the least grease. These are
the most promising colours, for the white will remain and the grey or
black will become white by being exposed to the air ; but what is most
valuable is the want of grease.

If bones are of a dark or dirty brown when taken out, we may be
pretty sure that they have not a great deal of osseous matter ; and are
therefore light and bad bones. This colour is often attended with
grease, but whether it is or not, it is a bad one ; they never become
white of themselves, and it is hardly possible to make them so by art ;
for they seem to be dyed, and that a little way into the bone ; but it is
always of a deeper colour near the surface than in the substance of the
bone.

If they are taken out of a pretty bright or whitish yellow, or a little
on the orange colour, we may be sure they will be greasy, especially if
they feel slippery or saponaceous. This colour will be most at the ends
of bones, and it often seems mixed with the dark brown, and is gene-
rally attended with a yellow transparency.

When this is the case, they have not lain long enough in water; and,
indeed, there is a great chance against their ever beeoming free of
grease before the bones are spoiled by steeping, if they have lain so
long already as to have destroyed the flesh. This colour, in general,
attends a good bone, or in other words, a strong one.

The human flesh is longer in rotting than in aaj other animal ; espe-
cially the tendons, ligaments, and cartilages ; it becomes more hard by
steeping, but in other animals it seems to dissolve. This is most so in
old people.

Separation of Cuticle. — Putrefaction and boiling water separate the

WET PREWIEATIONS. 895

cuticle firom the cutis ; but putrefaction is the best ; for boiling water
does not do it so regxQarly over the whole.

Of the transparent Preparation of Bones, — ^Bones in many animals are
a mixture of earth and animal matter ; as the earth is in the form of a
powder or calx it is opake. To render such a bone transparent, it is
necessary that this earth should be extracted and nothing left but the
animal substance. To do this, the bone should be steeped in an acid,
with which the earth unites and dissolves. The acid should be so
diluted as to have but little effect upon the animal part ; however, the
weakest adds will, in some degree, affect it, which is of some advantage,
as it renders the preparation still more transparent.

The acid should be diluted so as only to feel a little sharp to the
tongue. Perhaps common vinegar is as strong as it should be. Water
is commonly the fluid the acid is diluted with, and is as proper as any-
thing when the preparation is simply a bone that is to be put into it :
but it is sometimes necessary that soft parts are also connected with the
bone to complete the preparation. In such cases, to preserve the soft
parts from putrefaction, it is proper to dilute the acid with spirit, which
preserves the soft parts while the add is extracting the earth.

If the quantity of liquid is too small to allow of a suffident quantity
of acid to dissolve all the earth in the bone, then more acid may be
added to the same liquid when that which was first put is fully satu-
rated, which wiU be in a day or two.

Vitriolic acid should never be used, as it does not dissolve the earth of
bones, but unites with it in the form of selenites [sulphate of Hme].
The marine [nitric] acid should be as pure as possible, or free from any
vitriolic acid.

Of Wet Preparations. — Preparations should never be allowed to have
any considerable tendency to putrefaction before they are put into
spirits, because the part or piece putrefied does not coagulate so soon,
nor so firmly, as the fresh ; therefore you will have the spirits made or
kept much longer foul from the oozing of the uncoagulable juices ; but,
where it is unavoidable, the spirit should be strong in proportion, espe-
cially if the mass be large. If the preparation is made in the summer,
and is pretty large, it will be hardly possible to prevent putrefaction
before it is properly steeped; therefore it will require, at first, either
more spirit than common, or stronger.

Of the Colour of Wet Preparations, — ^As aU parts of an animal are
nearly of the same colour when deprived of their blood (excepting the
Bkin and some glands, as the liver, which take much of their colour
from the juice which they secrete), great care should be taken not to
deprive such parts of their blood, which owe much of their distinction

396 PRACTICAL -AM ATOMT .

of parts to their colour ; and in many sach parts, instead of lessening
such distinction, it ought to be increased. Supposing a tongue to be
preserved for the interweaving of its muscular fibres (which is best seen
from colour), the colour should be heightened; therefore, instead of
being steeped in water, it ought to be steeped in a solution of nitre,
which gives a brightness to the blood in the muscles, and makes the
distinction between muscles and other parts more conspicuous. In a
section of the proboeds of an elephant, this treatment has a good effect.

