is that science which not only gives complete descriptions of natural productions in general, but also teaches the method of arranging them into classes, orders, genera, and species. This definition includes zoology, botany, mineralogy, &c. But as a science so various and comprehensive could neither with propriety nor advantage be completely discussed under the general title, we have to refer the reader to the article KINGDOMS (in Natural History), where he will be directed to the different articles which constitute either the branches or the objects of the science, and which are all treated under their respective names.—In the present article it is proposed to give a general and philosophical view of the subject: To set forth, in a summary way, whatever curious, worthy to be known, or not obvious to every observer, occurs in the three kingdoms of nature: with their constitution, laws, and economy; or, in other words, that all-wise disposition of the Creator in relation to natural things, by which they are fitted to produce general ends and reciprocal uses.

SECT. I. Of the Terraqueous Globe in general, and its changes.

The world, or the terraqueous globe, which we inhabit, is everywhere surrounded with elements, and contains in its superficies the three KINGDOMS OF NATURE, as they are called: the fossil, which constitutes the crust of the earth; the vegetable, which adorns the face of it, and draws the greatest part of its nourishment from the fossil kingdom; and the animal, which is sustained by the vegetable kingdom. Thus these three kingdoms cover, adorn, and vary the superficies of our earth.

As to the STRATA of the EARTH and MOUNTAINS, as far as we have hitherto been able to discover, the upper parts consist of rag-stone; the next of slate; the third of marble filled with petrifications; the fourth again, of slate; and lastly, the lowest of free-stone. The habitable part of the earth, though it is scooped into various inequalities, yet is everywhere high in comparison with the water; and the farther it is from the sea, it is generally higher. Thus the waters in the lower places are not at rest, unless some obstacle confines them, and by that means form lakes and marshes.

The sea surrounds the continent, and takes up the greatest part of the earth's superficies, as GEOGRAPHY informs us. Nay, that it once spread over much the greatest part, we may be convinced by its yearly decrease, by the rubbish left by the tides, by shells, strata, and other circumstances.

The sea-shores are usually full of dead terrestrials animals, wrack, and such like bodies, which are yearly thrown out of the sea. They are also covered with sand of various kinds, stones, and heaps of other things not very common. It happens, moreover, that while the more rapid rivers rush through narrow valleys, they wear away the sides; and thus the friable and soft earth falls in, and its ruins are carried to distant and winding shores; whence it is certain, that the continent gains no small increase, as the sea subsides.

The clouds collected from exhalations, chiefly from the sea, but likewise from other waters, and moist grounds, and condensed in the lower regions of the ATMOSPHERE, supply the earth with rain; but since they are attracted by the mountainous parts of the earth, it necessarily follows, that those parts must have, as is fit, a larger share of water than the rest. SPRINGS, which generally rush out at the foot of mountains, take their rise from this very rain-water and vapors condensed, that trickle through the holes and interstices of loofe bodies, and are received into caverns.

These afford a pure WATER purged by straining; and rarely dry up in summer, or freeze in winter, so that animals never want a wholesome and refreshing liquor.

The chief sources of RIVERS are fountains and rills growing by gradual supplies into still larger and larger streams; till at last, after the conflux of a vast number of them, they find no stop, but falling into the sea with much rapidity, they there deposit the united stores they have gathered, along with foreign matter, and such earthy substances as they tore off in their way. Thus the water returns in a circle whence it first drew its origin, that it may act over the same scene again.

Marshes arising from water retained in low grounds are filled with mossy tumps, which are brought down by the water from the higher parts, or are produced by putrid plants.

We often see new meadows arise from marshes dried up. This happens sooner when the sphagnum (a kind of moss) has laid a foundation; for this in process of time changes into a very porous mould, till almost the whole marsh is filled with it. After that the rush strikes root, and along with the cotton-grasses constitutes a turf, raised in such a manner, that the roots get continually higher, and thus lay a more firm foundation for other plants, till the whole marsh is changed into a fine and delightful meadow; especially if the water happens to work itself a new passage.

Hillocks, Hillocks, that abound in low grounds, occasion the earth to increase yearly, more than the countryman would wish, and seem to do hurt; but in this the great industry of nature deserves to be taken notice of. For by this means the barren spots become sooner rich meadow and pasture land. These hillocks are formed by the ant, by stones and roots, and the trampling of cattle; but the principal cause is the force of the winter-cold, which in the spring raises the roots of plants so high above the ground, that being exposed to the air, they grow, and perish; after which the golden maidenhairs fill the vacant places.

Mountains, hills, valleys, and all the inequalities of the earth, though some think they take away much from its beauty, are so far from producing such an effect, that on the contrary they give a more pleasing aspect, as well as great advantages. For thus the terrestrial superficies is larger; different kinds of plants thrive better, and are more easily watered; and the rain-waters run in continual streams into the sea; not to mention many other uses in relation to winds, heat, and cold. Alps are the highest mountains, that reach to the second region of the air, where trees cannot grow erect. The higher these Alps are, the colder they are ceteris paribus. Hence the Alps in Sweden, Siberia, Swisserland, Peru, Brazil, Armenia, Asia, Africa, are perpetually covered with snow, which becomes almost as hard as ice. But if by chance the summer-heats be greater than ordinary, some part of these stores melts, and runs through rivers into the lower regions, which by this means are much refreshed.

It is scarcely to be doubted, but that the rocks and stones dispersed over the globe were formed originally in, and from, the earth; but when torrents of rain have softened, as they easily do, the soluble earth, and carried it down into the lower parts, we imagine it happens, that these solid and heavy bodies, being laid bare, stick out above the surface. We might also take notice of the wonderful effect of the tide, such as we see happen from time to time on the sea-shore, which being daily and nightly assaulted with repeated blows, at length gives way, and breaks off. Hence we see in most places the rubbish of the sea, and shores.

The winter by its frost prepares the earth and mould, which thence are broken into very minute particles, and thus, being put into a mouldering state, become more fit for the nourishment of plants; nay, by its snow it covers the seeds, and roots of plants, and thus by cold defends them from the force of cold. We must add also, that the piercing frost of the winter purifies the atmosphere and putrid waters, and makes them more wholesome for animals.

The perpetual succession of heat and cold with us renders the summers more pleasing; and tho' the winter deprives us of many plants and animals, yet the perpetual summer within the tropics is not much more agreeable, as it often destroys men and other animals by its immoderate heat; though it must be confessed, that those regions abound with exquisite fruits. Our winters, though very troublesome to a great part of the globe on account of their vehement and intense cold, yet are less hurtful to the inhabitants of the northern parts, as experience testifies. Hence it happens, that we may live very conveniently on every part of the earth, as every different country has different advantages from nature.

The seasons, like everything else, have their vicissitudes; their beginnings, their progress, and their end.

The age of man begins from the cradle; pleasing childhood succeeds; then active youth; afterwards manhood, firm, severe, and intent upon self-preservation; lastly, old age creeps on, debilitates, and at length totally destroys our tottering bodies.

The seasons of the year proceed in the same way. Spring, the jovial, playful infancy of all living creatures, represents childhood and youth; for then plants spread forth their luxuriant flowers, fishes exult, birds sing, every part of nature is intent upon generation. The summer, like middle age, exhibits plants, and trees everywhere cloathed with green; it gives vigour to animals, and plumps them up; fruits then ripen, meadows look cheerful, everything is full of life. On the contrary, autumn is gloomy; for then the leaves of trees begin to fall, plants to wither, insects to grow torpid, and many animals to retire to their winter-quarters.

The day proceeds with just such steps, as the year. The morning makes everything alert, and fit for business; the sun pours forth his ruddy rays; the flowers, which had as it were slept all night, awake and expand themselves again; the birds with their sonorous voices and various notes make the woods ring, meet together in flocks, and sacrifice to Venus. Noon tempts animals into the fields and pastures; the heat puts them upon indulging their ease, and even necessity obliges them to it. Evening follows, and makes everything more sluggish; flowers shut up*, and animals retire to their lurking places. Thus the spring, the morning, and youth, are proper Vigils of for generation; the summer, noon, and manhood, are proper for preservation; and autumn, evening, and old age, are not unfitly likened to destruction.

