' \ t • « * . ( /♦ fU >) > • I WW ^chiffer 60 take Ref (Pfanctame Park' Aanhassof, hi Y., 11030 ORR & C? AMEN ou Lf *7 c 9? - THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, tangrir nftrr its (Drgntiijntitm ; FORMING A NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS, AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. BY TIIE LATE BARON CUVIER, COUNCILLOR OF FRANCE, AND MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. TRANSLATED AND ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF SCIENCE. T JIE MAMMALIA, BIRDS, AND REPTILES, BY EDWARD BLYTI1. TIIE FISHES AND RADIATA, BY ROBERT MUD1E. TIIE MOLLUSCOUS ANIMALS, BY GEORGE JOHNSTON, M.D. THE ARTICULATED ANIMALS, BY J. O. WESTWOOD, F.L.S. A NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS BY W. B. CARPENTER, M.D., F.R.S., AND J. 0. WESTWOOD, F.L.S Ellustrntctt bp £I)rcc l^uirtirctt lEngrnbfngs on SCIooti anb CIjirtpHour on Steel. LONDON: WM. S. ORR AND CO., AMEN PATERNOSTER ROM’. UBRAWfcS » . -B -• PREFACE. Perhaps no book was ever so soon, so generally, and with so little envy, admitted to take its place at the head of that department of knowledge to which it belongs, as the Regne Animal of the illustrious Baron Cuvier. This is a high, but a just tribute, both to the work and the author ; for it at once showed that the former is what had long been required, and that the latter was as much beloved for the kindness and urbanity of his manners, as he Avas admired for the comprehensive range and unprecedented accuracy of his views. It must, indeed, be admitted, that, until Cuvier’s great work made its appearance, we had no modern systematic arrangement of animals which applied equally to all the Classes, Orders, and Families; — which brought the extinct species into their proper situations in the living catalogue, and enabled every discoverer of a new animal, or part of an animal, instantly to connect it with its proper tribe or family. Important, however, as are the labours of this great naturalist, they could not possibly extend beyond the limits of what was known ; and as Cuvier was no speculative theorist, but a rigid adherent to nature and fact, he kept his system considerably within the limits of those who were more speculative, and consequently less accurate. For students, no work is equal to that of Cuvier, for it is at once compre¬ hensive and concise ; and though the student may choose a particular de¬ partment, and require books more in detail with reference to that department, he must still have the Regne Animal to point out to him the general analo¬ gies of the living creation. The present work is a complete Cuvier, as re yards the essential part of the arrangement ; and it is not a mere translation, but in some respects a new book, embodying the original one. Throughout the whole of it, there will be found original remarks ; but these are always distinguished from that which belongs to Cuvier, by being inclosed within brackets. This mode of arrangement was thought to be much better than PREFACE. the appending of notes, which always divide the attention of the reader, and weaken the interest of the subject. Many of the classes and orders have been reinvestigated, and many new species added. This is most extensively done in the departments which were intrusted to Mr. Blyth and Mr. West- , wood ; but it runs more or less throughout the whole ; and the publishers flatter themselves that this will be of great service to all students of this highly interesting branch of knowledge. The different sizes of type, which bear some proportion to the comparative importance of the subject, will enable the reader to glean an outline of the system ; — to obtain something more than a bare outline, he must read the entire Avork. To these remarks which were appended in 1846 to the first edition, the publishers may be permitted to add a few words respecting the present re¬ print. It Avas not considered desirable to disturb the illustrious author’s arrangement by the introduction of a more modern system, nor Avas it thought proper to overlook altogether, in a Avork professing to give a com¬ plete AueAv of Animated Nature, the results of modern investigation. The publishers have, therefore, added supplementary articles to such branches as seemed to require it ; Dr. Carpenter kindly supplying what Avas Avanting to the Mollusca and Fishes, and Mr. Westavood performing the same to his oAvn department of the work. In addition to these improvements, the work is iioav illustrated by thirty plates of Animals, etched by Mr. Thomas Landseer, and four plates re¬ presenting the different races of Mankind ; and the publishers present it in its present form in the belief that it Avill merit public approbation. Ames Corner, Paternoster Row. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION Pago 1 Ruminantia Page 134 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND Without horns 135 EDITION .... 10 With horns ,36 INTRODUCTION .... 13 Cetacea 144 Of Natural History, and of Systems gene¬ Herbivora . 145 rally . . . . . 13 Ordinaria 145 Of living Beings, and of Organization in general ..... 16 Analogies of the Teeth M ALIA OP Mam- 150 Division of Organized Beings into Animal and Vegetable .... 19 OVIPAROUS VERTEBRATES RAL IN GENE- 153 Of the Forms peculiar to the Organic Ele¬ AVES 154 ments of the Animal Body, and of the Division into Orders 162 principal Combinations of its Chemical Accipitres 163 Elements .... 21 Diurnal Birds of Prey 163 Of the Forces which act in the Animal Body 22 Nocturnal Birds of Prey 172 Summary idea of the Functions and Organs Passerine 177 of the Bodies of Animals, and of their Dentirostres 178 various degrees of complication 25 F'issirostres 194 Of the Intellectual Functions of Animals . 28 Conirostres 196 Of Method, as applied to the Animal King¬ Tenuirostres 206 dom ..... 31 Syndactyli 209 General Distribution of the Animal King¬ Scansores 211 dom into four great Divisions— Vertebrate Animals, Molluscous Animals, Articulate Affinities of the three Orders PRECEDING 220 Animals, Radiate Animals 32 Galling 333 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS 35 Gra ll.e 231 Subdivision into four Classes 37 Brevipennes 332 MAMMALIA .... 38 Pressirostres 234 Division into Orders 41 Cultrirostres 237 Bimana, or Man 44 Longirostres 242 Peculiar Conformation of Man 45 Macrodactyli 247 Physical and Moral Developement of Palmipedes 251 Man .... 47 Brachypteres 251 Varieties of the Human Species 49 Longipennes 255 Quadrumana .... 54 Totipalmati 259 Monkey-like Animals . . 54 Lamellirostres 261 Monkeys of America . 60 REPT1LIA 267 Carnaria .... 66 Chelonia Cheiroptera .... 67 Sauria 272 Insectivora .... 77 The Crocodiles 272 Carnivora .... 82 The Lizards 274 Marsupiata .... 100 The Iguanas 375 Rodentia .... 1U7 The Geckotians 277 Edentata .... 122 The Chameleons 278 Ordinary Edentata 124 The Scindoidiens 278 Mouotremata .... 196 Ophidia 280 Pachydermata 128 The Orvets 280 I’roboscidea .... 128 The True Serpents 280 Ordinary Pachydermata 130 The Naked Serpents 285 Solidungula .... 133 Batracuia 285 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS, Page Page PISCES 299 Dorsibranchiata 3y3 Acanthopterygii 292 Abranchia . . 397 Percidae 293 Setigera 397 Fishes with hard cheeks 294 Asetigera 398 Sci'enidae 295 ARTICULATED ANIMALS WITH ARTICU- Sparidae 296 LATED FEET 401 Menidae 296 Introduction, by Latreille 401 Squamipennes 296 Divided into Classes . 405 Scomberidae 298 CRUSTACEA MALACOSTRACA . 410 Taenidae 302 A. Eyes placed on a footstalk 410 Theutyes 303 Decapoda 410 Lahyrinthiform Pharyngeals 303 Brachyura 412 Mugilidae 304 Macrura 416 Gobiodae 305 Stomapoda 423 Pectorales pedunculati 30S Unipeltata 424 Labridae 309 Bipeltata 425 Fistularidoe 311 B. Eyes sessile and immc veable 425 Malacopterygii Abdominales 312 Amphipoda 426 Cyprinidae 313 L,emodifoda 429 Esocidae 314 ISOPODA . 430 Siluridae . • 316 CRUSTACEA ENTOMOSTRACA 434 Salmonidae 318 Branchiopoda 436 Clupeidae 320 Lophyropa 436 Malacopterygii Scbbrachiati 321 Phyllopa . 441 Gadidae 322 Poecilopoda 444 Pleuronectidae 323 Xyphosura 444 Discoboli . 324 Siphonostoma 445 Malacopterygii Apoda 325 TRILOBITES 449 Lophobranchii • 326 ARACHNIDA 450 Plectognathi 327 PlJLMONARIA 453 Gymnodontes 327 The Spiders 454 Sclerodermi 328 The Pedipalpi 465 Chondro pt e r yg i i Branch iis Liberis 330 Tracheari/E 466 Chondropteuygii Branch iis Fi XIS 331 The Pseudo-Scorpiones 467 Selachii 331 The Pycnogonides 4G7 Cyclostomata 333 The Holetra 468 MOLLUSCA 335 INSECTA 471 Division into Classes . 337 Myriapoda . 482 CEPHALOPODES . 337 Chilognatha 483 FTEROPODES 3+3 Chilopoda 485 GASTEROPODES 344 Thysanoura 486 PlILMONEA 347 Lepismenae 487 Nudibranchiata 351 Podurellae 487 Inferobranchiata 353 Parasita 488 Tectibranchiata 353 SuCTORIA 489 Heteropoda 356 COLEOPTERA 491 Pectinibranchiata 357 Pentamera 492 Trochoides 358 Carnivora 492 Capuioides 361 Brachelytra 506 Buccinoides 362 Serricornes 508 Tubulibranchiata 367 Clavicornes 515 Scutibranchiata 368 Palpicornes 520 Cyclobranchiata 369 Lamellicornes 521 ACEPHALES 369 Heteromera 530 Acephala Testacea 370 Melasoma 530 The Oysters 371 Taxicornes 533 Mytilaceae , 375 Stenelytra 533 Camacea . 376 Trachelides 536 Cardiacea . . 377 Tetramera 538 Inclusa . . 379 The Weevils 539 Acephala Nuda 382 Xylophagi 5+2 Segregata 3S2 Platysoma 544 Aggregata 383 Longicornes 544 BRACHIOPODES . 384 Eupoda , 549 CIRRHOPODES 385 Cyclica 550 ARTICULATED ANIMALS 387 Clavipalpi 554 Division into Classes 388 Trim era 554 ANNELIDES 389 Fungicolae 554 Division into Orders 389 Apliidiphagi 555 Tubicolas 391 Pselaphi 555 TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii Page P*ge Orthoptera 556 Tabanides 625 Cursoria 557 Notacantha 626 Sanatoria 560 Athericera 628 Heyuptera 562 Pupipara 636 Heteroptera 563 RADIATA 638 Geocorisae 563 ECHINODERMATA 639 Hydrocorisae 566 Pedicellata 639 Homoptera 567 Asterias 639 Cicadari® 567 Echinus 640 Aphidii 570 Holothuria 641 Gallinsecta 572 Apoda 642 Neuroptera 573 ENTOZOA 643 Subulicornes 574 Nematoidea 644 Planipennes 577 Parenchymata 646 Plicipennes 580 Acanthocepliala 646 Hymenoptera 581 Tremadotea 647 Terebrantia 582 Tnenioidea 648 Securifera 582 Cestoidea 649 Pupivora 585 ACALEPIIA 650 Aculeata 591 SlMPLICIA 650 Heterogyna 591 Ilydrostatica 652 Fossores 593 POLYPI 653 Diploptera 596 Carnosi 653 Mellifera 598 Gelatinosi 654 Lepidoptera 603 CORALLIFERI 655 Diurna 605 Tubularia 655 Crepuscularia 608 Cellularia 656 Noctujna 609 Corticati 657 Rhipiptera 614 INFUSORIA 659 Diptera 615 Rotifera 660 Nemocera 617 Homooenea 600 l'anystoina 621 APPENDIX. PISCES. — Professors Agassiz and Muller's Clas- Page ARACRNIDA . Page 674 sification of Fishes CGI I X SECT A 675 Ganoideans . CGI RADIATA 691 1’X.ACOIDEANS . 661 Echinodersiata 691 Ctenoideans . 661 Acaleph.e . 695 Cycloideans . 661 Briozoa 698 MOLLUSCA 665 Anthozoa . 700 Cephalopoda 667 Infosiorja 705 Tunicata . 669 Homooenea . 707 CRUSTACEA . 673 t < - - t LIST OF PLATES. PORTRAIT OF CaVIER-T%ru>tk. Plate I. — GIRAFFE . II. — C‘UC ASIAN RACE III. — MONGOLIAN RACE IV. — AMERICAN RACE V — NEGRO RACE VI — MONKEYS VII. — BABOONS . VIII. — LEMURS IX. - Br:ARS X. — DOGS . XI. — ICHNEUMONS , XII. — CATS . X.IIL — AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS . XIV. — HIPPOPOTAMUS XV. _ RHINOCEROS XVI. — HORSES XVII. — CAMELS XVIII. — DEER . • i Frontispiece. rage 49 . 50 51 . 52 57 . 50 63 . 83 90 . 93 95 . W 130 . 131 133 . 135 13T DPT OF ri.ATFS, Plate. XIX. — ANTELOFES XX. — GOATS XXI. — SHEEP XXII. — BRAHMIN BULB. XXIII. — VULTURES XXIV. — EAGLES XXV. — OWLS XXVI. — HUMMING BIRDS XXVII. — FARROTS . . XXVIII. — OSTRICH . . . XXIX. — DUCKS . XXX. — REPTILES . . XXXI. — BEETLES . XXXII. — ORTHOPTEROUS INSECTS XXXIII. — BUTTERFLIES Page. 139 141 142 143 1G4 167 173 207 218 232 263 278 411 557 605 THK ANIMAL K I N G D O M. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Having been devoted, from my earliest youth, to the study of comparative anatomy, that is to say of the laws of the organization of animals, and of the modifications which this organization undergoes in the various species, and having, for nearly thirty years past, consecrated to that science every moment of which my duties allowed me to dispose, the constant aim of my labours has been to reduce it to general rules, and to propositions that should contain their most simple expression. My first essays soon led me to perceive that I could only attain this object in proportion as the animals, whose structure I should have to elucidate, were arranged in conformity with that structure, so that under one single name, of class, order, genus, &c., might be embraced all those species which, in their internal as well as exterior conformation, present accordancies either more general or more particular. Now this is what the greater number of naturalists of that epoch had never sought to effect, and what but few of them could have achieved, even had they been willing to try ; since a parallel arrangement presup¬ poses a very extensive knowledge of the structures, of which it ought, in some measure, to be the representation. It is true that Daubenton and Camper had supplied facts, — that Pallas had indicated views ; but the ideas of these well-informed men had not yet exercised upon their contemporaries the influence which they merited. The only general catalogue of animals then in existence, and the only one we possess even now, — the system of Linnaeus, — had just been disfigured by an unfortunate editor, who did not so much as take the trouble to comprehend the principles of that ingenious classifier, and who, wherever he found any disorder, seems to have tried to render it more inextricable. It is also true that there were very extensive works upon particular classes, which had made known a vast number of new species ; but their authors barely con¬ sidered the external relations of those species, and no one had employed himself in co-arranging the classes and orders according to their entire structure : the cha¬ racters of several classes remained false or incomplete, even in justly celebrated anatomical works ; some of the orders were arbitrary ; and in scarcely any of these divisions were the genera approximated conformably to nature. a 2 PREFACE TO TIIE FIRST EDITION I was necessitated then, — and the task occupied considerable time, — I was com¬ pelled to make anatomy and zoology, dissection and classification, proceed beforehand ; to seek, in my first remarks on organization, for better principles of distribution ; to employ these, in order to arrive at new remarks ; and in their turn the latter, to carry the principles of distribution to perfection : in fine, to elicit from the mutual reaction of the two sciences upon each other, a system of zoology adapted to serve as an introduction and a guide in anatomical researches, and a body of anatomical doctrine fitted to develope and explain the zoological system. The first results of this double labour appeared in 1795, in a special memoir upon a new division of the white-blooded animals. A sketch of their application to genera, and to the division of these into sub-genera, formed the object of my Tableau Element air e des Animaux, printed in 1798, and I improved this work, with the assistance of M. Dumeril, in the tables annexed to the first volume of my Leeons d’ Anatomie Comparde, in 1800. I should, perhaps, have contented myself with perfecting these tables, and proceeded immediately to the publication of my great work on anatomy, if, in the course of my researches, I had not been frequently struck with another defect of the greater number of the general or partial systems of zoology ; I mean, the confusion in which the want of critical precision had left a vast number of species, and even many genera. Not only were the classes and orders not sufficiently conformed to the intrinsical nature of animals, to serve conveniently as the basis to a treatise on comparative anatomy, but the genera themselves, though ordinarily better constituted, offered but inadequate resources in their nomenclature, on account of the species not having been arranged under each of them, conformably to their characters. Thus, in placing the Manati in the genus Morse, the Siren in that of the Eels, Gmelin had rendered any general proposition relative to the organization of these genera impossible ; just as by approximating in the same class and in the same order, and placing side by side, the Cuttle and the fresh-water Polypus, he had made it impossible to predicate anything generally of the class and order which comprised such incongruous beings. I select the above examples from among the most prominent ; hut there existed an infinitude of such mistakes, less obvious at the first glance, which occasioned incon¬ veniences not less real. It was not sufficient, then, to have imagined a new distribution of the classes and orders, and to have properly placed the genera ; it was also necessary to examine all the species, in order to be assured that they really belonged to the genera in which they had been .placed. Having come to this, I found not only species grouped or dispersed contrary to all rea¬ son, but I remarked that many had not been established in a positive manner, either by the characters which had been assigned to them, or by their figures and descriptions. Here one of them, by means of synonymes, represents several under a single name, and often so different that they should not rank in the same genus : there a single one is doubled, tripled, and successively reappears in several sub-genera, genera, and sometimes different orders. What can be said, for example, of the Trichechus manatus of Gmelin, which, under a single specific name, comprehends three species and two genera, — two genera differing in almost everything ? By what name shall we speak of the Velella, which figures PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 3 twice among the Medusa and once among the Holothurice ? How are wre to reassemble the Biphorcc, of which some are there called Dagysa, the greater number Salpa, while several are ranged among the Holothurice ? It did not therefore suffice, in order completely to attain the object aimed at, to review the species : it was necessary to examine their synonymes ; or, in other words, to re-model the system of animals. Such an enterprize, from the prodigious developement of the science of late years, could not have been executed completely by any one individual, even granting him the longest life, and no other occupation. Had I been constrained to depend upon myself alone, I should not have been able to prepare even the simple sketch which I now give ; but the resources of my position seemed to me to supply what I wanted both of time and talent. Living in the midst of so many able naturalists, drawing from their works as fast as they appeared, freely enjoying the use of the collections they had made, and having myself formed a very considerable one, ex¬ pressly appropriated to my object, a great part of my labour consisted merely in the employment of so many rich materials. It was not possible, for instance, that much remained for me to do on shells, studied by M. de Lamarck, nor on quadrupeds, described by M. Geoffroy. The numerous and new affinities described by M. de Lacepede, were so many data for my system of fishes. M. Levaillant, among so many beautiful birds collected from all parts, perceived details of organization which I immediately adapted to my plan. My own researches, employed and fructified by other naturalists, yielded results to me which, in my hands alone, they would not all have produced. So, also, M. de Blainville and M. Oppel, in examining the cabinet which I had formed of anatomical preparations on which I designed to found my divisions of reptiles, anti¬ cipated — and perhaps better than I should have done — results of which as yet I had but a glimpse, &c., &c. Encouraged by these reflections, I determined to precede my Treatise on Com¬ parative Anatomy by a kind of abridged system of animals, in which I should present their divisions and subdivisions of all degrees, established in a parallel manner upon their structure, both internal and external ; where I would give the indication of well- authenticated species that belonged, with certainty, to each of the subdivisions ; and where, to create more interest, I would enter into some details upon such of the species as, from their abundance in our country, the services which they render us, the damage which they occasion to us, the singularity of their manners and economy, their extraordinary forms, their beauty, or their magnitude, are the most remarkable. I hoped by so doing to prove useful to young naturalists, who, for *the most part, have but little idea of the confusion and errors of criticism in which the most accredited works abound, and who, particularly in foreign countries, do not sufficiently attend to the study of the true relations of the conformation of beings : I considered myself as rendering a more direct service to those anatomists, who require to know beforehand to which orders they should direct their researches, when they wish to solve by com¬ parative anatomy some problem of human anatomy or physiology, but whose ordinary occupations do not sufficiently prepare them for fulfilling this condition, which is essen¬ tial to their success. Nevertheless, I have not professed to extend this twofold view equally to all classes of the animal kingdom ; and the vertebrated animals, as in every sense the most in- b 2 4 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. teresting, claimed to have the preference. Among the Invertebrata, I have had more particularly to study the naked mollusks and the.great zoophytes ; but the innumerable variations of the external forms of shells and corals, the microscopic animals, and the other families which perform a less obvious office in the economy of nature, or whose organization affords but little room for the exercise of the scalpel, did not require to be treated writh the same detail. Independently of which, so far as the shells and corals are concerned, I could depend on a work just published by M. de Lamarck, in which wall be found all that the most ardent desire for information can require. With respect to insects, so interesting by their external forms, their organization, habits, and by their influence on all living nature, I have had the good fortune to find as¬ sistance which, in rendering my work infinitely more perfect than it could have been had it emanated solely from my pen, has, at the same time, greatly accelerated its publica¬ tion. My colleague and friend, M. Latreille, who has studied these animals more profoundly than any other man in Europe, has kindly consented to give, in a single volume, and nearly in the order adopted for the other parts, a summary of his immense researches, and an abridged description of those innumerable genera which entomolo¬ gists are continually establishing. As for the rest, if in some instances I have given less extent to the exposition of sub-genera and species, this inequality has not occurred in aught that concerns the superior divisions ^and the indications of affinities, which I have every where founded on equally solid bases, established by equally assiduous researches. I have examined, one by one, all the species of which I could procure specimens ; I have approximated those which merely differed from each other in size, colour, or in the number of some less important parts, and have formed them into what I designate a sub-genus. Whenever it wras possible, I have dissected at least one species of each sub-genus ; and if those be excepted to which the scalpel cannot be applied, there exists in my work but very few groups of this degree, of wdiich I cannot produce seme considerable portion of the organs. After having determined the names of the species wdiich I had examined, and which had previously been either well figured or wrell described, I placed in the same sub¬ genera those wffiich I had not seen, but wdiose exact figures, or descriptions, sufficiently precise to leave no doubt of their natural relations, I found in authors ; but I have passed over in silence that great number of vague indications, on which, in my opinion, naturalists have been too eager to establish species, the adoption of which has mainly contributed to introduce into the catalogue of beings, that confusion which deprives it of so much of its utility. I could have added, almost every where, a vast number of new species ; but as I could not refer to figures, it would have been incumbent on me to extend their descrip¬ tions beyond what space permitted : I have, therefore, preferred depriving my wrork of this ornament, and have only indicated those, the peculiar conformation of which gives rise to new sub-genera. My sub-genera once established on positive relations, and composed of well-authen¬ ticated species, it remained only to construct this great scaffolding of genera, tribes, families, orders, classes, and primary divisions, which constitute the entire animal kingdom. PREFACE TO TIIE FIRST EDITION. 5 In this I have proceeded, partly by ascending from the inferior to the superior divi¬ sions, by means of approximation and comparison ; and partly also by descending from the superior to the inferior groups, on the principle of the subordination of characters ; comparing carefully the results of the two methods, verifying one by the other, and always sedulously establishing the correspondence of external and internal structure, which, the one as well as the other, are integral parts of the essence of each animal. Such has been my procedure whenever it was necessary and possible to introduce new arrangements ; but I need not observe that, in very many places, the results to which it would have conducted me had already been so satisfactorily obtained, that I had only to follow the track of my predecessors. Notwithstanding which, even in those cases where no alteration was required, I have verified and confirmed, by new observations, what was previously acknowledged, and what I did not adopt until it had been subjected to a rigorous scrutiny. The public may form some idea of this mode of examination, from the memoirs on the anatomy of mollusks, which have appeared in the Annales du Museum, and of which I am now preparing a separate and augmented collection. I venture to assure the reader that I have bestowed quite as extensive labour upon the vertebrated animals, the anne- lides, the zoophytes, and on many of the insects and crustaceans. I have not deemed it necessary to publish it with the same detail ; but all my preparations are exposed in the Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy in the Jardin du Roi, and will serve hereafter for my treatise on anatomy. Another very considerable labour, but the details of which cannot be so readily authenticated, is the critical examination of species. I have verified all the figures alleged by different authors, and as often as possible referred each to its true species, previously to selecting those which I have indicated : it is entirely from this verifica¬ tion, and never fiomthe classification of preceding systematists, that I have referred to my sub-genera the species that belong to them. Such is the reason why no astonish¬ ment should be experienced on finding that such and such a genus of Gmelin is now divided, and distributed even in different classes and still higher divisions ; that nume¬ rous nominal species are reduced to a single one, and that popular names are very differently applied. There is not one of these changes winch I am not prepared to 'ustify, and of which the reader himself may not obtain the proof, by recurring to the sources which I have indicated. In order to lessen his trouble, I have been careful to select for each class a principal author, generally the richest in good original figures ; and I quoted secondary works only where the former are deficient, or where it was useful to establish some com¬ parison, for the sake of confirming synonymes. My subject could have been made to fill many volumes ; but I considered it my duty to condense it, by imagining, abridged means of expression. These I have obtained by graduated generalities. By never repeating for a species that which might be said of an entire sub-genus, nor for a genus what might be applied to a whole order, and so on, we arrive at the greatest economy of words. To this my endeavours have been, above all, particularly directed, inasmuch as it was the principal end of my work. It may be remarked, however, that I have not employed many technical terms, and that I have endeavoured to communicate my ideas without that barbarous array of fictitious words, which, in the works of so many 6 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. so very repulsive. I cannot perceive, however, that I have thereby lost any thing in precision or clearness. I have been compelled, unfortunately, to introduce many new names, although I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to preserve those of my predecessors ; but the numerous sub-genera I have established required these denominations ; for in things so various, the memory is not satisfied with numerical indications. I have selected them, so as either to convey some character, or among the common names which I have latinized, or lastly, after the example of Linnseus, from among those of mytho¬ logy, which are generally agreeable to the ear, and which we are far from having exhausted. In naming species, however, I would nevertheless recommend employing the sub¬ stantive of the genus, and the trivial name only. The names of the sub-genera are designed merely as a relief to the memory, when we would indicate these sub¬ divisions in particular. Otherwise, as the sub-genera, already very numerous, will in the end become greatly multiplied, in consequence of having substantives