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 UCSB UBR'ARY
 
 bv Thomas Teyif, Jf 73 C]i,-apside.l st Apn!L18*l.
 
 A COMPENDIUM 
 
 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 A SURVEY OF THE WISDOM OF (JOD IN THE 
 CREATION ; 
 
 BY JOHN WESLEY, A.M. 
 A NEW EDITION, 
 
 REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ADAPTED TO THE PRESENT STATE 
 OF SCIENCE, 
 
 BY ROBERT MUDIE; 
 
 AUTHOR OF " A GUIDE TO THE OBSERVATION OF NATURE," ETC. 
 
 In Cljree Volumes. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 MAN VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, 73, CHEAPSID 
 
 MDCCCXLII.
 
 LONDON : 
 HKAimrKY AND BVAXS, PRINTKRS, WHITEKRIARS.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 I. I have long desired to see such a Compendium 
 of Natural Philosophy as was, first, not too diffuse, 
 nor expressed in many words, but comprised in so 
 moderate a compass as not to require any large 
 expense either of time or money ; secondly, not 
 maimed or imperfect, but containing the heads of 
 whatever, after all our discoveries, is known with 
 any degree of certainty, either with regard to the 
 earth or the heavens. And this I wanted to see 
 thirdly, in the plainest dress ; simply and nakedly, 
 expressed in the most clear, easy, and intelligible 
 manner that the nature of the things would allow, 
 particularly free from all the jargon of mathematics, 
 which is mere heathen Greek to common readers. 
 At the same time I wished to see this short, full, 
 plain account of the visible creation, directed to its 
 right end ; not barely to entertain an idle barren 
 curiosity, but to display the invisible things of God ; 
 his power, wisdom and goodness. 
 
 II. But I cannot find such a treatise as this in 
 any modern, any more than ancient language ; and I 
 am certain there is none such in the English tongue. 
 What comes nearest to it of anything I have seen, is 
 Mr. Ray's " "Wisdom of God in the Creation ;" Dr. 
 a2
 
 IV PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Derham's " Phjsico and Astro-Theology ;" Nieu- 
 wentyt's" Religious Philosopher;" Mather's "Chris- 
 tian Philosopher and Nature delineated." But none 
 of these, singly, answers the design; and who will 
 be at the pains to extract the substance of them all 
 and add the later discoveries, of which they had 
 little knowledge, and therefore could take but little 
 notice ? This is a desideratum still, and one that a 
 lover of mankind would rejoice to see even tolerably 
 supplied. 
 
 III. I am thoroughly sensible there are many 
 who hare far more ability, as well as leisure for such 
 a work than me ; but as none of them undertake it, I 
 hare myself made some little attempt in the ensuing 
 volumes. Herein following Mr. Derham's plan, I 
 divide the work into text and notes.* The text is, 
 in great measure, translated from the Latin work of 
 John Francis Buddaeus, the late celebrated professor 
 of philosophy in the University of Jena, in Germany. 
 But I have found occasion to retrench, enlarge, or 
 alter every chapter, and almost every section, so that 
 it is now, I believe,not onlypure, containingnothing 
 false or uncertain, but al full as any tract can be 
 expected to be which is comprised in so narrow a 
 compass; and likewise plain, clear, and intelligible, to 
 one of a tolerable understanding. The notes contain 
 the sum of what is most valuable in the above-named 
 writers ; to which are added the choicest discoveries 
 both of our own and of the foreign societies. These 
 likewise, I trust, are as plain and clear as the nature 
 of the things spoken of w ill allow ; although some 
 of them, I know, will not be understood by an 
 unlearned or inattentive reader. 
 
 * So it was in the first edition. Many of these are now 
 taken into the text.
 
 PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR. V 
 
 IV. Meantime I must apprise the reader that I 
 have sometimes a little digressed, by reciting both 
 uncommon appearances of nature, and uncommon 
 instances of art: and yet this is not properly a digres- 
 sion from the main design I have in vie\v. For surely 
 in these appearances also the wisdom of God is dis- 
 played ; even that manifold wisdom which is able 
 to answer the same ends by so various means. 
 And those surprising instances of art do likewise 
 reflect glory upon him, whose spirit in man giveth 
 that wisdom, whose inspiration teacheth under- 
 standing. 
 
 V. It will be easily observed, that I endeavour 
 throughout not to account for things, but only to 
 describe them. lundertake barely to set down what 
 appears in nature, not the cause of those appear- 
 ances. The facts lie within the reach of our senses 
 and understanding, the causes are more remote. 
 That things are so we know with certainty, but 
 why they are so we know not In many cases we 
 cannot know ; and the more we inquire the more 
 we are perplexed and entangled. God hath so 
 done his works that we may admire and adore, but 
 we cannot search them out to perfection. 
 
 VI. And does not this open to us another pro- 
 spect ? although one we do not care to dwell upon. 
 Does not the same survey of the creation which 
 shows us the wisdom of God show the astonishing 
 ignorance and short-sightedness of man ? For 
 when we have finished our survey, what do we 
 know ? How inconceivably little ! Is not every 
 thinking man constrained to cry out, And is this 
 all? Do all the boasted discoveries of so enlight- 
 ened an age amount to no more than this ? Vain 
 man would be wise ! But with how little success
 
 VI PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 does he attempt it ? How small a part do we know 
 even of the things that encompass us on every side ? 
 I mean as to the very fact ; for as to the reasons, 
 of almost everything which we see, hear, or feel, 
 after all our researches and disquisitions, they are 
 hid in impenetrable darkness. 
 
 VII. I trust, therefore, the following sheets 
 may, in some degree, answer both these important 
 purposes. It may be the means, on the one hand, 
 of humbling the pride of man, by showing that he 
 is surrounded on every side with things which he 
 can no more account for than for immensity or 
 eternity ; and it may serve on the other to display 
 the amazing power, wisdom, and goodness of the 
 great Creator ; to warm our hearts, and to fill our 
 mouths with wonder, love, and praise ! 
 
 JOHN WESLEY.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 THE notion which the amiable and justly celebrated 
 JOHN WESLEY had of the easiest method of obtain- 
 ing a popular knowledge of the works of nature and 
 a right feeling of reverence for the Author of nature, 
 as his wisdom, power, and goodness are displayed in 
 those works, can be seen from his own Preface, as 
 given in the preceding pages; and when we consider 
 the state of human knowledge at the time when 
 WESLEY obtained his information, more especially 
 as regarded the laws of nature and the mutual rela- 
 tions and dependencies of natural productions and 
 phenomena, we must at once admit that, for its 
 time, the original work was an excellent one. 
 
 The time of it has however now gone by. Not le ss 
 than a hundred years have passed away since Wesley 
 studied ; and during those years, the progress of all 
 sciences, and of the natural sciences in an especial 
 manner, has been greater than during the whole pre- 
 vious period of human history. If we leave out of 
 the question the mathematical sciences, which, 
 though not exactly " Heathen Greek to common 
 readers," as Wesley says, have yet no direct and im- 
 mediate bearing upon the science of terrestial nature, 
 until they are combined with other elements, if 
 we leave out these sciences, we may say that the 
 only principles which had then assumed a proper
 
 Vlll PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 form, were those of the mechanical sciences. Che- 
 mistry, without which we can hardly advance a step 
 in the proper investigation of nature, could not be 
 said to exist; and on the subject of natural action, 
 heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and the powers 
 of growth and of life, there were only a few de- 
 tached hints and insulated facts, which were 
 matters of wonder and not of philosophy. 
 
 Such being the case with regard to those elemen- 
 tary sciences, which we must bring to the useful 
 investigation of nature as the very instruments of our 
 working, it could no more be expected that accurate 
 knowledge of nature could exist, than we could look 
 for finished productions of art from people not pos- 
 sessing a tool. Gravitation may be said to have been 
 the only general principle of which the laws were 
 then fully understood ; and by far too much was, as 
 we might expect, made of this principle ; for, just 
 as'men who have but one instrument apply it to all 
 uses, so were the principlesof mechanical philosophy 
 applied at that time to all matters. Or, if there was 
 any proof or reasoning, in supplement to that of 
 a mechanical kind, it was grounded chiefly upon 
 authorities a foundation upon which no solid 
 or useful structure of a philosophical nature can 
 ever be raised. 
 
 The progressive dawn of the light of science upon 
 the nations, may be not inaptly compared to the pro- 
 gress of the dawn of day upon the earth and the 
 heavens. In the earlier glimmerings of day-break, 
 the stars which show their chief glories during 
 the night, are still visible, though they wax fainter 
 and fainter as the sun approaches the horizon. 
 While there are stars only, all the earth is in shadow, 
 so that we have no knowledge of it ; and, in proper-
 
 PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. IX 
 
 tion as the stars apparently fade away, the face of 
 nature is revealed to us ; and when at last the heam 
 of the morning comes in its power, the sky is starless. 
 If the surface of the land is greatly diversified with 
 mountain and valley, it often happens that while the 
 early sun-beamsilluminatethemountain-tops, which 
 are cold and barren, all the valleys that lie between, 
 and which are the rich and valuable parts, are con- 
 cealed by fogs and shadows ; nor is it till the full 
 glory of the sun has come upon the whole surface, 
 that all nature, with the exception of those stars 
 which that radiance has veiled, lies open to the con- 
 templation and ready for the use of man. It is even 
 so with the light of science ; at its first glimmering, 
 men are still guided by the stars of authority; and 
 when the radiance of truth begins to break on a 
 point here and there, those points seem sublime, like 
 the mountain tops, but, like these, they are cold, 
 barren, and unconnected with each other and with 
 usefulness. In proportion as the light of science 
 advances, the stars of science lose their authority ; 
 and men begin to see with their own eyes, and to 
 judge by their own understandings; and if we could 
 look forward (and the hope is enticing) to a period, 
 when this radiance shall beam full upon all the 
 people, and the light of genuine truth show every 
 object to every observer, then the sky of knowledge 
 would be as starless, as is the natural sky under 
 the full glory of the meridian sun. 
 
 I do not say that this delightful state of things has 
 yet arrived, but there have certainly been wonderful 
 advances since the time at which Wesley wrote his 
 book ; and though we admit, as I am very ready to 
 admit, that Wesley made the best use of such 
 materials as his eyes furnished him, yet those ma-
 
 X PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 
 
 terials are certainly not adapted to] the present 
 state of human knowledge. 
 
 Being engaged to revise the work, and left to 
 my own judgment in the revision, I have been 
 anxious to do justice both to the character of Wesley 
 and to the public; and finding that no verbal or other 
 slight alterations could at all bring the work into an 
 accordance with the present state of things, I have 
 taken and have acted upon what appeared to me to 
 be the most rational view of the matter. The 
 original preface will show what was intended; and I 
 have endeavoured, to the best of my ability, to put 
 myself in the stead of Wesley, supposing him to be 
 now living, and have endeavoured to produce such a 
 work as he would most likely have produced if 
 writing it at the same time as I was. This is a 
 matter in which there cannot be an absolute coinci- 
 dence ; because it is impossible to get hold of even 
 all the leading points of Mr. Wesley's character, or 
 to know how he would have acted if he had been a 
 member of the present generation. Therefore all 
 the faults and failings of the book must be charge- 
 able against me; and all that I have to plead is, that 
 I have done my best to avoid both. 
 
 The work at first appeared in five volumes, but I 
 have reduced it to three, though with an increase of 
 the quantity of matter. In thus reducing the number 
 of volumes I have had two objects in view: first, 
 to render the price of the whole work as small as 
 possible, and by that means to place it within the 
 reach of a great number of readers ; and, in the 
 second place, this division into three volumes has 
 enabled me to make each volume so far com- 
 plete in itself, as relating to one portion of nature 
 though it will most likely be found that all the
 
 PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. XI 
 
 volumes are necessary to the complete understand- 
 ing of any one of them. I have followed Wesley's 
 arrangement, though I have separated many things, 
 and also brought many others together, the relations 
 of which were quite unsettled when he wrote. The 
 first volume relates to man, and to the vertehrated 
 animals, mammalia, hirds, reptiles, and fishes. The 
 notices of these latter are necessarily jvery brief; but 
 I think that even in this brevity there will be found 
 an advantage to the common reader, which is not to 
 be met with in any other work in our language. 
 The portion which relates to man is the only one in 
 which I have retained much of what was originally 
 in the work ; and I have been enabled to do this 
 because the anatomical structure of man was better 
 understood than any other part of natural history at 
 the time when Wesley wrote. Even here, however, 
 I have felt it necessary to omit those mechanical 
 explanations of the operation of the senses, and those 
 theories of animal spirits, and other gratuitous 
 matters, which are calculated only to mislead. I 
 have also introduced many physiological points 
 which have been settled since Wesley's time ; and I 
 think it will be found that I have added some 
 which are not to be met with in any other work, 
 more especially with regard to the first commence- 
 ment of living action, and the transition of the foetus 
 from the uterine to the aerial locality. In the ver- 
 tebrated animals I have chiefly followed the system 
 of the late Baron Cuvier ; but I have added various 
 points upon which light has been thrown since that 
 most able and candid expounder of nature quitted 
 this mortal scene. 
 
 The second volume contains a notice of the inver- 
 tebrated animals, down to the very verge of animal 
 existence; and after that an account of plants, which
 
 XU PREFACE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 however, from the narrow limits to which I am 
 necessarily confined, is physiological rather than 
 descriptive. 
 
 In the third volume I have noticed the leading 
 principles and phenomena of nature considered as 
 inorganic, or not under the control of, or produced 
 by, the powers of life and of growth. This too, is a 
 most extensive field, so that a mere line through 
 it is all that I could pretend to take; but in taking 
 this I have endeavoured, as much as possible, to 
 seize those commanding points which are in some 
 measure the keys to the whole. 
 
 In the whole work I have endeavoured to make it, 
 in some sort, an introduction to all the particular 
 works on detached portions of nature, to those who 
 are beginning the study, or as a summing up to 
 such as have already studied the details ; and if I 
 have succeeded even moderately in this, the work 
 will be found equally useful to those who are about 
 to begin the study of nature, and those who, wearied 
 and worn with the particulars, are desirous of re- 
 freshing themselves with a general view of the 
 whole. In every part of the work I have studiously 
 avoided technical expressions, and also those de- 
 bateable points which are interesting only to profes- 
 sional students ; but at the same time, I have 
 brought every department of it as near to the most 
 recent discoveries, as my own ability and established 
 truths would allow. How far I have succeeded in 
 this the public must determine, I am answerable 
 only for the will and the working ; and I can only 
 say that I have been hearty in the one and vigilant 
 in the other. 
 
 ROBERT MUDIE. 
 
 Grove Cottage, Chelsea, 
 March 22nd, 1836.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 OF THE GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT OF NATURAL, PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Order observed in this Treatise. 2. The Method 
 of philosophising among the Hebrews and Egyptians. 
 3. Among the Greeks : The Philosophy of Pythagoras, 
 Plato, and Aristotle. 4. The different Methods pursued 
 by the four Greek Sects. 5. The Philosophy of the 
 Schoolmen. 6. The Revival of Philosophy by Lord Bacon. 
 7. Greatly promoted by Philosophical Societies. 8. The 
 general Improvement of Philosophy in Modern Times. 
 9. The Philosophy of the Heavens. 10. The Philosophy 
 of Life and Growth. 11. The Philosophy of Material 
 Substance generally. 12. The Progress of Chemical 
 Science. 13. The Chemical Properties of Matter. 14. 
 The general Action of Matter. 15. Modifications of this 
 Action in Heat, Electricity, Galvanism, 'Magnetism, Mo- 
 tion, and Animal Life. 16. Of Spirits and Divine Things 1 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
 1. The similar, solid Parts. -2. A Fibre. 3. The Cel- 
 lular Membrane. 4. A Bone. 5. A Cartilage. 6. A 
 Membrane. 7. Arteries. 8. Veins. 9. Lacteals and
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PiGE 
 
 Lymphatics, 10. Glands. 11. Muscles and Tendons. 
 12. The Skin. 13. Pores and Perspiration. 14. The dis- 
 similar Parts, in particular the Head, Cerebrum, Cerebel- 
 lum, Medulla Oblongata. 15. The Meninges, or Mem- 
 branes of the Brain. 16. The Brain. 17. The Origin of 
 the Nerves. 18. The Pineal Gland. 19. The Guards of 
 the Eye. 20. Muscles of the Eye ; Tunica adnata ; Struc- 
 ture of the Eye. 21. The Coats of the Eye. 22. Humours 
 of the Eye. 23. Peculiarities relative to them ; Account 
 of a Person couched. 24. The external Parts of the Ear ; 
 the internal, particularly the Drum. 25. The Bones, Pas- 
 sages, Windows, Labyrinth. 26. The Nostrils. 27. The 
 Tongue, and Teeth. 28. The Palate, and Organs of 
 Speech ; Voice in different Animals. 29. The Hair and 
 Nails. 30. The Heart, and Circulation of the Blood. 31. 
 The Lungs, and Respiration. 32. The external Parts of 
 the Middle Cavity. 33. The Stomach. 34. The Intes- 
 tines and Mesentery. 35. The Lacteal Vessels. 36. The 
 Omentum, Peritoneum, Pancreas. 37. The Liver, Gall- 
 bladder, and Ducts. 38. The Spleen. 39. The Kidneys, 
 Ureters, Bladder. 40. The Hands and Feet. 41. The 
 Fluids of the Body. 42. The Blood. 43. Animal Heat. 
 44. Reflections . .- ' . ' ' . . 10 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE NATURAL, STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
 1. What the Natural State of the Body means. 2. Cir- 
 culation of the Blood. 3. Respiration ; First Action of 
 the Lungs ; Analogy with the Planetary Motions. 4. As- 
 similation. 5. Secretion and Excretion, 6. Sensation. 7. 
 Sight. 8. Hearing. 9. Smelling. 10. Tasting. 11. Feel- 
 ing. 12. Hunger and Thirst. 13. Sleep. 14. Motion. 
 15. Voluntary and Involuntary Motions. 16. Stature 
 and Duration of the Body. 17. Relation of Body and Mind 109 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 ON THE PRETERNATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
 1. What the Preternatural State of the Bcdy means. 
 2. The Variety of Diseases. 3. Reduced to Three Classes ; 
 those of the Solids. 4. Those of the Fluids, particularly 
 the Blood. 5. Those of the Feelings or Apprehensions. 
 6. 'J he Remote Causes of Diseases. 7. Of Fevers. 8. 
 The Way to preserve Health 9. Of Life and Death . 197
 
 CONTENTS. XT 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 OF THE SOUL, AND OF THE ORIGIN OT MAN. 
 
 P10Z 
 
 1. There is something in man which perceives the various 
 Motions of the Body. 2. This Perception is sometimes 
 continued and recalled. 3. We know some things in a 
 more sublime manner. 4. There is something in us which 
 has an Appetite to Sensible Things 5. And another Ap- 
 petite which is often contrary to this. 6. How Philoso- 
 phers account for the Direction of our Bodily Motions. 
 7. For the External Senses. 8. The Imagination and . 
 Memory. 9. The Understanding, Will, and Affections. 
 10. This may be so, or may not. 11. Of the Immortality 
 of the Soul. 12. Of the Union of the Soul and Body. 13. 
 Reason cannot discover the Origin of Man. 14. The 
 Scriptural Account of it. 15. Of the Production of the 
 Soul. 16. Of the Generation of the Body . .156 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 OF THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANIMALS, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM MAN AND FROM 
 EACH OTHER. 
 
 1. Relation of Man in Nature. 2. Man as distinguished 
 from the Animals. 3. Reason and Instinct. 4. Organisa- 
 tions adapted to Reason and to Instinct. 5. Use of Ar- 
 rangements. 6. General Divisions of Animals ; Vertebra- 
 ted Animals. 7. Molluscous Animals. 8. Articulated 
 Animals. 9. Radiated Animals. 10. Two Systems in 
 Animals. 11. System of Growth. 12. System of Sensa- 
 tion . . . . . . .167
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 PRINCIPAL CLASSES OF VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 
 
 PACE 
 
 1. Names and Distinctions of Classes. 2. Mammalia. 
 3. Birds. 4. Reptiles. 5. Fishes. 6. General Charac- 
 ters of Vertebrata . . . '. ', . 185 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALIA. 
 
 1. General Characters. 2. General Structure. 3. Cha- 
 racters from the Feet.-4. Characters from the Teeth. 5. 
 Kange of Feeding .... V; .199 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 
 
 1. Names and Distinctions of Orders. 2. Four-handed 
 Animals. 3. Carnassiers. Cheiroptera ; Insectivora ; 
 Carnivora (plantigrade) (digitigrade) (amphibious). 4. 
 Rodentia. 5. Edentata. 6. Pachydermata. 7. Ruminan- 
 tia. 8. Cetacea. 9. Marsupialia . . . .217 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 BIRDS . . . >: . . 297 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 REPTILES ....... 336 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 FISHES ....- 359
 
 A COMPENDIUM 
 
 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 OF THE GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 1. The Order observed in this Treatise. 2. The Method 
 of philosophising among the Hebrews and Egyptians 
 3. Among the Greeks : The Philosophy of Pythagoras, 
 1'lato, Aristotle. 4. The different Method pursued by the 
 four Greek Sects. 5. The Philosophy of the Schoolmen. 
 6. The Revival of Philosophy by Lord Bacon. 7. Greatly 
 promoted by Philosophical Societies. 8. The general Im- 
 provement of Philosophy in modern times. 9. The Philo- 
 sophy of the Heavens. 10. The Philosophy of Life and 
 Growth. 1.1. The Philosophy of Material Substance gene- 
 rally. 12. The Progress of Chemical Science. 13. The 
 Chemical Properties of Matter. 14. The general Action of 
 Matter. 15. Modifications of this Action in Heat, Electri- 
 city, Galvanism, Magnetism, Motion, and Animal Life. 16. 
 Of Spirits and Divine things. 
 
 1. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY treats both of God 
 himself, and of his creatures, visible and invisible. 
 Of these I purpose to speak in such a manner, as 
 to proceed from the consideration of Man, through 
 all the orders of things, as they are farther and 
 farther removed from us, to God, the centre of 
 all knowledge. (I mean, of visible things : -of 
 
 VOL. i. B r 
 
 #
 
 2 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the invisible world we cannot know much, while 
 we dwell in houses of clay.) Thus, speculative 
 philosophy ascends from man to God; practical, 
 descends from God to man. 
 
 2. The most ancient nations, the Egyptians and 
 Hebrews in particular, philosophised much con- 
 cerning God, and concerning Genii, good or evil 
 spirits, of an order superior to man. What they 
 taught concerning the visible world, related chiefly 
 to its origin, the changes it was to undergo, and 
 its final dissolution. But on all these heads, they 
 only delivered to their posterity what they had 
 received from their forefathers. 
 
 3. Among the Greeks, Thales Milesius and his 
 followers applied themselves with great industry 
 to discover, with the best helps they had, the na- 
 tural causes of material things. They were suc- 
 ceeded by others, who more curiously searched 
 into the structure of natural bodies. Here the 
 foundation of natural history was laid, in various 
 observations on plants, animals, and other things. 
 And herein the endeavours of Aristotle and Theo- 
 phrastus in particular are to be commended. Yet, 
 in other respects, Aristotle did not promote, but 
 rather obstruct, the knowledge of nature : for he 
 made philosophy as unintelligible by his abstract 
 and metaphysical notions, as Plato, Pythagoras, 
 and others did, by their ideas, numbers and sym- 
 bols. 
 
 4. In succeeding times, when the four Greek 
 sects, the Platonic, Peripatetic, Epicurean, and 
 Stoic, divided the western world, the Platonists 
 almost confined themselves and their opinions to 
 the subject of divinity ; the Peripatetics regarded 
 little but logic ; the Stoics little but moral philo-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 sopliy ; and the Epicureans had small concern 
 about any, being immersed in sensual pleasures : 
 so that none of them made any considerable in> 
 provement in any branch of natural philosophy. 
 
 5. When the utter barbarism which followed was 
 a little dispelled, Aristotle began to reign. His fol- 
 lowers (the schoolmen, as they were called) might 
 have improved natural philosophy, if, like their 
 master, they had diligently cultivated the knowledge 
 of nature, and searched out the properties of parti- 
 cular things. But it was their misfortune to neg- 
 lect what was commendable in him, and to follow 
 only what was blameworthy : so as to obscure and 
 pollute all philosophy with abstract, idle, vain' 
 speculations. Yet some of them, after the Arabians 
 had revived the philosophy of more early ages, 
 and introduced the knowledge of chemistry into 
 Europe, were wise above the age they lived in; 
 and penetrated so far into the secret recesses of 
 nature, as scarcely to escape the suspicion of magic. 
 Such were Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus. 
 
 6. After the revival of learning, as all other 
 branches of philosophy so this in particular re- 
 ceived new light. None was more serviceable 
 herein than Lord Bacon, who, well understanding 
 the defects of the school-philosophy, incited all 
 lovers of natural philosophy to a diligent search 
 into natural history. And he himself led them 
 the way, by many experiments and observations- 
 It was not, however, in any particular branch of 
 natural philosophy, and especially not in natural 
 history, that Lord Bacon rendered so essential 
 service to the cause of true knowledge. The grand 
 improvement which he introduced was in the mode 
 of philosophising, in arriving at the knowledge of 
 
 B2
 
 4 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 general laws, by the induction of particular and 
 well established facts, and not in endeavouring so 
 to twist facts, as to make them apparently support 
 imaginary and often very absurd hypotheses. 
 
 7- Soon after this, not single persons only, but 
 whole societies, applied themselves carefully to make 
 experiments ; that having accurately observed the 
 structure and properties of each body, they might 
 the more safely judge of its nature. And the ad- 
 vantages which have arisen from hence manifestly 
 appear from the Memoirs of the Royal Society at 
 London, of the Academy of Science at Paris, and 
 those of the same kind in Germany, as well as 
 several other parts of Europe. In later times, 
 those labours in the field of science have been more 
 numerous and crowned with more abundant suc- 
 cess; and the discoveries both of the nature of 
 particular substances and of the laws of general 
 action which have rewarded these labours, have 
 tended very much to improve all the arts of life, 
 and add much to the comforts of society. 
 
 8. To detail all the particular, or even the gene- 
 ral truths in natural philosophy which have been 
 established in modern times ; to describe the va- 
 rious instruments and apparatus by which the 
 labours of the inquirer after natural truth have 
 been abridged and perfected ; or even to give a 
 list of all the branches into which it has been found 
 necessary to divide the field of nature, would far 
 exceed the limits of these introductory remarks. 
 We may mention, however, that in proportion as 
 the subjects of natural philosophy have been more 
 separated from each other in their details, the 
 great principles that combine the whole together, 
 and prove that all is the workmanship of one ere*
 
 INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 ating God, and under the government of one 
 Heavenly Father, have been rendered more per- 
 spicuous. 
 
 9. One or two points in the leading divisions of 
 the great subject of creation may just be mentioned, 
 were it only for the purpose of showing how vast 
 a field is open to every one who is inspired with 
 the love of knowledge. In the philosophy of the 
 heavens, and in the connection of that philosophy 
 with matters which are familiar to us upon earth, 
 Newton may be said to have fully established the 
 general law. But in consequence of the improve- 
 ment of telescopes for viewing distant objects, of 
 measuring instruments whether of lines, of circular 
 arches, or of times of the number of observers, 
 and the correct agreement of their results, as tend- 
 ing to establish the general laws, it may now with 
 truth be said that as the heavens are the most sub- 
 lime, so it is the most intelligible page in nature's 
 volume. Not only have the line and the balance 
 been applied to all the systems of bodies that ac- 
 company \mr sun, but of very late years our more 
 accurate observers are beginning to feel their way 
 to the starry heavens. 
 
 10. In the knowledge of the living and growing 
 parts of the material creation, the progress, though 
 there are many more principles, and therefore 
 much more difficulty than in the case of the 
 heavens, has been very great. The different classes 
 of animals have been arranged according to their 
 structures ; and as those structures are the instru- 
 ments wherewith they work in whatsoever they 
 do, this arrangement has become, not a mere list 
 to burden the memory, but an instrument of philo- 
 sophy, by means of which the knowledge of one
 
 WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 truth guides to that of many more. The opinion 
 of the illustrious Harvey, that " every animal is 
 from the egg," has heen established in every case 
 in which it has been possible to apply observation, 
 either by the eye or the microscope ; and thus, 
 though [the secret of life itself remains as much 
 veiled from us as ever, we can trace its operation 
 in the individual, from the earliest appearance of 
 the germ to its final close. Nor has the know- 
 ledge of all the more important functions of life, 
 and their different modifications in different kinds 
 of living creatures, been less improved. The sys- 
 tem of nutrition, by which the food is converted 
 into chyle, the chyle conveyed into the blood, the 
 blood sent to the lungs, in order to be purified by 
 the vital air of heaven, and afterwards propelled 
 ovef the body to renovate all its parts, and all their 
 powers, has been clearly understood. So also 
 the use of the function of breathing, which is ne- 
 cessary to every living creature when awake and 
 in a state of activity, and, generally speaking, also 
 during sleep, has been freed from almost all those 
 sources of perplexity 'with which it was beset in 
 the times of ignorance. 
 
 11. Nor have the labours of modern inquirers 
 been less successful in examining the composition 
 and nature of those substances which the ancients- 
 regarded as the elements of all things. The me- 
 chanical properties of the air have been more and 
 more completely known, from the time that Gali- 
 leo or Torricelli discovered its weight ; the uses 
 of its component parts have been more and more 
 developed, since, at a period comparatively recent, 
 namely, in 1774, Priestley discovered its compo- 
 sition. So also the discovery of hydrogen gas as
 
 INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 ail element of water, by Cavendish, soon led to the 
 knowledge of the composition of water ; and of a 
 vast number of important operations both of nature 
 and in art, in which the composition or the decom- 
 position of that important liquid is always con- 
 cerned. 
 
 12. So very great indeed has been the growth 
 of Chemistry, especially during the latter part of 
 the eighteenth century, and the portion of the 
 nineteenth which has elapsed, that it has become 
 altogether a new science. Nor is it, like many of the 
 sciences of the ancients, a mere matter of specula- 
 tion in which men may be ingeniously occupied, 
 and earn the empty name of being learned above 
 their fellows. It is a practical science ; and scarcely 
 one discovery, certainly not one great discovery, 
 has ever been made in it without bringing a reward, 
 and an abundant reward, in real enjoyment to 
 mankind. 
 
 13. Nor is the advantage confined to the details 
 of particular sciences ; for general science, which 
 is but another name for natural philosophy, has 
 become a witness for the Creator to the full extent 
 to which it has been improved. The discovery 
 that a vast many substances which were once con- 
 sidered as simple and elementary, are really com- 
 pounds, of which the different parts exist in other 
 substances very unlike in their general appearance 
 and qualities, has led the way to a highly probable 
 conclusion, though it is above human proof, namely, 
 that the whole of material existence is ONE CREA- 
 TION. 
 
 14. And great and important as is this conclu- 
 sion, it is not the most wonderful. Matter as 
 existent is an object of our senses, "We can see
 
 8 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 it with our eyes, and handle it with our hands. 
 But, independently of matter as existing, and in- 
 dependently of the Almighty Creator, the rational 
 and immortal spirit of man, and of any other class 
 of spiritual being that may exist, there is action in 
 matter. We can no more consider this action as 
 a quality of matter, than we can suppose that 
 matter created itself which involves the absurdity 
 of its existing before it existed, and is therefore as 
 unphilosophical as it is impious. Thus we are led 
 to the great First Cause as the source of the action 
 of matter as well as of matter itself, the Author 
 of every form and of every change which matter 
 can assume or undergo. 
 
 15. And it is worthy of remark that, in pro- 
 portion as the several kinds or modifications of this 
 action have been examined, they go to establish 
 an essential oneness in it, similar to that which 
 becomes more and more probable, the farther we 
 inquire into the properties of material substance. 
 Fire, which was of old looked upon as a material 
 element, has been found to be only an accompani- 
 ment of certain kinds of action in matter, weak 
 when the action is weak, and ardent when the 
 action is more energetic. In all cases too, whatever 
 be the substances of whose action it is the accom- 
 paniment, or whatever may be the nature and 
 the consequences of that action, which we call 
 heat, or when powerful enough in its display, the 
 cause of fire, is in all cases exactly the same. In 
 our common fires ; in those mighty furnaces of 
 nature, the volcanoes; in the beams of the sun 
 when concentrated by a burning glass or a burning 
 mirror ; in the lightning of the cloud ; in what 
 we are accustomed to call the phenomena of mag-
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 netism ; in motion, Avhen sufficiently energetic ; and 
 in animal life : in all, in short, this cause of fire is 
 one and the same, or capable of producing exactly 
 the same effects, which is all that \ve know or can 
 know of sameness in causes. Such are the two 
 great laws, to which the study of natural philo- 
 sophy, as improved in modern times, clearly and 
 directly points. They are so simple, so sublime, 
 so universal in their application, and so elevated, 
 not only above our most enlightened understanding, 
 but above our most awakened fancy, that they lead 
 us clearly and directly to Him who sitteth on the 
 zone of the universe, and in whose sight worlds 
 and all their inhabitants are but as grasshoppers. 
 
 16. What remains of natural philosophy, is, 
 the doctrine concerning God and spirits. But, in 
 the tracing of this, we can neither depend upon 
 reason nor experiment. Whatsoever men know, 
 or can know concerning them, must be drawn from 
 the oracles of God. Here, therefore, we are to 
 look for no new improvements, but to stand in the 
 good old paths: to content ourselves with what 
 God has been pleased to reveal ; with the faith once 
 delivered to the saints.
 
 10 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 OF MAN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
 1. The similar, solid Parts. 2. A Fibre. 3. The Cellular 
 Membrane. 4. A Bone. 5. A Cartilage. 6. A Membrane . 
 7. Arteries. 8. Veins. 9. Lacteals and Lymphatics. 
 10. Glands. 11. Muscles and Tendons. 12. The Skin. 
 13. Pores and Perspiration. 14.The dissimilar Parts, in par- 
 ticular the Head, Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Medulla oblongata 
 15. The Meninges, or Membranes of the Brain. 16- The 
 Brain. 17. The Origin of the Nerves. 18. The Pineal 
 Gland. 19. The Guards of the Eye. 20. Muscles of the 
 Eye ; Tunica adnata ; Structure of the Eye. 21. The Coats 
 of the Eye. 22. Humours of the Eye. 23. Peculiarities re- 
 lative to them ; Account of a person couched. 24. The ex- 
 ternal Parts of the Ear; the internal, particularly the Drum. 
 25. The Bones, Passages, Windows, Labyrinth. 26. The 
 Nostrils. 27. The Tongue, and Teeth. 28. The Palate and 
 Organs of Speech ; Voice in different Animals. 29. The Hair 
 and Nails. 30. The Heart and Circulation of the Blood. 31. 
 The Lungs, and Respiration. 32. The external parts of the 
 Middle Cavity. 33. The Stomach. 34. The Intestines and 
 Mesentery. 35. The Lacteal Vessels. 36. The Omentum 
 Peritoneum, Pancreas. 37. The Liver, Gall-bladder and 
 Ducts. 38. The Spleen. 39. The Kidneys, Ureters, Bladder. 
 40. The Hands and Feet. 41. The Fluids of the Body. 
 42. The Blood. 43. Animal Heat. 44. Reflections. 
 
 1. As man ought to know himself best, we begin 
 our Treatise here. And first, let us contemplate 
 the structure of the Human Body. The parts of
 
 OP THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 11 
 
 this are either solid or fluid. The solid parts, or 
 those which are not liquid, whether hard or soft, 
 of which the organs of the hody are made up, may 
 be termed similar parts, because they are found 
 of the same texture and substance in different situ- 
 ations, and in organs applied to different uses. 
 Of this description are fibres, bones, ligaments, 
 muscles, tendons, arteries, veins, and other vessels ; 
 and also the general coverings of the body, the 
 scarf skin, or epidermis, the mucous tissue, or 
 rete mucosum, the true skin, or dermis, and the 
 cellular membrane. 
 
 2. A Fibre is a kind of slender thread, of which 
 all the other parts of the body are woven ; accord- 
 ing to the difference of which, the substance of the 
 fibres is different also. 
 
 Earthy' substances, considered as elementary in 
 the human body, are composed of small particles, 
 so minute indeed, that they appear to be capable 
 of forming a colourless compound with water, and 
 probably also of floating in the air. These form 
 the basis of the bones or hard parts of the human 
 body ; and all the rest of the solids are made up 
 of soft parts, and are called animal matter. The 
 earthy part is, generally speaking, salts of lime. 
 
 These earthy particles have their connexion and 
 power of cohesion not from themselves or by mere 
 contact, but from the intermediate glue interposed 
 between them. 
 
 This glue which is the general cementing sub- 
 stance in all the solids of the body, both hard and 
 soft, is called gelatine, and it is found in the che- 
 mical analysis of bones, as well as from many 
 other parts of the bodies of men and animals. It, 
 and all the parts which are purely animal matter,
 
 12 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 can be decomposed by the heat of a common fire, 
 while, in the case of a bone, when burnt to a pure 
 white, the lime remains, in the shape of the bone, 
 but it is brittle, and without any gloss. On the 
 other hand, if the bone is steeped long enough in 
 an acid, the lime is destroyed, and the animal 
 matter left behind, in the shape of the bone, but 
 flexible like a gristle. 
 
 Earthy particles then, cohering longitudinally, 
 and tied together by an intervening cohesive glue, 
 compose first one of the least or most simple 
 fibres, such as we have a knowledge of, rather 
 from reason than sense. 
 
 The finest microscopes have been hitherto insuf- 
 ficient to lead us to a sight of the smallest moving 
 and nervous fibrils, and still less can we ever 
 expect from them to get any sensible idea of the 
 mechanism by which sensation and motion are 
 effected. 
 
 But the least fibres which appear to the sight, 
 are of two kinds. 
 
 From these two kinds of fibres as we shall pre- 
 sently see, we may distinguish the former by the 
 title of filamentary, and the latter of membranous. 
 
 The first kind of these fibres is lineal, namely, 
 such a form as makes their length considerably 
 large in proportion to their breadth ; and which, 
 by disposing of the elementary particles in a right 
 line, must of course lay them generally parallel to 
 the neighbouring or contiguous fibres. Examples 
 of such fibres we see in the bones, and most easily 
 in those of a feetus ; and likewise in the tendons, 
 ligaments, and muscles ; only we must here always 
 remember, that the eye never reaches to the 
 smallest fibres but to larger ones made up of the
 
 OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 13 
 
 smallest, and like to them in slenderness, placed 
 together in a rectilineal course. That these are 
 not different from the smallest fibres, we are per- 
 suaded by the most accurate microscopic observa- 
 tions that have been made, by which, the muscular 
 fibres divided even to the last, appear similar to the 
 larger, till, at length, they seem mere lines, like 
 spiders' threads. 
 
 The second kind of fibres are those which are 
 conjoined with a breadth frequently larger than 
 their length ; and the parts composed of these are 
 usually called membranes. 
 
 From what has been said, we may admire nature 
 no less for her wise economy than simplicity, in 
 thus forming all that variety of parts we see in an 
 animal, from one simple mass of clayey or slimy 
 matter compounded of earth and glue ; from 
 whence the body is not only augmented from a 
 single point in the ovum, to its full growth and 
 stature ; but like the timbers of a ship, is also 
 every day repaired during life, until at length, not 
 two jots of the old or first materials remain. This 
 renovation of parts is made slower in some consti- 
 tutions, and in some organs, than in others. How 
 quickly the animal juices, and also the hair, nails, 
 &c. are renewed, every one knows ; and we may 
 venture to say, that once in three years, the 
 change is universal ; at the end of which time, 
 though a man remains the same identical person, 
 he is not the same matter. 
 
 3. But we proceed from these simple fibres to 
 the next least 'compounded solid which they com- 
 pose, the cellular web-like substance. 
 
 This is made up partly of the simple fibrils, 
 and partly by an infinite number of little plates or
 
 14 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 scales, which, joined in various directions, inter- 
 cept small cells and web-like spaces ; and by 
 extending round every, even the least, moving 
 solid part of the body, conjoins them all together 
 in such a manner, as not only sustains them, but 
 allows them a free and ample motion. 
 
 The extension of this substance, not only with 
 the skin round the whole body, but also round 
 every viscus or organ, and round every individual 
 moving fibre or vessel of them, into the cavities of 
 the bones, and even the substance of the brain and 
 its medulla, is a modern and wonderful discovery. 
 This substance in its ultimate state being com- 
 posed of simple membranes, when compacted and 
 convoluted, gives birth to the least or most simple 
 vessels, which again reflected through plates of 
 the same substance compacted together, make 
 compound and vascular membranes, to the con- 
 sideration of which we next proceed. 
 
 Out of this cellular substance, compacted by a 
 concretion of the membranous plates or partitions, 
 and pressed together by the force of the incumbent 
 muscles and distending fluids, arise other broad and 
 flat plates or skins, in various parts of the body, 
 which being generally disposed in one and the same 
 direction, seem to have a better right to the name 
 of membrane than the former ; and these being 
 convoluted into cones and cylinders, pervaded by 
 a flux of some juice or liquors brought to them, 
 put on the name of vessels ; or else, being ex- 
 tended round some space that is in a plane pa- 
 rallel of itself, we call it a tunic or coat. 
 
 This cellular substance in the human body is 
 found throughout the whole ; wherever any vessel 
 or moving muscular fibre can be traced ; and this
 
 OP THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 15 
 
 without the least exception, that I know of, in any 
 part whatever. But so far as ever we can trace, 
 it hardly ever admits of any fat into the cells ; 
 which are rather moistened by a watery vapour 
 somewhat oily, exhaled out of the arteries and 
 received again into the veins or the lymphatics. 
 
 Its plates or scales are still more loose and open 
 where it invests the muscles and all their fibres 
 (even to the ultimate fibre) ; and likewise where it 
 surrounds and sustains the least vessels with their 
 free motion. That within the cavity of the bones 
 is also made up of bony plates, with membranous 
 ones intermixed ; and, lastly, it is the most loose 
 and open of all, round the surface of the body on 
 all sides, betwixt the muscles and the skin. 
 
 Through this cellular substance, the small vessels 
 are spread and ramified in all parts of the body, 
 from whose arterial extremities the fat is deposited 
 into the cells, and afterwards absorbed by the ori- 
 fices of the veins. This passage from the arteries, 
 into the adipose cells, is so free and short, that 
 there must needs be very large mouths by which 
 they open, and by which they give admittance to 
 injected mercury, air, or water. The oily fat, in 
 this substance, is separated and expelled from the 
 artery, not by any long ducts, but by transuding 
 on all sides through the whole extent of the vessel. 
 How quickly it is collected from the arteries, 
 appears from the speedy renovation of it, by a 
 returning fatness after acute diseases. 
 
 With regard to the sponge-like communications 
 of this substance, it is remarkable that the inter- 
 vals or spaces betwixt the plates or scales that 
 make up their sides in the cellular membrane, are 
 everywhere open, and form one continuous cavity 
 throughout the whole body.
 
 16 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 That out of this substance, joined with vessels, 
 nerves, muscular and tendinous fibres (a great part 
 of all which are before formed of this substance 
 only), all their viscera, all the muscles and glands, 
 with their ligaments and capsules, are entirely 
 composed ; and that only from the different length, 
 tension, quantity or proportion of this, the diver- 
 sity of our glands and viscera arises ; and lastly, 
 that this alone makes up by far the greatest part 
 of the whole body, we are certain, if the whole be 
 not formed out of the cellular filaments of this 
 kind. 
 
 4. The hardest part of the body, white and void 
 of sense, is termed a bone. The bones are covered 
 with a thin skin, called the periosteum, which is 
 extremely sensitive. 
 
 The bones consist of thin plates, lying one upon 
 another ; and these again, of fibres running length- 
 ways, some to the extremity of the bone, some not 
 so far. Yet none of them terminate there, but are 
 continued transversely, and, as it were, arched, the 
 fibres of one side meeting and uniting with those 
 of the other, and this at each extremity. 
 
 These plates are differently disposed in different 
 bones : in those that have a large cavity, they are 
 contiguous on each side, and very closely united. 
 In those whose cavities are small, many of the 
 inner plates are distant from each other, having 
 little long cells between them. In bones whose 
 plates are contiguous, there are pores through and 
 between them, besides those for the blood-vessels. 
 The first pierce them transversely, from the 
 cavity to the external surface of each plate. The 
 second run lengthways between the plates, and 
 diffuse an oil, with which they are supplied by the 
 transverse pores.
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 17 
 
 The bones are generally bigger at each end than 
 in the middle, that the joints may be firm, and the 
 bones not so easily dislocated. 13ut to strengthen 
 the middle of the bone, the fibres there are more 
 closely compacted. Likewise the bone, being 
 large and hollow, is not so easily broke as if it had 
 been solid and smaller ; for of tAvo bones of equal 
 length and equal number of fibres, that is stronger 
 which has the larger diameter. 
 
 The blood-vessels usually enter the ends of the 
 bones, the arteries at one end, the veins at the 
 other. The medullary vessels commonly enter the 
 sides of the bone, and that obliquely. 
 
 The marrow is covered with a membrane, 
 wherein are enclosed little bags. In these bags are 
 glandulous bladders, serving both to secrete the 
 marrow from the blood, and to receive it. Both 
 these and the bags have passages into each other 
 whereby the marrow has free course. It passes 
 first through the transverse pores of the first inter- 
 nal plate into the longitudinal ones. Thence it 
 proceeds into other transverse pores, when it alters 
 its course again, and exudes farther. Thus it 
 passes alternately through and between the plates, 
 until it is diffused throughout. In this manner it 
 is diffused through bones, whose plates are con- 
 tiguous. But where the plates are at a distance, 
 the small cells contain glands, which directly supply 
 the plates with marrow. 
 
 In the foetal, or infant state, the marrow is a 
 bloody serum, rather than an oil, but it becomes 
 more fatty and consistent as the body advances to 
 maturity. Its principal use appears to consist in 
 rendering the bones less dry and brittle. 
 
 Besides the marrow, which serves as an internal 
 VOL. i. c
 
 18 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 oil for the bones, there is peculiar fluid for lubri- 
 cating the joints, called synovia, and sometimes 
 'joint oil." It is secreted by little mucous bags, 
 prepared for the purpose. It is nearly transparent, 
 glairy, something like the white of an egg, and 
 saltish to the taste. 
 
 The back bone hath these two things peculiarly 
 remarkable : First, its different articulations from 
 the other joints of the body. For here most of 
 the joints are flat, and withal guarded with as- 
 perities and hollows, made for catching and hold- 
 ing ; so as firmly to lock and keep the joints from 
 luxations, but withal to afford them such a motion 
 as is necessary for the incurvations of the body. 
 
 Secondly. The difference of its own vertebrae, 
 or joints, in the neck, back, and loins. In the neck 
 the two upper vertebrae are curiously made, and 
 jointed (differently from the rest) for the commo- 
 dious and easy bending and turning the head every 
 way. In the thorax and back, the joints are more 
 close and firm ; and in the loins more lax and 
 pliant ; also the knobs and sockets are turned a 
 quite contrary way, to answer the occasions the 
 body hath to bend more there than higher in the 
 back. So that its structure is the very best that 
 can be contrived; for had it been all bone, we 
 could have had no motion in our body ; had it 
 been two or three bones articulated for motion, 
 the medulla spinalis, the spinal marrow, or spinal 
 cord, must have been necessarily bruised at every 
 angle or joint ; besides, the whole would not have 
 been so pliable for the several postures we have 
 occasion to put ourselves in. If it had been made 
 of several bones without intervening cartilages, we 
 should have had no more use of it than if it had
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 19 
 
 been but one bone. If each vertebra had had its 
 own distinct cartilage, it might have been easily 
 dislocated. And lastly, the oblique processes of 
 each superior and inferior vertebra, keep the mid* 
 die one, so that it can neither be thrust backwards 
 nor forwards to compress the medulla spinalis. 
 
 The pelvis made in the belly by the ilium, ossa 
 coxendicis, and pubis, is larger in a female than in 
 a male skeleton, that there may be more room for 
 the lying of the viscera and foetus. So" the carti- 
 lage bracing together the two sharebones, is twice 
 thicker and laxer in women than men. As also 
 is the cartilage that ties the os sacrum to its ver- 
 tebra ; and all to give way to the passage of the 
 foetus. 
 
 Another considerable difference is in the carti- 
 laginous production of the seven long ribs, whereby 
 they are braced to the breast-bone. These are 
 harder and firmer in women than in men ; the 
 better to support the weight of the breasts, the 
 sucking infants, &c. 
 
 It is remarkable in the joints, and a manifest 
 act of caution and design, 1. That although the 
 motion of the limbs be circular, yet the centre of 
 that motion is not in a point, but an ample super- 
 ficies. In a point the bones would wear and pe- 
 netrate one another, and the joints would be ex- 
 ceedingly weak. But the joint consisting of two 
 large superficies, concave and convex, some fur- 
 rowed and ridged, some like a ball and socket, and 
 all lubricated with an oily substance, they are in- 
 comparably prepared both for motion and strength. 
 2. That the bones next the joints are not spongy, 
 as their extremities commonly are, nor hard and 
 brittle, but capped with a strong, tough, smooth, 
 c2
 
 20 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 cartilaginous substance, serving both for strength 
 and motion. 
 
 The joints or articulations of the bones display 
 a great variety of forms, according to the kinds 
 of motion which they require to have. Sometimes 
 they are simple hinges, at other times they are balls 
 and sockets, and sometimes again they have a sort 
 of double motion, so that the limb is bent upon 
 one part of the joint, and has a rolling motion 
 upon another. It is a beautiful contrivance in all 
 animals which bear the weight of the body upon 
 the feet, that none of the bones of these are arti- 
 culated directly on the vertebras of the spine, espe- 
 cially in the upper part of the human body, and 
 the fore-part of those animals which walk on all- 
 fours. By this means, the brain, which is lodged 
 in the skull, and continued in the spinal column, 
 is not subject to any shock or concussion in the 
 motions of the animal. Besides this, the feet of 
 leaping animals are so furnished with cartilage, 
 and have their joints so fashioned, that they yield 
 like so many springs. 
 
 That the nourishment taken in is continually 
 conveyed through the bones, as well as the flesh, 
 appears from an easy experiment. Mix red liquor 
 with the food of any animals, and in short time 
 their bones are dyed red. When madder root was 
 mixed with the food of a cock, which died after 
 sixteen days, ah 1 his bones were red, the internal 
 parts as well as the external ; and the most solid 
 parts were the most deeply tinctured ; in SAvine, 
 the teeth above all the rest. 
 
 5. Annexed to the bones are the cartilages, 
 white, flexible, and smooth ; many of which in pro- 
 cess of time become bones, hard and quite void of 
 sense.
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 21 
 
 A cartilage is an elastic substance, uniformly 
 compact and somewhat transparent, harder and 
 more brittle than a ligament, softer than a bone. 
 It is covered with a fine membrane, folded over the 
 bone from where the ligament is inserted. Every 
 joint is invested with a membrane, which forms a 
 complete bag, and covers every thing within the 
 articulation. The blood-vessels arc so small that 
 they do not admit the red globules, and are de- 
 monstrable only in very young subjects. All 
 round the neck of the bone, there are numerous 
 arteries and veins which spread into smaller 
 branches and communicate with each other. These 
 divide into still smaller branches on the adjoining 
 surface, as they run toward the centre of the car- 
 tilage. We can seldom trace them into its sub- 
 stance, because they end abruptly at the edge of it. 
 The larger vessels plunge in by numberless small 
 holes, and disperse themselves into branches be- 
 tween the cartilage and bone. From these again 
 there arise many short small twigs, which shoot 
 towards the outward surface. This distribution of 
 the blood-vessels is very peculiar, and calculated 
 for obviating great inconveniences. Had they run 
 on the outward surface, the pressure and motion 
 of the two cartilages must have occasioned frequent 
 obstructions and inflammations. But by creeping 
 round the cartilaginous brim, where there is little 
 friction, or under the cartilage where there is 
 none, they are perfectly well defended from all 
 such accidents. 
 
 Cartilages are admirably contrived for all the 
 purposes of motion. By their uniform surface 
 they move upon one another with ease : by their 
 soft, smooth, and slippery surface, mutual abrasion 
 is prevented. By their flexibility, the contiguous
 
 22 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 surfaces are constantly adapted to each other. By 
 their elasticity the violence of any shock, Avhich 
 might happen in running, jumping, or the like, is 
 broken, which must have been extremely perni- 
 cious, if the hard surfaces of bones had been im- 
 mediately contiguous. The cartilaginous fibres 
 appear calculated chiefly for this last advantage. 
 To conclude, the insensibility of these cartilages 
 is no less wisely designed, that by this means the 
 necessary motions of the body may be performed 
 without pain. 
 
 6. The various parts of the body are clothed 
 with membranes, which are whitish tunicles, ex- 
 tremely thin and flexible, composed of fibres inter- 
 woven with each other, as a piece of cloth is of 
 threads. They are fastened together by a kind of 
 cartilages, Avhich are termed ligaments. 
 
 7- An artery is a hollow canal, composed of 
 fibres closely twisted together, which conveys the 
 blood from the cavity of the heart to all the parts 
 of the body. All the arteries spring from two, 
 the aorta or great artery, and the pulmonary 
 artery. The latter conveys the blood from the 
 right ventricle of the heart through the lungs, into 
 the left ventricle. The former conveys it from the 
 left to all other parts of the body ; for this reason 
 it is called the systematic artery, and the left side 
 of the heart is called the systematic side. 
 
 The tubes of the arteries are composed of several 
 layers or coats, some of which are membranous, 
 and others muscular. The inner coat is a mem- 
 brane, very thin, fine, smooth, and transparent, but 
 at the same time very firm and strong. Imme- 
 diately external of this is situated the fibrous or 
 muscular coat, which is very conspicuous in the 
 larger arteries, but in the smaller ones it is less
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 23 
 
 apparent. The fibres of this coat form arches, 
 which embrace it on all sides, but not in perfect 
 circles. These muscular fibres are of a reddish 
 yellow colour, and when numerous they render the 
 vessels opaque. It is in this muscular coat that 
 the power of contraction in the artery resides. 
 The third or external coat is composed of mem- 
 brane, or of a portion of the cellular membrane in 
 which the arteries are embedded. Portions of this 
 kind of membrane unite all the coats together, and 
 also join the artery to the surrounding parts in 
 such a manner as that, while its proper motions are 
 left perfectly free, it is kept in its proper place. 
 The provisions which are made for securing the 
 action of the arteries, while the parts in which 
 they are situated perform their necessary motions, 
 are often beautiful displays of wisdom in design. 
 
 All the arteries begin with a larger trunk, and 
 grow less and less till they are no longer seen by 
 the naked eye. Hence they are continued, until 
 they inosculate with the veins, and so form one 
 uninterrupted channel. 
 
 They appear yellowish, because their coats are 
 of so dense a contexture that the blood is not vi- 
 sible through them. The blood thus proceeding 
 from wider to narrower canals, is continually ob- 
 structed in its passage ; but being pushed on 
 from behind by the action of the heart, it distends 
 the coats, and causes that leaping motion called 
 the pulse. By this, as well as by their pale colour 
 arteries are distinguished from veins. 
 
 The pulse of a healthy person, rising in the 
 morning, beats 65 in a minute ; but after the 
 fatigue of the day, it will in the evening beat 80 in 
 that time ; and again, by the night's rest or sleep, 
 it will become less frequent, until in the morning
 
 24 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 you will find it return to 65. For the voluntary 
 motions of the muscles and actions of the external 
 and internal senses, urge the venous blood on to 
 the heart, which, being thereby oftener stimulated, 
 makes more frequent contractions. This is the 
 cause of those paroxysms or fits of increase, ob- 
 servable in all fevers towards the evening. For 
 sleep not only retards the motion of the blood, but 
 of all the other functions and actions in the 
 body. 
 
 It is one of the curious observations of Dr. 
 Hales, that the pulse is quicker in small animals. 
 He found the pulse of a horse slower by half than 
 'in a man, viz. 32 only in a minute ; whereas in a 
 dog, the pulse beat 97 in that time. And this we 
 see is conformable to the blood's heat, measured 
 by the mercurial thermometer of Farenheit's scale. 
 For the blood in oxen, horses, and other large 
 animals at rest, being five or six degrees cooler 
 than in us, will not rise to our heat but by labour ; 
 whereas dogs, cats, and fowls, are five or six de- 
 grees hotter than we, viz. about 102 ; and the 
 latter when sitting or brooding on their eggs for 
 young are still four or five degrees hotter, viz. 
 107 or 108, which is commonly the heat of our 
 blood in the fit of an ague ; where it is observable, 
 that during the greatest sense of cold chill, the 
 blood is three or four degrees hotter than in health, 
 after which it gains four or five degres more in 
 the height of the hot fit, viz. 104 or 105 degrees; 
 but in ardent fevers, where the pulse beats 140, 
 the heat of blood will still be four or five degrees 
 higher, viz. 110 ; that is two or three degrees 
 more than equal to a brooding hen. 
 
 The pulse is more quick in children and be- 
 comes slower in persons as they grow older. The
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 25 
 
 salient point of an ovum beats 134 in a minute. 
 New born infants have their pulse 120, and from 
 thence down to old age it grows slower, to 60 in 
 a minute. A feverish pulse begins at 96 per 
 minute; it is excessive at 130 or 140, which is 
 the number of the pulse with which a person dies. 
 The pulse beats slower in winter, and quicker in 
 summer, by about ten strokes per minute ; and 
 under the torrid zone it grows quicker to 120. 
 
 The arteries always terminate in very small 
 tubes, which are called capillaries, from their slen- 
 der and hair-like appearance. The proper capil- 
 laries inosculate with the capillary commencement 
 of the veins ; and it is understood that they simply 
 convey to these that portion of the blood which 
 " requires to be purified and renewed before it is 
 again fit for the purposes of life. The others ter- 
 minate in what may be termed exhalants, because 
 they separate matters from the mass of the blood. 
 Some of these open into cavities, and discharge 
 liquids little different from those previously existing 
 in the blood ; others pass through peculiar organs 
 called glands, which separate, secrete, or prepare 
 the particular fluids for the different purposes of 
 the body ; and there are a few which convey their 
 contents into cellular or spongy parts, from which 
 it is again taken up by other vessels, without having 
 undergone much change. 
 
 8. The veins are the counterparts of the arte- 
 ries ; for as the arteries convey the vital blood 
 from the heart as the fountain of life to all the 
 parts of the body, so the veins again bring it back 
 to thatfountain that itmay be purified and renewed. 
 The veins have three coats as well as the arteries ; 
 but their external cellular coat is looser, their
 
 26 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 fibrous coat is weaker, and the fibres lie length- 
 ways ; and altogether, they have not the elasticity 
 of the arteries, neither is there any pulsation in 
 them. They are of larger diameter than' the arte- 
 ries ; they are more numerous ; and though gene- 
 rally two veins accompany the deep-seated arteries, 
 there are veins much nearer the surface. The 
 blood in the veins is darker-coloured than the ar- 
 terial blood, and the coats are more transparent, 
 so that the surface veins appear blue through the 
 skin, while there is no means of discovering an 
 artery except by its pulsation. 
 
 There are three principal trunks of the veins : 
 the vena cava, which brings back the blood from 
 the system, and pours it into the right, or pulmonic 
 auricle of the heart ; the pulmonary vein, which 
 brings back the purified blood from the lungs to 
 the left or systematic auricle of the heart ; and the 
 vena porta, which is connected with the liver, and 
 is in some sort both an artery and a vein. It re- 
 ceives the return blood from the other viscera 
 through small veins which unite into it as a trunk ; 
 and it branches into ramifications at the other ex- 
 tremity, by means of which the same blood is 
 distributed through the liver. The liver also re- 
 ceives arterial blood by other vessels ; but it differs 
 from every other organ in the body in having a 
 part of its supply, which has not undergone the 
 renovating process in the lungs. This perhaps 
 may account for the darker colour of the liver, 
 and must answer some very important purpose in 
 the functions of that organ ; but to us these are 
 mysteries. 
 
 9. Besides the arteries and veins, there are two 
 sets of vessels which convey fluids through certain
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 27 
 
 parts of the body, or through most of it gene- 
 rally. These are the lacteals and the lymphatics. 
 
 The lacteals are so called because the fluid which 
 they contain has some resemblance to milk. Their 
 general purpose is to bring the nourishment from 
 the digestive organs, to the thoracic duct, by which 
 it is poured into the mass of the blood, before its 
 returning current reaches the pulmonary side of 
 the heart. 
 
 The lymphatics circulate that thin and watery 
 juice which is known by the name of lymph. Some 
 of them are near the surface, and others more 
 deeply seated. They are very numerous, more so 
 perhaps than both the arteries and the veins ; but 
 they are very minute, and as they and their con- 
 tents are transparent, they are not observed with- 
 out some difficulty. 
 
 Both lacteals and lymphatics pass through knots 
 or knobs, which are called glands a name which 
 is rather puzzling as applied to any part of the 
 animal structure. It means something like a nut, 
 which, though it may be descriptive of the form of 
 an organ, conveys no notion whatever of its use. 
 The lacteal glands are all situated in the mesen- 
 tery, or membraneous tissue to which the gut or 
 intestinal canal is attached. The lymphatic glands 
 are situated in many parts of the body, and vary 
 greatly in size, some being as small as a grain of 
 mustard seed, and others nearly the size of a walnut. 
 