In order to perpetuate the established course of nature, in a continued series, the Divine Wisdom has thought fit that all living creatures should constantly be employed in producing individuals; that all natural things should contribute and lend a helping hand towards preserving every species; and lastly, that the death and destruction of one thing should always be subservient to the production of another. Hence the objects of our present inquiry fall to be considered in a threefold view, that of propagation, preservation, and death or destruction.

Sect. II. The Fossil Kingdom.

I. Propagation.

It is agreed on all hands, that stones are not organic bodies, like plants and animals; and therefore it is as clear that they are not produced from an egg, like the tribes of the other kingdoms. Hence the variety of fossils is proportionate to the different combinations of coalescent particles, and hence the species in the fossil kingdom are not so distinct as in the other two. Hence also the laws of generation in relation relation to fossils have been in all ages extremely difficult to explain; and lastly, hence have arisen so many different opinions about them, that it would be endless to enumerate them all. We therefore for the present will content ourselves with giving a very few observations on this subject.

That clay is the sediment of the sea is sufficiently proved by observation, for which reason it is generally found in great plenty along the coasts.

The journals of seamen clearly evince, that a very minute sand covers the bottom of the sea; nor can it be doubted, but that it is daily crystallised out of the water.

It is now acknowledged by all, that testaceous bodies and petrifications resembling plants were once real animals or vegetables; and it seems likely that shells, being of a calcareous nature, have changed the adjacent clay, sand, or mould, into the same kind of substance. Hence we may be certain that marble may generated from petrifications; and therefore it is frequently seen full of them.

Rag-stone, the common matter of our rocks, appears to be formed from a sandy kind of clay; but this happens more frequently where the earth is impregnated with iron.

Free-stone is a product of sand; and the deeper the bed where it is found, the more compact it becomes; and the more dense the sand, the more easily it concretes. But if an alkaline clay chances to be mixed with the sand, the free-stone is generated more readily, as in the free-stone called eos friatilis, particulis argillo-glareos.

The flint is almost the only kind of stone, certainly the most common stone, in chalky mountains. It seems therefore to be produced from chalk. Whether it can be reduced again to chalk, is left to others to inquire.

Stalactites, or drop-stone, is composed of calcareous particles, adhering to a dry, and generally a vegetable body.

Incrustations (Syl. Nat. 32. 5, 6, 7, 8.) are often generated, where a vitriolic water connects clayey and earthy particles together.

Slate, by the vegetables that are often inclosed in it, seems to take its origin from a marshy mould.

Metals vary according to the nature of the matrix in which they adhere; e.g. the pyrites cupri Falu-mensis contains frequently sulphur, arsenic, iron, copper, a little gold, vitriol, alum, sometimes lead-ore, silver, and zinc. Thus gold, copper, iron, zinc, arsenic, pyrites, vitriol, come out of the same vein. That very rich iron-ore at Normark in Vermilandia, where it was cut transversely by a vein of clay, was changed into pure silver. The number therefore of species and varieties of fossils, each serving for different purposes according to their different natures, will be in proportion as the different kinds of earths and stones are variously combined.

II. Preservation.

As fossils are destitute of life and organisation, are hard, and not obnoxious to putrefaction; so they last longer than any other kind of bodies. How far the air contributes to this duration, it is easy to perceive; since air hardens many stones upon the surfaces of the earth, and makes them more solid, compact, and able to resist the injuries of time. Thus it is known from vulgar observation, that lime, that has been long exposed to the air, becomes hardened. The chalky marl which they use in Flanders for building houses, as long as it continues in the quarry is friable, but when dug up and exposed to the air it grows gradually harder.

However ignorant we may be of the cause why large rocks are every-where to be seen split, whence vast fragments are frequently torn off; yet this we may observe, that fissures are closed up by water, which gets between them, and is detained there, and are consolidated by crystal and spar. Hence we scarcely ever find any crystal, but in those stones which have retained for some time in its chinks water loaded with stony particles. In the same manner crystals fill the cavities in mines, and concrete into quartz or a debased crystal.

It is manifest that stones are not only generated, augmented, and changed perpetually, from incrustations brought upon moss, but are also increased by crystal, and spar. Not to mention that the adjacent earth, especially if it be impregnated with iron particles, is commonly changed into a solid stone.

It is said, that the marble quarries in Italy, from whence fragments are cut, grow up again. Ores grow by little and little, whenever the mineral particles, conveyed by the means of water through the clefts of mountains, are retained there; so that, adhering to the homogeneous matter a long while, at last they take its nature, and are changed into a similar substance.

II. Destruction.

Fossils, although they are the hardest of bodies, yet are found subject to the laws of destruction, as well as all other created substances. For they are dissolved in various ways by the elements exerting their force upon them; as by water, air, and the solar rays; as also by the rapidity of rivers, violence of cataclysms, and eddies, which continually beat upon, and at last reduce to powder the hardest rocks. The agitations of the sea, and lakes, and the vehemency of the waves, excited by turbulent winds, pulverise stones, as evidently appears by their roundness along the shore. Nay, as the poet says,

The hardest stone insensibly gives way To the soft drops that frequent on it play.

So that we ought not to wonder, that these very hard bodies moulder away into powder, and are obnoxious like others to the consuming tooth of time.

Sand is formed of free-stone, which is destroyed partly by frost, making it friable; partly by the agitation of water and waves, which easily wear away, dissolve, and reduce into minute particles, what the frost had made friable.

Chalk is formed of rough marble, which the air, the sun, and the winds, have dissolved.

The slate-earth, or humus schilli, (Syl. Nat. 512.) owes its origin to slate, showers, air, and snow melted.

Ochre is formed of metals dissolved, whose faeces present the very same colours which we always find in the... Vegetable the ore tinged with when exposed to the air. Vi- Kingdom. triol in the same manner mixes with water from ore destroyed.

The muria faxatilis, (Syf. Nat. 14. 6.) a kind of talky stone, yielding salt in the parts that are turned to the sun, is dissolved into sand, which falls by little and little upon the earth, till the whole is consumed; not to mention other kinds of fossils. Lastly, from these there arise new fossils, as we mentioned before; so that the destruction of one thing serves for the generation of another.

Tellaceous worms ought not to be passed over on this occasion, for they eat away the hardest rocks. That species of shell-fish called the razor-shell bores through stones in Italy, and hides itself within them; so that the people who eat them are obliged to break the stones before they can come at them. The cochlea, (Faun. Suec. 1299.) a kind of snail that lives on craggy rocks, eats and bores through the chalky hills, as worms do through wood. This is made evident by the observations of the celebrated de Geer.

Sect. III. The Vegetable Kingdom.

I. Propagation.

Anatomy abundantly proves, that all plants are organic and living bodies; and that all organic bodies are propagated from an egg has been sufficiently demonstrated by the industry of the moderns. We therefore the rather, according to the opinion of the skilful, reject the equivocal generation of plants; and the more so, as it is certain that every living thing is produced from an egg. Now the seeds of vegetables are called eggs; these are different in every different plant, that the means being the same, each may mul- tiply its species, and produce an offspring like its pa- rent. We do not deny, that very many plants push forth from their roots fresh offsets for two or more years. Nay, not a few plants may be propagated by branches, buds, suckers, and leaves, fixed in the ground, as likewise many trees. Hence their stems being divided into branches, may be looked on as roots above ground; for in the same way the roots creep underground, and divide into branches. And there is the more reason for thinking so, because we know that a tree will grow in an inverted situation, viz. the roots being placed upwards, and the head downwards, and buried in the ground; for then the branches will become roots, and the roots will produce leaves and flowers. The lime-tree will serve for an example, on which gardeners have chiefly made the experiment. Yet this by no means overturns the doctrine, that all vegetables are propagated by seeds; since it is clear that in each of the foregoing instances nothing vege- tates but what was the part of a plant, formerly pro- duced from seed; so that, accurately speaking, with- out seed no new plant is produced.