continually to retain, we shall be in danger of losing the advantages of that binary nomenclature so happily imagined by Linnseus. It is the better to preserve it that I have dismembered as little as possible the great genera of that illustrious reformer of science. Whenever the sub-genera into which I divide them were not to be translated into different families, I have left them together under their former generic appellation. This was not only due to the memory of Linnseus, but was necessary in order to preserve the mutual intelligence of the naturalists of different countries. To facilitate still more the study of this work, — for it is to be studied more than to be glanced over, — I have employed different- sized types in the printing of it, to correspond to the different grades of generalization of the statements contained in it. * * * Thus the eye will distinguish beforehand the relative importance of each group, and the order of each successive idea ; and the printer will second the author with every con¬ trivance which his art supplies, that may conduce to assist the memory. The habit, necessarily acquired in the study of natural history, of mentally classify¬ ing a great number of ideas, is one of the advantages of this science, which is seldom spoken of, and which, when it shall have been generally introduced into the system of common education, will perhaps become the principal one : it exercises the student in that part of logic which is termed method, as the study of geometry does in that which is called syllogism, because natural history is the science which requires the most precise methods, as geometry is that which demands the most rigorous reason¬ ing. Now this art of method, when once well acquired, may be applied with infinite advantage to studies the most foreign to natural history. Every discussion which sup¬ poses a classification of facts, every research which requires a distribution of matters, is performed after the same manner ; and he who had cultivated this science merely for amusement, is surprised at the facilities it affords for disentangling all kinds of affairs. It is not less useful in solitude. Sufficiently extensive to satisfy the most powerful mind, sufficiently various and interesting to calm the most agitated soul, it consoles the unhappy, and tends to allay enmity and hatred. Once elevated to the contem¬ plation of that harmony of Nature irresistibly regulated by Providence, how weak and PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 7 trivial appear those causes which it has been pleased to leave dependent on the will of man ! How astonishing to behold so many fine minds, consuming themselves, so uselessly for their own happiness and that of others, in the pursuit of vain combina¬ tions, the very traces of which a few years suffice to obliterate ! I avow it proudly, these ideas have been always present to my mind, — the companions of my labours ; and if I have endeavoured by every means in my power to advance this peaceful study, it is because, in my opinion, it is more capable than any other of supplying that want of occupation, which has so largely contributed to the troubles of our age ; — but I must return to my subject. There yet remains the task of accounting for the principal changes I have effected in the latest received methods, and to acknowledge the amount of obligation to those naturalists, whose works have furnished or suggested a part of them. To anticipate a remark which will naturally occur to many, I must observe that I have neither pretended nor desired to class animals so as to form a single line, or as to mark their relative superiority. I even consider every attempt of this kind im¬ practicable. Thus, I do not mean that the mammalia or birds which come last, are the most imperfect of their class ; still less do I intend that the last of mammalia are more perfect than the first of birds, or the last of mollusks more perfect than the first of the annelides, or zoophytes ; even restricting the meaning of this vague word perfect to that of “most completely organized.” I regard my divisions and subdivisions as the merely graduated expression of the resemblance of the beings which enter into each of them ; and although in some we observe a sort of passage or gradation from one species into another, which cannot be denied, this disposition is far from being general. The pretended chain of beings, as applied to the whole creation, is but an erroneous application of those partial observations, which are only true when confined to the limits within which they were made; and, in my opinion, it has proved more detrimental to the progress of natural history in modern times, than is easy to imagine. It is in conformity with these views, that I have established my four principal divisions, which have already been made known in a separate memoir. I still think that it expresses the real relations of animals more exactly than the old arrangement of Vertebruta and Invertebrata, for the simple reason, that the former animals have a much greater mutual resemblance than the latter, and that it was necessary to mark this difference in the extent of their relations. M. Virey, in an article of the Nouveau Dictionuaire d’Histoire Naturelle, had already discerned in part the basis of the division, and principally that which reposes on the nervous system. The particular approximation of oviparous Vertebrata, inter se, originated from the curious observations of M. Geoffroy on the composition of bony heads, and from those which I have added to them relative to the rest of the skeleton, and to the muscles. In the class of Mammalia, I have brought back the So/ipedes to the Pac/ii/dennata, and have divided the latter into families on a new plan ; the Ruminantia I have placed at the end of the quadrupeds ; and the Manati near the Cetacea. The distribution of the C arnaria I have somewhat altered ; the Oustitis have been wholly separated from the Monkeys, and a sort of parallelism indicated between the Marsupiata and other digitated quadrupeds, the whole from my own anatomical researches. All that I hav° 8 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. given on the Quadrumana ana the Bats is based on the recent and profound labours of my friend and colleague M. Geoffroy de St. Hilaire. The .researches of my brother, M. Frederic Cuvier, on the teeth of the Carnaria and Rodentia, have proved highly useful to me in forming the sub-genera of these two orders. Notwithstanding the genera of the late M. Illiger are but the results of these same studies, and of those of some foreign naturalists, I have adopted his names whenever his genera corresponded with my sub-genera. M. de Lacepede has also discerned and indicated many excellent divisions of this degree, which 1 have been equally compelled to adopt ; but the cha¬ racters of all the degrees and all the indications of species have been taken from nature, either in the Cabinet of Anatomy or in the galleries of the Museum. The same plan was pursued with respect to the Birds. I have examined with the closest attention more than four thousand individuals in the Museum ; I arranged them according to my views in the public gallery more than five years ago, and all that is said of this class has been drawn from that source. Thus, any resemblance which my sub-divisions may bear to some recent descriptions, is on my part purely accidental.* Naturalists, I hope, will approve of the numerous sub-genera which I have deemed it necessary to make among the birds of prey, the Passerines, and the Shore-birds ; they appear to me to have completely elucidated genera hitherto involved in much confusion. I have marked, as exactly as I could, the accordance of these subdivisions with the genera of MM. de Lacepede, Meyer, Wolf, Temminck, and Savigny, and have referred to each of them all the species of which I could obtain a very positive knowledge. This laborious work will prove of value to those who may hereafter attempt a true history of birds. The splendid works on Ornithology published within a few' years, and those chiefly of M. le Vaillant, which are filled with so many interesting observations, together with M. Vieillot’s, have been of much assistance to me in designating the species which they represent. The general division of this class remains as 1 published it in 1798, in my Tableau £ lenient air e.\ I have thought proper to preserve for the Reptiles, the general division of my friend M. Brongniart ; but I have prosecuted very extensive anatomical investigations to arrive at the ulterior subdivisions. M. Oppel, as I have already stated, has partly taken advantage of these preparatory labours ; and whenever my genera finally agreed with his, I have noticed the fact. The work of Daudin, indifferent as it is, has been useful to me for indications of details ; but the particular divisions which I have given in the genera of Monitors and Geckos, are the product of my own observations on a great number of Reptiles recently brought to the Museum by MM. Peron and Geoffroy. My labours on the Fishes will probably be found to exceed those which I have bestowed on the other vertebrated animals. Our Museum having received a vast number of Fishes since the celebrated work of M. de Lacepede was published, I have been enabled to add many subdivisions to those of that learned naturalist, also to combine several species differently, and to multiply anatomical observations. I have also had * This observation not having been sufficiently understood abroad, I am obliged to repeat it here, and openly to declare a fact witnessed by thousands in Paris ; it is this, that all the birds in the gallery of the Museum were named and arranged according to my system, in 1811. Those even of my subdivisions to which I had uot yet given names, were marked by particular signs. This is my date. Inde¬ pendently of this, oiy first volume was printed in the beginning of 1816. Four volumes are not printed so quickly a« a pamphlet of a few pages. I say no more. (Note to Edit. 1829). f I only mention this because an estimable naturalist, M. Vieillot, has, in a recent work, attributed to himself the union of the Piece and Pusseres. I had printed it in 1/98, together with my other arrange¬ ments, so as to render them public ip the Museum since 1811 and 1813 PREFACE TO TIIE FIRST EDITION. 9 better means of verifying the species of Cummerson, and of some of other travellers ; and, upon this point, I am much indebted to a review of the drawings of Commerson, and of the dried fishes which he brought with him, by M. Dumeril, but which have only been very lately recovered ; — resources to which I have added those presented to me in the fishes brought by Peron from the Indian Ocean and Archipelago, those which I obtained in the Mediterranean, and the collections made on the coast of Coromandel by the late M. Sonnerat, at the Mauritius by M. Matthieu, in the Nile and Red Sea, by M. Geoffrey, &c. I was thus enabled to verify most of the species of Bloch, Russell, and others, and to prepare the skeletons and viscera of nearly ail the sub-genera ; so that this part of the work will, I presume, offer much that is new to Icthyologists. As to my division of this class, I confess its inconvenience, but I believe it, never¬ theless, to be more natural than any preceding one. In publishing it some time ago, I only offered it for what it is worth ; and if any one should discover a better principle of division, and as conformable to the organization, I shall hasten to adopt it. It is admitted that all the works on the general division of the invertebrated animals, are mere modifications of what I proposed in 1795, in the first of my memoirs ; and the time and care which I have devoted to the anatomy of mollusks in general, and principally to the naked mollusks, are well known. The determining of this class, as well as of its divisions and subdivisions, rests upon my own observations ; the magni¬ ficent work of M. Poli had alone anticipated me by descriptions and anatomical researches useful for my design, but confined to bivalves and multivalves only. I have verified all the facts furnished by that able anatomist, and I believe that I have more justly marked the functions of some organs. I have also endeavoured to determine the animals to which belong the principal forms of shells, and to arrange the latter from that consideration ; but with regard to the ulterior divisions of those shells of which the animals resemble each other, I have examined them only so far as to enable me to describe briefly those admitted by MM. de Lamarck and de Montfort ; even the small number of genera and sub-genera which are properly mine, are principally derived from observa¬ tions on the animals. In citing examples, I have confined myself to a certain number of the species of Martini, Chemnitz, Lister, and Soldani ; and that only because, the volume in which M. Lamarck treats of this portion not having yet appeared, I was compelled to fix the attention of my readers on specific objects. But in the choice and determin¬ ing of these species, I lay no claim to the same critical accuracy which I have employed for the vertebrated animals and naked mollusks. The excellent observations of MM. Savigny, Lesueur, and Dcsmarest, on the com¬ pound Ascidians, approximate this latter family of mollusks to certain orders of zoophytes : this is a curious relation, and a further proof of the impracticability of arranging animals in a single line. I believe that I have extricated the Annelides, — the establishing of which, although not their name, belongs virtually to me, — from the confusion in which they had hitherto been involved, among the Mollusks, the Testacea, and the Zoophytes, and have placed them in their natural order ; even their genera have received some elucidation only by my observations, published in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, and else¬ where. Of the three classes contained in the third volume, I have nothing to remark. 10 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. M. Latreille, who, with the exception of some anatomical details, founded on my own observations and those of M. Ramdohr, which I have inserted in his text, is its sole author, will take upon himself to explain all that is necessary. As to the Zoophytes, which terminate the Animal Kingdom, I have availed myself, for the Echinoderms, of the recent work of M. de Lamarck ; and for the Intestinal Worms, of that of M. Rudolphi, intitled Entozoa ; but I have anatomized all the genera, some of which have been determined by me only. There is an excellent ■work by M. Tiedemann, on the anatomy of the Echinoderms, which received the prize of the Institute some years ago, and will shortly appear ; it will leave nothing to be desired respecting these curious animals. The Corals and the Infusoria, offering no field for anatomical investigations*, will be briefly disposed of. The new work of M. de Lamarck will supply my deficiencies. f With respect to authors, I can only here mention those who have furnished me with general views, or who were the origin of such in my own mind.J There are many others to whom I am indebted for particular facts, and whose names I have carefully quoted wherever I have made use of them. They will be found on every page of my book. Should I have omitted to do justice to any, it must be attributed to involuntary forgetfulness, and I ask pardon beforehand : there is no property, in my opinion, more sacred than the conceptions of the mind ; and the custom, too pre¬ valent among naturalists, of masking plagiarisms by a change of names, has always appeared to me a crime. The publication of my Comparative Anatomy will now occupy me every moment : the materials are ready ; a vast quantity of preparations and drawings are arranged ; and 1 shall be careful in dividing the work into parts, each of which will form a whole, so that, should my physical powers prove insufficient for the completion of my design, what I have produced will still form entire suites, and the materials I have collected be in immediate readiness for those who may undertake the continuation of my labours. Jardin du Roi, October, 1816. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. The preceding preface explains faithfully the condition in which I found the history of animals when the first edition of this work was published. During the twelve years that have since elapsed, this science has made immense progress, not only from the acquisitions of numerous travellers, as well-instructed as courageous, who have explored every region of the globe, but by the rich collections which various governments have formed and rendered public, and by the learned and * The surprising researches of M. Ehrenberg, now publishing from time to time, triumphantly refute this allegation. — Ed. 1 1 have just received L'Histoire des Pulypiers correlligencs flexibles of M. Lamouroux, which furnishes an excellent supplement to M. de Lamarck. t M. de Blainville has recently published general zoological tables, which I regret came too late for me to profit by, having appeared when my book was nearly printed. ADVERTISEMENT TO TIIE SECOND EDITION. 11 splendid works, wherein new species are described and figured, and of which the authors have striven to detect their mutual relations, and to consider them in every point of view.* I have endeavoured to avail myself of these discoveries, as far as my plan permitted, by first studying the innumerable specimens received at the Cabinet du Roi, and com¬ paring them with those which served as the basis of my first edition, in order thence to deduce new approximations or subdivisions ; and then, by searching in all the books I could procure for the genera or sub -genera established by naturalists, and the descriptions of species by which they have supported these numerous com¬ binations. The determination of synonymes has become much easier now than at the period of my first edition. Both French and foreign naturalists appear to have recognized the necessity of establishing divisions in the vast genera in which such incongruous species were formerly heaped together ; their groups are now precise and well-defined ; their descriptions sufficiently detailed ; their figures scrupulously exact to the most minute characters, and often of the greatest beauty as works of art. Scarcely any difficulty remains, therefore, in identifying their species, and nothing hinders them from coming to an understanding with respect to the nomenclature. This, unfortunately, has been the most neglected ; the names of the same genera, and the same species, are multiplied as often as they are mentioned ; and should this discord continue, the same ohaos will be produced that previously existed, though arising from another cause. I have used every effort to compare and approximate these redundancies, and, forget¬ ting even my own trifling interest as an author, have often indicated names which seemed to have been imagined only to escape the avowal of having borrowed my divisions. But thoroughly to execute this undertaking, — this pinax or rectified epitome of the animal kingdom, which becomes every day more necessary, — to discuss the proofs and fix the definitive nomenclature which should be adopted, by basing it on sufficient figures and descriptions, requires more space than I could dispose of, and a time imperatively claimed by other works. In the History of Fishes, which I have commenced pub¬ lishing, with the assistance of M. Valenciennes, I purpose to give an idea of what appears to me might be effected in all parts of the science. Here, I only profess to offer an abridged summary — a simple sketch ; — well satisfied if I succeed in rendering this accurate in all its details. Various essays of a similar kind have been published on some of the classes, and I have carefully studied them with a view to perfect my own. The Mammalogie of M. Desmarest, that of M. Lesson, the Treatise on the Teeth of Quadrupeds, by M. Frederic Cuvier, the English translation of my first edition, by Mr. Griffith, enriched by numerous additions, particularly by Hamilton Smith ; the new edition of the Manuel d'Ornithologie of M. Temminck, the Ornithological Fragments of M. Wagler, the History of Reptiles of the late Merrem, and the Dissertation on the same subject by M. Fitsinger, have principally been useful to me for the vertebrated animals. The Ilistoire des Animaux sans Vertibres of M. de Lamarck, the Malacologie of M. de Blainville, have also been of great service to me for the mollusks. lo • See Bijr discourse before the Institute on the Progret de Vkiitoire naturelle deputi ,a pair maritime, published at the clo»* of the firtt volume of utr Klogea. 12 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. these I have added the new views and facts contained in the numerous and learned writings of MM. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, father and son, Savigny, Temminck, Lichtenstein, Kulil, Wilson, Horsfield, Vigors, Swainson, Gray, Ord, Say, Harlan, Charles Bonaparte, Lamouroux, Mitchell, Lesueur, and many other able and studious men, whose names will be carefully mentioned when I speak of the subjects on which they have treated. The tine collections of engravings which have appeared within the last twelve years, have enabled me to indicate a greater number of species ; and I have amply profited by this facility. I must particularly acknowledge what I owe on this score to the Histoire des Mammiferes of MM. Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Frederic Cuvier, the Planches coloriees of AIM. Temminck and Laugier, the Galerie des Oiseaux of M. Vieillot, the new edition of the Birds of Germany, by MM. Nauman, the Birds of the United States of Messrs. Wilson, Ord, and Charles Bonaparte*, the great works of M. Spix, and of his Highness the Prince Maximilian de Wied, on the Animals of Brazil, and to those of M. de Ferussac on the Mollusks. The plates and zoological descriptions of the travels of MM. Freycinet and Duperrey, supplied in the first by MM. Quoy and Gaymard, in the second by AIM. Lesson and Garnot, also present many new objects. The same must be said of the Animals of Java, by Dr. Hors¬ field. Though on a smaller scale, new figures of rare species are to be found in the Memoires du Museum, the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, and other French peri¬ odicals, in the Zoological Illustrations of Air. Swainson, and in tly; Zoological Journal, published by able naturalists in London. The Journal of the Lyceum of New York, and of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, are not less valuable ; but in proportion as the taste for natural history becomes extended, and the more numerous the countries in which it is cultivated, the number of its acquisitions increases in geometrical progression, and it becomes more and more difficult to collect all the writings of naturalists, and to complete the table of their results. I rely, therefore, on the indulgence of those whose observations may have escaped me, or whose works I have not sufficiently consulted. My celebrated friend and colleague M. Latreille, having consented, as in the first edition, to take upon himself the important and difficult part of the Crustaceans, Arachnides, and Insects, will himself explain in an advertisement the plan he has followed, so that I need say nothing more on this subject. Jardin du Roi, October, 1828. • The work of M. Audubon upon the Birds of North America me till after the whole of that part which treats of vu which surpasses all others in magnificence, was unknown t«„ printed. 13 INTRODUCTION. OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND OF SYSTEMS GENERALLY. As few persons have a just idea of Natural History, it appears necessary to com¬ mence our work by carefully defining the proposed object of this science, and establish¬ ing rigorous limits between it and the contiguous sciences. The word Nature, in our language, and in most others, signifies — sometimes, the qualities which a being derives from birth, in opposition to those which it may owe to art ; at other times, the aggregate of beings which compose the universe ; and sometimes, again, the laws which govern these beings. It is particularly in this latter sense that it has become customary to personify Nature, and to employ the name, respectfully, for that of its Author. Physics, or Natural Philosophy, treats of the nature of these three relations, and is either ereneral or particular. General Physics examines, abstractedly, each of the properties of those moveable and extended beings which we call bodies. That depart¬ ment of them styled Dynamics, considers bodies in mass ; and, proceeding from a very small number of experiments, determines mathematically the laws of equilibrium, and those of motion and of its communication. It comprehends in its different divisions the names of Statics, Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, Pneumatics, &c., ac¬ cording to the nature of the bodies of which it examines the motions. Optics considers the particular motions of light ; the phenomena of which, requiring experiments for their determination, are becoming more numerous. Chemistry, another branch of General Physics, expounds the laws by which the elementary molecules of bodies act on each other when in close proximity, the com¬ binations or separations which result from the general tendency of these molecules to unite, and the modifications which different circumstances, capable of separating or approximating them, produce on that tendency. It is a science almost wholly ex¬ perimental, and which cannot be reduced to calculation. The theory of Heat, and that of Electricity, belong almost equally to Dynamics or Chemistry, according to the point of view in which they are considered. 'I’he method which prevails in all the branches of General Physics consists in isolating bodies, reducing them to their utmost simplicity, in bringing each of their properties separately into action, either mentally or by experiment, in observing or calculating the results, in short, in generalizing and correcting the laws of these pro- INTRODUCTION. 14 perties for the purpose of establishing a body of doctrine, and, if possible, of referring the whole to one single law, under the universal expression of which all might be resolved. Particular Physics, or Natural History, — for these terms are synonymous — has for its object to apply specially the laws recognized by the various branches of General Physics, to the numerous and varied beings which exist in nature, in order to explain the phenomena which they severally present. In this extended sense, it would also include Astronomy ; but that science, suffi¬ ciently elucidated by Mechanics, and completely subjected to its laws, employs methods too different from those required by ordinary Natural History, to permit of its cultiva¬ tion by the students of the latter. Natural History, then, is confined to objects which do not allow of rigorous calculation, or of precise measurement in all their parts. Meteorology, also, is subtracted from it, to be ranged under General Physics ; so that, properly speaking, it considers only inanimate bodies, called minerals, and the various kinds of living beings, in all which we may observe the effects, more or less various, of the laws of motion and chemical attraction, and of all the other causes analyzed by General Physics. Natural History should, in strictness, employ the same modes of procedure as the general sciences ; and it does so, in fact, whenever the objects of its study are so little complex as to permit of it. But this is very seldom the case. An essential difference, in effect, between the general sciences and Natural History is, that, in the former, phenomena are examined, the conditions of which are all regulated by the examiner, in order, by their analysis, to arrive at general laws ; while in the latter, they occur under circumstances beyond the control of him who studies them for the purpose of discovering, amid the complication, the effects of general laws already known. It is not permitted for him, as in the case of the experimenter, to subtract successively from each condition, and so reduce the problem to its elements ; but he must take it entire, with all its conditions at once, and can analyze only in thought. Suppose, for example, we attempt to isolate the numerous pheno¬ mena which compose the life of an animal a little elevated in the scale ; a single one being suppressed, the life is wholly annihilated. Dynamics have thus become a science almost purely of calculation ; Chemistry is still a science wholly [chiefly*] of experiment ; and Natural History will long remain, in a great number of its branches, one of pure observation. These three terms sufficiently designate the modes of procedure employed in the three branches of the Natural Sciences ; but in establishing between them very different degrees of certitude, they at the same time indicate the point to which the two latter should tend, in order to approach perfection. Calculation, so to speak, commands Nature ; it determines phenomena more exactly than observation can make them known : experiment forces her to unveil ; while obser¬ vation watches her when deviating from her normal course, and seeks to surprise her. Natural History has, moreover, a principle on which to reason, which is peculiar to it, and which it employs advantageously on many occasions ; it is that of the conditions of existence, commonly termed final causes. As nothing can exist without the concur¬ rence of those conditions which render its existence possible, the component parts of each * The discovery of the atomic theory has reduced many of its phenomena to calculation.— Ed. INTRODUCTION. 