 10. Besides those glands which belong to the 
 lacteals and lymphatics, there are numerous other 
 glands in the body ; and a gland is generally un- 
 derstood to be an organ which prepares some new 
 fluid, or otherwise changes some fluid which passes 
 through it ; but as these glands answer peculiar
 
 * 
 28 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and local purposes, the account of them belongs to 
 that of the local parts, or of the functions which 
 those parts perform. The liver is the largest 
 gland in the body : and it is exceedingly important 
 from its intimate connexion with the system of 
 nourishment. 
 
 11. Muscles are the organs of motion. They 
 are almost entirely composed of fleshy fibres, ar- 
 ranged for the most part parallel to each other, 
 and forming a series of fasciculi, or bundles, which 
 by their union form what is called the belly of the 
 muscle. These fasciculi, as well as the fibres of 
 which they are made up, are separated from each 
 other by a cellular membrane, which serves to 
 connect them together, and to favour the passage 
 and distribution of the numerous blood-vessels, 
 lymphatics and nerves, with which the muscles are 
 supplied. The direction of these fasciculi is very 
 various. Sometimes they run along the whole 
 length of the muscle, in one rectilinear parallel 
 range, as in the muscles that appear in the fore- 
 parts of the belly, and the muscle is then called a 
 straight muscle. Sometimes they run parallel to 
 each other and in an oblique direction, forming 
 what is called an oblique muscle. In some in- 
 stances they are disposed on each side of a middle 
 line, so as to form angles with each other, like the 
 feathery parts of a quill, and the muscle is then 
 called a penniform muscle. In a few instances 
 they take a circular direction, forming an orbicular 
 muscle, as that which surrounds the eye. Of these, 
 the oblique muscles are the most frequent. 
 
 Many of the muscles terminate in strong pearl- 
 coloured bodies, which are tendons, or, in common 
 language, sinews. They are composed of the same
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 29 
 
 kind of matter as the membranes, namely, of glue 
 or gelatine. These tendons must not he confounded 
 with the ligaments or ties which unite the hones, 
 and also different parts of the body together ; for 
 these are fibrous, which the tendons are not; and 
 they are remarkably strong and elastic, and are not 
 softened or even much weakened by boiling. 
 
 12. The skin which everywhere surrounds the 
 body, and serves as its general protection, consists 
 of three parts : the epidermis, cuticle, or scarf skin, 
 which is the outermost ; the rete mucosum, or 
 mucous tissue, which is immediately within the 
 cuticle ; and the cutis, or true skin, which is the 
 innermost, and by far the thickest. Beneath these 
 there is a portion of cellular membrane, but that 
 does not strictly form part of the skin. 
 
 The cuticle is very thin, and in itself entirely 
 destitute of sensibility. It consists of a substance 
 resembling in its nature boiled white of egg, or as 
 it is called, coagulated albumen. This substance 
 does not melt in water ; and one cannot help admir- 
 ing the wisdom of design in applying such a sub- 
 stance as the covering of all animals. It is found 
 not only in the skin properly so called, but in the 
 appendages of the skin, the hair, and nails. 
 
 The mucous tissue consists of a very fine net- 
 work of small vessels. It is upon this that the 
 colour of the skin depends ; and the colour which 
 it possesses is natural to the individual and the 
 race. It is reddish white in most Europeans, 
 brown in gypsies, reddish in mulattoes, and black 
 in negroes. In the latter, it can be changed to a 
 white, by long bleaching in water containing hydro- 
 chloric acid ; but in proof of the scripture declara-
 
 30 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 tion that " the Ethiopian cannot change his skin," 
 it speedily turns black again. Some individuals of 
 all races have the mucous tissue white ; and these 
 are called albinos, which means " whites." The 
 particular odour given out by the skin, arises from 
 this part as well as the colour. The true skin, 
 which is much thicker than the others, and very 
 thick on some parts of the human body, consists 
 of fibres interwoven like the texture of a hat. It 
 is formed in great part of gelatine or glue, but, in 
 the living body, it contains many small blood-vessels, 
 and has a high degree of feeling. 
 
 13. Under the skin lie the subcutaneous glands, 
 which are supposed to transmit through the pores 
 an insensible steam, commonly believed to be of- 
 the same kind with what, when sensibly thrown 
 out, is called sweat. 
 
 The pores in our hands and feet are very remark- 
 able. Survey with a glass the palm of your hand 
 well washed, and you may perceive innumerable 
 little ridges, of equal bigness and distance, every 
 where running parallel with each other : these are 
 very observable on the ends and first joints of the 
 fingers and thumb, and near its root, a little above 
 the wrist. 
 
 On these ridges stand the pores, all in even rows. 
 Through a good glass, every pore looks like a 
 fountain ; the sweat may be seen to stand therein, 
 as clear as rock water. The ridges are so placed, 
 that they may better suit with the use and motion 
 of the hand ; those on the lower side of each tri- 
 angle, to the bending in of the fingers ; those on 
 the other two sides, and on the elliptic ridges, to 
 the pressure of the hand or fingers' ends against
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 31 
 
 any body requiring them to yield to the right and 
 left. 
 
 The pores are placed on these ridges, not in the 
 furrows between them, that their structure may be 
 less liable to be injured by compression, whereby 
 the furrows only are dilated or contracted, the 
 ridges constantly maintaining themselves, and so 
 the pores are unaltered ; for the same reason, the 
 pores are very large, that they may be the better 
 preserved ; though the skin be never so much 
 compressed and condensed, by the constant labour 
 of the hand; and so those on the feet, that they 
 may be preserved, notwithstanding the compression 
 of the skin by the weight of the whole body. 
 
 Through the pores there continually transudes 
 a subtle vapour from every point of the body, being 
 what redounds of the aliment, comminuted to the 
 highest degree, and sent to repair every particle of 
 it. And the matter thus evacuated, is more than 
 is thrown out by all the other passages together. 
 
 A person of middle age found what he per- 
 spired was five- eighths of the food taken in ; so 
 that there remained only three-eighths for nourish- 
 ment and all other evacuations. He observed 
 also, that as much is perspired in one day, as 
 passes by stool in fourteen ; and more particularly 
 that in a night's time, about sixteen ounces are 
 usually thrown out by urine, four by stool, and 
 about forty by insensible perspiration. 
 
 If a man eats and drinks eight pounds in a day, 
 five pounds of it pass by perspiration, namely, 
 about one pound within five hours after eating, 
 (perspiration being least of all soon after eating) ; 
 from the fifth to the twelfth hour, about three
 
 32 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 pounds, and from the twelfth to the sixteenth, 
 scarcely half a pound. Exercise increases per- 
 spiration much. But it is naturally less in women 
 than men. 
 
 While this steam flows from our body, it con- 
 stantly imbibes a supply of moisture from the air, 
 which serves to keep all its parts soft, pliant, and 
 fit for motion. Hence, from the greater moisture 
 of the air, we perspire less in winter than in sum- 
 mer, and in rainy weather than in fair. Live 
 therefore, if possible, in a clean house, and in a 
 pure, dry air. 
 
 This inhalation is very considerable. Dr. Keil 
 found his body to have imbibed in one night 
 eighteen ounces of moisture. And on a sudden 
 change of weather from dry to wet, the inspiration 
 sometimes exceeds the expiration, there being 
 absorbent-veins, which accompany the numberless 
 arteries from which the perspiration is discharged. 
 To the matter thus imbibed (not the obstruction 
 of the pores) he ascribes what we term a cold. 
 Sweating cures this, by throwing out the noxious 
 matter which was imbibed before. 
 
 The cutaneous vessels both exhaling and inhal- 
 ing, are capable of contraction and relaxation by 
 the power of the nerves. This appears from the 
 effects of the passions, which if joyful, increase the 
 circulation, and relax the exhaling vessels. Those 
 passions, on the contrary, which are sorrowful, and 
 retard the circulation, contract the exhaling vessels, 
 as appears from the dryness and corrugation of the 
 skin, like a goose skin, after frights ; and from a 
 diarrhoea caused by fear. But the same affections 
 seem to open the inhaling vessels, whence the vari-
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 33 
 
 olous or pestilential contagions are easily con- 
 tracted by fear. 
 
 The benefits of insensible perspiration are so 
 great, that life cannot be preserved without it. 
 And the subtlety, equability, and plenty of what 
 we perspire are the grand symptoms of health. 
 
 Fat, a whitish, oily substance, void of scent, is 
 secreted from the blood, and lodged in small, oval, 
 membranous bags, which shoot out of the arteries. 
 It is found in various parts but chiefly under the 
 skin, where (unless a man be emaciated) it runs 
 co-extended with the skin over most parts of the 
 body. 
 
 Fat is secreted from the arterial blood by the 
 adipose glands, and transmitted again from the 
 membranous cells to the blood through the veins. 
 It seems to be a portion of the blood coagulated by 
 the nitrous air mixed with it in the lungs. Arti- 
 ficial fat is made by mixing for some days oil of 
 olives with spirit of nitre. Hence, divers animals 
 grow fat in frosty weather, the air then abounding 
 with nitre. 
 
 The uses of the fat are various, as to facilitate 
 the motions of the muscles in all parts, lessen their 
 attrition against each other, and prevent a stiffness 
 or rigidity; it fills up the intermediate spaces 
 between the muscles, in such a manner, witk the 
 cavities about many of the viscera, that it readily 
 yields to their motions, and yet supports them 
 when at rest; it serves as a stratum or bed to 
 conduct and defend the vessels in their course to 
 all parts; it gives an uniform extension to the skin, 
 and serving as a cushion to ease the weight of the 
 body in many parts, at the same time it renders 
 the whole of a comely, agreeable shape : it pro- 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 bably by returning and mixing with many of the 
 humours abates their acrimony ; it has a principal 
 share in forming the matter of the bile, and by 
 transuding through the cartilaginous incrustations 
 of the bones, it mixes with the articular liniment 
 or synovia ; also, by exhaling in a living person 
 from the mesentery, mesocolon, omentum, and 
 round the kidneys, it lubricates the surfaces of the 
 viscera with an oily emollient vapour, and by in- 
 terposing betwixt their integuments, prevents their 
 growing one to another. The fat is laid up as a 
 store to maintain the body when it has not suffi- 
 cient food, or is incapable of feeding. In many 
 animals also, it serves as a protection against cold, 
 which is remarkably the case with those warm- 
 blooded animals which inhabit the waters. 
 
 Yet too much fat is a real disease, which hinders 
 the motion of the lungs, entangles the most active 
 particles of the blood, and naturally creates dulness 
 and heaviness. You may cure this by following 
 three plain rules : eat and drink little; sleep little; 
 work much. 
 
 14. The dissimilar parts are composed of the 
 similar. The chief of these is the head. The 
 cavity of the scull is nearly filled with a soft sub- 
 stance, termed in general the brain. But this is 
 propsrly that part of it which lies forward. The 
 hinder part (considerably smaller) is called the cere- 
 bellum. Under both, but chiefly the latter, and 
 springing from the internal substance of both, is 
 the medulla oblongata. 
 
 The skull is composed of two plates, one laid 
 over the other. Between these is a spongeous 
 substance, made of bony fibres detached from each 
 plate. Hereby the skull is made not only lighter, 
 but far less liable to fractures.
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 35 
 
 The skull is covered with a membrane called 
 the pericranium. This has several holes, which 
 give passage to the spinal marrow, the nerves, arte- 
 ries, and veins. But these fill them so nicely that 
 nothing can pass into or out of the head, but 
 through these vessels. 
 
 It is round, that it may contain the more ; but 
 a little depressed and longish, advancing out behind 
 and flatted on the sides, which contributes to the 
 enlargement of the sight and hearing. 
 
 It is divided into pieces by four sutures. This 
 makes it less liable to break, gives passage to the 
 membranes of the pericranium, and vent to the 
 matter of insensible perspiration. 
 
 15. All these are invested with two membranes, 
 the inner (called pia mater) extremely thin ; the 
 outer (called dura mater) considerably harder and 
 thicker. Where they involve the cerebellum, 
 there is interposed between them the arachnoides, 
 a very subtle and transparent membrane, which 
 descending through the hinder part of the skull, 
 together with them involves the whole spinal 
 marrow. 
 
 16. The outer part of the brain, called the cor- 
 tex or bark, is of an ashy or greyish colour. It is 
 formed from the minute branches of the neighbour- 
 ing arteries, which being wove together in the pia 
 mater, inclose the inner part, ordinarily to the 
 thickness of about half an inch. 
 
 It consists therefore of innumerable little glands, 
 contiguous to each other, which are of themselves 
 oval, but by their mutual pressure become angular 
 and run waving with each other. 
 
 The inner part, called the medulla, is white, and
 
 36 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 terminates in another medullary substance, very 
 white and hard, called the corpus callosum. The 
 medulla is thought to consist of fine tubes, which 
 when collected into little bundles, and covered 
 with membranes, are termed nerves. 
 
 17. To trace this a little farther. From every 
 point of the outer brain arise minute fibres, which 
 in their progress uniting together, are easily per- 
 ceptible. These constitute the substance of the 
 inner brain and of the spinal marrow. In their 
 further progress they are distinguished by coats 
 detached from the two membranes of the brain into 
 several bundles called nerves, resembling so many 
 horsetails, each wrapt up in a double tunic. 
 
 Several of these part from the rest, in the brain 
 itself, of which there are ten pairs ; one on each 
 side. From the spinal marrow there arise thirty 
 pairs more. All these, while within the skull or 
 the spine, are pulpous ; but afterwards harden, 
 acquire a coat, and spread through the smallest 
 points of the solid parts of the body. Their coats 
 are everywhere furnished with blood vessels, 
 lymphatics, and vesicles of a very tight texture, 
 which serve to collect, strengthen, and contract 
 their fibres. And if we consider, 1. The great 
 bulk of the brain, cerebellum, and spinal marrow 
 (whereof the whole substance goes to constitute 
 nerves, being continued into and ending in them). 
 2. The great number of nerves distributed hence 
 throughout the whole body. 3. That the brain 
 and spinal marrow are the basis of an embryo, 
 whence the other parts are afterwards formed : 
 and lastly, that there is scarce any part of the body 
 which does not feel or move : it may seem not
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 37 
 
 altogether improbable, that all the solid parts of the 
 body are woven out of nervous fibres, and wholly 
 consist of them. 
 
 18. The brain is divided into four ventricles. 
 Near the rise of the fourth there is a round hole, 
 over which is suspended the pineal gland, so called 
 from its resembling the shape of a pine apple. It 
 is furnished with veins and arteries, and inclosed 
 in a thin membrane derived from the pia mater. 
 Des Cartes imagined this to be the seat of the soul, 
 but without any solid reason. Nor has any one 
 yet been able to discover what is the use of it. 
 
 The brain is abundantly bigger in proportion in 
 man than in other animals. In other animals, it 
 is commonly biggest, caeteris paribus, in those that 
 have most sagacity. 
 
 There are in the brain multitudes of vessels, so 
 extremely small, that if a globule of blood (a mil- 
 lion of which exceed not a grain of sand in bigness) 
 were divided into 500 parts, those parts would be 
 too large to pass through them. And these ves- 
 sels are as large in the brain of a sparrow, as in 
 that of an ox. Nor is there any difference between 
 the brain of a large animal and a small, but that 
 one. contains far more of these vessels than the 
 other. But the globules of the fluid passing through 
 them are in all animals of the same size. 
 
 The outer part of a turkey's brain is a very clear 
 and transparent oily matter. Innumerable fine 
 blood vessels are spread through every part of this. 
 And if a small part is cut there flows out a small 
 globule of pellucid fluid. 
 
 The brain is not absolutely necessary to animal 
 life. Infants have been born and lived some time 
 without any. We have an authentic account from
 
 38 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Paris, of a child that survived the birth four days, 
 not only without a brain, but even a head : in- 
 stead of which it had a mass of flesh, somewhat 
 like liver. In 1673, a child was born alive with- 
 out any brain, cerebellum, or medulla oblongata; 
 the skull being solid : nor had it any communica- 
 tion with the spinal marrow. Mr. du Verney took 
 out the brain and cerebellum of a pigeon : yet it 
 lived and walked about. Mons. Chirac took out 
 the brain of a dog yet he lived. On taking out 
 the cerebellum, he seemed dead; but revived when 
 he blew into the lungs, and continued alive an 
 hour. Many other instances are recorded, wherein, 
 in different individuals all the parts of the brain 
 have been found wanting ; and some in which the 
 entire contents of the skull have been reduced to a 
 pulpy mass, apparently without organisation and 
 without use. Thus it appears that no single part 
 of this organ, or even the whole of it in the state 
 in which it usually exists, is absolutely essential to 
 the purposes of life. 
 
 Are there distinct provinces for the vital or 
 spontaneous, and for the animal or voluntary ac- 
 tions ? And does the cerebellum furnish the heart 
 and other vital organs with nerves, while the brain 
 supplies the nerves which go out to the organs of 
 sense and voluntary motion ? This is an elegant 
 system, but is everywhere confuted by anatomy. 
 From the cerebellum, the fifth pair of nerves is 
 manifestly produced ; but this goes to the tongue, 
 to the muscles of the outward ear, of the eye, and 
 of the nose, which are parts all of them either 
 moved by the will or else destined to sensation. 
 Again, from one and the same nerve there are vital 
 branches sent to the heart and lungs, and others
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 39 
 
 that are animal and voluntary to the larynx, or 
 sensitive in the stomach. Lastly, the repeated 
 accounts of injuries to the cerebellum, being so 
 speedily fatal are not altogether true ; for that 
 both wounds and scirrhosities of this part have 
 been sustained without any fatality to the patient, 
 may be affirmed by certain experience. 
 
 This is the opinion advanced by the modern 
 phrenologists, who attempt to account for the 
 varied dispositions of different individuals of the 
 human race, from the degree of development in 
 different regions of the encephalon or general con- 
 tents of the skull. But it is probable that structure 
 has some effect, as the organs of the body are the 
 instruments by means of which the soul, or intel- 
 lectual part of man's nature has intercourse with the 
 material world; yet the nature of that intercourse, 
 and the means of communication between the 
 immaterial mind and the material organ, are mys- 
 teries beyond the reach of human philosophy. 
 
 19. The eyes next offer themselves to our ob- 
 servation, guarded by the eyelids, eyelashes, and 
 eyebrows. The eyelids consist of the cuticle, the 
 skin, a thin expansion of the panniculus carnosus, 
 and an inward coat. A pallisade of short, but stiff 
 hairs grows out of their cartilaginous edge, both to 
 break the too fierce impression of the rays of light, 
 and to prevent any thing from getting into the 
 eye, when open. These hairs only grow to a con- 
 venient length, and their points stand out of the 
 way, those of the upper eyelids being bent upward, 
 and those of the lower, downward. Meantime the 
 eyebrows hinder sweat, or anything else which 
 might be hurtful, from falling down from the fore- 
 head.
 
 40 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Both the eyelids are moveable, but chiefly the 
 upper. Animals which have hard eyes, as lobsters, 
 need none and therefore have no eyelids. But 
 most brutes have an additional eyelid, called the 
 nictitating membrane, which draws like a curtain, 
 to wipe of what might incommode the eye. The 
 monkey indeed has it not, as being furnished with 
 hands like a man. 
 
 20. The eye can move upward, downward, to 
 either side, and round, either toward the right or 
 left. For these six motions, six muscles are allot- 
 ted which spread their tendons far into the eye. 
 At each inner corner of the eye, there is a gland 
 with two or three ducts, which, opening on the 
 inner surface of the eyelid, keep the eyeball moist, 
 to facilitate its motion. By these glands tears also 
 are secerned. The eye is connected with the sur- 
 rounding bones by the tunica adnata, commonly 
 called the white of the eye : in the midst of which 
 is a large hole for the tunica cornea, through 
 which the iris and pupil appear. The whole ball 
 of the eye rises from the optic nerve, and is formed 
 of three coats, propagated from it, and as many 
 humours: two of which have each a coat of its own 
 also. The eye therefore has five coats in all: 
 three common, and two to contain their several 
 humours. 
 
 21. The outermost coat proceeding from the 
 dura mater, and surrounding the whole eye, is 
 termed the sclerotica : the fore-part of it being 
 transparent like horn, is thence styled the cornea. 
 This is more convex than the rest of the eye. It 
 is composed of several parallel plates, which are 
 nourished by many blood vessels, but so fine as 
 not to hinder the smallest rays of light. It has
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 41 
 
 an exquisite sense, that 011 the least touch of any 
 thing, the tears may be expressed, to wash off any 
 filth, which by adhering to it might render it dim 
 or cloudy. The rest of the sclerotica is opaque, 
 and of the same colour with the dura mater. 
 
 The second coat is called uvea. It is much 
 thinner than the former, though thicker than the 
 pia mater, from which it proceeds. In the fore- 
 part it is a round hole, which with, the crystalline 
 humour interposed, constitutes the pupil, sur- 
 rounded by the iris so named, from its supposed 
 resemblance to the colours of the rainbow. The 
 third and inmost coat is termed the retina. It is 
 extremely thin and soft, and darker coloured than 
 the lower part of the optic nerve, of which it is a 
 continuation. 
 
 " If it be questioned," says Dr. Haller, " whether 
 the object is painted upon the retina or upon the 
 choroides ? We answer, this last supposition is 
 inconsistent with known observation, by which the 
 retina is evidently a most sensible expansion of 
 the nerve, while the choroides has only a few 
 nerves, with small vessels, which are certainly 
 blind. It is also opposed by the great variety of 
 the choroides in different animals, while the con- 
 stant uniformity of the retina is equally remarka- 
 ble ; to which add the black membrane, that is 
 interposed betwixt the retina and choroides, in 
 some kind of fish. Finally, anatomy demonstrates, 
 that the choroides is seated in the blind part of the 
 eye, but it is of itself of a white colour." 
 
 The fact of seeing, and the mechanical structure 
 of the eye, as we are capable of observing it, are 
 very different matters. When a recent eye is held 
 up to the light, we see an inverted image or pic-
 
 42 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ture upon its retina; but how this picture con- 
 tributes to the perception of visible objects, or 
 whether it contributes to this at all, is a matter 
 which we are incapable of explaning. That none 
 but a perfect eye can see is true ; and that there 
 is a distinct sight in each eye is also true ; because 
 if we press the eye ball to a side we see double ; 
 and it is remarkable, that the second and fainter 
 representation which we see by means of the eye 
 which is pressed out of it natural direction, sepa- 
 rates from the more perfect one seen by the undis- 
 turbed eye in the opposite direction to that in 
 which the disturbed eye is turned. 
 
 32. The aqueous humour, resembling the 
 colour and consistence ef water, lies in the fore-part 
 of the eye, just behind the cornea : its interior 
 surface is convex, the other a little concave. 
 Whence this humour is derived we cannot tell, but 
 its source must be plentiful : for if the coat con- 
 taining it be so wounded, that all the humours run 
 out, it needs only to keep the eye close for a season, 
 and the wound will heal and the humour recruit. 
 
 Indeed, an eminent Italian affirms, that he has 
 slit the pupil of divers animals and squeezed out 
 all the humours and has afterwards restored them 
 perfectly to sight : nay, that the eyes of many, 
 instead of being damaged thereby, seemed more 
 lively and vigorous than before. 
 
 The second humour, termed (improperly enough) 
 the crystalline, consists of many thousand fila- 
 ments, tending from the circumference to the centre, 
 and closely woven together. It is a little convex 
 before, and more behind. It serves to refract the 
 rays of light so that they may meet and form an 
 image on the bottom of the eye. It is set in the
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 43 
 
 fore-part of the vitreous humour, like a diamond in 
 its collet, and is retained there by a membrane 
 that surrounds it, thence called its capsula. It is 
 towards the outside like a jelly, but toward the 
 centre as hard as salt. The figure of the outer 
 part is varied by a ligament annexed, which can 
 make it either more or less convex, or move it to 
 or from the retina. And this is absolutely neces- 
 sary in order to distinct vision : for as the rays of 
 distant objects diverge less than those of near ob- 
 jects, the crystalline must either be made less con- 
 vex or be set farther from the retina. 
 
 When dried it appears to consist of a vast num- 
 ber of thin round scales one upon another, 3000 of 
 which have been counted in one crystalline. Each 
 of these consists of a single fibre, Avound this way 
 and that in a stupendous manner, so as to run 
 several courses and meet in as many centres, and 
 yet not interfere or cross in any place. 
 
 The third, which is termed the vitreous humour, 
 is not unlike melted glass. It is covered with an 
 exceeding thin coat. The fore part is concave, as 
 receiving the crystalline ; the other side is convex. 
 
 The whole apparatus of the eye tends to this, 
 that there be produced in the bottom of, a distinct 
 collection of all the rays, which, proceeding from 
 any point of an object, penetrate the crystalline 
 humour, that so an image of that object may be 
 painted there. In order to this, the rays striking 
 on the cornea, are reflected toward the perpendi- 
 cular, and thus directed through the pupil to the 
 crystalline. Meantime the iris, contracting or 
 dilating the pupil, admits fewer or more rays, as 
 the object is more or less vivid. 
 
 Now the flatter the cornea is, the fewer rays
 
 44 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 does it collect and transmit to the crystalline, 
 and those more diverging. The rounder it is, the 
 more rays does it collect and transmit, and those 
 more converging. It is too flat in old men ; it is 
 too round in them that are short-sighted. The 
 rays transmitted through the pupil to the crystal- 
 line humour, are there refracted anew, collected 
 and rendered converging, and those that come from 
 the same point are thrown in one point on the 
 bottom of the eye. But if the crystalline be too 
 dense, the focus or point wherein they unite will 
 be too near : if that be not dense enough, it will 
 be too remote. And this is another cause of 
 short-sightedness, or the contrary defect. 
 
 In all vision both the eyes are used at once. 
 And both together, as any one will find upon trial, 
 behold an object in another situation than either of 
 them apart would do. Hence a gentleman who 
 had one of his eyes struck out, for some months 
 after was apt to mistake the situation of things : 
 and when he attempted to pour liquors into phials, 
 often poured them quite beside the neck of the 
 phials. 
 
 Two eyes greatly contribute, if not to distinct, 
 at least to extensive vision. When an object is 
 placed at a moderate distance, by the means of 
 both eyes we see a larger share of it than we pos- 
 sibly could with one ; the right eye seeing a greater 
 portion of its right side, and the left eye of its cor- 
 respondent side. Thus both eyes in some measure 
 see round the object; and it is this that gives it in 
 nature that bold relievo, or swelling, with which 
 they appear, and which no painting, how exquisite 
 soever, can attain to. The painter must be con- 
 tented with shading on a flat surface ; but the eyes,
 
 ON THE STRUCTUKE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 45 
 
 in observing nature, do not behold the shading 
 only, but a part of the figure also, that lies behind 
 those very shadings, which gives it that swelling 
 which painters can never fully imitate. 
 
 There is another defect, which either of the eyes, 
 taken singly would have, but which is corrected by 
 having the organ doubled. In either there is a 
 point which has no vision, so that if one ; of them 
 only is employed in seeing, there is a part of the 
 object to which it is always totally blind. This 
 is that part of the optic nerve where its vein and 
 artery run ; that point of the object that is painted 
 there must continue unseen. To be convinced of 
 this we have only to try a very easy experiment. 
 If we take three black patches and stick them upon 
 a white wall about a foot distant from each other, 
 each about as high as the eye that is to observe 
 them ; then retiring six or seven feet back, and 
 shutting one eye, by trying for some time we shall 
 find, that while we distinctly behold the black spots 
 that are to the right and left, that which is in the 
 middle remains totally unseen. When we bring 
 that part of the eye, where the optic artery runs, 
 to fall upon the object, it will become invisible. 
 This defect, in either eye, is corrected by both, 
 since the part of the object that is unseen by one 
 will be distinctly perceived by the other. 
 
 The form of the eye is the most commodious 
 which can be imagined. It is fittest both to con- 
 tain the humours within, and to receive the images 
 of objects from without. Was it square, or of any 
 multangular form, some of its parts would lie too 
 far off, and some too nigh those lenticular humours, 
 which by their refractions cause vision. But by 
 means of this form, the humours are fitly placed to
 
 46 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 perform their office of refraction, and the little 
 darkened cell neatly adapted to receive the image 
 of the object. 
 
 Again. As it is necessary for the eye to move 
 various ways in order to adjust itself to various 
 objects, so by this figure it is well prepared for 
 such motions, and can with ease direct itself as 
 occasion requires. 
 
 No less commodious is the situation of the eye : 
 in the most eminent part of the body, and near the 
 most sensible part, the brain. By its eminence in 
 the body, it can take in the more subjects ; and by 
 its situation in the head, besides its nearness to the 
 brain, it is most conveniently placed for defence 
 and security ; in the hand it might have been more 
 ready for service, but to how many dangers would 
 it have been exposed ? The same may be said as 
 to its site in any other part but where it is. But 
 the head is a part that seems contrived and made 
 chiefly for the use of the principal senses. 
 
 23. The power which the human body has of 
 accommodating itself to the privation of any one 
 of the senses is truly wonderful ; and hearing and 
 touch can, to a very great extent, compensate for 
 the loss of sight. The late Dr. Henry Moyes, a 
 popular lecturer on Natural Philosophy, though he 
 had been blind from about four years of age, not 
 only explained the doctrines of light and colours 
 with great precision, but was very expert in me- 
 chanical operations, and could feel even different 
 tints of colour by the touch of his ^fingers. John 
 Metcalf, of Derbyshire, who became blind early 
 in life, at last became an engineer of roads in a 
 peculiarly difficult counntry for such a purpose, 
 namely, the Peak of Derby. Sanderson, though
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 47 
 
 blind, discharged his duties with remarkable abi- 
 lity as Professor of Mathematics in Cambridge ; 
 and so delicate was his sense of touch that, in pass- 
 ing his hand over a cabinet of medals, he could 
 distinguish the genuine ones from the counterfeits. 
 So well indeed is the power of other senses to sup- 
 ply the vibration of sight now understood, that 
 schools for the blind are general in the larger 
 towns ; and it is worthy of remark, that they who 
 are deprived of this, the most apparently cheerful 
 of all the senses, are remarkable for the cheerful- 
 ness of their own dispositions. 
 
 Yet blind persons, even though they distinguish 
 them by the touch, have no idea of visible objects. 
 Thus the gentlemen couched by Dr. Chesselden : 
 add to this, that he had no idea of distance, but 
 imagined all the objects he saw touched his eyes, 
 in the same manner as those he felt did his skin. 
 
 An extract from Dr Chesselden's account of 
 this person, will not be unacceptable to the cu- 
 rious. 
 
 "This young gentleman could in a strong light 
 distinguish black, white, and scarlet. Yet the faint 
 ideas he had of them before he was couched, did 
 not suffice to make him know them after. He 
 now thought scarlet the most beautiful of all co- 
 lours. Of others, the most gay were the most 
 pleasing. But the first time he saw black, he was 
 very uneasy ; yet after a while he was reconciled to 
 it. When he first saw, no objects were so agree- 
 able to him, as those that were smooth and re- 
 gular : although he knew not the shape of any 
 thing, nor could distinguish one from another, 
 either by its shape or size. Being told what those 
 things were, whose forms he knew by feeling, he
 
 48 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 would carefully observe that he might know them 
 again. Thus having often forgot, which was the 
 cat, and which the dog, he was ashamed to ask : 
 but catching the cat, which he knew by feeling, he 
 looked at her steadfastly, and said, ' So, puss, I shall 
 know you another time.' He was surprised, that 
 the things or persons he liked best, did not appear 
 most agreeable to his sight, expecting that what was 
 most pleasing to his other senses, would be so to 
 his sight also. 
 
 " We thought he soon knew the nature of pic- 
 tures, but found afterward we were mistaken ; for 
 it was two months after the operation, before he 
 discovered that they represented solid bodies. Even 
 then he was no less surprised, expecting they would 
 feel like the things they represented. He was 
 amazed, that those parts which by their light and 
 shade appeared round and uneven, should feel like 
 the rest, and asked, which was the lying sense, 
 feeling or seeing ? Being shown his father's pic- 
 ture drawn in miniature, and told what it was, he 
 acknowledged the likeness ; but asked, how it 
 could be, that so large a face should be contained 
 in so little room ? Saying it would have seemed 
 as* impossible to him, as to put a bushel of anything 
 into a pint. But even blindness he observed, had 
 this advantage, that he could go anywhere in the 
 dark, better than those that could see. And after he 
 was couched, he did not lose it, but could go all 
 about the house without a light. Every new ob- 
 ject gave him new delight, such as he wanted 
 words to express. He was particularly delighted 
 when he first sav? a large prospect, and called it a 
 new kind of seeing. Being afterwards couched in 
 his other eye, he said, that objects appeared larger
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 49 
 
 to this eye, though not so large as they did to the 
 other when it was newly couched. But looking 
 on them with both eyes, they seemed twice as large 
 as if he looked with that only." 
 
 24. We proceed to the ear, formed with exqui- 
 site wisdom for the reception of sounds. The 
 outward ear, consisting of an oval cartilage, exter- 
 nally convex, concave within, leads by various 
 windings to the meatus auditorius, which is first 
 cartilaginous, and then bony. It is filled with a 
 viscid matter, called the ear-wax, which is supplied 
 from vessels placed in the skin, surrounding the 
 meatus, to hinder any hurtful animal from creep- 
 ing into the ear. The meatus is closed within by 
 a thin, dry, transparent membrane, affixed to a 
 bony circle, which is called the membrana tympani. 
 Behind it is that cavity of the os petrosum, which 
 is termed the drum. 
 
 The outward ear has two parts, that which stands 
 out from the head, called the auricle, and the nar- 
 row passage which enters the skull, called meatus 
 auditorius. 
 
 The auricle is furrowed with divers winding 
 canals, which receive and collect the various un- 
 dulations of the air. They who have lost this, hear 
 very confusedly, unless they use a trumpet, or form 
 a cavity round the ear with their hands. 
 
 It is a wise provision, that the substance of the 
 auricle is cartilaginous. Had it been bone it would 
 have been troublesome, and might by many acci- 
 dents have been broken off. If flesh, it would 
 neither have remained expanded, nor so well have 
 received or conveyed the sounds. Rather, it would 
 have blunted them, and retarded their progress 
 into the organ. But being hard, and curiously 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 AVESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 smooth and winding, sounds find an easy passage, 
 with a regular refraction, as in a well-built arch. 
 
 It is observable, that in infants in the womb and 
 newly born, the meatus auditorius is close shut up, 
 partly by the construction of the passage, and 
 partly by a glutinous substance, whereby the drum 
 is guarded against the water in the secundine, and 
 against the injuries of the air as soon as the infant 
 is born. 
 
 It is remarkable that, in the ear of most, if not 
 in all animals, where the meatus auditorius is long, 
 ear-wax is constantly found. But in birds, whose 
 ears are covered with feathers, and where the drum 
 lies but a little within the skull, no ear-wax is 
 found, because none is necessary to ears so well 
 guarded and so little tunnelled. 
 
 25. In the internal cavity of the ear, besides a 
 little branch of nerves, there are four little bones, 
 two passages, and two windows. Three of those 
 bones, from some imagined resemblance, are styled 
 the hammer, the anvil, and the staple : the fourth 
 is termed the orbicular bone. These are fastened 
 by strong ligaments to each other, and to the 
 neighbouring parts. The passages go from the 
 side of the drum : one of which, termed the laby- 
 rinth, by a very winding way, carries a part of the 
 auditory nerve to the external muscles of the head. 
 The other passes from the bottom of the drum to 
 the palate ; whereby not only air, if needful, may 
 be received, but the defect of hearing in some 
 measure supplied by speaking to the mouth. 
 
 The labyrinth contains, besides the entrance, 
 three bony, semicircular cavities, and a bony canal, 
 in the form of a screw, divided into two parts, 
 from the top to the bottom. The labyrinth is
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 51 
 
 lined throughout with a thin membrane, furnished 
 with veins, arteries, and nerves ; and this mem~ 
 brane may not improbably be the organ of hearing. 
 
 The curious structure of the labyrinth and screw 
 tend to make the weakest sounds audible. Those 
 canals, by their winding, contain large portions of 
 the auditory nerve, upon every point of which at 
 once the sound being impressed becomes audible ; 
 and by their narrowness the sounds are hindered 
 from dilating, which must have weakened them 
 proportionably. 
 
 The strength of the impression is likewise in- 
 creased by the elasticity of the sides of the bony 
 canal, which receiving the first impulses of the air 
 reverberate them on the auditory nerve. 
 
 The auditory nerves are distributed, one to the 
 ear, the other to the eye, tongue, and parts adjoin- 
 ing. By the distribution thereof to different parts, 
 an admirable consent is established between them. 
 Hence it is, that most animals hearing a strange 
 sound, erect their ears to catch it, open their eyes, 
 and are ready with their mouth to shriek or call 
 for help. A farther use of this nervous communi- 
 cation between the ear and the mouth is, that the 
 voice may correspond with the hearing, and be a 
 kind of echo thereof: and that what is heard with 
 one of these nerves, may readily be expressed by 
 the help of the other. 
 
 And now what less than an infinitely wise God 
 could contrive so fine an organ, and such a medium, 
 so susceptible of every impression, that the sense 
 of hearing hath occasion for, to empower all ani- 
 mals to express their meaning to each other with 
 endless variety ? - Yea, what less could form such 
 an economy as that of music is ? So that the me- 
 E 2
 
 52 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 dium conveys the melodious vibration of every ani- 
 mal voice or well-tuned instrument, and the ear 
 receives them, to allay the perturbations, and calm 
 and cheer the heart of man ! 
 
 Though the ear be the ordinary organ of hearing, 
 yet it is not the only one. We may hear by the 
 teeth. For if one end of a knife be applied to a 
 spinnet, and the other held between the teeth, the 
 music will be distinctly heard, though the ears be 
 ever so closely stopped. Yet this is not properly 
 by the teeth, but by the auditory nerve which passes 
 from the drum to the palate. 
 
 In those who are born deaf, the eyes may in 
 some measure serve in the place of ears. Some 
 can understand what is said by nicely observing 
 the lips and tongue of the speaker ; and may even 
 accustom themselves to use their own, till they 
 learn a kind of speech. 
 
 The education of the deaf and dumb has 
 now become a regular science. Those persons 
 admit of division into two classes : those who 
 are dumb merely on account of being deaf, 
 whose only imperfection is in the ears, and 
 whose organs of voice and capacity of under- 
 standing are perfect ; and the deaf mute, or those 
 Avho are incapable of being in any way impressed 
 with sensations of sound, and whose organs of 
 speech are also unfit for the production of sounds. 
 This species of education is highly important, as 
 being a charity of the best kind to persons who 
 arc more gloomy than those who are deprived of 
 sight; but we have not room to enter on the 
 details. 
 
 26. The nostrils are not made of flesh or bone, 
 but of cartilage, the better to be kept open, and, as
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 53 
 
 occasion requires, to be dilated or contracted, for 
 which purpose they are furnished with proper and 
 curious muscles. The tubes therein growing 
 narrower and narrower, lead into several little 
 cells and winding cavities, covered with a soft 
 coat, and provided with arteries, veins, glands, and 
 filaments of the olfactory nerves. This, therefore, 
 is without all doubt the proper organ of smelling. 
 
 And forasmuch as it is by breathing that the 
 odorant particles are drawn in, the laminae with 
 which the upper part of the nose is barricaded 
 serve two excellent purposes, partly to prevent any 
 thing hurtful from entering the breathing passages 
 in our sleep (for which end likewise the hairs 
 placed at the entrance of the nostrils serve), and 
 partly to receive the divarications of the olfactory 
 nerves, which are here thick spread, and by 
 this means meet the smells entering with the 
 breath. 
 
 Each of the cartilaginous laminas is divided into 
 many others, folded into a spiral line. The os 
 cribrosum is made up of the extremities of these, 
 the holes therein being the intervals between them. 
 They are designed to uphold the inner tunic of the 
 nose, which is folded round about together with 
 these laminae, that by its great expansion it may 
 receive a greater number of the odorant particles. 
 For the same reason, it is furnished with many 
 small glands, which open into it, and moisten it 
 with a slimy exudation, fitted to entangle and detain 
 the subtle effluvia that touch it. And not only the 
 number, but also the length of these laminae, is of 
 great use for the strength of smelling. For this 
 purpose, most beasts, which either hunt, or dis- 
 tinguish their food by smell, have not their nose
 
 54 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 in the middle of their face, like man, but prolonged 
 to the very end. 
 
 27. The tongue has for its basis that forked 
 bone called the os hyoides. It consists of various 
 muscles interwoven together, that it may be fit for 
 various kinds of motion. To these are added very 
 many small branches of nerves, which pass through 
 the middle of it to the outside, and, being gathered 
 into little bundles, constitute those papillae which 
 make its surface rough and uneven. Besides these, 
 there appear also on the surface of the tongue 
 certain pointed fibres, not unlike the ends of birds' 
 claws, inclining towards the basis of it, with which 
 are interspersed innumerable salival glands ; and 
 all these are in their several ways subservient to 
 the sense of tasting. 
 
 That the tongue is an important member cannot 
 be doubted, inasmuch as it bears a part in many 
 operations. It assists in swallowing, in tasting, and 
 in the voice. But it is not the only member used 
 in any of these. The breath through the nostrils 
 appears to have as much to do in tasting as the 
 tongue ; for if the nostrils are held close when 
 drinking, one is unable to tell whether the liquid 
 taken into the mouth is wine or water. It will be 
 afterwards shown, that in the voice the tongue is 
 only an assistant ; and there are recorded instances 
 of persons who have been able to speak after the 
 tongue had been destroyed by disease. Man is 
 almost the only animal that uses the tongue much 
 in the modulation of sounds ; and men who have 
 not the use of the tongue, utter many sounds 
 like those of animals. Thus the letter r, sounded 
 without using the tongue, resembles the snarling 
 growl of a beast of prey.
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 55 
 
 The human teeth are, in the full grown indi- 
 vidual, thirty-two in number sixteen in each jaw. 
 They are distinguished into three kinds. The first 
 four, in front of each jaw, are incisors, or cutting 
 teeth ; one on each side of these, four in all, are 
 cuspidati (two-pointed), dog-teeth, or eye-teeth ; 
 and the teeth on each side of these last are called 
 molares, or grinders. The last, or backward teeth 
 in each jaw, are called denies sapientia?, or wisdom 
 teeth, because they do not make their appearance 
 till the parties come to full maturity. 
 
 The ossification of the jaws in the fcetus begins 
 about the second month after conception ; and 
 though there are instances of the foetus being born 
 with teeth, they are rare. The time of cutting 
 the teeth is usually from the seventh to the seven- 
 teenth month. It is commonly preceded by an 
 itching of the gums, and by convulsions, fevers, 
 and looseness ; most of which symptoms happen 
 to birds also, upon moulting, or casting their 
 feathers. The rudiment of the teeth is a mucous 
 matter, like the white of an egg, contained in the 
 cells of the jaw-bone, which grows harder and 
 bigger till it breaks through the gum. The middle 
 incisors are, in most instances, the first cut ; and 
 by the third year the child has usually got twenty 
 teeth, all of which, however, are temporary ; and 
 these are shed, and the permanent teeth chiefly 
 make their complete appearance by the twelfth 
 year ; few teeth but the wisdom teeth are later. 
 
 That part of the tooth which stands out of the 
 gum is covered with a peculiar substance called 
 enamel. It is composed of an immense number of 
 little tubes, which grow on the bone by their roots. 
 If any part of this be broken off, so that the bone
 
 56 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 is left bare, it grows carious, there being no bone 
 which will bear the air. 
 
 We may farther observe, 1. That the teeth only 
 of all the bones grow in length during a man's 
 whole life ; which is providentially designed to 
 repair the waste that is continually made by attri- 
 tion. 2. That the teeth are the only bones which 
 are not covered with that exquisitely sensible mem- 
 brane, the periosteum. 3. That they are harder 
 and firmer than any other bone, that they may 
 be more durable and fit to chew the most solid 
 aliments. 4. That for their nourishment, there is 
 a cavity contrived in each side of the jawbone, in 
 which are lodged an artery, a vein, and a nerve, 
 which, through smaller cavities, send their twigs to 
 every tooth. 5. That as infants are designed to 
 live on milk for some months, they are so long 
 without any teeth ; whereas animals that need them 
 have them sooner, and some are even born with 
 them. 6. The different shape of the teeth is 
 remarkable : the fore teeth are formed broad, and 
 with a thin and sharp edge, like chisels, to cut off 
 a morsel from any solid food ; the next, one on 
 each side, are stronger, deeper rooted, and more 
 pointed, to tear tougher aliments ; the rest are 
 made flat and broad at top, and withal someAvhat 
 uneven, that thereby they may the better retain, 
 grind, and mix the aliment. 7- Because biting 
 and chewing require much strength, partly in the 
 teeth themselves, partly in the instruments that 
 move the lower jaw, which alone is moveable, 
 nature has given it strong muscles, which make 
 it bear forcibly against the upper jaw ; and has not 
 only fixed each tooth in a distinct cavity, as in a 
 close, strong, and deep socket, but has given hold-
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 57 
 
 fast to the several sorts of teeth, suitable to the 
 stress that is to be laid upon them. So whereas 
 the cutters and eye-teeth have only one root, the 
 grinders, designed for harder work, have three in 
 the upper jaw often four because they are pendu- 
 lous, and the substance of the jaw somewhat softer. 
 8. The situation of the teeth is most convenient: the 
 grinders are behind, near the centre of motion, because 
 chewing requires a considerable force; the cutters 
 before, ready for their easier but more rapid work, 
 
 28. The palate is of a bony substance, a little 
 concave, and clothed with a thick membrane, which 
 has the same kind of servous papilla? and small 
 glands that are seen in the surface of the tongue ; 
 and hence it is qualified to assist the taste as well 
 as the speech. 
 
 The organs of speech, or those which are sub- 
 servient to that modification of the air in breathing 
 by which sounds are produced, are much more 
 complicated in man than in most animals. The 
 lips, the teeth, the tongue, the general cavity of 
 the mouth, the soft parts which are situated in the 
 posterior part of the mouth, and even the nostrils, 
 are all of use in the formation of words, or the 
 most important faculty of speech. These, however, 
 are only modifying organs, just as the sound of a 
 flute or clarionet is differently modified by stopping 
 the holes; for the real and original voice is in that 
 organ which answers to the reed of the clarionet, 
 or to the lip and hole of the flute. This is called 
 the larynx ; it is situated at the upper or mouth 
 extremity of the windpipe or trachea, afterwards to 
 be described, and it is of a structure which is not 
 easily explained in words, although the two sides 
 of it are perfectly symmetrical, which means that
 
 58 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the one is the exact counterpart of the other. 
 The opening of the larynx is called the glottis. 
 It is in the form of a slit supported by a cartila- 
 ginous ring, called the cricoid, which forms as it 
 were the substance or frame work of this wonderful 
 musical instrument. Above this is the thyroid 
 cartilage, which protects the cavity of the larynx 
 like a shield forming in man that protuberance on 
 the windpipe which is called pomum Adami, or 
 Adam's apple. To these and to numerous other 
 cartilages are attached the valves of membrane 
 which partially shut the glottis, according to the 
 quantity of breath which passes in producing 
 different sounds ; and it is remarkable that there 
 are no fewer than twenty-six pairs of muscles, or 
 fifty-two in all, which give motion to the different 
 organs employed in the modulation of speech. 
 Of these, eight pairs, or sixteen in all, are connected 
 directly with the larynx ; fifteen pairs are con- 
 nected with the larynx and the bone of the tongue, 
 and three pairs are connected with the bone of the 
 tongue and the lower or moveable jaw. Calcu- 
 lations have been made of the extreme flexibility 
 of this organ, which can shift its aperture, without 
 the owner knowing how, to shades of difference 
 compared with which the breadth of a hair is great. 
 But, as we shall afterwards see, the hand in the 
 dark, unassisted by the eye, can divide space to 
 less than the two thousandth part of an inch ; 
 and therefore the mere changes of its aperture are 
 not the wonderful part of this singular organisation. 
 The grand marvel is that every individual of the 
 human race has a different tone of voice from every 
 other, so that he is as readily known to the ear as 
 to the eye; and that while this general and
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 59 
 
 personal tone is preserved, every shade of feeling, 
 and every kind and degree of passion to which the 
 mind of man is subject, can be readily expressed by 
 the voice. There is no doubt that this requires 
 the consent and cooperation of the whole vocal 
 structure ; and thus it is a matter far above our 
 explanation, and would of itself be an unanswerable 
 proof of the infinite wisdom of man's Creator. 
 
 In most quadrupeds, too, the glottis is the prin- 
 cipal organ of the voice. So it is in cats, sheep, 
 and several others. But many have something 
 more than a glottis, as horses, asses, mules, and 
 swine. Some of these have only a tendinous mem- 
 brane, which concurs in forming the voice. Others 
 have several membranes : others a kind of bag, 
 which in some is membranous, and in others 
 bony. Others have both membranes and bags. 
 Others, lastly, have in their larynx a kind of cavity 
 or drum, which assists them in uttering very strong 
 and long continued notes. 
 
 All sounds are produced by a swift succession 
 of vibrations from the particles of sonorous bodies 
 which agitate the air. But the vibrations of the 
 lips of the glottis would not suffice to produce the 
 neighing of a horse. This begins by more or less 
 acute interrupted tones, accompanied by quaver- 
 ings, and ends by tones more or less grave, which 
 is performed by jerks. This second part is done 
 by the lips of the glottis : the other chiefly by a 
 small elastic membrane. This is tendinous, very 
 thin, of a triangular figure, and lies flat on each 
 extremity of the lips of the glottis. As it 
 adheres but loosely to these, it can easily flutter 
 up and down ; and it is the play of the membrane 
 up and down, which produces the acute sounds of
 
 60 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 neighing. These are more or less acute, as the 
 membrane is more or less thin, and its adhesion 
 more or less slack. The grave sounds that con- 
 clude the neighing, are excited by the flutterings 
 of the thick strings which form the lips of the 
 glottis. . 
 
 The hoarse sound of the ass's voice is not so 
 much produced by the lips of the glottis, as by a 
 tendinous part which adheres loosely to the aper- 
 ture of a kind of drum, situate under the extremity 
 of the lips of the glottis : above which are also 
 found two large and thick bags, one on the right, 
 the other on the left. Each of these has a round- 
 ish aperture, cut much like the stopple of an organ. 
 
 Such are the organs which form this amazing 
 sound. A kind of drum is the principal: and the 
 two bags above the lips of the glottis, are the main 
 auxiliaries ; while those lips, as plain experiment 
 show, contribute very little thereto. The mule's 
 voice much resembles that of his sire, and is formed 
 by much the same organs: 'the drum of so singular 
 a composition being found in mules also. 
 
 There is another animal which affords us a par- 
 ticular disposition of the vocal organs. This is the 
 hog, whose shrill cries are more insupportable than 
 his usual grunting. Yet neither are these excited 
 by the lips of the glottis, but by the fluttering of 
 two large membranous bags, situated on each side 
 above the lips of the glottis. What is most re- 
 markable is, that each lip is cloven almost its whole 
 length. By this cleft, each lip has a communica- 
 tion with the bag belonging to it; and the mo- 
 tions of these bags produce most of the sounds 
 peculiar to this animal. 
 
 Though the voice of birds bears a nearer re-
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 61 
 
 semblance to ours than that of quadrupeds, yet 
 their organs have far less resemblance to ours, 
 and contain a greater number of singularities. 
 They, like us, have a glottis at the top of the tra- 
 chea ; but they have another at the bottom of it, 
 which much contributes both to the strengthening 
 and modifying of their voice. These have different 
 membranes, more or less fine, more or less bent, 
 and in a variety of positions. In some birds, as 
 in geese, there are four of these, figured and dis- 
 posed like the reeds in hautboys. 
 
 With regard to the human voice, an ingenious 
 man observes, " Sitting in company I chanced to 
 take notice, that in ordinary discourse, all that is 
 spoke, is spoken in perfect notes ; and that some 
 of the company used eighths, some fifths, and 
 others thirds. I observed likewise of him whose 
 speech was the most pleasing, that all the tones he 
 used consisted either of concords or of such dis- 
 cords as made up harmony." 
 
 Cutting the trachea was long reputed mortal, 
 but it is now usual to open it in dangerous quinseys. 
 This physcians were at first encouraged to do, from 
 the case of a Cornish gentleman, who had his 
 windpipe quite cut through, and yet was cured 
 and lived several years after. 
 
 The trachea, or windpipe, is wonderful in its 
 conformation. Because continual respiration is 
 necessary, it is made with annular cartilages, to 
 keep it constantly open, that its sides may not 
 fall together; and lest when we swallow, any 
 particle of food should fall in, which might cause 
 convulsions, or even death, it has a strong shutter 
 or lid, called the epiglottis, which, whenever we 
 eat or drink, falls down of itself, and covers it
 
 62 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 close, so that no crumb or drop can enter. It is 
 for the more convenient bending of our necks 
 that the windpipe is not made of one entire con- 
 tinued cartilage, but of many circular ones. 
 
 What is farther remarkable in these cartilages 
 is, that all the way where they are contiguous to 
 the gullet, they are membranous, to give an easy 
 passage to the food, but after that there are some 
 completely round, and some triangular. Another 
 thing observable is, that in the wind pipe the cartilages 
 run parallel to each other ; but in the ,lungs the 
 lower parts of the superior cartilages receive the 
 upper parts of the inferior, hereby enabling them 
 to contract themselves in expiration, and to dilate 
 in inspiration. 
 
 The human hair originates from the cellular 
 substance below the skin where the root of each 
 hair forms a sort of bulb ; and each hair is enve- 
 loped in a transparent sheath, which in vigorous 
 hairs is rounded. It does not appear that this 
 covering of the hair is derived from the epidermis, 
 though it resembles that tissue in substance. The 
 central or medullary part of the hair is that to 
 which it owes its colour; and though the hair itself 
 has little sensibility, and may be divided without 
 any painful sensation, it is remarkable that it is 
 more susceptible to the effects of passion or strong 
 feeling, than almost any other part of the body. 
 Very many instances have been 'recorded of 
 entire loss of colour in the hair, produced in very 
 short periods of time, sometimes in a single night, 
 by the influence of grief or terror. As the exter- 
 nal covering of the hair is perfectly transparent, 
 we can account for this change of colour, only by 
 a change, or direction in some other channel, of
 
 OF THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 63 
 
 the colouring fluid which it contains when in a 
 healthy state. This is farther proved by the fact 
 of hairs whitened in this manner losing their cy- 
 lindric shape, and becoming angular or flattened. 
 In some cases the quantity of this fluid is unna- 
 turally great, and when it is so, it appears to be 
 improperly concocted, and to differ little from the 
 general mass of the blood. This is shown in the 
 disease called plica Polonica, (from its being un- 
 derstood to be more frequent in Poland than in any 
 other country,,) in which the hair bleeds upon 
 being cut and so much of this fluid exudes through 
 the tubes of the different hairs, that the hair is sol- 
 dered into one mass. Hair grows in length appa- 
 rently from its roots only ; and the growth seems 
 to be favoured by shortening it at the other ex- 
 tremity. In some instances it is recovered in the 
 human subject after being partially or even wholly 
 lost ; but in the baldness which takes place in old 
 age, there appears to be no means of reproduction; 
 and all the nostrums which are advertised for this 
 purpose are mere impositions. 
 
 Dyes are sometimes used for changing the 
 colour of the hair, the principal ingredient of 
 which is usually nitrate of silver, and this blackens 
 the hair much in the same way as it blackens the 
 skin the surface merely, without affecting the 
 true seat of colour. A very ludicrous effect is some- 
 times produced by an overdose of this dye, in which 
 case the hair often assumes all the colours of the 
 rainbow, as bright as they appear in the cloud. As 
 the hair comes through the integuments from the 
 cellular tissue below in a complete sheath, it does 
 not appear that its outer coat is derived immediately 
 from the cuticle, or its medullary part from the
 
 64 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 mucous web, on which the complexion of the skin 
 depends. There seems, however, to be some con- 
 nexion between these two parts at their origin ; 
 for in albinos, who want the colouring matter in the 
 mucous web, the hairs are perfectly white. They 
 are as healthy and as vigorous in their growth as 
 hairs of any other colour, which leads us to conclude 
 that the colouring matter is an accessory part of 
 the hair, and not an essential. It is understood to 
 reside in a peculiar oil in the medullary part ; but 
 whether there is a similar oil in the mucous web 
 has not been ascertained. The varieties of shade 
 in the hair of the mixed nations of Europe, are 
 almost as great as the tints of complexion, or even 
 as the expressions of faces. 
 
 Though hair feels no pain when compressed or 
 divided, it is so far from being destitute of sense in 
 the living body, that the skins of many animals 
 accustomed to find their way in the dark, serve, 
 through the medium of hairs, as guides to them on 
 their way. Thus a horse will stop before running 
 against a wall or bar on a dark night, when the 
 rider has not the slightest idea of its existence ; 
 and the wiskers of all those animals which prey 
 in the dark, not only warn them of obstacles 
 against which they might injure themselves, but 
 enable them to steer through sprays and bushes in 
 comparative silence, and thus come upon their prey 
 with more certainty. Hair when dry is also a 
 non-conductor of heat and of electric action ; and 
 thus it preserves the bodies of those animals which 
 are covered with it, from the disturbing influence 
 of the most powerful and the most variable of all 
 agents. The same may be said of feathers, and 
 of the coverings of animals generally ; and as these
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 65 
 
 adapt themselves to different climates with the 
 greatest nicety, the wisdom of design in this part 
 of the animal economy is truly wonderful. Nor is 
 it unworthy of remark, that the frizzled hair of the 
 negro, who is exposed to the burning sun, is a 
 defence against heat ; while the long and lank hair 
 of the northern nations resembles a thatch for 
 throwing off the rain or snow. In civilised countries 
 we can form no judgment of the human hair, 
 because it is rarely in a natural state, or exposed 
 to the natural contingencies of the weather. , 
 
 The nails are of the nature and fabric of the 
 cuticle, like which they are also insensible, and 
 renewable, after being cut or falling off. They are 
 placed upon the backs of the ends of the fingers 
 and toes, which they support to make a due re- 
 sistance in the apprehension of objects, having the 
 nervous papillary bodies, that serve the organ of 
 touch, placed under their lower surface. They 
 arise with a square root, intermixed with the peri- 
 osteum, a little before the last joints, from betwixt 
 the outer and inner stratum of the skin, and passing 
 on soft, go out by a lunar cleft in the external 
 plate of the skin, where the cuticle returns back, 
 and enters into a close adhesion with the root of 
 the nail, together with which it is extended as an 
 outer covering. The hair and nails are mere 
 protections, and not essential in the functions of 
 life, is proved by the fact of their growing most 
 during sickness, and continuing to grow after the 
 body is dead. They are however affected by the 
 living action ; for when the stomach is disordered 
 the nails become brittle and the hair loses its gloss. 
 
 29. We proceed to the middle cavity of the body. 
 Herein the principal part is the heart, consisting 
 
 VOL. I F
 
 66 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of a strong tendon, extended obliquely from the 
 basis, or broader part, to the cone, into which the 
 fleshy fibres are inserted, in an elegant series, with 
 a spiral bending, one half opposite to, and crossing, 
 the other ; by which means the grand muscle is 
 admirably fitted, both to receive and to propel the 
 blood. It has two great v cavities, usually termed 
 the ventricles of the heart. They are divided from 
 each other by an intermediate part, called the sep- 
 tum, constituted by the same fibres, which is convex 
 on the side next the right ventricle, and concave 
 on the other. The vena cava brings the blood to 
 the right ventricle, and, two inches from its inser- 
 tion, divides into the upper and lower. The former 
 brings the blood into it from the upper, the latter 
 from the lower parts of the body. The pulmonary 
 artery carries the blood from the ventricle into the 
 lungs, which the pulmonary vein brings from thence 
 into the left ventricle. At the upper side of these 
 reins, there is added to each ventricle a kind of 
 purse called the auricle, which is a hollow muscle 
 of the same structure with the heart, in order to stay 
 the blood, that it pour not too violently into the 
 ventricle. Before the orifices of the veins of the 
 heart there are triangular valves, and semilunar in 
 the orifices of the arteries, to hinder the reflux of the 
 blood, from the auricles into the veins, from the 
 ventricles to the auricles, and from the arteries 
 into the ventricles. In a healthy person, the heart 
 contracts nearly five thousand times in an hour. 
 
 30. The heart is covered with a fine membrane ; 
 and near the base of it, on the outside, there is a 
 little fat, probably designed to facilitate its motion. 
 It is placed near the middle of the breast ; only its 
 cone inclines a little to the left. It hangs by its
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 67 
 
 base on veins and arteries, communicating with all 
 parts of the body. The other part of it is loose in 
 the pericardium, that it may be the more commo- 
 diously constringed and dilated. The pericardium 
 is a kind of membrane, that, like a kind of purse, 
 loosely incloses the heart. The shape of it is 
 suited to that of the heart, and it contains a thin, 
 saltish, reddish humour, exuding from the arteries. 
 
 In man, and all other warm-blooded animals, 
 the action of the heart is double : the blood which 
 returns from the body, and receives the nourishment 
 in its course, is returned into the systematic auricle, 
 and collects there, while the pulmonic ventricle is 
 collapsed in its pulsation. Immediately on the 
 expansion of the pulmonic ventricle, the blood in 
 the systematic auricle floAvs to it ; and as the pas- 
 sage which opens from the auricle shuts from the 
 ventricle, the next contraction drives the blood 
 along the pulmonary arteries towards the lungs ; 
 meanwhile that portion of the blood which has been 
 to the lungs, and has there received the purifying 
 influence afterwards to be described, returns to the 
 pulmonic auricle of the heart ; and the moment that 
 the systematic ventricle expands, the renovated 
 blood from the pulmonic auricle enters that ven- 
 tricle and is conveyed over the whole body ; and 
 when it has done its office there in repairing and 
 refreshing the different organs, the remainder is 
 brought back to begin the circulation anew. 
 