Thus again plants produce seeds; but they are en- tirely unfit for propagation, unless fecundation pre- cedes, which is performed by an intercourse between different sexes, as experience testifies. Plants there- fore must be provided with organs of generation; in which respect they hold an analogy with animals. Since in every plant the flower always precedes the fruit, and the fecundated seeds visibly arise from the fruit; it is evident that the organs of generation are contained in the flower, which organs are called an- thera and stigma, and that the impregnation is ac- complished within the flower. This impregnation is performed by means of the dust of the anther falling upon the moist stigma, where the dust adheres, is burst, and sends forth a very subtle matter, which is absorbed by the style, and is conveyed down to the ru- diments of the seed, and thus renders it fertile. When this operation is over, the organs of generation wither and fall, nay a change in the whole flower ensues. We must however observe, that in the vegetable kingdom one and the same flower does not always contain the organs of generation of both sexes, but oftentimes the male organs are on one plant, and the female on another. But that the business of impregnation may go on suc- cessfully, and that no plant may be deprived of the ne- cessary dust, the whole most elegant apparatus of the anthera and stigma in every flower is contrived with wonderful wisdom.

For in most flowers the stamens surround the pistils, and are of about the same height; but there are many plants in which the pistil is longer than the stamens; and in these it is wonderful to observe, that the Creator has made the flowers recline, in order that the dust may more easily fall into the stigma; e.g. in the campanula, cowslip, &c. This curious phenomenon did not escape the poetical eye of Milton, who describes it in the fol- lowing enlivened imagery:

With cowslips wan, that hang the pensive head.

But when the fecundation is completed, the flow- ers rise again, that the ripe seeds may not fall out before they are dispersed by the winds. In other flowers, on the contrary, the pistil is shorter, and there the flowers preserve an erect situation; nay, when the flowering comes on, they become erect, though before they were drooping, or immersed under water. Lastly, whenever the male flowers are placed below the female ones, the leaves are exceedingly small and narrow, that they may not hinder the dust from flying up- wards like smoke; as we see in the pine, fir, yew, sea-grape, juniper, cypresses, &c. And when in one and the same species one plant is male and the other fe- male, and consequently may be far from one another, there the dust, without which there is no impregna- tion, is carried in abundance by the help of the wind from the male to the female; as in the whole dioecious class. Again, a more difficult impregnation is com- pensated by the longevity of the individuals, and the continuation of life by buds, suckers, and roots; so that we may observe everything most wisely disposed in this affair. Moreover, we cannot without admiration observe that most flowers expand themselves when the sun shines forth; whereas when clouds, rain, or the evening comes on, they close up, lest the genital dust entitled, should be coagulated, or rendered useless, so that it Spoglia cannot be conveyed to the stigma. But what is still Plantarum more remarkable and wonderful, when the fecundation is over, the flowers, neither upon showers, nor evening coming on, close themselves up. Hence when rain falls in the flowering time, the husbandman and gar- dener foretell a scarcity of fruits. To mention only one particular more: The organs of generation, which in the animal kingdom are by nature generally remo- ved from sight, in the vegetable are exposed to the eyes eyes of all; and that when their nuptials are celebrated, it is wonderful what delight they afford to the spectator by their most beautiful colours and delicious odours. At this time bees, flies, and other insects, suck honey out of their nectaries, not to mention the humming bird; and that from their effete dust the bees gather wax.

2. As to the dissemination of seeds after they come to maturity, it being absolutely necessary, since without it no crop could follow, the Author of nature has wisely provided for this affair in numberless ways. The stalks and stems favour this purpose; for these raise the fruit above the ground, that the winds, shaking them to and fro, may disperse far off the ripe seeds. Most of the pericarps are shut at top, that the seeds may not fall before they are shook out by stormy winds. Wings are given to many seeds, by the help of which they fly far from the mother-plant, and oftentimes spread over a whole country. These wings consist either of a down, as in most of the composite-flowered plants; or of a membrane, as in the birch, alder, ash, &c. Hence woods, which happen to be consumed by fire or any other accident, will soon be restored again by new plants disseminated by this means. Many kinds of fruits are endowed with a remarkable elasticity, by the force of which the ripe pericarps throw the seeds to a great distance; as the wood-forsel, the spurge, the phyllanthus, the dittany. Other seeds or pericarps are rough, or provided with hooks; so that they are apt to stick to animals that pass by them, and by this means are carried to their holes, where they are both sown and manured by nature's wonderful care; and therefore the plants of these seeds grow where others will not; as hounds-tongue, agrimony, &c.

Berries and other pericarps are by nature allotted for aliment to animals; but with this condition, that while they eat the pulp they shall sow the seeds; for when they feed upon it, they either disperse them at the same time; or, if they swallow them, they are returned with interest, for they always come out unhurt. It is not therefore surprising, that, if a field be manured with recent mud or dung not quite rotten, various other plants, injurious to the farmer, should come up along with the grain that is sowed. Many have believed that barley or rye has been changed into oats, although all such kinds of metamorphoses are repugnant to the laws of generation; not considering that there is another cause of this phenomenon, viz. that the ground perhaps has been manured with horse-dung, in which the seeds of oats, coming entire from the horse, lie hid and produce that grain. The milletoe always grows upon other trees, because the thrush that eats the seeds of it, casts them forth with its dung; and as bird-catchers make their bird-lime of this same plant, and daub the branches of trees with it, in order to catch the thrush, the proverb hence took its rise:

The thrush, when he befeats the bough, Sows for himself the seeds of woe.

It is not to be doubted, but that the greatest part of the junipers also, that fill our woods, are sown by thrushes, and other birds, in the same manner; as the berries, being heavy, cannot be dispersed far by the winds. The cross-bill that lives on the fir-cones, and the hawfinch that feeds on the pine-cones, at the same time sow many of their seeds; especially when they carry the cone to a stone, or trunk of a tree, that they may more easily strip it of its scales. Swine likewise, by turning up the earth, and moles by throwing up hillocks, prepare the ground for seeds in the same manner as the ploughman does.

We pass over many other things which might be mentioned concerning the sea, lakes, and rivers, by the help of which oftentimes seeds are conveyed unhurt to distant countries. A variety of other ways in which nature provides for the dissemination of plants, has been pointed out by Linnæus in an Oration concerning the augmentation of the habitable earth. As there is something very ingenious and quite new in the treatise here referred to, we shall, for the sake of those who cannot read the original, add a short abstract of it. His design is to show that there was only one pair of all living things, created at the beginning. According to the account of Moses, says the author, we are sure that this was the case in the human species; and by the same account we are informed that this first pair was placed in Eden, and that Adam gave names to all the animals. In order therefore that Adam might be enabled to do this, it was necessary that all the species of animals should be in paradise; which could not happen unless also all the species of vegetables had been there likewise. This he proves from the nature of their food; particularly in relation to insects, most of which live upon one plant only. Now had the world been formed in its present state, it could not have happened that all the species of animals should have been there. They must have been dispersed over all the globe, as we find they are at present; which he thinks improbable for other reasons which we shall pass over for sake of brevity. To solve all the phenomena, then, he lays down as a principle, That at the beginning all the earth was covered with the sea, unless one island large enough to contain all animals and vegetables. This principle he endeavours to establish by several phenomena, which make it probable, that the earth has been and is still gaining upon the sea, and does not forget to mention fossil shells and plants everywhere found, which he lays cannot be accounted for by the deluge. He then undertakes to show how all vegetables and animals might in this island have a soil and climate proper for each, only by supposing it to be placed under the equator, and crowned with a very high mountain. For it is well known that the same plants are found on the Swifs, the Pyrenean, the Scots Alps, on Olympus, Lebanon, Ida, as on the Lapland and Greenland Alps. And Tournefort found at the bottom of mount Ararat the common plants of Armenia, a little way up those of Italy, higher those which grow about Paris, afterwards the Swedish plants, and lastly on the top the Lapland Alpine plants; and myself, adds the author, from the plants growing on the Dalecarlian Alps could collect how much lower they were than the Alps of Lapland. He then proceeds to show how from one plant of each species the immense number of individuals now existing might arise. He gives some instances of the surprising fertility of certain plants; e.g., the eleocharis, one plant of which produced 3000 seeds; of spelt, 2000; of the sunflower, 4000; of the poppy, 3200; of tobacco, 40,320. But supposing any annual plant producing yearly only two Vegetable seeds, even of this, after 20 years, there would be 1,048,576 individuals. For they would increase yearly in a duple proportion, viz. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, &c. He then gives some instances of plants brought from America, that are now become common over many parts of Europe. Lastly, he enters upon a detail of the several methods which nature has taken to propagate vegetables, which is extremely curious, but too long to insert in this place.