13 must be so arranged as to render possible the whole living being, not only with regard to itself, but to its surrounding relations ; and the analysis of these conditions fre¬ quently conducts to general laws, as demonstrable as those which are derived from calculation or experiment. It is only when all the laws of general physics, and those which result from the condi¬ tions of existence, are exhausted, that we are reduced to the simple laws of observation. The most effectual mode of observing is by comparison. This consists in suc¬ cessively studying the same bodies in the different positions in which Nature places them, or in a comparison of different bodies together, until constant relations are recognized between their structures and the phenomena which they manifest. These various bodies are kinds of experiments ready prepared by Nature, who adds to or subtracts from each of them different parts, just as we might wish to do in our laboratories, and shows us herself the results of such additions or retrenchments. It is thus that we succeed in establishing certain laws, which govern these relations, and which are employed like those that have been determined by the general sciences. The incorporation of these laws of observation with the general laws, either directly or by the principle of the conditions of existence, would complete the system of the natural sciences, in rendering sensible in all its parts the mutual influence of every being. This it is to which the efforts of those who cultivate these sciences should tend. All researches of this kind, however, presuppose means of distinguishing with certainty, and causing others to distinguish, the objects investigated ; otherwise we should be incessantly liable to confound the innumerable beings which Nature presents. Natural History, then, should be based on what is called a System of Nature, or a great catalogue, in which all beings bear acknowledged names, may be recognized by distinctive cha¬ racters, and distributed in divisions and subdivisions themselves named and characterized, in which they may be found. In order that each being may always be recognized in this catalogue, it should carry its character along with it : for which reason the characters should not be taken from properties, or from habits the exercise of which is transient, but should be drawn from the conformation. There is scarcely any being which has a simple character, or can be recognized by an isolated feature of its conformation : the combination of many such traits is almost always necessary to distinguish a being from the neighbouring ones, which have some but not all of them, or have them combined with others of which the first is destitute ; and the more numerous the beings to be discriminated, the more must these traits accumulate : insomuch that, to distinguish from all others an individual being, a complete description of it must enter into its character. It is to avoid this inconvenience that divisions and subdivisions have been invented. A certain number of neighbouring beings only are compared together, and their par¬ ticular characters need only to express their differences, which, by the supposition itself, are the less important parts of their conformation. Such a reunion is termed a genus. The same inconvenience would recur in distinguishing genera from each other, were it not that the operation is repeated in collecting the neighbouring genera, so as to form an order ; the neighbouring orders to form a class, &c. Intermediate subdivisions may also be established. This scaffolding of divisions, the superior of which contain the inferior, is what is 16 INTRODUCTION called a method. It is, in some respects, a sort of dictionary, in which we proceed from the properties of tilings to discover their names ; being the reverse of ordinary dic¬ tionaries, in which we proceed from the names to obtain a knowledge of the properties. When the method, however, is good, it does more than teach us names. If the sub¬ divisions have not been established arbitrarily, but are based on the true fundamental relations, — on the essential resemblances of beings, the method is the surest means of reducing the properties of these beings to general rules, of expressing them in the fewest words, and of stamping them on the memory. To render it such, an assiduous comparison of beings is employed, directed by the principle of the subordination of characters, which is itself derived from that of the conditions of existence. All the parts of a being having a mutual correlativeness, some traits of conformation exclude others ; while some, on the contrary, necessitate others : when, therefore, we perceive such or such traits in a being, we can calculate before¬ hand those which co-exist in it, or those that are incompatible with them. The parts, properties, or the traits of conformation, which have the greatest number of these relations of incompatibility or of co-existence with others, or, in other words, that exercise the most marked influence upon the whole of the being, are what are called important characters , dominant characters ; the others are the subordinate characters, all varying, however, in degree. This influence of characters is sometimes determined rationally, by considering the nature of the organ : when this is impracticable, recourse must be had to simple observation ; and a sure means of recognizing the important characters, which is derived from their own nature, is, that they are more constant ; and that in a long series of different beings, approximated according to their degrees of similitude, these characters are the last to vary. From their influence and from their constancy result equally the rule, which should be preferred for distinguishing grand divisions, and in proportion as we descend to the inferior subdivisions, we can also descend to subordinate and variable characters. There can only be one perfect method, which is the natural method. An arrangement is thus named in which beings of the same genus are placed nearer to each other than to those of all other genera ; the genera of the same order nearer than to those of other orders, and so in succession. This method is the ideal to which Natural History should tend ; for it is evident that, if we can attain it, we shall have the exact and complete expression of all nature. In fact, each being is determined by its resem¬ blance to others, and its differences from them ; and all these relations would be fully given by the arrangement which we have indicated. In a word, the natural method would be the whole science, and each step towards it tends to advance the science to perfection. Life being the most important of all the properties of beings, and the highest of all characters, it is not surprising that it has been made in all ages the most general prin¬ ciple of distinction ; and that natural beings have always been separated into two immense divisions, the living and the inanimate. OF LIVING BEINGS, AND OF ORGANIZATION IN GENERAL. If, in order to obtain a just idea of the essence of life, we consider it in those beings in which its effects are the most simple, we readily perceive that it consists in the INTRODUCTION. 17 faculty which certain corporeal combinations have, of enduring for a time, and under a determinate form, by incessantly attracting into their composition a part of sur¬ rounding substances, and rendering to the elements portions of their own proper substance. Life, then, is a vortex (tourbillori) , more or less rapid, more or less complicated, the direction of which is constant, and which always carries along molecules ot the same kind, but into which individual molecules are continually entering, and from which they are constantly departing ; so that the form of a living body is more essential to it than its matter. As long as this movement subsists, the body in which it takes place is living — it lives. When it is permanently arrested, the body dies. After death, the elements which compose it, abandoned to the ordinary chemical affinities, are not slow to separate, from which, more or less quickly, results the dissolution of the body that had been living. It was then by the vital motion that its dissolution was arrested, and that the elements of the body were temporarily combined. All living bodies die after a time, tbe extreme limit of which is determined for each species ; and death appears to be a necessary consequence of life, which, by its own action, insensibly alters the structure of the body wherein its functions are exercised, so as to render its continuance impossible. In fact, the living body undergoes gradual but constant changes during the whole term of its existence. It increases first in dimensions, according to the proportions and within the limits fixed for each species, and for each of its several parts ; then it augments in density, in most of its parts : — it is this second kind of change that appears to be the cause of natural deatn. On examining the various living bodies more closely, a common structure is discerned, which a little reflection soon causes us to adjudge as essential to a vortex, such as the vital motion. Solids, it is evident, are necessary to these bodies for the maintenance of their forms, and fluids for the conservation of motion in them. Their tissue, then, is com¬ posed of interlacement and network, or of fibres and solid laminae, which inclose the liquids in their interstices : it is in these liquids that the motion is most continual and most extended ; the extraneous substances penetrate the intimate tissue of bodies in incorporating with them ; they nourish the solids by interposing their molecules, and also detach from them their superfluous molecules : it is in a liquid or gaseous form that the matters to be exhaled traverse the pores of the living body ; but, in return, it is the solids which contain these fluids, and by their contraction communicate to them a part of their motion. This mutual action of the solids and fluids, this passage of molecules from one to the other, necessitated considerable affinity in their chemical composition ; and, accord¬ ingly, the solids of organized bodies are in great part composed of elements easily convertible into liquids or gases. The motion of tbe fluids, requiring also a continually repeated action on the Dart of the solids, and communicating one to them, demanded of the latter both flexibility and dilatability ; and hence we find this character nearly general in all organized solids. I bis fundamental structure, common to all living bodies — this areolar tissue, the more 18 INTRODUCTION or less flexible fibres or laminae of which intercept fluids more or less aoundant — constitutes what is termed the organization ; and, as a consequence of what we have said, it follows that only organized bodies can enjoy life. Organization, then, results from a great number of dispositions or arrangements, which are all conditions of life ; and it is easy to conceive that the general move¬ ment of the life would be arrested, if its effect be to alter either of these conditions, so as to arrest even one of the partial motions of which it is composed. Every organized body, besides the qualities common to its tissue, has one proper form, not only in general and externally, but also in the detail of the structure of each of its parts ; and it is upon this form, which determines the particular direction of each of the partial movements that take place in it, that depends the complication of the general movement of its life, which constitutes its species, and renders it what it is. Each part concurs in this general movement by a peculiar action, and experiences from it particular effects ; so that, in every being, the life is a whole, resulting from the mutual action and reaction of all its parts. Life, then, in general, presupposes organization in general, and the life proper to each being presupposes the organization peculiar to that being, just as the movement of a clock presupposes the clock ; and, accordingly, we behold life only in beings that are organized and formed to enjoy it ; and all the efforts of philo¬ sophers have not yet been able to discover matter in the act of organization, either of itself or by any extrinsic cause. In fact, life exercising upon the elements which at every instant form part of the living body, and upon those which it attracts to it, an action contrary to that which would be produced without it by the usual chemical affinities, it is inconsistent to suppose that it can itself be produced by these affinities, and yet we know of no other power in nature capable of reuniting previously separated molecules. The birth of organized beings is, therefore, the greatest mystery of the organic economy and of all nature : we see them developed, but never being formed ; nay, more, all those of which we can trace the origin, have at first been attached to a body of the same form as their own, but which was developed before them ; — in one word, to a parent. So long as the offspring has no independent life, but par¬ ticipates in that of its parent, it is called a germ. The place to which the germ is attached, and the occasional cause which detaches it, and gives it an independent life, vary ; but the primitive adherence to a similar being is a rule without exception. The separation of the germ is wThat is designated generation. All organized beings produce similar ones ; otherwise, death being a necessary con¬ sequence of life, their species would not endure. Organized beings have even the faculty of reproducing, in degrees varying with the species, certain of their parts of which they may have been deprived. This has been named the power of reproduction. The developement of organized beings is more or less rapid, and more or less ex¬ tended, according as circumstances are differently favourable. Heat, the supply and quality of nourishment, with other causes, exert great influence ; and this influence may extend to the whole body in general, or to certain organs in particular : — hence the similitude of offspring to their parents can never be complete. INTRODUCTION. 19 Differences of this kind, between organized beings, are what are termed varieties. There is no proof that all the differences which now distinguish organized beings are such as may have been produced by circumstances. All that has been advanced upon this subject is hypothetical : experience seems to show, on the contrary, that, in the actual state of things, varieties are confined within rather narrow limits ; and, so far as we can retrace antiquity, we perceive that these limits were the same as at present. We are then obliged to admit of certain forms, which, since the origin of things, have been perpetuated without exceeding these limits ; and all the beings appertaining to one of these forms constitute what is termed a species. Varieties are accidental subdivisions of species. Generation being the only means of ascertaining the limits to which varieties may extend, species should be defined the reunion of individuals descended one from the other , or from common parents, or from such as resemble them as closely as they resemble each other ; but, although this definition is rigorous, it will be seen that its application to particular individuals may be very difficult when the necessary experi¬ ments have not been made.* To recapitulate, — absorption, assimilation, exhalation, developement, and generation, are the functions common to all living beings ; birth and death, the universal limits of their existence ; a porous, contractile tissue, containing within its laminae liquids or gases in motion, the general essence of their structure ; substances almost all susceptible of being converted into liquids or gases, and combinations capable of easy transformation into one another, the basis of their chemical composition. Fixed forms, and which are perpetuated by generation, distinguish their species, determine the complication of the secondary functions proper to each of them, and assign to them the office they have to fulfil in the grand scheme of the universe. These forms neither produce nor change themselves ; the life supposes their existence ; it can exist only in organizations already prepared ; and the most profound meditations, assisted by the most delicate observations, can penetrate no further than the mystery of the pre-existence of germs. DIVISION OF ORGANIZED BEINGS INTO ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES. Living or organized beings have been subdivided, from the earliest times, into ani¬ mate beinys, or those possessing sense and motion, and inanimate beings, which enjoy * That insurmountable difficulties oppose the rigid determination of species, and, consequently, render even the definition of the term impossible, except in a very vague Hiid loose manner, will readily appear on consideration of some of the phenomena presented. The prevalent idea is, that a species consists of the aggregate of individuals descended from one original parentage, which alone arc supposed to be capable of producing ofTspring that are prolific inter if; and that when individuals, not of the same pristine derivation, interbreed, the hybrids are necessarily mules, which arc either quite sterile, or at most can only propagate with individuals of unmixed descent. But it so happens, that every possible grade of approxi¬ mation is manifested, from the most diverse races, to those which are utterly undiatinguishable ; while, even in the latter case, urgent ana¬ logies, notwithstanding, sometimes forcibly indicate a separateness of origin ; as when a scries of analogous races inhabiting distant regions are compared together, some of which are obviously difTcrent, others doubtfully so, and some apparently identical. And it remains to be shown whether such Ultimately allied races as some of these, even if not descended from a common stock, (which of course cannot be ascertained), would not produce hybrids capable of transmitting and perpetuating the mingled breed. It is true that Cuvier guards against this contingency, in the wording of his definition ; and that most naturalists would concur in regarding such miscible races, how¬ ever dissimilar, as varieties merely of the same ; hut a question arises, whether there be not different degrees of fertility in hybrids, corresponding to the amount of affinity, or physiological accordancy# subsisting betwixt the parent races ; it being only within a certain sphere of that affinity that they can he produced at all : besides which, as hybrids are seldom exactly intermediate, and in some instances (particularly among multiparous races) have been known to resemble entirely one or the other parent, it may be presumed that this circum. stance would also materially afTcct their capability of propagation- F.xpcriments are needed to solve this important problem, though there is every reason to suspect that the following proposition Mil eventu¬ ally gain the general assent of naturalists, vis., that «r Kile zonsiderable dissimilarity dues not of necessity imply specffcal diversity, the con¬ verse equally Holds, that absolute resemblance Jade of itself to con stitute specifical irfcsfi/y.-Eo. c 2 20 INTRODUCTION. neither the one nor the other of these faculties, hut are reduced to the simple function of vegetating. Although many plants retract their leaves when touched, and the roots direct themselves constantly towards moisture, the leaves towards air and light, and though some parts of vegetables appear even to exhibit oscillations without any perceptible external cause, still these various movements bear too little resem¬ blance to those of animals to enable us to recognize in them any proofs of perception or of will. The spontaneity of the movements of animals required essential modifications, even in their simply vegetative organs. Their roots not penetrating the ground, it was necessary that they should be able to place within themselves provisions of food, and to carry its reservoir along with them. Hence is derived the first character of animals, or their alimentary cavity, from which their nutritive fluid penetrates all other parts through pores or vessels, which are a sort of internal roots. The organization of this cavity and of its appurtenances required varying, according to the nature of the aliment, and the operations which it had to undergo before it could furnish juices proper for absorption : whilst the atmosphere and the earth supply to vegetables only juices ready prepared, and which can be absorbed immediately. The animal body, which abounds with functions more numerous and more varied than in the plant, required in consequence to have an organization much more com¬ plicated ; besides which, its parts not being capable of preserving a fixed relative posi¬ tion, there were no means by which the motion of their fluids could be produced by external causes, as it required to be independent of heat and of the atmosphere : from this originates the second character of animals, or their circulatory system, which is less essential than the digestive, since it was unnecessary in the more simple animals. The animal functions required organic systems, not needed by vegetables, as that of the muscles for voluntary motion, and that of the nerves for sensibility ; and these two systems, like the rest, acting only through the motions and transformations of the fluids, it was necessary that these should be more numerous in animals, and that the chemical composition of the animal body should he more complicated than that of the plant : and so it is, for an additional substance (azote) enters into it as an essential element, while in plants it is a mere accidental junction with the three other general elements of organization, — oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. This then is the third character of animals. The soil and the atmosphere supply to vegetables water for their nutrition, which is composed of oxygen and hydrogen, air, which contains oxygen and azote, and car¬ bonic acid, which is a combination of oxygen and carbon. To extract from these aliments their proper composition, it was necesary that they should retain the hydrogen and carbon, exhale the superfluous oxygen, and absorb little or no azote. Such, then, is the process of vegetable life, of which the essential function is the exhalation of oxygen, which is effected through the agency of light. Animals in addition derive nourishment, more or l£ss immediately, from the vegetable itself, of which hydrogen and carbon form the principal constituents. To assimilate them to their own composition, they must get rid of the superfluous hydrogen, and especially of the superabundant carbon, and accumulate more azote ; this it is wmch is performed in respiration, by means of the oxygen of the atmosphere combining with the hydrogen and carbon of the blood, and being exhaled with them under the form of INTRODUCTION. 21 water and carbonic acid. The azote, whatever part of their body it may penetrate, appears to remain there. The relations of vegetables and animals with the atmosphere are then inverse ; the former retain (defont) water and [decompose] carbonic acid, while the latter reproduce them. Respiration is the function essential to the constitution of an animal body ; it is that which in a manner animalizes it ; and we shall see that animals exercise their peculiar functions more completely, according as they enjoy greater powers of respira¬ tion. It is in this difference of relations that the fourth character of animals consists. OF TIIE FORMS PECULIAR TO THE ORGANI-C ELEMENTS OF THE ANIMAL BODY, AND OF THE PRINCIPAL COMBINATIONS OF ITS CHEMICAL ELEMENTS. An areolar tissue and three chemical elements are essential to every living body, a fourth element being peculiar to that of animals ; but this tissue is composed of vari¬ ously formed meshes, and these elements are united in different combinations. There are three kinds of organic materials, or forms of tissue, — the cellular membrane, the muscular fibre, and the medullary matter ; and to each form belongs a peculiar combination of chemical elements, together with a particular function. The cellular membrane is composed of an infinity of small laminae, fortuitously dis¬ posed, so as to form little cells that communicate with each other. It is a sort of sponge, which has the same form as the entire body, all other parts of which fill or traverse it. Its property is to contract indefinitely when the causes which sustain its extension cease to operate. It is this force that retains the body in a given form, and within determined limits. When condensed, this substance forms those more or less extended laminae which are called membranes ; the membranes, rolled into cylinders, compose those tubes, more or less ramified, which are termed vessels ; the filaments, named fibres, resolve them¬ selves into it ; and the bones are nothing but the same, indurated by the accumulation of earthy particles. The cellular substance consists of that combination [isinglass] which bears the name of yelatine, and the character of which is to dissolve in boiling water, and to assume the form, when cold, of a trembling jelly. The medullary matter has not yet been reduced to its organic molecules : it ap¬ pears to the naked eye as a sort of soft bouillie [pultaceous mass] , consisting of exces¬ sively small globules ; it is not susceptible of any apparent motion, but in it resides the admirable power of transmitting to the me the impressions of the external senses, and of conveying to the muscles the mandates of the will. The brain and the spinal chord are chiefly composed of it ; and the nerves, which are distributed to all the sentient organs, are, essentially, but ramifications of the same. The fleshy or muscular fibre is <}. peculiar sort of filament, the distinctive property of which, during life, is that of contracting when touched or struck, or when it experi¬ ences, through the medium of the nerves, the action of the will. The muscles, immediate organs of voluntary motion, are merely bundles of fleshy fibres. All the membranes, all the vessels which need to exercise any compression, are furnished with these fibres. They are always intimately connected with nervous threads ; but those which subserve the purely vegetative functions contract without 22 INTRODUCTION. tlie knowledge of the me, so that the will is indeed one means of causing the fibres to act, but which is neither general nor exclusive. The fleshy fibre has for its base a particular substance termed fibrine, which is insoluble in boiling water, and of which the nature appears to be to take of itself this filamentous form. The nutritive fluid, or the blood, such as we find in the vessels of the circulation, not only resolves itself principally into the general elements of the animal body, — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote, but it also contains fibrine and gelatine, all but disposed to contract, and to assume the forms of membranes or of filaments peculiar to them ; nought being ever acquired for their manifestation but a little repose. The blood pre¬ sents also another combination, which occurs in many animal solids and fluids, namely, albumen [or white of egg~\, the characteristic property of which is to coagulate in boiling water. Besides these, the blood contains almost all the elements which may enter into the composition of the body of each animal, such as the lime and phosphorus, which hardens the bones of vertebrated animals, the iron, which colours the blood itself as well as various other parts, the fat or animal oil, which is deposited in the cellular substance to maintain it, &c. All the fluids and solids of the animal body are composed of chemical elements contained in the blood ; and it is only by possessing some ele¬ ments more or less, or in different proportions, that each is severally distinguished ; whence it becomes apparent that their formation entirely depends on the subtraction of the whole or part of one or more elements of the blood, and, in some few cases, on the addition of some element from elsewhere. The various operations, by which the blood supplies nourishment to the solid or liquid matter of all parts of the body, may take the general name of secretion. This term, however, is often exclusively appropriated to the production of liquids, while that of nutrition is applied more especially to the production and deposition of the matter necessary to the growth and conservation of the solids. Every solid organ, as well as fluid, has the composition most appropriate for the office which it has to perform, and it preserves it so long as health continues, because the blood renews it as fast as it becomes changed. The blood itself, by this continual contribution, is altered every moment ; but is restored by digestion, which renews its matter ; by respiration, which sets free the superfluous carbon and hydrogen ; and by perspiration and various other excretions, that relieve it from other superabundant principles. These perpetual changes of chemical composition constitute part of the vital vortex, not less essential than the visible movements and those of translation : the object, in¬ deed, of these latter is simply to produce the former. OF THE FORCES WHICH ACT IN THE ANIMAL BODY. The muscular fibre is not only the organ of voluntary motion ; we have seen that it is also the most powerful of the means employed by nature to effect the move¬ ments of translation necessary to vegetative life. Thus the fibres of the intestines pro¬ duce the peristaltic motion, which causes the aliment to pass onward along this canal ; the fibres of the heart and arteries are the agents of the circulation, and, through it, of all the secretions, &c. INTRODUCTION. 