Preparations that are to be kept wet, and are steeped in water till all
the colour is extracted, and therefore become white in themselves,
should be injected with a colour redder than vermilion ; for, if it is
not a very vascular part, the vermilion does not add so much to it as
some other reds do, and the part appears less vascular than it really is.
In very vascular parts, where nothing is seen but vessels, as the inner
surface of the stomach, &c., one would in those cases choose the colour
that pleases the eye most.

Spirit, Sfc, — The liquors to be used should have one property in
common, that of preserving the preparation from putrefaction, and
should be transparent. Liquors should have different degrees of astrin-
gency. Some should be strong, so as to keep preparations in any form
that they are put into ; €. ^. a bladder, when filled with spirit of wine
and let stand for some time, should not collapse when opened to show
its inside, but should retain its form ; and particularly such prepara-
tions as have been sent home in spirits without having had any
attention paid to their form : the second liquor for such should be as
astringent as possible. The best thing is the joining of acid to rectified
spirit of wine.

Unless for such purposes as above, the liquors should have little or no
astringcncy ; as that prevents many parts being seen from their being
drawn together, prevents the natural softness of parts, coagulates the
serum which produces a whiteness, where you want to show vessels of
different colours ; and it always produces a milkiness in the first liquor,
and a white sediment from a coagulation of the serum that is squeezed
out of the vessels, cavities, &c.

The spirit of wine is the liquor commonly used. The strength of
the spirit must be according to the solidity and mass of the prepara-
tions ; as muscles, some gelatinous fish, <&c. Bectified spirit of wine is
in general too strong, but some preparations require it, not for their
preservation, but for their position.

Weak spirits may answer best in many cases, and one would natu-
rally suppose in most CEuses ; as, in most, only preservation is wanted.
But we find by experience that a weak spirit is slow in coagulating the

1VET PREPARATIONS. 897

juices ; therefore the spirit is almost always dirty, or there is a sedi-
ment of coagulated serum at the bottom, so as to require a vast number
of shiftings before the whole of the juices are coagulated ; more espe-
cially where the parts are not quite fresh. Such spirit as is weak might
be improved by dissolving some alum in it. Besides their not coagu-
lating the juices quickly enough, they do not coagulate them sufficiently ;
most of the preparations that were put up in gin, are in this manner
milky, by having the juices partly coagulated and partly suspended.
At the second and succeeding times of putting spirits to preparations,
it IB not necessary that it should be so strong as at the first. Proof
spirits lowered one third will be strong enough.

Of exposing the different iparts of a Preparation, — ^Besides the exposi-
tion of the different parts in the dissection, they should be exposed as
much as possible when in the form of a preparation. In the wet
preparation, it is often necessary to have bristles stretched from one
part to another ; bristles put into parts to point them out, as into the
ducts of glands, <&c. These, if there are many of them in the same
preparation, should be of different colours ; black and white we have
naturally; but still it is frequently necessary to have a variety of
colours ; bristles take on a bad dye of green, blue, red, &c., but if
painted, will do very well. Where bristles are too small, or too weak,
quilU may be used, or the hairs of a rhinoceros's tail, &c.

Such substances, however, are sometimes too short, therefore some-
thing else must be substituted, as wire — such as passing it through the
body of a snake to give it a particular form, &c., but the wire should
not be iron, as it becomes rusty. Brass and copper wire also corrode ;
but I suspect something else than spirits, via. Volat. Alk. or Acid, &c.
may do this.

Of suspending Preparations in Spirits, — ^THe threads by which pre-
parations are suspended should be as fine as possible, so as they are
sufficient to bear the weight of the preparation, but which need not be
so strong as to suspend it in the air, as it is much lighter in spirits. If
a preparation is such as to keep its form without threads, and only
needs suspension, yet it is best to use two threads; as, in looking
at the preparation, it will then turn with the glass. These should
be fixed to opposite points of the preparation, or it will not answer
so well.

The threads used for very small light preparations, should be allowed
to untwist themselves in water before they are used ; otherwise they
wiU twist themselves in the spirit and become as one thread, which
makes all the parts suspended appear indistinct. A single thread of
the silk-worm is in general strong enough for most, and does not twist

893 PEACTICAL ANATOMY.

of itself; but in torning aboat the preparation bottle^ they will fre-
quently twist, and will be with difficulty untwisted, if at all, unless the
preparation is heavy. In such cases, therefore, where the threads are
long and the preparation light, it wUl be an advantage to keep the
threads asunder midway by a bristle, or some such thing.