II. Preservation.

1. The great Author and Parent of all things decreed, that the whole earth should be covered with plants, and that no place should be void, none barren. But since all countries have not the same changes of seasons, and every soil is not equally fit for every plant; he therefore, that no place should be without some, gave to every one of them such a nature, as might be chiefly adapted to the climate: so that some of them can bear an intense cold, others an equal degree of heat; some delight in dry ground, others in moist, &c. Hence the same plants grow only where there are the same seasons of the year, and the same soil.

The Alpine plants live only in high and cold situations; and therefore often on the Alps of Armenia, Switzerland, the Pyreneans, &c. whose tops are equally covered with eternal snows as those of the Lapland Alps, plants of the same kind are found, and it would be in vain to seek for them anywhere else. It is remarkable, in relation to the Alpine plants, that they blow, and ripen their seeds very early, lest the winter should steal upon them on a sudden, and destroy them.

Our northern plants, although they are extremely rare everywhere else, yet are found in Siberia, and about Hudson's bay; as the arbutus, bramble, winter-green, &c.

Plants impatient of cold live within the torrid zones; hence both the Indies, though at such a distance from one another, have plants in common. The Cape of Good Hope, we know not from what cause, produces plants peculiar to itself; as all the mesembryanthema, and almost all the species of aloes. Grasses, the most common of all plants, can bear almost any temperature of air; in which the good providence of the Creator particularly appears; for all over the globe they, above all plants, are necessary for the nourishment of cattle; and the same thing is seen in relation to our most common grains.

Thus neither the scorching sun, nor the pinching cold, hinders any country from having its vegetables. Nor is there any soil which does not bring forth many kinds of plants. The pond-weeds, the water-lily, lobelia, inhabit the waters. The fluviales, fuci, conervae, fill the marshes. The brya clothe the plains. The driest woods, and places scarce ever illuminated by the rays of the sun, are adorned with the hypna. Nay, stones and the trunks of trees are not excepted, for these are covered with various kinds of liverwort.

The desert, and most sandy places, have their peculiar trees and plants; and as rivers or brooks are very seldom found there, we cannot without wonder observe that many of them distil water, and by that means afford the greatest comfort both to man and beasts that travel there. Thus the tillandia*, which is a parasitical plant, and grows on the tops of trees in the deserts of America, has its leaves turned at the base into the vegetable shape of a pitcher, with the extremity expanded; in which the rain is collected, and preserved for thirsty men, birds, and beasts.

The water-tree in Ceylon produces cylindrical bladder, covered with a lid; into these is secreted a most pure and refreshing water, that tastes like nectar to men and other animals. There is a kind of cuckow-pint in New France, that, if you break a branch of it, will afford you a pint of excellent water. How wise, how beautiful, is the agreement between the plants of every country, and its inhabitants, and other circumstances!

2. Plants oftentimes by their very structure contribute remarkably both to their own preservation and that of others. But the wisdom of the Creator appears nowhere more, than in the manner of growth of trees. For as their roots descend deeper than those of other plants provision is thereby made, that they shall not rob them too much of nourishment; and what is still more, a stem not above a span in diameter often shoots up its branches very high; these bear perhaps many thousand buds, each of which is a plant, with its leaves, flowers, and stipulae. Now if all these grew upon the plain, they would take up a thousand times as much space as the tree does; and in this case there would scarcely be room in all the earth for so many plants, as at present the trees alone afford. Besides, plants that shoot up in this way are more easily preserved from cattle by a natural defence; and farther, their leaves falling in autumn cover the plants growing about against the rigour of the winter, and in the summer they afford a pleasing shade, not only to animals, but to plants, against the intense heat of the sun. We may add, that trees, like all other vegetables, imbibe the water from the earth, which water does not circulate again to the root, as the ancients imagined; but being dispersed, like small rain, by the transpiration of the leaves, moistens the plants that grow around. Again, many trees bear fleshy fruits of the berry or apple kind, which, being secure from the attack of cattle, grow ripe for the use of man and other animals, while their seeds are dispersed up and down after digestion. Lastly, the particular structure of trees contributes very much to the propagation of insects; for these chiefly lay their eggs upon the leaves, where they are secure from the reach of cattle.

Ever-green trees and shrubs in the northern parts are chiefly found in the most barren woods, that they may be a shelter to animals in the winter. They lose their leaves only every third year, as their seeds are sufficiently guarded by the mosses, and do not want any other covering. The palms in the hot countries perpetually keep their leaves, for there the seeds stand in no need of any shelter whatever.

Many plants and shrubs are armed with thorns, e.g. the buckthorn, floe, carduus, cotton-thistle, &c. that they may keep off the animals, which otherwise would destroy their fruit. These at the same time cover many other plants, especially of the annual kind, under their branches. Nay, it has frequently been observed upon commons where furze grows, that wherever there was a bush left untouched for years by the commoners, some tree has sprung up, being secured by the prickles of that shrub from the bite of cattle. So that while the adjacent grounds are robbed of all plants by the voracity Vegetable voracity of animals, some may be preserved to ripen flowers and fruit, and stock the parts about with seeds, which otherwise would be quite extirpated.

All herbs cover the ground with their leaves, and by their shade hinder it from being totally deprived of that moisture which is necessary to their nourishment. They are moreover an ornament to the earth, especially as leaves have a more agreeable verdure on the upper than the under side.

The mosses which adorn the most barren places, at the same time preserve the lesser plants when they begin to shoot, from cold and drought: As we find by experience in our gardens, that plants are preserved in the same way. They also hinder the fermenting earth from forcing the roots of plants upwards in the spring; as we see happen annually to trunks of trees, and other things put into the ground. Hence very few mosses grow in the warmer climates, as not being so necessary to that end in those places.

The English sea-mat-weed, or marran, will bear no soil but pure sand, which nature has allotted to it. Sand, the produce of the sea, is blown by winds oftentimes to very remote parts, and deluges, as it were, woods and fields. But where this grass grows, it frequently fixes the sand, gathers it into hillocks, and thrives so much, that, by means of this alone, at last an entire hill of sand is raised. Thus the sand is kept in bounds, other plants are preserved free from it, the ground is increased, and the sea is repelled by this wonderful disposition of nature.

How solicitous nature is about the preservation of grasses is abundantly evident from hence, that the more the leaves of the perennial grasses are eaten, the more they creep by the roots, and send forth offsets. For the Author of nature intended that vegetables of this kind, which have very slender and erect leaves, should be copious, and very thick-set, covering the ground like a carpet; and thus afford food sufficient for so vast a quantity of grazing animals. But what chiefly increases our wonder is, that although the grasses are the principal food of such animals, yet they are forbid as it were to touch the flower and seed-bearing stems, that so the seeds may ripen and be sown.

The caterpillar or grub of the moth, although it feeds upon grasses, to the great destruction of them in meadows, yet it seems to be formed in order to keep a due proportion between these and other plants: for grasses, when left to grow freely, increase to that degree, that they exclude all other plants; which would consequently be extirpated, unless this insect sometimes prepared a place for them. Hence always more species of plants appear in those places where this caterpillar has laid waste the pastures the preceding year, than at any other time.

III. Destruction.

Daily experience teaches us, that all plants, as well as all other living things, must submit to death. They spring up, they grow, they flourish, they ripen their fruit, they wither, and at last, having finished their course, they die, and return to the dust again, from whence they first took their rise. Thus all black mould, which everywhere covers the earth, for the greatest part is owing to dead vegetables. For all roots descend into the sand by their branches, and after a plant has lost its stem the root remains; but this too rots at last, and changes into mould. By this means this kind of earth is mixed with sand, by the contrivance of nature, nearly in the same way as dung thrown upon fields is wrought into the earth by the industry of the husbandman. The earth thus prepared offers again to plants from its bosom, what it has received from them. For when seeds are committed to the earth, they draw to themselves, accommodate to their nature, and turn into plants, the more subtile parts of this mould by the co-operation of the sun, air, clouds, rains, and winds; so that the tallest tree is, properly speaking, nothing but mould wonderfully compounded with air and water, and modified by a virtue communicated to a small seed by the Creator. From these plants, when they die, just the same kind of mould is formed as gave birth to them originally; but in such a manner, that it is in greater quantity than before. Vegetables therefore increase the black mould, whence fertility remains continually uninterrupted. Whereas the earth could not make good its annual consumption, unless it were constantly recruited by new supplies.