23 The will causes the fibre to contract through the medium of the nerve ; and the involuntary fibres, such as those we have mentioned, are equally animated by the nerves which pervade them ; it is, therefore, probable, that these nerves are the cause of their contraction. All contraction, and, generally speaking, all change of dimension in nature, is produced by a change of chemical composition, though it consists merely in the flowing or ebbing of an imponderable *, such as caloric ; it is thus also that the most violent of known movements are occasioned, as combustions, detonations, &c. There is, then, great reason for supposing that it is by an imponderable fluid that the nerve acts upon the fibre ; and the more especially, as it is demonstrated that this action is not mechanical. The medullary matter of the whole nervous system is homogeneous, and must exercise, wherever it is found, the functions appertaining to its nature ; all its ramifi¬ cations receive a great abundance of blood-vessels. All the animal fluids being derived from the blood by secretion, it cannot be doubted that the same holds with the nervous fluid, nor that the medullary matter secretes [or evolves] it. On the other hand, it is certain that the medullary matter is the sole conductor of the nervous fluid ; and that all the other organic elements serve as non-conductors, and arrest it, as glass arrests electricity. The external causes which are capable of producing sensations, or of occasioning contractions in the fibre, are all chemical agents, capable of effecting decompositions, such as light, caloric, the salts, odorous vapours, percussion, compression, &c. It would seem, then, that these causes act upon the nervous fluid chemically, and by changing its composition : which appears the more likely, as their action becomes weakened by continuance, as if the nervous fluid needed to resume its primitive com¬ position in order to be altered anew. The external organs of sense may be compared to sieves, which allow nothing to pass through to the nerve except the species of agent which should affect it in that particular place, but which often accumulates so as to increase the effect. The tongue has its spongy papillae, which imbibe saline solutions : the ear a gelatinous pulp, which is intensely agitated by sonorous vibrations ; the eye transparent lenses, which concentrate the rays of light, &c. It is probable that what are styled irritants, or the agents which occasion the con¬ tractions of the fibre, exert this action by producing on the fibre,- by the nerve, the same effect which is produced by the will ; that is to say, by altering the nervous fluid in the manner necessary to change the dimensions of the fibre on which it has influence ; but the will has nothing to do in this action ; the me is often even without any knowledge of it. The muscles separated from the body are still susceptible of irrita¬ tion, so long as the portion of the nerve distributed within them preserves its power of acting on them ; the will being evidently unconnected with this phenomenon. The nervous fluid is altered by muscular irritation, as well as by sensation and voluntary motion ; and the same necessity occurs for the re-establishment of its primi¬ tive composition. The movements of translation necessary to vegetative life are determined by irritants : * “ Imponderable fluid" is the expression in the original.— Ed. 24 INTRODUCTION. the aliment irritates [or excites] the intestine, the blood irritates the heart, &c. These movements are all independent of the will, and in general (while health endures) take place without the cognizance of the me ; the nerves which produce them have even, in several parts, a different distribution from that of the nerves affected by sensations or subject to the will, and the object of the difference appears to be the securing of this independence.* The nervous functions, that is to say, sensitiveness and muscular irritability, are so much the stronger at every point, in proportion as the exciting cause is more abundant ; and as this agent, or the nervous fluid, is produced by secretion [or evolution], its abundance must be in proportion to the quantity of medullary or secretory matter, and the amount of blood received by the latter. In animals that have a circulation, the blood is propelled through the arteries which convey it to its destined parts, by means of their irritability and that of the heart. If these arteries be irritated, they act more vigorously, and propel a greater quantity of blood ; the nervous fluid becomes more abundant, and augments the local sensibility ; this, in its turn, increases the irritability of the arteries, so that this mutual action may be carried to a great extent. It is termed orgasm, and when it becomes painful and permanent, inflammation. The irritation may also originate in the nerve, when it experiences acute sensations. This mutual influence of the nerves and fibres, either in the intestinal system, or in the arterial system, is the real spring of vegetative life in animals. As each external sense is permeable only by particular kinds of sensation, so each internal organ may be accessible only to such or such agent of irritation. Thus, mercury irritates the salivary glands, cantharides excite the bladder, &c. These agents are what are termed specifics. The nervous system being homogeneous and continuous, local sensations and irrita¬ tion debilitate the whole • and each function, carried too far, may enfeeble the others. Excess of aliment thus weakens the faculty of thought ; while prolonged meditation impairs the energy of digestion, &c. Excessive local irritation will enfeeble the whole body, as if all the powers of life were concentrated on a single point. A second irritation produced at another point may diminish, or divert as it is termed, the first; such is the effect of purgatives, blisters, &c. [denominated counter- irritation] . All rapid as the foregoing enunciation is, it is sufficient to establish the possibility of accounting for all the phenomena of physical life, by the simple admission of a fluid such as we have defined, from the properties which it manifests. f • In the above sentence, there are distinctly mentioned the three sorts of nerves, the separate functions of which have been con¬ clusively demonstrated by Sir Charles Bell : viz., nerves of volition, which transmit the mandates of the w'ill ; of sensation, which convey to the sensorium the impressions of the senses ; and of sympathy , or involuntary movement, the reunion of the ramifications of which in a plexus of knots, or ganglions, is intimated in the text, those of the second class being distinguished by a swelling or ganglion near their base. — Ed. t The unceasing chemical changes consequent upon vitality must necessarily dcvelope electricity ; and that the nervous Jiuid is no other than the electric , may be considered approved by the identity of their phenomena. Indeed, it has long been known that the transmission of voltaic electricity along the nerves of a recently dead animal, suffices to produce the most violent muscular action ; but the regula¬ tion of that action, its exclusive direction to particular suites of Uiuscles, requires the vital impulse. “ If the brain/’ remarks Sir John Herschel, tf ( for which wonderfully constituted organ no other mode of action possessing the least probability has ever been devised), be an electric pile, constantly in action, it may be conceived to dis¬ charge itself at regular intervals, when the tension of the electricity developed reaches a certain point, along the nerves which communi¬ cate with the heart, and thus to excite the pulsations of that organ. This idea is forcibly suggested by a view of that elegant apparatus, the dry pile of Deluc, in which the successive accumulations of electricity are carried off by a suspended ball, which is kept, by the discharges, in a state of regular pulsation for any length of time. We have witnessed the action of such a pile, maintained in this wray for whole years, in the study of the above-named eminent philosopher. The same idea of the cause of the pulsation of the heart appears to have occurred to Dr. Arnott, and is mentioned in his useful and ex¬ cellent work on Physics, to which, however, we are not indebted for the suggestion, it having occurred to us independently many years ago.” — Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, p. 343. — Ed. INTRODUCTION. 25 SUMMARY IDEA OF THE FUNCTIONS AND ORGANS OF THE BODIES OF ANIMALS, AND OF THEIR VARIOUS DEGREES OF COMPLICATION. After what we have stated respecting the organic elements of the body, its chemical principles, and the forces which act within it, it remains only to give a sum¬ mary idea in detail of the functions of which life is composed, and of their respective organs. The functions of the animal body are divided into two classes : — The animal functions, or those proper to animals, — that is to say, sensibility and voluntary motion. The vital, vegetative functions, or those common to animals and vegetables ; that is to say, nutrition and generation. Sensibility resides in the nervous system. The most general external sense is that of touch ; its seat is in the skin, a mem¬ brane enveloping the whole body, and traversed all over by nerves, of which the extreme filaments expand on the surface into papillae, and are protected by the epider¬ mis, and by other insensible teguments, such as hairs, scales, &c. Taste and smell are merely delicate states of the sense of touch, for which the skin of the tongue and nostrils is particularly organized ; the former by means of papillae more convex and spongy ; the latter, by its extreme delicacy and the multiplication of its ever humid surface. We have already spoken of the eye and ear in general. The organ of gene¬ ration is endowed with a sixth sense, which is seated in its internal skin ; that of the stomach and intestines declares the state of those viscera by peculiar sensations. In fine, sensations more or less painful may originate in all parts of the body through accidents or diseases. Many animals have neither ears nor nostrils ; several are without eyes, and some are reduced to the single sense of touch, which is never absent. The action received by the external organs is continued through the nerves to the central masses of the nervous system, which, in the higher animals, consists of the brain and spinal chord. The more elevated the nature of the animal, the more volumi¬ nous is the brain, and the more the sensitive power is concentrated there; in propor¬ tion as the animal is placed lower in the scale, the medullary masses are dispersed, and in the lowest genera of all, the nervous substance appears to merge altogether, and blend in the general matter of the body. That part of the body which contains the brain and the principal organs of sense, is called the head. When the animal has received a sensation, and which has induced in it an act of volition, it is by [particular] nerves also that this volition is transmitted to the muscles. The muscles are bundles of fleshy fibres, the contractions of which produce all the movements of the animal body. The extensions of the limbs, and all the lengthenings of parts, are the effect of muscular contractions, equally with flexions and abbreviations. The muscles of each animal are disposed in number and direction according to the movements which it has to execute ; and when these movements require to be effected with some vigour, the muscles are inserted into hard parts, articulated one over another, and may be considered as so many levers. 'These parts are called bones in 26 INTRODUCTION. the vertebrated animals, where they are internal, and formed of a gelatinous mass, penetrated with molecules of phosphate of lime. In mollusks, crustaceans, and insects, where they are external, and composed of a calcareous or corneous substance that exudes between the skin and epidermis, they are termed shells, crusts, and scales. The lleshy fibres are attached to the hard parts by means of other fibres of a gela¬ tinous nature, which seem to be a continuation of the former, constituting what are called tendons. The configuration of the articulating surfaces of the hard parts limits their move¬ ments, which are further restrained by cords or envelopes attached to the sides of the articulations, and which are termed ligaments. It is from the various dispositions of this bony and muscular apparatus, and from the form and proportions of the members which result therefrom, that animals are capable of executing those innumerable movements which enter into walking, leaping, flight, and swimming. The muscular fibres appropriated to digestion and circulation are independent of the will ; they receive nerves, however, but, as we have said, the chief of them exhibit subdivisions and enlargements which appear to have for their object the estrangement of the empire of the me. It is only in paroxysms of the passions and other powerful mental emotions, which break down these barriers, that the empire of the me becomes perceptible ; and even then its effect is almost always to disorder these vegetative functions. It is also in a state of sickness only that these functions are accompanied by sensations. Digestion is ordinarily performed unconsciously. The aliment, divided by the jaws and teeth, or sucked up when liquids con¬ stitute the food, is swallowed by the muscular movements of the back part of the mouth and throat, and deposited in the first portion of the alimentary canal, usually expanded into one or more stomachs ; it there is penetrated with juices proper to dis¬ solve it. Conducted thence along the rest of the canal, it receives other juices destined to complete its preparation. The parietes of the canal have pores which extract from this alimentary mass its nutritious portion, and the useless residue is rejected as excrement. The canal in which this first act of nutrition is performed, is a continuation of the skin, and is composed of similar layers ; even the fibres which encircle it are analogous to those which adhere to the internal surface of the skin, called the fleshy pannicle. Throughout the whole interior of this canal there is a transudation, which has some connexion with the cutaneous perspiration, and which becomes more abundant when the latter is suppressed ; the skin even exercises an absorption very analogous to that of the intestines. It is only in the lowest animals that the excrements are rejected by the mouth, and in which the intestine has the form of a sac without issue. Among those even in which the intestinal canal has two orifices, there are many in which the nutritive juices, absorbed by the coats of the intestine, are immediately diffused over the whole spongy substance of the body : this appears to be the case with the whole class of insects. But, ascending from the arachnides and worms, the nutritive fluids circulate in a system of confined vessels, the ultimate ramifications of which alone dispense its molecules to the parts that are nourished by it ; those particular vessels which convey it are named INTRODUCTION. 27 arteries, and those which bring it back to tne centre ot the circulation are termed veins. The circulating vortex is sometimes simple, sometimes double, and even triple (includ¬ ing that of the vena porta ) ; the rapidity of its movements is often aided by the contrac¬ tions of a certain fleshy apparatus denominated hearts, and which are placed at one or the other centres of circulation, and sometimes at both of them. In the red-blooded vertebrated animals, the nutritive fluid exudes white or transpa¬ rent from the intestines, and is then termed chyle ; it is poured by particular vessels, named lacteals, into the venous system, where it mingles with the blood. Vessels resembling these lacteals, and forming with them what is known as the lymphatic system, also convey to the venous blood the residue of the nutrition of the parts and the products of cutaneous absorption. Before the blood is proper to nourish the several parts, it must experience from the ambient element, by respiration, the modification of which we have already spoken. In animals which have a circulation, a portion of the vessels is destined to carry the blood into organs, where they spread over an extensive surface, that the action of the ambient element might be increased. When this element [or medium] is the air, the surface is hollow, and is called lungs ; when water, it is salient, and termed gills* There are always motive organs disposed for propelling the ambient element into, or upon, the respiratory organ. In animals which have no circulation, the air is diffused through every part of the body by elastic vessels, named trachea ; or water acts upon them, either by pene¬ trating through vessels, or by simply bathing the surface of the skin. The blood which is respired is qualified for restoring the composition of all the parts, and to effect what is properly called nutrition. It is a great marvel that, with this facility which it has of becoming decomposed at each point, it should leave precisely the species of molecule which is there necessary ; but it is this wonder which consti¬ tutes the whole vegetative life. For the nourishment of the solids, we see no other arrangement than a great subdivision of the extreme arterial ramifications ; but for the production of liquids, the apparatus is more complex and various. Sometimes the extremities of the vessels simply spread over large surfaces, whence the produced fluid exudes ; sometimes it oozes from the bottom of little cavities. Very often, before these arterial extremities change into veins, they give rise to particular vessels that convey this fluid, which appears to proceed from the exact point of union between the two kinds of vessels ; in this case, the blood-vessels and these latter termed especial, form, by their interlacement, the bodies called conglomerate or secretory glands. In animals that have no circulation, and particularly insects, the nutritive fluid bathes all the parts ; each of them draws from it the molecules necessary for its suste¬ nance : if it be necessary that some liquid be produced, the appropriate vessels float in the nutritive fluid, and imbibe from it, by means of their pores, the constituent elements of that liquid. It is thus that the blood incessantly supports all the parts, and repairs the altera¬ tions which are the continual and necessary consequence of their functions. The • It may be remarked here, that, in strictness of language, no animals respire water, hut the air which is suspended in water, and which has been ascertained to coutain more oxygen than that of the free atmosphere. The elements of water, it should be remembered, arc chemically combined, while those of air arc only mechanically mixed. To obtain oxygen from the one, therefore, decomposition is required ; from the other, no disunion. The only distinction, then, in the respiration of animals is, that some breathe the free air, and are sup¬ plied with lungs, and others that diffused in water, and have there¬ fore gills : but even this difference, however, is more apparent thau real, as in all cases the respiratory surface requires to be moist or wet, in order to perform its function. Deprive water of its air by boiling it, and it cannot support life. — Ku. 28 INTRODUCTION. general ideas which we form respecting this process are tolerably clear, although we have no distinct or detailed notion of what passes at each point ; and for want of knowing the chemical composition of each part with sufficient precision, we cannot render an exact account of the transformations necessary to produce it. Besides the glands which separate from the blood those fluids which perform some office in the internal economy, there are some which detach others from it that are to he totally rejected, either simply as superfluities, such as the urine, which is produced by the kidneys, or for some use to the animal, as the ink of the cuttle, and the purple matter of various other mollusks, &c. With respect to generation, there is one process or phenomenon infinitely more difficult to conceive than that of the secretions ; it is the production of the germ. We have seen even that it may be regarded as little less than incomprehensible ; but, the existence of the germ once admitted, generation presents no particular difficulty : so long as it adheres to the parent, it is nourished as if it were one of its organs* ; and when it detaches itself, it has its own proper life, which is essentially similar to that of the adult. The germ, the embryo, the foetus, and the new-born animal, have in no instance, however, precisely the same form as the adult, and the difference is sometimes so great, that their assimilation merits the name of metamorphosis . Thus, no one not previously aware of the fact, would suppose that the caterpillar is to become a butterfly. All living beings are more or less metamorphosed in the course of their growth, that is to say, they lose certain parts, and develope others. The antennae, wings, and all the parts of the butterfly were inclosed within the skin of the caterpillar ; this skin disappears along with the jaws, feet, and other organs that do not remain in the butterfly. The feet of the frog are inclosed by the skin of the tadpole : and the tad¬ pole, to become a frog, loses its tail, mouth, and gills. The infant likewise, at birth, loses its placenta and envelope ; at a certain age its thymous gland almost disappears ; and it acquires by degrees its hair, teeth, and beard. The relative size of its organs alters, and its body increases proportionally more than its head, its head more than its internal ear, &c. The place where these germs are found, the assemblage of them, is named the ovary ; the canal through which, when detached, they are carried forward, the oviduct ; the cavity in which, in many species, they are obliged to remain for a longer or shorter period before birth, the matrix or utei'us ; the exterior orifice through which they pass into the world, the vulva. When there are sexes, the male sex fecundates ; the germs appearing in the female. The fecundating liquor is named semen ; the glands which separate it from the blood, testicles ; and, when it is necessary that it should be intro¬ duced into the body of the female, the intromittent organ is called a penis. RAPID EXPOSITION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS OF ANIMALS. The impression of external objects on the me, the production of a sensation, of an image, is a mystery impenetrable to our intellect ; and materialism an hypothesis, so much the more conjectural, as philosophy can furnish no direct proof of the actual • Germa have been detected in the ovaria of a human foetua. — Ed. INTRODUCTION. 29 existence of matter. But the naturalist should examine what appear to be the mate¬ rial conditions of sensation ; he should trace the ulterior operations of the mind, ascer¬ tain to what point they reach in each being, and assure himself whether they are not subject to conditions of perfection, dependent on the organization of each species, or on the momentary state of each individual body. For the me to perceive, there must be an uninterrupted nervous communication between the external sense and the central masses of the medullary system. Hence it is only when a modification is experienced by these masses that the me perceives : there may also be real sensations, without the external organ being affected, and which originate either in the nervous passage, or in the central mass itself ; such are dreams and visions, or certain accidental sensations. By central masses, we mean a part of the nervous system, which is more circum¬ scribed as the animal is more perfect. In man, it consists exclusively of a limited portion of the brain; but in reptiles, it includes the brain and the whole of the medulla, and each of their parts taken separately ; so that the absence of the entire brain does not prevent sensation. In the inferior classes this extension is still greater. The perception acquired by the me, produces the image of the sensation ex¬ perienced. We trace to without the cause of that sensation, and thus acquire the idea of the object which produces it. By a necessary law of our intelligence, all the ideas of material objects are in time and space. The modifications experienced by the medullary masses leave impressions there, which are reproduced, and recall to mind images and ideas ; this is memory, a cor¬ poreal faculty that varies considerably, according to age and health. Ideas that are similar, or which have been acquired at the same time, recall each other ; this is the association of ideas. The order, extent, and promptitude of this asso¬ ciation constitute the perfection of memory. Each object presents itself to the memory with all its qualities, or with all its accessory ideas. Intellect has the power of separating these accessory ideas of objects, and of com¬ bining those that are alike in several different objects under one general idea, the prototype of which nowhere really exists, nor presents itself in an isolated form ; this is abstraction. Every sensation being more or less agreeable or disagreeable, experience and re¬ peated essays show promptly what movements are required to procure the one and avoid the other ; and with respect to this, the intellect abstracts itself from general rules to direct the will. An agreeable sensation being liable to consequences that are not so, and vice versd, the subsequent sensations become associated with the idea of the primitive one, and modify the general rules abstracted by the intellect ; this is prudence. From the applicat on of rules to general ideas, result certain formula?, which arc afterwards adapted easily to particular cases ; this is called reasoning — ratiocination. A lively remembrance of primitive and associated sensations, and of the impressions of pleasure and pain that attach to them, constitutes imagination. One privileged being, Man, has the faculty of associating his general ideas with particular images more or less arbitrary, easily impressed upon the memory, and which serve to recall the general ideas which they represent. 'These associated images are 30 INTRODUCTION. what are called styns ; their assemblage is a language. When the language is com¬ posed of images that relate to the sense of hearing or sound, it is termed speech. When its images relate to that of sight, they are called hieroglyphics . Writing is a suite of images that relate to the sense of sight, by which we represent elementary sounds ; and, in combining them, all the images relative to the sense of hearing of which speech is composed : it is, therefore, only a mediate representation of ideas. This faculty of representing general ideas by particular signs or images associated with them, enables us to retain distinctly in the memory, and to recall without con¬ fusion, an immense number, and furnishes to the reasoning faculty and the imagina¬ tion innumerable materials, and to individuals the means of communication, which cause the whole species to participate in the experience of each individual ; so that no bounds seem to be placed to the acquisition of knowledge : this is the distinctive character of human intelligence.* The most perfect animals are infinitely below man in their intellectual faculties ; but it is, nevertheless, certain that their intelligence performs operations of the same kind. They move in consequence of sensations received, are susceptible of durable affections, and acquire by experience a certain knowledge of things, by which they are governed in¬ dependently of actual pain and pleasure, and by the simple foresight of consequences. f When domesticated, they feel their subordination, know that the being who punishes them may refrain from doing so if he will, and when sensible of having done wrong, or behold him angry, they assume a suppliant air. In the society of man they become either corrupted or improved, and are susceptible of emulation and jealousy : they have among themselves a natural language, which, it is true, expresses only their momentary sensations ; but man teaches them to understand another, much more complicated, by which he makes known to them his will, and causes them to execute it. In short, we perceive in the higher animals a certain degree of reason, with all its consequences, good and bad, and which appears to be about the same as that of chil¬ dren before they have learned to speak. In proportion as we descend to the animals more removed from man, these faculties become enfeebled ; and, in the lowest classes, we find them reduced to signs, at times equivocal only, of sensibility, that is to say, to a few slight movements to escape from pain. Between these two extremes, the degrees are endless. In a great number of animals, however, there exists a different faculty of intelli¬ gence, which is named instinct. This prompts them to certain actions necessary to the preservation of the species, but often altogether foreign to the apparent wants of individuals ; frequently, also, very complicated, and which, to be ascribed to intelligence, would suppose a foresight and knowledge in the species that execute them infinitely superior to what can be admitted. These actions, the result of instinct, are not the effect of imitation, for the individuals that perform them have often never seen them performed by others : they are not proportioned to the ordinary intelligence, but become more singular, more wise, more disinterested, in proportion as the animals belong to less elevated classes, and are, in all the rest of their actions, more dull and * Linnaeus defined the human being; to be a “ self-knowing animal i but it is doubtful whether any of them can mentally trace remote which is a bold assumption, taken either way. — Ed. causes, amid the complication of phenomena. It is with man in his f That is to say, they obviously remark coincidences and sequences ; | least civilized state that they should be compared. — Ed. INTRODUCTION. 