 Tims there is a double pulsation of the heart and 
 a double circulation in those warm-blooded animals; 
 yet the two systems are not distinct from one 
 another, but form part of one compound revolution. 
 The new substance of the blood, which is crude 
 and unfit for the particular purposes of so delicately 
 F 2
 
 68 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 fine an engine as the body, is taken into the mass 
 of systematic blood, as that blood is returning to 
 the heart loaded with those impurities which it 
 has removed from the system, and deprived of 
 those parts which it has given out to the several 
 organs. There is a beautiful economy and simpli- 
 fication in this. The exhausted blood, and the 
 crude materials, go to the preparing lungs together, 
 which not only saves an apparatus and an operation, 
 but, we have reason to believe, makes the blood 
 better. Analogies are often curious in nature, and 
 we know that better glass or pottery, is produced 
 when broken glass or pounded potsherds mix with 
 the crude materials ; and that too great an addition 
 of crude matter at once to the blood injures it and 
 deranges the system, is proved by the case of every 
 inordinate feeder, whether of the human race or of 
 any other. The circulation continues to the lungs 
 and returns from the lungs through the other por- 
 tion of the heart ; so that in passing through that 
 organ, the two streams cross each other, though 
 they do not mingle ; and as the pulmonic and 
 systematic sides of the heart have their muscles 
 quite distinct from each other, it is not necessary 
 that the two pulsations of the heart should be per- 
 formed together. The real passage is to the lungs 
 from the system, and to the system from the lungs ; 
 and as each of these is to a different part of the 
 body, they are liable to be differently affected, 
 as the lungs may be diseased while the system 
 is sound, or the system may be diseased while the 
 lungs are sound ; and the whole body is so admira- 
 bly contrived that, within considerable limits, either 
 of those systems may become diseased and recover 
 again without material injury to the other.
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 69 
 
 31. The principal organs of respiration, with- 
 out which the pulse of the heart would beat in 
 vain, are the lungs, which consist of two parts, the 
 right and left lohe. Each of these is divided into 
 two other lobes ; one of these frequently into three, 
 sometimes into four, by fissures, sometimes deeper, 
 sometimes shallower, running from the interior mar- 
 gin towards the back part. The lungs are divided 
 into cells, which are no other than expansions of 
 the small branches of the trachea or windpipe. 
 And there is an easy passage from one branch into 
 many cells, and again into it from them all. The 
 upper part of the trachea opens into the mouth ; 
 the lower, divided into two branches, shoots out 
 into various ramifications, which are termed bron- 
 chiae. And these little canals running on, consti- 
 tute thelungs, whosecells are wonderfully connected 
 together, and intermixed with numberless branches 
 of veins and arteries. 
 
 The lungs are pink in young persons, greyish in 
 middle life, and blackish in old age. They are 
 very soft and elastic to the touch, and by much the 
 lightest part of the whole body. In their natural 
 state they swim in water ; but when completely 
 exhausted of air they sink, and hence it is known 
 by trying the lungs in water whether an infant that 
 is found dead, has or has not been born alive, as if 
 it has been born alive the lungs swim, otherwise 
 they do not. The lungs in substance consist of 
 the proper walls of the cells, which are all 
 connected with each other and with the bron- 
 chial continuations of the windpipe, but they com- 
 municate with no other part, and have no opening 
 through which air can pass except the windpipe. 
 These proper cells of the lungs are embedded in
 
 70 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 common cellular tissue, and enveloped in a fine 
 transparent membrane, which, like the membrane 
 enveloping all the organs in the thorax, is a con- 
 tinuation of the pleura. All the cellular membrane 
 is thickly ramified with very minute blood vessels, 
 consisting of arteries and veins, and thin capillary 
 connections. Those blood vessels are of two kinds, 
 the proper vessels, by which a portion of the syste- 
 matic blood is sent for the nourishment of the lungs, 
 and brought back after it has performed its office, 
 in the same manner as from the other parts of the 
 body ; and the pulmonary vessels, which carry the 
 general mass of the blood to the lungs, for the pur- 
 poses of purification, and returning back again to 
 the systematic ventricle of the heart, through the 
 pulmonic auricle, after it has been renewed and 
 become fit for the functions of life. Thus there is 
 this remarkable difference between the pulmonic 
 and the systematic systems of vessels, .that the pul- 
 monic arteries carry venous blood from the heart, 
 and the pulmonic veins bring arterial blood to the 
 heart ; while the systematic arteries carry arterial 
 blood to all parts of the body, and the systematic 
 veins bring back venous blood. Hence it appears 
 that the only function which the heart performs in 
 the circulation of the living fluid, is the mere put- 
 ting it in motion, without either improving or 
 deteriorating its quality; and that the lungs are the 
 essential organs in altering the condition of the 
 blood. 
 
 They are the organs of respiration ; but before 
 we can understand how they perform their office, 
 some other parts must be noticed. The principal 
 of these are the intercostal muscles, or muscles 
 between the ribs, the diaphragm, and the abdo-
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 71 
 
 minal muscles, or muscles of the belly ; which are 
 the chief instruments by which the lungs are worked, 
 as there is no muscle in the lungs themselves. Of 
 those parts the diaphragm is the most important. 
 It is situated between the thorax and the abdomen, 
 like a sort of curtain ; and its muscles are united to 
 the cartilaginous extremity of the breast bone, and 
 to the cartilages of various ribs. The under part 
 of it is also united to the vetrebras of the loins ; and 
 when the lungs are in a state of repose, that is, when 
 breath is neither drawn in nor given out, the dia- 
 phragm is hollow on the under side, and bent 
 upwards to the cavity of the thorax. When breath 
 is drawn in, the diaphragm flattens downwards, 
 which not only enlarges it lengthways, but allows 
 the intercostal muscles to extend it on the sides. 
 This being done the pressure of the air immediately 
 fills all the cells of the lungs with that fluid ; and 
 this is called the inspiration of the breath. 
 
 It is now that one of the mysteries of our won- 
 derful frame comes into operation. The air which 
 is received into the lungs consists of two distinct 
 ingredients, nitrogen more than three fourths, and 
 oxygen less than one fourth. This compound air 
 remains a very short time in the lungs ; and there 
 is no passage from the cells to even the blood 
 vessels which will allow air to pass ; and yet during 
 this very short continuance the air ; is completely 
 changed. It does not, as was once supposed, give 
 out its oxygen to the blood ; but that oxygen is 
 mixed with as much carbon, or charcoal in a state 
 of air, as converts the whole oxygen of the inspired 
 air into carbonic acid gas, which gas in the lungs is 
 injurious in any quantity, and a deadly poison 
 when unmixed. As soon as this change has been
 
 72 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 made both on the air and the blood (though how it 
 is madeisa mystery), the contaminated air,no longer 
 fit for the purposes of life, becomes painful to the 
 lungs ; the diaphragm relaxes, the chest contracts, 
 the air which has done its office is expelled, and, 
 all is ready for a second inspiration. There is 
 something altogether beyond our knowledge in this 
 simple yet beautiful operation, an operation which 
 in some form or other is common to every living 
 creature; but in the portion which we can understand, 
 namely, the effects which it produces, it is passing 
 wonder. For here, when the tide of the blood has 
 performed its function, and is no longer fit for the 
 purposes of life, we find that the product left 
 behind, which is the contaminating part, is the 
 same which is left behind in a common fire, when 
 every combustible has been destroyed, namely, 
 charcoal or ashes ; and if we take this product and 
 pour it like water on a burning candle, that candle 
 is more effectually and silently extinguished than 
 if we poured water on it. 
 
 The whole thorax is covered on the inside with 
 a firm, white membrane, called the pleura- It is 
 double throughout, consisting of two folds, the 
 innermost whereof has a smooth surface, that it 
 may not hurt the tender substance of the lungs, the 
 surface of the outer is rough and uneven. From 
 the pleura rises the mediastinum, which is a double 
 membrane, that divides the lungs and the cavity 
 of the thorax lengthwise into two parts. 
 
 32. On the slightest observation, we cannot but 
 acknowledge the consummate wisdom wherewith 
 the external parts of the middle cavity are formed, 
 for beauty, as well as for the defence of the in- 
 ternal. This is commodiously connected with the
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 73 
 
 head by the neck. The breast, or fore part of the 
 thorax, which begins at the throat and ends at the 
 sternum, or breast-bone, is an admirable guard to 
 the noble parts. To the same end serve the 
 shoulder blades and the back bone, as well as to 
 support the whole fabric. 
 
 The breast consists of numberless oval glands, 
 .intermixed with globular vessels of fat. Their 
 ducts as they approach the nipple, unite together, 
 till they form eight or more small pipes, communi- 
 cating with each other by cross canals, which are 
 of great use, when some of them happen to be 
 obstructed. These tubes are in some parts nar- 
 rower, in some wider, so as to form cells, which 
 hinder the efflux of the milk. The paps consist 
 chiefly of the concurrence of these tubes, but with 
 a glandulous substance intermixed. There are 
 likewise joined herewith abundance of fibres, from 
 the external teguments of the breast, by means 
 of which the tubes are constringed, and the motion 
 of the milk is modified. 
 
 It is highly probable that, during the whole 
 period of fruitfulness in females, the breasts secrete 
 the catamenia, which is a fluid sui generis, and not 
 blood. There are also instances of preternatural 
 secretions of real milk in old women, and even in 
 men. 
 
 13. In the lower cavity first occurs the stomach, 
 with the oesophagus or gullet, which reaches to it 
 from the mouth. The right orifice, called the 
 pylorus, transmits the digested food to the intes- 
 tines. It is narrower than the other, as being de- 
 signed to transmit nothing until it is reduced to a 
 kind of liquid. And it goes by a long and oblique
 
 74 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 descent into the duodenum, that the chyle may not 
 pass out either too swiftly or too slowly. 
 
 The upper opening of the stomach is compressed 
 in such a manner by the lower muscles of the 
 diaphragm, iu every inspiration, as to confine 
 the food within the stomach, and direct it in every 
 respiration towards the pylorus. By this means 
 this orifice of the stomach is so closely shut, as to 
 confine even wind or vapours within the capacity 
 of an healthy stomach, whence they never escape 
 but by a morbid affection. 
 
 The fabric of the stomach answers to that of the 
 oesophagus, of which it is an expansion. 1. The 
 outmost coat is, from the peritoneum, of consider- 
 able strength, so as to limit the extension of the 
 rest, and afford a support to the subjacent muscular 
 fibres. 2. The cellular coat lies immediately under 
 the former, whence the outer and muscular tunic 
 closely cohere together ; in this substance the larger 
 branches of the vessels are distributed. Next in 
 order appears, 3. the muscular coat. Here, the 
 longitudinal fibres of the oesophagus, coming to 
 the stomach, are detached one from another in all 
 directions. 
 
 Immediately under the muscular fibres, follows, 
 
 4. another cellular stratum, larger than the outer- 
 most, softer, more easily inflatable, and consisting 
 of larger vesicles than what we usually observe, 
 even in the intestines. Within this cellular sub- 
 stance are spread the small vessels, which, coming 
 from the larger branches of the stomach, enter 
 through its muscular coat, and spread internally 
 after the manner of a plexus. Under this lies, 
 
 5. the nervous coat, which is thick, white, and firm,
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 75 
 
 and makes up the true substance of the stomach 
 itself, and this is again lined internally with a third 
 cellular stratum, whose vascular network is much 
 more minute than that of the former, whence it 
 is derived. Immediately within this lies, 6. the 
 villous or velvet-like coat, that lines the cavity 
 of the stomach itself, continuous with the external 
 cuticle, like which it is renewable, but of a soft 
 mucous texture, and extended into a very short 
 pile, like that of the tongue, only less conspicuous, 
 and folded into large plates. 
 
 34. The intestines are a continuation of the ali- 
 mentary tube from the pylorus, wound together in 
 various wreaths, yet without confusion, and, to keep 
 them in their situation, fastened together by the 
 mesentery, a strong membrane, which fastens them 
 also to the back. The intestinal duct is really but 
 one ; but because the parts of it differ in figure 
 and use, the upper part of it, divided into the duo- 
 denum, jejunum, and ileon, is termed the small 
 guts; the lower part, divided into the caecum, 
 colon, and rectum, is called the great guts. All 
 these are full of turnings and windings, especially 
 the small, that the more subtle part of the chyle, 
 both through the length and narrowness of the 
 passage, and the agitation of the intestines, may 
 enter the lacteal veins, and pass from thence into 
 the receptacle of the chyle. 
 
 When the intestines are separated from the me- 
 sentery, they are usually six times as long as the 
 man. They have all a kind of vermicular motion, 
 called the peristaltic motion, from the stomach 
 downwards ; and are lubricated with much fat, es- 
 pecially the great ones, whose surface being more
 
 76 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 uneven, and their contents less fluid, they need 
 somewhat more to make them slide easily. 
 
 Likewise from the exhaling arteries distils a thin 
 watery liquor into the cavity of the intestines, not 
 at all acid, but like the juice of the stomach ; the 
 quantity of which liquor may he computed from the 
 large extent of all the excretory orifices, and from 
 the section of the secretory artery, a larger than 
 which we see nowhere in the body. 
 
 The duodenum, (so called because it is usually 
 ten or twelve inches long,) receives the gall and 
 pancreatic juice, which are here mixed with the 
 chyle. The jejunum is so termed, because'.it is 
 generally more empty than the rest. This may be 
 occasioned partly by its capacity, which gives a 
 free passage to its contents ; partly to its irritation 
 through the bile, which falls in a little above it. 
 It takes up almost the whole unbilical region, and 
 is usually twelve or thirteen hands long. The 
 ileon, situate below the navel, fills the ilia with its 
 numerous convolutions. It is much the longest of 
 all the intestines, generally one and twenty hands 
 long. In both this and the jejunum the inner coat 
 is much wrinkled and lies in loose folds. They 
 are formed (as the folds in the stomach) only by 
 the inner coat being larger than the outer. 
 
 The first of the great guts, called the ca?cum, is 
 laterally inserted at the upper end of the colon. 
 It is not perforated at the other end, but hangs to 
 it like the finger of a glove, and is three or four 
 inches long. In new-born children and in beasts 
 it is found full of excrements, but in adults it 
 frequently hangs like a worm. In a foetus it is 
 doubtless a receptacle of the faeces during the time
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 77 
 
 it does not discharge by stool. And may it not 
 occasionally serve the same end in adults ? Per- 
 haps in those animals wherein it is very large, it 
 may likewise serve as a kind of second stomach. 
 But it is not absolutely necessary : the caecum of 
 a dog has been cut out without any perceivable 
 prejudice. 
 
 The colon is the largest of the great guts. It 
 runs in various circumvolutions from the caecum to 
 the rectum. It has many cavities formed by two 
 ligaments running on each side of it, opposite to 
 each other the whole length, and, as it were, guiding 
 it at certain distances. The rectum, which reaches 
 from the os sacrum to the anus, is usually about a 
 hand and a half long. 
 
 35. The lacteal vessels, which are of a whitish 
 colour, are in all the intestines small and great, 
 and receive the chyle by imperceptible passages 
 throughout the whole canal ; and for this end the 
 food remains so long in the intestines, and is car- 
 ried through various windings, that whatsoever of 
 nourishment it contains may be expressed before 
 it leaves the body. 
 
 36. The intestines are covered with the omentum 
 or caul, which is contained within the peritoneum, 
 a very thin, soft, double membrane, and wholly 
 consisting of little bags of fat. Its use is to keep 
 the intestines warm ; to promote their peristaltic 
 motion by lubricating them with its oily substance; 
 by following them in their doublings and windings, 
 to serve them as a bolster to slide upon ; and by 
 filling up their hollows, to prevent their being too 
 much distended by flatulences, yet giving way to 
 them when filled with aliments. 
 
 Under the stomach, behind, lies the pancreas
 
 78 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 (extended towards the spleen), which transmits to 
 the intestines a liquor of the nature of saliva, 
 helping to dissolve the food. 
 
 37. Under the diaphragm, on the right side, 
 lies the liver, whence it extends over the right part 
 of the stomach, below the sternum, towards the 
 left, growing gradually smaller, that it may not 
 hinder the distension of the stomach. It consists 
 partly of gall ducts, partly of fine ramifications of 
 the vena porta. The blood contained in these 
 deposits oily particles in the ducts, and then returns, 
 chiefly through the vena cava, to the heart. It is 
 thus the bile is secreted, for which purpose the 
 gall-bladder also is designed. This both receives 
 and retains the bile, by which delay the power of 
 it is greatly heightened. Part of the bile is con- 
 veyed to the intestines by the hepatic duct, which 
 pours it into the ductus choledochus. Part goes 
 first into the gall-bladder, thence into the ductus 
 choledochus, and then into the duodenum. 
 
 The principal use of the bile is so absterge and 
 stimulate the intestines ; to assimilate crude things 
 to things concocted ; to bruise and blunt sharp and 
 saline particles, to divide those that are coagulated ; 
 to excite appetite ; to open the passages for the chyle; 
 and, where need is, act the part of a ferment. 
 
 38. The spleen is an elegant net-work of num- 
 berless vessels, enclosed in a double membrane. 
 It is placed on the left side, between the short ribs 
 and the stomach. Some suppose it to secrete a 
 peculiar juice, which passes with the blood through 
 the vena porta. 
 
 39. On the muscles of the loins on each side lie 
 the kidneys, to separate from the blood that part 
 of the serum which is superfluous, and would be
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 79 
 
 hurtful were it retained in the system. This is 
 carried by the ureters into the bladder, -which is 
 placed in the lowest part of the belly. AVhat 
 remains of the blood is conveyed to the heart by 
 the veins and lymphatic vessels. 
 
 The bladder is composed of three coats : the 
 first is an extension of the peritoneum ; the second 
 consists of muscular fibres ; the third is both 
 glandulous and nervous, and full of wrinkles, that 
 it may be capable of contraction and dilatation. 
 Its glands separate a slimy matter, which defends 
 the bladder from the acrimony of the urine. The 
 involuntary emission of this is prevented by a 
 small muscle which goes round the neck of the 
 bladder. 
 
 40. We proceed to the limbs. The limbs of 
 the human body are the arms and legs, with their 
 terminations, the hands and feet ; and so curiously 
 are they formed, and so countless is the number 
 of purposes that they are capable of answering, that 
 they alone, if duly contemplated, are sufficient to 
 prove to any one's conviction the two following 
 truths : First, that He who made man is infinite 
 in power, wisdom, and goodness ; secondly, that 
 man is ordained for a higher and nobler purpose 
 than any other animal with which we are ac- 
 quainted. Each arm, with its hand, is composed of 
 thirty-two bones, of which there are eight in the 
 wrist, five in the palm of the hand, twelve in the 
 fingers, and two in the thumb. The leg, with its 
 foot, contains thirty bones, of which there are 
 seven in the ankle and heel, five in the body of the 
 foot, and fourteen in the toes ; so that there is 
 one bone more in the wrist than in the corre-
 
 80 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 spending part of the foot, and one bone more in the 
 junction, of the arm to the body than in the 
 junction of the leg. The number of separate 
 muscles belonging to the whole of each of these 
 four members is the same, namely, forty to each ; 
 and as they can perform motions consisting of any 
 combination of positions of themselves or their 
 bones, it would be as vain to attempt counting the 
 motions of the foot, and more especially of the 
 hand, as it would be to count the sand on the sea- 
 shore, or the drops in the ocean. Truly this part 
 of the human frame is " wonderfully made." But 
 it is not less wonderful that this, the most perfect 
 apparatus with which any animal is provided, is not 
 adapted to any one particular purpose. Some other 
 animals, as will be afterwards jseen, have hands, 
 but they are merely grasping hands, by means of 
 which the animals can take hold of and suspend 
 themselves from the branches of trees. The hand 
 of man can grasp, but not in the same fashion. It 
 is a working hand, and points out that man is to 
 do whatever reason and justice teach him, and 
 to do it diligently. So also the human foot is 
 not adapted for travelling upon any one kind of 
 surface as is the case with the foot of every other 
 animal ; and therefore the very structure of the 
 foot shows man that he has another governor for 
 his motions besides those instincts which the other 
 animals obey, that this body is thus broadly dis- 
 tinguished from theirs in being a fit abode for the 
 immortal spirit. 
 
 41. Thus far we have spoken concerning the 
 solid parts of the human body, or we have made 
 reference to the fluids only so far as to point out
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 81 
 
 the uses of some of the more important organs. 
 We shall now devote a very few sentences to the 
 consideration of the more important fluids. 
 
 Among these it was at one time usual to include 
 the " animal spirits," but nobody who used that 
 name could tell what was meant by it, other than 
 that it was a sort of general and shadowy expression 
 for life itself, in the same manner as when a man 
 is very lively we say he is in "high spirits," or has 
 " a great flow of animal spirits ;" and when he is 
 heavy and melancholy, we say that he is in " low 
 spirits," or that " his animal spirits are dull and 
 languid." It is not perhaps very easy to avoid the 
 use of such expressions in common speech ; but 
 we require to use them with great caution, and 
 even to avoid their use altogether, when we come 
 to speak philosophically of the nature of things. 
 From all the senses in which they are used, it is 
 evident that the words " animal spirits" are nothing 
 but a general expression for the performance of 
 those functions of the body which we cannot trace 
 to motion or change in anything material ; so that 
 the high spirits mean a healthy state of the body 
 and a happy temper of the mind, and the low 
 spirits mean the reverse ; and having said this, we 
 can add nothing which would not be in itself 
 erroneous, and also lead to farther error. 
 
 The fluids in the body, which are too numerous, 
 and some of them too well known, or of too little 
 interest for being detailed in this compendium, 
 may be divided into three classes : First, fluids of 
 assimilation, or those which go from without to 
 nourish the system ; secondly, fluids of circulation, 
 or those which are carried to different parts of the 
 body, either for the direct supply of the organs 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 thereof, or for furnishing materials out of which 
 new fluids are elaborated ; and thirdly, fluids of 
 secretion, or those which are separated from the 
 circulating fluids by glands, by secreting surfaces, 
 or by other organs adapted for the purpose. The 
 last may perhaps admit of subdivision into secreted 
 fluids, which perform some office before they are 
 discharged from the body ; and excreted fluids, 
 which are discharged without apparently performing 
 any office. The perspirable matter of the skin, 
 and the fluid collected in and discharged from the 
 bladder, are among the chief of these last. 
 
 The principal fluid of assimilation is the chyle, 
 which begins to be prepared by mastication in the 
 mouth, is farther advanced by digestion in the 
 stomach, and there changed into a peculiar pulpy 
 mass, called chyme. This chyme passes into the 
 intestines, where it mixes with the fluids discharged 
 from the liver and pancreas ; and in its progress 
 through the intestines it is taken up by the mouths 
 of the lacteals, and carried by them through the 
 glands of the mesentery to the thoracic duct, 
 which carries it into the subclavian vein, and so 
 into the circulation. In its progress, this fluid 
 gradually changes from the consistency of the food 
 to a milky state, which process is called assimi- 
 lation ; but it is doubtful whether this process is 
 complete, that is, whether the nourishment becomes 
 really a part of the body until it is actually mixed 
 with the mass of blood, and has gone with that to 
 the lungs, and back again to the systematic ventricle 
 and arteries. 
 
 There is one point which is worthy of attention 
 here, though it is one upon which it is very difficult 
 if not impossible to get correct information ; and
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 83 
 
 that is, whether the carbon which is given out in 
 the lungs by breathing, comes from the returned 
 blood in the veins, or from the chyle ; but we shall 
 probably have to revert to this in the next chapter, 
 when we speak of the natural state of the human 
 body. 
 
 42. The chief of all the fluids in our body, and 
 the fountain of life, is the blood. It consists of a 
 watery serum, fibrous particles, and red globules, 
 which last are scarcely a twelfth part of it. It is 
 generated thus. The meat and drink being 
 digested into chyle, pass from the intestines, 
 through the lacteal vessels and the thoracic duct, 
 into the left subclavian vein, and thence into the 
 vena cava, where it mixes with the blood, and 
 then circulates with it, till it is wholly assimilated. 
 
 Blood fresh drawn appears to the naked eye 
 uniform and homogeneous ; but when cold, it 
 separates into two parts, the one red and fibrous, 
 which clots together, the other thin and transpa- 
 rent, called the serum, in which the former swims. 
 The serum is in bulk three-fourths of the blood, 
 in weight fifteen seventeenths. 
 
 The blood in the large arteries is of a bright 
 pure red colour, and that in the veins of a brownish 
 red ; but whether this difference arises more from 
 what the blood has parted with or what it has taken 
 up during the circulation, is a point not easily 
 ascertained. Blood contains a number of ingre- 
 dients, such as water, a peculiar matter called fibrin, 
 which some suppose, not without reason, to be 
 animal texture in a rudimental state, albumen, or 
 substance resembling the white of egg, and various 
 salts of ammonia, soda, lime, and iron, together with 
 some soda in a pure state. The red particles, on 
 o2
 
 84 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 which the colour of the blocd appears to depend, 
 are very small, so much so that fifty millions of 
 them would not make one solid inch. They are 
 understood to differ in size in different animals, 
 and also in the same animals when young and 
 when full grown ; hut these points are very nice, 
 and require to be treated with the greatest caution. 
 
 43. It was long a question among those who 
 studied the human body, or the bodies of animals 
 generally, in what manner these came by their 
 natural heat ; and even since the nature, or rather 
 the action of heat came to be better understood 
 than it was in more early times, there have been 
 considerable differences of opinion on this subject. 
 There are several causes why this should be the 
 case : First, the subject is one of great difficulty, 
 because it consists more in what we do not know, 
 than in what we do know; and, secondly, the erro- 
 neous belief that fire, as a substance, was an element, 
 that is a material element, of bodies and of the 
 human body among the rest, had been so long and 
 so generally believed that it was very difficult to 
 be got rid of; and as, like the lingering remains of 
 other errors, it continues in words after it has been 
 disbelieved in reality by the better-informed, it 
 still continues a stumbling-block to those whose 
 knowledge is limited. 
 
 In all cases in nature where we cannot see a 
 material organ or material substance employed in 
 producing an effect, but must judge of even the 
 immediate agent and cause from the effect itself, 
 the best explanation we can get is the one that 
 explains the greatest number of cases different in 
 their circumstances, but as nearly as possible alike 
 in their kind. Now, when we observe the human
 
 ' ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 85 
 
 body, we find that its apparent heat in the whole, 
 or in any one part, is always in proportion to the 
 action of that part. Thus, in violent exercise of 
 the whole body, the whole body gets warm ; and 
 in exercising any part violently, while the rest 
 remains still, the part so exercised becomes warm, 
 and the other parts do not. It is the same with 
 those internal motions and actions by means of 
 which the functions of life are carried on, or rather 
 perhaps which are in themselves the functions of 
 life. If an injury stops the circulation it is attended 
 with throbbing and great heat ; and if a diseased 
 state of the whole body render the circulation more 
 difficult, and the body in consequence labours in 
 the performance of its functions, heat and fever are 
 the result. Young persons are warmer in their 
 temperature than persons in middle life, and these 
 again are warmer than old persons. In all these 
 cases, too, the pulse invariably beats quicker as 
 the body becomes more sensibly hot, and slower 
 in proportion as the body becomes more sensibly 
 cold. 
 
 In other animals the facts correspond. Those 
 which perform active motions have a warm tem- 
 perature and a rapid circulation ; and those which 
 perform slow motions are cold, and have the pulse 
 languid. In those animals which spend the winter 
 in a state of hybernation or dormancy, the pulse 
 sinks and the heat diminishes. In every case, in 
 fact, in which we observe an increased heat, there 
 has been an increased action ; and in every case 
 where we observe a diminished heat, there has been 
 a diminished action. This holds not only in the 
 animal world, but in the whole material world, in 
 so far as we can observe it ; and therefore we have
 
 OD WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 as complete evidence of the source and cause of 
 heat as we can have of that of any appearance 
 whatever. Heat is the effect of action, and animal 
 heat is the effect of animal action ; and there is no 
 doubt that in every case the two are exactly pro- 
 portioned to each other, though it may not be so 
 to our observation. For instance, the effect of 
 heat may accumulate in some cases, and it may be 
 carried away in others. Thus, while in consequence 
 of what is called catching cold the perspiration is 
 stopped, the skin is parched, and burning heat is 
 felt over the whole body, even though it should 
 happen to be in an inactive stale ; on the other 
 hand, a person that perspires freely may undergo 
 great exertion without getting warm. There will 
 be occasion to recur to this subject when we con- 
 sider the appearances of heat in those portions of 
 creation which are not animated. But here it is 
 satisfactory to learn, that this subject of heat in 
 the living body, which so long perplexed all in- 
 quirers, is referable to one of those very general 
 and most sublimely simple laws according to which 
 it is the pleasure of Almighty goodness to govern 
 the earth, and all that it contains and supports. 
 
 44. It remains to add some reflections on the 
 wisdom of God, displayed in the structure of the 
 human body. And how eminently is this displayed, 
 first, in the situation of its several parts and mem- 
 bers ! They are situated most conveniently for use, 
 for ornament, and for mutual assistance. 1. For 
 use. The principal senses are placed in the head, 
 as sentinels in a watch-tower. How could the eyes 
 have been more commodiously fixed for the guidance 
 of the whole body ? The ears likewise, made for 
 the reception of sounds, which naturally move up-
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 87 
 
 ward, are rightly placed in the uppermost parts of 
 the body ; and so are the nostrils, as all odours 
 ascend. Again : how could the hands have been 
 more conveniently placed for all sorts of exercises ? 
 Or the heart, to dispense life and heat to the whole 
 body ? Or the sinks of the body than in the most 
 remote parts of it ? 2. For ornament. Not to de- 
 scend to particulars, what could be better contrived, 
 than that those members which are pairs should be 
 of equal length, and just answer one another on each 
 side ? 3. For mutual assistance. So the eye stands 
 most conveniently to guide the hand, and the hand 
 to defend the eye. The same may be said of the 
 other parts : they are all so placed as to direct or 
 help each other. This will clearly appear, if you 
 suppose the position of any of them to be changed. 
 Had our arms been bent backward, what direction 
 could our eyes have aiforded us in working ? Or 
 how could we even have fed ourselves ? Nay, had 
 one arm bent backward and the other forward, 
 half the use of them had been lost ; for one could 
 not have assisted the other in any action. 
 
 How is his wisdom displayed, secondly, in the 
 ample provision made for the security of the prin- 
 cipal parts ! These are, 1. The heart, the foun- 
 tain of life. This lies in the centre of the trunk 
 of the body,- covered with its own membrane, the 
 pericardium, lodged within the soft bed of the 
 lungs, encompassed round with a double fence, both 
 of thick muscles and skins, and of firm ribs and 
 bones ; besides the arms conveniently placed to 
 ward off any violence. 2. The brain, the princi- 
 ple of all sense and motion, is surrounded with so 
 strong a defence, that it must be a mighty force 
 indeed which is able to injure it. The skull is so
 
 88 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 hard, thick, and tough, that it is almost as firm as a 
 helmet of iron. This is covered with skin and 
 hair, which both keep it warm, and soften the 
 violence of a stroke. Yet more, a thick and tough 
 membrane hangs loose about it, which often saves 
 it, even when the skull is broke. And lastly, a 
 fine membrane closely adheres, to keep it from 
 quashing and shaking. 
 
 How is it displayed, thirdly, in the abundant 
 provision that is made against evil accidents and 
 inconveniencies ! To this end, 1. The members 
 which are of eminent use are in pairs. We have 
 two eyes, ears, nostrils, hands; two feet, two breasts, 
 two kidneys; that if one should be rendered use- 
 less, the other might serve us tolerably well: where- 
 as, had a man but one hand or eye, if that were 
 gone, all were gone. 2. All the vessels have many 
 ramifications, which send forth twigs to the neigh- 
 bouring vessels ; so that if one branch be cut or 
 obstructed, its want may be supplied by the twigs 
 from the neighbouring vessels. 3. Many ways 
 are provided to evacuate whatever might be hurt- 
 ful to us. If any thing oppress the head, it can 
 free itself by sneezing ; if the lungs, they can cast 
 it off by coughing. If any thing burden the sto- 
 mach, it can contract itself, and throw it up by vomit. 
 Besides these evacuations, there are siege, urine 
 sweat, and hasmorrhages of various kinds. 4. 
 Whereas sleep is necessary for us in many respects, 
 Nature has provided, that though we lie long on 
 one side, we should feel no uneasiness while we 
 sleep, no, nor when we awake. One would think, 
 the whole weight of the body pressing the muscles 
 on which we lie would be very burdensome. And 
 we find by experience so it is when we lie long
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 89 
 
 awake in the night. Probably this provision is 
 made by an inflation of the muscles, making them 
 soft, and yet renitent, like pillows. That they are 
 inflated during sleep, appears to the very eye, in 
 the faces of children ; and from the common expe- 
 riment, that, if we sleep in our clothes, we must 
 loosen our garters and other ligatures, other- 
 wise we find uneasiness in those parts. 5. Because 
 sleep is inconsistent with the sense of pain, there- 
 fore during re^t those nerves that convey the 
 motions to the brain whi,ch excite the sense of pain 
 are obstructed. " This I myself," says Mr. Ray, 
 "have often experienced, since I have had sores 
 on my legs. Waking suddenly, I find myself at 
 perfect ease for a while ; then the pain by degrees 
 returns." 
 
 It is displayed, fourthly, in the multitude of in- 
 tentions God hath in the formation of the several 
 parts, and the multitude of qualifications they 
 require to fit them for their several uses. Galen 
 observes, " that there are in a human body above 
 six hundred muscles, and there are at least ten 
 several intentions in each, and as many qualifications 
 needful : so that about the muscles alone, no less than 
 6000 ends are to be attended to. The bones are 
 reckoned to be 284. The distinct intentions in each 
 of these are above forty : in all about one hundred 
 thousand. And thus it is, in proportion, with all 
 the other parts, the skin, ligaments, veins, arteries, 
 nerves, glands, humours ; but more especially 
 with the members of the body, which, as to the 
 multitude 'of intentions and qualifications, far exceed 
 the similar parts. And should one of these qua- 
 lifications fail, great inconvenience would ensue."
 
 90 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 It is displayed, fifthly, in the stature of man, 
 so admirably well adapted to the circumstances of 
 his existence. Had man been only a foot or two 
 high, he had been quite disproportioned to every 
 thing round about him. Had he been much larger, 
 he could not well have been supplied Avith food, 
 all the edible animals would not have sufficed ; 
 and had they too been proportionably larger, the 
 surface of the earth would not have sufficed to 
 feed them. 
 
 It is however a common opinion, and has been 
 so ever since old Homer's time, that the people in 
 the early ages of the world were much larger than 
 us ; and it is true, we read of some men of a 
 surprising stature ; but they were even then es- 
 teemed giants. The ordinary stature of men is 
 probably just the same now as it was at the be- 
 ginning. This may be gathered from the monu- 
 ments still remaining, particularly the sepulchres of 
 Egypt. The cavities for bodies now visible herein, 
 are little larger than our ordinary coffins : like- 
 wise from several embalmed bodies taken out of 
 them it appears, that men are of the same stature 
 now that they were when those sepulchres were 
 formed, which is at least three thousand years 
 ago. Eighteen hundred years ago, the emperor 
 Augustus was five feet seven inches high : Queen 
 Elizabeth was taller by two inches, being five feet 
 nine. 
 
 But what a paradox is it, that all men are taller 
 in the morning than in the evening ! In a young 
 man the difference is near an inch, try the experi- 
 ment as often as you please. Does not the dif- 
 ference proceed from hence, that as long as the
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 91 
 
 trunk of the body is in an erect posture, there is 
 a constant pressure on the large cartilages connect- 
 ing the vertebrae of the spine ? So long they gra- 
 dually contract, and consequently a man grows 
 shorter ; but they again gradually expand them- 
 selves while we are in a recliiing posture. 
 
 As to the art of embalming, it appears from a 
 mummy not long since dug up in France, that this 
 was more completely understood in the western 
 world some ages since, that ever it was in Egypt. 
 This mummy, which was dug up at Auvergne, was 
 an amazing instance of their skill. As some pea- 
 sants were digging in a field near Rion, within 
 about twenty-six paces of the highway, between 
 that and the river Artier, they discovered a tomb 
 that was about a foot and a half beneath the sur- 
 face. It was composed only of two stones, one of 
 which formed the body of the sepulchre and the 
 other the cover. 
 
 This tomb was of freestone, seven feet and a 
 half long, three feet and a half broad, and about 
 three feet high. It was of rude workmanship ; the 
 cover had been polished, but was without figure 
 or inscription : within this tomb was placed a 
 leaden coffin, four feet seven inches long, fourteen 
 inches broad, and fifteen high. It was oblong, like 
 a box, equally broad at both ends, and covered 
 with a lid that fitted on like a snuff-box, without 
 any hinge. Within this coffin was a mummy, in 
 the most perfect preservation. The internal 
 sides of the coffin were filled with an aromatic 
 substance mingled with clay. Round the mum- 
 my was wrapped a coarse cloth; under this 
 were two shirts, or shrouds, of the most exqui- 
 site texture ; beneath these a bandage, which
 
 92 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 covered all parts of the body, like an infant in swad- 
 dling clothes; under this general bandage there 
 was another, which went particularly round the 
 extremities, the hands and legs; the head was 
 covered with two caps ; the feet and hands were 
 without any particular bandages ; and the whole 
 body was covered with an aromatic substance an 
 inch thick. When these were removed, and the 
 body exposed naked to view, nothing could be 
 more astonishing than the exact resemblance it 
 bore to a body that had been dead a day or two 
 before. It appeared well proportioned, except that 
 the head was rather large, and the feet small. The 
 skin had all the pliancy and colour of a body lately 
 dead ; the visage however, was of a brownish hue. 
 The belly yielded to the touch : all the joints were 
 flexible, except those of the legs and feet ; the 
 fingers stretched forth of themselves when bent 
 inwards. The nails still continued perfect ; and 
 all the marks of the joints, both in the fingers, the 
 palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, 
 remained perfectly visible. The bones of the arms 
 and legs were soft and pliant ; those of the skull 
 preserved their rigidity ; the hair, which only 
 covered the back of the head, was of a chestnut 
 colour, and about two inches long. The pericra- 
 nium at top was separated from the skull by an 
 incision, in order to the introducing aromatics in 
 the place of the brain, where they were found 
 mixed with clay. The teeth, the tongue, and the 
 ears were all preserved in perfect form. The 
 intestines were not taken out of the body, but 
 remained pliant' and entire as in a fresh subject ; and 
 the breast was made to rise and fall like a pair of 
 bellows. The embalming preparation had a very
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 93 
 
 strong and pungent smell, which the body pre- 
 served for more than a month after it was exposed 
 to the air. If one touched either the mummy, or 
 any part of the preparation, the hand smelled of it 
 for several hours after. This mummy having re- 
 mained exposed for some months, began to suffer 
 some mutilations. A part of the skin of the fore- 
 head was cut off; all its teeth were drawn out, and 
 some attempts were made to pull away the tongue. 
 It was therefore put into a glass case, and trans- 
 mitted to the the king's cabinet at Paris. 
 
 There are many reasons to believe this to be the 
 body of a person of the highest distinction ; how- 
 ever, no marks remain to assure us either of the qua- 
 lity of the person, or the time of his decease. There 
 only are to be seen some irregular figures on the 
 coffin, one of which represents a kind of star. 
 
 There were also some singular characters upon 
 the bandages, which were totally defaced by those 
 who had torn them. It should seem that it had 
 remained for several ages in this state, since the 
 first years immediately succeeding the interment 
 are usually those in which the body is most liable 
 to decay. 
 
 I cannot better conclude this chapter than by 
 an extract from the late pious and ingenious Mr. 
 Hervey, which may serve for a recapitulation of 
 what has been said, as well as an improvement 
 of it. 
 
 " Let us begin with the less adorned but more 
 solid parts, those which support, and which con- 
 tain the rest. First, you have as ystem of bones, 
 cast in a variety of moulds, in a variety of sizes ; 
 all strong, that they may bear up the machine, yet 
 light, that they may not weigh us down : bored
 
 94 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 with an inward cavity to contain the moistening 
 marrow, and perforated with fine ducts to admit 
 the nourishing vessels. Insensible themselves, 
 they are covered with a membrane, exquisitely sen- 
 sible, which warns them of, and secures them from 
 the annoyance of any hurtful friction ; and also 
 preserves the muscles from being fretted in their 
 action by the hard and rough substance of the 
 bone. They are largest at the extremities, that 
 they may be joined more firmly and not so easily 
 dislocated. The manner of their articulation is 
 truly admirable, and remarkably various : yet never 
 varied without demonstrating some wise design, 
 and answering some valuable end. Frequently 
 when two are united, the one is nicely rounded and 
 capped with a smooth substance, the other is 
 scooped into a hollow of the same dimensions to 
 receive it ; and both are lubricated with an unctuous 
 fluid to facilitate the rotation. 
 
 " The feet compose the firmest pedestal, infinitely 
 beyond all that statuary can accomplish, capable of 
 altering its form, and extending its size, as different 
 circumstances require. They likewise contain a 
 set of the nicest springs, which help to place the 
 body in a variety of attitudes, and qualify it for a 
 multiplicity of motions. The undermost part of 
 the heel, and the extremity of the sole, are shod 
 with a tough insensible substance, a kind of na- 
 tural sandal, which never wears out, never wants 
 repair, and which prevents an undue compression 
 of the vessels by the weight of the body. The 
 legs and thighs are like stately columns, so arti- 
 culated that the}' are commodious for walking, and 
 yet do not obstruct the easy posture of sitting. The 
 legs swell out towards the top with a genteel pro-
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 95 
 
 jection, and are neatly wrought off toward the 
 bottom : a variation which lessens their bulk, while 
 it increases their beauty. 
 
 " The ribs, turned into a regular arch, are gently 
 moveable for the act of respiration. They form a 
 safe lodgment for the lungs and heart, some of 
 the most important organs of life. The back-bone 
 is designed, not only to strengthen the body and 
 sustain its most capacious store rooms, but also to 
 bring down the continuation of the brain, usually 
 termed the spinal marrow. It both conveys and 
 guards this silver cord, as Solomon terms it, and 
 by commodious outlets transmits it to all parts. 
 Had it been only straight and hollow, it might have 
 served these purposes. But then the loins must 
 have been inflexible : to avoid which, it consists of 
 very short bones, knit together by cartilages. This 
 peculiarity of structure gives it the pliancy of an 
 osier, with the firmness of an oak. By this means 
 it is capable of various inflections, without bruising 
 the soft marrow or diminishing that strength which 
 is necessary to support all the upper stories. Such 
 a formation in any other of the solids, must have 
 occasioned great inconvenience. Here it is un- 
 speakably useful, a masterpiece of creating skill. 
 
 " The arms are exactly proportioned to each other, 
 to preserve the equilibrium of the structure. 
 These being the guards that defend, and the mi- 
 nisters that serve the whole body, are fitted for 
 the most diversified and extensive operations : firm 
 with bone, yet not weighty with flesh, and capable 
 of performing all useful motions. They bend 
 inwards and turn outwards ; they move upward or 
 downward. They wheel about in whatever direc- 
 tion we please. To these are added the hands,
 
 96 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 terminated by the fingers, not of the same length, 
 nor of equal bigness, but in both respects different 
 which gives the more beauty and far greater use- 
 fulness. "Were they all flesh they would be weak : 
 were they one entire bone, they would be utterly 
 inflexible : but consisting of various little bones 
 and muscles, what shape can they not assume ? 
 Being placed at the end of the arm, the sphere of 
 their action is exceedingly enlarged. Their extre- 
 mities are an assemblage of fine tendinous fibres, 
 acutely sensible, which notwithstanding, are des- 
 tined to almost incessant employ, and frequently 
 among rugged objects. For this reason they are 
 overlaid with nails, which preserve them from any 
 painful impressions. 
 
 " In the hand we have a case of the finest instru- 
 ments. To these we owe those beautiful statues, 
 this melodious trumpet. By the strength of the 
 hand the tallest firs fall, and the largest oaks de- 
 scend from the mountains. Fashioned by the hand 
 they are a floating warehouse, and carry the pro- 
 duction of art and nature from Britain to Japan. 
 
 " The hand is the original and universal sceptre, 
 which not only represents, but ascertains our do- 
 minion over all the elements and over every crea- 
 ture. Though we have not the strength cf the 
 horse, the swiftness of the greyhound, or the quick 
 scent of the spaniel, yet directed by the under- 
 standing, and enabled by the hand, we can as it 
 were make them all our own. These short hands 
 have found a way to penetrate the bowels of the 
 earth, to touch the bottom of the sea. These feeble 
 hands can manage the wings of the wind, arm them- 
 selves with the violence of fire, and press into their 
 service the forcible impetuosity of water. How
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE IIUMAX BODY. 97 
 
 greatly then we are indebted to our wise Creator, 
 for this distinguishing, this invaluable member ? 
 
 "Above all is the head, for the residence of the 
 brain, ample to receive, and firm to defend it. It 
 has a communication with all, even the remotest 
 parts ; has outlets for dispatching couriers to all 
 quarters, and avenues for receiving speedy intelli- 
 gence on all needful occasions. It has lodgments 
 wherein to post sentinels for various offices : to 
 expedite whose operations the whole turns on a 
 curious pivot, nicely contrived to afford the largest 
 and freest circumvolutions. 
 
 " This is screened from heat, defended from cold, 
 and at the same time beautified by the hair : a 
 decoration so delicate as no art can supply, so per- 
 fectly light, as no way to encumber the wearer. 
 
 " While other animals are prone in their aspect, 
 the attitude of man is erect, which is by far the 
 most graceful, and bespeaks superiority. It is by 
 far the most commodious for prosecution of all 
 our extensive designs. It is likewise safest, less 
 exposed to dangers, and better contrived to repel 
 or avoid them. Does it not also remind us of our 
 noble original, and our sublime end ? Our original, 
 which was the breath of the Almighty : our end, 
 which was the enjoyment of Him in glory ? 
 
 " Thus much for the rafters and beams of the 
 house : let us now survey the lodgings within. 
 Here are ligaments, a tough and strong arrange- 
 ment of fibres, to unite the several parts, and 
 render what would otherwise be an unwieldy 
 jumble, a well-compacted and self-manageable sys- 
 tem ; membranes, thin and flexible tunicles, to 
 inwrap the fleshy parts, to connect some, and form 
 a separation between others ; arteries, the rivers 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of our little world, that, striking out as they go 
 into numberless small canals, visit every street, yea 
 every apartment, in the vital city. These, being 
 wide at first, and growing narrower and narrower, 
 check the rapidity of the blood. This, thrown 
 from the heart, dilates the arteries, and their own 
 elastic force contracts them, by which means they 
 vibrate against the finger, and much assist both in 
 the discovery and cure of diseases. The larger 
 arteries, wherever the blood is forced to bend, are 
 situate on the bending side, lest, being stretched to 
 an improper length, the circulation should be 
 retarded. They are not, like several of the veins, 
 near the surface, but placed at a proper depth ; 
 and hereby they are more secure from external 
 injuries. In those parts which are most liable to 
 pressure, an admirable expedient takes place : the 
 arteries inosculate with each other ; breaking into 
 a new track, they fetch a little circuit, and after- 
 wards return into the main road. So that if any 
 thing block up or straiten the direct passage, the 
 current, by diverting to this new channel, eludes 
 the impediment, flows on, and soon regains its 
 wonted course. 
 
 " The veins receive the blood from the arteries, 
 and reconvey it to the heart. The pressure of the 
 blood is not near so forcible in these as in the arte- 
 ries ; therefore their texture is considerably slighter 
 such an exact economist is Nature, amidst all her 
 liberality ! In many of these canals, the current, 
 though widening continually, is obliged to push its 
 Avay against the perpendicular ; hereby it is exposed 
 to the danger of falling back and overloading the 
 vessels. To prevent this, valves are interposed 
 at proper distances, which are no hindrance to the
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. U9 
 
 regular passage, but prevent the reflux, and faci- 
 litate the passage of the blood to the grand recep- 
 tacle. But these valves are only where the blood 
 is constrained to climb ; where the ascent ceases, 
 they cease also. 
 
 " Here are glands, to nitrate the passing fluids, 
 each of which is an assemblage of vessels, compli- 
 cated with seeming confusion, but with perfect 
 regularity. Each forms a secretion far more 
 curious than the most admired operations of che- 
 mistry. Muscles, composed of the finest fibres, 
 yet endued with incredible strength, fashioned 
 after a variety of patterns, but all in the highest 
 taste for elegance and conveniency. These are 
 the instruments of motion, and at the command of 
 the will execute their functions quick as lightning. 
 Nerves, surprisingly minute, which set the muscles 
 at work, diffuse the power of sensation through the 
 body, and, upon any impression from without, give 
 all needful intelligence to the soul. Vesicles, 
 distended with an unctuous matter, in some places 
 compose a soft cushion, as in the calf of the leg, 
 whose large muscles, mixed with fat, are of singular 
 service to those important bones. This flanks and 
 fortifies them, like a strong bastion, supports and 
 cherishes them like a soft pillow. In other places 
 they fill up the vacuities, and smooth the inequalities 
 of the flesh. Inwardly, they supply the machine 
 for motion ; outwardly, they render it smooth and 
 graceful. 
 
 " The skin, like a curious surtout, covers the 
 whole, formed of the most delicate net work, 
 whose meshes are minute, and whose threads are 
 multiplied, even to a prodigy. The meshes are 
 so minute, that nothing passes them which is dis- 
 H 2
 
 100 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 cernible by the eye, though they discharge every 
 moment myriads and myriads of superfluous incum- 
 brances. The threads are so multiplied, that 
 neither the point of the smallest needle, nor the 
 infinitely finer lance of a gnat, can pierce any part 
 without drawing blood, and causing an uneasy sen- 
 sation consequently, without wounding, by so 
 small a puncture, both a nerve and a vein. 
 
 " But a course of incessant action must exhaust 
 the solids and waste the fluids, and unless both are 
 properly recruited, in a short time destroy the 
 machine. For this reason it is furnished with the 
 organs and endued with the powers of nutrition. 
 Teeth, the foremost thin and sharp, to bite asunder 
 the food : the hindermost broad and strong, in- 
 dented with small cavities, the better to grind in 
 pieces what is transmitted to them. But in children 
 the formation of teeth is postponed till they have 
 occasion for them. 
 
 " Were the teeth, like the other bones, covered 
 with the periosteum, chewing would give much 
 pain : were they quite naked, they would soon 
 decay and perish. To guard against both, they 
 are overlaid with a neat enamel, harder than the 
 bone itself, which gives no pain in chewing, and 
 yet secures them from various injuries. 
 
 " The lips prevent the food from slipping out of 
 the mouth, and, assisted by the tongue, return it to 
 the grinders. While they do this in concert with 
 the cheeks, they squeeze a thin liquor from the 
 adjacent glands. This moistens the food and pre- 
 pares it for digestion. When the mouth is inactive, 
 these are nearly closed ; but when we speak or 
 eat, their moisture being then necessary, is expressed 
 as need requires.
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 101 
 
 " But the food could not descend merely by its 
 own weight through a narrow and clammy passage 
 into the stomach ; therefore, to effect this, muscles 
 both straight and circular, are provided. The 
 former enlarge the cavity, and give an easy admit- 
 tance ; the latter, closing behind the descending 
 aliment, press it downward. But before the food 
 enters the gullet, it must of necessity pass over the 
 orifice of the windpipe, whence it is in danger of 
 falling upon the lungs, which might occasion instant 
 death. To obviate this, a moveable lid is placed, 
 which, when the smallest particle advances, is 
 pulled down and shut close : but as soon as it is 
 swallowed, it is let loose and stands open. Thus 
 the important pass is always made sure against any 
 noxious approaches, yet always left free for the air, 
 and open for respiration. 
 
 "The food descending into the stomach is not yet 
 ready for the bowels ; therefore that great receiver 
 is strong to bear and proper to detain it, till it is 
 wrought into the smoothest pulp imaginable. From 
 hence it is discharged by a gentle force, and passes 
 gradually into the intestines. 
 
 " Near the entrance waits the gall-bladder, ready 
 to pour its salutary juice upon the aliment, which 
 dissolves anything viscid, scours the intestines, and 
 keeps all the fine apertures clear. This bag, as the 
 stomach fills, is pressed thereby, and then only 
 discharges its contents. It is also furnished with 
 a valve of a very peculiar, namely of a spiral, form, 
 through which the detersive liquid cannot hastily 
 pour, but must gently ooze. Admirable construction! 
 which, without any care of ours, gives the needful 
 supply, and no more. 
 
 " The nutriment then pursues its way through
 
 102 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the mazes of the intestines, which, by a wormlike 
 motion, protrude it, and force its small particles 
 into the lacteal vessels. These are a series of the 
 finest strainers, ranged in countless multitudes 
 all along the sides of the winding passage. Had 
 this been straight or short, the food could not have 
 resigned a sufficient quantity of its nourishing 
 particles, therefore it is artfully convolved and 
 greatly extended, that whatever passes may he 
 sifted thoroughly. As the aliment proceeds, it is 
 more and more drained of its nutricious juices. 
 In consequence of this, it would become hard, and 
 pain the tender parts, but that glands are posted in 
 proper places, to discharge a lubricated fluid. These 
 are smaller or fewer near the stomach, because 
 there the aliment is moist enough ; whereas in the 
 bowels, remote from the stomach, they are either 
 multiplied or enlarged. 
 
 "" " The chyle drawn off by the lacteals is carried 
 through millions of ducts, too fine even for the 
 microscope to discover. To this it is owing that 
 nothing enters the blood but what is capable of 
 passing through the finest vessels. It is then 
 lodged in several commodious cells (the glands of 
 the mesentery), and there mixed with a thin 
 diluting lymph, which makes it more apt to flow. 
 Hence it is conveyed to the common receptacle, 
 and mounts through a perpendicular tube into the 
 left subelavian vein. This tube lies contiguous to 
 the great artery, whose strong pulsation drives on 
 the fluid, and enables it to ascend and unload its 
 treasure at the very door of the heart. 
 
 " But the chyle is as yet in too crude a state to 
 be fit for the animal functions, therefore it is 
 thrown into the lungs. In the spongy cells of this
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 103 
 
 amazing laboratory, it mixes with the external air, 
 and its whole substance is made more smooth and 
 uniform. Thus improved, it enters the left ven- 
 tricle of the heart, a strong, active, indefatigable 
 muscle. The large muscles of the arm or of the 
 thigh are soon wearied a day's labour or a day's 
 journey exhausts their strength ; but the heart 
 toils whole weeks, whole months, nay years, un- 
 wearied is equally a stranger to intermission and 
 fatigue. Impelled by this, part of the blood 
 shoots upwards to the head, part rolls through 
 the whole body. 
 
 " But how shall a stream, divided into myriads of 
 channels, be brought back to its source ? Should 
 any portion of it be unable to return, putrefaction, 
 if not death, must ensue ; therefore, the all- wise 
 Creator has connected the extremities of the 
 arteries with the beginning of the veins, so that 
 the same force which darts the blood through the 
 former, helps to drive it through the latter. Thus 
 it is reconducted to the great cistern, and there 
 played off afresh. 
 
 " Where two opposite currents would be in 
 danger of clashing, where the streams from the 
 vena cava and vena ascendens coincide, a fibrous 
 excrescence interposes, which, like a projecting 
 pier, breaks the stroke of each, and throws both 
 into their proper receptacle. Where the motion is 
 to be speedy, the channels either forbear to wind 
 (as in the great artery, which descends to the feet), 
 or lessen in their dimensions, as in every interval 
 between all the ramifications. When the progress 
 is to be retarded, the tubes are variously convolved, 
 or their diameter contracted. Thus guarded, the
 
 104 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 living flood never discontinues its course, but night 
 and day, whether we sleep or wake, still perseveres 
 to run briskly through the arteries, and return 
 softly through the veins. 
 
 " But farther. The great Creator has made us 
 an invaluable present of the senses, to be the inlets 
 of innumerable pleasures, and the means of the 
 most valuable advantages. 
 
 " The eye, in its elevated station, commands the 
 most enlarged prospects. Consisting only of fluids, 
 inclosed within coats, it shows us all the graces 
 and glories of nature. How wonderful, that an 
 image of the hugest mountains, and the wildest 
 landscapes should enter the small pupil ! that the 
 rays of light should paint on the optic nerve, paint 
 in an instant of time, paint in their truest colours 
 and exactest lineaments, every species of external 
 objects. 
 
 " The eye is so tender that the slightest touch 
 might injure its delicate frame. It is guarded 
 therefore with peculiar care, intrenched deep, and 
 barricaded'round with bones. As the smallest fly 
 might incommode its polished surface, it is farther 
 protected by two substantial curtains. In sleep, 
 when there is no occasion for the sense, but a ne- 
 cessity to guard the organ, these curtains close of 
 their own accord. At any time they fly together 
 as quick as thought. They are lined with an ex- 
 tremely fine sponge, moist with its own dew. Its 
 bristly palisades keep out the least mote, and mo- 
 derate the too strong impressions of the light. 
 
 "As in our waking hours we have almost inces- 
 sant need for these little orbs, they run upon the 
 finest castors, rolling every way with the utmost
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 105 
 
 ease : which circumstance, added to the flexibility 
 of the neck, renders our two eyes as useful as a 
 thousand. 
 
 " The ear consists of an outward porch and inner 
 rooms. The porch somewhat prominent from, the 
 head, is of a cartilaginous substance, covered -with 
 tight membranes and wrought into sinuous cavi- 
 ties. These, like circling hills, collect the wander- 
 ing undulations of the air, and transmit them with 
 a vigorous impulse to the finely stretched mem- 
 brane of the drum. This is expanded upon a cir- 
 cle of bones, over a polished, reverberating cavity. 
 It is furnished with braces that strain or relax, as 
 the sound is faint or strong. The hammer and 
 the anvil, the winding labyrinth, and the sounding 
 galleries, these and other pieces of mechanism, all 
 instrumental to hearing, are inexpressibly curious. 
 
 " Amazingly exact must be the tension of the 
 auditory nerves, since they answer the smallest tre- 
 mors of the atmosphere, and distinguish their most 
 subtile variations. These living chords, tuned by 
 an almighty hand, and spread through the echoing 
 aisles, receive all the impressions of sound, and pro- 
 pagate them to the brain. These give existence 
 to the charms of music, and the still nobler charms 
 of discourse. 
 
 " The eye is useless amidst the gloom of night. 
 But the ear hears through the darkest medium. 
 The eye is on duty only in our waking hours : but 
 the ear is always accessible. 
 
 *' As there are concussions of the air, which are 
 discernible only by the instruments of hearing, so 
 there are odoriferous particles wafted in the air, 
 which are perceivable only by the smell. The 
 nostrils are wide at the bottom that more effluvia
 
 106 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 may enter, narrow at the top, that when entered 
 they may act more strongly. The steams that 
 exhale from fragrant bodies are fine beyond imagi- 
 nation. Microscopes that show thousands of ani- 
 mals in a drop of water, cannot bring one of these 
 to our sight. Yet so judiciously are the olfactory 
 nets set, that they catch the vanishing fugitives. 
 They imbibe all the roaming perfumes of spring, 
 and make us banquet even on the invisible dainties 
 of nature. 
 
 "Another capacity for pleasure our bountiful 
 Creator has bestowed, by granting us the powers 
 of taste. This is circumstanced in a manner so 
 benign and wise as to be a standing plea for tem- 
 perance, which sets the finest edge on the taste, 
 and adds the most poignant relish to its enjoy- 
 ments. 
 
 " And these senses are not only so many sources 
 of delight but a joint security to our health. They 
 are the inspectors that examine our food and in- 
 quire into the properties of it. For the discharge 
 of this office they are excellently qualified and 
 most commodiously situate ; so that nothing can 
 gain admission till it has passed their scrutiny. 
 
 " To all these, as a most necessary supplement, 
 is added the sense of feeling. And how happily is 
 it tempered between the two extremes, neither too 
 acute, nor too obtuse. Indeed all the senses are 
 exactly adapted to the exigencies of our present 
 state. Were they strained much higher, they 
 would be avenues of anguish, were they much 
 relaxed, they would be well nigh useless. 
 
 " The crowning gift which augments the benefits 
 accruing from all the senses is speech. Speech 
 makes me a gainer by the eyes and ears of others;
 
 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 107 
 
 by their ideas and observations. And what an 
 admirable instrument for articulating the voice, 
 and modifying it into speech, is the tongue ? This 
 little collection of muscular fibres under the direc- 
 tion of the Creator is the artificer of our words. 
 By this we communicate the secrets of our breasts 
 and make our very thoughts audible. This like- 
 wise is the efficient cause of music ; it is soft as the 
 lute, or shrill as the trumpet. As the tongue re- 
 quires an easy play, it is lodged in an ample cavity; 
 it moves under a concave roof, which gives addi- 
 tional vigour to the voice, as the shell of a violin 
 to the sound of the strings. 
 