The crustaceous liverworts are the first foundation of vegetation; and therefore are plants of the utmost consequence in the economy of nature, tho' so despised by us. When rocks first emerge out of the sea, they are so polished by the force of the waves, that scarce any herb can find a fixed habitation upon them; as we may observe every where near the sea. But the very minute crustaceous liverworts begin soon to cover these dry rocks, although they have no other nourishment but that small quantity of mould and imperceptible particles which the rain and air bring thither. These liverworts dying at last turn into a very fine earth; on this earth the imbricated liverworts find a bed to strike their roots in. These also die after a time, and turn to mould; and then the various kinds of mosses, e.g. the hypna, the brya, polytrica, find a proper place and nourishment. Lastly, these dying in their turn, and rotting, afford such plenty of newly-formed mould, that herbs and shrubs easily root and live upon it.

That trees, when they are dry or are cut down, may not remain useless to the world, and lie as it were melancholy spectacles, nature halts on their destruction in a singular way: first the liverworts begin to strike root in them; afterwards the moisture is drawn out of them; whence putrefaction follows. Then the mushroom kinds find a fit place for nourishment on them, and corrupt them still more. The beetle called the dermestes, next makes himself a way between the bark and the wood. The musk-beetle, the copper tale-beetle, and the caterpillar or coffus 812 (S.N.) bores an infinite number of holes through the trunk. Lastly, the woodpeckers come, and, while they are seeking for insects, wear away the tree already corrupted; till the whole passes into earth. Such industry does nature use to destroy the trunk of a tree! Nay, trees immersed in water would scarcely ever be destroyed, were it not for the worm that eats ships, which performs this work; as the sailor knows by sad experience.

Thistles, as the most useful of plants, are armed, and guarded by nature herself. Suppose there were a heap heap of clay, on which for many years no plant has sprung up; let the seeds of the thistle blow there, and grow, the thistles by their leaves attract the moisture out of the air, send it into the clay by means of their roots, will thrive themselves, and afford a shade. Let now other plants come hither, and they will soon cover the ground. St Bielke.

All succulent plants make ground fine, of a good quality, and in great plenty; as sedum, crassula, aloe, alge. But dry plants make it more barren, as heath, pines, moss; and therefore nature has placed the succulent plants on rocks, and the driest hills.

Sect. IV. The Animal Kingdom.

I. Propagation.

1. The generation of animals holds the first place among all things that raise our admiration when we consider the works of the Creator; and chiefly that appointment, by which he has regulated the conception of the fetus, and its exclusion, that it should be adapted to the disposition and way of living of each animal, is most worthy of our attention.

We find no species of animals exempt from the flings of love, which is put into them to the end that the Creator's mandate may be executed, Increase and multiply; and that thus the egg, in which is contained the rudiment of the fetus, may be fecundated; for without fecundation all eggs are unfit to produce an offspring.

Foxes and wolves, struck with these flings, everywhere howl in the woods; crowds of dogs follow the female; bulls shew a terrible countenance, and very different from that of oxen. Stags every year have new horns, which they lose after rutting time. Birds look more beautiful than ordinary, and warble all day long through lasciviousness. Thus small birds labour to outshine one another, and cocks to outcrow. Peacocks spread forth again their gay and glorious trains. Fishes gather together, and exult in the water; and grasshoppers chirp, and pipe, as it were, amongst the herbs. The ants gather again into colonies, and repair to their citadels. We pass over many other particulars, which this subject affords, to avoid prolixity.

2. The fecundated egg requires a certain and proportionate degree of heat for the expansion of the stamina of the embryo. That this may be obtained, nature operates in different manners; and therefore we find in different classes of animals a different way of excluding the fetus.

The females of quadrupeds have an uterus, contrived for easy gestation, temperate and cherishing warmth, and proper nourishment of the fetus, as most of them live upon the earth, and are there fed.

Birds, in order to get subsistence, and for other reasons, are under a necessity of shifting place; and that not upon their feet, but wings. Gestation therefore would be burdensome to them. For this reason they lay eggs, covered with a hard shell. These they sit upon by a natural instinct, and cherish till the young one comes forth.

The ostrich and cassowary are almost the only birds that do not observe this law; these commit their eggs to the sand, where the intense heat of the sun excludes the fetus.

Fishes inhabit cold waters, and most of them have cold blood; whence it happens that they have not heat sufficient to produce the fetus. The all-wise Creator therefore has ordained, that most of them should lay their eggs upon the shore; where, by means of the solar rays, the water is warmer, and also fitter for that purpose; because it is there less impregnated with salt, and consequently milder; and also because water-insects abound more there, which afford the young fry nourishment.

Salmons in the like manner, when they are about to lay their eggs, are led by instinct to go up the stream, where the water is fresh and more pure.

The butterfly-fish is an exception, for that brings forth its fetus alive.

The fishes of the ocean, which cannot reach the shores by reason of the distance, are also exempt from this law. The Author of nature has given to this kind eggs that swim; so that they are hatched amidst the swimming fucus, called fargasso*.

The cetaceous fish have warm blood; and therefore they bring forth their young alive, and suckle them with their teats.

Many amphibious animals bring forth live fetuses, as the viper and the toad, &c. But the species that lay eggs, lay them in places where the heat of the sun supplies the warmth of the parent.

Thus the rest of the frog kind, and the lizard kind, lay their eggs in warm waters; the common snake in dunghills, and such like warm places; and give them up to nature, as a provident nurse, to take care of them. The crocodile and sea-tortoises go ashore to lay their eggs under the sand, where the heat of the sun hatches them.

Most of the insect kind neither bear young nor hatch eggs: yet their tribes are the most numerous of all living creatures; insomuch, that if the bulk of their bodies were proportionate to their quantity, they would scarce leave room for any other kinds of animals. Let us see therefore with what wisdom the Creator has managed about the propagation of these minute creatures. The females by natural instinct meet and copulate with the males; and afterwards lay their eggs; but not indiscriminately in every place. For they all know how to choose such places as may supply their offspring in their tender age with nourishment, and other things necessary to satisfy their natural wants: for the mother, soon after she has laid her eggs, dies; and were she to live, she would not have it in her power to take care of her young.

Butterflies, moths, some beetles, weevils, bugs, cuckow-spit insects, gall-insects, tree-bugs, &c. lay their eggs on the leaves of plants, and every different tribe chooses its own species of plant. Nay, there is scarce any plant which does not afford nourishment to some insect; and still more, there is scarcely any part of a plant which is not preferred by some of them. Thus one insect feeds upon the flower; another upon the trunk; another upon the root; and another upon the leaves. But we cannot help wondering particularly, when we see how the leaves of some trees and plants, after eggs have been let into them, grow into galls; and form dwellings, as it were, for the young ones, where they may conveniently live. Thus when the gall-insect has fixed her eggs in the leaves of an oak, the wound When the tree-bug has deposited its eggs in the boughs of the fir-tree, excrescences arise shaped like pearls. When another species of the tree-bug has deposited its eggs in the mouse-eat chickweed or the speedwell, the leaves contract in a wonderful manner into the shape of a head. The water-snake, excludes eggs either on the extremities of the juniper, which from thence forms a lodging, that looks like the arrow-headed grass; or on the leaves of the poplar, from whence a red globe is produced. The tree-louse lays its eggs on the leaves of the black poplar, which upon that turn into a kind of inflated bag; and so in other instances. Nor is it upon plants only that insects live and lay their eggs. The gnats commit theirs to stagnating waters. The water-insect called monoculus often increases so immensely on pools, that the red legions of them have the appearance of blood. Others lay their eggs in other places: e.g., the beetle, in dungs-hills; the dermestes, in skins; the flesh-fly, in putrid flesh; the cheese-maggot, in the cracks of cheese, from whence the caterpillars issuing forth, oftentimes consume the whole cheese, and deceive many people, who fancy the worms are produced from the particles of the cheese itself, by a generation called equivocal, which is extremely absurd. Others exclude their eggs upon certain animals. The mill-beetle lays its eggs between the scales of fishes; the species of gad-fly, on the back of cattle; the species 1025 (S. N.) on the back of the rein-deer; the species 1026, in the soles of sheep. The species 1028 lodges during the winter in the intestinal tube, or the throat of horses, nor can it be driven out till the summer comes on. Nay, insects themselves are often surrounded with the eggs of other insects, inasmuch that there is scarcely an animal to be found which does not feed its proper insect, not to say any more of all the other places where they deposit their eggs. Almost all the eggs of insects, when laid, are ordained to undergo, by a wonderful law of nature, various metamorphoses, e.g., the egg of the butterfly, being laid in the cabbage, first of all becomes a caterpillar, that feeds upon grass, crawls, and has 16 feet. This afterwards changes into a nymph, that has no feet, is smooth, and eats nothing; and lastly, this bursts into a butterfly that flies, has variety of colours, is rough, and lives upon honey. What can be more worthy of admiration than that one and the same animal should appear on the stage of life under so many characters, as if it were three distinct animals. Linnaeus, (Annae Academ. tom. ii.) in a treatise on the wonders relating to insects, says, "As surprising as these transformations may seem, yet much the same happens when a chicken is hatched; the only difference is, that this chicken breaks all three coats at once, the butterfly one after another."