31 stupid. They are so truly the property ot the species, that all its individuals perform them in the same way, without any improvement. Thus the working bees have always constructed very ingenious edifices, agreeably to the rules of the highest geometry, and destined to lodge and nourish a posterity not even their own. The wasps and the solitary bees also form very complicated nests, in which to deposit their eggs. From this egg issues a grub, which has never seen its parent, which is ignorant of the structure of the prison in which it is confined, but which, once metamorphosed, constructs another precisely similar. In order to have a clear idea of instinct, it is necessary to admit that these animals have innate and perpetual images or sensations in the sensorium, which induce them to act as ordinary and accidental sensations commonly do. It is a sort of dream or vision that ever haunts them, and may be considered, in all that relates to instinct, as a kind of somnambulism. Instinct has been granted to animals as a supplement for intelligence, to concur with it, and with force and fecundity, to the preservation, in a proper degree, of each species. There is no visible mark of instinct in the conformation of the animal ; but intelli¬ gence, so far as has been observed, is in constant proportion to the relative size of the brain, and particularly of its hemispheres.* OF METHOD, AS APPLIED TO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. After what we have said respecting methods in general, there remains to ascertain which are the most influential characters of animals, that should serve as the basis of their primary divisions. It is evident they should be those which are drawn from the animal functions ; that is to say, from the sensations and movements ; for not only do both these make the being an animal, but they establish, in a manner, its degree of animality. Observation confirms this position, by showing that their degrees of developement and complication accord with those of the organs of the vegetative functions. The heart and the organs of the circulation form a kind of centre for the vege¬ tative functions, as the brain and trunk of the nervous system do for the animal * One of the most curious phenomena of instinct is the transmission of instilled habits by generation, as in the instance of high-bred pointer and setter dogs, often requiring no training to fit them for their particular modes of indicating game. Propensities arc similarly hereditary in the human species ; but innate knowledge, as a substi¬ tute for individually acquired experience, is peculiar to brutes, which, for the most part, arc thrown upon their own resources, before they have had time or opportunities to gain the necessary information to sen e as a guide for the regulation of their conduct. All the higher aui- mals, except the human species, appear to recognize their natural foes intuitively, to know even where their hidden weapons lie, also where they (and likewise themselves) arc most vulnerable, aud they endea¬ vour to use their own peculiar weapons before these are developed. If Incapable of resistance, they commonly have recourse to stratagem ; thus a brood of newiy-hatched partridges will iustantly cower motion¬ less at sight of an object of distrust, the intent of which must be, that the close similarity of their colour to that of the surface should cause them to be overlooked. Predatory animals, again, which immolate victims capable of dangerous resistance, instinctively endeavour always to attack a vital part, so as to effect their purpose speedily, and with least hazard to themselves ; but those which prey on feeble and de fenceless animals attack indiscriminately. Many astonishing mani¬ festations of the instinctive faculty occur respecting the manner in which the food is obtained ; and In the ant and some rodent quadrupeds, which store up grain, the embryo of every seed is destroyed, to pre¬ vent germination. The seasonal migrative impulse which recurs in some animals is among the most incomprehensible of instinctive phenomena, as it is shown to be, in various cases, independent of food or temperature ; though the latter, in particular, exercises some influence uu its de- vclopcmcnt, as does also the state of the sexual organs in spring. The guiding principle of migration is equally mysterious,— that which enables a bird of passage to return periodically to its former haunts, to the same locality (both in winter and summer), which it had pre¬ viously occupied ; and the young also to the place of their nativity. This principle is farther evinced in the return of pigeons, Ac. to their accustomed place of abode from indefinite distances, and by a strnightcr and more direct route than that by which they had been removed. It appears, likewise, to be manifested in somnambulism, and. perhaps, in some other affections of the human body ; but the sexual aud parental instincts arc those which are chiefly cognisable in civilised man¬ kind. One curious fact connected with the migrative propensity is, that the same species is sometimes permanently resident in one locality, and migratory in another. Thus the robin, which is stationary in Britain, leaves Germany in the autumn ; which would seem to indi¬ cate that the erratic habit may have originated (in this instance) from necessity, aud in course of time have become regular and transmis¬ sible, Independently of external causes. Migratory animals, how¬ ever, may tommuuly be distinguished from others of the same gcuus, by their superior structural powers of locomotion.— Ep. 32 INTRODUCTION. functions. Now, we see these two systems degrade and disappear together. In the lowest of animals, where the nerves cease to be visible, there are no longer distinct fibres, and the organs of digestion are simply excavated in the homogeneous mass of the body. In insects, the vascular system disappears even before the nervous one ; but, in general, the dispersion of the medullary masses accompanies that of the muscular agents : a spinal chord, on which the knots or ganglions represent so many brains, corresponds to a body divided into numerous rings, and supported by pairs of members distributed along its length, &c. This correspondence of general forms, which results from the arrangement of the organs of motion, the distribution of the nervous masses, and the energy of the circu¬ lating system, should serve then for the basis of the primary sections to be made in the animal kingdom. We will afterwards ascertain, in each of these sections, what characters should succeed immediately to these, and form the basis of the primary subdivisions. GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM INTO FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS. If the animal kingdom be considered with reference to the principles which we have laid down, and, divesting ourselves of the prejudices founded on the divisions formerly admitted, we regard only the organization and nature of animals, and not their size, utility, the more or less knowledge which we have of them, nor any other accessory circumstances, it will be found that there exist four principal forms, four general plans, if it may be thus expressed, on which all animals appear to have been modelled, and the ulterior divisions of which, under whatever title naturalists may have designated them, are merely slight modifications, founded on the develope- ment or addition of certain parts, which produce no essential change in the plan itself. In the first of these forms, w'hich is that of man, and of the animals which most resemble him, the brain and the principal trunk of the nervous system are inclosed in a bony envelope, which is formed by the cranium and the vertebra : to the sides of this medial column are attached the ribs, and the bones of the limbs, which compose the framework of the body : the muscles generally cover the bones, the motions of which they produce, and the viscera are contained within the head and trunk. Animals of this form we shall denominate vertebrate animals ( Animalia vertehrata) . They have all red blood, a muscular heart, a mouth furnished with two jaws, placed one either before or above the other, distinct organs of sight, hearing, smell, and taste, situated in the cavities of the face ; never more than four limbs ; the sexes always separated ; and a very similar distribution of the medullary masses, and of the principal branches of the nervous system. On examining each of the parts of this great series of animals more closely, there may always be detected some analogy, even in those species which are most remote from one another ; and the gradations of one single plan may be traced from man to the last of fishes. In the second form there is no skeleton ; the muscles are attached only to the skin, INTRODUCTION. 33 which constitutes a soft, contractile envelope, in which, in many species, are formed stcliy plates, called shells, the production and position of which are analogous to that of the mucous body ; the nervous system is contained within this general envelope, together with the viscera, and is composed of several scattered masses, connected by nervous filaments, and of which the principal, placed over the oesophagus, bears the name of brain. Of the four senses, the organs of those of taste and vision only can be distinguished ; the latter of which are even frequently wanting. A single family alone presents organs of hearing. There is always, however, a complete system of circulation, and particular organs for respiration. Those of digestion and of the secre¬ tions are little less complicated than in the vertebrated animals. We will distinguish the animals of this second form by the appellation of Molluscous Animals ( Animalia mollusca). Although the general plan of their organization is not so uniform, as regards the external configuration of the parts, as that of the vertebrates, there is always an equal degree of resemblance between them in the essential structure and the functions. The third form is that observed in insects, worms, &c. Their nervous system con¬ sists of two long chords running longitudinally through the abdomen, dilated at inter¬ vals into knots or ganglions. The first of these knots, placed over the oesophagus, and called brain, is scarcely any larger than those which are along the abdomen, with which it communicates by filaments that encircle the oesophagus like a collar. 'The envelope of their trunk is divided by transverse folds into a certain number of rings, of which the teguments are sometimes hard, sometimes soft, but to the interior of which the muscles are always attached. The trunk often bears on its sides articulated limbs, but is frequently unfurnished with them. We will bestow on these animals the term Articulate Animals ( Animalia articulata). It is among these that the passage is observed from the circulation in closed vessels, to nutrition by imbibition, and the corresponding transition from respiration in cir¬ cumscribed organs, to that effected by tracheie or air-vessels distributed through the body. The organs of taste and vision are the most distinct in them, a single family alone presenting that of hearing. Their jaws, when they have any, are always lateral. Lastly, the fourth form, which embraces all those animals known under the name of Zoophytes, may be designated Radiate Animals ( Animalia radiata). In all the preceding, the organs of sense and motion are arranged symmetrically on the two sides of an axis. There is a posterior and an anterior dissimilar face. In this last division, they are disposed as rays round a centre ; and this is the case, even when they consist of but two series, for then the two faces are alike.* They approximate to the homogeneity of plants, having no very distinct nervous system, nor organs of particular senses : there can scarcely be perceived, in some of them, the vestiges of a • M. Agiislz hns expressed different opinion. See Radiata. — Ed. 34 INTRODUCTION.. circulation ; their respiratory organs are almost always on the surface of the body ; the greater number have only a sac without issue, for the whole intestine ; and the lowest families present only a sort of homogeneous pulp, endowed with motion and sensibility.* [“ The necessity,” writes Mr. Owen, “ for a dismemberment of the Radiata of Cuvier, which Rudolphi justly calls a chaotic groupt, has been felt, and directly or indirectly expressed, by most naturalists and comparative anatomists. J It is impossible, indeed, to predicate a com¬ munity of structure in either the locomotive, excretive, digestive, sensitive, or generative systems, with respect to this division, as it now stands in the Regne Animal. * * * “ Taking the nervous system as a guide, the Radiata of Cuvier will be found to resolve them¬ selves into two natural groups, of which the second differs in the absence or obscure traces of nervous filaments /rotn the higher division, in which these are always distinctly traceable, either radiating from an oral ring, or distributed in a parallel longitudinal direction, according to the form of the body. “ These different conditions of the nervous system are accompanied by corresponding modifications of the muscular, digestive, and vascular systems ; and a negative character, appli¬ cable to the higher division of Cuvier’s Radiata, may be derived from the generative system. ”§ It is only in the lower-organized of these divisions, to which the term Acrite Animals ( Animalia acrita ) has been applied by Macleay, also that of Protozoa and Oozoa by Carus (from the circumstance of its members being analogous to the ova or germs of the higher classes), that the alimentary cavity and sanguiferous canals are destitute of proper parietes, being simple excavations or passages in the granular pulp of the body : for in the Nematoneura (a name applied to the higher division of Cuvier’s Radiata by Owen), the digestive organ is provided with a proper muscular tunic, and floats in an abdominal cavity : and those classes which manifest a circulating system distinct from the diges¬ tive tube possess vessels with proper parietes, distinguishable into arteries and veins. No nematoneurous class presents an example of generation by spontaneous fision or gemmation, but these modes of reproduction are common in the acrite division. Some of the latter, however, are oviparous ; and in a few the sexes are separate.] • Before my time, modern naturalists divided all invertebrated ani- | these various classes under three grand divisions, each of which is inals into two classes, the Insects and Worms. I was the first to attack 1 comparable to that of the vertebrate animals, this method, and presented another division, in a Memoir read before the f Synopsis Entozoorum, p. 5/2. Natural History Society of Paris, on the 10th of May, 1795, and printed j J Lamarck observes : — “ The Apathetic Animals,” (as he terms the in the Decade Philosophique, in which I marked the characters and Acrita,) “ have been very improperly called Zot.phytes ; as their nature limits of the Mollusks, Crustaceans, Insects, Worms, Echinoderms, . is completely animal, and in no respect vegetable. The denomina. and Zoophytes. I distinguished the red-blooded worms, or Annelides, tion of Rayed Animals is also objectionable, as it applies only to a la a memoir read before the Institute on the 3lst of December, 1801. portion of them. — Anim. sans Vertibres, i. p. 890. And finally, in a Memoir read before the Institute in July, 1812, and I § Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, Alt. Acrita ; from which printed in the Annales du Mus. d'Hist. Nat., tom. six., 1 distributed the succeeuing passages are also abridged. — Eo. FIRST GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. THE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. The bodies and limbs of these being supported by a frame-work composed of connected pieces moveable upon each other, they have the more precision and vigour in their movements : the solidity of this support permits of their attaining considerable size, and it is among them that the largest animals are found. Their more concentrated nervous system, and the greater volume of its central portions, impart more energy and more stability to their sentiments, whence result superior intelligence and perfectibility. Their body always consists of a head, trunk, and members. The head is formed hy the cranium, which incloses the brain, and by the face, which is composed of the two jaws and the receptacles of the organs of sense. Their trunk is supported by the spine of the back and the ribs. The spine is composed of vertebra moveable upon each other, of which the first supports the head, and which have an annular perforation, forming together a canal, wherein is lodged that medullary production from which the nerves arise, and which is called the spinal marrow. The spine, most commonly, is continued into a tail, P'S- extending beyond the hinder limbs. The ribs are semicircles, which protect the sides of the cavity of the trunk : they are articulated at one extremity to the vertebrae, and are ordinarily attached in front to the breast-bone ; but sometimes they only partly encircle the trunk, and there are genera in which they are hardly visible. There are never more than two pairs of limbs ; but sometimes one or the other is wanting, or even both : their forms vary according to the movements which they have to execute. The anterior limbs may be organized as hands, feet, wings, or fins ; the posterior as feet, or instruments for swimming. d 2 36 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. i The blood is always red, and appears to have a composition proper for sustaining that energy of sentiment and vigour of muscles, but in different degrees, which correspond to the amount of respiration, from which originates the subdivision of the vertebrate animals into four classes. The external senses are always five in number, and reside in two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the teguments of the tongue, and those of the body generally. Certain species, however, have the eyes obliterated. The nerves reach the medulla through perforations of the vertebra;, or of the cra¬ nium : they all seem to unite with this medulla, which, after crossing its filaments, expands to form the various lobes of which the brain is composed, and terminates in the two medullary arches ( v6utes ) termed hemispheres, the volume of which corre¬ sponds to the amount of intelligence. There are always two jaws, the principal motion of which is in the lower one, which rises and falls ; the upper is oftentimes entirely fixed : both of them are almost always armed with teeth, excrescences of a peculiar nature, the chemical composition of which is very similar to that of bone, but which grows by layers and transudations ; one entire class, however, (that of birds,) has the jaws invested with horn*, and the group of tortoises, in the class of reptiles, is in the same predicament. The intestinal canal is continued from the mouth to the anus, undergoing various inflexions, and several enlargements and contractions ; having also appendages, and receiving solvent fluids, one of which, the saliva, is discharged into the mouth : the others, which flow into the intestine only, have various names ; the two principal are the juices of the gland called the pancreas [or sweet-bread] , and the bile [or gall], which is the product of another very large gland, named the liver. While the digested aliment is traversing its canal, that portion of it which is proper for nutrition, and is termed the chyle, is absorbed by particular vessels, named lacteals, and carried into the veins ; the residue of the nutriment of the parts is also carried into the veins by vessels analogous to the lacteals, and forming with them one same system, designated the lymphatic system. f The veins return to the heart the blood which has served to nourish the parts, to¬ gether with the chyle and lymph with which it has been renewed ; but this blood is obliged to pass, either wholly or in part, into the organ of respiration, to regain its arterial nature, previous to being again dispersed over the system by the arteries. In the three first classes, this organ of respiration consists of lungs, that is, an assemblage of cells into which air penetrates. In fishes only, and in some reptiles while young, it consists of gills, or a series of laminse between which water passes. In all the vertebrate animals, the blood which furnishes the liver with the materials of the bile is venous blood, which has circulated partly in the parietes of the intestines, and partly in a peculiar body named the spleen, and which, after being united in a trunk called the vena porta, is again subdivided at the liver. canals in the horny sheath, subsequently formed, which contain a softer material, and which commence from small foramina in the mar¬ gin of the bone. In certain other birds (as the Mergansers) also, the lateral edges of the bill are provided with horny processes or lamin* secreted by distinct pulps, and analogous in this respect to the whale¬ bone laminae of the Whales, which are toothless Mammalia, as are also the ant eaters and Monvtremutu : it is further remarkable that the rudiments of dentition occur in the foetus of the toothless Whales. — Eu. f The lymphatic vessels are also the media of cutaneous transuda¬ tion. — Kr>. * M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire has described a structure in the bill of birds which presents some approach to a dentary system. In a foetus of a Parroquet nearly ready for hatching, he found that the margius of the bill were beset with tubercles arranged in a regular order, and having all the exterior appearance of teeth ; these tubercles were not, indeed, implanted in the jaw-bones, but formed part of the exterior sheath of he bill. Under each tubercle, however, there was a gelatinous pulp, analogous to the pulps which secrete teeth, but resting on the edge of the maxillary bones, and every pulp was supplied by vessels and nerves traversing a canal in the substance of the bone. These tubercles form the first margins of the mandibles, and their remains are indicated by VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. 37 All these animals have a particular secretion, which is that of urine, and which i> elaborated in two large glands attached to the sides of the spine of the back, and called kidneys : the liquid which these glands secrete, accumulates most commonly in a reservoir named the bladder. The sexes are separate, and the female has always one or two ovaries, from wind the eggs are detached at the instant of conception. The male fecundates them with the seminal fluid ; but the mode varies greatly. In most of the genera of the three first classes, it requires an intromission of the fluid ; in some reptiles, and in most oi the fishes, it takes place after the exit of the eggs. SUBDIVISION OF TIIE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS INTO FOUR CLASSES. We have seen to what extent vertebrate animals resemble each other : they present, however, four great subdivisions or classes, characterized by the kind or power of their movements, which depend themselves on the quantity of respiration, inasmuch as it is from this respiration that the muscular fibres derive the energy of their irritability The quantity of respiration depends upon two agents : the first is the relative quantity of blood which presents itself in the respiratory organ in a given instant of time ; the second, the relative amount of [free] oxygen which enters into the com¬ position of [or is dispersed through] the ambient fluid. The quantity of the former depends upon the disposition of the organs of respiration and of circulation. The organs of the circulation may be double, so that all the blood which is brought back from the various parts of the body by the veins, is forced to circulate through the respiratory organ before returning by the arteries ; or they may be simple, so that a portion only of the blood is obliged to pass through the respiratory organ, the re¬ mainder returning to the body without having been subjected to respiration. The latter is the case with reptiles. The amount of their respiration, and all the qualities which depend on it, vary according to the quantity of blood which is thrown into the lungs at each pulsation. Fishes have a double circulation, but their organ of respiration is formed to execute its function through the medium of water ; and their blood is only acted upon by that small portion of oxygen which is dissolved or mingled in water ; so that the quantity of their respiration is, perhaps, less than that of reptiles. In mammalians, the circulation is double, and the aerial respiration simple, that is, it is performed in the lungs only : their quantity of respiration is, therefore, superior to that of reptiles, on account of the form of their respiratory organ, and to that of fishes, from the nature of their surrounding medium. But the quantity of respiration in birds is even superior to that of quadrupeds, since they have not only a double circulation and an aerial respiration, but also respire by many other cavities besides the lungs, the air penetrating throughout their bodies, and bathing the branches of the aorta, or main artery of the body, as well as those of the pulmonary artery.* Hence result the four kinds of progression to which the four classes of the vertebrate animals are more particularly destined. The quadrupeds, in which the quantity of • In Datrachian reptiles (frogs, newts, ftc.), respiration is to s certain extent performed over the whole outer skin ; which, on this •crouut, requires to be always moist. Hence, at there can he no muscular action without previous respiration, the chemical change effected by which is needed to dcvelopc the requisite nervous or vital energy, those animals of this group which in the adult state have lungs and not gills, but which pass the winter In a torpid slate under water, a re enabled to resuscitate lu spring — Ko. 38 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. respiration is moderate, are generally rormea to walk and run with precision and vigour ; the birds, in which it is greater, have the muscular energy and lightness necessary for flight ; the reptiles, where it is diminished, are condemned to creep, and many of them pass a portion of their life in a state of torpor ; the fishes, in fine, to execute their movements, require to be supported in a fluid specifically almost as heavy as themselves.* All the circumstances of organization proper to each of these four classes, and especially those which refer to motion and the external senses, have a necessary relation with these essential characters. The class of mammalians, however, has peculiar characters in its viviparous mode of generation, in the manner in which the foetus is nourished in the womb by means of the placenta, and in the mammse by which they suckle their young. The other classes are, on the contrary, oviparous ; and if we place them together, in opposition to the first, there will be perceived numerous resemblances which announce, on their part, a special plan of organization, subordinate to the great general plan of all the vertebrates. THE FIRST CLASS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. MAMMALIA. i i Mammalians require to be placed at the head of the animal kingdom, not only because this is the class to which we ourselves belong, but also because it is that which enjoys the most numerous faculties, the most delicate sensations, the most varied powers of motion, and in which all the different qualities seem together combined to produce a more perfect degree of intelligence, — the one most fertile in resources, most susceptible of perfection, and least the slave of instinct. As their quantity of respiration is moderate, they are in general designed for walking on the ground, but with vigorous and continued steps. Consequently, all the articula¬ tions of their skeleton have very precise forms, which rigorously determine their motions. Some of them, however, by means of lengthened limbs and extended membranes, raise themselves in the air ; others have the limbs so shortened, that they can employ them with effect only in water ; but they do not the more on this account lose the general characters of the class. * To descend to particular cases, however, it would appear that species may be framed on almost every type, even very subordinate types, for any particular mode of life. Thus, to illustrate briefly, the bats, which are true mammalians, are modified for aerial progression like birds ; and the whales, other mammalians, have a fish-like exterior, being designed to live exclusively in water : so there are birds which are utterly incapable of flight ; some, as the ostrich, adapted to scour the plains, like a quadruped ; others, as the penguins, whose only sphere of activity is in the water: the pterodactyle affords an ex- I ample of a genus of flying reptiles, the fossil remains of which only I have been discovered. Descending to lower groups, we find among I birds, a genus of thrushes [Cinclus), which seeks its subsistence under ! water; and another of totipalmate water-fowl (Tachypetes) , which neither swims nor dives. Such deviations, however, from the general ! character of their allied genera, have no intrinsical relation to the groups which they approximate in habit, — nought that can be regarded as an intentional or designed representation of them, as has some¬ times been imagined : for it is evident, that if species based on two different plans of organization are respectively modified to perform the same office in the economy of nature, they must necessarily re¬ semble, to a certain extent, superficially, as a consequence of that adaptation ; while there are many cases also in each class which can¬ not well be represented in some others, as that of the mole among quadrupeds, which has no counterpart or correspondent group in the class of birds. Habit, or mode of life, has indeed nothing whatever to do with the physiological relations of organisms, which afford the only legitimate basis of classification ; and those special modifications to particular habits, which, occurring alike in any class, superinduce a resemblance in superficial characters only, constitute what has been well distinguished by the term analogy , as opposed to ajfinity. — Ed. MAMMALIANS. 