 " Wonderfully wise is the regulation of voluntary 
 and involuntary motion. The will in some cases 
 has no power : in others she is an absolute sove- 
 reign. If she command, the arm is stretched, the 
 hand is closed. How easily, how punctually are 
 her orders obeyed ! To turn the screw, or work 
 the lever, is laborious and wearisome. But we 
 work the vertebra of the neck with all their ap- 
 pendent chambers ; we advance the leg with the 
 whole incumbent body : we rise, we spring from 
 the ground, and though so great a weight is raised, 
 we meet with no difficulty or fatigue. 
 
 " That all this should be effected without any toil, 
 by a bare act of the will, is very surprising. But 
 that it should be done, even while we are entirely 
 ignorant of the manner in which it is performed, 
 is most astonishing ! Who can play a single tune 
 upon the spinnet, without learning the difference of 
 the keys ? Yet the mind touches every spring of 
 the human machine with the most masterly skill, 
 though she knows nothing at all of the nature of 
 her instrument, or the process of her operations.
 
 108 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 " The eye of a rustic, who has no notion of optics, 
 or any of its laws, shall lengthen and shorten its 
 axis, dilate and contract its pupil, without the least 
 hesitation, and with the utmost propriety: exactly 
 adapting itself to the particular distance of objects, 
 and the different degrees of light. By this means 
 it performs some of the most curious experiments 
 in the Newtonian philosophy, without the least 
 knowledge of the science, or consciousness of its 
 own dexterity. 
 
 " Which shall we admire most, the multitude of 
 organs ; their finished form and faultless order- 
 or the power which the soul exercises over them ? 
 Ten thousand reins are put into her hands, and 
 she manages all, conducts all, without the least 
 perplexity or irregularity. Rather with a promp- 
 titude, a consistency and speed, that nothing else 
 can equal. 
 
 " So fearfully and wonderfully are we made ! 
 Made of such complicated parts, each so nicely 
 fashioned, and all so exactly arranged ; every one 
 executing such curious functions, and many of 
 them operating in so mysterious a manner ! And, 
 since health depends on such a numerous assem- 
 blage of moving organs ; since a single secretion 
 stopped may spoil the temperature of the fluid, a 
 single wheel clogged may put an end to the solids : 
 with what holy fear should we pass the time of 
 our sojourning here below. Trusting for conti- 
 nual preservation, not merely to our own care, 
 but to the almighty hand which formed the ad- 
 mirable machine, directs its agency, and supports 
 its being."
 
 109 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OF THE NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 
 
 1. What the Natural State of the Body means. 2. Circu- 
 lation of the Blood. 3. Respiration; First Action of the 
 Lungs; Analogy with the Planetary Motions. 4. Assimila- 
 tion. 5. Secretion and Excretion. 6. Sensation. 7. Sight. 
 8. Hearing. 9. Smelling. 10. Tasting. 11. Feeling. 
 12. Hunger and thirst. 13. Sleep. 14. Motion. 15. Vo- 
 luntary and Involuntary Motions. 16. Stature and Dura- 
 tion of the Body. 17. Relation of Body and Mind. 
 
 1. THAT is the natural state of the human body 
 wherein all parts of it duly perform their natural 
 operations. The chief of these are, the circulation 
 of the blood by the heart and its vessels ; respira- 
 tion by the lungs ; assimilation and nutrition by 
 the digestive organs ; secretion and excretion by 
 their various organs ; sensation and motion ; and 
 obedience to the mind on the part of the body. The 
 natural state depends of course on there being a 
 proper balance among all those operations or func- 
 tions ; and not only that no one of them shall be 
 either in excess or in deficiency as compared with 
 the rest, but also that the whole shall have that 
 moderate degree of action which consists with the 
 grand object of a body in the natural state, a long 
 and active life. If the natural operations, though 
 in perfect harmony with each other, are over 
 vigorous in their action, the tendency evidently is 
 to wear out the body, and thereby shorten the
 
 110 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 period of its existence. If, on the other hand, those 
 operations are too languid, the body is incapable of 
 that energy which is necessary to a due perform- 
 ance of the duties of life, and the full acquirement 
 of that knowledge and readiness in action, which 
 are necessary to the right performance of those 
 duties. Also, if the tardiness of the operations is 
 beyond a certain limit, the very slowness of life 
 may wear it out in like manner as in excessive 
 quickness. 
 
 There are very many things connected with 
 those operations concerning which we have no 
 knowledge whatever, our knowledge of them all is 
 exceedingly imperfect ; and, therefore, in speaking 
 of them, it behoves us to speak with the utmost 
 caution, and to advance what we state rather as 
 probable conjectures, than as truths which are 
 known to us in all their circumstances. 
 
 2. The way in which the blood circulates has 
 been already noticed ; and the fact of its circula- 
 tion is now so well established and so generally 
 admitted as to require no proof. 
 
 The quantity or period of circulation in the 
 healthy state of the body when full grown and 
 undecayed, was calculated by Blumenbach, and 
 there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of his 
 calculation. The rapidity of pulsation varies in 
 different individuals even when in perfect health, 
 according to the different energies of the system ; 
 but it may, on the average, be taken at seventy- 
 five beats or pulsations of the heart in a minute. 
 The whole mass of blood in the body of a man 
 of middle size, is about thirty-three pounds ; 
 and from the size of its chambers, the heart dis- 
 charges two ounces of blood into the systematic
 
 NATURAL STATE OP THE HUMAN BODY. Ill 
 
 arteries at each contraction. Thus the whole 
 mass of the hlood will circulate through the 
 body in about two minutes and thirty-six seconds ; 
 and it will make the complete tour of the body 
 nearly twenty-three times an hour, or more 
 than five hundred times in the course of the 
 twenty-four hours. This may be considered as 
 the rate at which the healthy body requires to be 
 repaired ; and it is truly wonderful that a frame so 
 complicated, and requiring five hundred repairs 
 throughout in the course of every day, should last 
 even for threescore and ten years. Every pulse 
 of the heart sends the blood to every part of the 
 body ; and thus there is necessarily a repair of 
 every part, and a passage through every blood- 
 vessel, whether artery, vein, or capillary, and how- 
 ever minute, at each of those pulsations. 
 
 From this we can easily understand how, when 
 the pulse is slow, the body should be languid ; 
 because it does not get the stimulating repair of 
 the blood often enough. On the other hand, we 
 can as easily see why, when the pulse is unnaturally 
 increased, the body must be over-laboured by its 
 own internal working, and thereby thrown into a 
 state of heat and fever. 
 
 We have collateral illustrations of this in those 
 animals which have red blood, as man has, but 
 different degrees of circulation. Those which have 
 the circulation very rapid, are warm in their tem- 
 peraments, and their lives are in general short in 
 proportion to the strength of their frames ; while 
 those which have the circulation very slow, are 
 cold, but have their lives of long duration. In 
 these cases, however, the rate of pulse is wisely 
 adapted to the structure and habits of the animal,
 
 112 WESLEY'S* PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and we are not to consider any one rate as a dis- 
 eased one, as we do in the human body, when it 
 rises above or falls below the average rate of health. 
 
 The next point to be considered is the means by 
 which the blood is made to circulate ; but in this 
 there are some difficulties which render it necessary 
 that we should begin with the details, because we 
 cannot reach the general and original principle. 
 
 That the heart is the principal instrument in 
 producing motion of the blood in the arteries, 
 cannot be doubted. The heart is wholly muscular; 
 and a muscle is the only organ in the body with 
 which we are acquainted that has the power or 
 faculty of originating motion. When we use the 
 word " originating," we must not be understood as 
 applying it to the first origin ; for the question 
 still remains. " What moves the muscle ?" and if 
 it shall be said that " the nerve " or any other 
 material thing moves it, the question still remains, 
 " What moves the nerve or other material thing?" 
 Therefore, though we argue ever so carefully, and 
 fancy we go ever so far, we cannot get one jot 
 beyond the simple fact that " the muscle moves." 
 No doubt it moves by the application of some 
 stimulus, as is proved by the motion of . dead 
 muscles when galvanic action is applied to them ; 
 but this actisn belongs to the same mysterious 
 class as that which we call life ; and therefore the 
 only other expression that we can rationally use is, 
 that " life moves the muscle," or that the muscle 
 of a living animal moves of its own. accord, or at 
 the will of the animal, but that the muscle of a 
 dead animal does not ; and this is only saying in 
 other words that the muscle moves. It is thus 
 that the energies of life lie wholly beyond the
 
 NATURAL STATE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 113 
 
 range of our knowledge, though the manner of 
 their working, which is visible to us, is wonderful 
 beyond all comprehension, and instructive beyond 
 all that we can observe in the works of man. We 
 see as it were the finger of God, or the effect of its 
 power, in the most trifling motion of the minutest 
 . fibre in the muscular part of our frame. 
 
 A muscle differs from every other part of the 
 body in this, that it has a motion two ways. A 
 membrane, a tendon, the coat of a vessel, or any 
 other part which is not bone, has motion one way, 
 but only one, and this motion is not a motion of 
 life. It depends upon the elasticity of the part, 
 and this is a property which is common to all 
 matter, and to matter in every state, whether alive 
 or dead, though differently manifested in different 
 kinds and states of matter. But elasticity is cha- 
 racteristic of death rather than life, for it means 
 the preservation of one particular state. In the 
 case of a membrane or other member of the body, 
 it means the preservation of a certain length or a 
 certain breadth. If it is stretched beyond this, it 
 contracts when the force that stretched it ceases to 
 act, as if it is compressed into less measure than 
 this, it expands again when the compressing force 
 is withdrawn. The parts of the body which are 
 elastic retain their elasticity after death, until the 
 power of dissolution alters their state, which is in 
 itself a proof that the elasticity of those parts of 
 the body is a property of mere matter, and not a 
 function of the life. 
 
 But it is different in the muscle : the muscle in 
 its integrant part is always a fibre ; that fibre has of 
 itself a tendency to contract, and after contraction 
 to relapse ; and it is this contractibility which is the 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 primary motion of the muscle. It is produced by 
 some stimulus, but what this stimulus is we are 
 unable to say, further than that it is a function of 
 life. Some say that it depends on the healthy 
 state of the nerve connected with the muscle, and 
 others on the healthy state of the blood, and it 
 probably depends on both ; but still the healthy 
 states of these are nothing more than parts of the 
 healthy state of the living action, so that such 
 explanations leave us precisely where they found us. 
 
 But by whatever the contraction of the muscular 
 heart may be occasioned, there is no doubt that 
 this contraction is the cause of the blood moving 
 along the arteries ; for it appears that the power 
 which they have is elasticity much more than mus- 
 cular action, if indeed it be muscular action at all ; 
 and the contraction of the arteries is a resistance 
 to that impulse which the blood receives from the 
 heart, and not an assistant to it. 
 
 The force of the heart in propelling the blood 
 through the system has been variously estimated, 
 but the estimates, proceeding entirely upon the 
 properties of dead matter, are very vague. This is 
 shown by their discrepancy. Borelli estimated it 
 at a hundred and eighty thousand pounds' weight, 
 which is equal to the strength of many horses. 
 Keill, on the other hand, made it five ounces and a 
 half, or a half million times less than Borelli. The 
 estimate of Hailes, which is about fifty pounds' 
 weight, is perhaps as near the truth as guess- 
 work can come, for it is little better than guess- 
 work. The next question is, by what means does 
 the blood return from the extremities ? and here it 
 is evident that the muscular action of the heart has 
 much less influence than in the case of the arteries,
 
 NATURAL STATE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 115 
 
 for the auricles of the heart merely open to receive 
 the returning blood, and their contraction, which is 
 their muscular force, propels that blood into the 
 ventricles. The veins, too, are much less elastic 
 than the arteries, and therefore their structure 
 cannot contribute much to the return. But the 
 general action of the muscles throughout the body 
 tends greatly to this purpose, by compressing those 
 veins which are in contact with them ; and this is 
 one of the reasons why exercising the body increases 
 the circulation. That this takes place in the veins 
 near the skin, by the contraction of the muscular 
 part of the skin, is beneficially proved in many 
 cases. Bathing and washing with cold water, and 
 exposure to pure air, and rubbing, and brushing, 
 all tend to tighten the skin by the contraction of 
 its muscles ; and it is well known that all these, 
 applied at proper times, and within due limits, 
 quicken the circulation, and bring a glow of heat 
 over the body, making it feel more alive and 
 vigorous, and capable of performing every function. 
 So also when a limb or other part of the body is 
 swollen by the lagging blood, and even after the 
 serous part of that blood has partially exuded into 
 the cellular tissue, friction has often a very powerful 
 effect, and so also has any application which makes 
 the skin contract and tighten. These things may 
 be done to excess, however, and the return of the 
 blood may be made too rapid for the lungs, and 
 also in proportion to the supply brought to the 
 arteries. The effect of this is twofold : the lungs 
 are excited beyond what they can bear, and heat 
 and inflammation of those delicate organs, and also 
 of the membranes which line the breathing passages, 
 are the necessary consequences. Then, on the 
 i2
 
 116 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 other hand, the drain upon the parts of the' body 
 by the return of serous blood being greater 'than 
 the supply by arterial, the fat is taken up to supply 
 the deficiency, the cellular substance becomes 
 loose, the muscles lax, and the whole body ex- 
 hausted and emaciated. Such is the consequence 
 of a severe and inveterate cold ; such is in many 
 cases the incipient cause of consumption ; and 
 such is the state of the body under many other 
 diseases. 
 
 The circulation in the foetus, which has no 
 respiration, differs from that after birth ; but this 
 will be more briefly and easily explained when we 
 come to speak of the production of the human body 
 in the ordinary course of generation. 
 
 3. Respiration is performed by receiving the air 
 into the lungs, and breathing it out alternately. 
 In the former, the cavity of the breast is enlarged 
 by the sinking of the diaphragm and the erection 
 of the ribs, through the force of the muscles placed 
 between them. The general manner in which this 
 operation is performed, and its general effect upon 
 the body, have been mentioned already; so that 
 all we have to notice now is the quantity of re- 
 spiration, and the way in which it may be supposed 
 at first to begin, with such further remarks on 
 its connexion with the temperature and healthy 
 action of the body generally, as our limits will 
 permit. 
 
 According to what appear the best observa- 
 tions, and even those are liable to great uncer- 
 tainty, it is probable that about a seventh part of 
 the contents of the lungs is discharged at every 
 natural expiration of the breath. In the ordinary 
 condition of the body, a strong effort will greatly
 
 NATURAL STATE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 117 
 
 increase this quantity, and bring it up to two-thirds, 
 or even more. This is produced by strong con- 
 traction of the chest, by compressing the ribs and 
 elevating the diaphragm ; and any one who makes 
 the trial, will find that, after a violent expiration 
 of this kind, a lengthened inspiration is necessary, 
 but does not require the same voluntary effort ; so 
 also when a violent inspirations made by distending 
 the chest to the utmost, a lengthened expiration 
 follows, but also without any great voluntary effort. 
 From this it is evident that, besides the voluntary 
 action of the muscles in respiration when we make 
 an effort, there is an involuntary motion, which, 
 like the pulsation of the heart, goes on indepen- 
 dently of our will and of our knowledge in healthy 
 states, and against our will in states of disease. 
 
 Some part of this is doubtless owing to the 
 elasticity of the cells of the lungs, and the cartilages 
 connected with the thorax and diaphragm, which 
 elasticity has a natural tendency to preserve a 
 certain capacity in the cells of the lungs^and which 
 actually so preserves it even after death. The 
 cause which distends the lungs beyond this is 
 muscular, either with or without an effort ; but the 
 cause which makes them contract is a more mys- 
 terious matter ; and perhaps the simplest explanation 
 that we can give of it is referring it to that general 
 principle in the living body, by which of itself it 
 endeavours to resist or escape from danger. 
 
 The elasticity of the lungs and other organs of 
 respiration, giving the cells a certain capacity 
 without any muscular effort, throws some light 
 upon a point involving much difficulty, and re- 
 specting which a variety of opinions have been 
 advanced. This point is, how does breathing at
 
 118 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 first commence ? We know that no air has access 
 to the foetus in the uterus, for there it is inclosed in 
 impervious membranes, and surrounded by fluids 
 within those membranes. It can receive no nourish- 
 mentfromthe common process of digestion, because 
 all that reaches it is matter furnished by the 
 mother, and therefore already assimilated ; though 
 between the mother and the child there is a veil of 
 mystery which we cannot draw aside, and through 
 which we cannot see. 
 
 But from its position in the uterus, the thorax 
 and lungs of the child are under a state of constant 
 compression, so that probably no blood finds its 
 way into the more minute pulmonary vessels, even 
 to circulate without being changed. But when the 
 child is released from its prison-house by birth, and 
 comes into the free air, the elasticity of the thorax 
 and lungs has freedom to act ; and in proportion 
 as the cells are expanded, the air presses in by the 
 mouth and nostrils, until the cells of the lungs are 
 distended by a pressure equal to that upon the 
 external surface of the body. It is probable that 
 the distension may go a little beyond this, because 
 all motions of matter, being performed in time, 
 require time to be stopped, which carries them 
 beyond the equilibrium of what resists them ; and 
 this enables the resistance to react and pass 
 the equilibrium the other way. Thus, when the 
 natural expansion of the lungs and thorax com- 
 mences, the air begins to rush in, and continues to 
 do so until the lungs are expanded ; and the mo- 
 mentum which the air thus acquires, expands them 
 beyond their natural dimensions. But this expan- 
 sion beyond their natural dimensions takes place in 
 a manner well worthy of attention ; because it in-
 
 NATURAL STATE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 119 
 
 volves a principle which Ave can carry with us 
 through the whole moving creation, whether living 
 or dead. Beyond their natural size the cells resist 
 more and more, just as a spring or bow does when 
 farther bent ; and for this reason the power of the 
 air to expand gradually becomes less and less. 
 Thus at the end of the expansion, the cells of the 
 lungs have accumulated a power of resistance, 
 while the expanding power of the air has been di- 
 minishing until it becomes extinct ; and the power 
 of resistance is then free to act, and does act, 
 until it turns the expansion so far into a contrac- 
 tion. 
 
 It is true that this is only a mechanical expla- 
 nation, and has nothing to do with life ; but it is 
 equally true, that the air and the substance of the 
 body are matter, partaking of the properties of 
 matter, and obedient to its laws in so far as those 
 laws are not controlled by the living functions ; 
 and, consequently, whenever there is a function of 
 the body in which the mechanical properties of 
 matter can take effect, they will take effect. If 
 these were not the case, all weights would feel 
 equally heavy, and the severest labour would fa- 
 tigue us no more than if we were stretched at ease 
 on the softest couch. 
 
 Nor is it less wonderful, less overwhelming to 
 our common understanding of things, to find that 
 this mechanical effect of breath upon an infant is 
 an instance of the very same law which sustains 
 the earth, the planets, the sun, and all the mighty 
 systems of the heavens in their courses. It is the 
 reaction of the sun's attractive influence upon an 
 orbital motion, which has been continually dimi- 
 nishing, that brings back the planet when most
 
 120 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 remote from the sun ; and it is the advantage 
 gained by a motion that has been constantly in- 
 creasing, which enables the planet to overcome the 
 attractive influence of the sun, Avhen at the shortest 
 distance from that luminary. Thus, as there is 
 one God, so there is one creation ; and though the 
 periods of their years are differently numbered, 
 many may read in the book of the heavens the in- 
 terpretation of the laws of his mortal body, in so 
 far as those laws are mechanical. 
 
 What follows after this first mechanical admis- 
 sion of the atmospheric air, and first and every 
 limited reaction of elasticity in the breathing ap- 
 paratus of the infant, is more of a mystery ; be- 
 cause life, and muscular action as dependent upon 
 life, blend with it in that singular stage of the first 
 inhalation, in which the simple atmospheric fluid 
 becomes the breath of life to the infant. 
 
 From some experiments which have been made, 
 there is reason to conclude that, if air containing 
 oxygen is applied to venous blood, that blood ac- 
 quires the scarlet colour, and probably along with 
 that the other properties of arterial blood ; but if 
 nitrogen, which is the other ingredient of the atmo- 
 sphere, and especially if carbonic acid gas is ap- 
 plied to arterial blood, that blood assumes the dark 
 colour, and probably along with that acquires the 
 qualities of venous blood. In these experiments, 
 it was found that making the lungs to act after 
 death, had the effect of bringing blood to them and 
 sending it to the heart ; and if fresh air was ap- 
 plied, the same colour was produced as is produced 
 in the living body ; but if the same air was repeat- 
 edly returned, the blood passed from the lungs with 
 its dark colour unaltered.
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 121 
 
 But though the results of these experiments are 
 curious, they throw no light on the action of the 
 living hodj. They did not in the least hring back 
 the living action, and the play of the lungs was 
 thus merely mechanical, produced by the reaction 
 of the mere elasticity upon the air forced into the; 
 lungs by repeated efforts of the apparatus, Avhereas 
 without the efforts of the apparatus the elasticity 
 would have soon come to a state of repose, and the 
 stillness as well as the insensibility of death would 
 have taken place. Still, these experiments are 
 curious, as throwing some light upon the means by 
 which parties who have been drowned or other- 
 wise suffocated, and are found and operated on in 
 time, may he restored to animation. It would be 
 foreign to the nature of this compendium to enter 
 into the details of those matters, but we may re- 
 mark that, in these recoveries, respiration always 
 precedes a perceptible pulse at the wrist, and that 
 pulsation there always precedes the awakening' of 
 the patient to sensibility. 
 
 4. The progress of the food from the time it is 
 taken into the mouth through the different stages 
 of its change into chyme in the stomach, and into 
 chyle on its progress to the thoracic duct, has been 
 mentioned in the preceding chapter ; and, indeed, 
 this progress is easily traced. But who shall tell 
 by what means those changes take place ? Who 
 shall explain by what singular agencies the grass 
 of the fields is turned into oxen, oxen and sheep 
 into lions and other ravenous beasts, and the va- 
 rious matters upon which mankind feed, into the 
 living substance of the human body ? These are 
 mysteries beyond our reach ; and it forms one of 
 the most extraordinary properties of a living crea-
 
 122 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ture, whether animal or vegetable, that it has in 
 itself the power of changing other substances into 
 its own substance. This is not done without mix- 
 ing certain fluids peculiar to the body itself with 
 the new substance which it takes in as food ; and 
 in the case of man, the different fluids of the body 
 which mingle with the food in its progress are very 
 numerous, but what portion of them is retained in 
 the assimilating and assimilated food, and what 
 portion is ejected from the body along with the 
 refuse of the food, we are unable to say, though it 
 is highly probable that one portion of each goes 
 the one way, and another portion goes the other. 
 
 Moistening the food with saliva while it is un- 
 dergoing the process of mastication, appears to 
 have more beneficial influence not only upon di- 
 gestion but upon the whole system, than many are 
 aware of. Thirst may be allayed by chewing a 
 hard biscuit, or even by bruising a leaden bullet 
 between the teeth. In short, anything which 
 requires such an action as to cause a great natural 
 discharge from the salivary glands, has a benefi- 
 cial effect upon the system. 
 
 In the stomach, the food mingles with the gas- 
 tric juice ; and a peculiar twisting motion of the 
 stomach, which is called the vermicular motion, 
 because it somewhat resembles the wriggling of a 
 worm, is understood to promote the union of this 
 juice with the food, and the consequent conversion 
 of the food into chyme. Besides the solvent power 
 of this juice, it has a wonderful antiseptic power ; 
 for in those animals which feed upon substances in 
 a putrid state, as many wild beasts are compelled 
 to do, the offensive smell goes off as the process 
 of digestion proceeds ; and though the smell of
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HITMAN BODY. 123 
 
 chyme is peculiar, it is not disagreeable even in 
 the most foul and putrid feeders. 
 
 There have been many attempts to explain in 
 what way this change takes place. Hippocrates 
 and his followers said " by concoction," much in 
 the same manner as substances are reduced in a 
 Papin's digester. But this is saying nothing ; and 
 the illustration does not apply, for there are few 
 substances which would be much altered in a 
 Papin's digester, if its temperature were no higher 
 than that of the human body. Others have said 
 " putrefaction ;" but this is impossible, as the ten- 
 dency of the stomach is to prevent, and even coun- 
 teract putrefaction. When it was the fashion to 
 consider all the actions of the body as being me- 
 chanical, it was supposed that digestion was a 
 sort of grinding ; but this also is inconsistent with 
 the structure of the stomach. Chemical solution 
 was proposed by Spallanzani, but it will not 
 explain the whole process, and thus in reality it 
 explains nothing. The action of the vital principle, 
 and that of the nerves, have both in turn been 
 advanced for the same purpose ; but we know no 
 specific action of the vital principle, and no vital 
 principle but the fact of the body being alive ; and 
 though, in Dr. Philip's experiments, digestion ceased 
 when the nerves supplying the stomach were di- 
 vided, yet the immediate cause seemed to be that 
 there was no longer a supply of gastric juice; and 
 this rendered it probable that the action of the 
 nerves has much more connection with secretion, 
 at least in the stomach, than with the digestive 
 process. Fermentation has also been propounded, 
 and it explains some of the operations, but, like all 
 the rest, it does not explain the whole. We must
 
 124 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 therefore be contented with reckoning this change 
 of the food among those processes which we do 
 not understand ; and if we do not understand it in 
 this early stage, AVC cannot hope to be better in- 
 formed after it has become more complicated by 
 receiving bile from the liver, the pancreatic juice, 
 and probably other fluids secreted or absorbed, 
 with which we are but little acquainted. 
 
 The lymphatics bring their contents from all 
 parts of the body, and discharge them into the 
 thoracic duct in like manner as the lacteal s bring 
 the chyle to that vessel. They all, both lympha- 
 tics and lacteals, pass through one or more glands 
 before they arrive at the thoracic duct, but what 
 changes their contents undergo in those glands it 
 is not easy to say. It may be that the cellular 
 tissues of the body are nouiished by the lympha- 
 tics, and that the muscles are nourished by the 
 blood, which alone contains fibrin ; and in this 
 case, while the lacteals bring the new supply into 
 the thoracic duct, the lymphatics may convey thither 
 the waste of all those tissues of the body which are 
 not muscular. This, however, though not impro- 
 bable, is only conjectural. 
 
 5. All the secretions are, as the name imports, 
 secret operations, of which we can say little more 
 than that they are produced by certain organs, and 
 that their healthy quality depends upon the healthy 
 state of those organs. Of the excretions some 
 have been noticed, and others are so well known 
 as to require no notice. 
 
 6. As without respiration, circulation, and nu- 
 trition, we cannot live at all, so without sense life 
 would be like death. In every sensation there is, 
 1. An outward object. 2. Its action in the organ
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 125 
 
 of sense. 3. A perception of it in the mind. The 
 action of the object on the organ, is by means of 
 the nerves communicated to the brain. And then, 
 not otherwise, the perception follows. But how, 
 none but He that made man can explain. 
 
 When we speak of sensation and of an organ of 
 a particular sense, we do not mean that the organ 
 is endowed with absolute perception ; for why the 
 eye sees, the ear hears, or any other organ com- 
 municates an impression, is not in the least ex- 
 plained, though we understand the mechanical 
 construction of that organ. This construction is 
 formed for acting upon the object of sense, or 
 rather for being acted upon by it ; but what con- 
 nection there is between this action, and even the 
 animal perception, which we may consider as ante- 
 cedent to the mental one,- and capable of being 
 produced without it, as is done in the case of the 
 other animals, we know not. Perhaps, however, 
 and indeed it is highly probable, there is a general 
 sense existing in the muscles of the body, and in 
 fact of all parts of it which are sensible to pain, of 
 which what we call the senses, that is, those having 
 local organs, are merely local modifications. With 
 this precaution we may briefly enumerate the 
 senses in those terms in which their operations are 
 commonly expressed. 
 
 7. In sight, the action of the organ is performed 
 just in the manner of that in a camera obscura. 
 The rays of light reaching from the surface of 
 bodies to the eye, variously penetrate the coats and 
 humours of it, and paint on the bottom of the eye 
 the images of the things which we see. This is 
 communicated by the optic nerve to the brain, and 
 then the perception, which is properly sight, fol-
 
 126 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 lows. But the eye has many advantages ahove a 
 camera obscura : not only as it can be moved va- 
 rious ways, by the help of its muscles, but also as 
 the pupil, by the help of the iris, is instantly either 
 dilated or constringed, according to the degree of 
 light. The eye likewise accommodates itself to 
 the various distances of the objects, the bottom 
 of the eye approaching to or receding from the 
 crystalline humour, as the object is nearer or 
 farther off 
 
 8. Sound is a tremulous motion of the air, pro- 
 duced by the stroke or collision of bodies. Hear- 
 ing is performed in the following manner : The 
 undulating air enters the outward cavity of the 
 ear, and then strikes upon the drum ; from which 
 the motion is communicated to the little bones 
 within, and the air contained in the inner cavity. 
 This by means of the nerve conveys it to the brain, 
 and then follows the perception which we term 
 hearing. 
 
 9. The fine effluvia which spread every way 
 from odorous bodies, ascending with the air into 
 the nostrils, variously twitch the filaments of the 
 olfactory nerves, according to the variety of their 
 natures. When this motion is by those nerves 
 communicated to the brain, the perception follows 
 which is called smelling. 
 
 10. It was observed before, that the surface of 
 the tongue and palate are beset with small pa- 
 pillae, which are no other than fine ramifications of 
 the gustatory nerves. These are variously moved 
 by the particles of meat and drink. And this 
 motion being by that nerve transmitted to the 
 brain, that perception arises which we style tasting. 
 
 11. The organ of feeling or touch is the skin in
 
 NATURAL STATE OP THE HUMAN BODY. 127 
 
 general, with which innumerable nervous papilla; 
 are interwoven, which being moved by the slightest 
 touch of other bodies, convey that motion to the 
 brain. But these papilla? abound in all the extre- 
 mities, particularly the palms of the hand and the 
 tips of the fingers. And hence it is, that the sense 
 of feeling is far more exquisite in those than in 
 other parts. 
 
 12. Nearly allied to the senses are the natural 
 appetites, particularly hunger and thirst. The 
 usual way of accounting for them is this : when 
 the food, now reduced to a pulp, is expressed out 
 of the stomach, it is of course contracted by its 
 muscular coat. This causes the inner coat to lie 
 in folds ; which, by means of the peristaltic mo- 
 tion, rubbing lightly on each other, occasion the 
 uneasy sensation which we term hunger. This is 
 felt first in the upper orifice, which is first evacu- 
 ated. But as by degrees the rest of the contents 
 are expelled, this rubbing of the membranes on 
 each other spreads over the whole stomach, and 
 renders our hunger more urgent. 
 
 This uneasy sensation is increased by the acidity, 
 which the blood in the arteries of the stomach 
 contracts through long abstinence, its soft balsamic 
 parts having been all drawn ofF. Likewise its 
 velocity is considerably augmented, when we have 
 not eaten for some time. 
 
 Hence it is that hunger, if it continues long, 
 will occasion a violent fever ; that young persons, 
 and those who labour hard, or are of a bilious con- 
 stitution, are soonest hungry ; whereas those whose 
 humours are thick and viscid, are not so soon 
 incommoded therewith. 
 
 Hot vapours ascending from the stomach, and
 
 128 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 drying the throat and mouth, are supposed to be 
 the occasion of that uneasy sensation which we 
 term thirst. I say are supposed; for I appre- 
 hend nothing can be known with any certainty upon 
 this head. In like manner, it is supposed that we 
 are then awake when the nerves are braced, and 
 filled with animal spirits ; and that when they are 
 unbraced and empty, we sleep. 
 
 13. But who can give any satisfactory account 
 of sleep ? Some ascribe it to the stoppage of the 
 nerves : some to the quiescency, and others to a 
 deficiency of the animal spirits. The truth is, we 
 are ignorant of the whole affair; and no more 
 understand sleep than we do death. 
 
 But this we know, that during sleep several 
 functions are suspended, the organs of sense are at 
 rest, the muscles are quiescent, so that hardly any 
 action takes place in them. The fibres of the 
 nerves are little changed, and an equilibrium ob- 
 tains throughout. There is no difference of pres- 
 sure on the vessels, nor of velocity in the contents, 
 which circulate equally through all the canals. 
 Meantime, all disturbing causes being at rest, the 
 wasted fluids are restored, and the particles sup- 
 plied, which were worn off the solids. 
 
 We may observe, farther, that when the head is 
 hot and the feet cold, we cannot sleep; that per- 
 spiration is twice as great while we sleep as while 
 we are awake ; that too much sleep makes the 
 senses dull, the memory weak, and the whole body 
 listless ; that sleep will for a considerable time 
 supply the place of meat and drink ; that a foetus 
 sleeps always, children much, youths more than 
 adults, and they more than old men. 
 
 To speak a little more particularly. While we
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 129 
 
 are awake there is a continual motion of the 
 voluntary muscles, of the parts subservient to 
 sense and to the affections, all of which stimulate 
 the nerves, blood-vessels, and heart. Thus the 
 finer parts of the blood are continually wasted, 
 whence weariness ensues, and if the vigilance be 
 continued, a feverish heat and sensible loss of 
 strength. 
 
 As the night advances a weight falls on the 
 large muscles and their tendons, and the feelings 
 also become heavy ; the powers that hold the 
 body erect begin to shrink from their office ; the 
 eyelids close, the head nods, and we take less 
 notice of outward objects till at length all the 
 thoughts are in confusion, and a sort of delirium 
 ensues, whence there is a transition to sleep, not 
 known, to us. This is hastened by darkness, 
 composure of mind, and absence of irritation from 
 all parts of the body. 
 
 Again : whatever weakens the natural powers 
 inclines to and increases sleep ; such as loss of 
 blood, cooling medicines, yea the cold of the 
 external air, add to these, whatever calls off the 
 quantity of blood returning to the heart, as warm 
 bathing of the feet, a plentiful ingestion of food 
 into the stomach; likewise whatever lessens the 
 motions of the fluids, whether in the brain or 
 stomach, heart or arteries. On the contrary, some 
 hot medicines induce sleep, by causing a greater 
 afflux of blood to the brain. Some fevers have the 
 same effect, as also fatness, and whatever else 
 retards the venal blood. In all these cases, the 
 blood collected in the head compresses the brain, 
 so as to lessen the action of the nerves. 
 
 Sleepiness is likewise produced by any com- 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 pression of the brain, whether from extravasated 
 blood, a depressed part of some bones, or a col- 
 lection of serous water within the ventricles. Sleep, 
 therefore, sometimes arises from a defect of action, 
 always from a collapsing of the nervous fibres, 
 through which certain energies pass from their 
 fountain to all parts of the body. 
 
 It is hindered by intense thought, pain of body, 
 and strong emotions of mind, all which urge the 
 circulation on, and prevent the nervous fibres from 
 relaxing. 
 
 In sleep the heart is gradually restored from its 
 quick and almost feverish pulsation to its slow and 
 calm motion ; the breathing is slower and smaller, 
 the motion of the stomach and intestines, the 
 digestion of the aliments, and the progression of 
 the excretory matter, are diminished. At the 
 same time the thinner juices move more slowly, 
 while the more gross are called together, the fat 
 is accumulated in its cells, and the nutritive particles 
 adhere more plentifully to the inner surfaces of 
 the small vessels, and the sides of the fibres. 
 Thus, while the fluids are secreted with a less 
 consumption, they are by degrees accumulated in 
 the brain, so as to distend and fill the collapsed 
 nerves ; and then we awake out of sleep. 
 
 Let us consider, in another view, these remark- 
 able incidents of our frame, sleep and dreams, so 
 remarkable, that they are a kind of experimental 
 mystery a standing miracle. Behold the most 
 vigorous constitution when resigned to the slum- 
 bers of the night : its activity is oppressed with 
 indolence, its strength suffers a temporary anni- 
 hilation. The nerves are like a bow unstrung, 
 the whole animal like a motionless log. Behold a
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 131 
 
 person of the most delicate sensations and amiable 
 dispositions. His eyes, if wide open, discern no 
 light, distinguish no objects. His ears, with the 
 organs unimpaired, perceive not the sounds that 
 are round about them. The exquisitely fine sense 
 of feeling is overwhelmed with an utter stupefaction. 
 Where are his social affections? He knows .not 
 the father that begat him, the friend that is as his 
 own soul. Behold the most ingenious scholar, 
 whose judgment traces the most intricate sciences, 
 whose taste relishes all the beauties of composition. 
 The thinking faculties are unhinged, 'and, instead 
 of close connected reasoning, there is nothing but 
 a disjointed huddle of absurd ideas. Instead of 
 well-digested principles, nothing but a disorderly 
 jumble of crude conceptions. 
 
 Yet no sooner does he awake, than he is pos- 
 sessed of all his former endowments. His sinews 
 are braced and fit for action, his senses alert and 
 keen. The frozen affections melt with tenderness, 
 the romantic visionary is again the master of 
 reason. And, what is beyond measure surprising, 
 the intoxicated mind does not work itself sober by 
 slow degrees, but in the twinkling of an eye is 
 possessed of all its faculties ! Why does not the 
 numbness which seized the animal powers chain 
 the limbs perpetually ? Why does not the stupor 
 that deadens all the senses hold fast its possession? 
 When the thoughts are once disadjusted, why are 
 they not always in confusion? How is it that 
 they are rallied in a moment and reduced from 
 the wildest irregularity to the most orderly array ? 
 From an inactivity resembling death, and from 
 extravagancies little differing from madness, how 
 suddenly is the body restored to vigour and agilitv ! 
 K 2
 
 132 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 How instantaneously is the mind re-established 
 in sedateness and harmony ! Surely this is the 
 Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eye ! 
 
 14. That all motion is performed by means of 
 the muscles, all men are now agreed ; and it is 
 supposed that the motions of the muscles proceed 
 from the influx of the animal spirits, which, entering 
 them by means of the nerves, swell and shorten 
 the belly of the muscle, and thereby draw the 
 extremities together, and move the parts connected 
 therewith. But all this likewise is mere conjecture: 
 God only knows his own work. 
 
 15. That some motions are voluntary, and some 
 are not, is another amazing proof of the Creator's 
 wisdom. Those which are absolutely necessary 
 for the conservation of the machine, as the beating 
 of the pulse and the circulation of the blood, go on 
 by a kind of mechanic law, which no way depends 
 upon our will; while a thousand other motions 
 begin and end by a single act of our will, when we 
 please. But how this bodily motion is connected 
 with that act of our mind, who is able to explain ? 
 
 16. There is a manifest congruity between the 
 stature of a man and his age during the time of his 
 growth ; and as five feet and a half may be thought 
 the ordinary height of man, so may seventy years 
 the ordinary period of his life ; yet some vastly 
 exceed in both respects. Many instances are 
 recorded in which individuals of the human race 
 have far exceeded the ordinary dimensions; and 
 there are some nations, and some districts in even 
 the same country, where the average size of the 
 body much exceeds that in other districts. It does 
 not appear, however, that there is any particular 
 advantage in this ; and a very little consideration
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 133 
 
 will show why there should not. Quantity of 
 matter is not in itself a source of active strength, 
 but rather a load upon the acting powers. It is a 
 well-known fact, that when a regiment of soldiers 
 is on a long march, in which each man is allowed 
 to exert himself as his strength will alloAV, the 
 smaller sized men, all other circumstances being 
 alike, always have the advantage in the end. The 
 usual way of beginning suchamarch is with the gre- 
 nadiers, who are tall and heavy men, in front ; but 
 though there is no great difference in the weight of 
 the arms and other appointments with which they 
 are loaded, after a few hours, the small men, who 
 occupy the centre of the regiment, find their way 
 to the front, and the grenadiers are found in the 
 rear. 
 
 It is the same in the case of all other animals. 
 The dray horses in London, which are of such 
 bulk, that they are sometimes called English 
 elephants, can pull very powerfully for a short 
 time; but they could not bear the continued 
 draught of a coal wagon for a quarter of a day, 
 while in a mail coach they would be comparatively 
 useless. 
 
 As little has this unusual size anything to do 
 with the talent or ability of the party, for though 
 there are exceptions, it is in general found that 
 men of moderate size are both the most active and 
 the most intelligent ; and there are some instances 
 in which very small men are remarkable not only 
 for the vigour of their minds, but for the strength 
 and durability of their bodies. When, however, 
 the body is beneath a certain size, it appears that 
 there is something defective in it, and such indi- 
 viduals are generally short lived. They are so,
 
 134 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 frequently, from disproportion in different parts of 
 the body, as, for instance, in the head, or some 
 other part, being too large in proportion to the 
 rest ; and this destroys that equality of action in 
 the different parts of the body which seems to be 
 essential to continued health and long duration 
 of life. 
 
 "With regard to those individuals whose lives 
 are, extended far beyond the ordinary period of 
 threescore and ten years, no particular judg- 
 ment can be formed. Some of them have 
 been diseased in their youth ; others healthy 
 throughout the whole period of their lives ; some 
 have been possessed of ability, and others have 
 been comparatively dull. The generality have 
 been temperate through life ; but there are ex- 
 ceptions even to this ; and, among old soldiers 
 especially, there are not wanting instances of great 
 age in those who have even indulged in the use of 
 spirituous liquors. Generally speaking those long- 
 lived persons have been of moderate temperament, 
 and not much liable to be excited by the stronger 
 passions, or susceptible to anything calculated to 
 throw unequal labour upon different parts of the 
 system. This subject is, however, one upon which 
 it is hard, and even impossible, to come to any- 
 thing like a general conclusion, 
 
 17. The relation of the body to the mind is a 
 subject of still greater difficulty, and it is easy to 
 see why this should be the case. We know 
 something of the matter of the body, and also of 
 its parts ; but of the substance of the mind we 
 know nothing, and the very notion of its being an 
 immortal spirit, incapable of dissolution or death, 
 forbids us from supposing, or even imagining, that
 
 NATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY. 135 
 
 it can be in any way made up of parts. Therefore 
 we cannot suppose that the mind in itself can in 
 any way partake of the imperfections or disease of 
 the body; but that, as it is from its nature exempt 
 from death, it must be independent of all those 
 circumstances which give warning of dissolution in 
 its mortal tenement. It requires no nourishment, 
 because no part of its substance can be exhausted ; 
 it requires no rest, because no part of it can get 
 weary ; and it requires no sleep, because no part 
 of it can get worn out. Therefore, all those cases 
 in which we attribute fatigue to the mind, are 
 really instances of fatigue of the body ; and when 
 we say that the mind is refreshed, it is really the 
 body that we mean. 
 
 Even in sleep, when all the world is lost to our 
 consciousness, we have not only reason to believe, 
 but may rest perfectly assured, that the mind in 
 itself is just as vigorous, and as actively employed, 
 as it is during our most wakeful and best remem- 
 bered moments. If we deny this, we deny that 
 the mind is spiritual, and, by necessary consequence, 
 we deny that it is immortal. For if the mind 
 suffer during the sleep of a few hours, what shall 
 we say of it during the sleep of death ? There is 
 a mystery, however, surrounding this part of the 
 subject, which the eye of the flesh, and the under- 
 standing of the embodied spirit, cannot penetrate. 
 
 We have, however, in many things, very con- 
 vincing evidence that the mind is in itself wholly 
 unclogged by the frailty of the flesh, and that even 
 in this world it can cast aside its earthly garment 
 when it marches forth, in the wonderful majesty of 
 thought. The foot cannot convey us much more 
 than four miles in an hour of time, without expe-
 
 136 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 riencing fatigue, and soon requiring rest ; but in 
 less than the twinkling of an eye, or than the hand 
 or the shadow can measure on the dial, the mind 
 shall not only he, in thought, round and round 
 the world, hut at every planet in the solar system, 
 and far beyond all mensuration, into the depths of 
 space and back again. So also in respect of time : 
 the body must abide the lapse of its days and its 
 hours, and can see and perceive nothing but what 
 those days and those hours bring forth ; but the 
 mind can in an instant a moment too brief for 
 any measurement glance back to before the 
 world was created, and forward to that awful 
 period, when time shall be no more. Many other 
 instances might be advanced in illustration of the 
 mind's independence of the material creation, and 
 elevation above it ; but the few that have been 
 mentioned are of themselves sufficient to show that 
 that breath of life which the Almighty Creator 
 breathed into the nostrils of man, is something of 
 finer nature and more permanent duration than 
 any or than all that is to be found in the material 
 world.
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE PRETERNATURAL STATE OF THE HUMAN BODY, 
 
 1. What the preternatural State of the Body means. 
 2. The varietyof Diseases. 3. Reduced to Three Classes ; 
 those of the Solids. 4. Those of the Fluids, particularly the 
 Blood. 5. Those of the Feelings or Apprehensions. 6. The 
 remote Causes of Diseases. 7. Of Fevers. 8. The Way to 
 preserve Health. 9. Of Life and Death. 
 
 1. WHEN the structure or disposition of the 
 parts of the body is so disturbed and disordered 
 that the natural operations are no longer performed, 
 or not in the manner they ought, this is a preter- 
 natural state of the body, otherwise termed a 
 disease. 
 
 2. There cannot but be a great variety of 
 diseases, whether we consider the manner wherein 
 that structure or disposition is disturbed, the part 
 wherein each disease has its seat, or the various 
 effects and circumstances of them. Some diseases 
 only hurt the use of the parts ; some wholly destroy 
 it. Some affect this or that part ; others the 
 whole body. Some disorder the body, some the 
 mind, and others both mind and body. 
 
 3. But they are all reducible to three classes 
 those of the solids, of the fluids, and of both. 
 The solid parts may be bruised, wounded, swelled, 
 or removed out of their natural place. 
 
 It is a wonderful provision which nature makes
 
 138 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 in one of the most dreadful calamities incident to 
 the solids. "When a bone is broken, let it only be 
 replaced, and preserved in that situation, and 
 nature does the rest, by supplying the divided 
 parts with a callus. 
 
 This oozes out from the small arteries and bony 
 fibres of the divided parts, in form of a jelly, and 
 soon fills up the cavities between them. It soon 
 grows cartilaginous, afterwards bony, and joins the 
 fractured parts so firmly, that the bone will be 
 more easily broken in any other part than in that. 
 
 A callus of a different kind is formed on our 
 hands and feet. This is composed of several 
 layers of particles, loosely connected. These, if 
 steeped in fair water, easily separate, and then are 
 found, if viewed through a microscope, to be all 
 of one shape, resembling that of a weaver's shuttle, 
 broad in the middle and pointed at each end. 
 Being steeped again, they divide into a great 
 number of smaller particles, all of the same figure 
 with the first. 
 
 The thickness of the skin in the hands of those 
 who labour hard is wholly owing to vast numbers 
 of these particles, which combine together, but so 
 loosely that they are easily separated on moistening. 
 That thick skin is composed of several layers of 
 different thickness, which have been added from 
 time to time, each of which layers is only a 
 congeries of almost an infinity of these particles. 
 
 But people who labour ever so hard will have 
 little callus on their hands if they wash them often. 
 The washing of the hands daily rubs off a great 
 quantity of these scales ; indeed it is surprising to 
 see how large a quantity of them is daily thrown 
 off from our hands and feet, though from no other
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 139 
 
 part of the body. We may learn from this the 
 great bounty of nature, in so carefully supplying 
 the parts designed for walking or labour with an 
 additional matter for their defence, which is not in 
 any other part of the body. 
 
 4. The diseases of the fluids lie chiefly in the 
 blood, when it is either too thick and sizy, whereby 
 its motion becomes too languid and slow, whence 
 spring the diseases owing to obstruction, or too 
 thin. From the former cause arise leprosies, scir- 
 rhuses, lethargies, melancholy, hysteric affections, 
 and if at the same time it abound in acid salts, 
 the sharp points of these tear the tender fibres, 
 and occasion the scurvy, king's evil, consumption, 
 with a whole train of painful distempers. Fevers 
 frequently arise from the too great thinness of 
 the blood. 
 
 The plague is not an European disease : it is 
 properly a disease of Asia, where it is epidemical, 
 and is never known elsewhere but by importation 
 from thence. The small-pox also is an exotic 
 disease, and was not known in Europe, or even 
 Asia Minor, till a spice trade was opened by the 
 later princes of Egypt to the remotest part of the 
 East Indies. Thence it originally came, and there 
 it rages at this day. 
 
 5. As the disease and the decay of the body 
 through which alone the operations of the mind are 
 made known to others, very generally if not always 
 occasion a weakness, and often a derangement, in 
 the apparent state of the mind though we know, 
 from its very nature, the mind itself can suffer no 
 disease, no decay, and no derangement ; so, on the 
 other hand, the affections of the mind are often the 
 causes of real or imaginary diseases in the body.
 
 140 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 The mind can not only think of that which is past, 
 and anticipate that Avhich has not yet happened, 
 but it can entertain thoughts of that which never 
 did and indeed which never can happen. In this 
 way the mind may occasion a great deal of 
 uneasiness to the body, may bring on many real 
 diseases or actually bring it to the dust. 
 
 There are certain states of the digestive organs, 
 known by the name of dyspepsia, or hypochon- 
 driasis, in which, though the sufferer feels himself 
 ill at ease, he is unable to point to any part as 
 being particularly diseased, or to say positively 
 what is the matter. But though the mind is 
 unable to know the nature or to fix the situation 
 of those maladies, it is not the less sensible of 
 their existence, and, being, so sensible, it casts 
 about, as is the case in uncertainty and hesitation 
 on all other matters, in order to find something on 
 which its thoughts may rest ; and, as is the case 
 whenever we are in absolute ignorance, there is 
 but one right and all else wrong, the probability 
 is, that the afflicted mind shall fix on anything 
 rather than the true cause of the body's derange- 
 ment. Hence arise those singular beliefs of 
 imaginary maladies with which persons in this 
 unhappy state fancy themselves to be afflicted. 
 There have been instances in which such persons 
 have imagined the whole body, or part of the 
 body, to be turned into glass, or some other 
 brittle substance, of the breaking of which they 
 were constantly in fear, and to guard against which 
 breaking they took the most ludicrous precautions. 
 Those fancies, though in themselves ludicrous, 
 are, however, by no means subjects of laughter, 
 because the unhappy patient feels greater and more
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 141 
 
 hopeless distress than if his body were afflicted 
 with a known and even mortal disease. Such is 
 the torment of the mind when the body informs it 
 of a diseased state, without conveying any know- 
 ledge of what that state is. 
 
 There are also many maladies not very different 
 from those, which arise from mental affliction 
 alone, from strong passions, or from gloomy trains 
 of thought, when there is no diseased state of any 
 function of the body to give rise to them. In 
 many of those cases where diseases are considered 
 to be infectious as regards the body, there is not 
 the least doubt that the infection is wholly of the 
 thought and the mind ; and such appears to be the 
 strength of this mental infection, that it very often 
 brings the real disease upon the body, in its 
 most hopeless and deadly form. This subject of 
 infection, as affecting the physical condition of the 
 body, is altogether a very mysterious one. It is 
 not easy to suppose how the body can be inocu- 
 lated with disease except by the direct application 
 of diseased matter to it ; and the atmosphere has 
 such a power of scattering pestilent matters of all 
 kinds so thinly through its mass, that we can 
 imagine few instances in which they can be physi- 
 cally injurious beyond even a moderate distance. 
 Thus arsenic, in any quantity, in an apothecary's 
 drawer, never hurts those who live in the next 
 house, or even those who serve in the shop; and the 
 exhalation of a fen, which breeds ague or other 
 diseases to those who inhabit low down on its 
 border, is perfectly harmless to the inhabitants of 
 a hill in the close vicinity. This is well exemplified 
 in the island of Java ; for while in the town of 
 Batavia the night air is death, especially to strangers,
 
 142 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 one immediately from Europe, even though of 
 weakly constitution, can sleep with perfect impunity 
 on the neighbouring heights, which the pestilent 
 vapour never reaches, or reaches in so small a 
 quantity as to be harmless. So also in that part 
 of Italy which is afflicted with the pestilent 
 malaria, the healthy country is almost as finely 
 divided from the unhealthy one, as if a mere line 
 were drawn between them. This is, however, a 
 subject of extreme difficulty, and one which is not 
 yet brought within the limits of well understood 
 philosophy. 
 
 6. Such are the proximate causes of diseases. 
 As to the remote, the chief are these. 1. Intem- 
 perance in meat or drink, either with regard to the 
 quantity or quality. 2. Want of exercise, or ex- 
 cess therein. 3. Immoderate sleep or watching. 
 4. Unwholesome air. 5. The diminution of some 
 natural evacuation. 6. Irregular passions. All 
 or any of these affect the temperature and motion 
 of the blood and spirits. 
 
 7. But it can scarcely be conceived, after all that 
 has been said and wrote, on almost every subject, 
 how very little is known to this day concerning 
 the causes of diseases. In most cases the most 
 skilful physicians acknowledge they have nothing 
 but conjectures to offer. We may give a specimen 
 with regard to fevers, the most common of all dis- 
 tempers. These are of various kinds : at present 
 we will speak of intermitting fevers only. Most 
 of these agree in the following symptoms. During 
 the approach of the fit, cold and shivering seize the 
 body, with a small and low pulse. Heat succeeds 
 with a quick, strong, hard pulse, followed by sweat 
 and softer pulse. These fits return at stated times.
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 143 
 
 It is supposed, that these changes in the blood 
 arise from some foreign matter mixed with it, 
 which it cannot readily assimilate, and which there- 
 fore must in some measure hinder its motion : 
 perhaps because the particles of it are too large, 
 too long, or branching out. When the circulation 
 is hindered or retarded chilliness naturally follows. 
 And if these particles sticking in the finer passages 
 are pressed on by the affluent blood, this will occa- 
 sion both a shock and tremour of the muscles, and 
 make the pulse more weak and slow. But when 
 they are at length broken and comminuted by the 
 continued afflux of the blood, it will flow more vio- 
 lently, and of course occasion heat, which driving 
 the blood to the surface of the body, many of its 
 thinner particles will burst through the pores, in 
 the form of sweat. As to the fevers returning at 
 stated times, it is supposed, the peccant matter is 
 generated from time to time, and mingled with the 
 blood afresh ; whence the same symptoms of course 
 return, and that with more or less violence^ as more 
 or less of that matter is generated. And as this is 
 done more swiftly or slowly, the fever returns in 
 one, two, or three days. But all this is mere con- 
 jecture. It may be so ; and it may not. So that 
 though we may guess much, we know nothing 
 about it. 
 
 8. It is sufficient for us to know how we may 
 avoid diseases, whether we can account for them 
 or not. To this end, we should avoid whatever in 
 meat, drink, motion, or rest, is likely to produce 
 any considerable change in the blood. The body 
 likewise should be as far as possible accustomed to 
 bear some change of food, air, and other externals, 
 that if we should at any time be constrained to
 
 144 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 make such a change, no ill consequence may ensue. 
 But no precise rule can be laid down, which will 
 suit all constitutions. Every man must consult 
 his own reason and experience, and carefully 
 follow them. 
 
 As there are imaginary diseases, that is, diseases 
 felt by the mind, though not actually afflicting the 
 body ; and as real diseases of the mind may be 
 brought on by mental causes, so there are imagi- 
 nary remedies. As the whole matter is imaginary, 
 it is impossible to reduce those cures to anything 
 like reason and system ; and hence they open a 
 wide field for impostors to practise upon the cre- 
 dulity of those who are afflicted by them. Nor is 
 it easy to say how many pretenders have arisen to 
 affluence, or how much the more sober and rational 
 part of the healing art has been injured by those 
 means. 
 
 9. As long as the soul and body are united, a 
 man is said to be alive. But it is extremely diffi- 
 cult to determine the precise time at which life 
 ceases, or what that is which is absolutely neces- 
 sary to the continuance of it. Is respiration? 
 But when this is entirely ceased, as is the case in 
 a person strangled, blow strongly into the lungs, 
 and they play again ; which shows he was not dead 
 before. Is the bearing of the heart ? But when 
 this also is ceased, in the forementioned case, take 
 the same method, and when the lungs begin to 
 play, the heart begins to beat anew. Is the circu- 
 lation of the blood ? But persons drowned, who 
 have been so long under water as to have no pulse 
 remaining in any artery, and consequently no circu- 
 lation, have recovered by the use of proper means, 
 and lived many years after. Is the fluidity of the
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 145 
 
 blood ? Nay, but it is a common thing in Sweden, 
 to recover to life one who has been twenty-four 
 hours under water ; and who not only has no pulse, 
 but is as stiff all over as any dead corpse can be. 
 What then is Death ? Undoubtedly it is the sepa- 
 ration of the soul and body. But there are many 
 cases Avherein none but God can tell the moment 
 wherein they separate. 
 
 Many who seem to be dead, may be recovered. 
 
 A person suffocated by the steam of coals, 
 
 set on fire in the pit, fell down as dead. He lay 
 between half an hour and three-quarters, and was 
 then drawn up, his eyes staring, his mouth gaping, 
 his skin cold ; not the least breathing being per- 
 ceivable, nor the least pulse either in his heart or 
 arteries. 
 
 A surgeon applied his mouth to that of the 
 patient, and by blowing strongly, holding the 
 nostrils at the same time, raised the chest by his 
 breath. Immediately he felt six or seven quick 
 beats of the heart ; the lungs began to play, and 
 soon after the pulse was felt in the arteries. He 
 then opened a vein, which at first bled drop by 
 drop, but in a while bled freely. Meantime he 
 caused him to be pulled and rubbed. In an hour 
 he began to come to himself; in four hours walked 
 home, and in four days returned to his Avork. 
 
 Wherever the solids are whole, and their tone* 
 unimpaired, where the juices are not corrupted, 
 where there is the least remains of animal heat, it 
 would be wrong not to try this experiment. This 
 takes in a few diseases, and many accidents. 
 Among the first are many that cause sudden 
 deaths, as apoplexies and fits of various kinds. 
 In many of these it might be of use to apply this 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 method ; and in various casualties, fcuch as suffo- 
 cations from the damps of mines and coal-pits, the 
 condensed air of long-unopened wells, the noxious 
 vapours of fermenting liquors received from a 
 narrow vent, the steam of burning charcoal, arse- 
 nical effluvia, or those of sulphureous mineral 
 acids. And perhaps those who seem to be struck 
 dead by lightning, or any violent agitation of the 
 passions, as joy, fear, anger, surprise, might fre- 
 quently be recovered by this simple process. 
 
 The animal machine is like a clock : the wheels 
 whereof may be in ever so good order, the mecha- 
 nism complete in every part, and wound up to the 
 full pitch ; yet without some impulse communicated 
 to the pendulum, the whole continues motionless. 
 - Thus in these accidents the solids are. whole and 
 elastic, and the juices no otherwise vitiated than 
 by a short stagnation, from the quiescence of that 
 moving something which enables matter in animated 
 bodies to overcome the resistance of the medium 
 it acts in. Inflating the lungs, and thus commu- 
 nicating motion to the heart, like giving the first 
 vibration to a pendulum, enables this something to 
 resume the government of the fabric, and actuate 
 its organs .afresh. It has been suggested that a 
 pair of bellows might be applied, better than a 
 man's mouth. But, 1. Bellows may not be at 
 Jiand ; 2. The lungs of one man may safely bear as 
 great a force as the lungs of another can exert, 
 which by the bellows cannot always be determined; 
 3. The warmth and moisture of the breath may 
 likewise be of use. 
 
 But what is properly a natural death ? From 
 the very birth, every vessel in the human body 
 grows stiffer and stiffer, by the adhesion of more
 
 PRETERNATURAL STAfE. 147 
 
 and more earthy particles to its inner surface. 
 Not only solid food supplies it with these, but 
 every fluid that circulates through it. Hereby 
 more and more of the small vessels are so filled 
 up as to be no longer pervious. In proportion, 
 the coats of the larger vessels grow harder, and 
 their cavities narrower : hence the dryness and 
 stiffness of all the parts which are observable in 
 old age. By this means more and more of the 
 vessels are destroyed, the finer fluids secerned in 
 less quantity, the concoctions weakened, and the 
 reparation of the decayed and injured parts pre- 
 vented, so that only the coarser juices continue to 
 run slowly through the larger vessels. Soon these 
 also not only become narrow, but stiff, bony, and 
 unelastic, till even the great artery, having lost its 
 spring, can propel the blood no longer ; and then 
 follows death by old age, which is a purely natural 
 death. But this is a very rare case : it is seldom 
 life is so long protracted, the lamp of life being 
 easily blown out when it burns with so feeble a 
 flame. So that the age of man seldom exceeds 
 threescore years and ten, before dust returns 
 to dust. 
 
 The term of life can be prolonged but a very 
 little time by any art we can use. A few only 
 have lived beyond the ordinary duration of human 
 existence, such as Parr and Jenkins ; yet these 
 men used no peculiar arts to prolong life. On the 
 contrary, they were peasants, accustomed to the 
 greatest fatigues, and who had no settled rules. 
 Indeed, if we consider that the European, the 
 Negro, the Chinese, and the American, the civilised 
 man and the savage, the rich and the poor, the 
 inhabitant of the city and of the country, though 
 L 2
 
 148 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 till so different in other respects, are yet entirely 
 similar in the period allotted them for living ; if 
 we consider that neither the difference of race, of 
 climate, of nourishment, of convenience, or of soil, 
 makes any difference in the term of life ; if we 
 consider that those men who live upon raw flesh, 
 or dried fishes, upon sago or rice, upon cassava or 
 upon roots, nevertheless live as long as those who 
 are fed upon hread and meat, we shall readily 
 acknowledge that the duration of life depends 
 neither upon hahit, customs, nor the quantity of 
 food, and that nothing can change the laws of that 
 mechanism which regulates the number of our 
 years. 
 