The laws of generation of worms are still very obscure; as we find they are sometimes produced by eggs, sometimes by offsets just in the same manner as happens to trees. It has been observed with the greatest admiration, that the polypus or hydra (S. N. 221) lets down shoots and live branches, by which it is multiplied. Nay more, if it be cut into many parts, each segment, put into the water, grows into a perfect animal; so that the parts which were torn off are restored from one scrap.

3. The multiplication of animals is not tied down to the same rules in all; for some have a remarkable power of propagating, others are confined within narrower limits in this respect. Yet in general we find, that nature observes this order, that the least animals, and those which are useful and serve for nourishment to the greatest number of other animals, are endued with a greater power of propagating than others.

Mites, and many other insects, will multiply to a thousand within the compass of a very few days; while the elephant scarcely produces one young in two years.

The hawk kind generally lay not above two eggs, at most four; while the poultry kind rises to 50.

The diver, or loon, which is eaten by few animals, lays also two eggs; but the duck kind, the moor-game, partridges, &c. and small birds, lay a very large number.

If you suppose two pigeons to hatch nine times a year, they may produce in four years 14760 young. They are endued with this remarkable fertility, that they may serve for food, not only to man, but to hawks and other birds of prey. Nature has made harmless and efculent animals fruitful. She has forbidden the bird kind to fall short of the number of eggs allotted to each species; and therefore, if the eggs which they intend to sit upon be taken away a certain number of times, they presently lay others in their room; as may be seen in the swallow, duck, and small birds.

II. Preservation.

1. Preservation follows generation; this appears chiefly in the tender age, while the young are unable to provide for their own support. For then the parents, though otherwise ever so fierce in their disposition, are affected with a wonderful tenderness or sense of love towards their progeny, and spare no pains to provide for, guard, and preserve them; and that not by an imaginary law, but one given by the Lord of nature himself.

Quadrupeds give suck to their tender young, and support them by a liquor perfectly easy of digestion, till their stomachs are able to digest, and their teeth are fit to chew, more solid food. Nay, their love toward them is so great, that they endeavour to repel with the utmost force every thing which threatens danger or destruction to them. The ewe, which brings forth two lambs at a time, will not admit one to her teats unless the other be present and suck also; left one should starve, while the other grows fat.

Birds build their nests in the most artificial manner, and line them as soft as possible, for fear the eggs should get any damage. Nor do they build promiscuously in any place, but there only where they may quietly lie concealed and be safe from the attacks of their enemies.

The hanging-bird makes its nest of the fibres of withered plants, and the down of the poplar seeds, and fixes it upon the bough of some tree hanging over the water, that it may be out of reach.

The diver places its swimming nest upon the water itself, amongst the rushes. We designedly pass over many instances of the like kind. Again, birds sit on their eggs with so much patience, that many of them choose to perish with hunger, rather than expose the eggs to danger by going to seek for food.

The male rooks and crows, at the time of incubation, bring food to the females.

Pigeons, small birds, and other birds which pair, sit by turns; but where polygamy prevails, the males scarcely take any care of the young.

Most of the duck kind pluck off their feathers in great quantity, and cover their eggs with them, lest they should be damaged by the cold when they quit their nests for the sake of food; and when the young are hatched, who knows not how solicitous they are in providing for them till they are able to fly and shift for themselves?

Young pigeons would not be able to make use of hard seeds for nourishment, unless the parents were to prepare them in their crops, and thence feed them.

The owl called the eagle-owl makes its nest on the highest precipices of mountains, and in the warmest spot, facing the sun; that the dead bodies brought there may by the heat melt into a soft pulp, and become fit nourishment for the young.

As an exception indeed to this fostering care of animals, may be mentioned the cuckow, which lays its eggs in the nest of other small birds, generally the wag-tail, yellow-hammer, or white-throat, and leaves the incubation or preservation of the young to them.

This custom of the cuckow is so extraordinary, and out of the common course of nature, that it would not be credible were it not for the testimony of the most knowing and curious natural-historians, such as Ray, Willoughby, Gesner, Aldrovandus, Aristotle, &c.

But this seeming want of instinct is accounted from the structure and situation of its stomach, which See the article Cuculus.

difqualifies it for incubation; and its instinctive care is still conspicuous in providing a proper, though foreign, nidus for its eggs.

Amphibious animals, fishes, and insects, which cannot come under the care of their parents, yet owe this to them, that they are put in places where they easily find nourishment.

2. As soon as animals come to maturity, and want no longer the care of their parents, they attend with the utmost labour and industry, according to the law and economy appointed for every species, to the preservation of their lives. But that so great a number of them, which occur everywhere, may be supported, and a certain and fixed order may be kept up amongst them, behold the wonderful disposition of the Creator, in assigning to each species certain kinds of food, and in putting limits to their appetites. So that some live on particular species of plants, which particular regions and soils only produce: some on particular animalcula; others on carcases; and some even on mud and dung. For this reason, Providence has ordained that some should swim in certain regions of the watery element; others should fly: some should inhabit the torrid, the frigid, or the temperate zones; and others should frequent deserts, mountains, woods, pools, or meadows, according as the food proper to their nature is found in sufficient quantity. By this means there is no terrestrial tract, no sea, no river, no country, but what contains and nourishes various kinds of animals.

Hence also an animal of one kind cannot rob those of another kind of its aliment; which, if it happened, would endanger their lives or health: and thus the world at all times affords nourishment to so many and so large inhabitants, at the same time that nothing which it produces is useless or superfluous.

It will not be here amiss to produce some instances by which it will appear how providentially the Creator has furnished every animal with such clothing as is proper for the country where they live, and also how excellently the structure of their bodies is adapted to their particular way of life; so that they seem to be destined solely to the places where they are found.

Monkeys, elephants, and rhinoceroses, feed upon vegetables that grow in hot countries, and therefore therein they have their allotted places. When the sun darts forth its most fervid rays, these animals are of such a nature and disposition, that it does them no manner of hurt; nay, with the rest of the inhabitants of those parts, they go naked; whereas, were they covered with hairy skins, they must perish with heat.

On the contrary, the place of rein-deer is fixed in the coldest part of Lapland, because their chief food is the liverwort, which grows nowhere so abundantly as there; and where, as the cold is most intense, the rein-deer are cloathed, like the other northern animals, with skins filled with the densest hair, by the help of which they easily defy the keenness of the winter. In like manner the rough-legged partridge passes its life in the very Lapland Alps, feeding upon the seeds of the dwarf birch; and, that they may run up and down safely amidst the snow, their feet are feathered.

The camel frequents the sandy and burning deserts, in order to get the barren camel's-hay. How wisely has the Creator contrived for him! he is obliged to go through the deserts, where oftentimes no water is found for many miles about. All other animals would perish with thirst in such a journey; but the camel can undergo it without suffering; for his belly is full of cells, where he reserves water for many days. It is reported by travellers, that the Arabians, when in travelling they want water, are forced to kill their camels, and take water out of their bellies that is perfectly good to drink, and not at all corrupted.

The pelican likewise lives in desert and dry places; and is obliged to build her nest far from the sea, in order to procure a greater share of heat to her eggs. She is therefore forced to bring water from afar for herself and her young; for which reason Providence has furnished her with an instrument most adapted to this purpose: She has a very large bag under her throat, which she fills with a quantity of water sufficient for many days; and this she pours into the nest, to refresh her young, and teach them to swim.