Preparations, when first put into spirits to harden, should be weU
suspended, so as to keep as much of the form you intend as possible,
as this form will not alter afterwards. But there is no occasion to trim
the preparation neatly, because this is better done when the preparation
is hardened and to be put j^to fresh spirits ; one can then take off a
number of edges, loose parts, and such as have been put out of thebr
place by threads, &c. Preparations being generally taken out of water'
when put first into spirits, we find t&at, as the water and spirits
do not immediately unite, the loose parts of the preparation cling dose
to the body of the preparation. If a preparation is put into spirits <yi

under such circumstances, it should be moved in the spirit till all these j

loose, villous or fringy parts hang as they should do. This must be
done immediately, because the parts coagulate in their first form, and
then it is impossible to make them hang loose afterwards.

Of Bladders, Sfe. for iymg over ihe Bottle. — ^The first bladder should
be very thin, to allow as Httle distance as possible between the bottle
and the lead, as that is the space through which evaporation passes.
It should be a little putrid, so as to have formed a little glue, which
allows it to stick much more firmly to the neck of the bottle and to
the lead than it otherwise would do. Yery hot water poured upon a
bladder will have nearly the same effect.

Of shifting Preparations, — ^When preparations are shifted from one
spirit to another, they should be first washed in the old spirit to wash
away any loose mucus, &c. If the spirit they are taken out of is very
dirty and much tinged, the preparations in that case should be steeped
in dean spirits for a day or two, tiU that tinge is taken out, before they
are put up in clean spirits.

Of diseased Parts. — ^Many diseased parts should not be steeped in
water, as the disease is often shown or illustrated by the colour of the
part, such as infi^med and mortified parts. These should be put into
pretty strong soluMon of alum, or into pretty strong spirits, to ^ and
coagulate the juices.

Of Embalming,

The embalming a royal personage is done in the following manner.
Incisions are made into the thickest part of the thighs, legs, and
loins, to allow the fluids to ooze out ; and where the subject is at all

EMBALMING. 899

dropsical, these should bo made as early as possible to allow them to
drain. The thorax and abdomen are to be opened, and the whole of
their contents stripped down together, also the kidneys, in one mass,
and put into clean water. The brain is to be taken out, and the cranial
cavity filled with the * coarse sweets,' and then sewed up again. The
cavity of the abdomen and thorax is to be filled with the same, and
sewed up in the usual way. The contents of the abdomen and thorax,
with the brain, are to be dried a little ; and, after the urn has had its
bottom weU covered with the * coarse sweets,' they are to be put into
it. The um is then to be filled up with the same, soldered down, and
the top screwed on. The urn is a cuble of about a foot and a half, lined
with lead.

The quantity of cere-cloth is fourteen yards, of a green colour. The
fingers are roUed up separately, in straps the width of a penny ribbon,
and then altogether. The arms are rolled up in strips separately, and
the feet and legs the same. The body is wrapped up in two pieces, and
the face and head are covered with two pieces, and afterwards rolled
over with strips in every direction. The legs are then to be brought
together, and the two great toes tied, and then aU rolled up in one ;
the arms are to be brought to the sides, and the whole body is to be
enveloped in two pieces, each seven feet long ; the whole making one
mass without any appearance of neck being retained.

The gashes made in the muscles are to be filled up with the ' fine
sweets,' previous to the limbs being rolled up in the cere-cloth. The
body, being so enveloped, and all the edges being made to stick close
together with a warm flat iron, is to be enveloped by a piece of white
silk. The narrower this is the better^ as it rolls so much better, begin-
ning at the head, and going down and up till the whole is well covered
with the white silk. The same is afterwards to be done with a piece
of purple silk, and tied in four places with white ribbon and with bow-
knots tied before. The purple is silk peculiar to the royal family. This
embalmed body is then to be put into the coffin, which is previously
partly filled, and afterwards entirely filled, vdth the sweets, and soldered
down.

In this process, first binding up the limbs with Hnen rollers would
allow the cere-cloth to be much more neatly applied, and stick better
than it can be made to do to the skin.
The composition for the cerate for the cere-doth : —

Bees- wax

Yellow rosin

Mutton suet 1 lb.