 If there be any difference in the different periods 
 of man's existence, it ought principally to be 
 ascribed to the quality of the air. It has been 
 observed, that in elevated situations there have 
 been found more old people than in those that 
 were low. The mountains of Scotland, Wales, 
 Auvergne, and Switzerland, have furnished more 
 instances of extreme old age than the plains of 
 Holland, Flanders, Germany, or Poland ; but, in 
 general, the duration of life is nearly the same in 
 most countries. Man, if not cut off by accidental 
 diseases, is generally found to live ninety or a 
 hundred years. Our ancestors did not live beyond 
 that date, and, since the time of David, this term 
 has made but little alteration. 
 
 If we be asked how^ in the beginning, men lived 
 so much longer than at present, and by what 
 means their lives were extended to nine hundred 
 and thirty, or even nine hundred and sixty years, 
 it may be answered, that the productions of the 
 earth, upon which they fed, might be of a different
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 149 
 
 nature at that time from what they are at present. 
 But perhaps it is better to say that the term was 
 abridged by divine command, in order to keep the 
 earth from being overstocked with human inha- 
 bitants ; since, if every person now were to live 
 and generate for nine hundred years, mankind 
 would be increased to such a degree that there 
 would be no room for subsistence, so that the 
 plan of providence would be altered, which is seen 
 not to produce life without producing a proper 
 supply. 
 
 But to whatever extent life may be prolonged, 
 or however some may have delayed the effects of 
 age, death is the certain goal to which all are 
 hastening. All the causes of decay which have 
 been mentioned contribute to bring on this dreaded 
 dissolution. However, nature approaches to this 
 awful period by slow and imperceptible degrees. 
 Life is consuming day after day, and some one of 
 our faculties, or vital principles, is every hour 
 dying before the rest, so that death is only the 
 last shade in the picture ; and it is probable that 
 man suffers a greater change in going from youth 
 to age than from age into the grave. When we 
 first begin to live, our lives may scarcely be said 
 to be our own : as the child grows, life increases 
 in the same proportion, and is at its height in the 
 prime of manhood. But as soon as the body 
 begins to decrease, life decreases also ; for as the 
 human frame diminishes, and its juices circulate in 
 smaller quantity, life diminishes and circulates with 
 less vigour, so that as we begin to live by degrees, 
 we begin to die in the same manner. 
 
 Why then should we fear death if our lives have 
 been such as not to make eternity dreadful ? Why
 
 1OO WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 should we fear that moment which is prepared by 
 a thousand other moments of the same kind, the 
 first pangs of sickness being probably greater than 
 the last struggles of departure. Death, in most 
 persons, is as calmly endured as the disorder that 
 brings it on. If we inquire from those whose 
 business it is to attend the sick and the dying, we 
 shall find that, except in a very few acute cases, 
 where the patient dies in agonies, the greatest 
 number die quietly, and seemingly without pain. 
 And even the agonies of the former rather terrify 
 the spectators than torment the patient ; for how 
 many have we not seen, who have been accidentally 
 relieved from this extremity, and yet had no 
 memory of what they then endured ? In fact, 
 they had ceased to live, during that time when they 
 ceased to have sensation ; and their pains were 
 only those of which they had an idea. 
 
 The greatest number of mankind die therefore 
 without sensation ; and of those few that still pre- 
 serve their faculties to the last moment, there is scarce 
 one that does not also preserve the hopes of still out- 
 living his disorder. Nature, forthe happinessof man, 
 has rendered this sentiment stronger than his rea- 
 son. A person dying of an incurable disorder, 
 which he must know to be so, by frequent ex- 
 amples of his case ; which he perceives to be so, 
 by the inquietude of all around him, by the tears of 
 his friends, and the departure, or the face of the 
 physician, is, nevertheless, still in hopes of getting 
 over it. His interest is so great, that he only 
 attends to his own representations; the judgment 
 of others is considered as a hasty conclusion ; and 
 while death every moment makes new inroads 
 upon his constitution, and destroys life in some
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 151 
 
 part, hope still seems to escape the universal ruin, 
 and is the last that submits to the blow. 
 
 Death, therefore, is not the terrible thing which 
 we suppose it to be. It is a spectre which frights 
 us at a distance, but which disappears when we 
 come to approach it more closely. Our ideas of 
 its terrors are conceived in prejudice, and dressed 
 up by fancy ; we regard it not only as the greatest 
 misfortune, but as also an evil accompanied with 
 the most excruciating tortures : we have even 
 increased our apprehensions, by reasoning on the 
 extent of our sufferings. It must be dreadful, say 
 some, since it is sufficient to separate the soul 
 from the body ; it must be long, since our suffer- 
 ings are proportioned to the succession of our ideas; 
 and these being painful, must succeed each other 
 with extreme rapidity. In this manner false phi- 
 losophy labours to augment the miseries of our 
 nature, and to aggravate that period Avhich nature 
 has kindly covered with insensibility. Neither the 
 mind nor the body can suffer these calamities ; the 
 mind is at that time mostly without ideas, and the 
 body too much enfeebled to be capable of perceiv- 
 ing its pain. A very acute pain produces either 
 death or fainting, which is a state similar to death : 
 the body can suffer but to a certain degree ; if 
 the torture becomes excessive it destroys itself, 
 and the mind ceases to perceive when the body 
 can no longer endure. 
 
 In this manner excessive pain admits of no re- 
 flection ; and wherever there are any signs of it, 
 we may be sure that the sufferings of the patient 
 are no greater than what we ourselves may have 
 remembered to endure.
 
 152 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 But, in the article of death, we have many in- 
 stances in which the dying person has shown that 
 every reflection that pre-supposes an absence of 
 great pain, and, consequently, that pang which 
 ends life, cannot even be so great as those which 
 have preceded. Thus, when Charles XII. was 
 shot at the siege of Frederickshall, he was seen to 
 clap his^hand on the hilt of his sword ; and al- 
 though the blow was great enough to terminate 
 one of the boldest and bravest lives in the world, 
 yet it was not painful enough to destroy reflection. 
 He perceived himself attacked, he reflected that 
 he ought to defend himself, and his body obeyed 
 the impulse of his mind, even in the last extre- 
 mity. Thus it is the prejudice of persons in health, 
 and not the body in pain, that makes us suffer 
 from the approach of death : we have all our lives 
 contracted a habit of making out excessive plea- 
 sures and pains ; and nothing but repeated expe- 
 rience shows us, how seldom the one can be suffered 
 or the other enjoyed to the utmost. 
 
 If there be anything necessary to confirm what 
 we have said concerning the gradual cessation of 
 life, or the insensible approaches of our end, nothing 
 can more effectually prove it, than the uncertainty 
 of the signs of death. If we consult what Win- 
 slow or Brubier have said upon this subject, we 
 shall be convinced, that between life and death, 
 the shade is so very undistinguishable, that even 
 all the powers of art can scarcely determine where 
 the one ends and the other begins. The colour of 
 the visage, the warmth of the body, the suppleness 
 of the joints, are but uncertain signs of life still 
 subsisting ; while, on the contrary, the paleness of
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 153 
 
 the complexion, the coldness of the body, the stiff- 
 ness of the extremities, the cessation of all motion, 
 and the total insensibility of the parts, are but un- 
 certain marks of death begun. In the same man- 
 ner also, with regard to the pulse and the breath- 
 ing : these motions are often so kept under, that it 
 is impossible to perceive them. By approaching 
 a looking-glass to the mouth of the person sup- 
 posed to be dead, people often expect to find whether 
 he breathes or not. But this is a very uncertain 
 experiment. The glass is frequently sjullied by the 
 vapour of the dead man's body; and often the 
 person is still alive, although the glass is no way 
 tarnished. In the same manner, neither burning, 
 nor scarifying, neither noises in the ears, nor pun- 
 gent spirits applied to the nostrils, give certain 
 signs of the discontinuance of life ; and there are 
 many instances of persons who have endured them 
 all, and afterwards recovered, without any external 
 assistance, to the astonishment of the spectators. 
 How careful therefore should we be, before we 
 commit those who are dearest to us to the grave, 
 to be well assured of their departure. Experience, 
 justice, humanity, all persuade us not to hasten 
 the funerals of our friends, but to keep their bodies 
 unburied until we have certain signs of their real 
 decease. 
 
 Indeed, soon after the creation, when the earth 
 was to be peopled by one man and one woman, the 
 wise providence of God prolonged the life of man 
 to above 900 years. After the flood, when there 
 were three men to people the earth, their age was 
 cut shorter. And none of these patriarchs, except 
 Shem attained to 500 years. In the next century 
 none reached 240. In the third, none but Terak
 
 154 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 lived 200 : men being then so increased, that they 
 built cities and divided into different nations. As 
 their number increased the length of their lives 
 diminished, until about the time of Moses it was 
 reduced to 70 or 80 years, where it stands at this 
 day. This is a good medium, so that the earth is 
 neither over-stocked nor kept too thin of inh- 
 bitants. If men were to live now to Methu- 
 selah's age, of 969 years, or only to Abraham's of 
 175, the earth would be over- peopled. If, on the 
 contrary, the age of man was limited like that of 
 divers other animals, to 10, 20, or 30 years, it 
 would not be peopled enough. But at the present 
 rate the balance is nearly even, and life and death 
 keep on an equal pace. 
 
 This is highly remarkable, that, wherever any 
 account has been taken, there is a certain rate and 
 proportion in the propagation of mankind. Such 
 a number marry, and so many are born, in propor- 
 tion to the number of persons in every town or 
 nation. And as to births, two things are very 
 observable : one, the proportion of males and fe- 
 males, fourteen males to thirteen females, which is 
 exactly agreeable to all the bills of mortality : 
 and this surplusage of males allows one man to 
 one woman, notwithstanding the casualties to which 
 men are exposed above women. The other is, 
 that a few more are born than appear to die in 
 any place. This is an admirable provision for 
 extraordinary emergencies, to supply unhealthy 
 places, to make up. the ravages of epidemic distem- 
 pers, and the depredations of war ; and to afford a 
 sufficient number for colonies in the yet unpeopled 
 parts of the earth. On the other hand, those ex- 
 traordinary expenses are not only a just punish-
 
 PRETERNATURAL STATE. 155 
 
 ment of sin, but also a wise means to keep the 
 balance of mankind even. So one would be ready 
 to conclude, by considering the Asiatic and other 
 more fertile countries, where prodigious multi- 
 tudes are swept away by wars and plagues, and 
 still they remain full of people. 
 
 As to the length of life, it has been an ancient 
 opinion, that men lived longer in cold countries 
 than in hot. It does not appear, however, that 
 upon men and races of men, who are habituated 
 to them, different degrees of heat or climate are of 
 much consequence. And this might be expected ; 
 because the natural temperature of the human body 
 is nearly the same in all climates ; and because in 
 dry air the body can bear a temperature consider- 
 ably higher than boiling water, while the Esqui- 
 maux feel no cold in their snow houses while the 
 frost lasts, though they are uninhabitable after the 
 thaw sets in. Hence, in the extremes of climate, it 
 is moisture that does the injury, and not heat. 
 
 Before concluding this head, we may observe 
 one more eminent instance of the divine wisdom, 
 in the great variety throughout the world of men's 
 faces, voices, and hand-writing. Had men's faces 
 been cast in the same mould, their organs of speech 
 given the same sound, and had the same structure 
 of muscles and nerves given the hand the same 
 direction in writing, what confusion, what num- 
 berless inconveniences must we have been exposed 
 to ? No security could have been to our persons, 
 no certainty of our possessions. Our courts of 
 justice abundantly testify the effects of mistaking 
 men's faces or hand-writing. But this the wise 
 Creator has taken care to prevent from being a 
 general case. A man's face distinguishes him in.
 
 156 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the light, as his voice does iii the dark ; and his 
 hand-writing can speak for him when absent, and 
 secure his contracts to future generations. 
 
 Lastly, how admirably has God secured the 
 execution of his original sentence upon every child 
 of man, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 
 return ? From the moment we live, we prepare 
 for death, by the adhesion of dust mixed Avith all 
 our aliments, to our native dust ; so that whatever 
 we eat or drink to prolong life, must sap the found- 
 ation of it* Thus, in spite of all the wisdom of 
 man, and all the precautions which can be used, 
 every morsel we take poisons while it feeds, and 
 brings us nearer to the dust from whence we 
 
 came. 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF THE SOUL, AND OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN. 
 
 1. There is something in man which perceives the various 
 Motions of the Body. 2. This Perception is sometimes con- 
 tinued and recalled. 3. We know some Things in a more 
 sublime Manner. 4. There is something in us which has an 
 Appetite to Sensible Things. 5. And another Appetite 
 which is often contrary to this. 6. How Philosophers ac- 
 count for the Direction of our Bodily Motions. 7. For the 
 External Senses. 8. The Imagination and Memory. 9. The 
 Understanding, Will, and Affections. 10. This may be so, 
 or may not. 11. Of the Immortality of the Soul. 12. Of 
 the Union of the Soul and Body. 13. Reason cannot discover 
 the Origin of Man. 14. The Scriptural Account of it. 
 15. Of the Production of the Soul. 16. Of the Generation 
 of the Body. 
 
 1. EVERY one finds there is something in 
 himself which perceives the motions raised in his 
 body by outward objects ; for when we see, hear,
 
 OF THE SOUL. 157 
 
 taste, smell, or feel, while the objects affect our 
 bodily organs, we find also various perceptions in 
 our mind, according to the variety of those objects. 
 
 2. We observe, likewise, that after the objects 
 are removed, those perceptions often continue, yea, 
 and are variously mixed and compounded together, 
 which we term imagination. And a long time 
 after, when those objects are not only removed, 
 but ever cease to exist, those perceptions return 
 into our mind ; and this we call memory. 
 
 3. And as we perceive these outward objects, 
 so we know that we do perceive them. The mind, 
 can look inward upon itself, and reflect upon its 
 own perceptions. Over and above this, we seem 
 to find in ourselves a knowledge of things abstracted 
 from matter. But the more we labour to penetrate 
 into the nature of this divine principle, the more 
 it seems to retire and withdraw itself from our 
 most studious researches. 
 
 4. In like manner we find in ourselves various 
 appetites for good things, and aversions to evil 
 things; yea, the very involuntary motions of the 
 body tend to avoid the evil and attain the good. 
 And the things which are perceived by our senses, 
 or represented by our imagination, so necessarily 
 affect us, that we can by no means hinder ourselves 
 from having an appetite for some, and an aversion 
 to others. 
 
 5. Yet frequently a more hidden and sublime 
 appetite exerts itself in our minds, one that checks, 
 controls, and exercises authority over all the rest : 
 for if we are convinced that the things which are 
 pleasant are nevertheless hurtful, the appetite for 
 them is overruled, and we find a desire, not to 
 enjoy, but to avoid them.
 
 158 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 6. In order to explain these things, philosophic 
 men suppose that all the involuntary motions of 
 the body are performed in a mechanical manner, 
 by matter so and so modified, and that such effects 
 spring of course from such causes, according to 
 the stated laws of motion. 
 
 7. As to the senses, they suppose that when the 
 organs of sense are struck by any of the bodies 
 that surround us, and the motion caused thereby 
 continued through the nerves to the brain, the 
 soul residing there is suitably affected, God having 
 so closely connected the soul and the body, that on 
 certain motions of the body (if conveyed to the 
 brain by means of the nerves), certain perceptions 
 of the mind always follow ; as, on the other hand, 
 on certain perceptions of the mind, certain bodily 
 motions follow. 
 
 8. They suppose, if these motions, which are by 
 the nerves communicated to the brain, continue 
 there after the objects are removed, the perception 
 of these is imagination, which, if it occurs after it 
 has ceased, is thenstyled memory. Others suppose 
 that imagination results from the motion of the 
 animal spirits, through those traces which were 
 made in the brain while the outward objects were 
 present ; and memory, from the spirits moving 
 through them afresh, after some intermission. 
 
 9. Once more. They suppose there are two 
 faculties in the soul one that is passive, the 
 understanding, by which it perceives all the 
 motions of the body, and knows and reflects on 
 its own operation ; the other active, the will, by 
 which we incline to good and are averse to evil, 
 the affections are only the will exerting itself 
 variously on various objects.
 
 OF THE SOUL. 159 
 
 10. To speek freely upon the matter^ I know 
 the body of man is contrived with such exquisite 
 wisdom, that he is able, by means of the organs of 
 sense, to perceive outward objects, to continue 
 those perceptions, to recal them after they are gone, 
 and, by a reflex act, to know what passes in his 
 mind or body. But I know not how to account 
 for any of these things. 
 
 11. That the soul is immaterial is clear from 
 hence, that it is a thinking substance. If it be 
 said, " God cannot endue matter with a faculty of 
 thinking," we' answer, no otherwise than he can 
 endue a spirit with solidity and extension ; that is 
 he can change spirit into matter, and he can 
 change matter into spirit. But even the Almighty 
 cannot make it think while it remains matter, 
 because this implies a contradiction. 
 
 12. The union of the soul and body is another 
 of those things which human understanding cannot 
 comprehend. That body and spirit cannot be 
 implicated or twisted together like two bodily 
 substances we know ; but how two substances of 
 so widely different natures can be joined at all, we 
 know not. All we can tell is this : God has 
 ordered that certain perceptions in the soul should 
 constantly follow certain motions of the body, and 
 certain motions of the body such perceptions in 
 the soul. 
 
 13. How mankind began, is another point 
 which is too hard for our reason to determine. 
 That men always existed is no way probable, 
 were it only on this account, the late invention of 
 arts. For since it appears at what time the most 
 necessary arts were invented, we cannot reason- 
 ably suppose that men began to exist long before
 
 160 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 that period, seeing, if they had always existed, no 
 reason can be given why these and many more 
 arts were not invented long before. And yet the 
 accounts given of the origin of mankind, by the 
 wisest of the heathen philosophers, are so above 
 measure ridiculous, that they serve as a melancholy 
 proof of the weakness of barely natural reason. 
 
 14. The scriptural account is this. God made 
 the body of man out of the earth, and breathed 
 into him the breath of life not only an animal 
 life, but a spiritual principle, created to live for 
 ever. Even his body was then perfect in its kind, 
 neither liable to death nor pain ; but what the 
 difference was between the original and the present 
 body, we cannot determine. 
 
 But to form it even as it is now, no less than a 
 divine power was requisite : no less could temper 
 material elements in so exact a proportion, and then 
 frame so many different parts, of so various figure, 
 texture, and magnitude. God alone was able to 
 form the original fibres, to weave those fibres into 
 hollow tubes, to dispose these tubes, filled with 
 their several fluids, and variously interwoven with 
 each other into different organs ; and of those 
 organs connected together in a continued series 
 and due situation, to finish so complicated and 
 wonderful a machine as the human body. 
 
 15. Nothing was wanting now but that the 
 immortal spirit should be sent into its habitation, 
 to bear the image of its Creator, and enjcy his 
 glory. But the manner wherein this was done we 
 cannot tell ; this knowledge is too wonderful for 
 us ; and it is no use to indulge mere conjecture 
 where knowledge is unattainable. 
 
 16. Even the present production of the body by
 
 OF THE SOUL. 161 
 
 generation is what no man can fully explain ; but 
 this we know : that in man, and every animal resem- 
 bling man, the connexion of two parents is neces- 
 sary to the production of the young. As far as 
 this is open to observation, it needs not be de- 
 scribed ; and beyond that, all else is mystery. We 
 can, it is true, see the effects at different stages up 
 to the perfection of the fcetus matured and ready 
 for birth, but the causes are beyond our know- 
 ledge : we know what happens, but how or why it 
 happens is what we cannot know. 
 
 On this, as on all other mysterious subjects, 
 many visionary theories have been advanced. Ac- 
 cording to some of these, the new beings are ani- 
 malculi in the male fluid ; and, according to others, 
 the germs of all after generations are contained in 
 the germ as it exists in the ovary of the female. The 
 first of these is a groundless fallacy, because it is 
 known that conception sometimes (and probably 
 most frequently) takes place under circumstances 
 which preclude all possibility of the male fluid in 
 substance coming in any way in contact with what 
 may be considered as the germ in the female. The 
 effect of the male is thus an emanation, and nothing 
 more ; and it is vain to attempt tracing the influ- 
 ence of the one sex upon the other to anything 
 like the contact of material parts which are to 
 form the new being. Thus the beginning of life 
 is as much a mystery as life itself after it gives 
 motion to the body. The first visible sign that 
 appears (which is all the beginning we can know) 
 is increased vascularity in the uterus, or womb, 
 and along with this an augmentation of its bulk, 
 and a new secretion within its cavity. The cervix 
 uteri, or horn of the womb, is filled with inorganic 
 VOL. T. M
 
 162 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 jelly, while the rest of it receives an internal coat- 
 ing, consisting partly of lymph and partly of ves- 
 sels. This coating of the cavity of the uterus is 
 called membrana decidua, that is, " the membrane 
 which parts or falls off," for a reason which will 
 be explained. 
 
 While there is thus a receptacle, or habitation 
 preparing for the embryo child, that embryo is pre- 
 paring for its habitation. The embryo, or ovum, 
 first appears in the ovarium. This, like the womb, 
 becomes more vascular, and a small vesicle makes 
 its appearance. The external covering of the ova- 
 rium appears to be absorbed, and the fimbriated or 
 fringed extremity of the Fallopian tube embraces 
 it more firmly than at other times. This tube 
 receives the vesicle, which is the embryo, and con- 
 veys it to the uterus. That part of the ovarium 
 from which the embryo has been separated under- 
 goes a peculiar change, becoming what is called a 
 corpus luteum, which shows that conception has 
 taken place, but which in itself is to be fertile no 
 more. It is probable, that, in many cases of impreg- 
 nation, more than one vesicle is excited, and some- 
 times more than once descends into the uterus 
 and becomes fertile ; but in the majority of cases, 
 one only is fertile, and the others are abortive and 
 wither away. It is probable that the places of 
 these become infertile, as well as those from which 
 an embryo descends into the Fallopian tube : and 
 the barrenness of females of abandoned character 
 gives some countenance to this ; but the point is 
 obscure. 
 
 The ovum or embryo, from the first time that it 
 can be observed, consists of two vesicles, the one 
 within the other. The inner one contains a little
 
 OP THE SOUL. 163 
 
 colourless liquid, and the very minute embryo, and 
 the space between the two, are filled with jelly 
 bearing some resemblance to the white of an egg, 
 or the vitreous humour of the eye. They are con- 
 nected only at one spot, and the inner is very small 
 compared with the outer. The surface of the ex- 
 ternal one is covered with small vessels, which 
 soon increase, and are known by the name of the 
 spongy chorion, Avhilst the enlargement of the 
 vesicle is the membranous chorion. The second 
 vessel, or that within both, is called the amnion, 
 and the fluid which it contains liquor amnii. 
 There is at first a considerable distance between 
 the chorion and amnion ; but the latter increases 
 in size, and the jelly between them disappears. The 
 embryo is not actually within these membranes ; 
 but at the point where it is, they jointly form a 
 sort of hollow tube, along which vessels run from 
 the spongy chorion to the embryo, and others 
 from the embryo to the chorion. This tube is the 
 umbilical cord, which is attached to the navel of 
 the foetus after it is developed. 
 
 The embryo does not fall loosely into the womb, 
 but attaches itself to the decidua, and a union 
 of the vessels of the two takes place. The two 
 increase together, until the embryo and its mem- 
 branes fill the cavity of the uterus. 
 
 The vessels which pass from the embryo and 
 the decidua jointly, in time form a thick vascular 
 cake, called the placenta. This placenta consists 
 of two distinct parts, one of which is formed from 
 the womb of the mother, and the other from the 
 embryo, and the separation of these appears to be 
 complete. All on the uterine side of this wonderful 
 partition, is the old life of the mother ; and all on 
 
 M2
 
 164 . WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the other side, is the young life of the child. That 
 the child is in some way nourished through this 
 partition is most likely ; but it is not nourished by 
 the blood of the mother in substance. After the 
 child quickens into life, there is neither the same 
 pulsation nor the same blood on the two sides of 
 this partition. The pulse of the child, in all cases, 
 beats much faster than that of the mother; so 
 that, by means of the stethoscope, an instrument 
 which tells the internal pulsation, the existence 
 and the life of a child in the womb can be readily 
 ascertained. 
 
 One other proof that there is not the same 
 blood and the same life, even in the maternal part 
 of the placenta and in the child, is observed from 
 the fact, that either of the two may die, and 
 the mother remain alive ; or the child may even 
 decay in the womb, without serious injury to the 
 mother. 
 
 This perfect union and perfect separation of the 
 mother and the child in the womb, at one and 
 the same time, is perhaps one of the most wonder- 
 ful things in the whole physiology of the human 
 race ; but nevertheless it is perfectly true. The 
 blood which comes from the mother to the mater- 
 nal side of the septum, or partition of the placenta, 
 is arterial blood blood which has undergone the 
 renovating influence of the air in the lungs of the 
 mother. It is therefore perfectly assimilated, and 
 needs no action of breathing in the child. That 
 which is returned to the foetal side of the placenta 
 is venous blood, which has performed its function 
 on the child, and is no longer fit for the purposes 
 of life ; but how the one finds its way through the 
 partition from the mother to the child, or the other
 
 OF THE SOUL. 105 
 
 its way back again from the child to the mother, 
 are mysteries above our understanding. 
 
 There is one tiling, however, upon which they 
 throw a little light : the supply which the mother 
 furnishes to the child in the womb is at once fit 
 for the purposes of life in that child, without any 
 such operation as the chyle must undergo after a 
 human being begins to feed by the mouth ; and 
 this renders it highly probable that one use of the 
 process of respiration is to complete the assimila- 
 tion of the chyle which has mingled with the blood 
 in its progress to the lungs, arid make it unfit for 
 the purposes of life. 
 
 This is a part of the philosophy of man upon 
 which much might be written ; but after we had 
 wearied ourselves with a multitude of words, it 
 would remain as much a mysteiy as ever. The 
 doings of our Almighty Father are truly beyond 
 all admiration, and they are not more so than in 
 the origin of the human body, even in the way of 
 ordinary generation. 
 
 When, and in what manner, the wonderful union 
 between the mortal body and the immortal soul 
 takes place, has often been the subject of conjec- 
 ture ; but all conjecture respecting it is, from the 
 very nature of the case, perfectly futile, and can 
 lead to nothing but mistakes. We cannot connect 
 the date of this union with the commencement of 
 any of the merely animal functions, as with circu- 
 lation, with respiration, or with sensation ; for 
 these belong to the animal body only, as they show 
 themselves in all animals. Hence the old dogma 
 in medical jurisprudence, that the destruction of 
 the foetus becomes murder only after it is quick- 
 ened, that is, after the pulse has begun to beat,
 
 166 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ought to be expunged from the statute book, 
 as absurd in theory, and as practically putting 
 some of the most degrading crimes without the 
 pale of the law. Of the spiritual part we can 
 know no more than is declared of our common 
 parent : " The Lord God breathed into his nostrils 
 the breath of life, and man became a living soul."
 
 PAET THE SECOND. 
 
 THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANIMALS, AS DISTINGUISHED FROM MAN AND FROM EACH OTHER. 
 
 1. Relation of Man in Nature. 2. Man as distinguished 
 from the Animals. 3. Reason and Instinct. 4. Organisa- 
 tions adapted to Reason and to Instinct. 5. Use of arrange- 
 ments. 6. General Divisions of Animals; Vertebrated Ani- 
 mals. 7. Molluscous Animals. 8. Articulated Animals. 
 9. Radiated Animals. 10. Two Systems in Animals. 
 11. System of Growth. 12. System of Sensation. 
 
 1. WE have taken a brief survey of the structure 
 of man, the lord of the nether world, he whom it 
 pleased the Almighty Creator to set in dominion 
 over all the rest, and into whose nostrils alone, of 
 all the living creatures which inhabit the earth 
 the Almighty breathed the breath of life, and man 
 became a living spirit and an heir of immortality, 
 though connected with- the flesh in all its frailties, 
 during his sojourn here upon earth. In conse- 
 quence of this mysterious union of mortal body 
 with immortal spirit, man stands distinguished 
 from every other creature ; and the philosophy of 
 his nature, when viewed in its full extent, is dif- 
 ferent in kind from that of theirs.
 
 168 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 There is no doubt, that in as far as the mere 
 material body is concerned, man is an animal, and 
 subject to all the contingencies of animal life, just 
 as the matter of which the living bodies of men 
 and animals are composed is subject to all the 
 laws of matter. But, in like manner as the life of an 
 animal controls and triumphs over the properties 
 of that dead matter of which its body is made up, 
 so as to perform its animal motions and functions 
 during the appointed period of its existence ; even 
 so the immortal spirit in man controls both the 
 mere matter of the body and the animal life, and 
 proves by so controlling them, that it is in itself 
 something of higher origin and more pure and 
 simple nature. 
 
 When we look around us in the world we see 
 many proofs of this ; the powers of the mind bear 
 no proportion whatever to those of the body ; for 
 he who is feeble in frame, and incapable of using 
 his hands and feet, is often stronger in wisdom 
 and more unconquerable in spirit than the giants of 
 the human race. That-the mind does sympathize 
 with the body in its sufferings cannot be denied ; 
 but even in the extreme of the body's weakness 
 and wretchedness, on the bed of sickness or at the 
 hour of dissolution, when the angel of death stands 
 ready to dissolve the mysterious connection, and 
 the body is to be consigned to its kindred dust to 
 moulder there until the trumpet shall sound and 
 the dead shall be raised, even then, new hope can 
 dawn upon the mind, and it can take up its song 
 of triumph, " O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, 
 where is thy victory ?" 
 
 2. In consequence of this compound nature of 
 man, the actions of his body may be said to be
 
 DISTINCTION OF MAN. 169 
 
 under two distinct species of government, even 
 leaving out that gracious Providence by which all 
 things are maintained, but which forms no part of 
 creation or its philosophy. The first of these is a 
 merely animal government, and refers to the 
 growth, the nourishment, and the health of the 
 body, and all those operations by which these 
 are maintained ; and which go on, not only without 
 will or purpose on the part of man, but, generally 
 speaking, without his knowledge. In as far as 
 these go, man resembles the other animals ; and 
 his history forms part of their history ; but here 
 the correspondence between them stops. 
 
 The other part, and the one which is peculiar to 
 man, is that of acting from knowledge and expe- 
 rience; reasoning of what shall happen, from what 
 has happened, and by means of this experience in- 
 creasing in wisdom as he increases in experience. 
 This too, not in the individual alone, for the know- 
 ledge of man does not perish as the beasts perish, 
 or as his own body becomes dust in the tomb ; it 
 remains as a heritage to future generations ; and 
 the means which man has invented of embodying 
 this knowledge in words, printing it in books, and 
 so treasuring it up for all generations, is one of 
 the most striking and most delightful proofs which 
 we have, that this mental portion of man, in the 
 possession of which he stands alone, is the noblest 
 part of his inheritance. When we think of this, 
 and compare human schemes and their execution 
 with the most extraordinary actions of the other 
 animals, we find that there is a, fundamental dis- 
 tinction between them. No matter what the ani- 
 mal might do : it may build with the industry of 
 the beaver, or the apparent mathematical science
 
 170 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of the bee, or it may perform many other opera- 
 tions with a certainty and perfection which no 
 human art can reach ; but still not one of its 
 actions, be they what they may, is more wonderful 
 than the fact of its growth, and the development 
 of its several organs, or even the simple fact of its 
 existence. 
 
 3. For the sake of distinction, it is usually said 
 that man is, in all his voluntary actions, guided 
 by reason ; and that the other animals are guided 
 by instinct. These words are not badly chosen. 
 Reason means the comparison of one thing with 
 another ; and in its more general sense, as appli- 
 cable to the thoughts and conduct of man, it means 
 the comparison of that which he purposes to do, 
 with that experience of the past, either felt in him- 
 self, or learned from others, which is to be his 
 guide in the doing of it. From this short expla- 
 nation it will be seen that reason implies in it all 
 that is necessary for understanding that portion of 
 man's conduct which depends on his mind; for 
 the very fact of being able to compare his own 
 purpose to-day, with his conduct on a previous day, 
 leads at once to the same kind of comparison 
 between himself and any other individual whose 
 history he may know, at what time soever that indi- 
 vidual may have lived. This is the foundation of 
 progressive education, and the acquiring of know- 
 ledge from generation to generation ; and as no 
 other animal partakes even in the slightest degree 
 of this faculty, a distinction of the clearest nature 
 is thus established between man and every other 
 mortal creature. 
 
 Nor must we, however ingenious any creature 
 may appear in what it does, however tractable it
 
 REASON AND INSTINCT. 
 
 may be to our training, or however it may display 
 what we consider profound sagacity, in these cases, 
 or in any of them, attribute even the slightest 
 approach in kind to human reason ; for the stamp 
 of reason, the capacity of comparing, profiting by 
 experience, and teaching one another so as to 
 establish a growing stock of knowledge, is not in 
 the slightest degree upon even the most apparently 
 wise animal in existence. 
 
 Instinct, on the other hand, though possessed by 
 man up to a certain point, is the proper badge and 
 characteristic of the other animals. Instinct, taken 
 in a general sense, means the capacity which is 
 within, which borrows nothing from comparison 
 and cannot profit by experience, but acts from the 
 impulse of present objects on its organs of sense ; 
 alike indifferent to and ignorant of the past and 
 the future. 
 
 As this instinct is all that the animal has to 
 depend upon, we might naturally suppose that, 
 within its sphere, it would be far more perfect than 
 even the reason of man ; because the judgment of 
 man's reason partakes of the finite and fallible 
 character of man's mind, whereas the instinct of 
 the animal, is a part of its nature as it was created 
 by God ; and, therefore, it is as true to that nature, 
 as corn is to its ear, or a plant to its flower. 
 
 But the very circumstances which tbus tend to 
 give to the instincts of the other animals, within 
 their proper spheres, a degree of certainty and 
 perfection which, from its very nature, the reason 
 of man never can have, they are each limited 
 within a very narrow compass as compared \vith 
 the range that man is enabled to take in conse-
 
 172 -WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 quence of the possession of this reason, all liable 
 to mistakes and errors though it be. 
 
 4. When we compare the structure and orga- 
 nisation of the human body with those of the bodies 
 of other animals, we find the most convincing 
 proofs of the distinction which has been noticed. 
 The body of man may be said to be a sort of uni- 
 versal structure ; and there is no one part of it, as 
 obedient to the mind, which we can consider as 
 more peculiarly fitted for one species of that action 
 which it can perform than for another. This ge- 
 neral adaptation of the body necessarily renders it 
 less perfect for any one individual purpose, than 
 if it were more limited in its applications ; and 
 hence we find that there is no single act of the 
 body of man, considered as mere matter, in which 
 he is not far surpassed by some other animal. 
 
 Nor is the adaptation general as to that which 
 man may do, it is general also as to where he may 
 do it. There is no animal which can bear such 
 extremes of heat and cold, or of drought and 
 moisture, as man can bear. No doubt, as the body 
 is matter, and in so far under the laws of matter, it 
 is differently affected by differences of situation and 
 climate, so that the people who inhabit the warmth 
 of the equatorial regions, those who inhabit the 
 dreary cold of the polar zones, and those who 
 enjoy the alternate seasons and temperate atmos- 
 phere of the middle latitudes, are all different 
 from each other in appearance. Nor is this all : 
 for even in the same country we find such differ- 
 ences between the inhabitants of different districts, 
 as for instance those of the mountains and those 
 of the plains that if we are well acquainted with
 
 MAN AND ANIMALS. 173 
 
 their general aspect, we can distinguish the one 
 from the other, even when we meet with unknown 
 individuals at a distance from their native places. 
 But, making allowance for those adaptations to 
 climate, it may be said that man can inhabit any 
 portion of the earth's surface, while every other 
 animal in a state of nature has a peculiar locality, 
 in which alone it preserves its health and multi- 
 plies its numbers. 
 
 Thus, the lower animals are so much more 
 under the control of local circumstances than man 
 is, that their localities, their structure, and their 
 habits are parts of the same history ; the one of 
 which throws light upon the other, and, therefore, 
 the study of those animals is far more instructive, 
 in as far as the philosophy of merely organised 
 and animated matter is concerned, than the study 
 of man himself, which is of a mixed nature ; and 
 the higher qualities of mind continually tend to 
 draw our attention away from the more frail and 
 humble properties of the body. 
 
 Thus, in endeavouring so to contemplate ani- 
 mated nature, as to see, to admire, and to adore 
 the wisdom and goodness of the Creator in it, it 
 is as well to leave man out of the connection. 
 This being done, we are enabled to examine and 
 arrange all the rest as one kingdom of nature; and 
 our true wisdom consists in viewing the several 
 members of this kingdom in their relations to each 
 other, and to the circumstances under which' they 
 are usually seen. 
 
 5. The individuals, and even the kinds of ani- 
 mated beings are so numerous, that, if we were to 
 attempt to acquire the knowledge of them by exa- 
 mining each individual singly, our labour would be
 
 174 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 as vain as if we tried to count the sand on the 
 sea shore. Therefore, we must have some means 
 of arrangement, dividing first into larger portions, 
 and successively subdividing these, until we arrive 
 at the individuals. This is what is called a system 
 of animated nature; and the more recent systematic 
 arrangements apply well both to the structure 
 and the habits of the different animals, and thus 
 convey far more knowledge in few words, than all 
 the detached anecdotes of single animals, which 
 were previously very improperly dignified with the 
 name of natural history, but which had no more 
 real pretension to the name, than the idle tales on 
 the shelves of a library have to that of a philo- 
 sophical history of man. 
 
 6. It required, of course, that much should be 
 known respecting living creatures, both in their 
 organisation and in their habits, before anything 
 approaching to a good system could be formed. 
 When we look at the whole of animated nature, 
 and attend to the organisation or structure, we find 
 two grand divisions or provinces, so distinct from 
 each other that they form one step of a very natural 
 arrangement. Between these the grand distinction is 
 the possession or the non-possession of a backbone, 
 or, as it is called, a vertebral column, from the fact 
 of its being made up of a number of vertebra or 
 distinct pieces, articulated or jointed to each other. 
 
 The possession of this bone is a very clear and 
 distinct character, and brings within the division 
 of which it is characteristic every animal which 
 possesses it. But the character of the other class, 
 or remaining part of living creatures, is by no 
 means so distinct and satisfactory. We call them 
 invertebrated, or backboneless ; but as this name
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF ANIMALS. 175 
 
 applies not to what the animal has, but to what it 
 has not, no positive character can be founded upon 
 it. Hence it becomes necessary again to divide 
 this portion of animated nature, which is by far 
 the most numerous portion ; and here there are 
 three remarkable divisions, each of which has a 
 common character throughout all the species which 
 it includes, though in other respects those species 
 differ greatly from each other. 
 
 7- One division and they in some respects ap- 
 proach the vertebrated animals, though they differ 
 greatly from these in others is called mollusca, 
 or molluscous, that is soft animals. Snails, slugs, 
 and all those curious shelled animals which inhabit 
 the land, and more especially the sea, the shells of 
 some of which are so beautiful, the bodies of others 
 so wholesome as food, and the labours of others 
 again so wonderful and well worthy of study, be- 
 long to the molluscous division of invertebrated 
 animals. All those molluscous animals are entirely 
 destitute of bones in the interior of their bodies ; 
 but many of them are, as has been said, furnished 
 with shells for their protection. Some never quit 
 their shells, as is the case with oysters ; others 
 again crawl along, carrying their shell or house on 
 their back, as may be seen in the common snail 
 which frequents gardens. There are still others 
 which have a sort of shell embedded in the cloak, 
 or thick membrane, which invests the upper part 
 of the animal; and there are others which have no 
 protection except this cloak. It is worthy of re- 
 mark, as showing how well all the children of 
 nature are provided for, that the naked slugs, in our 
 gardens, can endure cold much better than the 
 shelled snails.
 
 176 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 8. A second division of invertebrated or back- 
 boneless animals are called articulata that is, arti- 
 culated or jointed animals, the general character 
 being that the body and the limbs are cased in an 
 external covering which is more or less hard, 
 serving them in place of internal bones, and being 
 jointed whenever the habits of the animal requires 
 that a particular portion of it should bend, or other- 
 wise have motion. 
 
 The number of articulated animals is very great; 
 the subdivisions of which they admit are numerous; 
 and common language, as applied to them, is ex- 
 ceedingly inaccurate, not only in popular discourse 
 but in very many of the popular books. Among 
 them are included all those animals usually called 
 insects. The house-fly, which attends man in all 
 his migrations over the globe, but is rarely if ever 
 seen in the wilderness ; the bees which gather the 
 honey ; the butterflies which sport in the summer 
 sun, and some of Avhich are so bright in their 
 colours that they resemble living gems on the wing; 
 the moth which sports around the candle, and 
 ultimately falls a sacrifice to his ignorance of its 
 nature, thereby reproving man sharply for inter- 
 meddling with that which he does not understand; 
 these, and countless thousands of others, which 
 tenant the air, the earth, and the waters, and plant 
 a colony in every tree, and often a multitude in a 
 single leaf, belong to this division. So also do 
 animals of very different natures and dispositions : 
 the laborious spider, which weaves and repairs its 
 web, the emblem at once of industry and patience; 
 the crab, the lobster, the poisonous scorpion, and 
 countless numbers more, are articulated or jointed 
 animals; but their differences of structure and
 
 RADIATA. 177 
 
 habits are so great that they require much subdi- 
 vision, before we can apply as many characters 
 equally to a number of them as will amount to 
 useful knowledge. 
 
 9. The last division of invertebrated animals 
 are called radiata radiated or rayed animals, be- 
 cause the different parts of them appear to proceed 
 from a centre, something in the same manner as 
 the spokes proceed from the centre of a wheel, or 
 as light beams all round from the flame of a candle 
 or the body of the sun. There is something pecu- 
 liar in the structure of this division of animals, 
 which distinguishes them from all the rest. The 
 others, whether they have bones or not, have gene- 
 rally the parts of their bodies arranged in what is 
 usually termed a symmetrical form ; that is, there 
 is some way in which we could suppose the body 
 to be divided into two parts, the one of which 
 would be the counterpart of the other ; that is, 
 they would be alike in their form, only the one 
 turned to the right hand and the other to the left, 
 just as our own hands are alike in their form, but 
 turned opposite ways. This is what is meant by a 
 symmetrical animal ; and the radiated animals have 
 little or none of this symmetry. They appear to 
 have a circular arrangement, and have no visible 
 organs of sensation, though they unquestionably 
 possess animal life. A common name given to 
 them is zoophytes, that is animal plants ; but the 
 name is not altogether a correct one; because 
 every animal is a plant in a certain sense of the 
 word, while no animal is a plant in that proper 
 signification of the term, according to which plant 
 has the same meaning as vegetable. 
 
 10. Every animal, to which soever of these 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 divisions it may belong, and whether its organisa- 
 tion approaches that of the human body, or is 
 apparently not very different in structure from a 
 vegetable, consists of two systems, which, though 
 they act in concert with each other in the economy 
 of the animal, yet appear to be perfectly distinct in 
 their natures. The one of these may perhaps be 
 called the vegetating or growing system, and the 
 other the animal system, or the one which is more 
 peculiarly characteristic of this kingdom of beings. 
 
 The vegetable or growing system of an animal 
 is, no doubt, different in the mode of its action 
 from that of a plant ; and this mode differs greatly 
 in different animals. There is, however, nothing 
 radical or essential in it, upon which the distinction 
 between an animal or a plant can be clearly esta- 
 blished. Both originate from germs which are 
 transferred in the course of generation from parent 
 to offspring, in unbroken succession ; and there is 
 no instance in which so great a deviation is made 
 as that there is a change from species to species, 
 either in plants or in animals, and far less need we 
 look for any change from the one of these to the 
 other ; though upon the mysterious confine, where 
 the characteristic system of the animal is but little 
 developed, and therefore not very open to obser- 
 vation, it has sometime been unguardedly said 
 that such changes may take place, and that the 
 same identical portion of matter may (of itself!) 
 become a plant under one set of circumstances, or 
 an animal under another. 
 
 This is true in one respect, but to state it gene- 
 rally is unwise as well as untrue : for though a 
 plant and an animal may be both capable of adding 
 the very same kind of matter to their substance, in
 
 SYSTEM OP GROWTH. 179 
 
 the way of nourishment ; yet the germ must not 
 only exist, but must be developed, and in an active 
 state, before this can be done by either the one 
 or the other. 
 
 In this we have a proof of the creation of every 
 species of plant and animal, as an original work of 
 the Almighty, allowed a certain range of deviation, 
 so that it may in so far yield to circumstances and 
 live as is the case with every created thing, with 
 the sun, the moon, the planets, and the earth itself, 
 as well as with those lesser creatures which we 
 observe upon the earth, but still fenced in with 
 bounds which Almighty Wisdom has ordained it, 
 and to be produced and preserved in that way 
 which of His good pleasure he has appointed. 
 This is a truth of which we ought never to loose 
 sight when we study the works of creation ; be- 
 cause it is the grand star which keeps us in the 
 path of truth, when we endeavour to extend our 
 inquiries and exercise our thoughts upon a subject 
 so vast and so varied. 
 
 11. The vegetable or growing system of an 
 animal may be regarded as including all that tends 
 to the growth of the body to its proper dimensions, 
 the preservation of it for its appointed time, and 
 the continuation of the species. In the growth or 
 nourishment, animals differ from vegetables in 
 taking their food in some sort of local stomach, 
 in which it is digested, and rendered fit for forming 
 part of the materials of the body while increasing 
 in size, or of repairing the waste after the growth 
 has ceased. There are various ways in which this 
 operation is performed. In all the vertebrated 
 animals, there is some resemblance to the process 
 of nutrition in man, as explained in the first part 
 N 2
 
 180 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of this volume, in which the nourishment goes first 
 to the blood, and the whole hody is supported by 
 the circulation of that fluid. But, in some of the 
 invertebrated animals, as in the insects for instance, 
 it does not appear that the nourishment goes to 
 the blood in the first instance, at least wholly, but 
 that it is conveyed from the digestive organs di- 
 rectly over all parts of the body. Yet in all cases, 
 how different soever, there is some feeding, some 
 keeping up of the system ; and there is also an 
 action of the atmosphere required, which bears 
 some resemblance to the operation of breathing in 
 man. In all animals, too, this operation appears 
 to be attended with results very much resembling 
 each- other ; for whether the breathing is by lungs 
 as in vertebrated land animals, by gills as in fishes, 
 or by any other apparatus, the oxygen of the 
 breathed air is invariably changed into carbonic 
 acid when it escapes from the breathing apparatus. 
 But this breathing, though it may appear to be 
 one of the most remarkable characteristics of an 
 animal, is not a part of the truly animal system, 
 but rather of the vegetable ; and we find that the 
 air is just as necessary for the growth and health 
 of vegetables as for animals. 
 
 12. That system of functions in an animal which 
 is peculiar to this kingdom of nature, and to it only, 
 is what we may with propriety call the character- 
 istic animal system, the external displays of which 
 may be comprehended in the two expressions, sen- 
 sation and voluntary motion. Some plants are 
 endowed with an apparent species of sensation. 
 Thus, for instance, the sensitive plant falls down 
 when touched ; and all plants which are placed in 
 a dark apartment having only one light admitted,
 
 ANIMAL SYSTEM. 181 
 
 approach that light. This latter propensity is so 
 strong that there have been instances in which the 
 stems of a potato, which had been left in a dark 
 tower, have contrived to rise to the height of forty 
 or fifty feet, in order to reach the only little hole by 
 which light was admitted. These things however, 
 are not sensation; and the motion of the plant 
 toward the light in the one case, or away from the 
 finger that touches it in the other, is no more 
 voluntary motion than it is voluntary motion in a 
 ripe fruit or a withered leaf to fall from a tree, or 
 in the waters of the ocean to rise and fall in tides, 
 obedient to the varying attractive influences of the 
 sun and moon. 
 
 The brain and nerves are understood to be the 
 original source of animal sensation, though the 
 subject is of so delicate a nature that we can obtain 
 no positive evidence respecting it. If, however, 
 we are contented with analogy or comparison, we 
 invariably find that the general sensation of ani- 
 mals, as well as their peculiar organs of sense, are 
 very much in proportion as the brain and its 
 nervous extensions are more or less developed ; 
 and hence the distinction between vertebrated ani- 
 mals which have the nervous system more perfect, 
 and invertebrated animals which have it less so, is 
 something more than a mere structural difference. 
 
 In the case of all animals, the muscular fibres 
 are the organs of voluntary motion ; and it is pos- 
 sible that they also are the means by which sensa- 
 tion is communicated ; at all events, there appears 
 to reside in the muscular fibres a more general 
 sense than that which is restricted in its exercise 
 to any particular organ. This general sense of the 
 muscles is very nearly the same with what is com-
 
 182 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 monly called the sense of feeling or the sense of 
 touch ; though the degree of this in any part of 
 the hody of an animal appears to depend very much 
 upon the kind of covering with which that part is 
 invested. 
 
 Though the sense of feeling, and perhaps all the 
 senses, are ultimately referable to the muscles in 
 some way or other, yet it appears to have its 
 original situation in the skin of animals, which is 
 traversed in all directions by nervous filaments ; 
 and those filaments, in parts which are peculiarly 
 sentient, are spread out upon the external surface of 
 the true skin in minute papilla? or knobs, which are, 
 however, protected from the external air by a 
 thin coating of the epidermis, or scarf skin. In 
 most animals, heat and cold appear to affect this 
 sense fully as much as anything else ; and also 
 those animals which are much exposed to changes 
 of temperature are generally enveloped with a 
 thick coating of hair or feathers, substances which, 
 though generally sensitive to the touch, are bad 
 conductors of heat and therefore the best protec- 
 tion against variable climates which can well be 
 imagined. There is a remarkable provision of this 
 kind in the hair of the human head. Many reasons 
 leads us to conclude that the brain which is lodged 
 in the cavity of the head, is the most important 
 organ of the human body ; and that it is the great 
 development of the human brain and its nervous 
 system, with the consequent perfection of all the 
 senses as organs of intelligence, which renders the 
 human body so well adapted for being the peculiar 
 instrument or minister of the immortal spirit. 
 Accordingly we find that the protection of this 
 part of the body is not left entirely to the discretion
 
 ANIMAL SYSTEM. 183 
 
 of man, as it is in the other parts ; but that it has 
 a natural covering of hair, which hair is wonder- 
 fully adapted to the climate, heing a protection 
 against excessive heat in tropical countries, and a 
 thatch against rain and snow in the extreme lati- 
 tudes near the poles. 
 
 "While an animal is alive and healthy, it is pro- 
 bable that the covering of its body, whatever that 
 covering may be, partakes in the life of the 
 animal, and to some extent at least in the sensibi- 
 lity or feeling. This probably extends to the greater 
 number even of the shells of living animals, which 
 are generally covered over with a thin membrane, 
 which perishes when the animal dies. It appears 
 also that the located senses of tasting and smelling, 
 which are situated in the mouths and nostrils of 
 animals, do not differ much, except in their being 
 local, from that general sense to which we give the 
 name of feeling. The eyes and ears, which ac- 
 cording to our notions, are the most wonderful 
 organs of sense, are differently modified. The eye 
 is acted on by light, and by light only ; and the 
 degree of light which suits best for an eye, and also 
 the structure of that eye as commanding a view, 
 vary much in different animals ; though in all they 
 are equally well adapted to what may be regarded 
 as the natural habits of the animal. It is very 
 doubtful whether any eye except that of man has a 
 perception of what we call beauty, either of form 
 or of colour ; because animals, even those which 
 we consider the most sagacious, do not appear to be 
 in the least affected by differences in this respect. 
 Whether the sight of the eyes of all animals, or of 
 any animal, extends so far into space as the sight 
 of the human eye, we have no means of ascertain-
 
 184 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ing : but it is certain that dogs and some other 
 animals can extend their vision as far as the moon, 
 because they howl and make a noise at the sight 
 of that luminary. In many animals, the sense of 
 hearing appears to be very perfect ; and to apply 
 not only to those sounds which more immediately 
 concern them in their own economy, but even to 
 the sound of words and to music. All animals 
 which can be domesticated, can also be made to 
 answer to their names, or come when called upon ; 
 and this is not confined to the more perfect animals, 
 but is found in some of the cold-blooded species. 
 That serpents can be charmed by particular sounds 
 has been known from the time of the Psalmist, and 
 it is yet practised in some of the eastern countries. 
 There are instances too in which toads, which per- 
 haps belong to the lowest order of reptiles, have 
 been trained to come when called ; and there is a 
 story of a French captive in a dungeon, who had a 
 pet spider that came readily to amuse him at his 
 bidding. 
 
 How the sensation, on what sense soever it is 
 produced, ultimately affects the will and the muscles 
 of the animal, is a subject upon which we most 
 probably must remain ignorant; for though we 
 cannot positively deny any of the theories that 
 have been advanced in explanation of it, we are 
 just as unable to prove the truth of any one of 
 them. In all cases, however, quick sensation is 
 accompanied with a corresponding development of 
 the brain and its nervous continuations ; and from 
 this we may conclude generally that there is some 
 sort of connection between the nervous system and 
 animal sensation and motion ; or, in other words, 
 that the brain is the characteristic organ of an
 
 YERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 185 
 
 animal, and that the animal is developed, or, as we 
 usually term it, perfect, in proportion as the nervous 
 system is perfect; but how that system acts, or 
 can act, is beyond the ken of our philosophy. 
 
 In those animals which are destitute of local 
 organs of sense, and have their whole sensation 
 reduced to the general sense of feeling, there is no 
 brain, properly so called, but the nervous mass is 
 scattered through the substance ; and when we come 
 to the very lowest or least developed of these, we 
 find the life so dispersed over their bodies, that if 
 one of them is cut in pieces, and the pieces left in 
 their proper element, each piece will in time be- 
 come a perfect animal. Thus they can be multi- 
 plied by cuttings just as plants can be so multiplied, 
 but still they evince the grand animal character of 
 sensation ; for though they should appear little else 
 than a bit of tube, as is the case with the fresh- 
 water hydra, still that tube has sensation, and 
 writhes under injury in a manner which is never 
 found in any plant, however developed or however 
 curious. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PRINCIPAL CLASSES OF VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 
 
 1. Names and Distinctions of Classes. 2. Mammalia. 
 3. Birds. 4. Reptiles. 5. Fishes. 6. General Characters 
 of Vertebrata. 
 
 1. VERTEBRATED animals, or those which have 
 back-bones, are adapted to four distinct modes 
 of life ; and ^organised principally so as to suit
 
 186 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 those modes, though some of them combine two 
 or more. Those four modes of life, and their cor- 
 responding organisations, furnish us with a very 
 ready and very distinct means of dividing verte- 
 brated animals into four classes. 
 
 2. The first mode of life is walking, leaping, or 
 running on the surface of the ground, to which may 
 be added climbing trees, and occasionally digging 
 or burrowing in the ground, for the purpose of mak- 
 ing a habitation or hiding place. All vertebrated 
 animals which are organised to this habit are pro- 
 vided with four feet, and accordingly, one of the 
 popular names of them is quadrupeds, or four- 
 footed animals ; but the name is not a correct one, 
 inasmuch as all animals which have four feet do 
 not belong to this class. All of them, however, 
 are warm-blooded ; and the females bring forward 
 their young either to full maturity, or for a certain 
 period at least, in an internal uterus or womb ; and 
 they all without exception, suckle their young 
 with milk, for a longer or shorter period, accord- 
 ing to the habit ; and for this reason they get the 
 general name of MAMMALIA, that is, sucking 
 animals, which character belongs to them, and to 
 no others. 
 
 Those mammalia which do not bring forward 
 their young in an internal uterus, until those young 
 have arrived at maturity, are provided with a second 
 kind of apparatus in which to carry them ; and 
 when in the more characteristic species the young 
 are transferred into this second receptacle, which 
 operation the mother performs with her mouth, 
 they are very minute, and hardly any function of 
 life is observable in them. Those animals are 
 called marsupial animals, or MARSUPIALIA, from
 
 MAMMALIA. 187 
 
 the marsupium, or pouch on the abdomen of the 
 female, in which the young are placed when they 
 leave the internal uterus, and in which also the 
 teats, or mammary apparatus for nourishing the 
 young ones, are situated. 
 
 These are very singular animals ; and it is but 
 lately that we were properly informed as to their 
 habits. They are confined to peculiar localities, 
 and by no means so generally distributed over the 
 earth as the common mammalia. The most cha- 
 racteristic ones are natives of New Holland, or of 
 the other Australian island, Van Diemen's Land ; 
 and with but few exceptions, and these probably 
 all imported one time or other, the whole mam- 
 malia of that country are marsupial. A few also 
 having this structure, though in a less perfect 
 degree, are found in the south-east of Asia; and 
 there is at least one or two in America ; but none 
 of these are so typical or striking in this curious 
 character as some of the Australian species ; of 
 which the great kangaroo is the most typical, and 
 the most celebrated, as it answers in some respects, 
 in that country, to the sheep and cattle of other 
 parts of the world. 
 
 Those marsupial animals cannot well be brought 
 into the subdivisions of the common mammalia, 
 because their habits vary much. Some of them 
 are ferocious and blood thirsty ; others are harm- 
 less, though capable of making a stout resistance 
 when attacked ; while others again are so gentle in 
 their manners, that they scarcely resent the most 
 cruel usage. The countries which these singular 
 creatures inhabit, are as singular in some respects 
 as the creatures themselves ; and thus we find, 
 even in them, unquestionable proofs of that wise 
 purpose and exquisite skill of adaptation, which
 
 188 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the Creator has written in colours so legible, in 
 the volume of the whole book of creation. 
 
 Though the mammalia, generally speaking, in- 
 habit the land, and though they all breathe the 
 free air of the atmosphere, yet there are some of 
 them which inhabit the waters, and lose many of 
 the external characters of land mammalia. The 
 chief of these are the CETACE^E, or whale tribe, 
 some of which are the largest of known animals, 
 and they are all of considerable dimensions, the 
 greater portion being inhabitants of the seas, and 
 capable of very rapid motion through the water ; 
 but there are some which inhabit the fresh waters 
 of warm latitudes, and graze the plants which growin 
 the shallows, or in the humid meadows on the banks. 
 Many of these, indeed most of them, have partly 
 the external form of fishes, and are sometimes 
 called by that name ; but they are all true mam- 
 malia, or warm-blooded animals, which bring forth 
 their young alive, and suckle them with milk : the 
 milk of the common whale, for instance, being of the 
 consistency of cream, and very pleasant to the taste. 
 
 3. The second mode of life among vertebrated 
 animals is, inhabiting the air, or rather the capacity 
 of continuing supported in that fluid, above the 
 surface of the earth, for a longer or shorter time, 
 according to the organisation and the particular 
 mode of life. The class of animals, of which this 
 is the characteristic habit, are BIRDS : and though 
 they are not the only animals which can make 
 their way through the air, they have a peculiarity 
 of form, and of feathered covering to their bodies, 
 which nobody can mistake. 
 
 But still, though this is the general character of 
 a bird, and one which cannot be mistaken, it does 
 not thence follow that every bird shall necessarily
 
 BIRDS. 189 
 
 have the power of flight. Every creature has its 
 appointed place and use in creation, to which it is 
 specially adapted by its organisation ; and there 
 is abundance of food for birds in situations where 
 flight through the air would be quite superfluous. 
 Now it is the beauty of creation, that, while there is 
 no want in it, there is as little superfluity and 
 waste ; and herein we have a wonderful display of the 
 superiority of God's working over the workings of 
 man, even when manexerts hisutmost skillanddex- 
 terity. Man's most perfect works are burdened and 
 encumbered by unnecessary parts, which serve no 
 other purpose than to hang as dead weights upon 
 the rest, and to wear them out; whereas, in the 
 productions of nature, in all that the Almighty has 
 made, we find exactly that which is required of the 
 very best form, and in the perfect measure ; but we 
 find nothing more no supernumerary part which 
 can become a burthen to the animal in the fulfil- 
 ment of that purpose for which it is ordained. 
 Hence, those birds which career over the margins 
 of the vast and treeless deserts, where there is 
 nothing to interrupt their march upon land, have 
 not wings adapted for flight ; but, on the contrary, 
 have their feet approaching in form to those of the 
 swift-running mammalia. So also, in some birds 
 which rarely, if ever, leave the water, but can "pur- 
 sue their food in it from day to day, the wings are 
 equally unfit for flight, and bear more resemblance 
 to fins, which are the proper organs of swimming, 
 than to those wings which are adapted for support- 
 ing their owner aloft in the air. 
 
 But whatever may be the kind of motion for 
 which an animal of this class is best or principally 
 adapted, it is still a true bird in its internal struc-
 
 190 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ture, and in all the more essential parts of its charac- 
 ter. One of these is, that the young are produced 
 from eggs. This is a very common mode of pro- 
 duction. Certainly the mode among by far the 
 greater number of living creatures, and perhaps 
 the original germ or rudiment of every animal 
 bears some resemblance to an egg, for some time 
 of its existence, longer or shorter. But the egg of 
 a bird is so peculiar that it cannot be mistaken for 
 that of any other class. The nearest approach is 
 in the eggs of some reptiles ; but even there, both 
 the internal contents and the external covering 
 are different. The shell of the reptile's egg resem- 
 bles parchment much more than that of any bird 
 does ; and it does not boil hard in the same man- 
 ner, thus indicating that there is more of that 
 matter, which, from the white of an egg, is termed 
 albumen in the eggs of birds, and more of gelatine 
 in those reptiles. 
 