The wild beasts, lions, and tygers, come to this nest to quench their thirst, but do no hurt to the young.

Oxen delight in low grounds, because there the food most palatable to them grows. Sheep prefer naked hills, where they find a particular kind of grass called the feslucia, which they love above all things.

Goats climb up the precipices of mountains, that they may browse on the tender shrubs; and in order to fit them for it, they have feet made for jumping.

Horses chiefly resort to woods, and feed upon leafy plants.

Nay, so various is the appetite of animals, that there is scarcely any plant which is not chosen by some, and left untouched by others. The horse gives up the water-hemlock to the goat. The cow gives up the long-leaved water-hemlock to the sheep. The goat gives up the monkshood to the horse, &c.; for that which certain animals grow fat upon, others abhor as poison. Hence no plant is absolutely poisonous, but only respectively. Thus the spurge, that is noxious to man, is a most wholesome nourishment to the caterpillar. That animals may not destroy themselves for want of knowing this law, each of them is guarded by such a delicacy of taste and smell, that they can easily distinguish what is pernicious from what is wholesome; and when it happens that different animals live upon the same plants, still one kind always leaves something for the other, as the mouths of all are not equally adapted to lay hold of the grass; by which means there is sufficient food for all. To this may be referred an economical experiment well known to the Dutch, that when eight cows have been in a pasture, and can no longer get nourishment, two horses will do very well there for some days; and when nothing is left for the horses, four sheep will live upon it.

Swine get provision by turning up the earth; for there they find the succulent roots, which to them are very delicious.

The leaves and fruits of trees are intended as food for some animals, as the sloth, the squirrel; and these last have feet given them fit for climbing.

Besides myriads of fishes, the castor, the sea-calf, and others, inhabit the water, that they may there be fed; and their hinder-feet are fit for swimming, and perfectly adapted to their manner of life.

The whole order of the goose-kind, as ducks, merganser, &c. pass their lives in water, as feeding upon water-insects, fishes, and their eggs. Who does not see, that attends ever so little, how exactly the wonderful formation of their beaks, their necks, their feet, and their feathers, suits their kind of life; which observation ought to be extended to all other birds.

The way of living of the sea-fowl deserves to be particularly taken notice of; for as he cannot so commodiously plunge into the water, and catch fish, as other aquatic birds, the Creator has appointed the sea-gull to be his caterer in the following manner. When this last is pursued by the former, he is forced to throw up part of his prey, which the other catches; but in the autumn, when the fishes hide themselves in deep places, the merganser supplies the gull with food, as being able to plunge deeper into the sea. The chief granary of small birds is the knot-grass, that bears heavy seeds, like those of the black bindweed. It is a very common plant, not easily destroyed, either by the road side by trampling upon it, or anywhere else; and is extremely plentiful after harvest in fields, to which it gives a reddish hue by its numerous seeds. These fall upon the ground, and are gathered all the year round by the small birds. To which we may add, that many small birds feed upon the seeds of plantain, particularly linnets. It is generally known that the goldfinch lives upon the seed of thistles, from which he has its name in Latin and French. Thus bountiful nature feeds the fowls of the air.

The Creator has taken no less care of some amphibious animals, as the snake and frog kind; which, as they have neither wings to fly, nor feet to run swiftly and commodiously, would scarcely have any means of taking their prey, were it not that some animals run, as it were of their own accord, into their mouths. When the rattlesnake, a native of America, with open jaws fixes his eyes on a bird, fly, or squirrel, sitting on a tree, they fly down his throat, being rendered stupid, and giving themselves up as destitute of all refuge. How dreadful this serpent is to other animals will appear by an account we have in a treatise entitled, Radix Senega. Where the author (Aman Academ. tom. 2) says, one of these terrible serpents got clandestinely into the house of governor Blake at Carolina; where it would have long lain concealed, had it not been that all the domestic animals, as dogs, hogs, turkeys and fowls, admonished the family by their unusual cries, equally shewing their horror and consternation, their hair, bristles, and crests, standing up an end. On the other hand, we cannot but adore the Creator's great goodness towards man, when we consider the rattle which terminates this serpent's tail; for by means of that we have an opportunity of guarding against this dreadful enemy; the sound warning us to fly; which if we were not to do, and we should be wounded by him, the whole body would be turned into a putrid corruption in six hours, nay sometimes in half an hour.

The limits of this article will not permit us to produce more examples of this kind. But whoever will be at the pains to take even so slight a view of the wonderful works of the Author of nature, will readily see how wisely the plan, order, and fitness of things with divine ends, are disposed.

3. We cannot without the utmost admiration behold how providently the Creator has acted as to the preservation of those animals which, at a certain time of the year, are by the rigour of the season excluded from the necessaries of life. Thus the bear in the autumn creeps into the moss which he has gathered, and there lies all winter; subsisting upon no other nourishment but his fat, collected during the summer in the cellular membrane, and which without doubt, during his fast, circulates through his vessels, and supplies the place of food; to which perhaps is added that fat juice which he sucks out of the bottom of his feet.

The hedgehog, badger, and mole, in the same manner fill their winter-quarters with vegetables, and sleep during the frosts. The bat seems cold and quite dead all the winter. Most of the amphibious animals get into dens, or to the bottom of lakes and pools.

In the autumn, as the cold approaches, and insects disappear, swallows migrate into other climes in search of food and a temperature of air more friendly to their their constitution: though the later hatches, or those young birds which are incapable of distant flights, seek for an asylum against the violence of the cold in the bottom of lakes amongst the reeds and rushes; from whence, by the wonderful appointment of nature, they come forth again. See the article Hirundo. The peristaltic motion of the bowels ceases in all these animals while they are obliged to fast; whence the appetite is diminished, and so they suffer the least from hunger. To this head may be referred the observation of the celebrated Lister concerning those animals, That their blood, when let into a bason, does not coagulate, as that of all other animals; and so is no less fit for circulation than before.

The moor-fowls work themselves out-walks under the very snow. They moult in the summer; so that about the month of August they cannot fly, and are therefore obliged to run into the woods; but then the moor-berries and bilberries are ripe, from whence they are abundantly supplied with food. Whereas the young do not moult the first summer; and therefore, though they cannot run so well, are able to escape danger by flight.

The rest of the birds who feed upon insects migrate every year to foreign regions, in order to seek for food in a milder climate; while all the northern parts, where they live well in the summer, are covered with snow.

By these migrations, birds also become useful to many different countries, and are distributed over almost all the globe. And it must excite our admiration that all of them exactly observe the times of coming and going, and that they do not mistake their way.

Insects in the winter generally lie hid within their cases, and are nourished by the surrounding liquor like the fetus of other animals; from whence, at the approach of spring, they awake, and fly forth, to the astonishment of every one.

However, all animals which lie hid in winter do not observe these laws of fasting. Some provide storehouses in summer and autumn, from which they take what is necessary; as mice, jays, squirrels, bees.

III. Destruction.

1. We have observed above, that all animals do not live upon vegetables, but that there are some which feed upon certain animalcula. Nay, there are some which subsist only by rapine, and daily destroy numbers of the peaceable kind.

These animals are destroyed, but in such a manner that the weaker generally are infested by the stronger in a continued series. Thus the tree-louse lives upon plants. The fly called musca aphidivora lives upon the tree-louse; the hornet and wasp-fly, upon the musca aphidivora; the dragon-fly, upon the hornet; and wasp fly; the spider, on the dragon-fly; the small birds on the spider; and lastly, the hawk kind on the small birds.

In like manner, the monoculus delights in putrid waters, the knat eats the monoculus, the frog eats the knat, the pike eats the frog, the sea-calf eats the pike.

The bat and goat-sucker make their excursions only at night, that they may catch the moths, which at that time fly about in vast quantities.

The woodpecker pulls out the insects which lie hid in the trunks of trees.

The swallow pursues those which fly about in the open air.

The mole pursues worms. The large fishes devour the small. Nay, we scarcely know an animal which has not some enemy to contend with.