Powdered Verdigris 5^*

I aa31b.

400 PRACTICAL ANATOMY.

Melt them togetheri and when cold knock it out of the pan, scrape
the fool bottom, and melt it over again, and then dip the cloths, as
follows : —

2 Pieces, 1 yard each, for the legs, separate.

1 „ 1^ yard, for the legs together.

1 „ 5 feet, for the shoulders.

1 „ 2^ feet, for the head.

2 „ 7 feet each, to wrap the body in.
2 „ I of a yard each, for the arms.

1 „ 2 yards long, for rollers.

The cloth to be either Holland or Irish, a yard wide, about Ss, 6d,
per yard \ The pieces to be the whole width. Pnt packthread to the
comers when you dip them, and stand on a table to draw them easily
out of the pan.

The fine Sweets,

Badic. Irid. Flor. eras pulv 14 lb.

Cyper. long pulv » 12 5.

Calam. Aromat. pulv 1 5.

Flor. Bosar. Rub. pulv 2 lb.

Herb. Marjoram pulv 12 5.

ligni Ehodi pulv 1 lb.

Cort. limon. pulv , . . . 65.

Caryoph. Aromat. pulv ix 5.

Gum. Benzoin pulv 18 5.

Styrac. Calam. pulv x 3.

Labdan. pulv iv 3.

Moschi veri pulv ii 3-.

The Sweets far the Coffin.

Mor. Lavend Ibvij.

Marjoram Manip xxx.

Eosar. Ruhr ij.

Herb. Thymi Manip xxiv.

Absynth. Roman. Manip xxiv.

Caryoph. Aromat ^ij.

The herbs and flowers are to be cut very small, the cloves coarsely
powdered, and all mixed with six bushels of bran, and put up in two
coarse linen bags.

^ [Prices have changed with the growth of manufactures since the date of the
above.]

J2

INDEX TO VOL. I.

I

A.

AbberiUe, diflOOTeries at, 320.

Absorbents, 128, 151.

.Xgthna grandisy 98.

Anatomy, the monographical, oreanica],
embryological, zoological,homdiogical,
hi8tological,and palseontological modes
of inTestigation, 281 ; progress of ana-
tomical study, 371 ; practical, 384.

Animals, compared with vegetables, 16,
22, 23 i in the circumstance of en-
grafting, 18 ; of propagation of the
species, 19 ; classifications of, 25 ; ac-
cording to cardiac characters, 25 ; re-
spiratory characters, 26 ; essential cha-
racters, 26; cerebral characters, 28;
generative characters, 34 ; coital cha-
racters, 34 ; according to temperature,
85; size, 35; element, 35; according to
development, 36; origin of species, 37;
origin of varieties, 38 ; uses to man,
45 ; sociability with man, 49 ; man-
ners of, affected by parents, 53 ; dis-
position of, 53 ; combative principle
m, 54 ; their movements in rising, 56 ;
geographical distribution of, 111 ;
principles of development of, 203;
the imperfect correspond with em-
bryo-stages of perfect, 203 ; may be
anatomized in seven ways, 281 ;
Hunter's treatise on, 369.

Anodon cygneus, generation of, 221.

Ant, economy of, 101.

Aphis pini, 99.

Appetite and passion, 276.

Arteries, 127 ; uses of, 132 ; vitality o^
133 ; origins of, 133.

Abs, notes on, 59 ; experiments on, 199.

B.

Bark of trees, experiments on, 344.

Bees, economy of, 60.

Beetles, economy of, 93 ; parts of gene-
ration in, 223.

Bile, notes on, 156.

Blood, circulation of, 126.

Bones, their structure, 373 ; ossification,
376 ; development, 378 ; preparation
of, 394.

Bow-l^, its causes, &c., 41.
Breast, 230,238.
Bowels, air in, 150.
Brain, 163 ; action of, 261.
Buds, 365.
Bugs, 103.
Butterfly, white, 101.