 4. The third class of vertebrated animals, to 
 which the name of REPTILES is given, do not so 
 strictly belong to any particular situation, and 
 therefore are not so uniform in their structure as 
 the mammalia or the birds. Generally speaking, 
 they are covered with naked skin or with scales ; 
 some are furnished with four feet, a few with two 
 only; and there are others which are entirely des- 
 titute of feet. Though the name given to this 
 class is reptiles, yet it is not a very correct one, 
 inasmuch as it is not accurately descriptive of the 
 whole class. Reptile means that which creeps or 
 crawls ; whereas some animals of this class can per- 
 form a species of flight, not by wings, properly so 
 called, but by membranes, or thin expansions, bear- 
 ing some resemblance to leather. Others, again, are
 
 REPTILES. 191 
 
 remarkable for the swiftness with which they can 
 run ; and there are not a few which regularly 
 inhabit the water, and are expert swimmers. 
 Many of the true serpents are destitute of feet ; 
 but then the motion of these is gliding or twining 
 rather than crawling. The name, however, is a 
 matter of small consequence if we understand how 
 to apply it; because no word has any meaning 
 except in the application. Of these reptiles some, 
 as the turtle, lay attached eggs, resembling the 
 eggs of birds ; others lay eggs in attached masses, 
 as the spawn of frogs, which bear some resem- 
 blance to the spawn of fishes ; and there are others 
 again which hatch their eggs internally, and bring 
 forth their young alive. This is a curious class of 
 animals ; and there are many wonderful displays 
 of purpose and adaptation in it. But we shall be 
 able, with greater advantage, to notice some of 
 these in a future chapter. 
 
 5. The fourth and last class of vertebrated 
 animals are well defined, both in their locality, and 
 in their form and structure. They are the FISHES, 
 wholly inhabitants of the water, and, generally 
 speaking, capable of breathing only in that ele- 
 ment. They have but one motion, that of swim- 
 ming, to which their whole structure is adapted. 
 Many of them, indeed, can leap to a considerable 
 distance out of the water ; and some which have 
 those fins that correspond to the fore legs of 
 mammalia, or the wings of birds, very large, are 
 capable of supporting themselves in the air for a 
 little while, but they are quite helpless, and inca- 
 pable of renewing their motion in that element ; 
 so that it is incorrect to call them flying fishes. The 
 blood in these animals is still colder than in the
 
 192 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 reptiles, and their organs of sensation are less 
 developed ; but still the adaptation of a goat to 
 the rock, of a wild deer to the hill, or of an eagle 
 to the sky, is not more perfect than the adaptation 
 of a fish to the water. Fishes, like reptiles, are 
 produced from eggs, which are often so exceed- 
 ingly numerous, that there are several millions 
 in one production ; and, as is the case with rep- 
 tiles, some of them deposit their eggs, and leave 
 them to be hatched by the action of the elements, 
 while others hatch them internally. Fishes are a 
 silent class of animals ; and because they remain 
 chiefly under the water, they are not often seen ; 
 but their numbers are beyond all counting and all 
 imagination, and the wonders of creative power 
 are nowhere more strikingly displayed than in 
 those mighty waters which form the principal 
 abode of these animals. 
 
 6 Although these four great classes of the ani- 
 mal kingdom differ from each other in very well- 
 marked characters ; and though the smaller divi- 
 sions which each class comprises, also differ greatly 
 from each other ; yet there is one general character 
 that runs throughout the whole, and stamps the 
 vertebrated animal as belonging to a higher order 
 of created existence than the animal which has not 
 this character. 
 
 In them all, the provision for the existence and 
 safety of the nervous system the brain and its 
 spinal constitution, which we are to consider as 
 the grand animal organ, the evidence of a superior 
 degree of sensation, is the principal part, upon 
 which, as a foundation, all the rest appears to be 
 organised, and which is protected both from exter- 
 nal injury, and from any violent concussion or
 
 SPINAL COLUMN. 193 
 
 compression to which it might he subjected in the 
 proper action of the animal, hy contrivances 
 framed with the most matchless skill. In propor- 
 tion, too, as any animal stands higher in the verte- 
 hrated grand division, has its nervous system more 
 fully developed, and its animal faculties more acute, 
 this important part is always the more securely 
 protected in a case of bones, which are less liable 
 to be broken or removed from their places than 
 any others in the system. 
 
 This spinal column has the head articulated to 
 one extremity; and as the head contains the 
 greater portion of the nervous mass, it is natu- 
 rally regarded as a most essential part of the ani- 
 mal. From the head the vertebral column passes 
 down the middle of the back of the animal, covered 
 more or less with the muscles or flesh, in proportion 
 as it is to have more or less motion in the action of 
 the animal ; and in the greater number of animals 
 it is prolonged backwards in an extremity, to which 
 the name of a tail is given. On this backbone, as 
 a foundation, the whole skeleton or system of bones 
 in the animal is constructed ; but in the construc- 
 tion there is a beautiful provision for the security 
 of this bone and its important contents, against all 
 jostling and concussion. The arms in man, the 
 forelegs in the mammalia, the wings in birds, and 
 also those limbs or organs of such reptiles and 
 fishes as have them, which answer to the forelegs, 
 are never jointed or articulated directly upon the 
 spinal column. The bladebones are imbedded in 
 the flesh ; so that whatever concussion the fore 
 extremities of the animal may sustain, the force of 
 it is taken off by the yielding nature of this flesh, 
 and it does not affect the spine, at least to an inju- 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 194 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 rious extent. There is a provision something 
 resembling this in the articulation of the hind 
 legs ; but as these are near the termination of the 
 spinal column, and, as in leaping animals, the weight 
 is thrown from the hind legs, and not on them, 
 concussions on this part of the spine are much less 
 dangerous than on the fore part. In consequence 
 of this, nature, true to the general plan of nothing 
 being made in vain, has been less particular in 
 guarding against such concussions. 
 
 The whole body of every vertebrated animal 
 may be said to be composed of a head, a trunk, 
 and limbs. The head contains the brain in its 
 vaulted cell of bone, together with the bones of 
 the face and mouth, which support the organs of 
 feeding, and of those senses which have local 
 seats. The bones of the trunk consist of the 
 spinal column and the ribs, the spinal column 
 having a tube along the centre or nearly the centre 
 of its bones in mammalia and also in birds, for 
 receiving the spinal marrow or continuation of the 
 brain ; but in the lower classes of the division, 
 the nervous continuation is external of the jointed 
 part of the bone, and protected only by the pro- 
 cesses. The ribs are curves, and secure the sides 
 of the trunk, allowing play to the breathing appa- 
 ratus. The true ribs are commonly articulated to 
 the processes of the spinal column at the one extre- 
 mity, and to the breast bone or sternum at the 
 other ; but in some cases the sternum is wanting, 
 and in others there are scarcely any ribs. 
 
 The extremities or limbs of vertebrated animals 
 are never more than four in number ; and of these 
 sometimes the one pair, sometimes the other, and 
 sometimes both are wanting. Those limbs are the
 
 EXTREMITIES OF VERTBBRATA. 195 
 
 proper organs of motion in conveying the animal 
 where it wishes to go, that is, to those places and 
 those substances which are adapted to its habit ; 
 and hence they vary greatly in different races. In 
 some they are hands, that is, prehensile or grasping 
 instruments, for man alone is possessed of a true 
 hand a hand of all work, as we may term it. In 
 others they are feet, or organs simply adapted for 
 motion on the ground ; but along with this there 
 are conjoined in certain genera two other faculties, 
 that of seizing the prey with the feet, and that of 
 employing them in burrowing or digging in the 
 ground. In a third modification again, they are 
 wings adapted for the purposes of flight ; and in a 
 fourth, they are fins for swimming. There are also 
 some in which two or more of these uses are par- 
 tially combined, as, for instance, the same organ, in 
 certain aquatic birds, serves as a wing in the air 
 and as a fin under the water ; and there are some 
 of the mammalia which have the fingers of their 
 anterior limbs so much produced and furnished 
 with membranes, that they serve as a sort of wings, 
 as in the bats ; but the flight produced by such 
 wings is fluttering and laborious, as compared with 
 the flight of feathered wings in birds. The poste- 
 rior extremities are never wings in any vertebrated 
 animal ; but they are hands, or feet, or fins, ac- 
 cording to the economy of the different races. 
 
 In all vertebrated animals the organs of sense 
 are the same in number, and do not differ much in 
 position, though they differ greatly in form and in 
 power, according to the different necessities of the 
 animals which are furnished with them. There are t 
 two eyes for sight, which are so placed as that they 
 are directed to the front, to the sides, or to the 
 o2
 
 196 
 
 WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 rear, and also more upwards or more downwards, 
 according to the direction in which the use of 
 sight is most necessary for the animal. There 
 are two ears for hearing, and their position and 
 development vary perhaps even more than those 
 of the eyes. There are two nostrils, as the organs 
 of smelling; and in all animals which hreathe the 
 free air, the air in hreathing enters and escapes 
 wholly or partially by the nostrils, so that while 
 the mouth is otherwise engaged, the breathing may 
 be carried on by means of these openings. The 
 surface of the tongue and that of the interior of the 
 mouth generally may be considered as more imme- 
 diately the seat of the sense of tasting ; and this 
 sense evidently varies with the texture of the 
 covering of those parts. The seat of the sense of 
 feeling or touch, and that muscular feeling which 
 is probably the foundation of all the rest, have 
 already been mentioned. 
 
 In all vertebrated animals, the mouth consists of 
 two jaws, the position of which is horizontal, the 
 one upon the other ; and the lower jaw has in all 
 cases the principal motion, and in some cases the 
 only one. In most animals the jaws are furnished 
 with teeth, which are peculiar bones, growing out 
 of sockets furnished for the purpose, and which vary 
 in the different races. Some vertebrated animals 
 are, however, entirely destitute of tee thin the jaws; 
 and have instead the whole of both jaws furnished 
 with a homy covering, of greater or less consis- 
 tency, according to the habits of the animal. This 
 is the case with the whole class of birds, with the 
 
 . tortoise family among reptiles, and with some very 
 
 singulargenera of mammalia found in New Holland. 
 
 The blood of all vertebrated animals is red ; but
 
 BLOOD OP VERTEBRATA. 197 
 
 its quantity and distribution through the body 
 varies considerably in the different classes. In 
 them all there is a circulation of this blood, though 
 this circulation is much less perfect in reptiles and 
 fishes than in mammalia and birds. It is a general 
 law throughout the whole grand division, that the 
 circulation of the blood, and the breathing of the 
 animal, and also its natural heat when in a state 
 of health, are in proportion to each other. If the 
 animal breathes little, its circulation is slow and its 
 temperature cold ; and if it breathes much, its cir- 
 culation is rapid and its temperature warm. We 
 cannot say, however, that either of these is the 
 cause of the other ; for they are parts of the same 
 system, and appear to be altogether in proportion 
 to the energy with which the animal is capable of 
 acting, so that an animal with a limited breathing 
 and a slow circulation is always upon the whole a 
 dull and languid animal, however much it may be 
 roused to greater exertion at particular times. In 
 such animals the intestinal canal extends from 
 the mouth to the opening of the body, though it 
 varies much in different races according to the 
 nature of their food. In all of these animals too, 
 the food, after it has undergone the action of the 
 principal stomach, is mixed with two peculiar secre- 
 tions, the bile from the liver and the pancreatic 
 juice. Indeed the whole of this system bears in 
 its general nature so much resemblance to the 
 digestive system in man, which has been explained 
 at some length in the first part, that it is not 
 necessary to repeat it. In all of them the blood, 
 which furnishes the liver with the materials of the 
 bile which that organ discharges into the intestines, 
 is not sent directly from the heart as it is to almost
 
 198 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 every other part of the body. It is returned by 
 the veins fiom the intestines to the vena porta, 
 which appears to partake partly of the nature both 
 of a vein and an artery ; and from that vessel it is 
 conveyed to the liver. 
 
 In all vertebrated animals, whether they bring 
 forth" their young alive or produce eggs, and whe- 
 ther their eggs are hatched within the body of the 
 mother, or by incubation or the mother's sitting 
 on them and warming them with the heat of her 
 body, as in most birds, or left to the casualties of 
 the weather, as in most reptiles and fishes, the two 
 sexes are always distinct and in separate animals. 
 This is not the case with all the invertebrated 
 animals, though it is with many of them ; but there 
 are others of them in which the two sexes are 
 conjoined in each individual, so that a reciprocal 
 impregnation takes place. 
 
 In those races of vertebrated animals which 
 nearly resemble each other, mixed breeds, or mules 
 as they are sometimes termed, are occasionally 
 produced. In a state of nature such occurrences 
 are rare ; but they do happen among domesticated 
 animals, and also between domesticated females 
 and wild males of species nearly allied to each 
 other. If the joint progeny is fertile with the other 
 sex of the same cross, then it is considered that 
 the two species from which it is produced, however 
 they may differ in appearance, are not in reality 
 distinct species, but merely climatal or other acci- 
 dental varieties of the same one. On the other 
 hand, if the mules do not breed with similar mules, 
 but breed back to what is called the pure blood of 
 either parent, then it is concluded that the parent 
 animals are really of different species.
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ** 
 
 GENERAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALIA. 
 
 1. General Characters. 2. General Structure. 3. Cha- 
 racter* from the Feet. 4. Characters from the Teeth. 5. 
 Range of Feeding. 
 
 1. THESE form the first class of vertebrated 
 animals, and they correspond with what are loosely 
 termed " heasts," or " quadrupeds." Even if we 
 leave man out of the question, and in as far as man 
 can be considered an animal, this is the class to 
 which he unquestionably belongs, there are various 
 reasons why the mammalia should be placed at the 
 head of the animal kingdom. In them the nervous 
 system is the most developed ; the organs of sense, 
 taken altogether, are the most perfect ; their actions 
 are the most varied ; and they have altogether 
 more of what are called sagacity and docility than 
 are to be found in any other class. It would be 
 wrong to consider these faculties as of the same 
 kind with those of man, or to designate the saga- 
 city which we observe in them by the name of 
 reason, even in the very lowest degree. But we 
 see in them the full development of the purely 
 animal system, in the highest degree to which that 
 system can be carried. In them, therefore, we 
 not only see the utmost perfection of the most im- 
 portant part of the creation, but, in the difference
 
 200. WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 between them and our own species, we ma} 7 learn 
 how much more we owe to the bounty of that 
 Creator who has set us above them, by endowing 
 us with that immortal principle which shall never 
 die ; and as this teaches us the nature of our 
 peculiar privilege, it should also warn us against 
 the abuse of it. 
 
 The mammalia are, in some of their races, the 
 largest and most powerful of animals; and when 
 we gather them around us in a state of domesti- 
 cation, they are not only the most useful to us, 
 but they are, to a certain extent, companion? and 
 fellow-labourers. Other animals show some sensi- 
 bility to kindness ; but we should search in vain 
 in any other class for 'the devoted faithfulness 
 shown by the dog, the patient labour of the ox, or 
 the spirit and docility of the horse. 
 
 2. In respect of their breathing and the circula- 
 tion of their blood, and consequently in the average 
 exertion of their systems, the mammalia are only 
 moderate ; and thus they are more adapted for 
 prolonged exertion than for momentary efforts of 
 great violence. All the articulations, or joints of 
 the bones, in their skeletons, are fitted for precision 
 and strength ; and even in those races which are 
 confined to the water, as the whales, or to very 
 peculiar situations on the land, as the sloths, they 
 still retain all the essential elements of their cha- 
 racter. We never mistake even a detached part of 
 one of the mammalia for that of any other animal : 
 a skin, a bone, or a tooth which belongs to any of 
 them, would never be referred to any of the other 
 classes ; and such is the peculiarity of their ex- 
 pression, that if we see a single eye, without seeing 
 the animal which it belongs to, we can at once tell
 
 MAMMALIA. 201 
 
 whether that eye does or does not helong to an 
 animal of this class. The eyes of many birds are 
 remarkable for their brilliance, and we know that 
 their owners have wonderful powers of sight ; but 
 the eyes of the mammalia speak a language for 
 which we may look in vain in every other depart- 
 ment of nature. 
 
 Throughout the whole class, in all its varieties, 
 the upper jaw is invariably fixed to the bones of 
 the skull ; and the lower jaw is composed of two 
 pieces, which are articulated to a fixed temporal 
 bone. The neck is invariably composed of seven 
 vertebrae or articulated pieces, though in one of the 
 sloths, which from its peculiar habit, has occasion 
 for more than ordinary motion of the neck, the 
 first and second vertebras of the back have the ribs 
 so merely rudimental, that they have been some- 
 times mistaken for two additional vertebras in the 
 neck itself. This however is not the case ; for the 
 giraffe, which has the neck of immense length, and 
 the whales, which have scarcely any perceptible 
 neck at all, or any motion in it, both have the 
 regular number of seven bones in this portion of 
 the spinal column. The ribs are attached at their 
 extremities most distant from the backbone, to a 
 breastbone consisting of several pieces. The 
 origin of the fore extremities is never an articula- 
 tion upon the spinal column, but invariably a blade- 
 bone imbedded in the flesh. If the animal has no 
 action of those extremities but simple progressive 
 motion, then this is the whole attachment of those 
 members) but if it has to climb, or otherwise to move 
 those limbs in a direction across the axis of the 
 body, it is furnished with additional bones, which 
 however, connect the shoulder joints, not with the
 
 202 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 spinal column, but with the sternum or breastbone. 
 These additional bones are the clavicles or collar- 
 bones, conspicuous in human beings from the top 
 of the breastbone to the shoulders ; and the use 
 of them is to admit a cross motion of the shoulder 
 joint, which is a motion that no animal which 
 merely walks with its fore legs can possibly perform. 
 The particular mode in which the shoulder joints of 
 the different mammalia are articulated, is a part of 
 their organisation to which too much attention can- 
 not be paid, because it is connected with some of the 
 most important habits of the animals, and we learn 
 from it in few words, that which would otherwise 
 require much observation. The fore limb itself, 
 besides the bladebone, which is imbedded in the 
 flesh of the shoulder, and the clavicles, which, in 
 those animals which have a cross motion, support 
 the shoulder joints, consists of an arm, a fore arm, 
 and a hand, the latter composed first of one row 
 of little bones, called the carpus 01 wrist ; se- 
 condly, of another called the metacarpus; and, lastly 
 of the bones of the fingers, which are called pha- 
 langes. These latter bones are differently formed 
 according to the use which is to be made of the 
 member, but they are either rudimental or de- 
 veloped in the whole class; and though externally 
 the swimming paw of a whale has some resemblance 
 to a fin, internally it contains nearly the same 
 number and arrangement of bones as the human 
 hand. 
 
 In the posterior extremities of the whales there 
 is a different structure from that of the land mam- 
 malia, and there is an approach to this in the seals, 
 which are swimming animals, and find their food in 
 the water as well as the whales. In the land
 
 MAMMALIA. 203 
 
 mammalia, the bones by which the posterior limbs 
 are attached to the spinal column, form a complete 
 basin or pelvis. In the young state of the animal 
 this pelvis consists of three pairs of bones ; the 
 ilia, which are attached to the spine, the pubes, 
 which form the anterior part, or the under and 
 forward part in those animals that have the spine 
 in a horizontal direction; and the ischia, which 
 form the posterior part. At the point where these 
 bones are united to each other, there is situated 
 the cavity into which the trocanter, or round head 
 of the thigh bone, is inserted ; for this particular 
 joint has a rolling motion in most of the mammalia, 
 and is capable of very considerable lateral or cross 
 motion in those species which have their posterior 
 limbs terminated by hands, or rather by grasping 
 feet. The thigh bone of the leg consists only 
 of one single bone, the femur, just as the arm con- 
 sists of a single bone, the humerus. But the leg 
 below this consists of two bones, the tibia, or 
 shin bone, and the fibula, in like manner as the 
 forearm consists of two bones, the radius and 
 the ulna. 
 
 This arrangement of the bones, so that there are 
 two in the distal part of the limb which has the 
 most rapid motion, and therefore is the most 
 exposed to accidents, is a very beautiful part of the 
 animal structure, and evinces wisdom and design 
 which are above all praise. The strongest of 
 these two bones in either limb, has something the 
 form of a bow ; and the smaller one is applied to 
 it in a manner resembling that of a bow-string. 
 But from the peculiarity of its form, being enlarged 
 at the middle part, this smaller bone is very stiff in 
 proportion to the quantity of matter which it con-
 
 204 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 tains. In consequence of this peculiarity of form, 
 and of the manner in which it is applied, the 
 small bone acts upon the large one in that way 
 which, carpenters call "both a tie and a strut," 
 that is, it equally prevents the ends of the large 
 bone from being pulled asunder and pressed to- 
 gether ; and thus it gives far more strength, to the 
 part of the limb in which, it is found, than if that 
 had consisted of one bone containing the same or 
 near double the quantity of matter that there is 
 in the two. It is this union of the greatest possible 
 degree of strength Avith the least possible quantity 
 of matter, which makes the structure of animals so 
 perfect in a mechanical point of view, compared 
 with anything which human skill can contrive. 
 
 The posterior extremity is terminated by the foot, 
 which bears some resemblance to the hand which 
 terminates the anterior extremity. Like that, it 
 consists of three successive sets of bones, which 
 are called the tarsus, the metatarsus, and the toe?, 
 the latter consisting of phalanges, as is the case in 
 the bones of the fingers. 
 
 The brain in all the mammalia is well developed 
 as compared with that in any other class of ani- 
 mals ; and it is amply defended by the skull. The 
 organs of sense are also all well developed, although 
 in those species which live in the water, the exter- 
 nal ears are very imperfect. It does not appear, 
 however, that this is any very serious impediment 
 to their hearing. All the mammalia have the 
 tongue fleshy and adapted for an organ of taste; but 
 the degree of acuteness in this most probably varies 
 with the covering of the tongue, being less acute 
 in such as have the tongue rough, or studded with 
 hard papillae, or with small teeth, as it is in the
 
 MAMMALIA. 205 
 
 cat family. We shall not farther enter into any 
 general account of the structure of the mamma- 
 lia, which however reaches to all their functions, 
 and to all the parts of their economy ; but we 
 shall shortly notice the grounds upon which the 
 class may he most correctly as well as most conve- 
 niently divided into orders, in accordance with 
 their organisation, and consequently with the ha- 
 bits for which that organisation is, in all cases, 
 adapted. 
 
 3. The most essential differences in the mam- 
 malia, are those of the organs of motion and 
 prehension, by which they are conducted to their 
 food and enabled to seize it ; and their organs of 
 mastication, by which their food is prepared for 
 digestion in the stomach. 
 
 The portion of the organs of motion and touch 
 in which we are chiefly to seek those general cha- 
 racters which guide us to the nature of the haunts, 
 the habits, and, to a considerable extent, the food 
 of the different races, is the structure of the last, 
 or distal one of those three parts, of which, as 
 we have said, the limb of all the mammalia is 
 composed. On the anterior limbs this distal por- 
 tion is the hand, and on the posterior one the foot. 
 
 But when man, whose peculiar structure in this, 
 as in all other respects, entitles him to be considered 
 as perfectly distinct from all the others, is left out 
 of the question, we find a great degree of simila- 
 rity in all the four feet of each of the other mam- 
 malia. No doubt we must take man as the grand 
 typical animal in this respect, the one in which 
 the hand and the foot are respectively most perfect 
 in themselves and most distinct from each other. 
 This is of great value to us in examining the
 
 206 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 structure, and judging of the uses of the corre- 
 sponding parts in all the other mammalia ; and 
 their general relations are, when rightly used, the 
 keys of knowledge. 
 
 Now the human hand is a perfect and universal 
 hand, the hand by way of eminence ; but it is 
 simply a hand, and nothing else ; and when man 
 attempts to use it as a foot, in walking, the opera- 
 tion is equally painful and unsightly. So also the 
 human foot is a perfect and universal foot, a foot 
 so well adapted for walking upon surfaces of all 
 kinds, that we cannot say, as we can say of the feet 
 of almost every animal, that " the march of this 
 foot is necessarily confined to certain parts of the 
 earth." But still the foot of man, though a per- 
 fect foot, is only a foot, and possesses none of the 
 characters or functions of a hand. Thus, in man, 
 we have each of the two kinds of terminations of 
 the limb, perfect and distinct from the other. 
 
 It cannot be urged in opposition to this, that 
 there have been instances of human beings, who, 
 being wholly without hands, have been able to 
 perform with their feet many of those operations 
 for which the hand is chiefly used ; for there have 
 been others, who, wanting both hands and feet, have 
 performed very nice operations, such as painting 
 pictures, with the mouth or the top of the shoulder. 
 This shows that the hand, wonderful as it is in its 
 structure, is not the workman but only the tool ; 
 and in this resource which a human being finds 
 under what must be regarded as the greatest of all 
 bereavements in the way of action, is perhaps one 
 of the most convincing proofs which we have, that 
 the resources of man depend upon a principle of a 
 higher order than any which belongs, or can be-
 
 MAMMALIA. 207 
 
 long, to the other animals to beings which return 
 wholly to the dust when the appointed days of 
 their lives upon the earth are numbered. 
 
 The extremities of the limbs in the other mam- 
 malia, are never perfect hands or universal feet, as 
 they are in man, though in the different orders 
 they vary, from partaking more of the character of 
 hands, to partaking more of that of feet. When 
 they have the hand character, however, it is always 
 in the simple form of grasping or prehensile hands ; 
 and though the anterior ones have perhaps this 
 property in a higher degree, as they have more 
 offices to perform, the hind ones are in every 
 case only fit for grasping and climbing ; but in 
 addition to taking their part in this, the fore ones 
 have often to seize the food to convey it to the 
 mouth, to hold it while it is eaten, and sometimes 
 to prepare it for eating. When they have all these 
 offices to perform, they make of course the nearest 
 approach to the typical or human hand that can be 
 made by any of the lower animals. 
 
 When the extremity of the limb has more the 
 character of a foot than that of a hand, it does not 
 incline toward the type of the human or universal 
 foot, but to that of some one particular foot, adapted 
 for walking on one particular kind of surface, but 
 not on surfaces generally ; and this again points 
 out to us that these animals are local in nature, 
 fitted only for particular places and departments 
 of it, and have not the universal adaptation and 
 resources of man. 
 
 Besides climbing, the operations which the feet 
 of the mammalia have to perform, in addition to 
 those of locomotion, are seizing the prey and dig- 
 ging or burrowing in the ground. Both of these
 
 208 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 require considerable development and perfection 
 in the phalanges of the toes ; but different forms 
 of the claws, or horny armatures of the extremities 
 of them, are required for the two operations. The 
 preying foot, or paw as it is usually called, is 
 furnished with sharp and crooked claws, which, in 
 the more typical animals of this kind, as in the 
 cat, from the lion downward, are more or less re- 
 tractile, that is, capable of being withdrawn into 
 sheaths, and having their sharp points protected 
 while the limbs are stretched in walking. But 
 even in these claws there is a most beautiful mo- 
 tion, which shows the amazing wisdom with which 
 everything in creation is fitted to its use. When 
 the limb is extended, and the protusion of the 
 claws would injure them as instruments of prehen- 
 sion when the time of catching the prey arrives, 
 the claws are drawn in, not by any muscular effort 
 requiring labour on the part of the animal, but 
 merely by the elasticity of the ligaments. In like 
 manner, when the claws are protruded so that they 
 can act, their action is occasioned, not by a mus- 
 cular effort which would require exertion, and 
 waste the strength of the animal, but simply by 
 the same power of elasticity in the ligaments. 
 This fact of throwing many of the most severe and 
 continued actions of animals altogether off the ani- 
 mal or living system, and upon the simple proper- 
 ties of matter which need no exertion of animal 
 life, frequently occurs throughout the whole range 
 of the more active animals, and is one of the most 
 wonderful provisions which they display. 
 
 In proportion as the extremities of the limbs are 
 less developed, the toes fewer in number, and their 
 phalanges less perfect, and especially in proportion
 
 MAMMALIA. 209 
 
 as the whole of that portion of the foot which 
 comes in contact with the ground is covered with 
 horn or any other insensible substance, the foot 
 may be considered as losing its prehensile character, 
 and becoming more exclusively an instrument for 
 walking. There is a remarkable instance of this 
 in the foot of the horse, as compared with that of 
 the elephant. The foot of the horse has the whole 
 of its extremity enclosed in one horny hoof. The 
 foot of the elephant has the toes but little produced 
 without the integuments, but they are otherwise 
 free. Thus the elephant can use the foot along 
 with the proboscis, as a sort of hand ; while the 
 horse, Avhich has apparently the more handsome 
 foot of the two, can make no such- use of it. The 
 feet of the mammalia, and the peculiar kind of 
 ground and of action upon that ground, open a 
 very wonderful field for our contemplation ; but 
 this field is as wide as it is wonderful ; and we have 
 merely hinted at it to show of what great use it 
 must be in the natural knowledge and classification 
 of these, the most interesting of all animals. 
 
 4. Another part of the structure of these animals 
 which serves to guide us to the knowledge of their 
 general character (and it is the last to which we 
 shall advert) is the character of the teeth. Con- 
 trary to what those who have not reflected on the 
 subject would be apt to suppose, the teeth, upon 
 which the character of the animal in respect of the 
 nature of its food chiefly depends, are not those 
 which are most in sight, or appear the most formi- 
 dable when we examine the mouth of the animal. 
 The tusks of the elephant and the wild boar 
 though they appear- so large and formidable, are 
 not intended to make an unprovoked attack on the 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 life or safety of any other animal ; and there are 
 harmless animals possessing very large teeth in the 
 very places of the mouth where the larger beasts of 
 prey have their weapons of slaughter. 
 
 The teeth which are most characteristic of the food 
 of the animal, the nature of which is one of the most 
 essential elements of its general character in nature, 
 are not the incisores or cutting teeth in the fore 
 part of the jaws ; for these are often most formid- 
 able in timid animals which live wholly upon 
 vegetable substances, as in the hare and the 
 beaver; neither are they the canines,' or dog teeth, 
 at the angle of the jaws, or just behind the cutting 
 teeth, for the tusks of the elephant and the boar, 
 already alluded to, are of this kind, and their teeth 
 are also very much produced in other vegetable 
 feeders, such as the musk deer. The really charac- 
 teristic teeth are the cheek teeth, improperly 
 called molares, or grinders, because those animals 
 which have these grinders and a grinding motion 
 of the jaw are all vegetable feeders. This grind- 
 ing is their distinguishing character, in so far as 
 that depends on the teeth. Those which feed upon 
 insects and other small animals have the tops or 
 erowns of the cheek teeth formed into little knobs, 
 or what are called tul>erculated teeth, which, again, 
 is their character, in as far as their character de- 
 pends on the teeth. The teeth which are more 
 peculiarly fitted for tearing, dividing, and bruising 
 the flesh of warm-blooded animals have trenchant 
 edges formed something like the teeth of a saw, 
 with one larger point in the middle and a smaller 
 one before and behind it. These are the true 
 carnivorous, or flesh-eating teeth ; and an animal 
 is more or less given to kill living warm blooded
 
 MAMMALIA. 2 
 
 animals and eat their flesh, in proportion as it is 
 more or less furnished with teeth of this descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Though those forms of the teeth are among our 
 best guides to the general characters of those 
 animals in which they are found, the characters to 
 which they guide us are only general and not 
 absolute. For in every animal there is a certain 
 range within which it can subsist in respect of food 
 as well as of everything else. Even the lion, which 
 in a state of nature is among the most carnivorous 
 of animals, can be brought to feed in part, at least, 
 upon the pulpy and farinaceous parts of vegetables ; 
 and some of those animals which, in a state of 
 nature, are the most exclusively vegetable feeders, 
 can be brought by necessity to eat animal sub- 
 stances. It is very commonly said that in some 
 of the northern islands, as for instance in Shet- 
 land, the cows eat herrings, and resort to the sea 
 in the winter to feed upon such animal remains as 
 the tide leaves along the shore. We also know 
 that, on the common pasture, and when there is 
 no necessity in the want of vegetable food to 
 drive them to such an alternative, cattle will often 
 gnaw bones, old shoes, and other animal remains. 
 But still, notwithstanding these and many other 
 exceptions which could be mentioned, the general 
 character of the cheek teeth of any of the mam- 
 malia is the most certain guide that we have to 
 the general nature of its food. 
 
 5. This range, in respect to the nature of that 
 on which it subsists, that every animal is capable of 
 taking when the necessity of the case requires, is 
 one of the most remarkable instances which we 
 hare of the provident bounty and goodness of Hint
 
 212 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 to whom all are indebted for the origin and the 1 
 continuation of their being. We, notwithstanding 
 all our reason, which, in our weakness, we are 
 often but too apt to boast of, rather than to turn to 
 the proper account in true knowledge of our 
 Maker, and humbled obedience to his law and will, 
 natural and revealed, we, notwithstanding all 
 this, are unable " to tell what a day may bring 
 forth ;" and if this be our case, endowed as we are, 
 what can we think of the other animals, which 
 must depend upon instinct alone ? Therefore, the 
 fulfilment of the gracious promise that " they shall 
 not want," required some such adaptation to circunir 
 stances as. that which has been mentioned. Those 
 general causes, but little known even to us, which 
 act powerfully upon large portions of the surface of 
 our mortal dwelling, sometimes completely destroy 
 the one peculiar and most favourite food ot one kind 
 of animal, or they reduced it so low that what is 
 left is not more than enough for the mere con- 
 tinuance of the race. They take away the prey, 
 but they at the same time leave the preyer ; and 
 if that preyer could not turn to some other 
 resource, the loss of one would soon become the 
 loss of all ; for the whole of the living world are, 
 in a state of nature, dependent upon each other. 
 
 We find a remarkable illustration of this when 
 we turn our thoughts toward ourselves. We, as 
 has been said, possess the universal hand for 
 working, and the universal foot ; and, it is not 
 a little worthy of remark that, along with this 
 universality in doing and in moving, we are at 
 the same time the most universal feeders under 
 the canopy of heaven. It is true that we have the 
 means of preparing and tempering our food by the
 
 MAMMALIA. 213 
 
 Culinary art, before we take it into the mouth and 
 subject it to the action of even those organs which 
 give it the first preparation of the stomach. But 
 still, in the nearest approach that the human race 
 makes to being absolutely in a state of nature, the 
 resources which they have in the way of food are 
 much more numerous than those of any other 
 animal. In that state they extend to a great 
 number of animal and vegetable substances, and, 
 as is said, in some instances even to the earths. 
 Humboldt mentions that some of the wild tribes 
 in the valley of the Orinoco live wholly or chiefly 
 upon clay at a certain period of the year. This is 
 contrary to our common notions certainly ; but we 
 are not warranted in saying that it is impossible. 
 The simple elements of which the human body, 
 like the bodies of all other animals, is composed, 
 are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, all 
 of which may exist separately in the state of gas ; 
 and although the food of man, and of all the mam- 
 malia, in the ordinary way, consists of organised 
 Substances, taken into the stomach for the purpose 
 of being digested and assimilated by the nutritive 
 system of organs, we do not know to what extent 
 the body may, upon emergency, be capable of 
 absorbing those elements by other means. We 
 know that those whose bodies are exposed to certain 
 steams and vapours become and continue fat with 
 very little direct feeding by the mouth ; and we 
 also know, that those who are exposed to steams 
 and vapours of other kinds remain thin and spare 
 with the most sumptuous feeding ; but the rationale 
 of the matter in both is without the pale of our 
 philosophy. We see enough in it, however, to 
 convince us, that we must not confine our opinions 
 of nature to any one limit that we can form.
 
 214 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Viewing the almost universal adaptation of the" 
 hands and feet in man in conjunction with the very 
 miscellaneous nature of the food upon which he 
 can not only subsist, but enjoy equal health, and 
 exert equal strength, we naturally conclude that 
 in proportion as other animals are more general in 
 their adaptation, they" also must be more miscella- 
 neous in their feeding. In this, however, there is 
 one precaution with regard to the feet, of which we 
 must be careful not to lose sight. In so far as the 
 feet of the animal merely serve the purpose of 
 conducting it to its food, they'do not, whether they 
 are grasping instruments or mere instruments of 
 motion, give us any information as to the nature 
 of that food. It is only in so far as the feet are 
 evidently instruments of prehension, directly em- 
 ployed in seizing the food, striking it down, or 
 otherwise bringing it within the power and posses- 
 sion of the animal, that we can infer the nature of 
 the food directly from them. Thus the fore feet of 
 all the apes and monkeys are fitted for grasping and 
 pulling, but not for wounding or inflicting any 
 serious injury upon a living animal of any consi- 
 derable size. From this we would very naturally 
 conclude, that one principal part of the food of 
 these animals is fruits of different kinds, which 
 they pull from the trees ; and that if, in addition to 
 this they feed upon animals, it can only be upon in- 
 sects, and other very small ones which they can take 
 into the mouth entire. On the other hand, when we 
 examine the paws of any animal of the cat family, 
 we can have no hesitation in pronouncing at once 
 that they are decidedly preying instruments, and 
 that even their use to the animal in walking is sub- 
 ordinate to this one. In this case, as well as is the 
 former one, the observed facts completely verify
 
 MAMMALIA. 215 
 
 the conclusion at which we arrive from the exami- 
 nation of the organ. Even the common cat never 
 attacks living prey, or prey in motion, which seems 
 to he the test of life to these animals, but with 
 the paw ; for if that prey is only a fly, the paws 
 are always put in requisition against it. 
 
 If the foot is not so directly a clutching instru- 
 ment, but is something intermediate between a 
 hand and a foot, adapted for a peculiar seat of 
 locality as we have mentioned is the case with 
 all these terminations of the bones of mammalia 
 which are feet and feel only then we must con- 
 clude from this, that the animal is more miscella- 
 neous in its feeding, and must refer to the teeth and 
 other parts of the alimentary system, to ascertain 
 to what extent it may or may not be carnivorous ; 
 and our inference must in a great measure be 
 regulated by the number of teeth which have the 
 true carnivorous character, accompanied with those 
 that have it not. 
 
 Feet adapted, for motion only guide us to the 
 haunts of the animal, and we must have recourse 
 to the teeth and the digestive organs for the gene- 
 ral nature of the food. Thus, for instance, th_e 
 hog and the sheep both have tlie foot with a di- 
 vided hoof; and all that we can conclude from this 
 is that in both the foot is merely a walking instru- 
 ment. But when we turn to the teeth, we find 
 them very different. The hog has all the three 
 kinds of teeth, incisors, canines, and cheek teeth ; 
 but none of the latter are of the carnivorous cha- 
 racter, they have the crowns only tuberculated, and 
 thus they are adapted for bruising only, and not for 
 cutting and tearing. Hence we would conclude, 
 without further observation, that the hog is a mis-
 
 216 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 cellaneous feeder, but not naturally a carnivorous 
 animal. On examining the habits of the hog, we 
 find that it has no objection to animal garbage, 
 but that when it meets with anything that requires 
 cutting or tearing r it brings the foot into action, in 
 order to hold on. Hence the common remark, 
 that nobody ever saw two hogs feeding without one 
 having its foot in the trough. If, in like manner, 
 we refer to the teeth of the sheep, we find tbat it 
 has eight chisel-shaped incisors in the lower jaw, 
 and none in the upper, and no canines ; but that 
 it has six cheek teeth in each side of both jaw.=, 
 Avith thin crowns followed like millstones ; hence 
 we conclude that the sheep is a vegetable feeder, 
 and not a miscellaneous one. 
 
 The instances which are here given are those of 
 animals with which every one is well acquainted ; 
 and we have purposely taken such, in order 
 that the reader may better see the force and use 
 of this application ; for it will be found, that every 
 animal which exactly agrees with any of these in 
 the structural characters to which we have referred, 
 agrees equally with it in its general habits. 
 
 Other characters might be mentioned, the differ- 
 ences of which indicate the different habits of the 
 animals in which they are found : and every cha- 
 racter of this kind has its value in carrying us from 
 the known to the unknown, which is the end and 
 purpose of all true and useful philosophy. Indeed it 
 is the grand advantage of these general characters 
 of the works of creation, that they not only lead us 
 to a far more extensive and useful knowledge of 
 the creatures than we can obtain by any other 
 means ; but we are also more powerfully and plea- 
 santly drawn to the contemplation of that wisdom
 
 ORDERS OP MAMMALIA. 217 
 
 and goodness which made and which governs the 
 whole. 
 
 When we contemplate the creatures in nature, 
 we ought to hear in mind that the Almighty is 
 both the shepherd of the whole flock, and the lord of 
 the whole pasture ; and that, therefore, we may he 
 prepared to expect that the one part will throw 
 light on the whole, and our prospect will brighten 
 and broaden, till, to our grateful and delighted 
 mind, " the earth " shall appear " full of the glory 
 of the Lord." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OnDEtiS OF MAMMALIA. 
 
 1. Names and Distinctions of Orders.- 2. Four-handed 
 Animals. 3. Carnassiers. Cheiroptera; Insectivora ; Car- 
 nivora (plantigrade) (digitigrade) (amphibious). 4. Ro- 
 dentia. 5. Edentata. 6. Pachydermata. 7. Ruminantia. 
 8. Cetacea. 9. Marsupialia. 
 
 1. CHIEFLY upon the characters which we 
 noticed in the section immediately preceding, but 
 with occasional reference to others, as may be 
 necessary, the mammalia are arranged into orders, 
 and those orders into smaller divisions and genera, 
 according to their structure, and their habits as in- 
 timately connected with that structure ; and, by 
 taking this method, we are enabled to gain as much 
 knowledge of the whole as may answer for all ordi- 
 nary purposes, and that with even less labour and 
 time than would be required for fully understand-
 
 218 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ing only a few species, if we took the other me- 
 thod and went to the details without knowledge of 
 the principles. 
 
 Order 1 . Bimana, two-handed. The only 
 species which this order contains is man ; and, for 
 the reasons which have been already given, man 
 does not properly, as man, in the most exalted and 
 best sense of the term, belong to this division of 
 the philosophy of nature. But let man learn of 
 the other animals : let him go to the beasts of the 
 field, and they will give wisdom ; to the fowls of 
 heaven, and they will teach understanding. No 
 future day of retribution awaits them, and yet 
 there is no error in their ways, no part of their 
 duty left undone ; therefore, let man, for whom 
 the hour of retribution is surely on the wing, take 
 heed to his steps, lest when he comes to be weigh- 
 ed in the balance he should be found wanting. 
 
 Order 2. Quadrumana, four-handed. This is 
 a very numerous order, comprehending the apes, 
 the baboons, the monkeys, and some other animals, 
 all of which have the extremities of both the fore- 
 feet and the hind ones constructed something like 
 hands. They are however hands for taking hold, 
 and not hands for working ; and a beaver with its 
 teeth, a bird with its bill, or even a coral insect, 
 which not only has no visible organs, but is hardly 
 discernible as a whole, is a better builder than all 
 the four-handed animals upon earth. Notwith- 
 standing this, the four-handed animals are not less 
 perfect in their kinds than the creatures which con- 
 struct the most curious fabrics. " Solomon in all 
 his glory," was not equal in the beauty of his 
 apparel to " the lilies of the field," and yet " they 
 toil not, neither do they spin."
 
 ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 219 
 
 Order 3. Carnassicrs, eaters of animal sub- 
 stances. This is a very extensive order ; and as 
 the character on which it is formed is not a simple 
 or a constant one, it is not so natural as some of 
 the other orders. Animal substances may be the 
 bodies of the warm-blooded animals, killed by those 
 that eat them ; they may be the iiivertebrated ani- 
 mals killed in like manner ; they may be the eggs 
 of animals before they are quickened into life ; or 
 they may be the remains of animals which have 
 died in the common course of nature, or by other 
 means than the direct attack of the preyer. An 
 animal that eats any one or more or all of these, is 
 a feeder upon animal substances. But these kinds 
 of food are so many and so varied, that the feeders 
 require to be as many and as varied as the food ; 
 and, therefore, we might be prepared to expect 
 that this order of animals would require division 
 into many subordinate groups and sections. Such, 
 in fact, is the case ; and yet the order does not 
 comprise the whole of those mammalia which feed 
 upon animal substances, or even which kill other 
 animals, on purpose to eat them ; for there are 
 others which cannot well be included in this order, 
 which have this habit, at least occasionally. It is 
 to be understood, however, that all animals which 
 are properly carnassiers, and as such included in 
 the order, prefer animal food of some kind, and in 
 some state, to food of any other description ; and 
 this is the utmost precision that can be given to 
 any definition which will apply to the whole. 
 
 All animals which belong to these first three 
 orders, or to the two, leaving out man, have one 
 character in common. They have all the three kinds 
 of teeth, incisors, canine teeth, and cheek teeth.
 
 220 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 These vary greatly in form according to the nature 
 of the animal's food ; but still they are always pre- 
 sent in some form or other ; and it is also worthy 
 of remark, that those animals which, as one would 
 say, have the mouth the most perfect, or at all 
 events the most developed, have also the whole 
 animal system better developed, and possess more 
 resources, or, as it may be expressed, a wider range 
 of instincts, than most of the others. It is true 
 that in many animals, and in every production of 
 nature, we find manifestations of wisdom which we 
 must admire, though we cannot imitate ; but we 
 find more of it in these animals, than we do gene- 
 rally in the other orders, or at all events it comes 
 more home to our ordinary understanding. 
 
 Order 4. Rodentia, open-toothed, or gnawing 
 animals. The character upon which this order is 
 formed is, again, a simple one ; and therefore this 
 is a more definite order than the third, though it 
 contains animals of very different dispositions and 
 habits. The character is that of the teeth, of 
 which the animals have only two kinds, incisors in 
 the front of the jaws, and cheek teeth behind, with 
 a blank where other animals have their canine 
 teeth. It is from this gap or opening between the 
 cutting teeth and the grinders that the order gets 
 its name. This opening is not a fault in the 
 mouths of those animals which have it, but rather 
 a decided advantage, as indeed are all the structu- 
 ral peculiarities of animals, however irregular they 
 may appear to us, when we do not take the trouble 
 of informing ourselves with regard to their uses. 
 
 The peculiar habit of these animals in feeding 
 is to gnaw hard substances, generally vegetable 
 ones, though they are not exclusively confined to
 
 ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 221 
 
 vegetable food. The gnawing teeth are placed far 
 forward in the jaws, have their edges in the form 
 of chisels, and, generally speaking, continue grow- 
 ing during the lives of the animals ; so that though 
 they wear down by the hard labour which they 
 have to perform, they are supplied at the roots as 
 fast as they w ear away at the cutting edges. Their 
 cheek teeth are calculated for bruising hard sub- 
 stances; and many of them live upon the baik of 
 trees, and some even upon the branches ; this last 
 is the case with the beavers, which collect a pile of 
 sticks for their store of food cluiing the winter. 
 Hares, rabbits, rats, and mice, are familiar in- 
 stances of animals of this order. 
 
 Order 5. Edentata, toothless animals, or, more 
 strictly speaking, animals with the teeth imperfect 
 as compared with the first three orders, which 
 have all the three kinds of tetth. These are 
 altogether very singular animals, of which none are 
 found in Europe, or in any country resembling it ; 
 and among them are included some of the curious 
 animals of New Holland, which, though true mam- 
 malia in the essential parts of their character, yet, 
 in some particulars, have a slight resemblance to 
 birds in some parts of their external appearance, 
 and also of their internal formation. 
 
 Order 6. Pachyderinata, thick skinned ani- 
 mals. The thickness of the skin is not a very 
 definite character upon which to found an order of 
 animals ; but as applied to those which are collected 
 into this order, it is almost the only one which can 
 with propriety be applied to the whole. As land 
 animals now exist, the largest in size are included 
 in this order ; but they do not agree in very many 
 of their characters. The horse, the hog, and the 
 elephant are examples of the order.
 
 222 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Order 7- Ruminantia, animals which chew the 
 cud, or bring up the food from the stomach to 
 undergo the process of mastication in the mouth. 
 As the character upon which this order is founded 
 applies to the whole system of nutrition, and the 
 feet, though they differ in form according to the 
 nature of the ground which the animals inhabit, 
 are still only walking feet in all the species, without 
 any power of being brought to the mouth, or act- 
 ing in any way across the axis or plane of the body, 
 the order is a very natural one. The animals 
 composing it are the true herbivorous animals, or 
 genuine vegetable feeders. 
 
 The greater number of them, indeed we may 
 say the whole, are social, and live in greater or 
 smaller herds, according to the species and the 
 natui-e of the pasture. This social disposition, 
 which they have in a state of nature, predisposes 
 them for domestication by man ; and hence they 
 are the proper domestic animals, the most valu- 
 able, in an economical point of view, in the whole 
 animal kingdom. Their flesh supplies the best, 
 most abundant, and most wholesome food ; their 
 hair and wool the best and warmest clothing; their 
 milk is more wholesome and abundant than that 
 of any other animals ; their skins form the best and 
 most durable leather ; very many of them are fel- 
 low-workers with man in the labours of the field ; 
 and instead of being injurious to those places where 
 they pasture and feed, they are among the princi- 
 pal means by which the wild places are brought 
 into a state fit for the plough, and again restored 
 after having been exhausted by a succession of crops. 
 
 Furthermore, they are, in one or other of the 
 species, adapted to every country and every climate. 
 The camel " the ship of the desert," carries man
 
 ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 223 
 
 and his merchandise across the burning sanxls, and 
 enables a communication to be kept up, and mutual 
 help afforded, and civilization promoted in those 
 ardent climates where, but for this powerful and 
 patient animal, man Avould be cut off from the fel- 
 lowship of mart; and as man sharpeueth man, 
 even " as iron sharpeneth iron," it is the journey- 
 ings of the camel which have, more- than any other 
 natural causes, rescued the human race from utter 
 wretchedness in those parts of the world. 
 
 Yea, in the most dreary regions of the north 
 the extremest bounds of the habitable earth, where 
 the snow but too often descends ere the scanty 
 harvest is gathered in, and the sun of heaven with- 
 draws its shining for weeks and for months, where 
 the rivers are hardened into stone, and the Avaves 
 of the sea congealed mass upon mass, and flung in 
 heaps by the last struggle of the contending wind 
 and flood, ere nature submits to the cold and still 
 dominion of the polar winter, even there, man is 
 not forsaken by this faithful and all-serviceable 
 order of animals, for there, amid the thick darkness 
 of the sunless months, the right hand of his Maker 
 finds him out, and, through the instrumentality of 
 the rein-deer, bears him as freely and as fleetly 
 over the polar snow as a bird is borne through the 
 air, while the flesh of the same wonderful animal 
 supplies him with food, and its skin, impenetrable 
 by the keenest wind, protects him from the cold. 
 Thus we find that in those remote places where 
 the furrow refuses to yield an increase of any sort 
 of grain fit for the food of man, the ruminant ani- 
 mal becomes his only wealth and his only resource ; 
 and so well is that animal adapted to those peculiar 
 countries in which alone it is found, that its
 
 224 WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 favourite food is almost the last lichen or hard 
 plant of the rock, which grows fast by the extreme 
 boundary of animal and vegetable life. 
 
 In climates of more temperate character, which 
 vary only as we descend into the valley or climb 
 the mountain height, we find those animals still 
 ready to administer to the wants of man, at what 
 elevation soever he may pitch his abode. In the 
 rich meadows and wide savannahs by the banks of 
 the great fertilising rivers, the stately ox collects 
 his multitudes, and dispenses plenty all around. 
 The dry upland is spotted over with the gentle 
 sheep ; the mountain crags are overhung with the 
 browsing goat ; and, far above all human habita- 
 tion, the chamois and the ibex bound from rock to 
 rock, as if the same power which ordained them 
 their lofty dwelling had given their feet some of 
 the attributes of wings. In the wide plains of the 
 African continent, where fertility and famine divide 
 the year, innumerable herds of antelopes bound 
 from pasture to pasture, far more fleetly than the 
 deer on our mountains ; varieties of the same cu- 
 rious and beautiful race follow the margin of the 
 desert, through southern Asia, and abound in all 
 the sunny lands of the East ; nor must we forget 
 that species, the beauty and the fleetness of which 
 is so often referred to in the inspired volume 
 
 " The wild gazelle on Judah's hills." 
 
 Order 8. Cetacea, whales and whale-formed 
 mammalia. This is also a very natural order, 
 although founded rather upon the element in which 
 the animals live, and their adaptation to that ele- 
 ment, than upon anything connected with their 
 mode of feeding and general disposition as con-
 
 ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 225 
 
 nected with that. They arc all animals having red 
 and warm blood, having their bones more resem- 
 bling the bones of land animals than those of fishes, 
 breathing the free air by means of lungs, for which 
 purpose they must at short intervals come to the 
 surface of the water, bringing forth their young 
 ones alive, nourishing them with milk,and watch- 
 ing over them with the same solicitude as those 
 nursing mothers which dwell upon the land. They 
 all have the bones of the lower cavity, or pelvis, 
 nearly obliterated, and the spinal column produced 
 and ending in a tail, which, however, consists of 
 muscular fibres and membranous tissues, without 
 any rays like the tail fin of a fish; but as the 
 mammalia generally have a higher degree of animal 
 development than the colder finny tenants of the 
 flood, the motions of these animals exceed those of 
 any of the fishes properly so called ; and as some 
 of the species far exceed all other animals in size, 
 their power in the deep is almost beyond our 
 imagination. 
 
 Thus far the whole of the order agree with each 
 other ; but beyond this there are remarkable dif- 
 ferences in the food and the feeding, and conse- 
 quently in the disposition. Some browse the weeds 
 at the bottom of the water, and the plants on its 
 margin ; and these are as gentle in their manners 
 as the oxen in the meadow, nor does their flesh 
 differ greatly from the flesh of oxen either in taste 
 or in quality. These are found only in the fresh 
 waters of warm countries, and therefore they do 
 not require to have the vital parts of their bodies 
 protected by a thick layer of oily fat under the skin. 
 
 The greater number, however, inhabit the ocean, 
 and it is probable that some of the larger ones 
 
 VOL. I. Q,
 
 226 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 range the whole of its wide expanse with the same 
 freedom as oxen range a meadow, or sheep a hill 
 pasture ; the rate of their motion through the 
 water heing estimated at upwards of a thousand 
 miles in the day. But even of these giants of 
 living nature, some are as harmless and as gentle 
 as lambs. The common black whale of Green- 
 land, whose numbers have been so much thinned 
 by annual fishing in polar seas, has not a tooth, 
 nor the capacity of swallowing a substance larger 
 than the human hand when closed, or even so 
 large. This catches in its whalebone net, as it 
 swims along,, the small animals which float in the 
 water ; and as it apparently feeds with less exer- 
 tion of its general system than any other living 
 creature, so it is generally the fattest of the whole. 
 Other whales are without the net, have their 
 mouths more formidably armed, are very voracious 
 in their feeding, can swallow a fish sixteen feet 
 long ; and as these, and not the black whale, are 
 the ones found in the Mediterranean, it is pro- 
 bable that they are the fish alluded to in the book of 
 Jonah. Some of the smaller ones are exceedingly 
 voracious ; and we find porpoises and other small 
 cetaceas pursuing the salmon up the estuaries of 
 our rivers, and devouring them in vast numbers. 
 
 Order 9. Marsupialia, pouched animals. These 
 are a curious race ; and appear as if they belonged 
 to a distinct class of animals from the common 
 mammalia. Their very expression is different. 
 They have a wild and wandering look, their cover- 
 ing, their structure, and even the places where 
 chiefly they are found are all peculiar. Some are 
 met with in America, as far north as the United 
 States; and there are some also in the south
 
 ORDERS OP MAMMALIA. 227 
 
 eastern countries of Asia ; but they appear in both 
 of these as scattered remnants, having little kindred 
 with the other and more numerous and character- 
 istic of the native mammalia. Australia, that vast 
 extent of country, which lies to the south east of 
 Asia, and which even yet is but imperfectly known, 
 is their head quarters ; and they are its charac- 
 teristic and probably its only aboriginal nuiin- 
 
 Nor must we omit to remark, that while those 
 animals of this singular part of the world seem to 
 stand lower in the scale of animal development 
 than the mammalia of other countries, even so, 
 when these lands were first visited by Europeans, 
 their human inhabitants werelowerdowninthescale 
 of understanding than the natives of any other 
 region;. They possessed cunning, and had wea- 
 pons of destruction, in the use of which they were 
 dexterous ; for it seems to be a part of the natural 
 disposition of frail and fallen men, that the first 
 art which they learn is that of destroying one 
 another. But they had no houses^ few accommo- 
 dations of any kind, no history, no superstition, 
 and no bowels of mercy for the diseased and the 
 aged ; for, among them, all such as were unable to 
 provide for themselves and maintain their ground, 
 had nothing left but to creep into holes and caves 
 of the earth y and there lay themselves down to die, 
 without pity and without hope. 
 
 When we think of these things, how grateful 
 ought we to be to the Almighty for that, of his 
 gracious mercy to us, "The sun of righteousness 
 hath arisen with healing under his wings," that 
 the rospel of Jesus hath come unto us in its 
 purity and its power ; not only bringing life and 
 Q 2
 
 228 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 immortality to light, but callingforth and nourishing 
 all the kindly charities ; giving science the eye of 
 the eagle, art the hand of the cunning workman, 
 and knowledge with all its benefits the wings of 
 the wind, so that they hare spread, and are spread- 
 ing to the uttermost parts of the earth, and will 
 spread, until all nations, and kindred, and tongues, 
 and languages shall unite in one grateful song of 
 jubilation and of joy : " Glory to God in the 
 highest, on earth peace, good will to the children 
 of men." 
 
 In the form of their feet those animals vary much 
 according as they are adapted for one sort of sur- 
 tace or another ; but still they are all toed animals ; 
 and the toes are generally well developed. Their 
 teeth also vary considerably ; and some of them 
 are adapted for killing living prey, and others for 
 feeding upon vegetable matter only; yet, even here 
 too, there is a sort of family likeness among them, 
 and a difference from the other mammalia. In- 
 deed, one who is familiar with animals would have 
 no great difficulty in ascertaining by the sight of 
 even a part of one of these, that it was a marsu- 
 pial animal. 
 
 The grand distinguishing character, however, is 
 the marsupium or pouch on the abdomen of the 
 female. This is more developed in some of the 
 species and less in the others ; but it belongs to 
 the whole, and there are two additional bones in 
 the skeleton for the purpose of supporting it. It 
 opens to the front ; and in the more typical races 
 extends as far forward as to contain all the mamma} 
 or suckling apparatus. This apparatus is some- 
 what different from that of the common mammalia, 
 .because the young have recourse to it for support
 
 ORDERS OF MAMMALIA. 229 
 
 at an earlier stage of their existence. They are 
 brought forward for some short time in an internal 
 .matrix, as is the case with the others ; but they 
 do not remain there till they are capable of exer- 
 cising any of their external powers, or even till 
 they have acquired the form and the limbs of the 
 perfect animal. In the case of the great kangaroo, 
 one of the most typical of those animals, and the 
 only one which has been observed with the requi- 
 site attention, the young remains in the internal 
 uterus for about twenty days, at which time its body 
 is little more than an inch in length, but at this 
 early stage it changes its abode and way of nou- 
 rishment. The mother transfers it to the pouch 
 by means of a mouth, where it soon adheres to a 
 nipple, to which it remains attached until fully 
 developed and capable of motion. At the time of 
 the transfer, its different organs are merely tra- 
 ceable ; and there is not a vestige of hair on its 
 body, which is semitransparent, and in colour not 
 unlike a common earth-worm. After the young 
 have been so far brought to maturity, as that they 
 can partially find their own food, they occasionally 
 return to the pouch, in which the mother carries 
 them from place to place. The larger animals of 
 this order, which have the pouch more fully deve- 
 loped have the hinder part of the body very large 
 and strong as compared with the fore part ; they 
 perform their principal motions by leaping on the 
 hind legs; and their tails are so large and strong, 
 that upon occasion they can bring them to the 
 ground as a third foot, not for motion, of course, 
 but for support. Among the common mammalia, 
 almost the only animal which can use the tail in 
 this manner is the beaver, which is thus enabled to
 
 230 . WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 stand as it were on three feet, and thus support 
 itself without leaning against its work, while the 
 fore feet and the mouth are occupied in building or 
 repairing that curious dwelling which it erects for 
 itself. It is not true, however, that the beaver 
 uses its tail as a spade, a trowel, a mallet, or any of 
 those instruments for which the earlier describers 
 of animals have represented it as being a substitute. 
 Such in brief outline are the principal orders 
 into which the mammalia have been arranged by 
 those who have attended most carefully and most 
 philosophically to the organisation and the habits 
 of the different members of the animal kingdom ; 
 and we shall now turn back and very briefly notice 
 some of the leading habits and subdivisions of the 
 principal orders, so as that we may understand 
 the place which they hold, and the part which they 
 act, ia the grand system of creation. 
 
 QTJADRUMANA. 
 
 It has already been said, that this order com- 
 prises all the animals which have the four extre- 
 mities formed for grasping rather than for walking 
 on the ground ; and there are some of them in 
 which the tail, which in these cases is usually very 
 long, conies in as a fifth grasping instrument, 
 being prehensile, that is, capable of curling round 
 the branch of a tree with so much firmness as that 
 the animal can suspend itself by it, and by swinging 
 both its body and the elastic branch round which 
 the tail is curled, contrives to reach other branches 
 which it could not possibly do by grasping. 
 