39 They have all the upper jaw fixed to the skuII, and the lower composed of two pieces only, articulated by a projecting condyle to a fixed temporal bone ; the neck consists of seven vertebra;, one single species excepted, which has nine*; the anterior ribs are attached in front, by cartilage, to a sternum formed of a certain number of pieces placed in a row ; their fore-limb commences in a blade-bone, which is not articulated, but merely suspended in the flesh, often resting on the sternum by means of an intermediate bone, called a clavicle. This extremity is continued by an arm, a fore-arm, and a hand, the last composed of two ranges of small bones, called a wrist or carpus, of another range of bones termed metacarpus, and of digits or fingers, each of which consists of two or three bones, named phalanges. Excepting the Cetacea, they have all the first part of the hinder extremity fixed to the spine, and forming a girdle or pelvis, which, in youth, consists of three pairs of bones, — the ilium, which is attached to the spine, the pubis, which forms the fore part of the girdle, and the ischium, which constitutes the hind part. At the point of union of these three bones is situate the cavity with which the thigh is articulated, to which, in its turn, is attached the leg, formed of two bones, the tibia and fibula : this extremity is terminated by the foot, which is composed of parts analogous to those of the hand, namely, a tarsus, metatarsus, and digits or toes. The head of mammalians is always articulated bv two condyles upon the atlas, or first vertebra. Their brain is composed of two hemispheres, united by a medullar)’ layer termed the corpus callosum, containing two ventricles, and enveloping the four pairs of tuber¬ cles named the corpora striata, the thalami nervorum opticorum, or beds of the optic nerves, and the nates and testes. Between the optic beds is a third ventricle, which communicates with a fourth situated under the cerebellum, the crura of which always form a transverse prominence under the medulla oblongata, called the pons Varolii. Their eye, invariably lodged in its orbit, is protected by two lids and a vestige of a third, and has its crystalline fixed by the ciliary process and its simply cellular sclero¬ tica [or white]. In their ear, there is always found a cavity named the drum, or tympanum, which communicates with the back part of the mouth, by a canal termed the trumpet, or Eustachian tube : the cavity itself is closed externally by a membrane called the membrana tympani, and contains a chain of four little bones, named the hammer, anvil, orbicular, and stirrup bones ; a vestibule, on the entrance of which rests the stirrup- bone, and which communicates with three semicircular canals ; and, finally, a cochlea, which terminates by one passage in the drum, and by another in the vestibule. Their cranium subdivides into three portions : the anterior is formed by the two frontal and the ethmoidal bones ; the middle, by the parietal bones and the sphenoidal ; • The sloth in alluded to, In which, however, distinct rudiments of ribs lire attached to the eighth si •> ninth *• sbuwn in the above figure (rf» 4) ; so that, in realitv, this constitutes no exception to the nniver al rule. — Ks. Fiff. 2. 40 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. and the posterior, by the occipital. Between the occipital, the parietal, and the sphe¬ noidal, are interposed the temporal bones, part of which belong properly to the face. In the foetus, the occipital bone divides into four parts ; the sphenoidal into halves, which subdivide into three pairs of lateral wings ; the temporal into three, of which one serves to complete the cranium, another to close the labyrinth of the ear, and the third to form the parietes of its drum, &c. These bony portions [centres of ossifica¬ tion], which are still more numerous in the earliest period of foetal existence, are united more or less promptly, according to the species, and the bones themselves be¬ come finally consolidated in the adult.* Their face is essentially formed by the two maxillary bones, between which pass the nostrils, and which have the two intermaxillaries in front, and the two palate bones behind ; between them descends a single lamina of the ethmoidal bone, named the vomer; at the entrance of the nasal canal are the bones proper to the nose ; to its external parietes adhere the inferior turbinated bones, which occupy its upper and posterior portion, belonging to the ethmoidal. The jugal or cheek bone unites on each side the maxillary to the temporal bone, and often to the frontal ; lastly, the lachrymal bone occupies the inner angle of the orbit, and sometimes a part of the cheek. These bones also present more numerous subdivisions in the embryo. Their tongue is always fleshy, and attached to a bone termed the hyoidal, which is composed of several pieces, and suspended from the cranium by ligaments. Their lungs, two in number, divided into lobes, and composed of an infinitude of cells, are always inclosed without adhesion in a cavity formed by the ribs and diaphragm, and lined by the pleura; their organ of voice is always at the upper end of the windpipe ; a fleshy elongation, called the velum palati, establishes a direct com¬ munication between their larynx and nostrils. Their residence on the surface of the earth exposing them less to the alternations of heat and cold, their body has only a moderate kind of tegument, the hair or fur, and even this is commonly scanty in those of hot climates. f The cetaceans, which live entirely in water, are the only ones that are altogether deprived of it. The abdominal cavity is lined with a membrane called the peritonaeum ; and their intestinal canal is suspended to a fold of it, termed the mesentery, which contains numerous conglomate glands, in which the lacteal vessels ramify : another production of the peritonaeum, named the epiploon, hangs in front of and under the intestines. The urine, retained for some time in the bladder, is discharged, in the two sexes, with very few exceptions, by orifices in the organs of generation. In all mammalians, generation is essentially viviparous ; that is to say, the foetus, immediately after conception, descends, [gradually] into the matrix, inclosed in its envelopes, the exterior of which is named chorion, and the interior amnios ; it fixes itself to the parietes of this cavity by one or more plexus of vessels, termed the placenta, which establishes a communication between it and the mother, by which it receives its nourishment, and probably also its oxygenation ; notwithstanding which, * Here it may be remarked that, descending in the series of verte- cessively assuming the conditions of this organ in fishes, reptiles, brates, the same is observable as in ascending to fcetal life in the birds, the lower and then higher groups of mammalians. — Ed. higher groups ; the progress of developement, in this and other re- f In some monkeys from Sierra Leone, the most torrid region in the spects, being arrested at different stages of advancement, according j world, the hair is much elongated, but thin and coarse, as if designed to the class, order, and species : the brain for instance, in man, sue- I to protect them from the solar rays. — E». MAMMALIA. 41 the foetus of mammalians, at an early penod, has a vessel analogous to that which contains the yolk in the oviparous classes, receiving, in like manner, vessels from the mesentery. It has also another external bladder named the allantoid, which communi¬ cates with the urinary one by a canal termed the urachus. Conception always requires an effectual coitus, in which the fecundating fluid of the male is thrown into the uterus of the female. The young are nourished for some time after birth by a fluid peculiar to this class (the milk), which is produced by the mammae, at the time of parturition, and for as long a period as the young require it. It is from the mammae that this class derives its name, and, being a character peculiar to it, they distinguish it better than any other that is external.* DIVISION OF THE CLASS OF MAMMALIA INTO ORDERS. The variable characters which establish essential differences among the mammalia are taken from the organs of touch, on w'hich depends their degree of ability or address, and from the organs of manducation, which determine the nature of their food, and are connected together, not only with all that relates to the digestive func¬ tion, but also with a multitude of other differences extending even to their intelligence. The degree of perfection of the organs of touch is estimated by the number and the mobility of the fingers, and from the greater or less extent to which their extremities are enveloped by the nail or the hoof. A hoof which envelopes all that portion of the toe which touches the ground, blunts its sensibility, and renders the foot incapable of seizing. The opposite extreme is where a nail, formed of a single lamina, covers only one of the faces of the extremity of the finger, and leaves the other possessed of all its delicacy. The nature of the food is known by the grinders, to the form of which the articula¬ tion of the jaws universally corresponds. For cutting flesh, grinders are required as trenchant as a saw, and jaws fitted like sc’ssors, which have no other motion than a vertical one. For bruising grain or roots, flat-crowned grinders are necessary, and jaws that have a lateral motion : in order that the crowns of these teeth should always be irregular, as in a mill, it is further requisite that their substance should be formed of parts of unequal hardness, so that some may wear away faster than others. Hoofed animals are all necessarily herbivorous, and have flat-crowned grinders, in¬ asmuch as their feet preclude the possibility of their seizing a living prey. Animals with unguiculated fingers are susceptible of more variety ; their food is of all kinds : and, independently of the form of their grinders, they differ greatly from each other in the mobility and delicacy of their fingers. There is one character with respect to this, which has immense influence on their dexterity, and greatly multiplies its powers ; it is the faculty of opposing the thumb to the other fingers for the purpose of seizing small objects, constituting what is properly termed a hand ; a faculty which • Wc shall find, however, in the sequel some doubts on this sub¬ ject, At regards the family of Monotretnata. [Thc*e doubts have since been removed, inasmuch as the lacteal glands have been dc tccted, with their secretion ; though, as in the cetaceans, there appear to be no nipples, simple pressure alone causing the fluid to exude. In the class of birds, a lacteal fluid is secreted by the crops of the parrots and pigeons, which is disgorged iuto the throats of the young when newly hatched. — Ed ] 42 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. is carried to its highest perfection in Man, in whom the wnole anterior extremity is free, and capable of prehension. These various combinations, which rigidly determine the nature of the different mammalians, have given rise to the following orders : — Among the unguiculates the first is Man, who, besides being privileged in all other respects, has hands to the anterior extremities only ; his hinder limbs support him in an erect position. In the order next to Man, — that of the Quadrumana, there are hands to the four extremities. Another order, that of the Carnaria, has not the thumb free and opposable to the other fingers* These three orders have each the three sorts of teeth, namely, grinders, canines, and incisors. A fourth, that of the Rodentia, in which the toes differ little from those of the Carnaria, is without the canines, and the incisors are placed in front of the mouth, and adapted to a very peculiar sort of manducation. Then come those animals whose toes are much cramped, and deeply sunk in large nails, which are generally curved ; and which have further the imperfection of want¬ ing the incisors. Some of them are also without canines, and there are others which have no teeth at all. We comprehend them all under the name Edentata. This distribution of the unguiculated animals would be perfect, and form a very regular series, were it not that New Holland has lately furnished us with a small collateral series, composed of the pouched animals [Marsufiata], the different genera of which are connected together by the aggregate of their organization, although in their teeth, and in the nature of their regimen, some correspond to the Carnaria , others to the Rodentia, and others, again, to the Edentata. The hoofed animals are less numerous, and have likewise fewer irregularities. The Ruminantia compose an order very distinct, which is characterized by its cloven feet, by the absence of the incisors to the upper jaw, and by having four stomachs., All the other hoofed animals may be left together in a single order, which I shall call Paciiydermata or Jumenta, the Elephant excepted, which might constitute a separate one, having some distant relation to that of Rodentia. Lastly, those mammalians remain which have no posterior extremities, and whose fish-like form and aquatic mode of life would induce us to form them into a particular class, if it were not that all the rest of their economy is precisely the same as in that wherein we leave them. These are the warm-blooded fishes of the ancients, or the Cetacea, which, uniting to the vigour of the other mammalians the advantage of being sustained in the watery element, include among them the most gigantic of all animals. [Linneeus reduced all mammalians to three great groups, Unguiculata, Ungulata, and Mutica ; terms which are at least convenient for their expressiveness, although the groups they represent intergrade, and in some instances invade each other, if too rigorously accepted. His order Primates, as extended to the Bimana, Quadrumana, and Cheiroptera of Cuvier, receives the approbation of most naturalists ; few regard the last as subordinate to the Carnaria, which is equivalent to Primates. Viewing Man zoologically, opinion is divided respecting the propriety of assigning MAMMALIA. 43 him a separate ordinal station ; his rudimental structure according so nearly with that of the Quadrumana, of which type he presents the modification for ground habits and an upright attitude ; his more highly developed brain is merely a difference in degree. Conceding this much, he would require to be admitted into the same particular group as all other mammalians based on the same next general plan of structure to that of the entire class ; which special type is externally distinguished by pecu¬ liarities in the sexual organs, a system of organs of all others the least subject to be influenced by the general modification in reference to habit. It is thus that, after being necessarily included among the Mammalia, Man must next range with the other handed animals and the Bats, in a particular subdivision, which Linnaeus has named Primates. * There would appear to be four distinct major groups of Primates : — the Catarrhini, composed of the Apes, Monkeys, and Baboons of the eastern hemisphere ; the Platyrrhini, consisting of the anthropoid animals of America; the Strepsirrhini, or Lemurs (including Galccopithccus , and, perhaps, Cheiromys ) ; and the Cheiroptera, or Bats, which last, varying most essentially in their dentition, according as they are frugivorous, sanguivorous, or insectivorous, afford a decisive proof that the dentary system alone, like any other single character considered apart from the rest, fails to supply an invariable indication of the affinities of an animal (as has sometimes been stated). We perceive no sufficient reason why the genus Homo should not range at the head of the Catarrhini, though as a distinct family — Homi/iida, as opposed to Simiadce ; in accordance wherewith, the Primates present a tolerable series, from the summit of the animal kingdom to forms that are rather low in the class of mammalians. An analogous gradation is exhibited by the second grand division, which De Blain- ville has designated Secundates ; it is the Carnaria of Cuvier divested of the Bats. We prefer the latter appellation, as more in unison with the names of the succeeding orders ; and for the same reason would substitute Prirnaria for Primates. Our illustrious author, with a view to present some approximation to a linear suc¬ cession, has arranged the present series inversely, commencing with those least elevated in the scale, or the Insectivora. To this we cannot accede, as virtually implying an exploded principle. Considered as a carnivorous group, the Feline animals must be selected as the standard — most characteristic example* — of the order ; but in its totality, without reference to especial modifications, the Dog has better claim to be placed at the head. Some curious analogies accordingly present themselves between the respectively highest animals of the two first orders. As a general, perhaps universal rule obtaining in consecutive groups when sufficiently extensive, the summit of the inferior displays a higher organization than the terminal members of the superior f ; and this sometimes in a very remarkable degree, as shown in the present instance. A sort of parallelism may also frequently be observed between such members of two different ordirnd types as are of a corresponding degree of eleva¬ tion in the scale of being : thus, the Shrews present certain characters of the Rodentia, without linking with them. It is on this principle, we suspect, that transitions appear to occur in some instances, from one great type of structure to another ; and a key is hereby supplied to the proper understanding of much that seems otherwise inexplicable. • The word twpe la often employed in this aei.se : we icnieuhal uiiTcrcnt one. it in a t A proposition which la i shown by his remarks 01 nnctloncd hr the acquiescence of Cuvier, linear arraii|;i incut Vide preface, p. . 44 MAMMALIA. We have seen, in the Primaria, that particular plan of conformation so modified as to enable certain species to fly : in the Carnaria, the Seals afford an example of exclusive adaptation to aquatic habits. It could only have been the desire to maintain a sort of continuous succession, as in the former instance, which induced our author to range the Marsupiata next to the Carnaria ; for they are unquestionably the lowest-organized of mammalians, whence their intrusion so high in the system of the class furnishes another proof of the impropriety of allowing undue importance to particular characters. An order which has a better claim to succeed the Carnaria, is that of the fish-like mammalians, or Cetacea ; but, divested of the herbivorous genera ranged in it by Cuvier, which are strict Pachydermata. (It is scarcely necessary to repeat, that modifications which have reference to habit do not necessarily affect the essential relations of organisms). The Pachydermata follow, which, in their turn, must not be regarded as more nearly related to the last, because certain genera of them are analogously adapted for aquatic habits only. We feel compelled to reiterate this general principle, in order to preclude misconception ; the sound inference seems to be, that a tendency to general modification for aquatic habits prevails in this part of the system ; which certainly helps to indicate what orders should be placed in contiguity, though still not of necessity, even admitting that many analogous cases may be cited in corroboration of a vague index being thus afforded.* We prefer to arrange the Ruminantia next to the Pachydermata ; then the Edentata, and the Rodent ia ; and last of all the Marsupiata, including the Monotremata of Cuvier, the formerly doubtful points concerning which are now, with slight reservation, finally set at rest. It will be perceived that this arrangement is tolerably in accordance with the ordinary cerebral developement, and consequent amount of intelligence, of the eight successive orders. Passing on to the Birds, we commence with a higher intellect (in the Parrots) than is manifested in either of the last three, or, perhaps, four orders ; which agrees with the general proposition stated at p. 43.] .TIE FIRST ORDER OF MAMMALIANS. BIMANA, OR MAN. Man forms but one genus, and that genus the only one of its order. As his history is more directly interesting to ourselves, and forms the standard of comparison to which we refer that of other animals, we will treat of it more in detail. We will rapidly sketch whatever Man offers, that is peculiar in each of his organic systems, amidst all that he has in common with other mammalians ; we will describe his principal races and their distinctive characters ; and finally point out the natural order of the developement of his faculties, both individual and social. • For an instance in point, our remarks on certain conformities of structure observable in the two groups 0f Parrots and Hawks. BIMANA, OR MAN. 45 / PECULIAR CONFORMATION OF MAN. The foot of Man is very different from that of Apes : it is large ; the leg bears vertically upon it ; the heel is expanded beneath ; his toes are short, and but slightly flexible ; the great toe, longer and larger than the rest, is placed on the same line with and cannot be opposed to them. This foot, then, is proper for supporting the body, but cannot be used for seizing or climbing*, and as the hands are unfitted for walking, Man is the only animal truly bimanous and biped. The whole body of Man is modified for the vertical position. His feet, as we have already seen, furnish him with a larger base than those of other mammalians ; the muscles which re¬ tain the foot and thigh in the state of extension are more vigorous, whence results the swelling of the calf and buttock ; the flexors of the leg are attached higher up, which permits of com¬ plete extension of the knee, and renders the calf more apparent. The pelvis is larger, which separates the thighs and feet, and gives to the trunk that pyramidal form favourable to equi¬ librium : the necks of the thigh-bones form an angle with the body of the hone, which increases still more the separation of the feet, and augments the basis of the body. Finally, the head, in this vertical position, is in eauilibrium with the trunk, because its articulation is exactly under the middle of its mass. Were he to desire it, Man could not, with convenience, walk on all fours : his short and nearly inflexible foot, and his long thigh, would bring the knee to the ground ; his widely sepa¬ rated shoulders and his arms, too far extended from the median line, would ill support the fore-part of his body ; the great indented muscle which, in quadrupeds, suspends the trunk between the blade-bones as a girth, is smaller in Man than in any one among them ; the head is heavier, on account of the magnitude of the brain, and the smallness of the sinuses or cavi¬ ties of the bones ; and yet the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical ligament, nor are the vertebrae so modified as to prevent their flexure forward ; he could therefore only maintain his head in the same line with the spine, and then, his eyes and mouth being directed towards the ground, he could not see before him ; the position of these organs is, on the contrary, quite perfect, supposing that he walks erectly. The arteries which supply his brain, not being subdivided as in many quadrupeds, and the blood requisite for so voluminous an organ being carried to it with too much violence, fre¬ quent apoplexies would be the consequence of a horizontal position. Man, then, is designed to be supported by the feet only. lie thus preserves the entire use of his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most favorably situated for observa¬ tion. These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive as many more from their structure. Their thumb, longer in proportion than in the apes, increases the facility of seizing small objects; all the fingers, except the annularis [and this to a certain extent], have separate movements, which is not the case in any other animal, not even in the apes. The nails, covering only one side of the extremities of the fingers, form a support to the touch, without in the least depriving it of its delicacy. The arms which support these hands have a solid attachment by their large blade-bone, their strong collar bone, &c. Man, so highly favoured as to dexterity, is not so with regard to strength. Ilis swiftness in running is much inferior to that of other animals of his size ; having neither projecting jaws, nor salient canine teeth, nor crooked nails, he is destitute of offensive armature; and the sides and upper part of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, he is absolutely • It is certain, however, that bv much practice from early youth, J with the anterior extremities imperfect, have illustrated this praeti* the foot lias been known to acquire an amount of dexterity in mnnunl I cahility the most remarkably. The influence of habit in training even operations, which it would not have been supposed capable of by those the band to perform its functions, will be appreciated by those who wh"*e feet have been enveloped from the time they first walked in cannot use their left hand with the same freedom as the right. — Ko. close investments. Individuals, in particular, who have been burn • 46 MAMMALIA. without defensive weapons: lastly, lie is of all animals that which is latest to acquire the power necessary to provide for himself. But this weakness even has been for him another advantage, in obliging him to have re¬ course to those internal means — to that intelligence which has been awarded to him in so high a degree. No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the hemispheres of the brain, that is to say, of that part of this organ which is the principal instrument of the intel¬ lectual operations ; the posterior portion of the same organ extends backwards, so as to form a second covering to the cerebellum ; even the form of the cranium announces this great size of the brain, as the smallness of the face shows how slightly that portion of the nervous system which influences the external senses predominates in him. These external senses, however, moderate as they all are in Man, are yet extremely delicate and well balanced. His two eyes are directed forwards; he does not see on two sides at once, like many quadru¬ peds, which produces more unity in the result of his vision, and concentrates his attention more closely on objects of this kind. The ball and iris of his eye vary but little, which re¬ strains the activity of his sight to limited distances, and to a determined degree of light. The conch of his ear, possessing but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of sounds, notwithstanding which, of all animals, he best distinguishes their intonation. His nostrils, more complicated than those of apes, are less so than those of all other genera ; and yet he appears to be the only animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected by unpleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must influence that of taste ; and Man must have a further advantage, in this respect, at least over those animals vyhose tongues are covered with scales. Lastly, the nicety of his touch results, both from the delicacy of his teguments and the absence of all insensible parts, as well as from the the form of his hand, which is better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting itself to all the small inequalities of surfaces. Man has a particular pre-eminence in his organ of voice : of all mammalians, he can alone articulate sounds; the form of his mouth and the great mobility of his lips being probably the cause of this. Hence results his most invaluable mode of communication ; for of all the signs which can be conveniently employed for the transmission of ideas, variations of sound are those which can be perceived at the greatest distance, and in the most various di- ections simultaneously. It seems that even the position of the heart and of the great vessels bears reference to the vertical carriage. The heart is placed obliquely on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to the left, thereby occasioning a distribution of the aorta differing from that of most quadrupeds. The natural food of Man, judging from his structure, appears to consist principally of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables. His hands afford every facility for gathering them ; his short and but moderately strong jaws on the one hand, and his canines being equal only in length to the other teeth, together with his tuberculated molars on the other, would scarcely permit him either to masticate herbage, or to devour flesh, were these condiments not previously prepared by cooking. Once, however, possessed of fire, and those arts by which he is aided in seizing animals or killing them at a distance, every living being was rendered subservient to his nourishment, thereby giving him the means of an indefinite multiplication of his species. Ilis organs of digestion are in conformity with those of manducation ; his stomach is simple, his intestinal canal of mean length, his great intestines well marked, his eoecum short and thick, and augmented by a small appendage, and his liver divided only into two lobes and one small one ; his epiploon hangs in front of the intestines, and extends into the pelvis. To complete this abridged statement of the anatomical structure of Man, necessary for this BIMANA, OR MAN. 47 Introduction, we will add, that lie has thirty-two vertebrae, of which seven belong to the neck, twelve to the back, five to the loins, five to the sacrum, and three to the coccyx. Of his ribs, seven pairs are united to the sternum by elongated cartilages, and are called true ribs ; the five following pairs are denominated false ones. Ilis adult cranium consists of eight bones; an occipital ( occipito-basilaire ) ; two temporal ; two parietal ; a frontal ; an ethmoidal, and a sphenoidal. The bones of his face are fourteen in number; namely, two maxillaries; two jugals, each of which joins the temporal to the maxillary bone of its own side by a sort of handle named the zygomatic arch ; two nasal bones ; two palatines, behind the palate ; a vomer, between the nostrils ; two turbinated hones of the nose in the nostrils ; two lachrymals in the inner angles of the orbits, and the single bone of the lower jaw. Each jaw has sixteen teeth : four cutting incisors in the middle, two pointed canines at the corners, and ten molars with tuberculated crowns, five on each side, in all thirty-two teeth. Ilis blade-bone has at the extremity of its spine or projecting ridge a tuberosity, named the acromion, to which the clavicle or collar-bone is connected, and over its articulation is a point termed the coracoid process, to which certain muscles are attached. The radius turns completely on the cubitus or ulna, owing to the mode of its articulation with the humerus. The wrist has eight hones, four in each range ; the tarsus has seven ; those of the remaining parts of the hand and foot mav be easily counted by the number of digits. Enjoying, by means of his industry, uniform supplies of nourishment, Man is at all times inclined to sexual intercourse, without being ever furiously incited. Ilis generative organ is not supported bv a bony axis ; the prepuce does not retain it attached to the abdomen ; but it hangs in front of the pubis : numerous and large veins, which effect a rapid transfer of the blood of his testes to the general circulation, appear to contribute to the moderation of his desires. The uterus of woman is a simple oval cavity ; her mammae, only two in number, are situated on the breast, and correspond with the facility she possesses of supporting her child upon her arm. PHYSICAL AND MORAL DEVELOPEMENT OF MAN. The ordinary produce of the human species is hut one child at a birth ; for in five hundred cases of parturition, there is only one of twins, and more than that number is extremely rare. The period of gestation is nine months. A foetus of one month is ordinarily an inch in height ; at two months, it is two inches and a quarter ; at three months, five inches ; at five months, six or seven inches ; at seven months, eleven inches ; and at nine months, eighteen inches. Those which are born prior to the seventh month usually die. The first or milk teeth begin to appear a few months after birth, commencing with the incisors. The number increases in two years to twenty, which are shed successively from about the seventh year, to be replaced by others. Of the twelve posterior molars, which are permanent, there are four which make their appearance at four years and a half, four at nine years ; the last four being frequently not cut until the twentieth year. The foetus grows more rapidly in proportion as it approaches the time of birth. The infant, on the contrary, increases always more and more slowly. It has upwards of a fourth of its height when born, attains the half of it at two years and a half, and the three fourths at nine or ten years. By the eighteenth year the growth almost entirely ceases. Man rarely exceeds six feet, and seldom remains under five. Woman is ordinarily some inches shorter. Puberty manifests itself by external signs, from the tenth to the twelfth year in girls, and from the twelfth to the sixteenth in boys. It arrives sooner in warm climates. Either sex very rarely produces before the epoch of this manifestation. Scarcely has the body attained its full growth in height, before it commences to increase in bulk ; fat accumulates in the cellular tissue. The differeut vessels become mammalia. I gradually obstructed ; the solids become rigid ; and after a life more or less prolonged, more or less agitated, more or less painful, old age arrives, with decrepitude, decay, and death. Man rarely lives beyond a hundred years ; and most of the species, either from disease, accidents, or merely old age, perish long before that term. The child needs the assistance of its mother much longer than her milk, whence results an education intellectual as well as physical, and a durable mutual attachment. The nearly equal number of individuals of the two sexes, the difficulty of supporting more than one wife, when wealth does not supply the want of power, intimate that monogamy is the natural condition of our species ; and as, wherever this kind of union exists, the sire participates in the education of his offspring, the length of time required for that education allows the birth of others, whence the natural perpetuity of the conjugal state. From the long period of infantile weak¬ ness results domestic subordination, and, consequently, the order of society at large, as the young persons which compose the new families continue to preserve with their parents those tender relations to which they have so long been accustomed. This disposition to mutual assistance multiplies to an almost unlimited extent those advantages previously derived by- isolated Man from his intelligence ; it has assisted him to tame or repulse other animals, to defend himself from the effects of climate, anti thus enabled him to cover the earth with his species. In other respects, Man appears to possess nothing resembling instinct, no regular habit of industry produced by innate ideas ; all ms knowledge is the result of his sensations, his observations, or of those of his predecessors. Transmitted by speech, increased by meditation, applied to his necessities and his enjoyments, they have given rise to all the arts. Language and letters, by preserving acquired knowledge, are a source of indefinite perfection to his species. It is thus that he has acquired ideas, and nade all nature contribute to his wants.* There are very different degrees of developement, however, in Man. The first hordes, compelled to live by hunting and fishing, or on wild fruits, and being obliged to devote all their time to search for the means of subsistence, and not being able to multiply greatly, because that would have destroyed the game, advanced but slowly ; their arts were limited to the construction of huts and canoes, to covering themselves with skins, and fabricating arrows and nets ; they observed such stars only as served to direct them in their journeys, and some natural objects whose properties were of use to them ; they gained the dog for a companion, because he had a natural inclination for the same kind of life. When they had succeeded in taming the herbivorous animals, they found in the possession of numerous flocks a never-failing source of subsistence, and some leisure, which they employed in extending the sphere of their acquirements. Some industry was then employed in the construction of dwellings and the making of clothes ; the idea of property was admitted, and, consequently, that of barter, together with wealth and difference of conditions, those fruitful sources of the noblest emulation anil the vilest passions ; but the necessity of searching for fresh pastures, and of obeying the changes of the seasons, still doomed them to a wandering life, and limited their improvement to a very narrow sphere. The multiplication of the human species, and its improvement in the arts and sciences, has * The numerous structural concurrences, all of which are required to promote the intellectual developement of mankind, are worthy of serious consideration with reference to the unaided faculties of other animals. For example, if the superior intelligence of Man were not seconded bv his admirable hands ( so vastly excelling those of the monkey tribe), by his efficient vocal organ, &c., which are obvious to all as mere physical conformations, indeed, but. slight modifications of what occur in other animals, — if, in short, he were reduced in these re¬ spects to the condition of the Dog, how effectually would the privation jperate to prevent that progressive advancement which, under exist¬ ing circumstances, is achieved by the human race only. But, even grant to Man the use of all his organs, yet deprive him of .e accumulated experience of his predecessors, and all mental culture •evond the re mlt of his incidental experience (which in brutes is a necessary consequence of their imperfect means of communication), and we perceive how immensely he is indebted also to these ac oessories. On the other hand, however, a duly developed brain and commensu¬ rate intelligence are required to enable Man to avail himself of the advantages of his structure, for otherwise he appears doomed to re¬ main stationary like a brute (as in the instance of the New Hol¬ landers), even in the midst of civilization. There are also casualties, as the general insecurity of life or property arising from situation or aiisgovermnent, which ordinarily suffice to repel the efforts of ad vancement, even of the most intelligent races. It would accordingly, then, appear, that the characteristic traits of human intellect are mainly due to the co-operation of extrinsic causes, and t*' the accessory aids afforded by physical conformation. H A (0 M CC A Iff (0 A S 31 A M /•'it/ . 3 Fig 4 Fig Fi^ 1 LONDON OW™ S. ORR Sc C? AMEN CORNER (tafer'a Animal liugiimn. 3Ginuraa. HUMAN RACE— CAUCASIAN. Fig. 2. — Circassian Branch. Portrait of a Circassian in the Suite of the Persian Ambassador in 1823, drawn by M. A. Collin. Fig. 4. — Sclavoman Branch. Portrait of the Polish Count Lucas de Bum Opalinski. Fig. 1. — Indian Bkanch. An Indian Woman of Pondichery. after a portrait by M. Geringer in “ L’Inde Fran^ais.” Fig. 3. — Indo-Germangue Branch. A Hindoo of Bramin Caste, Bam Moham Roy, after a portrait painted at Calcutta by M. Belnos. Fig. 5. — Skull of the Circassian. BIMANA, OR MAN. 49 only been carried to a high degree since the invention of agriculture and the division of the soil into hereditary possessions. By means of agriculture, the mamial labour of a portion of society is adequate to the maintenance of the whole, and allows the remainder time for less necessary occupations, at the same time that the hope of acquiring, by industry, a comfortable subsistence for self and posterity, has given a new spring to emulation. The discovery of a representative of property, or a circulating medium, has carried this emulation to the highest degree, by facilitating exchanges, and rendering fortunes more independent and susceptible of being increased ; but by a necessary consequence, it has also equally increased the vices of effeminacy and the furies of ambition. Iu every stage of the developement of society, the natural propensity to reduce all knowledge to general principles, and to search for the causes of each phenomenon, has produced reflecting men, who have added new ideas to those already accumulated ; nearly all of whom, while know¬ ledge was confined to the few, endeavoured to convert their intellectual superiority into the means of domination, exaggerating their merit in the eyes of others, and disguising the poverty of their knowledge by the propagation of superstitious ideas. Au evil more irremediable, is the abuse of physical power; now that Man only can injure Man, he affords the only instance of a species continually at war with itself. Savages dispute their forests, and herdsmen their pastures ; and make irruptions, as often as they can, upon the cultivators of the soil, to deprive them of the fruits of their long and painful labours. Even civilized nations, far from being satisfied with their enjoyments, carry on war for the prerogative of pride, or the monopoly of commerce. Hence the necessity of governments to direct the national wars, and to repress or reduce to regular forms the quarrels of individuals. Circumstances, more or less favourable, have restrained the social condition within limited degrees, or have promoted its developement. The glacial climates of the north of both continents, and the impenetrable forests of America, are still inhabited by the savage hunter or fisherman. The immense sandy or salt plains of Central Asia and Africa are covered with a pastoral people, and innumerable herds : these half-civilized hordes assemble at the call of every enthusiastic chief, and overrun the cultivated countries that surround them, in which they establish themselves but to become enervated, and to be subjected in their turn to the next invaders. This is the true cause of that despotism, which, in every age, has crushed the industry called forth under the fine climates of Persia, India, and China. Mild climates, soils naturally irrigated and rich in vegetables, are the natural cradle of agriculture and civilization ; and when their position is such as to afford shelter from the incursions of barbarians, talents of every kind are mutually excited ; such were formerly (the first in Europe,) Italy and Greece ; and such is, at present, nearly all that happy portion of the earth’s surface. There are, however, certain intrinsic causes which appear to arrest the progress of particular races, even though situated amidst the most favourable circumstances. VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. Although the human species would appear to he single, since the union of any of its members pro¬ duces individuals capable of propagation*, there are, nevertheless, certain hereditary peculiarities of conformation observable, which constitute what are termed races. Three of these in particular appear eminently distinct : the Caucasian, or white, the Mongolian, or vellow, and the Ethiopian, or negro. The Caucasian, to which we belong, is distinguished by the beauty of the oval which forms the • It is now certain that this circumstance affords do proof of spe* • which 1 have Just witnessed, in the class of birds, of a brood of ducks, tifical identity, inasmuch as many nearly allied but obviously Uis- I both parents of which were half mallard and half pintail (./noi 6oscAa« tiact species produce hybrids that arc proli6c inter te : an instance of | and A. acuto). See note to p. 19. — Ko. E 5(i MAMMALIA. head: and it is this one which has given rise to the most civilized nations, — to those which have gene¬ rally held the rest in subjection : it varies in complexion and in the colour of the hair. The Mongolian is known by Iris projecting cheek-bones, flat visage, narrow and oblique eyebrows, scanty beard, and olive complexion. Great empires have been established by this race in China and Japan, and its conquests have sometimes extended to this side of the Great Desert ; but its civilization has always remained stationary. The Negro race is confined to the southward of the Atlas chain of mountains : its colour is black, its hair crisped, the cranium compressed, and nose flattened. The projecting muzzle and thick lips evidently approximate it to the Apes : the hordes of which it is composed have always continued barbarous. The name Caucasian has been affixed to the race from which we descend, because tradition and the filiation of nations seem to refer its origin to that group of mountains situate between the Caspian and Black Seas, whence it has apparently extended by radiating all around. The nations of the Caucasus, or the Circassians and Georgians, are even now considered as the handsomest on earth. The principal ramifications of this race may be distinguished by the analogies of language. The Armenian or Syrian branch, spreading southward, produced the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the hitherto untameable Arabs, who, after Mahomet, expected to become masters of the world ; the Phoenicians, the Jews, the Abvssinians, which were Arabian colonies, and most probably the Egyptians. It is from this branch, always inclined to mysticism, that have sprung the most, widely extended forms of religion. Science and literature have sometimes flourished among its nations, but always in a strange disguise and figurative style. The Indian, German, and Pelasgic branch is much more extended, and was much earlier divided: notwithstanding which, the most numerous affinities have been recognized between its four principal languages — the Sanscrit, the present sacred language of the Hindoos, and the parent of the greater number of the dialects of Ilindostan ; the ancient language of the Pelasgi, common parent of the Greek, Latin, many „ongues that are extinct, and of all those of the south of Europe ; the Gothic or Teutonic, from which are derived the languages of the north and north-west of Europe, such as the German, Dutch, English, Danish, Swedish, and their dialects ; and finally, tlm Sclavonian, from which are descended those of the north-east, the Russian, Polish, Bohemian, and that of the Vandals. It is by this great and venerable branch of the Caucasian stock, that philosophy, the arts and sciences, have been carried to their present state of advancement ; and it has continued to be the depository of them for thirty centuries. It was preceded in Europe by the Celts, whose tribes, once very numerous, came by the north, and are now confined to its most western extremities ; and by the Cantabrians, who passed from Africa into Spain, and have become confounded with the many nations whose posterity have intermingled in that peninsula. The ancient Persians originate from the same source as the Indians, and their descendants still present a very close resemblance to the nations of Europe. The Scythian and Tartar branch, extending first towards the north and north-east, and always wandering over the immense plains of those countries, returned but to devastate the happier abodes of their more civilized brethren. The Scythians, who, at so remote a period, made irruptions into Upper Asia ; the Parthians, who there destroyed the Greek and Roman domination ; the Turks, who there subverted that of the Arabs, and subjugated in Europe the unfortunate remnant of the Grecian people, were all offsets from this branch. The Finlanders and Hungarians are tribes of the same division, which have strayed among the Sclavonic and Teutonic nations. Their original country, to the north and eastward of the Caspian Sea, still contains inhabitants who have the same origin, and speak similar languages ; but these are mingled with many other petty nations, variously descended, and of different languages. The Tartars remained unmixed longer than the others throughout that extent of country included between the mouth of the Danube to beyond the Irtisch, from which they so long menaced Russia, and where they have finally been subjugated by her. The Mongoles, however, have mingled their blood with that of the nations they conquered, many traces of which may still be found among the inhabitants of Lesser Tartary. It is to the east of this Tartar branch of the Caucasian race that the Mongolian race begins, whence •t extends to the eastern ocean. Its branches, the Cahnucks and Kalkas, still wandering shepherds, I (fter's Animal lingtam. HUMAN RACE— MONGOLIAN. Pig. 1. — South East or Asia Branch. A Man of the Island of Correa, from a Plate in M. Siebold’s Work on Japan. Pig. 2. — Chinese. A Chinese of Macao, from a Portrait painted by Danloux. Pig. 3. — Siamese. Portrait of one of two Twins, exhibited in Europe in 1S30 ; painted in Paris. Pig. 4. — Japanese. After a portrait by M. Siebola. M © M © © Ik K ;\. H 1ELA rC IS /varnot, in the Zooluffif du I'o yage dr hi VoquUle t p. 1 — 113. For the lan^uft^es of the Asiatic nations, aud their allmities, consult the *4»ia Pulygloltti of M Klaproth. + Sec, on (lie .ubject of Ihc Amcric.u., the tnircli of M. dc lluin- boldt, «o rich In Important lnforumtlun, nud the dtucruliou* of Vulcr • nd of Mitchell. K 2 52 MAMMALIA. been assigned by Borv St. Vincent) : and tlie numerous divisions and subdivisions of that naturalist being tolerably in accordance with the apparent value of the characters presented, whether or not they truly represent the real distinctions, or, in some instances, similarity be confounded with identity (a problem to which philology seems to offer the only key), the outline of his arrangement may be transferred to the present work, where it may chance to prove useful to some observers. Ilis supposed species are as follow : — 1. H. Japeticus, Borv; corresponding to the Caucasian race of Cuvier. — This is distributed under three principal varieties, termed Caucasicus, Arabicus, and Indicus : of these the first is arranged into five subvarieties, named Caucasicus {Orient alis), Pelayius { Meridionalis ), Celticus ( Occidental is), Ger- manicus {Borealis), and Sclavonicus {Intermedius), which severally comprehend the Caucasic, Pelasgic, Celtic, Teutonic, and Sclavonic (including the Sarmatic) nations ; the second into two subvarieties, Atlanticus {Occident alls), and Adarnicus {Orientalis), respectively containing the Phoenicians, ancient Numidians, and Guanches, or the Punic nations, and the Abvssinians, primitive Egyptians (modern Copts), Jews, Armenians, Arabians, &c., or the Coptic and Semitic nations. 2. H. Neptunianus, Bory. — Ranged under three subdivisions: the first unnamed (Qu. Malay anus ?) allied to — probably much mingled with — the Indian variety of II. Japeticus, and consisting of the well-known Malays, which people the coasts only of the peninsula of Malacca, the islands of the Indian ocean, Madagascar, &c., never penetrating inland; the second, Occidentalis. comprising the New Zealanders, and natives of the Society, Friendly, Sandwich, and other islands scattered over the Pacific ocean, — it is suggested, also, (but with due and much required hesitation,) the ancient Mexi¬ cans and Peruvians : the third, Papuensis, composed of certain inhabitants of part of the north coast of New Guinea, the shores of the islands Waigou, Salwaty, Gammeu, and a few others, is obviously a hybrid race, derived from the intermixture of the Malay and true Papou. Cuvier has remarked the affinity of language subsisting between the Malays and South Sea Islanders. 3. II. Scythicus, Bory. — The first division of this, unnamed (Qu. Mongoleims ?) consists of the Calmucks and other Tartars ; the second, Sinicus (Homo sinicus of Bory), of the Chinese, Japanese, &c. ; and the third and last, Hyperboreus {Homo hyperboreus, Bory), of the Esquimaux. It corre¬ sponds to the Mongolian race of Cuvier. 4. II. Americanus, Bory. — “ Species,” the author writes, “ adhuc male coynita, forsan t.ota vel ex parte ad Scythicam reducenda," of which the latter only is in the least probable. “ Autochthones Ame¬ rica meridionalis, in stirpes innumeras distributi ; e. y. Omayuce, Guarani, Coroadi, Atures, Otomaqui, Botucudi, Guiacee, Cherrucie, &c.” * A second division is designated Patayonus, (being the Homo Patagonus of Borv,) composed of the large-statured Patagonians. 5. II. Columbicus, Bory. — The ordinary red Indian of America. 6. II. Althiopicus, Bory. — Divided into the true Negro, not otherwise named; Coffer, {Homo Caffer, Bory,) inhabiting Cafl’raria, and part of the coast of Madagascar ; Melanoules, {Homo melaninus, Bory), the Papous or indigenous inhabitants of Madagascar, the shores of New Guinea, the islands of New Britain, New Ireland, and many others, also of Van Diemen’s Land ; and Hottentotus {Homo Hotten- totus, Bory), the Bush and other Hottentots, which, it may be remarked, have not a few analogies with the nomadic Mongoles. The last appear to have been much reduced and encroached on, till a remnant only is left near the south coast of Africa, just as the Celts are now confined to the exteme west of Europe. 7. Lastly, II. Polynesius, Fischer {II. australaricus, Bory). — The Alfourous, the lowest in the scale of human beings : comprising the inland inhabitants of the Malay peninsula, the islands of the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, New Guinea, New Holland, &c. Such is the arrangement of an able and accomplished naturalist, published in 1829, or the same year in which our author gave to the world his second and last edition of the present work. The most recent authority, which is the third edition of Dr. Prichard’s elaborate “ Researches into the Physical History of Mankind,” contends strenuously for unity of species in the genus Homo : but it may be remarked that much stress is laid on the productiveness of mingled races of mankind, without any new or satisfactory evidence being adduced in proof of the comparative sterility of the hybrid offspring of the more intimately approximate races which have claim to be ranked as species ; sucn as * ** A species imperfectly known, probably or in part referable to 1 species, want of space compels me to refer the jeader to the original the preceding one. It comprehends numerous tribes of South Ame I work. A cranium of the savage tribe of Botucudi is figured by Spix rica,” some of .which are above named. Far the characters of these in his work on American Qutidrumanc. €nm’% Sltriinnl lingtom. iinram HUMAN RACE— ETHIOPIAN, OR NEGRO. Fig. 1. — Hottentot, after Daniels. Fig. 3. — Portrait of a Negro of the neighbourhood of Timbuctoo. Fig. 2. — A Young Negro of Benguela, to the south of the kingdom of Angola. Fig. 4. — A Female of the Congo, from the “ Voyage au Brasil ' of Maurice Rugendas. VV* r. I • C" AM1.N ■' H N t RIMAN4. OR MAN. 53 tlie wild bovine and striped equine animals, &c. &c. The following are the leading varieties of Man, according to the opinion and arguments of Dr. Prichard. “ On comparing the principal varieties of form and structure which distinguish the inhabitants of different countries, we find that there are seven classes of nations which may be separated from each other by strongly marked lines. Among their principal characteristics are peculiar forms of the skull, but these are by no means the only difference which require notice and particular description. These seven principal classes are, first, those nations which in the form of their skulls and other physi¬ cal characters resemble Europeans, including many nations in Asia and some in Africa; secondly, races nearly similar in figure, and in the shape of the head, to the Kalmucks, Mongoles, and Chinese. These two first classes of nations will be designated, for reasons to be explained, Iranian and Turanian nations, in preference to Caucasian and Mongolian. * * * The third class are the native Ame¬ rican nations, excluding the Esquimaux and some tribes which resemble them more than the majority of inhabitants of the New World. The fourth class comprises only the Hottentot and Bushman race. A fifth class are the Negroes ; the sixth, the Papuas, or woolly-haired nations of Polynesia ; the seventh, the Alfourou and Australian races. The nations comprised under these departments of man¬ kind differ so strikingly from each other, that it would be improper to include any two of them in one section, and there is no other division of the human family that is by physical traits so strongly cha¬ racterized. There are, indeed, some nations that cannot be considered as falling entirely within either of these divisions, but they may be looked upon as approximating to one or another of them.” * The same writer affirms, of the Caucasian race of Cuvier, that “ there is no truth in the assertion that the traditions of all these nations deduce their origin from Caucasus f,” and states, of his Indo- Atlantic, or Iranian nations, that “ complexion does not enter among the characters of this type, since it is of all shades, from the white and florid colour of the northern Europeans, to the jet-black of many tribes in Lybia, and southward of Mount Atlas. In many races, as we shall hereafter prove, the type has degenerated. The ancient Celts appear, for example, to have had by no means the same developemeut of the head as the Greeks, and the Indians display some differences in the configuration of the skull,” . QUADRUMANA. 