0.
Cartilaee, 375.
Castration and spaying, 234.
Cetonia aurata^ 96; generation of,

223.
Chick, progress and development o^

199, et seq,; circulation of the blood

in, 212 ; nervous and visceral system

in, 214.
C^mex lectularma, 103.
Circulation of blood, 126,
Climbing plants, 354.
Cockchafer, economy of, 95.
Consciousness, 252.
Copulation, 193.
Corroded preparations, directions for,

388.
Crawfish, river, 109.
Crows, economy o^ 59.
Culex pipienSy 102.

D.
Deceit, 268.
Digestion, 146.
Dragon-fly, economy o^ 98.
Drinking, 144.
Dry preparations, 392.

E.

Earthquakes, their disastrous effects,

332.
Earthworms, economy o^ 109.
Eating, 143.
Eel, generation of, 216.
Egg, in bird, vivification o^ 216.
Embalming, 399 ; receipts for, 400.
Embryology, 199, 230.
JSristalis tenax^ 102.
Excrements, 150.
Exo-skeleton, 377.

Eye, 166 ; orbit, 167 ; choroid coat, iris,

2d

402

INDEX TO VOL. I.

■hapeandsuEeofeyes, 168| Bqointmg
andgutta Berenai 169.

F.

Fallopian tubes, 191.

Fat, or oil, 163.

Fear, 267.

Firs, Scotoh, esperinienta on, 842.

FcDtua, 195.

Food, 185.

'*FosBils,Bxtraneons,** Hunter^s memoir

upon, 281 ; definition of^ in Honter^s

tuna, 297.

0.

Gall-bladder, 157.

Generation, 184 ; act o^ 186 } cireom*
atances infloencing, and oigans of,187 ;
in moUnsoa^ 221; in inaecta, 223 j
mifloeUanaoiu obaerrations on, 228.

Choirupeg Mtere^rariuMf 93.

Gnat, 102.

GfMahopper, econom j o^ 96.

Growth of troea, 848.

H.

Hearing, organ of, 171.

Heart, 128.

Heat, animal, 120.

Hermaphroditism, 249.

Hornets, economy of, 73.

Horses, motion of, 57 ; effect of medicine

on, 58 ; teeth in, 141.
Hunter, John, his paper on Extraneous

FossUs, 281 ; his posthumous paper,

297 ; as a surgeon in Portugal, 327 ;

rupture of his iendo AehiUis^ 255, 878.
S:jfdrackna, 108.

I.

lelmology, 299.

Injection, directions for, 385.

Insects, external characters and senses,
104 ; nourishment, fat, food, 105; di-
gestion, teeth, and weapon8,106; heart,
blood, and cLrculation,107 ; respiratoiy
oigans, 108 ; generatiye oigans, 223 ;
metamorphosis in, 227.

Instinct, 276.

Intestines, 148.

K.

Kidneys, 158 ; notes on, 162.
]^owledge, three modes of acquiring,
370.

li.

Life, principle of, 113 ; its union with
body, nature, and degrees, 114 ; mu-
tual attraction of parts for union, 115 ;
simple life, 115 ; causes im&yourable
to, 119; degree of excitements and

sadatiyea, 119; dependence of^ on
respiration, 121 j pcnoda o^ 271 ; ye-
getable, 841.

Ligaments, 384.

iMimea stagnaUiy 221.

Liyer, 155.

Lubricating fluids, 154.

Lmnbrieut terre s t r u, 109.

Lymphatic glands, 152, 153.

M.

Man, natural histoiy o^ 39 ; superiority

of^ 40 ; use of feet in, 40 ; bow-leg in,

41 ; distinction from monl^ey, 43 ; uses

of animals to, 45,
Martyrs of science, 801.
Matter, definition of^ 6; its qualities and

attributes, 8 ; anunal maUer, 12.
Melolontha vu^aris, 95.
Menses, 193.

Mind, 256 ; presence of, 264.
Monkey, compared with man, 43.
Monsters, 289 ; in crystals, 240 ; inye-

getables,241, 368; before birth, 243 ;

after biiih, 245 ; hereditaiy, 24i5 ; in

particular species, 248 ; misoeUaneons

notes on, 250.
Morphology, foreshadowed by Hnnter,

10 «o^.
Moth, white eyening, 100; generation

of; 223.
Motion in yegetaUes, 356.

N.

Natural history, introduction to, 1 1 tlie

study of, 24.
Neryes, 163.

Newt, progressiye motion oi^ 57*
Nipples, position o^ 233.

O.