 Before the philosophy of natural history was 
 properly understood, and the uses of organs were
 
 'QUADIitMAKA. 231 
 
 considered along with their structure, it was not 
 unusual to make man the standard of judgment 
 in the case of all animals ; and it is a remain of 
 this system which still leads naturalists to place 
 the grasping animals at the head of the irrational 
 mammalia. Upon purely philosophical grounds, 
 that place ought certainly to be given to those ani- 
 mals which are the least confined to one particular 
 locality, mode of life, and kind of food, and which 
 have consequently the greatest sagacity and the 
 most numerous resources. In this view of the 
 matter, none of the four-handed animals are en- 
 titled to take the lead ; for the dog is unquestion- 
 ably superior to them all, and in adaptation to 
 climate, miscellaneous food, and number of re- 
 sources, the family of animals to which the dog 
 belongs is certainly superior to all others. 
 
 It is true that in some parts of their structure 
 many of the handed animals have slight resem- 
 blances to man ; but it is worthy of remark, that 
 those which resemble him the most in one particular 
 resemble him less in some others. Thus the apes 
 without tails, the chimpansee, the ourang-outang, 
 and the others of that division, have the canine 
 teeth Tery little longer than the other teeth, they 
 have certain parts of the body nearly destitute of 
 hair, and some slight resemblance to human beings 
 in the form of the head, though none in the nose 
 and chin. But these animals have no cheek 
 pouches; and some of them have the fore legs 
 very long in proportion to the hind ones, while all 
 of them are bad walkers. 
 
 The chimpansee is an African animal, not very 
 large in size, with remarkably large ears and the 
 nose flat, and though it can walk better than some
 
 232 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of the others, its walk is very shambling, as the 
 feet partially turn the soles inward. The ourang- 
 outang is a native of the eastern islands, consider- 
 ably larger in size than the chimpansee, with the 
 fore legs reaching the ground when the hody is erect; 
 whereas, in the chimpansee, they do not reach 
 lower than the knee joints ; and in the ourang- 
 outang the feet are still worse adapted for walking, 
 as they turn fairly on the outer edge when the 
 animal applies them to the ground ; and thus even 
 with the assistance of its long fore legs, its march 
 is exceedingly awkward and laborious. 
 
 The different localities to which these two species 
 are adapted, will show the size of their different 
 structures, and also throw considerable, light upon 
 the part for which the Avhole order have been 
 formed for acting in the economy of nature. The 
 chimpansee lives in those parts of Africa where 
 the forests are not continuous, but consist of a 
 succession of thickets and detached trees ; so that 
 this animal has to pass on the ground from thicket 
 to thicket, or from tree to tree. The.ourang- 
 outang, on the other hand, (and there are two or 
 three other species in the same countries bearing 
 much resemblance to it) inhabits countries where 
 the forests are thick and close, and there is little 
 occasion for a tree animal ever descending to the 
 ground ; accordingly it is less adapted for walking 
 than the chimpansee, but much better for making 
 its way among trees, not only on account of the 
 length of its legs, but of their articulation ; for the 
 hind legs have nearly as much motion across the 
 axis of the hody as the fore legs, so that what we 
 call the foot can be stretched out sideways to reach 
 a branch with nearly as much ease as that which
 
 QUADROIAXA. 233 
 
 we call the hand. All those apes which have the 
 teeth even are forest animals, and feed almost 
 exclusively upon vegetables ; they are quite help- 
 less out of their forests; and though not very 
 vicious animals, man can turn them to no very 
 useful purpose ; for though it is highly probable 
 that their flesh would be wholesome as food, the 
 form of their bodies occasions a sort of repugnance 
 to the use of it for that purpose. The digestive 
 organs of animals are always in accordance with 
 the teeth, as forming part of the same system; but 
 no inference with regard to the intelligence and 
 resources of the animal can be drawn from this, 
 because it is a part of the vegetative system only, 
 and not of the sentient ; and, therefore, though the 
 stomach and bowels of those tailless apes are very 
 similar to those of the human subject, it by no 
 means follows that any physiological resemblance 
 can be founded upon this. The digestive organs of 
 the pig more resemble the same parts of man than 
 those of the dog do, but no one would argue 
 thence that the pig must necessarily make a nearer 
 approach in sagacity to man than the dog does. 
 
 The tailed apes, or monkeys of the eastern 
 world, are smaller in size than those to which we 
 have alluded, and they are also vastly more 
 numerous, swarming in all the tropical forests to 
 such an extent as that they actually stun the tra- 
 veller with their noise. They are also much 
 more gregarious ; and they often leave the woods 
 and commit terrible devastation on the fields and 
 orchards of those who cultivate the ground near 
 their abodes. Being lighter than the apes, properly 
 so called, they are much more agile ; and they 
 skip and play among the branches with vast
 
 234 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 celerity. Like the former they are chiefly vegeta- 
 ble feeders ; and of course not naturally ferocious 
 animals ; but they are capricious and mischievous, 
 and for domestic purposes entirely useless. Indeed, 
 we may remark of the whole order, that they 
 belong exclusively to the rich places of the earth 
 in a state of rude nature ; and that when man 
 takes possession and cultivates, their function ceas- 
 es, and, if they are allowed to remain, they do no- 
 thing but mischief. 
 
 The baboons form another division of this or- 
 der, and they, like those mentioned, are all in- 
 habitants of the warm parts of the eastern world. 
 They are not so exclusively climbing animals as 
 the former, and therefore their feet are a little 
 better adapted for walking. Those baboons differ 
 considerably in the several species ; but generally 
 their bodies have something the resemblance of 
 those of predatory animals, with the canine teeth 
 considerably produced, generally very repulsive in 
 their appearance and ferocious in their manners. 
 Some of them are as much as between five and six 
 feet in height when they stand erect, and very strong 
 in proportion to their size. One species of baboon, 
 usually called the Barbary ape, is met with in 
 Europe, but, we believe, only upon the rock of 
 Gibraltar ; and this is the only species of the order 
 which occurs in our quarter of the world. 
 
 On the American continent, that is in the tropi- 
 cal part, where the forests are very numerous and 
 extensive, there are many handed animals. These 
 are generally of small size, with the extremities 
 very long, and many of them having the tail pre- 
 hensile in the way that has been stated ; and of 
 those American ones there are some which are even
 
 QUADRtTMANA. 235 
 
 more noisy than those members of the order which 
 inhabit the east. 
 
 When we arrive at what may be considered the 
 termination of this order, the characters both of 
 the bodies and the extremities begin to be different. 
 In the tailless apes the nails on the fingers are flat; 
 and though the fingers are much longer in propor- 
 tion than those of the hand, and the thumbs smaller 
 and shorter, there is a slight resemblance ; but 
 when we come to the last of the order, the fingers 
 are furnished with claws insteadof nails, thethumb is 
 reduced to a mere tubercle, against which the fingers 
 act, the nose is more pointed, the animal does not 
 lire so exclusively by climbing among the branches; 
 and the order ultimately verges in certain animals 
 which are climbers, but which, in other respects, 
 bear some resemblance to walking mammalia, and 
 of these some are furnished with membranes or folds 
 of the skin reaching from the fore feet to the hind 
 ones, which they can spread out, and thereby pro- 
 tract their fall as they leap from branch to branch. 
 But the animals of this order are so numerous, 
 and the shades of specific difference among them 
 are so many, that volumes would be required for 
 even a very brief description of the whole. Gene- 
 rally speaking they are exclusively animals of the 
 rich forest, useless and ill-adapted for any other 
 situation; and if by any means, natural or artificial, 
 those forests should disappear, no place would 
 remain on earth for the four-handed animals ; and 
 thus all the memorials of them that could remain 
 would be their bones in accumulated ruins over the 
 surface, as we find to be the case with various races 
 of animals, whose proper localities have been taken 
 away in the lapse of years, and of which, though
 
 236 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 we sometimes find the bones in the ground, we 
 never meet with one living specimen. 
 
 All the handed animals have the mamma? pec- 
 toral, and in some other pails of their organisation, 
 as connected with the reproduction of the species, 
 there are some external resemblances to the human 
 subject, but as these also are connected with the 
 growing system only, and not with the sentient, 
 they have nothing to do with the intelligence and 
 resources of the animal. Indeed the only inference 
 that can be drawn from the situation of the mam- 
 mae upon the breast is, that the young ones can 
 suck most safely and conveniently there. All 
 climbing animals have them so situated, even the 
 sloths ; and surely they have not much resem- 
 blance to human beings ! 
 
 CARNASSIER. 
 
 Animals of this order are still more numerous 
 than handed animals ; they are also more varied in 
 their forms, adapted to more kinds of places, and 
 much more generally distributed over the world. 
 They are conveniently divided into families. 
 Cheiroptera winged hands bats. These animals 
 have their fingers greatly extended, and united by 
 membranes, which extend to the hind feet, and in 
 some of the species include the tail. Such is the 
 tendency of the system of these animals to produce 
 membrane, that many of them have the ears dou- 
 ble, and appendages to the nose. Some few of 
 them have the cheek teeth fitted for bruising 
 vegetable substances : but the greater number have 
 insectivorous teeth, and insects are the chief food of 
 the family. They also eat various vegetable sub-
 
 CARXASSIEK, 237 
 
 stances; but, notwithstanding all that has been 
 said, it is still doubtful whether they suck the 
 blood of sleepers, by first puncturing their feet. 
 These animals feed at night, or at all events, in the 
 twilight ; their flying membranes do not take hold 
 on the air, or rise through it with the same ease as 
 the feathered wings of birds, and their flight is in 
 consequence fluttering and ungraceful. They are 
 found in many parts of the world, but most abun- 
 dantly in warm countries, where caves, and ruined 
 temples, and broken sepulchres, absolutely swarm 
 with them. On these accounts they have been 
 associated with gloom and superstition ; and their 
 popular history partakes of the mystery thence aris- 
 ing. Still, their numbers show that they perform 
 an important duty in nature ; and in the warm 
 countries, especially, they are useful to man ; for 
 they not only destroy vast numbers of the noxious 
 insects of the night, but, as they are very voracious, 
 they consume many animal remains, which, if left 
 to putrefy, would taint the air, and render it alto- 
 gether injurious. Thus, when we divest ourselves 
 of prejudice, and view the creature in conjunction 
 with its use, we fail not to observe that creation 
 still merits and enjoys the original benediction 
 pronounced on it by its almighty Author, " God 
 saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it 
 was very good." 
 
 In some respects resembling the bat family, but 
 differing from it in others, there is an animal known 
 popularly by the name of the flying cat ; but it has 
 not the strongly supported shoulder joints, and the 
 firm jointed elbows which enable the bats to work 
 their flying membranes in the air, after the manner 
 of wings ; so that this animal, which is an inhabi-
 
 238 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 tant of trees, merely extends membranes between 
 its feet to keep it up, when it leaps, as is the case 
 with some of the squirrels and a few other animals ; 
 but it is quite incapable of making a stroke in the 
 air, so as to gain a new impulse. This animal, as 
 well as the bats, has the mammae on the breast, 
 while all the rest of the order have them on the 
 belly. 
 
 Insectivora : insect feeders. These animals 
 hare cheek teeth like the bats, but they are with- 
 out membranes of flight, and very short on the 
 legs y and slow in their motions. They are mostly 
 nocturnal animals, and live in burrows dug by 
 themselves, or other hiding places in the ground, 
 so that they are seldom seen during the day. Like 
 all insect feeders they are of great advantage to 
 the cultivators of the ground ; because those cater- 
 pillars and grubs which often so seriously destroy 
 useful vegetables, are the young of those insects 
 upon which animals of this description feed. Some 
 of these animals are covered with spines, and roll 
 themselves into a ball, as is the case with the 
 hedgehog, and tenric. Others, as the shrews^ 
 golden moles, and musk rats, live in burrows-; 
 while the common moles live entirely under the 
 ground. Those ground animals have generally 
 the nose produced, and the feet short and very 
 strong, while the eyes are exceedingly small, and 
 in some species covered by a fold of the common 
 skin, as is the case in several animals of the infe- 
 rior classes. The star-nosed mole of North Ame- 
 rica has round the extremity of the snout a num- 
 ber of cartilaginous points resembling the rowel of 
 a horseman's spur. These animals are very vora- 
 cious in proportion to their size, and remarkable
 
 INSECTIVORA-. 239 
 
 alike for their strength and their powers of endur- 
 ance. The fur of those which live under ground is 
 generally very heautiful, and that of the golden 
 mole of southern Africa reflects almost all the co- 
 lours of the rainbow, with a bright metallic lustre. 
 
 Carniwra. These are the characteristic ani- 
 mals of the order ; as the ones which, more than 
 any of the rest, kill other warm-blooded animals 
 and feed on their flesh. There are great varieties 
 among them ; but they all possess, in a greater or 
 less degree,, those trenchant teeth which we have 
 mentioned, as being the most unequivocal proof of 
 the sanguinary disposition of an animal. Animals 
 of this family are distributed through all parts of 
 the world, some races more abundantly in the cold 
 regions, and others in the warmer ; they differ 
 greatly in size and power, from the lion which can 
 master a wild buffalo, to the smaller ones which 
 can barely overcome a little bird or a mouse. 
 
 They are conveniently divided into two sec- 
 tions : those which are plantlgrada,, that is, walk 
 on the whole soles of their feet ; and digitigrada^ 
 that is, walk on the toes. 
 
 Plantigrada, are comparatively slow animate, 
 generally nocturnal in their habits; and in cold 
 countries passing the winter in.a state of inactivity, 
 and without food, which is also the case with the 
 insectivorous family above mentioned. Those which 
 pass the winter in this way are in the habit of 
 accumulating much fat on their bodies before they 
 retire to their winter repose ; and this fat seems to 
 be slowly taken up for the nourishment of the 
 body during the time that they do not feed. It is a 
 very general law among animals that those which 
 have but scanty food during the winter accumulate
 
 240 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 fat before the winter sets in, which supports them 
 during the season of scarcity. There are several 
 animals which have particular parts of their body 
 in which such accumulations take place, as, for 
 instance, the hump on the back of a camel, or the 
 dewlap between the forelegs of an ox. This section 
 contains bears, badgers, gluttons, and various other 
 animals, all of which are strong and durable for 
 their size, and very voracious when food can be 
 had ; though most of them can endure want for a 
 long time, and many can eat vegetable matter or 
 insects when animal food is not to be had. The 
 most insectivorous ones are understood to be those 
 which dig burrows for themselves in the ground. 
 All the division have five toes on each of their feet ; 
 and those toes, though they form a flat rather than 
 a spreading foot, are generally armed. They diifer 
 in their predatory characters. The bears, for in- 
 stance, have three insectivorous teeth in each side 
 of the jaw, while the gluttons have only one ; 
 hence, though smaller in size, the gluttons are, in 
 their general habits, much more sanguinary animals 
 than the bears. 
 
 Digitigrada. These walk on the points of the 
 toes, and are consequently more swift-footed, and 
 therefore better able to hunt for their prey than 
 the flat-footed animals. They are numeroxis, and 
 include the most powerful and also the most saga- 
 cious of all the mammalia. They admit of farther 
 separation into three subdivisions. 
 
 The first subdivision are, generally speaking, 
 small animals ; but they are exceedingly carnivo- 
 rous, as is pointed out by their having only a single 
 tuberculated tooth in the cheek, and all the others 
 adapted for tearing flesh. They are very sangui-
 
 CARNASSIER. 241 
 
 nary animals ; and, as their bodies are remarkably 
 long and slender, they can follow their prey through 
 very narrow places. Their feet are in general 
 short ; but they make some use of the elasticity of 
 the spinal column for assisting them in their march. 
 They are found, more or less, in most regions of 
 the world ; but they are most abundant in the cold 
 countries of the north, where many of them pass 
 the winter in a dormant state. Their skins are 
 very strong, and the hair is firmly fixed and not 
 easily spoiled, so that they are highly esteemed as 
 furs ; and an extensive trade is carried on for the 
 capture of them in the northern parts, both of the 
 eastern and western continents. Polecats, mar- 
 tens, otters, and a number of subdivisions of each, 
 to which various names are given, and sometimes 
 a summer name and a winter one when they change 
 their colours with the seasons, are the chief ani- 
 mals of this division. Some of them can be tamed, 
 but they never leave off their predatory habits, and 
 become the companions or the willing servants of 
 man. 
 
 The second subdivision are less carnivorous; 
 and, of all the mammalia, some of them at least 
 have the greatest number of resources. They have 
 two tuberculous teeth behind the carnivorous one, 
 and even that is not so trenchant as in many of 
 the rest. Many of them are gregarious, and hunt 
 in packs ; and in a state of nature they either 
 attack in large bodies, or proceed by craft more 
 than by open daring ; though the domesticated ones 
 can be trained to display great courage, and to 
 obey the instructions of man better than almost 
 any other animals. The principal animals in this 
 division are dogs, wolves, foxes, civets, and a few 
 VOL. i. B
 
 M2 WESLEY S PIIILOSOPUY. 
 
 other , all of which have the general characters 
 which we have stated, and also the surface of the 
 tongue soft and smooth. The third and last sub- 
 division have no small teeth behind the large cheek 
 tooth in the lower jaw ; and they tfl-e the most 
 decidedly carnivorous of the whole order, though 
 not more cruel than the animals forming the first 
 subdivision. There are only two genera of them, 
 hyaenas and cats. 
 
 The niouih of the hyaenas is very powerfully 
 armed. They have three false grinders, or conical 
 teeth, on each side, above and four below ; and the 
 upper carnivorous tooth is supported by a tubercle 
 on the outside and one in front, against which the 
 two trenchant points of the under tooth act. All 
 those teeth are remarkably thick and strong ; and 
 the gnawing action of the cheek teeth of these 
 animals is so very powerful that they can readily 
 break the hardest bone. In their external form 
 they bear some resemblance to the dogs ; and they 
 show a good deal of the disposition of these animals 
 in being easily tamed, and showing a strong attach- 
 ment to those who are kind to them. They have, 
 however, the rough tongue of the cats, though not 
 so much formed like a carving machine as in the 
 larger animals of that genus. The hyaena, unless 
 tamed, is restless in confinement ; and hence the 
 popular notion that it is untameable ; but there have 
 been instances of a hyaena recognising its former 
 master after an absence of two years, and exhibiting 
 as much delight at the discovery as any dog. 
 
 In the wild state these animals are nocturnal, 
 exceedingly voracious, living upon carrion, and 
 even invading the sepulchres of the dead. They 
 are useful animals, however, in clearing the warm
 
 CAUXASSIER. 243 
 
 countries of putrid and offensive substances. They 
 have only four toes on each of the feet ; Avhereas 
 the dogs have five toes on the fore feet, and four 
 on the hind ones. The surikate of Africa, which 
 in other respects belongs to the same division with 
 the dogs, has also only four toes on each of the feet. 
 It appears that though the hytena, in the exist- 
 ing species, is confined to Africa and the south of 
 Asia, it has at some period of the world's history 
 been much more generally distributed. In those 
 caves of various parts of Germany, of some parts 
 of England, and of other temperate or cold climates, 
 where the bones of so many animals are accumu- 
 lated, as that one would have supposed them to 
 have been the established charnel-houses of large 
 districts of country for many generations, the bones 
 of hysenas are found among the rest, not in casual 
 specimens, but as if they had been among the most 
 common inhabitants of the locality. So numerous 
 are they, indeed, in some of these places, that those 
 who speculate beyond the facts on such matters, 
 and it is not very easy always to refrain from so 
 speculating, have supposed that some at least of 
 these caves have been the dens of whole packs of 
 hyaenas, which collected there the bodies and spoils 
 of other animals, and devoured them at their leisure. 
 Be this as it may, it is certain that the remains of 
 the animals are found in places where no living 
 hyaana has been known naturally to dwell since 
 the very earliest historical record. The progressive 
 history of animals, and the changes which they 
 and the countries in which they once inhabited have 
 undergone in the lapse of ages, are, however, sub- 
 jects* of too extensive and too vague a nature to be 
 introduced into a work like the present, the object 
 
 R2
 
 244 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of which is to take a rapid survey of what now 
 exists. 
 
 The cats form the last genus of the carnivora, 
 as inhabiting the land ; and of the whole they are 
 prohably the most decided preyers upon living 
 animals. Of all carnivorous mammalia, they are 
 indeed the most perfectly organised for this pur- 
 pose. There are no animals, in proportion to 
 their size, so well armed for deeds of slaughter. 
 Their muzzle is short and round, and their jaws 
 also short, so that the muscles bring and hold them 
 together with much greater force than in animals 
 in which the jaws are longer. The claws on all 
 their toes are sharp and crooked, and adapted for 
 clutching and tearing; and when the animals walk 
 these are drawn backward into sheaths and con- 
 cealed between the toes, so that their sharp points 
 are protected from external injury. The retraction 
 is effected by means of elastic ligaments ; and, as 
 already mentioned, a different position of the limb 
 causes the protrusion of the claws also by liga- 
 mentous elasticity. In all the species, the great 
 muscular power of the animals is much concen- 
 trated on the fore-legs and the neck ; and in the 
 more formidable ones the difference between these 
 and the posterior parts of the animal, in respect of 
 muscular development, is very remarkable. In 
 those larger species too, and partially, indeed, in 
 all the species, the bones of the fore-legs are the 
 most compact and heavy of any bones of which we 
 are acquainted ; so that besides the powerful clutch 
 which they can take with the claws, the stroke of 
 the paw is sufficient to fell a comparatively stout 
 animal to theground, and, indeed, to break its bones. 
 
 The teeth of those animals are peculiarly carni-
 
 CAIINASS1ER. 245 
 
 vorous. They have two false grinders above and 
 below in each jaw ; their great carnivorous tooth 
 in the upper jaw has three trenchant lobes in the 
 front, supported on the inside by a smooth heel ; 
 while the under one has two very sharp trenchant 
 lobes, without any tubercle to stop its cutting 
 motion. Their cheek teeth, not of a carnivorous 
 character, are very few, being only one small one 
 in each side of the upper jaw, and nothing in the 
 under jaw at all corresponding to it. In conse- 
 quence of this their jaws, formidable as they are, 
 are by no means so well adapted for breaking and 
 bruising as those of the hysena, or even of the dog. 
 This may be observed in the common cat, which 
 finds a difficulty in endeavouring to break a small 
 bone or gnaw any hard substance, which a dog of 
 the smallest size could do with the greatest ease. 
 Hence this race of animals are fitted for eating 
 flesh much more than for gnawing the remains of 
 animals from which the flesh is in part removed ; 
 but though they are not so capable of breaking 
 bones with their jaws as the others, their tongues 
 are adapted for scraping every particle of soft 
 matter from the surface. They are beset with hard 
 tubercles, which in the larger ones have the form 
 of hooked teeth directed backwards, so that a smart 
 application of the tongue would be sufficient to 
 tear the skin of many animals in pieces. 
 
 The species of this genus are exceedingly nume- 
 rous. The domestic cat may be considered the 
 most gentle, and the gradation mounts upward until 
 it closes with the lion and the tiger, which are the 
 most formidable of all predatory animals. Those 
 more powerful ones are confined to the wilds of the 
 tropical countries, where prey for them is particu-
 
 246 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 larly abundant. The tiger is most formidable in 
 India and the Indian islands, and is not found 
 eScept in Southern Asia ; while, on the other hand, 
 Africa is the head-quarters of the lion, though it 
 also occurs in India, and probably in some other 
 parts of Asia. In America there are no animals 
 of the genus nearly so formidable as those of the 
 old continent. The puma, which is called the lion 
 in South America, is not a very formidable animal, 
 and seems to partake in part of the manners of the 
 domestic cat. The jaguar, or American tiger, is 
 more formidable, but still it is by no means equal 
 to the tiger of the East. In the northern coun- 
 tries, animals of this genus are of smaller size, and 
 covered with more lengthened fur in proportion to 
 their size than in warm climates ; but these evince, 
 in proportion to their strength,, an equally sangui- 
 nary disposition with their more formidable con- 
 geners of the South. 
 
 A great deal has been written respecting fhe 
 differences of disposition of the more formidable 
 animals of this genus, more especially the lion and 
 the tiger. The lion has been described as the 
 pattern of generosity and nobleness of disposition ; 
 while, on the other hand, the tiger has been branded 
 a> an animal devoted to blood and loving slaughter 
 for its own sake. All such statements are contrary 
 to the facts, and therefore they ought to be dis- 
 carded from every work that professes to commu- 
 nicate rational instruction on the subject of natural 
 history. The paws, the teeth, the digestive appa- 
 ratus, and, indeed, the whole structure of every 
 animal of that genus, point out that its very purpose 
 in nature is that of killing other animals, and 
 killing them in order that it may eat them. The
 
 CARXASSIER. 247 
 
 impulse or propensity to this operation of killing, 
 is the hunger of the animal, and nothing else ; and 
 when it has once satisfied this hunger it lays itself 
 down in a state of quietude and repose, and disturbs 
 no creature until it is again impelled by hunger. 
 
 Nor must we suppose that the very powerful 
 armature of those animals, for the purposes oi 
 slaughter, is in any wise a fault or imperfection in 
 the system of nature ; for they are as necessary to 
 the proper working of the system as those animals 
 on which they feed. Nay, though at first sight it 
 may seem a contradiction, the most immediate and 
 direct good which they do is to those very animals 
 which form their chief prey. In all nature, 
 throughout the whole of its varied productions and 
 forms, there is always an excess of productive 
 power, which brings more of everything into ex- 
 istence than can so continue for its average natural 
 period. This is part of that play of the system to 
 which allusion Avas made in a former section, and 
 which prevents the calamitous effects that would 
 otherwise result from those changes which are 
 continually taking place in the working of the 
 . system. It is not for the limited understanding of 
 man to comprehend the whole, and to fathom the 
 designs of Providence ; but it is matter of observed 
 truth that there are certain fluctuations of seasons, 
 so that no year is in any country exactly like that 
 which precedes or follows it. Upon this the plants 
 and all vegetable-feeding animals are dependent ; 
 and therefore if there were not a surplus of pro- 
 ductive power in them, they would never be able 
 to make up the loss sustained during the unpropi- 
 tious year ; and the system of things would be 
 thrown off its balance. But all the parts have a 
 given elasticity ; and, though we observe it not,
 
 248 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 there is no doubt that " the lion's share" goes to 
 the general stock of those animals on which the 
 lion preys whenever the balance of the system ren- 
 ders it necessary. In this way that animal, which 
 we stigmatise as a destroyer, is in the accomplish- 
 ment of the grand plan of creation really a 
 preserver. 
 
 We have no means of getting experimental proof 
 of this in Avild nature ; because whenever we inter- 
 fere the system is changed, and made artificial to 
 the full extent of our interference. But we know, 
 from repeated observation, that when man takes 
 possession, and regulates both the animals and the 
 plants according to his artificial system, the lion, 
 the tiger, and the other predatory animals, confess 
 his dominion by fading away from the land. Thus, 
 whithersoever we direct our contemplation through 
 out the whole of nature's vast and varied field, we 
 find the goodness and the preserving power of 
 nature's Author and Governor equally manifest, 
 and the fierceness of the lion and the gentleness of 
 the lamb testify alike to the watchful providence of 
 the Almighty Father of all. 
 
 Amphibia. There remains yet one small group 
 of animals, which, from their structure and mode 
 of feeding, belong to the carnassiers rather than to 
 any other part of the system ; they are not nume- 
 rous, and they are peculiar in some parts of their 
 structure, as they inhabit the water and not the 
 land; and consequently are adapted for motion 
 through the former, for swimming and not for 
 walking. 
 
 These animals are the seals and the morses ; of 
 the first of which there are several species, differing 
 from each other in some particulars ; and of the 
 second there is only one. In their general appear-
 
 RODENTIA. 249 
 
 ance these animals are intermediate between the 
 land mammalia and the cetacea. The head and 
 neck, especially in the seals, bear a considerable 
 resemblance to the former, while the body is elon- 
 gated into a swimming form. The fore-paws are 
 confined within the skin as far as the elbow joints ; 
 and the feet, which are turned backwards and 
 with the tail form a sort of swimming fin, are 
 covered so far as the ankle joints. But both ex- 
 tremities have five toes armed with claws. All the 
 cheek teeth are trenchant, and the animal feeds 
 wholly upon fish, the common seal being very 
 destructive of salmon when they come into the 
 estuaries. The seal is a familiar and playful animal, 
 and easily tamed. The morse is a larger animal ; 
 and its teeth are not so decidedly carnivorous as 
 those of the seal ; but its digestive apparatus is 
 very similar. Two large tusks, which project 
 downward from the upper jaw, give it a singular 
 appearance, which is increased by a quantity of 
 hair on the upper Up. Seals are very abundant, 
 and much sought after for their oil and their skins. 
 Morses are not so abundant ; and they are almost 
 confined to the polar seas. Though these animals 
 are called amphibia, which means living in both, 
 they are not equally adapted for the land and the 
 water. They feed in the water ; but they rise to 
 the surface in order to breathe the free air. Indeed 
 there is no warm-blooded animal Avhich can breathe 
 under the water, that mode of breathing being 
 applicable to gills only, and not to lungs. 
 
 BODENTIA. 
 
 These form the fifth order of mammalia. Their 
 principal character is that of the teeth, which are
 
 250 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 peculiar and well defined, quite distinct in their 
 arrangement and appearance from those of any 
 other order of animals. Their incisive teeth, 
 generally two in each jaw, are so formed that the 
 two jaws act like a pair of cutting pincers. In this 
 way some of them can bite severely ; but their 
 teeth are not in any way adapted for killing other 
 animals, or for tearing flesh. They are all syste- 
 matically vegetable feeders ; and the name ro- 
 dentia, which literally signifies " gnawing teeth," 
 is derived from the Latin word rodo, " I gnaw." 
 They are formed for subsisting on hard vegetable 
 substances, which call their gnawing powers into 
 action. Many of them live upon bark, and even 
 upon woody fibre, and they all have the power of 
 cutting through hard vegetable matter with more 
 success than even other animals Avhich are pos- 
 sessed of greater strength, and have their 
 mouths armed with more formidable apparatus. 
 To adapt them for this purpose, their front or 
 cutting-teeth have, as has already been hinted, 
 none of the enamel, or hard substance which forms 
 the cutting part of a tooth, anywhere but on their 
 external surfaces ; and as those teeth necessarily 
 wear away in consequence of the severe labour 
 which they have to perform, they continue growing 
 during the lives of the animals ; and if any of them 
 happen to be broken or destroyed in any way, so as 
 that the opposite one can have nothing that it can 
 act against in the operation of gnawing, that oppo- 
 site one increases to a vast length, and renders the 
 mouth of the animal very unfit for its proper func- 
 tion. The lower jaw is articulated upon elon- 
 gated condyles, so that it does not admit of lateral 
 motion, as is the case with the human jaws, and
 
 RODEXTIA. 25 J 
 
 those of all animals which grind their food. The 
 fore teeth of the rodent animals cut their food into 
 small portions, as if it were pinched off with nip- 
 pers ; and the cheek teeth, which are nearly all on 
 the same level, but have their crowns interspersed 
 with ridges of enamel supported by softer bone, 
 are adapted only for bruising the food thus pre- 
 pared, and not for grinding it. There are some, 
 however, which have the cheek teeth with a greater 
 or smaller number of sharp points ; and those 
 which have teeth of this description are partial to 
 animal substance?, and sometimes prey upon weak 
 animals, thus taking up the succession where the 
 carnivorous animals, properly so called, leave it off. 
 In general these animals have the stomach simple, 
 or very little divided by partitions, the intestinal 
 canal very long, and the cajcal appendage to it very 
 large. In one genus, however, the dormouse, this 
 appendage to the canal is wanting. In the whole 
 order, the brain is smooth r.nd simple, and without 
 any convolutions, and true to this character, the 
 animals have generally speaking fewer resources 
 than those of the orders previously noticed. The 
 orbits of the eyes are not separated from the tem- 
 poral fosses, and the shallowness of these shows 
 that the animals have small muscles to the jaws, 
 and therefore inferior power in the closing of them. 
 In consequence of this they perform their labour 
 more by a series of gnawing than by a decided 
 bite. The greater number have the fore extre- 
 mities much more feeble than the hind ones ; and 
 in many there are no distinct clavicles, and the 
 fore paws are incapable of acting in the cross 
 direction. In others, however the clavicles are 
 more perfect; and in some the fore paws can be
 
 252 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 brought to the mouth so as to assist the animals 
 in feeding, while in one genus, the aye-aye of the 
 African islands, there is a slight approach to the 
 handed animals. 
 
 Animals of this order are found in almost every 
 region of the world. Some of them live habitually 
 in trees, and are expert climbers; others conceal 
 themselves among the thick herbage at the roots 
 of trees; others again live in the open fields; and 
 others still live in holes of walls, or of the earth, 
 or dig themselves burrows. Several of those which 
 are inhabitants of cold latitudes, or countries near 
 the perpetual snow upon the mountains, pass the 
 winter in a dormant state ; while others are active 
 at all seasons. 
 
 In general they are timid animals, and avoid 
 the sight of man ; and their skins and fur are ge- 
 nerally of weaker texture than those of carnivorous 
 animals. Some of them are, however, remarkable 
 for the delicate textnre of their coats ; and their 
 skins are on this account highly valued as furs. 
 The larger ones are much sought after as human 
 food ; and it is probable that the whole family have 
 wholesome flesh, though some are too small for 
 being of much value, and others have got a bad 
 name from the depredations which they commit. 
 The mice and rats which infest houses are of this 
 latter description ; and so are some of the field 
 ones which often invade the cultivated parts of the 
 country as thick as locusts. 
 
 Animals which, like these, are found in every 
 region of the world, whether cold or warm, and 
 whatever may be the character of its surface and 
 productions, are necessarily much diversified both 
 in their appearance and their manners. Even in
 
 HODENTIA. 253 
 
 Australia, where, as we have already hinted, the 
 native mammalia arc marsupial, and not placential 
 for the whole period of gestation, as they arc in 
 most other parts of the world, there are many of 
 the marsupial animals which more nearly rcscmhle 
 the rodentia than they do any other order of com- 
 mon mammalia. Even the kangaroo has more 
 resemblance to our hares and rabbits, than 'it has 
 to other animals with which it more nearly corre- 
 sponds in size. 
 
 Animals of this order are in many, indeed in 
 most of the genera, remarkable for their fecundity ; 
 the number of their litters is often considerable, 
 and the period of their gestation is short. When 
 we consider these things, and bear in mind that no 
 power has been given in vain by the Creator, AVC 
 cannot but perceive that those rodent animals have 
 a .very essential office to perform in vital nature ; 
 and taking them in all their races, and in the endless 
 variety of stations which they occupy, they may 
 probably be considered as above all others the trim- 
 mers and dressers of the vegetable kingdom in wild 
 nature. The handed animals which live in trees, 
 eat fruits. Some which remain yet to be described 
 eat leaves in their green and succulent state ; and 
 others again dig up the succulent roots of plants 
 from the earth. But though at certain seasons the 
 rodent animals also consume green or growing 
 vegetable matter, yet their proper province ap- 
 pears to be to consume those vegetable substances 
 which are in a state of incipient decay, or the sur- 
 plus of the harder fruits and seeds, which would 
 choke each other if all left to germinate. 
 
 The genera and species are so exceedingly nu- 
 merous that it would require many volumes to
 
 254 AVESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 give a full enumeration of them, we must therefore 
 content ourselves with merely mentioning one or 
 two of the most remarkable. 
 
 The squirrels are the most numerous, and most 
 characteristic of those species which climb trees, 
 and, in great part at least, subsist upon fruits. The 
 common squirrel is well known as an inhabitant of 
 different woods in this country ; and though there 
 are many species and varieties, there is a strong 
 family likeness which runs throughout the whole. 
 They have the lower incisive teeth much com- 
 pressed ; the tail very long and covered with hair, 
 which projects laterally, something like the webs 
 of a quill. They have four toes on the fore-feet, 
 and five on the hind ones ; but the fore-thumb is 
 often indicated by a little knob or tubercle. Their 
 eyes are brilliant and lively, and stand out 
 from the sides of the head. Indeed the whole 
 order, or at all events the major part of them, are 
 remarkable for prominent eyes, and the consequent 
 range of their vision. They are lively and playful 
 animals, capable of leaping to great distances ; and 
 some of them have the skin of the sides produced 
 in such a manner as that they can extend it by 
 stretching the legs, and thus protract their fall; 
 but though these are called flying squirrels, they 
 cannot fly, that is, they cannot give themselves a 
 new impulse in the air, or leap from anything but 
 a solid support. Squirrels are found in almost 
 every part of the world ; they live in the forests, 
 and, generally speaking, are perfectly harmless to 
 man, though in some countries, especially where 
 there are nut-bearing palms, they commit consider- 
 able depredations upon the fruit of these. 
 
 Closely connected with the squirrel is the aye-
 
 RODEXTIA. 255 
 
 aye above alluded to, Of this there is but one 
 species, having the lowej incisors very much com- 
 pressed, and five toes on all the feet, of which the 
 front ones are exceedingly long, and though t'ney 
 slightly resemble hands, they are fully as like the 
 toes of a bird and have long and crooked claws, 
 not unlike birds' claws. 
 
 Rats and mice, divided into many genera and 
 subgenera, form an extensive portion of this order ; 
 so extensive indeed, and so diversified, that among 
 the smaller species, it is not very easy to say posi- 
 tively what is a rat or mouse, or what is not. The 
 greater part, if not the whole, of this family live in 
 holes of the ground ; and there is scarcely an ima- 
 ginable surface upon the earth affording subsistence 
 to a vegetable-feeding animal, in which one species 
 or other is not found. We have field-rats, meadow- 
 rats, water-rats ; and in short rats and mice, for 
 the difference between them is chiefly difference of 
 size, named after every kind of country that can be 
 imagined. Many of these collect magazines of 
 provisions against the winter ; and some of them, 
 as, for instance, the lemming of the Scandinavian 
 mountains, descend in such numbers at particular 
 seasons, as to consume everything on the surface 
 of the earth, while they themselves are followed 
 and fed upon by numerous birds of prey. Many 
 of these animals have the hair on some parts of the 
 body at least, not round in the section, but flat- 
 tened and enlarged in the form of spines. Those 
 which have this curious covering on the back are 
 chiefly natives of South America, in which we find 
 animals of other orders, of which the coverings are 
 still more curious. The marmot and the dormouse
 
 256 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are remarkable for the state of profound hyber- 
 nation in which they pass the winter. 
 
 The jerboas, and numerous other races, some of 
 which inhabit only warm countries, are also dor- 
 mant during the winter. 
 
 Our most characteristic species, or, at all events, 
 our most valuable ones in this country, are hares 
 and rabbits ; and our most troublesome ones are 
 mice and rats, especially the large brown rat, 
 which takes possession of common sewers, and 
 other subterranean passages in great cities, and 
 which is of no inconsiderable use as a scavenger, 
 though very dexterous in gnawing timber, and 
 boring into the earth. The most singular in its 
 manners, and in some respects the most useful to 
 mankind, of all these animals is the beaver. Some 
 of the accounts of Ihis creature are much exag- 
 gerated ; but still its building propensities are 
 truly wonderful, and they are sufficient to show by 
 what simple means nature can accomplish the most 
 curious ends. Beavers were once natives of the 
 British islands, and there are still a few in some 
 parts of Germany ; but they are more numerous 
 in the unfrequented parts of the Russian dominions, 
 and especially in the northern parts of America. 
 They are gregarious animals ; though each pair or 
 family are understood to be solitary in their labours. 
 They generally choose such waters as are not 
 frozen to the bottom in the winter ; they construct 
 regulating dams by which the water is preserved at 
 a uniform height ; and they form houses of stone, 
 sticks,' and mud, something in the shape of bee- 
 hives. .They have always an outlet to the water 
 from their habitations ; and they collect a store of
 
 nODENTIA. 257 
 
 provisions for the winter, which consist principally 
 of small branches of trees ; but they can, by con- 
 tinued labour, cut a branch of considerable thick- 
 ness ; and contrive to move a large lump of wood 
 through water, or a tolerably big one on land. 
 They are gentle and inoffensive animals, and can 
 be tamed without much difficulty ; and it is said 
 that in this state they will eat animal substances. 
 It is in winter only that those animals assemble in 
 their villages and huts ; for during the summer, 
 they disperse themselves over the country, and do 
 not form habitations. The fine or under fur of the 
 beaver is more prized than that of almost any 
 other animal for the manufacture of hats, as it is 
 fine in the texture, felts well, and retains its dye. 
 Beavers which have been kept in zoological gar- 
 dens in this country, have lived chiefly in the 
 water ; but they seasonally showed their building 
 propensities by carrying sticks, and examining the 
 huts erected for them, as if to see whether they 
 were in good order. 
 
 The porcupines form another singular genus of 
 animals of this order ; and they are at once known 
 by the long and hard spines with which their 
 bodies are armed, in which respect they bear some 
 resemblance to the hedgehogs. But the porcupines 
 are true rodent ia, perfectly harmless to all other 
 animals, living only upon vegetable matter, bur- 
 rowing in the ground, and having, indeed, many of 
 the habits of rabbits. The common porcupine, 
 which is found in the south of Europe, and the north 
 of Africa and Asia, is about the size of a hare. A 
 still more curious one, inhabiting the warm parts 
 of America, has the tail prehensile, so that it can 
 suspend itself from the branches of trees by clasping
 
 258 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 them with that organ. Some of the Indian species 
 have the spines flattened ; and there are some in 
 North America with the spines so short, and the 
 hair so long, that the former are not seen. It 
 would, however, be almost endless to point out the 
 distinctions of this very generally distributed and 
 exceedingly numerous order of animals. Their 
 chief use in the economy of nature seems, as has 
 been said, to be clearing the earth of vegetable 
 waste, in the same manner as those animals which 
 eat carrion clear it of animal waste ; and among 
 genera which are so numerous, and differ so much 
 in their localities, and consequently in their food, 
 we may be prepared to meet with considerable 
 diversities of habit ; as, for example, that one part 
 of the order shall make a slight approach to carni- 
 vorous animals on the one hand, and that another 
 shall, on the other hand, make a slight approach to 
 those animals which feed on green and succulent 
 vegetation. 
 
 We must still further remark of these animals, 
 that they are found in vast numbers in situations 
 where it is not very easy to see how so many 
 animals, and those too, at least for certain periods 
 of the year, hearty feeders, can subsist. We have 
 already alluded to the immense hordes of rats 
 which tenant the shores and drains in cities. 
 Rabbit warrens are generally in places of a dry and 
 sandy character, where vegetation is but scanty ; 
 and many of the foreign races, such as the chin- 
 chilla family in South America, and some resem- 
 bling these in habits, though not in appearance, 
 are found in vast multitudes in parts of the coun- 
 try which are almost desert, and where, for great 
 part of the year at least, they can have no sub-
 
 EDENTATA. 259 
 
 sistence except the dry and withered stems of the 
 seasonal vegetation which appears in such places 
 along with the rains, but disappears during the 
 drought. 
 
 EDENTATA. 
 
 The animals of this order are by no means so 
 numerous as those of the former, neither is their 
 general character, or their place and use in the 
 system of nature, so well made out. This might 
 be expected from the fact that the character from 
 which they are named is a negative and not a 
 positive one. 
 
 Edentata, or toothless, is not a correct name for 
 these animals, because it applies in its full extent 
 to one genus only. The others have cheek teeth, 
 though generally of a peculiar form ; and some 
 species have incisive teeth. They are, in fact, 
 very peculiar animals, differing greatly from each 
 other, as well as from all the rest of the mammalia ; 
 and therefore it is exceedingly difficult to find any 
 name or character which will apply to the whole. 
 
 The genera are not numerous ; and in a living 
 state they are confined to very peculiar regions of 
 the world. South America is their head quarters, 
 where the most remarkable and the most charac- 
 teristic species are found. There are also some 
 in Southern Africa, and in the south east of Asia, 
 which differ much from the American ones ; and 
 there are some analogous species of marsupial 
 animals in Australia, which, in so far as the 
 characters of their mouths are concerned, are true 
 edentata ; but they fall in more properly with the 
 marsupial division, though, in some respects, they 
 differ from all known mammalia. 
 s 2
 
 260 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 As those animals are few in number, and charac- 
 teristic of countries differing greatly from Europe, 
 we may give a brief notice of them : 
 
 First, there are the sloths, or slow walkers (tardi- 
 grada), of which there are two living species, and 
 perhaps some varieties, at least in colours ; and one 
 species of much more ample dimensions than 
 those which exist, but of which the only memorials 
 are bones buried in the earth. This extinct 
 species appears to have been of the most gigantic 
 dimensions. An entire skeleton has been met 
 with at a considerable depth in the soil in the 
 valley of La Plata ; the length of this one appears 
 to have been upwards of twelve feet ; and the 
 height between seven and eight ; this is not the 
 average measure of an elephant, but still we must 
 not judge from dimensions alone ; for the skeleton 
 of this animal is so massive, that the elephant's 
 bones beside it appear a mere assemblage of 
 reeds. On this account the animal has been 
 called megatherium which means " great beast ;" 
 and if its quantity of flesh bore the same propor- 
 tion to the size of its bones, as is usual in animals, 
 it must have been well Avorthy of the name. The 
 last phalange, or joint of the toes, contains at 
 least as much bone for the larger toe on the fore 
 foot as there is in the whole human body. The 
 structure of the feet shows that the animal could 
 not have walked excepting at the slowest pace and 
 with the greatest difficulty ; and the vast projec- 
 tion and peculiar form of the processes on the 
 spine, and of various other productions of the 
 bones, show that it must have carried a vast 
 load of flesh. Its teeth, which bear at least a 
 slight resemblance to the cheek teeth of the
 
 EDENTATA. 261 
 
 elephant, point out that it must have fed upon 
 boughs, and other hard vegetable substances, and 
 not been in the least degree carnivorous, or dis- 
 posed to injure any other animal. From the close 
 resemblance which there is between the bones of 
 the legs of this animal and those of the common 
 sloths, we would naturally conclude that its habits 
 must have been similar to theirs, namely, that it 
 must have lived in trees, and fed upon the leaves 
 and branches, hanging suspended with its back 
 undermost. The common sloths are about the 
 size of cats, and the megatherium must have been 
 at least as weighty as an elephant ; the forests 
 which the sloths inhabit contain giant trees in 
 our estimation, what then must have been the 
 character of those forests among the twigs and 
 branches of which this giant animal 'moved about 
 as lightly and securely as squirrels do in the 
 branches of our oaks ? The times when this 
 animal lived must, however, be long gone by, for 
 the bones are met with at the depth of a hundred 
 feet under the surface, and it must have required 
 the floods of many seasons of rain before this 
 depth of mud was deposited. 
 
 The common sloths, though of -but small 
 dimensions, are curious animals, adapted for one 
 locality and one mode of life only. Their hind 
 feet are much smaller, or at all events shorter, 
 than their fore ones, and they are articulated 
 something in the same way as those of the handed 
 animals w_hich are the most expert climbers. In 
 consequence of this, the side of the hind foot and 
 part of the leg come in contact with the ground, 
 and the animal cannot walk but with the greatest 
 difficulty. The toes, which are two on the fore
 
 262 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 feet of the one and three on those of the other, are 
 united together so as to form one single piece, and 
 leave no division of the foot except the claws, which 
 are long and crooked, and remain bent like hooks 
 by the action of ligaments, except when the animal 
 stretches them out by muscular exertion, which to 
 it appears a slow and painful operation. 
 
 From this structure the animal is utterly help- 
 less on the ground ; but among the branches of 
 a tree, where it catches by the feet, and suspends 
 itself without the least exertion or fatigue, this 
 animal is as completely at home, and as beautifully 
 adapted to its place in nature, as the fleetest 
 animal which sports in the meadow or bounds over 
 the heath. 
 
 The sloth is a grazing animal in some sort though, 
 it does not actually ruminate. It is wholly without 
 fore teeth or canines ; and thus it can neither bite 
 nor gnaw, so that the large leaves, with which trees 
 in tropical forests are in general furnished, serve it 
 for food ; and it, so to speak, grazes the green 
 leaves of the trees, with its back undermost, and 
 its feet against the sky. Thus its legs are a sort 
 of supporting chains and not supporting props ; 
 and, therefore, when they come to be used as props 
 it is contrary to their nature, and they do not 
 apply. 
 
 There is something farther which is worthy of 
 consideration in the structure of this singular ani- 
 mal. In all animals whose general habit is an 
 upright position on the legs, and which use those 
 legs for moderately rapid motion along the ground, 
 the arteries which supply the legs with blood come 
 off in large trunks, and gradually divide into rami- 
 fications as they reach the extremity of the member ;
 
 EDENTATA. . 263 
 
 but in the sloth, and in some of those apes, mon- 
 keys, and other animals of that order which are 
 the best climbers and the worst walkers, the arteries 
 which supply the limbs with blood come off in a 
 number of small branches, which branches again 
 unite to form the principal artery of the limb. 
 This structure renders the circulation in the limbs 
 much slower than that in the body ; and as both 
 the energy and the exhaustion of an animal, or part 
 of an animal, are in proportion to the rapidity of 
 the circulation, the legs of the sloth, though moved 
 with extreme slowness, may be regarded as pos- 
 sessing greater powers of endurance than any other 
 organs among vertebrated animals. It appears 
 also that the animals themselves are patient of 
 hunger, and can endure long without food, which 
 often begins to fail them toward the close of the 
 dry season, when the air is still and the sun beats 
 strongly through the naked twigs from which the 
 sloths have eaten the leaves. 
 
 But when the season turns, and after the light- 
 ning has given its sign and the thunder sounded 
 its trumpet, which are bright and loud in those 
 lands where the working of the Almighty is shown 
 upon the most splendid scale, and the winds rock 
 the forest to its foundations, the sloths are aroused 
 into more than wonted activity : the gusts of wind 
 bring into contact trees which ere Avhile stood 
 apart ; and thus the sloths take advantage of the 
 storm in order to disperse themselves to new pas- 
 tures, where they may live in plenty and rear their 
 progeny in peace. The female sloths have two 
 pectoral mammae ; they bring forth but one young 
 one at a time, which remains clasping the body of
 
 264 . WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 its mother with the same firm yet passive hold as 
 she clasps the branches of the trees. 
 
 Those who go to the study of nature with pre- 
 conceived notions respecting standards of beauty, 
 and who thereby blind their own eyes so as to be 
 incapable of discerning that the wisdom of God is 
 equally perfect in all his works, have affected to 
 make merry at the ungainly form and shaggy 
 covering of those animals ; but truly the only 
 jest is the folly of man (man is nature's only 
 fool) ; for, studied in combination with the circum- 
 stances under which they exist, there is not a more 
 beautiful instance of structural adaptation than 
 we find in those sloths ; and we may add that the 
 same bounty has provided them more securely 
 against the contingency of falling from the trees ; 
 for the flesh on their backs is so much accumu- 
 lated, and the hair so thick and matted, that a 
 sloth might fall from the top of the highest tree 
 without receiving any material injury. The cover- 
 ing of their bodies differs in texture from the hair 
 of most animals ; it is dry, bearing some resem- 
 blance to fibres of whalebone, and appears to be 
 much less sensible to changes of the weather than 
 that of animals which live on the ground. That 
 the tropical forests are gradually decaying and the 
 race of such animals as the sloth fast wearing out, 
 seem probable : and when we consider that their 
 giant congener, to which we have alluded, is now 
 more deeply buried in the earth than they are 
 raised above its surface, we cannot fail in regarding 
 the sloths with increased interest. 
 
 The armadillos (dasypus) form the next genus 
 of this order of animals. They are exactly the
 
 EDENTATA. 265 
 
 reverse of the sloths ; being ground animals, all of 
 them insectivorous, and some at least absolutely 
 carnivorous, digging into and eating the carcasses 
 of slain beasts (for in their country beasts are so 
 numerous that they are often slain for the skins 
 only), and also digging into the graves of the dead. 
 They are all South American animals, some of 
 them are numerous although rarely seen in pro- 
 portion to their numbers ; and they form a singular 
 feature in the ground mammalia of South America, 
 as the sloths do among those which inhabit trees. 
 
 None of the armadillos have canine teeth ; and 
 in general they have no incisors, some, however, 
 have two in the upper jaw and four in the under ; 
 while the cheek teeth, in the different species, vary 
 from twenty-eight to sixty-eight. These teeth are 
 cylindrical, stand apart from each other, and have 
 no enamel on their inner sides. The head is 
 elongated, the mouth small, and the tongue capable 
 of partial extension beyond the mouth, indicating 
 an insectivorous habit. The legs are short but 
 stoutly made, with five toes on the hind feet and 
 four or fi-ve on the fore, which are furnished with 
 long nails, well adapted for digging. In some the 
 females have only two mammas, but in others they 
 have four, though the number of their broods is 
 often greater than that. The most remarkable 
 external character of these animals is the covering 
 of their bodies, which consists of a strong coat of 
 mail of a consistency intermediate between horn 
 and bone, and exceedingly hard. This descends a 
 good way on the legs, and consists of a greater or 
 smaller number of jointed pjates, which are not 
 always constant even in the same species ; and it 
 is quite impenetrable by the teeth of any predatory
 
 266 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 animal. Their tails are long and in general co- 
 vered with rings of matter similar to the shield on 
 the back. They live in the woods and wastes, feed- 
 ing indiscriminately on the succulent hulbs and 
 plants, for which they burrow in the ground, and 
 on insects and the bodies of dead animals ; though 
 some of them at least eat the eggs and young of 
 ground birds, find are capable of killing small ani- 
 mals. In their native country most of them live 
 in comparative concealment, and several species 
 come abroad and feed only during the night ; but 
 notwithstanding the heavy armour with which their 
 bodies are covered, they are often very quick and 
 restless in their motions ; and some, which have 
 been kept alive in zoological gardens in Europe, 
 have been very prone to kill rabbits, guinea pigs, 
 and other small ruminant mammalia. There are 
 few animals so well adapted for burrowing in the 
 earth as those armadillos, and they are altogether 
 a very curious race. In general they have a musky 
 smell, which is possessed by many of the ground 
 animals of South America ; but some of the species, 
 when roasted in their own shells, are reckoned 
 very delicious eating. 
 
 A very curious animal, agreeing with these in 
 the form of its feet, and some other of its habits, 
 but differing in the shape and colour of its body, 
 is the orycteropus (digging foot) of Southern Africa, 
 which is called the ground hog in that country, 
 It is about the size of a badger, very low on the 
 legs, and covered with coarse greyish hair, which 
 is very thinly scattered over its body and tail. 
 The nose is produced and truncated at the extre- 
 mity, something like that of a pig. The ears are 
 large ; there are no incisors or canine teeth, but
 
 EDENTATA. 267 
 
 six cheek teeth in both sides of eacli jaw. The 
 fore feet have four toes, and the hind feet five ; 
 the crowns of which consist of a number of little 
 pipes of enamel filled up with bone ; the nails on 
 the toes are flattened and well adapted for digging. 
 It lives in the earth during the day, but sallies 
 forth at night to the ant-hills, where, making a 
 breach with its foot, it speedily collects a number 
 of those active little creatures on its protrusile 
 tongue, which is furnished with a gluey secretion, 
 and thus, small as its prey are individually, it 
 draws them into its mouth by hundreds, and thus 
 contrives to make a hearty meal. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that, while this animal, 
 which, on the eastern continent, bears the greatest 
 resemblance to the armadillos of the west, is co- 
 vered with hair, while they are clad in armour, 
 the ant eaters of the west should be furnished 
 with hair, while those of the east are coated with 
 scales. 
 
 The ant eaters, properly so called, are natives 
 of South America only. They are covered with 
 long hair, have a large muzzle and small mouth, 
 without any teeth, with a slender tongue covered 
 with a viscid secretion, and capable of being pro- 
 truded a considerable way from the mouth. The 
 nails on the fore feet are very strong, and with 
 these they tear large openings in the nests of those 
 ground insects which live in crowded colonies, and 
 as the insects come out they are caught in multi- 
 tudes by the viscid matter on the tongue. There 
 are three or four species, varying from upwards of 
 four feet in length to a size not bigger than a com- 
 mon rat. The largest ones live on the ground 
 only, and are very slow walkers ; but the smaller
 
 268 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ones climb trees, in which operation they are 
 assisted by the tail, which is naked toward the 
 extremity, and capable of laying hold. 
 
 The allied race are usually termed pangolins. 
 They belong exclusively to the eastern world, and 
 occupy the same place in nature there, as the hairy 
 ant eaters do in South America. Like these they 
 are confined to the wooded districts in the very 
 warmest latitudes, where ground insects living in 
 colonies are found in immense numbers. They 
 have no teeth, but their tongue is very protrusile ; 
 and their bodies, their limbs, and their tails, are 
 covered with thick scales, which are placed over 
 each other, something like tiles on a roof. When 
 attacked, these animals can roll themselves up in 
 the form of a ball, by bringing the tail across the 
 under part of the body and over the head ; and 
 when they assume this form their scales stand out 
 so much and are so strong and sharp, that they 
 form complete defences against beasts of prey. 
 They are found in the south-east of Asia and the 
 eastern islands, and also in tropical Africa ; and 
 the chief distinction between them is, that the 
 Asiatic ones have the tail rather short, and the 
 African ones have it very long. 
 
 Those singular animals have an important part 
 to perform in the economy of nature in tropical 
 climates. Wherever such climates yield a suffi- 
 cient supply of moisture, the growth both of plants 
 and of trees is rapid beyond what we of temperate 
 climates have any conception of. It is a law of 
 nature, that decay keeps pace with production ; 
 and, according to this law, the tropical forests 
 would soon be encumbered with dead wood, and 
 other decaying vegetable matter, which would choke
 
 PACIIYDERMATA. 269 
 
 and destroy all living vegetation, if some means 
 were not provided for its removal. This labour 
 devolves upon the insect races, upon the termites, 
 usually called white ants, and several others, the 
 production of which is rapid, and their numhers 
 great heyond all imagination. These myriads feed 
 almost exclusively upon timber; and in brief space 
 reduce the trunk of a large tree to powder, which 
 operation they commence as soon as the tree dies 
 and becomes sapless. In this way they prevent 
 the accumulation of rotten Avood, which would 
 destroy the vegetative power of the earth; and 
 thus while tree succeedstree with the full maximum 
 of rapidity and luxuriance, the forest is not ren- 
 dered foul by the remains of the dead. These 
 scavengers of the tropical forest require a regu- 
 lating power to be set over them ; because it is a 
 law throughout all the works of nature, that the 
 means of regulation are always in exact proportion 
 to the energy to that which they regulate. Hence 
 the use of the different species of ant-eaters, which 
 have also many races of birds that assist them in 
 regulating with that perfect wisdom and equity 
 which characterise all the laws of nature, those 
 insects in which the power of production is so 
 exceedingly vigorous - 
 
 The other animals, namely, those of New Hol- 
 land, which are usually included in this order, are, 
 as we have said, marsupial, and can therefore be 
 noticed with more propriety among the others 
 which have that structure. 
 
 PACHYDERM ATA. 
 
 This is also rather a loose character ; and the 
 animals which are arranged into this order are,
 
 270 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 like those in that immediately preceding, different 
 from each other. They have, however, certain 
 characters in common besides the thickness of the 
 skin. In them the feet cease to be in any way 
 organs of prehension, that is, they are quite in- 
 capable of grasping, and are merely walking feet. 
 In general the animals are without clavicles or 
 collar bones, so that they cannot use their fore 
 legs in any soil of cross motion, as in holding any 
 substance between them or in bringing them to 
 the mouth, though some of them can use the foot 
 as a point of rest while the mouth or its appen- 
 dages are applied to the substance so held. As 
 the races of mammalia now stand, some of the 
 pachydermata are the largest of the whole ; none 
 of them are naturally carnivorous, as neither their 
 feet nor their mouths are adapted for this pur- 
 pose ; but there are some which are rather mis- 
 cellaneous in their feeding. 
 
 They are usually formed into three sections ; 
 those with an elongated proboscis which they can 
 use as a prehensile instrument ; those which have 
 no very distinct common character except that of 
 having thick skins ; and those which have the 
 feet included at their extremities in a single hoof. 
 
 The first section consists of the elephants, which 
 are now so well known as not to require a detailed 
 description. There are two distinct species, either 
 original or climatal, namely, the elephant of Asia, 
 and the elephant of Africa. The former is the 
 larger and more gentle animal of the two, and it 
 is the only one which man has hitherto pressed 
 into his service as a labourer ; but though in a 
 state of confinement it shows attachment and do- 
 cility, and (though many of the accounts are greatly
 
 PACIIYDERMATA. 271 
 
 exaggerated) is by no means destitute of animal 
 sagacity, it cannot be said to be domesticated, so 
 as to have become a dweller with man. Elephants 
 do breed in confinement ; but this is a rare occur- 
 rence ; and almost the whole of those which are 
 procured for labour or display, are taken from the 
 herds which range the damp forests in a state of 
 wild nature. The principal places haunted by this 
 Asiatic species, are the damp countries immediately 
 to the north-east of the Bay of Bengal, and the 
 richer districts of the Indian Archipelago, where 
 they are said to be rather smaller than on the 
 continent, but more energetic in proportion to 
 their size, and, therefore, less easily broken to 
 obedience. 
 
 In a state of nature, those stately animals live 
 in their close and damp forests at comparative 
 peace with every living creature. They feed upon 
 the tall reeds and the grasses, on the boughs of 
 trees, and, generally speaking, upon all vegetable 
 substances. When cultivated fields, especially 
 those of sugar canes, are situated near the woods 
 in which the elephants reside, the animals often 
 sally forth and commit great depredations upon 
 them ; but in general they live in the retirement 
 of the forest. 
 