55 The Ouraxo-outang* (Simla satyr us, Lin ) Of all animals, this is reputed to bear the nearest resemblance to Man in the form of its head, the magnitude of itg forehead, and volume of brain j but the exaggerated descriptions of some authors respecting this similarity arise partly from the circumstance of only young individuals having been observed, as there is every reason to believe that, with age, the muzzle becomes much more prominent [a fact now ascertained]. The body is covered s ith coarse red hair, the face is bluish, and the hinder thumbs very short compared with the toes. The lips are capable of a singular elongationf, and possess great mobility. Its history has been much confounded with that of the other large Apes, and especially of the Chimpanzee; but, after subjecting it to a rigorous analysis, 1 have ascertained that it inhabits only the most eastern countries, such as Malacca, Cochin China, and particularly the great island of Borneo, whence it has been sometimes brought by the route of Java, though very rarely. When young, and such as it has been seen in Europe, it is a very mild animal, that is easily rendered tame and attached, and which, by its conformation, is enabled to imitate many of our actions ; but its intelligence appears to be lower than’ has been asserted, not very much surpassing that of the Dog. Camper discovered, and has well dis- cribed, two membranous sacs which communicate with the glottis of this animal, and obstruct its voice; but he is mistaken in supposing that the nails are always absent from the hinder thumbs. There is an ape in Borneo, at present only known by its skeleton, called the Pongo , which so closely resembles the Ourang-outang in all its parts, and by the arrangement of the cavities and sutures of its head, that notwith¬ standing the great" prominence of its muzzle, the smallness of the cranium, and the height of the branches of the lower jaw, we are inclined to consider as an adult, if not of this species of Ourang, at least of another very nearly allied to it. The length ot its arms, and of the apophyses of its cervical vertebrae, together with the tuberosity of its calcaneum, may enable it to assume the vertical position. It is the largest of known Apes, approaching to the size of Man. [The Pongo has proved to be a second species of Ourang, covered with black, relieved with dark red hair, and which at present is known only to occur in Borneo, where the Red Ourang has not been ascertained to exist. Both attain the same large dimensions, and are distinguished as the Pithecus 11 ormbii and P. Abelii. lhe> diller somewhat in the configuration of the cranium, and considerably in the profile of the face, as seen in the s*ull. A third species, also from Borneo, has more recently been determined by Prof. Owen, of which only a single adult skull has been received ; it announces a smaller animal, which has been named P. morio. The adult males of this genus have an immr use projecting tuberosity on each cheek 4 These Ourangs do not ordinarily assume the upright attitude, to maintain which they are obliged to raise, and throw their long arms backward, in order to preserve a balance ; the outer edges only of their feet are applied to the ground, where°tliey commonly progress by resting on the knuckles, and swinging the body forward betw een the arms. Their structure is more designed for traversing the forest boughs ; and they are said to inhabit the upland forests of the interior of their native countries. The o'.d males are reported to be savage and solitary, and much dreaded by the Alfourou inhabitants of their native region ; each appropriating a particular district, into which it resents intrusion. There is reason to suspect that they are not exclusively vegetable feeders, but subsist in part on the eggs and callow young of birds. They are sedentary and inactive animals, possessed of great strength. So excessive is the degradation of the adult from the characters which it exhibits in youth, that our author, in his first edition, arranged the Pongo next to the Baboons, allowing them the precedence. According to M. GeotlYoy, “ the brain of the young Ourang bears a very close resemblance to that of a child ; and the skull, also, might be taken, at an early age, for that of the latter, were it not for the development of the bones of the face. But it happens, in consequence of its advance in age, that the brain ceases to enlarge, while its case continually increases. The latter becomes thickened, but in an unequal degree ; enormous bony ridges appear, and the animal assumes a frightful aspect. When we compare the ertectsof a;e in Man and the Ourang, the difference is seen to be, that in the latter there is a super-developement of the osseous, muscular, and tegumentary systems, more towards the upper part than the lower, while the developement of the brain is entirely arrested.” It is only- in the male sex, however, that the cranial ridges appear, the canines, also, of the females being much smaller. M. Geoffroy thus describes the skull of the Pongo, before its identity as an Ourang hail been ascertained:— “What is most remarkable,” he observes, “is the excessive elongation of the muzzle; and as this con¬ siderable volume of the muzzle cannot be gained but at the expence of the other adjoining parts, we accord¬ ingly find that there is scarcely any apparent forehead, that the bony box which contains the brain is uncommonly small, and that the occipital foramen is situated as far as the posterior part of the head. The immense muzzle, moreover, is remarkable, not only for the enormous thickness of the gums, but also for the extraordinary size of the canine and incisor teeth with which they arc provided ; the incisors exceed in magnitude those of a Lion, and the canines do not differ much in dimensions from those of the same animal: the occiput also is elevated at its point, and forms a quadrilateral protuberance, very large und thick, where three bony crests are produced, not less apparent nor less solid than those of the Lion. Two of • Ourang Is a Malar word, signifying ration'll bring, which is applied to Man, the Ouraiia-outang, and the Klephnut. Outaug signifies sri/r/, or oj the woods t hence Ourang-outang. t Noticeable, to a certain extent, in the Hottentot race of man¬ kind.— Kd. 1 There i* at present (ls'ts) a young male and female of the Black Ourang (/\ H'ortmbii), in the menagerie of the Zoological Society, which have continued now for several months in a very thriving i%m- dition, and afT>rd reasonable grounds for expectation that they aill live to attain maturity. Must of those previous!) imported have becu weak and skkl).— Ku. 56 MAMMALIA. these crests are considerably elevated, and extend laterally to the auricular foramina. Another extends across the vertex, and then assumes a bifurcal form, as in the Lion, above the forehead in two lateral branches, which proceed as far as the external side of the upper edge of the orbits. These little crests are decisively marked, and form an equilateral triangle with the upper edge of the orbital foramina. The head is formed like the half of a pyramid, and the auricular foramina are placed so considerably above the palatine bones, that a line let down from the former to the internal edge of the ossa palatina, would form, with a horizontal line, an angle of twenty-five degrees.” It varies to about thirty degrees. All the above modifications have immediate reference to the immense size of the canines, which necessitates a proportional developement of the jaws, and the high cranial ridges to furnish attachment to muscles of sufficient power to work them. The Ourangs do not cut their huge permanent teeth until nearly full grown.*] In the other Ourangs, the arms descend only to the knees. They have no forehead, and their cranium retreats immediately from the crest of the eyebrow. The name of Chimpanzee might be exclusively applied to them. Sim. troglodytes, Lin. [ Troglodytes niger of others]. — Covered with black or brown hair, scanty in front; [a white marking on the rump]. If the reports of travellers can be relied on, this animal must equal or be superior in size to Man. [The skeleton of an adult female in London is considerably smaller.] It inhabits Guinea and Congo, lives in troops, constructs huts of branches, arms itself with clubs and stones, and thus repulses Man and Elephants ; pursues and abducts, it is said, negro womenf, &c. Naturalists have generally confounded it with the Ourang-outang. In domestication it is very docile, and readily learns to walk, sit, and eat like a man. [It is much more a ground animal than the Ourangs, and runs on its lower extremities without difficulty, holding up the arms. Is of a lively and active disposition. The facial angle of the adult about thirty-five degrees. By the general consent of living naturalists, the Chimpanzee is placed next to Man in the system, preceding the Ourangs, which it exceeds in general approximation to the human form.] From the foregoing groups are now separated The Gibbons ( Hylobates , Illiger), — Which, together with the long arms of the Ourangs, and the receding forehead of the Chimpanzee, possess [all of them] callosities on the buttocks like the true Monkeys ; differing, however, from the latter in having no tail or cheek-pouches. All of them inhabit the most eastern part of India, and its archipelago. The Onko Gibbon (Sim. tar, Lin.) — [This name is now by general consent applied to the next species, the present one being distinguished as II. liafflesii, Geof.] Black, with white hairs round the face. [The Lar Gibbon of Linnaeus (II. lar, Geof.) — Black, with white hands and feet, and a white circle round the face. Is identical with II. albimanus, Yig. and Horsf., and probably with II. variegatus, Kulil, which seems to differ only in colour, being brown where the other is black. The Hoolock Gibbon (II. hoolock, Harlan). — Black, marked with white across the forehead. The Coromandel Gibbon (II. choromandus, Ogilby). — Of a dingy pale brown, with black hair and whiskers.] The Wou-wou Gibbon (.S', agilis, Lin.) — Brown, the circle round the face and lower part of the back, pale fulvous [with also some white around the visage]. The young are of a uniform yellowish white. Its agility is extreme; it lives in pairs, and its name Wou-wou is d rived from its cry. The Gray Gibbon (S. leitcisca, Srhreb.) — Gray, with dark crown, and white beard and whiskers ; the visage black. It lives among the reeds, and climbs up the highest stems of the bamboos, where it balances itself by its long arms. We might separate from the other Gibbons The Siamang (S. syndactyla. Baffles), which has the second and third toes of the hind foot united by a narrow membrane, the whole length of the first phalanx [a character which now and then occurs in some of the others, but in the present species is constant]. It is wholly black, with the chin and eyebrows rufous [and the throat bare] ; lives in numerous troops, which are conducted by vigilant and courageous chiefs, which, at sunrise and sunset, make the forest resound with frightful cries. Its larynx has a membranous sac connected with it. [All the above are mild and gentle animals in domestication, of extremely delicate constitutions when brought to our climate]. The remaining Monkey-like animals of the ancient continent have the liver divided into several * It mar be remarked generally, that, with the possession of for- midable canines, Quadrumana acquire a consciousness of their efficacy as weapons, which renders them impatient of that controul, more par¬ ticularly if based on fear, to which they had previously been sub¬ missive. Chastisement then excites their ire rather than affrights them ; and if they cannot gratify their rage, they will pine and die. They require, in short, different treatment. An aduk male Mandrill, which was long exhibited in London, would perform various feats indicative of intelligence, if bribed to do so by the offer of its tavourite beverage. The notion that the species with prominent muzzles are therefore less intelligent, requires modification. The developement of brain, in all the Simiee, as compared with that of Man, is arrested at a particular stage of advancement ; but it does not follow that the growth of the other parts — that is, the developement of the other .systems— should cease simultaneously : on the contrary, this proceeds to a variable extent in different species, and the projection of the muzzle, with its accompaniments, appears to increase in proportion to the stature ultimately attained ; so that the adults of the smaller species are, in this respect, analogous to partially developed speci¬ mens of riie larger, which correspond in disposition until they acquire the strength and armature of which an instinctive knowledge prompts them to resent affronts, and renders them so highly dangerous to tamper with. The Baboons are even remarkable for penetration and quickness of apprehension, however short their temper. — Ed. + Very highly improbable. — Ed. ,.,>..<•1.1 QUADRUJV1ANA. 57 lobes; the ccecum thick, short, [except in Semnopithecus, and perhaps Colobwi], and without any .appendage : the hyoid hone has the form of a shield. The Monkeys* ( Cercopithecus , Erxl. in part), [ Guenons of the French], — Have a moderately prominent muzzle (of sixty degrees) ; cheek pouches ; tail ; callosities on the but¬ tocks ; the last of the inferior molars with four tubercles like the rest. Very numerous species of them, of various size and colouring, abound in Africa, living in troops, which do much damage to the gardens and cultivated fields. They are easily tamed, [and are lively and active animals. Their hair, unlike that of the preceding groups, is of two kinds, the outer commonly annulated above with two colours, producing a grizzled appearance, which in several imparts a tinge of green. More than twenty species have been ascertained, and doubtless many others remain to be discovered. They vary in the proportional length of the fingers. The larger of them acquire, with their growth, a more projectii g muzzle, and are the Cercoccbi of some naturalists (a term now falling into disuse) : these, in a few instances, manifest an additional relationship to the Baboons, in exhibiting bright colours on the genitals ; as exemplified by the Malbrouck Monkey (C. cy nosun/s), in which the scrotum is vivid ultramarine, and the Vervet (C. pygery- thrus), which has the same part green. Many are prettily variegated, as the Diana Monkey (C. Diana), which has a crescent-shaped white mark on the forehead, and a slender, pointed, white beard ; the Mona Monkey (C. mona), &c. One only is of a red colour, the Fatas (C. rubra). A few of the more recently discovered of them may be briefly indicated. Campbell’s Monkey (C. Campbellii, Waterhouse.)— Hair long, and parted on the back, of a grizzled black and yellow colour, nearly uniform blackish grey on the hind parts ; beneath, dingy white ; a black line encircling the fore part and sides of the crown of the head. From Sierra Leone. The Bearded Monkey (C. pogonias, Ben.) — Hair very long; greyish, i.e., grizzled black and yellowish white; a spot on each side of the head, another on the crown, and tip of the tail, black ; cheeks furnished with an immense tuft of pale hair. Red-eared Monkey (C. eryt/irotis, Waterh.) — Grey; the tail red, with a dark line along its upper surface; ears with very long red hairs internally ; throat white ; under parts of the body greyish. From Fernando Po. Next follows a group of smaller species, of mild and confiding disposition ; consisting of the Talapoin M. (C. talapoin, Geof., Sim. melarrhina, F. Cuv.), the Moustache M. (.S. cephut, Lin.), the Vaulting M. (S. petaurixta, Gm.), the Ilocheur (S. nictitans, Gm.), &c. A new Monkey appertaining to it is the C. Martini, Waterh.— Of a dark grey, the hairs annulated with yellowish white; lower portions of limbs, crown of the head, and tail, blackish ; hairs near the root of the tail beneath, brown. Inhabits Fernando Po. Several of these smaller kinds are very common in Guinea. Allied to them are the larger green Monkeys ; and the series terminates with the Mangabeys, or dusky-coloured white-eyelid Monkeys (C. 0 0 >' . Maeot QUADRUMANA. 59 tlie larynx under the thyroid cartilage, and which fdls with air when they cry out. Their tail is pendent, and takes no part in their movements ; [it varies in length from a tubercle to longer than the body.] They produce early, but are not completely adult for four or five years. The period of gesta¬ tion is seven months ; during tjic rutting season the external generative organs of the female become excessively distended [as in the Baboons]. Most of them [all] inhabit India [and its Archipelago. At least seven species have been ascertained, the most remarkable of which is] The Maned Macaque or Wanderoo (Sim. Silenus and leonina, Lin.) — Black, with an ash-coloured mane and whitish beard surrounding the head. [Tail moderately long, and slightly tufted.] Inhabits Ceylon. [The Bonneted Macaque (M. sinicus), and the Toque (.If. radiatus), have the hairs on the top of the head dis¬ posed as radii ; these, with the Hare-lipped M. (Jf. cynomolgus), have long tails. In the Pig-tailed Macaque (M. rhesus), this appendage reaches little below the hamstrings : it is shorter, thin, and wrinkled in the Brown Macaque (M. ncmcslrinus) ; and in the Black M. (M. niger, Ben.; Cynocephalus niger, Desm., and of Cuvier’s last edition), it is reduced to a mere tubercle. The Black Macaque is wholly of that colour, with an erect tuft of hair on the top of its head ; its native country Celebes.] The Magots (hums, Cuv.) Mere Macaques, which have a small tubercle in place of a tail. [According to this definition, the last-named species should be introduced here : the only known Magot, however, does not well range with the others; its cranium is intermediate to those of the Macaci and CynocephaU]. The Barbary Magot (Sim. sylvanus, pithecus, and inuus, I.in.)— Completely covered with greenish-brown hair. Of all the tribe, this suffers least in our climates. Originally from Barbary, it is said to have become naturalized on the Rock of Gibraltar.* [This well-known species, in its wild state, is both lively and remarkably intelligent at all ages ; but, subjected to the restraint of captivity, becomes sullen and unmanageable as it grows up ; forcibly illustrating what has been stated in a note to the Ourangs.] The Baboons ( Cynocephalus , Cuv.), — Together with the teeth, cheek-pouches, and callosities of the preceding, have an elongated muzzle abruptly truncate at the end, where the nostrils are pierced, which gives it a greater resemblance to that of a Dog than of other Monkeys ; their tail varies in length. They are generally large, ferocious, aud dangerous animals, of which the majority [all of them] inhabit Africa. [Some have the tail long and tufted, as the Gelada Baboon (Macacus gelada of Ruppell). — This has the upper parts covered with very long hair, of a pale brown on the head, shoulders, and rump, blackish on the back ; a dark medial line extends backwards from the forehead ; the extremities are black. A native of Abyssinia. The others have the hair grizzled or annulated. Such are the Tartarin Baboon (Sim. hamadryas , I.in.), of a slightly bluish ash-colour (grizzled black and white); face flesh-coloured: inhabits Arabia and Ethiopia. The Chacma B. (Sim. pnrearia, Bodd. ; S. ursi/ia, Penn ; S. sphyngiola, Herm.), which is black, with a yellowish or greenish glaze, particularly on the forehead ; the face and hands black, and the adult has a large mane. From the Cape of Good Hope. The Anubis B. (C. anubis, F. Cuv.), is another huge Cape species, uniformly grizzled black and yellow ; the lace black, and snout much elongated. The Sphynx B. (Sim. sphyn.r, Lin., and it would appear from descriptions, also, C. ptipio, Desin.), is likewise yellowish, more or less tinged with brown ; face black ; the clieek-tufts fulvous : inhabits Guinea. Lastly, the Babouin (Sim. cynocephalus, F. Cuv.), has a shorter tail, and coat more inclining to greenish ; also whitish cheek-tufts, and flesh-coloured visage.] The Mandrills — Are, of all the Monkey tribe, those which have the longest muzzle (thirty degrees f) ; their tail is very short ; they are also extremely brutal and ferocious ; nose as in the others. The Mandrill Baboon (Sim. maimon and mormon, Lin.)— Greyish brown, inclining to olive above; a small citron yellow beard on the chin; cheeks blue and furrowed. The adult males have the nose red, particularly at the end, where it is scarlet ; the genital parts and those about the anus, are of the same colour; the buttocks are of a fine violet. It is difficult to imagine a more hideous and extraordinary animal. It nearly attains the size of a Man, and is a terror to the negroes of Guinea. Many details of its history have been mixed up with that of the Chimpanzee, and consequently with that of the Ourang-outang. The Drill (Sim. leucopha-a, F. Cuv.) — Yellowish grey, the visage black ; in old ones the coat becomes darker; [the white hairs on the helly are much elongated], and the chin is bright red. [Hideous as the animals of this genus appear, and disgustingly deformed to those who have only seen them in captivity, their adaptation to a peculiar mode of life is of course as exquisite as that of any other animal, aud requires only to be understood to command an amount of admiration, which must lessen to a conaiderable • Pithcrus Is the Grech name for Monkey* In gcnernl ; and the one . specie*, nil that Galen has stated rcspectin ; the anatomy of his of wlm h the anatomy (a given by Galen was a Magot, although ] Pithecus. Camper tnought it was an Ourang-outang. M de Dlniiiville perceived f The Ourangs will hear comparison. — Ed. this mistake, and ( have proved it br comparing with these two 60 MAMMALIA. extent the abhorrence with which we are apt to regard them. It has lately been discovered that they chiefly inhabit barren stony places, where they subsist, for the most part, upon scorpions ; to procure which they employ their hands to lift up the numerous loose stones, under most of which one or more of these creatures commonly lie concealed ; their stings they extract with dexterity. Accordingly, we find that the Baboons are expressly modified for traversing the ground on all-fours, and are furnished with efficient hands ; their eyes are peculiarly placed, directed downwards along the visage. Want of space necessarily prevents us, generally, from noticing these highly interesting relations, afforded by the special modifications of structure in reference to habit: but we avail ourselves of the present instance (which is little known*) to call attention to them. With the Baboons, the series of Catarrhini (Geof.) terminates ; and we may observe that the Simiadce fall under three principal divisions. First, that of the Apes, (comprising the Chimpanzee, Ourangs, and Gibbons), tail-less genera, which have the liver divided as in Man, an appendage to the ccecum, &c. Second, the slender-limbed Monkeys, with sacculated stomachs and longer intestines (or the Doucs, and most probably the Colobins), all of which have exceedingly long tails. Third, those with shorter and stouter limbs, a simple stomach, and tail varying iu length from a tubercle to longer than the body. These last (or the true Monkeys, Macaques, Magots, and Baboons), are all partly insectivorous ; and the habit mentioned of the Baboons, of turning over stones in quest of prey, applies perhaps more or less to all of them, but particularly to the Magot and some Monkeys. In the two first divisions, the coat consists of only one sort of hair ; in the last of two sorts, the longer and coarser of which is mostly annulated with two colours. It is remarkable that none of the genera are common to Asia and Africa (one Baboon only extending to Arabia), and, until very recently, no remains of any had occurred in a fossil state ; but the jaw of one said to be allied to the Gibbons has lately been detected in a tertiary deposit, at Sanson, France ; and some bones, adjudged to be those of Macaques, in the tertiary ranges of northern India.] The Monkey-like Animals of the New World, [Platyrrhini, Geof.'], — Have four grinders more than the others, thirty-six in all ; the tail [with very few excep¬ tions] long ; no cheek-pouches ; the buttocks hairy and without callosities; nostrils opening on the sides of the nose, and irot underneath ; [the thumbs of the anterior hands no longer opposablef.] All the great Quadrumana of America pertain to this division.]; Their large in¬ testines are less inflated, and their ccecum longer and more slender than in the preceding divisions. The tails of some of them are prehensile, that is to say, their extremity can twist round a body with sufficient force to seize it as with a liand.§ Such have been designated Sapajous ( Cebus , Erxl.) At their head may be placed the Stentors ( Mycetes , Illiger), — Or Howling Monkeys [ Alouattes of the French], which are distinguished by a pyramidal head, the upper jaw of which descends much below the cranium, while the branches of the lower one ascend very high, for the purpose of lodging a bony drum, formed by a vesicular inflation of the hyoid bone, which communicates with their larynx, and imparts to their voice prodigious volume and a most frightful sound. Hence the appellations which have been bestowed on them. The prehensile portion of their tail is naked beneath. [The Rufous Stentor (Sim. seniculus, Buff., Supp. vii. 25), the Ursine Stentor ( Stentor ur sinus, Geoff.), and at least five other species, are now tolerably established. They are shaggy animals, averaging the size of a Fox, of different shades of brown or blackish, the females of some being differently coloured from the males ; such is M. barbalus, Spix, pi. 32, of which the male is black and bearded, the female and young pale yellowish-grey. || They are of an indolent and social disposition, and grave deportment ; utter their hideous yells and howling by night ; subsist on fruits and foliage, and are deemed good eating.] * For the information communicated, we are indebted to Dr. A. Smith, the conductor of the South African expedition from the Cape colony. — Ed. t They are Out slightly so in many of the Sitniadce. — Ed. t By this is meant, that the Marmosets and Taniarins (Ouistitis of our author) are excluded from the generalization. — Ed. § This organ possessing in an eminent degree the sense of touch, where the character is most developed. — Ed. || Cuvier accordingly suggests, inadvertently, that the M. straminenn Spix, pi. 31, which is entirely of a straw-yellow colour, may be the female of some other ; Spix, however, figures a male. — Ed. QUADRUMANA. 01 The Ordinary Sapajods have the head flat, the muzzle but slightly prominent (sixty degrees). In some the anterior thumbs are nearly or quite hidden in the skin, and the prehensile portion of the tail naked beneath. They constitute the genus Coaita (Ateles, Geof.), — [Or the Spider Monkeys, as they are commonly termed, in allusion to their long slender limbs, and sprawling movements.] The first species, the Chamek (A. subpentadactylus, Geof.), has a slight projection of the thumb, though only for one phalanx, which has no nail. Another, the Mikiri (At. hypoxanthus, Pr. Max. ; Brachyteles macrotarsus, Spix), has also a very small thumb, and sometimes even a nail. These two species are separated by Spix under the name Brachyteles. They connect Ateles with Lagothrix* The others, to which alone Spix applies the name Ateles, have no apparent thumb whatever. [Six have been ascertained ; one of them the Sim. paniscus, Lin.] All the .above are natives of Guiana and Brazil. Their limbs are very long and slender, and their gait slow and deliberate. They exhibit some remarkable resemblances to Man in their muscles, and, of all animals, alone have the biceps of the thigh made like his. [Accordingly, they make little use of their fore-hands in progression. Their colours are chiefly or wholly black, or fulvous-grey ; face black, or flesh-coloured. They are gentle and confiding, and capable of much attachment. Some attain to as large a stature as the preceding.] The Gastromargues ( Lagothrix , Geof. ; Gastromargas, Spix). Head round, as in the Coaitas ; the thumb developed, as in the Stentors ; and tail partly naked, like the one and the other. Such are — The Caparo, Humb. ( L . Ilumboldtii, Geof. ; G. olivaccus, Spix), and the Grison (L. canus, Geof. ; G. infumatus, Spix.)— Inhabitants of the interior of South America, said to be remarkable gluttons. Their limbs are shorter and stouter than in the Coaitas, and they often raise themselves on their hinder extremities : occur in numerous bai^s. The other Sapajous, or The Capuchins ( Cebus , Geof.) — Have a round head, the thumbs distinct, and the tail entirely hairy, though prehensile. The species are still more numerous than those of the Stentors, and almost as difficult to characterize. Some have the hair upon the forehead of a uniform length ; as the Sajou (Sim. apella, Lin.), and the Capuchin, [Auct.] (S. capucina, Lin.) : others have the hair of the forehead so disposed as to form aigrettes ; as the Horned Capuchin (Sim. fatuellus, Gm., which has a tuft of black hairs on each side of the forehead), the C. cirrhifer, Geof., and the Cebus of the same name of Pr. Max., but which is different — C. cristatus, F. Cuv. There are nu¬ merous others ; but we require many observations, made in the places where these animals inhabit, before we can hope to establish their species otherwise than in an arbitrary manner. [About sixteen are commonly admitted, most of which are of different shades of brown, some very variable. They are of smaller size than the preceding, and of mild and gentle disposition ; their motions are quick and light, and they are easily tamed. Several exhale a strong odour of musk.] In the Sa i m i r i f, the tail is depressed, and almost ceases to be prehensile; the head is very much flattened ; in the interorbital partition of the cranium there is a membranous space. Only one species is known, — The Saimiri (Sim. sciurea, Buff. xv. 10.) — Size of a Squirrel ; of a yellowish grey ; the fore-erms, legs, and the four extremities, of a fulvous-yellow ; end of the nose black. [A pretty, vivacious little animal, which subsists much on insects, and is also carnivorous. Its tail is sub-prehensile, or capable of coiling slightly throughout its length, and so holding in a moderate degree ; but its extremity cannot seize a small object : it is often wound round the body.] The remaining Monkey-like animals of America have the tail not at all prehensile.* Several have that appendage very long and tulted, whence they have been termed Fox-tailed Monkeys : their teetli project forwards more than in the others. They are The Sakis (Pithecia, Uesm. and IUig.), — [Which are again divisible into three minor groups. Of these, the first is represented by the Yarke Saki (Sim. Pithecia, Liu., P. leucoccphala), and three or four others : singular-looking animals, with extremely long hair, except on the head, where, in most of the genus, it is parted. In the Yarke, the head is whitish, and all the other parts brow n-black, which adds to the strangeness of its appearance. The Jacket Saki (Sim. sagulata, Traill), illustrates • The latter may do »o, but certainly not the former, which is lit all other respects a charactcriatlc Attics.— Ko. t Siiguinui (or, what would be preferable, S