(Esophagus, 144.

Oil or fat, 163.

Orbit, 167.

Ossification of cylindrical bones, 379;

distinct points of, 378.
Ogtrea eduU*, generation oi^ 222.
Oyaria, 190.
Oyiducts, 191.
Oyster, 222.

P.

Palaeontology, Prof. Owen's first lecture
on, 281 ; a science not neglected by
Hunter, 286 ; incidentally treated by
him in its chemical aspect, 287; the
geographical distribution of animals,
291 ; rdation of time to geological phe-
nomena, 292, 309 ; Hunter^s MS. on
fossils, 293 ; Prof. Owen's second lec-
ture on, 296 ; his third lecture, 297 ;
definition of fossils, in Hunter^s time.

INDEX TO VOL. I.

403

297 ; csiroamstanoeB influencing casts
and impressions, 298 ; history of geo-
logyberoreHunter's time, 800; Hooke,
Woodward, Burnet, TVliiston, Buf-
fon, Werner, and Button, 801 ; Hun-
ter's extensiye geological labours, 803 ;
alternations of sea and land, 308 ;
chan^ of climate, 809; JElephaa
primigenMiSy 810; influence of the
school of Cuyier, 315; comparison
between the Tertiary and Permian
fishes, 315; fossil-wood, 817; anti-
quity of the human race, ^19 ; Fra-
castoro's theories on the Koachian
deluge, 822 ; observations on sheUs,
325 ; earthquakes in Chile, 332 ; ac-
tion of glaciers, 334 ; progress of pa-
leontology since the tune of William
Smith, 336; the London Geological
Society, 339.

Paludina vivipara^ 221.

Pancreas, 158.

Parts whose uses are not known, 162.

Passion and appetite^ 276.

Penis, 189.

JPhasffoneura wridistima^ 96.

Physiology, observations on, 113.

Phytology, observations on, 341.

Pontia brassica, 101.

Porthisia chrysorrhoMy 100.

Practical anatomy, 384.

Preparations, directions for, 884.

Prostate gland, 188.

Psychology, 252 ; miscellaneous notes
on, 278.

Pudenda, 192.

B.
Beason, 262.
Bespiration, 121.
Bight, hereditary, 275.
Bose-beetle, economy of, 96.

S.

Sap, movement in, 343.

Secretion, organs of, 155.

Seeing, 166.

Senses, 166, 182 ; ideas from sensation,

263.
Sensitive plants, 857.
Sensibility, 166.
Sepia, internal skeleton of, 374.
Sexes, character of, 184, 186.
SheUs, fossil, comparison o^ by Hunter,

325.

Skeleton, the, 872.

Smell, organ of, 177.

Snakes, <£)uble-headed, 251.

Solander, Dr., letter from, 855.

Sound, effects of, on animials, 176.

Sows, experiments on, with regard to
generation, 196.

Species, origin of, 37.

Spider, water-, 108.

Spine in animals, 381.

Spirits of wine, 896.

Squinting, 169.

Stomach, 144.

Superstition, 267.

Superfoetation in a n^gro woman, 196t

Supernumerary parts, 247.

Surgeons, College of, edit Hunter's post-
humous paper on fossils, 295.

Sympathy, 275 ; in y^getables, 860.

T.
Taste, 180.
Teeth, 137; diastema, 140 1 in hone,

141.
Tenthredo abietis, 99.
Testes, position of, 237.
Touch, organ o^ 182.

Urethra, 189.
Uterus, 191.

U.

V.

Vagina, 188, 192.

Yarieties of animals, 38.

Vegetables, compared with animals, 16,
22, 23 ; engrafting, 18 ; propagation
of the species, 19 ; easily affected by
impressions, 20 ; motion in, 24 ; Te-
getable life, 341; suspension of ac-
tions in, 342 ; movement of sap in,
343 ; bark, 344 ; growth of trees, 348 ;
climbing plants, 354 ; motion in, 356 ;
sympathy in, 360; action of light,
362 ; leaves in, 863 ; casting of leaves,
363 ; decay of parts in, 365 ; mon-
sters, 368.

Veins, 127. '

Voices of animals, 183.

Voluntary and involuntary action, 166«

W.

Wasps, economy o^ 82.
Water-snail, 221.
Wet preparations, 395.

END OF VOLUME I*

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