Amongst quadrupeds wild beasts are most remarkably pernicious and dangerous to others, as the hawk kind among birds. But that they may not, by too atrocious a butchery, destroy whole species, even these are circumcised within certain bounds. First, as to the most fierce of all, it deserves to be noted how few they are in proportion to other animals. Secondly, the number of them is not equal in all countries. Thus France and England breed no wolves, and the northern countries no tigers or lions. Thirdly, these fierce animals sometimes fall upon and destroy one another. Thus the wolf devours the fox. The dog infests both the wolf and fox; nay, wolves in a body will sometimes venture to surround a bear. The tiger often kills its own male whelps. Dogs are sometimes seized with madness, and destroy their fellows, or with the mange destroy themselves.

Lastly, wild beasts seldom arrive at so great an age as animals which live on vegetables. For they are subject, from their alkaline diet, to various diseases, which bring them sooner to an end.

But although all animals are infested by their peculiar enemies, yet they are often able to elude their violence by stratagems and force. Thus the hare often confounds the dog by her windings.

When the bear attacks sheep and cattle, these draw up together for mutual defence. Horses join heads together, and fight with their heels. Oxen join tails, and fight with their horns.

Swine get together in herds, and boldly oppose themselves to any attack, so that they are not easily overcome; and it is worth while to observe, that all of them place their young, as least able to defend themselves, in the middle, that they may remain safe during the battle.

Birds, by their different ways of flying, oftentimes escape the hawk. If the pigeon had the same way of flying as the hawk, she would hardly ever escape his claws.

It deserves also to be remarked, how much some animals consult their safety by night. When horses sleep in woods, one by turn remains awake, and, as it were, keeps watch. When monkeys in Brazil sleep upon trees, one of them keeps awake, in order to give the sign when the tiger creeps towards them; and in case the guard should be caught asleep, the rest tear him to pieces. Hence the hunting of rapacious animals is not always successful, and they are often obliged to labour for a whole day to no purpose. For this reason the Creator has given them such a nature, that they can bear fasting a long time. Thus the lion lurks in his den many days without fasting; and the wolf, when he has once well satisfied his hunger, can fast many weeks without any difficulty.

If we consider the end for which it pleased the Supreme Being to constitute such an order of nature, that some animals should be, as it were, created only to be miserably butchered by others, it seems that his Pro- Providence not only aimed at sustaining, but also keeping a just proportion amongst all the species; and so prevent any one of them from increasing too much, to the detriment of men and other animals. For if it be true, as it is most assuredly, that the surface of the earth can support only a certain number of inhabitants, they must all perish if the same number were doubled or tripled.

There are some viviparous flies which bring forth 2000 young. These in a little time would fill the air, and like clouds intercept the rays of the sun, unless they were devoured by birds, spiders, and many other animals.

Storks and falcons free Egypt from frogs, which, after the inundation of the Nile, cover all the country. The same birds also clear Palestine of mice. Bello-nius on this subject says as follows: "The storks come to Egypt in such abundance, that the fields and meadows are white with them. Yet the Egyptians are not displeased with this sight; as frogs are generated in such numbers there, that did not the storks devour them, they would over-run every thing. Besides, they also catch and eat serpents. Between Belba and Gaza, the fields of Palestine are often deserted on account of the abundance of mice and rats; and were they not destroyed by the falcons, that come here by instinct, the inhabitants could have no harvest."

The white fox is of equal advantage in the Lapland Alps; as he destroys the Norway rats, which are generated there in great abundance, and thus hinders them from increasing too much in proportion, which would be the destruction of vegetables.

It is sufficient for us, that nothing is made by Providence in vain; and that whatever is made, is made with supreme wisdom. For it does not become us to pry too boldly into all the designs of God. Let us not imagine, when these rapacious animals sometimes do us mischief, that the Creator planned the order of nature according to our private principles of economy: for the Laplanders have one way of living; the European husbandman another; the Hottentots and savages a third; whereas the stupendous economy of the Deity is one throughout the globe; and if Providence does not always calculate exactly according to our way of reckoning, we ought to consider this affair in the same light, as when different seamen wait for a fair wind, every one with respect to the part he is bound to, who we plainly see cannot all be satisfied.

2. The whole earth would be overwhelmed with carcasses and stinking bodies, if some animals did not delight to feed upon them. Therefore, when an animal dies, bears, wolves, foxes, ravens, &c. do not lose a moment till they have taken all away. But if a horse, e.g. dies near the public road, you will find him, after a few days, swollen, buried, and at last filled with innumerable grubs of carnivorous flies, by which he is entirely consumed, and removed out of the way, that he may not become a nuisance to passengers by his poisonous stench.

When the carcases of fishes are driven upon the shore, the voracious kinds, such as the thornback, the hound-fish, the conger-eel, &c. gather about and eat them. But because the flux and reflux soon change the state of the sea, they themselves are often detained in pits, and become a prey to the wild beasts that frequent the shores. Thus the earth is not only kept clean from the putrefaction of carcases, but at the same time, by the economy of nature, the necessaries of life are provided for many animals. In the like manner many insects at once promote their own good, and that of other animals. Thus gnats lay their eggs in stagnant, putrid, and stinking waters, and the grubs that arise from these eggs clear away all the putrefaction: and this will easily appear, if any one will make the experiment by filling two vessels with putrid water, leaving the grubs in one, and taking them all out of the other; for then he will soon find the water that is full of grubs pure and without any stench, while the water that has no grubs will continue stinking.

lice increase in a wonderful manner in the heads of children that are scabby; nor are they without their use, for they consume the redundant humours.

The beetle kind in summer extract all moist and glutinous matter out of the dung of cattle, so that it becomes like dust, and is spread by the wind over the ground. Were it not for this, the vegetables that lie under the dung would be so far from thriving, that all that spot would be rendered barren.

As the excrements of dogs is of so filthy and septic a nature that no insect will touch them, and therefore they cannot be dispersed by that means, care is taken that these animals should excrete upon stones, trunks of trees, or some high place, that vegetables may not be hurt by them.

Cats bury their dung. Nothing is so mean, nothing so little, in which the wonderful order and wise disposition of nature do not shine forth.

Lastly, all these treasures of nature, so artfully contrived, so wonderfully propagated, so providentially supported throughout her three kingdoms, seem intended by the Creator for the sake of man. Everything may be made subservient to his use, if not immediately, yet mediately; not so to that of other animals. By the help of reason man tames the fiercest animals; pursues and catches the swiftest; nay, he is able to reach even those which lie hid in the bottom of sea.

By the help of reason, he increases the number of vegetables immensely; and does that by art, which nature, left to herself, could scarcely effect. By ingenuity he obtains from vegetables whatever is convenient or necessary for food, drink, clothing, medicine, navigation, and a thousand other purposes.

He has found the means of going down into the abyss of the earth, and almost searching its very bowels. With what artifice has he learned to get fragments from the most rocky mountains, to make the hardest stones fluid like water, to separate the useful metal from the useless dross, and to turn the finest sand to some use! In short, when we follow the series of created things, and consider how providentially one is made for the sake of another, the matter comes to this, that all things are made for the sake of man; and for this end more especially, that he, by admiring the works of the Creator, should extol his glory, and at once enjoy all those things of which he stands in need, in order to pass his life conveniently and pleasantly. CONCLUSION.

This subject concerning the works of nature, a very small part of which we have been able to touch upon, is of such importance and dignity, that if it were to be properly treated in all its parts, men would find wherewithal to employ almost all the powers of the mind. Nay, time itself would fail before even the most acute human sagacity would be able to discover the amazing economy, laws, and exquisite structure, of the least insect; since, as Pliny observes, nature nowhere appears more herself than in her most minute works.

Summary as it is, however, the preceding view, as it were in a map, of the several parts of nature, their connections and dependencies, may, among other uses, convey an useful lesson, and such an one as the best of us often need to have inculcated.

From a partial consideration of things, we are very apt to criticise what we ought to admire; to look upon as useless what perhaps we should own to be of infinite advantage to us, did we see a little farther; to be peevish where we ought to give thanks; and at the same time to ridicule those who employ their time and thoughts in examining what we were (i.e., some of us most assuredly were) created and appointed to study. In short, we are too apt to treat the Almighty worse than a rational man would treat a good mechanic, whose works he would either thoroughly examine, or be ashamed to find any fault with them. This is the effect of a partial consideration of nature; but he who has the candour of mind and leisure to look farther, will be inclined to cry out,

How wond'rous is this scene! where all is form'd With number, weight, and measure! all design'd