 The African elephant is, as we have said, smaller 
 in size than the Indian one ; and its expression is 
 not so sagacious. Its forehead is rounded, its head 
 altogether shorter, and its tusks proportionally 
 longer. Its ears also are much larger, and it is 
 a different looking animal in various other parti- 
 culars. 
 
 The tusks of elephants, which form the substance 
 called ivory, are the incisors ; and they are of no
 
 272 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 use to the animal as teeth, though they are, in 
 some cases, as defensive weapons. The other 
 teeth are adapted only for cutting and bruising 
 vegetables ; and, as they wear away by the great 
 labour required in the support of so large an ani- 
 mal, they are supplied by others from behind, 
 which push forward their predecessors ; and thus 
 the efficient part of the mouth, as a feeding instru- 
 ment, is to repair itself during the whole life of the 
 animal. In the Asiatic species the tusks of the 
 female are generally much smaller than those of 
 the male, while in the African they are nearly the 
 same. 
 
 The toes of elephants are more perfect in the 
 skeleton than those of any others of the order ; but 
 they are so cased up in the thick covering of the 
 foot that scarcely anything but the nails is dis- 
 cernible ; and of these nails the African species 
 have only three on the hind feet. 
 
 Owing, perhaps, to its great size, and its singular 
 form, the sagacity of the elephant has been ridi- 
 culously exaggerated ; and, if we were to credit 
 even half the accounts which are given of it, we 
 should be inclined to rank it the foremost of all 
 the mammalia in this respect. This, however, is 
 a mistake ; and there is not in the elephant any 
 violation of the general law which runs through the 
 whole of the animal world, that the sagacity, as we 
 call it, of animals is in proportion to the general 
 development of their sentient structure ; and that 
 this again is in proportion to the contingencies and 
 vicissitudes to which the animal is exposed. 
 
 Now the existing species of elephants are all in 
 a state of nature, not only animals of peculiar and 
 comparatively confined localities, but animals of
 
 PACIIYDERMATA; 273 
 
 localities in which, with a moderate range in pas- 
 turing not exceeding that of the heavier ruminant 
 animals which inhabit the moist meadows near the 
 waters, they can find food in abundance all the 
 year round. Those elephants, therefore, in their 
 natural state, have less use for what is called animal 
 sagacity, than animals which are thrown more upon 
 their shifts ; and it would be contrary to the 
 general system and law of nature that they should 
 possess a degree of this sagacity, which their 
 proper place in nature does not require. The fact 
 corresponds ; for, notwithstanding all that has been 
 said and written concerning it, the boasted sagacity 
 of the elephant is inferior, not only in degree, but 
 absolutely almost in kind, to that of. the dog. 
 
 What may have been the state of things when 
 elephants (or animals closely approaching to ele- 
 phants in their size and structure) were more 
 generally distributed, and reached even the extreme 
 north of the world, it is impossible for us to say ; 
 because comparative anatomy has not yet become 
 so perfect a science as that we can with certainty 
 infer the dispositions of an animal from the struc- 
 ture of its bones. But in many parts of the 
 northern climates, in several parts of Europe, and 
 especially in the north of Siberia, the skeletons of 
 elephants have been found in great abundance 
 buried in the earth ; and, in more instances than 
 one, the entire animal has been found preserved 
 in a vast block of ice. In many parts of their 
 structure those lost elephants bear a great resem- 
 blance to the species now existing; and though 
 their tusks are generally more crooked than those 
 of the southern ones, they appear to have had a 
 very similar position. In 'their covering, those 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 northern animals appear to have differed greatly 
 from their congeners of the south, and to have 
 heen especially provided against heavy falls of 
 snow and extreme cold. The southern elephants 
 have very little hair on the body generally ; hut 
 the northern ones had it abundantly, and of two 
 kinds, as is very common'in animals which have to 
 bear severe climates. The longest hair appears to 
 have been of a black colour, and formed of large 
 bristles as thick as a common rush, especially upon 
 the neck or mane of the animal ; while among the 
 roots of those bristles there was a thick coat of 
 frizzly or woolly hair, of a brown colour, and 
 calculated to form warm clothing for the owner. 
 
 There are several other fossil species of animals 
 which must have been more or less furnished with 
 prehensile trunks, and therefore bore some 
 resemblance to the elephants in their habits, the 
 remains of which are found in Asia and Europe, 
 and still more abundantly in North America ; but 
 none of these have been met with in so perfect a 
 state as the northern elephants, and therefore our 
 knowledge of them is not so precise. The investi- 
 gation of this subject is very interesting ; but it 
 would lead us to an extent quite incompatible Avith 
 the object of this compendium, which is chiefly to 
 show the economy and laws of the works of crea- 
 tion, as they now are in living or active existence. 
 
 After the elephants, follow that family which are 
 usually styled the ordinary pachydermata, which have 
 four, three, or two toes on the feet. In those which 
 have two toes, or what is usually termed a divided 
 hoof, there is a slight approach to the ruminating 
 animals, not only in the structure of the skeleton, 
 but in the stomach. Of these animals, the least
 
 PACHYDERMATA. 275 
 
 deviation from the elephant is perhaps found in the 
 hippopotamus, which is a large animal inhabiting 
 the rivers of most parts of Africa. These animals 
 have an un wieldly hody, without hair, very short 
 legs, with four hoofed toes on each, the belly 
 almost touching the ground, the head large, the 
 muzzle broad, all the three kinds of teeth, of which 
 the canines are very large, the tail short, and the 
 eyes and ears very small. They live on i-oots and 
 other aquatic vegetables which they tear up with 
 their great canine teeth. Left undisturbed, they 
 are inoffensive, though dull and stupid ; but they 
 are very ferocious when attacked. We are not 
 aware that even the most powerful carnivorous 
 animal ventures to assail the hippopotamus. 
 
 The hog family come next, of which the charac- 
 ters are well known, from the domestic animal with 
 which every one is familiar. The babyroussa of 
 India has the tusks peculiar, as those of the upper 
 jaw rise through the bone above, and are curled 
 backwards. The African hogs have most formid- 
 able tusks, and large fleshy appendages hanging 
 from their cheeks ; the peccaries have no projecting 
 tusks, and they have the fore-feet with four toes, 
 and the hind with three ; they are gentle animals, 
 and inhabit the American continent. The tapirs 
 inhabit the same continent, and have the feet of 
 the same form ; but the nose is produced into a 
 sort of proboscis, moveable, but not prehensile 
 like those of the elephants. The American tapir 
 is all over brown, and is rather a large animal, 
 being six feet long, and above five feet in height ; 
 and there is also a species belonging to the south 
 of Asia, which is larger than the American, and 
 has the back brownish white. In their habits, and- 
 
 T2
 
 276 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 also in the qualities of their flesh, these animals 
 bear a considerable resemblance to the common 
 hog, and the whole of them i'eed chiefly upon 
 Tegetable matter. 
 
 The rhinoceros is one of the most powerful -ani- 
 mals of this order : its body is remarkably thick, 
 and covered with a folded skin ; its legs are short, 
 and each terminates in three toes. It is a dull but 
 ferocious animal, inhabiting very moist places, and 
 living upon the branches of trees, reeds, and other 
 vegetable matters. The most remarkable external 
 character of this animal is an appendage on the 
 nose, which is usually called the horn, but which 
 differs from everything else in animals to which 
 that name is given. Is grows from the skin only, 
 without any core of bone, or without any of that 
 cellular structure which is observed in the horns of 
 deer. Whalebone, or a number of hairs firmly sol- 
 dered together, resembles most nearly the texture 
 of this singular appendage. The animal can, how- 
 ever, use it as a most formidable weapon. There 
 are two species of this genus, and some varieties ; 
 those of Asia have generally one horn upon the 
 nose, and those of Africa have two. When the 
 rhinoceros is kept in a state of confinement it often 
 grinds his horn down to a 'mere stump by rub- 
 bing it against its den ; tut if properly fed, though 
 a dull and sluggish, it is not a vicious animal. 
 
 All the pachydermata hitherto noticed are par- 
 tial to humid grounds ; and many of them wallow 
 in the mire and the mud, while most live close by 
 the margins of waters and some, as the hip- 
 popotamus, make the fresh waters their principal 
 dwelling. The animals are so different in their 
 general structure, and so many of them belong to
 
 RUMINANflA. 277 
 
 races which have now vanished from the living 
 world, that there is some difficulty in assigning 
 them their proper place, and pointing out their use 
 in the economy of nature. Still they are curious 
 animals, and connect themselves with the natural 
 history of curious and peculiar places. 
 
 The last family of the pachydermata compre- 
 hends those which have entire hoofs to the feet 
 the horse, the ass, the zebra, and one or two others. 
 The horse is not anywhere known in what can be 
 considered as positively a state of nature ; for 
 from the number of wild horses which are now 
 met with in south America, where there was no 
 animal of this family previous to the settlement of 
 the country by Europeans, it is impossible to say 
 that those wild horses which are met with in some 
 parts of the East are not the descendants of some 
 race which has once been in subjection to man. 
 . These solid- footed animals differ from all the pa- 
 chydermata in inhabiting dry situations only when 
 they are in a state of nature, or approaching to it. 
 They are all social animals in a state of nature ; 
 and the docility of the horse and patient labours of 
 the ass are familiar to a proverb. The zebra is, 
 however, a more stubborn animal, and has hitherto 
 been unbroken to the rein or the yoke ; but the 
 variety of its colours gives it a good deal of interest 
 as an ornamental animal. 
 
 BCMINANTIA. 
 
 The whole of this order use the feet for walking 
 only ; and they are all vegetable feeders, gene- 
 rally speaking consumers of the green herbage of 
 the earth, though when that fails they eat dried 
 stalks and leaves. The structure of their mouths
 
 278 "WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 is peculiar ; they have incisive teeth in the lower 
 jaw only, where there are usually eight ; and these 
 act against a callous or insensible portion of the 
 upper jaw. Most species have no canine teeth in 
 either jaw ; but some have them in the upper jaw, 
 and a few have them in both. The cheek teeth 
 are always six on each side of both jaws, with flat 
 crowns furrowed like millstones ; and the jaws 
 have a lateral or grinding motion. They have no 
 clavicles, and thus the feet are not adapted for any 
 action except walking. The metacarpal and meta- 
 tarsal bones are single ; each foot terminates 
 in two toes armed with hoofs ; and behind those 
 proper hoofs there are often rudimental toes with 
 smaller hoofs, which, however, do not reach the 
 ground in walking. "" The united bones'of the meta- 
 tarsus and metacarpus are technically known by 
 the name of the canon-bones ; and there are a few 
 species in which a second bone is partiallyproduced. 
 
 Some animals of this order have the heads with- 
 out any appendage ; but the males in the greater 
 number, and both males and females in some, are 
 furnished with horny appendages of different forms, 
 which are peculiar to this order of animals, for the 
 hard projections from the mouths and heads of 
 many of the pachydermata are tusks, while that 
 which is called a horn on the rhinoceros is merely 
 a production of the skin, and not connected with 
 the bone of the animal. 
 
 These horns of the ruminantia differ a good deal 
 in the several groups or families of which the order 
 is composed. They are wanting altogether in the 
 camel family ; and these also differ from all the 
 others in the structure of their feet, the soles of 
 which are covered with elastic pads, and they have
 
 RDMINANTIA. 279 
 
 only broad nails on the upper parts of the toes, 
 and not real hoofs embracing the whole extremity 
 of these members. 
 
 The forms and consistencies or textures of the 
 horns of ruminant animals form part at least of 
 the characters by which the groups and genera are 
 distinguished from each other ; and when in the 
 same latitude or climate, and in a state of nature, 
 they are tolerably constant characters ; but in dif- 
 ferent climates, and especially in a state of domes- 
 tication, they are much less to be depended upon. 
 
 Some have the horns deciduous, or shed every 
 year, as is the case in all the deer family ; and in 
 this family, with the exception of the reindeer, 
 horns occur in the males only. These horns grow 
 and are shed every year, increasing in their dimen- 
 sions and the number of antlers, snag?, or branches 
 into which they are divided, as the animal gets 
 older. In their young and growing state, they are 
 covered with skin, and with fur or hair ; and when 
 they attain their full growth, and the hair and skin 
 begin to peel off, the season of sexual ardour com- 
 mences, during which the males are very bold and 
 daring. Soon after this the horns separate from 
 the roots at the ' ; burr," and fall off, and from the 
 time that they do so, till the new ones are again 
 full grown, the animals are timid and peaceable in 
 their dispositions. 
 
 The economy of these horns is a very curious 
 matter in the physiology of the animals to which 
 they belong. The development of them is always 
 the greater the more northerly the place which the 
 animal inhabit?, and consequently the greater the 
 seasonal vicissitudes to which it is exposed. The}* 
 use these horns for the purposes of defence, and
 
 280 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 very formidable weapons they are in many of the 
 species. But they are fit for defence only during 
 a part of the year; and thus we cannot suppose 
 thatdefence is the chief purpose which they answer. 
 It should seem that a degree of action in the sys- 
 tem, beyond what the animals require to exert in 
 the procuring of their food, is necessary at those 
 times of the year when they are not under the 
 influence of sexual excitement, in order that it may 
 be turned to this purpose at that season when it is 
 required ; and the production of this vast quantity 
 of horn or rather of hone, for it resembles bone 
 more than it does the substance of true horns, or 
 horns which are persistent for the life of the animal, 
 and formed upon cores of bone, by successive 
 layers applied to the inside of the horn every 
 year, is the means by which this excess of action 
 in the animals is kept up. When the males of 
 those species, whose natural habit is to have those 
 deciduous horns in the males only, are mutilated, 
 the shedding and reproduction of the horns cease, 
 and they become persistent, and never increase in 
 their size or in the number of their branches, as 
 they do in the entire animal ; which farther proves 
 that the production of the horns is connected with 
 the sexual economy of the animals. 
 
 In such as have the horns persistent there are 
 no such violent actions ; and in some of the races 
 the circumstances with regard to climate appear to 
 be reversed, for generally speaking, the buffaloes, 
 which are natives of countries comparatively warm, 
 have a much greater production of horny substance 
 on the head, often amounting to almost an entire 
 plate across the forehead ; and, on the other hand, 
 the bisons, which inhabit the colder latitudes, have
 
 KUMINANTIA. 281 
 
 the horns comparatively small. In mutilated ani- 
 mals of this family there is also a greater produc- 
 tion of horn than in the entire males ; so that the 
 production of the persistent horny covering to the 
 core of bones does not appear to be so intimately 
 connected with the sexual character of the animal, 
 as the growth of those horns which are annually 
 shed. 
 
 The most remarkable character, however, of the 
 ruminantia, and the one by which the whole race 
 are distinguished from all other mammalia, is the 
 complicated structure of the stomach. This inva- 
 riably consists of four distinct portions. The first, 
 usually called the paunch, is of large dimensions, 
 but appears to answer very little purpose except 
 that of a mere receptacle for the food ; and as 
 those animals do not chew their food as they 
 swallow it, they collect it much faster than animals 
 of different orders which feed on substances not 
 very different in their nature. Thus, for instance, 
 unless the pasture is exceedingly bare, a cow can 
 collect as much food during one part of the day as 
 shall enable it to lie down to rest during another 
 part ; whereas if a horse is placed on the same 
 pasture it will leave it more hungry than when it 
 entered. 
 
 In this first stomach very little digestion is car- 
 ried on ; but the food sometimes ferments in it, to 
 the great annoyance of the animal, from the quantity 
 of gas generated during the fermentation. This 
 is especially the case when cattle eat green trefoils 
 when there is dew or wet upon them ; and in such 
 cases the gas in the paunch so expands that viscus, 
 as to enlarge the animal very much to external 
 appearance, and also to press heavily upon and
 
 282 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 thus derange the action of the other viscera. In 
 such cases the paunch may be opened by a knife 
 judiciously applied, and the gas let off into the air 
 without any serious injury ; but it is safer to intro- 
 duce, by the gullet, a flexible tube, with an extre- 
 mity of ivory or other matter pierced into holes, 
 through which the gas can escape. This circum- 
 stance is sufficient to show that it is not by any 
 action of the first stomach or paunch that the food 
 is returned to the mouth of a ruminating animal. 
 
 This office is performed by the second stomach, 
 which is popularly termed the hood ; and the inside 
 of which is formed into cells by membranous divi- 
 sions. This stomach has a kind of rolling motion, 
 by means of which the food is formed into a sort 
 of quids, and these are the portions of food which 
 are returned to the mouth to undergo the operation 
 of grinding when the animal chews the cud. There 
 are some cases of accident and disease in which 
 animals of the ox tribe lose this power ; and the 
 method of cure is dexterously to snatch the quid 
 from the throat of another animal of the same 
 kind, and introduce it into the mouth of the affected 
 animal, where it has every chance of renewing the 
 process with the requisite degree of vigour. It 
 was owing to ignorance of the use of this part of 
 the stomach that the vulgar error of camels carry- 
 ing an internal supply of water in this part of their 
 viscera, not only for their own relief in the deserts, 
 but for that of their riders, at first originated. 
 Upon other grounds, such as the impossibility of 
 keeping in the stomach of a warm-blooded animal 
 water at a lower temperature than the ordinary 
 heat of that animal, which in the camel is pretty 
 nearly the same as that of the human body, and
 
 RUMINANTIA. 283 
 
 therefore would form no very refreshing draught 
 to a traveller, this long-believed tale might have 
 been confuted ; and recent travellers, who have 
 had the misfortune to lose their camels not very 
 long after being watered in the desert, have made 
 the experiment without finding any water in this 
 cellular division of the stomach, or, indeed, in any 
 other part. 
 
 The drink of the ruminantia does not go to the 
 first stomach, because there it would tend to pro- 
 duce fermentation in the green food, and weaken 
 the animal ; and as little does it go to this second 
 stomach, because here it would prevent the forma- 
 tion of the food into quids for the purpose of being 
 returned to the mouth. " Chewing the cud" is 
 merely a different pronunciation of " chewing the 
 quid ;" and the quids are brought one by one to 
 the mouth, and undergo a complete grinding, 
 mixed with the saliva of the animal ; and in this 
 state they are returned to the third stomach, or 
 that which is called the manifold : and it is in this 
 particular stomach that the water which the animal 
 drinks mixes with its food. The process undergone 
 in this third stomach is a sort of incipient diges- 
 tion ; but it is not till the food arrives at the fourth 
 stomach, that the gastric juice mixes with it and 
 the process of digestion is completed. This fourth 
 stomach, which is the only one which very much 
 resembles the stomach of those animals which have 
 only one, is popularly called the " red," from its 
 colour ; and in the young it is called the " rennet," 
 because in the young of the ruminantia the gastric 
 juice is specially adapted for curdling milk, and 
 the rennet is used for that purpose in dairies. 
 
 Ruminant animals are found in all parts of the
 
 284 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 world, with the exception of New Holland . and 
 the remote isles of the Pacific Ocean, where there 
 were none when first discovered by Europeans. 
 They are conveniently arranged into the five tribes 
 of camels, deer, giraffes, goats, and sheep, including, 
 under the latter, the different varieties of the ox 
 genus. 
 
 The camels have no horns, no small hoofs on 
 the feet, and no muzzle, or naked part on the 
 snout, differing in texture and covering from the 
 rest of the head. The nostrils are cleft and their 
 upper lip divided, each lobe of it capable of motion 
 separately from the other one. They have 
 spongy soles to their feet, which are well adapted for 
 moving on the sand, but soon get beaten in rough 
 and stony places. They have a sort of claws on 
 the toes, canine teeth in both sexes, long necks 
 and limbs, and the lower part of the belly closely 
 drawn up under the flanks. The true camels are 
 found in the old continent only. There are .two 
 species the Bactrian camel, with two hunches on 
 the back ; and the Arabian camel, with one only. 
 They are kept in a domestic state for their milk, 
 their flesh, their skins, and their hair ; and they are 
 also used in the desert as beasts of burden. They 
 are strong, enduring, and patient, but they are 
 not very swift nor very pleasant to ride. On the 
 American continent the lama and alpaco, with 
 some varieties, supply the place of the camels in 
 the old continent. They are animals of much 
 smaller size than the camels, and without humps 
 on the back. They are found chiefly in the Andes 
 in South America; and the natives had reduced 
 them to servitude as beasts of burden before the 
 country was visited by Europeans.
 
 RITMINANTIA. 285 
 
 The deer family are much more numerous and 
 much more widely distributed. One genus, the 
 musk deer, inhabits the mountains of southern and 
 eastern Asia. "Some of the species of this genus 
 are very small ; others produce the drug called 
 musk ; and in some the canine teeth, which occur 
 in the upper jaw of the male only, are very long 
 and projecting from the mouth. 
 
 The elk has horns in the male only, with a very 
 broad blade, and is an inhabitant of countries 
 near the Arctic Circle. The reindeer has horns in 
 both sexes, and inhabits within the Arctic Circle, 
 being the most valuable animal to the people of 
 the extreme north of Europe. Of the fallow-deer, 
 the stag, and the roebuck, there are many 
 varieties more widely distributed than the rest ; 
 and the roebuck has the remarkable property of 
 not being gregarious, or polygamous, the pairs 
 remaining attached to each other for life. These, 
 with a variety of analogous species form the 
 characteristic deer of most regions of the world, 
 though in tropical countries they usually keep the 
 elevated districts. The males in all the species 
 shed their horns annually, and those horns are 
 always more or less rough and branched, but their 
 forms ditfer a great deal in different species. 
 
 Of giraffe, there is but one known species, a 
 native of the forests of Central Africa; it is re- 
 markable for the length of its fore-legs and neck, 
 which last, however, contains the same number of 
 bones as the very shortest necked of the mammalia ; 
 its horns are short tubercles covered with hair; 
 its eyes are so placed that it commands a view in 
 the rear ; it feeds principally upon the branches of 
 trees ; and from its height it reaches them at; a
 
 286 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 considerable distance from the ground. When full 
 grown it is the tallest of all animals. 
 
 The goat family, which is a very numerous one, 
 consists of the antelopes, and the goats properly 
 so called. They have the horns with a hony core 
 almost or altogether solid, and the horny matter 
 very compact. They are animals of great lightness 
 or vigour, but differ much in size and appearance. 
 Africa is the great country for antelopes, though 
 they are also found in Europe, and more plenti- 
 fully in Asia ; in Africa they migrate with the 
 seasons in great droves, and some of them are 
 remarkable for the beauty of their forms and the 
 swiftness of their motions. The true goats are 
 more strongly made than the antelopes; and, 
 generally speaking, their hair is shaggy. They 
 are chiefly mountain animals ; and some of them 
 are remarkable for the length of their leaps, and 
 their sure-footedness upon the rocks. They some- 
 times meet with the antelopes in very lofty 
 situations ; as for instance, the chamois which is an 
 antelope, and the ibex which is a goat, are both 
 found on the summits of the Alps. Of this family 
 the antelope is rarely tamed, and not at all formally 
 domesticated; the goat, on the other hand, is a 
 domestic animal in almost every part of the world. 
 
 The remaining family of the sheep and oxen inha- 
 bit lower down, and are less fleet in their motions 
 than the antelopes, and less hardy and vigorous in 
 proportion to their size than goats. They have 
 been so long domesticated, that it is not easy to 
 .say whence the races, which are now so valuable 
 as domestic animals, originally came. There are 
 wild sheep in some elevated places of southern 
 Europe, which are called moufflons; but whether
 
 CETACEA. 287 
 
 they are the parent race of any of the domestic 
 sheep is not known. The ox tribe are more in a 
 state of nature in some parts of the world ; and 
 those which are found in the north appear to be 
 more bold than the southern ones. In Europe 
 there are still a few which are called bisons or 
 wild bulls ; and in North America, there are very 
 large and powerful animals of this family still in a 
 state of nature, though their numbers are much 
 reduced in comparison with what they were when 
 that part of the world was first discovered. 
 
 From the use to which all the parts of their 
 bodies can be turned by man, from the tendency 
 which many of them have to come near his habi- 
 tations, and the readiness with which they give up 
 their freedom in wild nature, in order to enter 
 his service, the ruminating animals are objects of 
 great interest ; and it is difficult to mention them, 
 and resist the enticement of going into some of the 
 particulars ; but this would be altogether incompa- 
 tible with our limits. 
 
 CETACEA. 
 
 We have already mentioned almost all that we 
 can afford to say respecting the mammalia of the 
 sea, or of the waters generally. There is a com- 
 mon character which runs through the whole of 
 them namely, that of warm-blooded animals, 
 breathing the air, but yet adapted by their structure 
 to reside chiefly in the water. 
 
 The herbivorous ones are found only in the 
 fresh waters of tropical countries. One species, 
 the lamantin is so plentiful in some of the great 
 rivers of America, that its flesh is sold as butcher's 
 meat ; there is another one nearly allied to this in
 
 WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the rivers of Central Africa ; and there is a third, 
 somewhat different, among the islands to the east- 
 ward of India. 
 
 The whales, properly so called, are distinguished 
 as toothless whales, whales with teeth in one jaw 
 only, and whales with teeth in both jaws ; the last 
 are smaller in their size than the others, and are 
 distinguished as dolphins, porpoises, and other 
 names. One remarkable genus, the narwhal, has 
 one of the tusks in the upper jaw produced in 
 a spiral form, and of an ivory colour and texture ; 
 and this tusk projects beyond the jaw to about 
 half the length of the body, the whole length of 
 which is sometimes not less than twenty-four feet. 
 
 MARSUPIAHA. 
 
 The leading character of these extraordinary 
 mammalia is the double gestation of the females, 
 the earlier part internal in a uterus, and the sub- 
 sequent part attached to the mamma?, whether 
 these are or are not, in whole or in part, included 
 in a pouch or marsupiam in the belly. Informa- 
 tion respecting some parts of the economy of these 
 very singular animals is still wanted ; for in differ- 
 ent species there are different degrees of develop- 
 ment of the marsupiam or pouch, some having it 
 a complete receptacle and protection for the 
 young, persistent or remaining at all times, though 
 in a state of greater excitement or action when the 
 young are in it ; while in others it does not appear 
 to be at any time so much developed as to conceal 
 the mammee. 
 
 The point upon which information is especially 
 wanted, is what relation the structure of the uterine 
 and marsupial parts of the gestation have to each
 
 MARSUPIALIA. 289 
 
 other, according as the pouch is more or less 
 developed. The analogy would lead us to the 
 conclusion that the marsupial part of the gestation 
 is longer as compared with the whole in proportion 
 as the pouch is more fully developed ; but the case 
 is so curious a one that we cannot trust to ana- 
 logies ; and it is not very easy to arrive at the 
 truth by direct observation. One point has. no 
 doubt, been ascertained at the London Zoological 
 Gardens, with regard to the great or common 
 kangaroo, which is one of the most perfectly mar- 
 supial of the whole, namely, the duration of the 
 internal gestation ; and when the young have once 
 made their appearance in the pouch, the length of 
 time that they require to come to maturity is a 
 matter of easy observation. It has further been 
 supposed, though not actually observed in the case 
 of the kangaroo, that the mother makes use of her 
 lips in transferring the young from the entrance of 
 the vagina to the pouch, and there is little doubt 
 that many if not all the order do the same. 
 
 It is yet further remarkable that, in these ani- 
 male which use the teats more for the bringing 
 forward of their young than the common mam- 
 malia, should yet have those organs of a more tran- 
 sitory nature. The females of all mammalia have a 
 certain additional degree of excitement and dever- 
 loping of the mamma? against the time that they 
 are required by the young ; but it appears that, in 
 some of the marsupialia, there is an almost total 
 absorption of those organs at the time when they 
 are not wanted, and a development of them, 
 amounting almost to a reproduction, when they are 
 wanted. In the most singular division of the order 
 which are small animals inhabiting the earth and the 
 
 YOL. i. u
 
 290 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 muddy pools of Australia, and which, from having 
 but one passage for all discharges from the body, 
 as is the case in birds, are called " monotremata," 
 the mammae never assume that conglomerate form 
 which they do in the common mammalia ; but the 
 milk oozes through pores in the skin. These cir- 
 cumstances have led some of those naturalists 
 who are carried away by loose analogies, to sup- 
 pose that such animals Jay eggs like birds ; and 
 some of the more ignorant, and on that account 
 more confident compilers, have given figures of 
 the eggs in their books. But these animals are 
 true mammalia, though singular ones ; and their 
 young are brought forward internally, until they 
 can perform the more important vital functions : 
 and they feed for some time on their mother's milk. 
 
 These characters are common to all the mam- 
 malia, however much they may differ in other 
 respects, and they are always attendant upon a 
 peculiar structure of the more important systematic 
 organs, so that they never can be mistaken by one 
 who observes with anything like even a moderate 
 degree of attention. 
 
 We know not the period of uterine gestation in 
 all the species of these curious animals ; but we 
 have no reason to suppose that it is the same ; and 
 the probability is, that the young come early into 
 the marsupium, according as that is more perfectly 
 developed. Among the common mammalia, which 
 have no marsupia, there are great differences in the 
 development of the young at the time of their 
 birth. Some are perfectly formed, and able to 
 walk almost the instant they are dropped ; others 
 nre blind, naked, and incapable of motion for some 
 lime ; and, though the subject is one of consider- 
 able obscurity, it seems to be the law of nature.
 
 MARSUPIALIA 291 
 
 that the more perfect the animals are after tlrey 
 come to maturity, they require the more nursing 
 from their mothers in the early stage of their 
 existence. This holds in the case of birds as well 
 of mammalia ; for we find that the feeble flyers 
 and birds of limited resources can run about the 
 moment that they leave the shell, while those of 
 powerful wing are naked and callow. In all this, 
 and it might be traced through every department 
 of being, there is a most important lesson to us. 
 That which is to be superior and important de- 
 mands, even in the working of nature, additional 
 labour and attention ; therefore, if we would excel 
 in anywise, we must be both skilful and diligent. 
 
 Some of the marsupial animals resemble one 
 order of the common mammalia and some another, 
 only there are among them no types of the more 
 characteristic beasts of prey, or of the pachyder- 
 mata or the ruminantia. 
 
 It would be inconsistent with our limits to 
 institute a minute inquiry into the differences 
 between the marsupialia and the common mamma- 
 lia ; but, as we already hinted, there is a particular 
 look of stupidity, or coldness of character, about 
 all marsupial animals, which is not found in the 
 true mammalia. No marsupial animal is very vio- 
 lent or vicious ; and some of them are among the 
 most gentle of all animals : but their gentleness 
 appears to be passive, and kind treatment does not 
 call forth those expressions of gratitude which it 
 so obviously does in the more intelligent of the 
 common mammalia. It does not appear, either, 
 that there is any attachment of these animals to 
 each other ; for, though they continue the race, 
 and the mother pays some attention to the young, 
 u2
 
 292 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 as is the case with all animals which require the mo- 
 ther's care, even these affections seem to proceed 
 from a low degree of animal instinct ; for even the 
 female kangaroo, which is naturally a vegetable 
 feeder, eats her own young if they happen to die in 
 the pouch. In the skeleton, the marsupial bones 
 attached to the exterior edge of the pubis, are the 
 principal characteristics. The mammas of the 
 females are always situated on the belly, or in the 
 groin ; and the internal uterus is doubled in almost 
 all the species. In respect of their feeding, no gene- 
 ral rule can be laid down ; neither is it easy to say 
 what is the general character of country best suited 
 for the whole. In this respect, however, and it is 
 an important one, inasmuch as they are all very 
 local animals, they may be said to occupy three 
 distinct kinds of countries, which, however, are all 
 peculiar in their kinds. In the first place, the 
 hassocky plains, which consists of large tufts of 
 coarse grass with barren spaces between, and from 
 which the vegetation, scanty as it is all times, is 
 apt to vanish entirely in the dry seasons, are inha- 
 bited by the kangaroos, which are remarkable for 
 the great development of the hinder parts of their 
 bodies as compared with their fore parts, and which 
 can. move from tuft to tuft with vast bounds or 
 leaps. They are of different sizes, from the great 
 kangaroo, which is about as large as the smallest 
 species of deer, to others not larger than a common 
 rat, which last inhabit thickets and holes in the 
 ground. These animals most nearly resemble the 
 rodentia in the structure of their mouths. They 
 have four cutting teeth .in the upper jaw, and two 
 in the under, with five grinders on each side of 
 both, but ijo canine teeth in either jaw. Their
 
 MARSUPIALIA. 293 
 
 head is lengthened, their eyes and ears large, the 
 latter sharp pointed. The fore legs are exceed- 
 ingly short, so as to he of little use in locomotion. 
 The^ hind legs are remarkably long ; and though 
 the animal rests on the whole length of the tarsi, 
 on these, when standing on all fours, in its feeding 
 attitude, it has a very singular appearance. There 
 are five toes on the fore legs, and four on the hind ; 
 but the inner two of the latter are united, so that 
 they seem but one. All the toes are furnished 
 with large and strong claws ; and those of the 
 middle toes of the hind feet are truly formidable 
 weapons, a kick with which inflicts a very serious 
 wound. These animals are found only in Australia, 
 of which they are thenaturalfieldmammalia. There 
 are a good many species and varieties, but they 
 agree in their common characters ; and they all 
 have the marsupium so much developed as to be 
 capable of receiving the young and carrying them 
 from place to place during the very rapid motions 
 of the animals. 
 
 Secondly, there are some other Australian ani- 
 mals which come more nearly to the character of 
 such of the rodentia as dig in the ground. These 
 are very slow animals, remarkably quiet and inof- 
 fensive, having only cutting teeth and grinders ; 
 with five toes to each of the feet, and those toes 
 divided almost to their bases ; and in this, and in 
 the claws with which they are furnished, bearing a 
 slight resemblance to the feet of birds. The prin- 
 cipal animals of this division are about the size of 
 the common badger, and very low on the legs ; they 
 are the kaola and the wombat. Both of them are 
 easily tamed, and their flesh, as well as that of the 
 kangaroos, is not unwholesome, though very infe-
 
 294 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 rior to that of the mammalia which these animals 
 most nearly resemble. 
 
 A third Australian race are more carnivorous 
 in their character, though their structure and ge- 
 neral hahits would lead us to conclude that they 
 feed more on carrion and dead matters than on 
 living animals. They are styled dasyuri, from the 
 fact of their tails being covered with long hairs. 
 Some of them are as large as a wolf, and commit 
 depredations in the flocks of the colonists, while 
 others are small, about the size of cats. They 
 have all the three kinds of teeth, with the canines 
 large and the first cheek tooth trenchant, or of a 
 carnivorous character ; but the remaining ones, of 
 which there are five in each side of every jaw, are 
 insectivorous. These animals are not numerous 
 in any part of Australia ; and the large ones are 
 found only in Van Diemen's Land, being quite 
 unknown in New Holland. Some of them bear a 
 slight resemblance to the dog, but they entirely 
 want the intelligent expression of that animal ; their 
 tails are like the tails of rats ; and there is some- 
 thing indicative of ruggedness and want of strength 
 in the aspect of the mouth. 
 
 There is a fourth race in the same countries, 
 which seem to combine the characters of both the 
 two last mentioned. They have all the three 
 kinds of teeth in greater number than most other 
 animals, but subject to variation. Their muzzles 
 are very much elongated, and some of them have 
 the nose projecting far beyond the points of the 
 jaws. They live in holes of the earth and hollow 
 trees, feeding chiefly upon insects and small reptiles, 
 which abound much in Australia ; and from their 
 appearance and habits the colonists call them
 
 MARSUPIALIA. 295 
 
 badgers, to which however they have no resem- 
 blance excepting perhaps a little in their modes of 
 life. 
 
 None of the races now mentioned have the tail 
 prehensile, or capable of laying hold; but there is 
 a fifth race found partly in New Holland, and 
 partly in the eastern island?, which have the tail 
 prehensible, and some of the species have the skin 
 of the sides capable of extension so as to act as a 
 parachute in breaking their fall. They all are 
 animals varying considerably in the characters of 
 their teeth, their sizes, and their modes of life ; 
 but in general they may be considered as miscel- 
 laneous feeders, consuming equally the fruits and 
 leaves of trees, and the insects by which those trees 
 are inhabited. They live chiefly or exclusively in 
 the woods, and nestle in hollow trees, from which 
 the woodsmen drive them by smoke, and find that 
 some of them at least are tolerable eating. Aus- 
 tralia is more a country of hollow trees than any 
 other on the face of the globe ; for there are com- 
 paratively few species of trees there which do not 
 become rotten at the heart long before they show 
 any signs of external decay. This gives great em- 
 ployment to those insects which feed upon decaying 
 wood, and the insects again furnish a copious sup- 
 ply of food for the animals of which we are speak- 
 ing. Those marsupialia of which we have given 
 an outline, are all eastern animals ; and though 
 several of the division last alluded to are found in 
 New Guinea, and some of the other islands imme- 
 diately to the north df New Holland, yet that 
 country is the proper locality of those animals, and 
 they are its characteristic mammalia. The country 
 is as peculiar as its inhabitants are ; but it would
 
 296 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 require more space than we could afford, and more 
 information than has yet been obtained, so far to 
 investigate the connexion between Australia and 
 those animals, as to be able to say why, of all the 
 large extent of lands upon the surface of the earth, 
 Australia alone should have its characteristic mam- 
 malia marsupial. The question is, however, one 
 of great importance in establishing the general law 
 of connection between animals and their countries, 
 which law is not only of great use in guiding us to 
 the knowledge of nature, but it is one by which we 
 are enabled very forcibly to see how, by the kind 
 providence of the Creator, all the parts of crea- 
 tion work together for the common good of the 
 whole. 
 
 The only other country in which there are mar- 
 supial animals is America; and they are chiefly 
 wood or shore animals there, and confined to the 
 warm and temperate parts. Even in these they 
 are not the characteristic mammalia ; for different 
 species of the cat and dog families are the carni- 
 vorous animals there : deer and oxen are the 
 vegetable feeders of North America ; tapirs and 
 peccaries are the characteristic vegetable feeders, at 
 least on the ground, in the tropical forests ; and 
 the rodent animals and armadillos are character- 
 istic in the more dry and extended plains. Thus 
 we may say that the marsupial animals are not 
 at home in America as they are in the eastern 
 world, but that they live as strangers in a land 
 which is even by nature in the possession of other 
 races. 
 
 Some of those American animals have the mar- 
 supium developed, and others have not ; they all 
 however go by the general name oppossums, and
 
 BIRDS. 297 
 
 they have all a considerable resemblance to each 
 other. They have the three kinds of teeth ; and 
 in their general appearance they most resemble 
 the insect feeders of the common mammalia ; but 
 then, in the division of the toes and many other 
 particulars, they resemble the marsupialia of the 
 east. On the ground they are plantigrade ; but 
 most of the animals are climbers, and some have 
 the thumb on the hind foot acting against the other 
 toes like a rude hand. The largest are about the 
 size of rabbits. They eat insects and small ani- 
 mals ; and some of them frequent the sea coasts 
 and feed upon Crustacea and mollusca. 
 
 Such is a very brief outline of the mammalia 
 according to their kinds, and in their native coun- 
 tries, and we shall now take a still more hasty 
 glance at the birds, which form the second class of 
 vertebrated animals ; and, though one class differs 
 from another in its element, its action, and the 
 purpose for which it exists, they all equally pro- 
 claim the merciful goodness and infinite wisdom of 
 that Being who has so wonderfully framed and 
 furnished the world for our contemplation and our 
 use. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BIRD, in all languages, has one meaning 
 that which flies, mounts aloft and dashes along ; 
 and this agreement of mankind in the general 
 name of these animals shows how well their leading 
 character is understood by all nations, and how
 
 298 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 forcibly it strikes even those whose range of con- 
 templation is most limited. So remarkably is this 
 the case, and so much does it show the greater 
 familiarity which men in the rudest state have with 
 birds above all animals, that when our navigators 
 carried sheep to stock some of those remote islands 
 with which the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean 
 is spotted over, the simple people, unable to give 
 them any specific name, declared at once that they 
 " knew they were birds." 
 
 The fact is, that of all the living creatures 
 which God has formed, the birds are the most 
 open to observation and the most familiar to human 
 knowledge. Mammalia in a state of nature dwell 
 comparatively in secret ; and in a thickly peopled 
 country, such as England, one may traverse the 
 fields for days and weeks without the certainty 
 that a single specimen of mammalia in a state of 
 wild nature shall be seen, unless the observer has 
 previously informed himself as to where and at 
 Avhat hour he is to look for them. The birds, on 
 the other hand, are, in one or other of their species, 
 continually before our eyes. Man cannot build 
 a city so close, so large, so thickly peopled, so 
 bustling and full of art and activity of all kinds, 
 as to exclude the house sparrow ; and if his habi- 
 tation is buried in the depth of the closest forest, 
 the house martin will find out his windows as 
 resting places in the summer ; and when winter 
 . lays the beauty of the year in ruins, the redbreast 
 will come to his threshold, or the sill of his window 
 looking out for its supply of crumbs ; and when- 
 ever a more genial ray of the sun gives promise 
 that a new year is to call the world without into 
 growth, and life, and activity, it will perch on the
 
 BIRDS. 290 
 
 naked wall or the leafless tree, and cheer him with 
 the melody of its little song. 
 
 There is something at once very delightful and 
 very instructive in this familiarity of the birds with 
 the human race. Among animals, birds are the 
 models of mechanical science. There are no mo- 
 tions, and no media of general motion, for which 
 birds are not adapted. They ascend, they descend, 
 they dart along in straight lines, they wheel in 
 circles, they float as motionless things on the thin 
 air, they run along the ground with speed in some 
 of the species equal to that of the swiftest mam- 
 malia, they ride on the surface of the waters as 
 lightly as though they were bubbles on the waves, 
 but bubbles not to be broken ; and some of them 
 dash through the volume of the river, the lake, or 
 the sea, even in the violence of its tempest's swell, 
 so as to catch the fishes, the proper inhabitants of 
 the water, by outdoing them in speed. 
 
 Now all those varied motions, and in their 
 smaller distinctions they are countless, and some 
 of them are capable of being continued on the 
 stretch, till the bird has passed over hundreds and 
 even thousands of miles, are performed by means 
 of material organs, acted upon by the common 
 animal powers of sensation and volition ; and those 
 organs are in all cases the very best adapted that 
 fancy could suppose to the object which the bird 
 lias to accomplish. Nor is it in the single organ 
 only that we find this matchless display of Divine 
 wisdom. If any one particular kind of action is 
 that upon which a bird mainly depends, or which 
 constitutes what may be called its natural use in 
 creation, we find the whole structure of the bird 
 consenting to, or in accordance with, that particular
 
 300 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 kind of action, in a manner which is altogether 
 wonderful. If it is to cleave the air with vast 
 rapidity, as is the case with the eagle and the 
 falcon, we find the form of its body exactly that 
 which our utmost science would recommend for 
 such a purpose ; and also the power of action in 
 the bird concentrated upon the wings. But if, in 
 addition to this merely rushing through the air, 
 the bird has some other severe labour to perform, 
 as, for instance to strike down its prey on the 
 wing, to pounce upon it on the ground, or to snatch 
 it from the waters, we find that the bill or the feet, 
 or whatever may be the weapon most peculiarly 
 adapted for this purpose, divides the active strength 
 along with the wings, in proportion to the neces- 
 sity which there may be for them. 
 U* If the prey is of smaller size, and on that account 
 more difficult to capture on the aerial flight, we 
 still find the structure of the bird brought up 
 exactly to that form and character which is the 
 very best suited for its purpose. Take, for in- 
 stance, the common swift, or largest of our swal- 
 low tribe, which seeks its prey in those regions 
 of the air which are elevated above the tops of 
 ordinary houses, then we find that the whole 
 strength is given to the wing, and the wings and 
 forks of the tail are drawn out to sharp and stiff 
 points, so that the bird can turn upon any of them 
 as centres, as it follows the mazy wheelings of its 
 insect food. Nor is it unworthy of remark, that 
 birds which like this food, or fly high in the air, 
 generally make their nests in lofty places. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the bird is to feed and 
 inhabit chiefly upon the surface of the ground, 
 where that ground is thick with vegetation, which,
 
 BIRDS. 301 
 
 though it conceals the bird, can also conceal its 
 enemies, we find the organisation of the bird quite 
 different. In this case the wings are short, hroad, 
 and hollow ; and the tail which is the principal 
 instrument in ascending and descending, is capable 
 of being spread out like a fan, and sometimes con- 
 tains supplemental feathers, which act as a para- 
 chute, and let the bird gently down when it wishes 
 to alight. What we have now mentioned is the 
 case with all the poultry birds, wild and tame, and 
 whether they inhabit the lowland field or the up- 
 land heath ; and the produced feathers which act 
 the part of a parachute are very conspicuous in 
 several of the species which perch upon trees ; and 
 also in the birds of paradise and various other 
 races which, in the warm regions of the world, 
 hunt over the tops of the forests, and are often so 
 gay in their colouring that they are seen streaming 
 through the air like meteors. 
 
 If the habit of the bird is to be on the earth 
 only, and to reside in the open wastes where no 
 lurking foe can be concealed, from which to escape 
 it would require to take to the wing, then the wing 
 of the bird is comparatively or altogether useless 
 for flight, and the strength of its apparatus of 
 motion is concentrated upon the legs. This is the 
 case with the whole of the ostrich family, which 
 inhabit the extensive and thirsty deserts; and there 
 is no approach to it in other birds in proportion as 
 their mode of life corresponds. But though the 
 wings of such a bird as an ostrich are incapable of 
 raising it into the air and supporting it there in 
 continual flight, it must not be supposed that they 
 are on that account useless parts of the struc- 
 ture; on the contrary they steady the course
 
 302 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of the bird as it runs along, which is necessary in 
 an animal that has the axis of the body nearly 
 parallel to the horizon, and is supported from a 
 single part of the cross section, namely, the arti- 
 culation of the legs. For the wing, however small 
 it may be, strikes outward against the air, and 
 thereby contributes much to the progressive motion 
 of this bird; accordingly we find, in all the ostrich 
 family, that though the wings are destitute of 
 quills or flying feathers, properly so called, they 
 are still tolerably well supplied with muscles, and 
 remarkably active as flappers, or in rowing against 
 the air like oars or paddles. The apteryx of New 
 Zealand is the only bird which has the bones of 
 the wing so completely fastened to or contained 
 within the skin of the side as to be incapable of 
 motion ; and the short legs, long toes, and scraping 
 claws, similar to those of a fowl, with which this 
 bird is furnished, show that it is a walker and not 
 a runner, and as it has no fleet motion it can 
 dispense with the use of the rudimental wings both 
 for balancing and rowing along. 
 
 We have a remarkable instance of the partial use 
 of wings in aiding the fleet career of birds on their 
 feet % in some of the species of running birds, which 
 frequent the shores of the sea, and other margins 
 of waters at certain seasons of the year, but also 
 require the use of comparatively powerful wings to 
 support them to places at other seasons. Of these 
 birds the sandpipers (tringa) are perhaps the 
 most remarkable. They run along the sands 
 whistling, and wailing, and screaming, in very 
 plaintive but not unpleasant notes ; and they run 
 with so much velocity, as to distance the speed of 
 a common dog without even troubling themselves
 
 BIRDS. 303 
 
 to rise on the wing. Now these birds have wings 
 of very peculiar form. The bones of every bird's 
 wing consists of three parts, which bear some 
 resemblance to the arm, the fore-arm, and the 
 hand, only the bones of the wrist are few, the 
 thumb which carries what is called the bastard 
 wing is very little developed ; and the finger bones 
 are long, and generally united together for the 
 Avhole or the greater part of their length, and have 
 the joints of their phalanges only marks and not 
 moving articulations. To the part which answers 
 to the hand, the primary or principal quills of the 
 wings, or those which are most efficient in power- 
 ful flight, are inserted. Immediately inside these, 
 and upon what answers to the fore-arm in man, 
 there are inserted the secondary quills, which are 
 smaller and shorter than the primaries ; and about 
 and above the elbow joint there is a third series, 
 which are called the tertiary quills in the wing. 
 Now those tertiary quills require for their motion 
 the action of the shoulder joint only, while the 
 secondaries require the action of two joints, and 
 the primaries the action of at least three. It will 
 readily be seen that the more joints that are called 
 into action, the more must the general system of 
 the animal be fatigued; because the action of every 
 additional joint requires that of additional muscles : 
 consequently if a bird can perform any motion 
 with the first or shoulder joint of the wing only, 
 that motion must be much less fatiguing to it 
 than if the whole wing came into pla} r . 
 
 Now, in the running birds, to which we last 
 alluded, the tertiary feathers are so much produced, 
 in comparison with those of the secondaries by 
 which they are immediately succeeded, that the
 
 304 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 wing appears as if it were two wings, or at all 
 events a wing in two parts, one of which is smaller 
 and nearer the body, and the other larger and 
 more distant from it. The wing next the body is 
 moved entirely by the shoulder joint, Avhile the 
 more distant part plays easily and without fatigue 
 upwards and downwards in the air. Thus, while 
 the bird runs it makes use of the proximal part of 
 the wing, to assist in its running, as the short wing 
 of the ostrich does ; and if it is at last obliged to 
 take flight, the more distal portion of the wing 
 is fresh and vigorous for that purpose. This union 
 of wings which are simple helps to the feet, with 
 wings capable of regular flight, is perhaps most 
 perfect in those birds to which we have alluded ; 
 it is not, however, peculiar to them, for all birds 
 which run with " the alternate foot," that is, which 
 do not hop or lift both feet in their march on the 
 ground, keep the wings partially extended, and 
 move them in proportion to the rate of their pro- 
 gress. Hopping birds also raise the wings when- 
 ever the hop is so extensive as to be an exertion to 
 them ; but in them the extended wing seems to 
 act more like a parachute than anything else. 
 
 Birds, from the general command which they 
 have of the surface of the earth whether that 
 surface be covered with land or water, have a 
 far more extensive range of pasture than the 
 mammalia. They have also powers of ascending 
 and descending by making use of the air as a 
 ladder, in like manner as they make it a path- way 
 in their locomotion ; and thus they have hill and 
 dale, mountain and valley, much more at their 
 command than the mammalia can possibly have. 
 Owing to this, they do not require the same
 
 BIRDS. 305 
 
 resources in animal sagacity ; and the consequence 
 is, that the nervous system is not so well developed, 
 or the senses and perceptions so perfect in birds 
 as in mammalia. 
 
 Their power of ranging over the broad waters 
 also fits a number of them for obtaining their food 
 there ; and as the water is far from being the least 
 productive portion of the earth's surface, we might 
 perhaps expect that many birds should be so con- 
 structed as to be capable of finding their food 
 from it. This is at all events the case ; and we 
 find them skimming over the surface of the waters 
 on long and easy wing, riding buoyant on that 
 surface, and rowing themselves along with feet 
 which have the toes united by membranes, and are 
 so articulated and formed that they are paddles of 
 the most effective description. We also find others 
 which can with facility plunge below the surface, 
 and dash along there by the joint action of their 
 wings and feet ; and from this to the opposite 
 extreme, of being able to fly over the water, but 
 not swim on it or dive in it, we have all the 
 intermediate gradations. And we may be pre- 
 pared farther to expect that there will be a 
 general correspondence of the food and habit of 
 the bird more toward the one of these extremes 
 in some cases, and towards the opposite extreme 
 in others. This we find to be the fact ; for the 
 cormorants and birds of that character which do 
 not generally inhabit the waters, though they find 
 their prey there, have the webs of their feet so 
 formed that they answer better for enabling the 
 birds to ascend up from the water, than for giving 
 them progressive motion in it. These birds have 
 the hind toe of considerable length, and included in 
 
 VOL. i. x
 
 306 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the web with the others, hut the whole web turned 
 obliquely inwards, so that though the foot does 
 answer for swimming, it is by no means a swimming 
 foot of the first class. 
 
 As opposed to this we have, in those birds which 
 swim and dive most habitually in the clear waters, 
 thehindtoemerelyrudimental, and the web confined 
 to those front toes which can act as one paddle. 
 Along with this we have the legs so articulated 
 that this paddle, when it impels the bird forward, 
 acts on the water with the maximum of effect, but 
 turns on edge when it is recovered, and thus is 
 brought to the position of least resistance from the 
 water, while preparing for new action. In such 
 cases, too, the foot is articulated far in the rear of 
 the bird ; and even in this, simple as it may seem, 
 there is a beautiful display of design. The water 
 on the fore part, and against the sides of the bird, 
 until these sides begin to narrow towards the tail, 
 offers to the bird a resistance proportional to its 
 motion ; and the bird has, backward to this point 
 of its length, to divide and stem the resisting water. 
 The moment, however, that we get behind this 
 point, the relative state of the bird and the water is 
 altered ; for while the fore part of the bird drives 
 the water, the water follows the hind part of the 
 bird, and thus those feet which are so articulated 
 as to work far backwards, act against the water, 
 where its natural motion assists, rather than 
 retards them : and when we consider this, and that 
 it is a necessary result of the common property of 
 water, by which it obeys the laws of gravitation by 
 endeavouring to preserve its equilibrium or level, 
 and of the structure of the bird regarded merely in 
 a mechanical point of view, it is impossible for us
 
 BIRDS. 307 
 
 to avoid perceiving that we are to seek the founda- 
 tions of our best and soundest mechanical know- 
 ledge in those adaptations of creature to element 
 which the Almighty has made. It would be easy 
 to go through the whole structures and the whole 
 habits of the feathered tribes, and from the con- 
 templation of these jointly to show that we may 
 search in vain for any such school of mechanics 
 as they present to us without labour and without 
 expense ; but interesting as this subject is, our 
 limits forbid us from entering farther upon it. 
 
 It would be superfluous to describe the general 
 form of a bird, or to say much of the parts and 
 their coverings, because these are matters of com- 
 mon observation. The mouth of a bird is always 
 a bill, or two mandibles of horny substance, placed 
 the one above the other, and having the principal 
 motion in the lower mandible, as is the case in the 
 mammalia. The nostrils of birds are placed at 
 the base of the bill or in its substance, and they 
 are variously protected by membranes or feathers, 
 according to the habits of the species. The eyes 
 are placed laterally, and they have their principal 
 direction varied according as the bird has more use 
 for them in one direction or in another. In birds 
 which fly high and seek their prey under them, 
 the eyes are so placed as to command the view- 
 downwards. In birds which fly straight forward in 
 the twilight, the eyes are directed more forwards, 
 and they are larger, and generally surrounded by 
 radiated feathers which appear to have some influ- 
 ence in concentrating the feeble light upon them. 
 The ears of birds are never developed externally, 
 but they are covered with peculiar feathers ; and 
 in some birds, at least, the sense of hearing is very 
 x 2
 
 308 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 acute. The feet of most birds consist of four toes 
 three to the front and one to the rear ; but some- 
 times all the four are turned to the front, as in the 
 swifts; sometimes two are turned to the front, and 
 two to the rear ; sometimes the external front one 
 can act either forwards or backwards ; and in dif- 
 ferent birds the toes are more or less connected 
 with each other by membranes. Almost all birds 
 are digitigrade, or walk on the toes only, and the 
 naked part, which we are in the habit of calling the 
 leg, is the tarsus or foot bone of the bird. In most 
 species this tarsus is naked and covered with scales, 
 and in many of the wading birds, a portion of the 
 tibia or true leg above the tarsal joint, is bare of 
 feathers, which portion is called the garter. The 
 covering of the tarsi of birds is one indication of 
 their habits ; land birds having these parts covered 
 with imbricated scales, which lie over each other, 
 and have their edges free ; while wading birds and 
 water birds have the scales reticulated or inclosed 
 in a membranous net-work at all their margins. 
 In some birds the tarsi are feathered, and even 
 the toes partially : and this provision is found 
 only on birds which inhabit very cold places, or 
 have powerful action of their feet. The feet of 
 birds never contain much muscle, but consist of 
 bones, cartilages, and ligaments, covered by the 
 skin and its appendages, the muscles being situated 
 on the upper parts of the leg. In general the 
 ligaments suffice, without any muscular action, to 
 close the toes, by the mere bending of the upper 
 joints of the leg ; and by this means birds are 
 enabled to cling to their perches without any exer- 
 tion, and consequently without any waste of their 
 systems. The feathers of birds, which are the
 
 BIRDS. 309 
 
 general coverings of their bodies, and which are 
 not possessed by any other class of animals, are of 
 three kinds clothing feathers, feathers for flight, 
 and supplemental feathers, of which the use in 
 all cases is not very well known. The clothing 
 feathers usually form a very close investment, are 
 generally imbricated one over two, and their curva- 
 tures are beautifully adapted to those parts which 
 they cover; those feathers are sometimes inter- 
 mixed at their roots with a separate covering, 
 which gets the name of down, and which forms the 
 radical portion of the webs of most clothing fea- 
 thers, and which sometimes issues as a supple- 
 mental branch from the inside of the feather, just 
 above the barrel or hollow part. 
 
 The feathers of flight are the larger ones of the 
 wings and tail ; but both of these are, according to 
 the habit and action of the bird, fortified toward 
 their bases by rows or layers of shorter feathers, 
 which add greatly to the strength and stiffness of 
 the flying parts, without adding much to their 
 weight. These are called upper or under coverts, 
 according as they are applied to the upper or under 
 sides of the flying instruments. 
 
 The supplemental feathers are found on various 
 parts of the body ; and it is not very easy to see 
 what] is their use in all cases, though we cannot 
 doubt that in every case they have a use. Some- 
 times they appear as a round tuft or crest on the 
 head, the precise purpose of which we are not very 
 able to make out. At other times they are in the 
 form of floating crests from the hind part of the 
 head ; and in these cases we can generally under- 
 stand that they guide the "direction of the head 
 when darted out in rapid motion, just as the fea-
 
 310 
 
 WESLEY S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 thers of a dart or arrow guide the direction of that 
 weapon. When they are in the tail Ave may pre- 
 sume that they have the same influence on the 
 general direction of the hody of the bird ; and when 
 they are loose and flocculenr, and issue from the 
 shoulders or hack, we naturally suppose that they 
 assist the hird in floating gently through the air 
 with little muscular exertion. 
 
 The points of wings and tails are tolerably good 
 characters in birds. The power of ascending and 
 descending is in proportion to the general develop- 
 ment of the tail. Birds which have chiefly straight 
 forward flight in the free air, have the tail nearly 
 squared over at the extremity ; those which wheel 
 about in the free air, often have it forked ; and 
 those which make their way among the branches 
 of trees, have it rounded or wedge-shaped. These 
 forms are however se much mixed up with other 
 characters in the different races of birds, that we 
 cannot come to any very positive conclusions by 
 merely regarding them singly. 
 
 The voices, as well as the appearances of birds, 
 are much more pleasing to us than those of the 
 mammalia, or indeed of any other class of animals. 
 The voice of birds depends but little on the form 
 of the mouth ; because its proper organ is at the 
 lower end of the windpipe and not at the upper ; 
 and hence in them it is the windpipe, and not the 
 mouth which modulates the voice. From this 
 arises the pleasing variety of their notes, which 
 make the groves and coppices so sweetly melodious 
 when the vernal season collects the winged tribes 
 to such places, and stimulates them to perform the 
 grand labours of the year. On the contrary, the 
 natural voices of the mammalia are, generally
 
 BIRDS. 31 1 
 
 speaking, unpleasant ; and if we are pleased with 
 the bleating of sheep, the lowing of oxen, or the 
 barking of dogs, the pleasure is a secondary one, 
 arising from the service which these animals render 
 to man. On the other hand, the song of the birds, 
 in wild nature, and without the aid of any associ- 
 ation, are often highly delightful ; and the spring 
 and early summer would be deprived of many of 
 their charms if the birds were to become silent. 
 Nay. even when the missel thrush sometimes raises 
 his song amid the desolation of the year, that song 
 tells us that spring is coming, and thus bears some 
 resemblance to the bow of hope amid the blackness 
 of the tempest. 
 
 From their power of careering over long dis- 
 tances, birds are the most seasonable inhabitants of 
 the earth. They can travel from the regions of 
 the equator to the margins of the polar ice, in less 
 time than a man could walk the breadth of Eng- 
 land ; and this celerity of motion enables them to 
 perform labours in the economy of nature, which 
 could not be performed by any other creatures. In 
 Britain we do not see the full working of this sea- 
 sonal migration ; but still we see enough of it 
 for convincing us that it is a most important part 
 of nature's economy. As the sun divides its 
 genial influence on the two hemispheres in the 
 course of the year, giving each the alternate succes- 
 sion of summer and winter, there is a seasonal alter- 
 nation of all sorts of living creatures, and all sorts of 
 vegetables upon which a bird can feed. There is 
 not only this, but in proportion as the latitude is 
 nearer the pole, there is a longer feeding time 
 every day for the bird which migrates northward ; 
 and, therefore, as the rearing of their broods is no
 
 312 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 simple labour with the feathered race, those north- 
 erly climes answer well for this purpose. It so hap- 
 pens too, that as the northern regions of the world 
 get more productive of food, and the day gets 
 longer for collecting it, the regions of the south 
 become burnt up so as not to furnish a supply. 
 On the other hand, when winter returns to the 
 regions of the north, and the snowfalls and the water 
 congeals, so that there is food only for a very limited 
 number of creatures, and these of only very pecu- 
 liar structure and character, the season has again 
 set in, in the southern climates ; and thither the 
 birds return, and enjoy the bounty of Him who 
 provides for the want of every creature in its season. 
 This migration is not confined to the little 
 warblers which are so joyous in our groves, and 
 which, while they delight our ears with their songs, 
 tend so much to preserve our gardens and copses, 
 and even our field crops from the ravages of de- 
 vouring insects ; for it extends to an endless num- 
 berof races. As the waters in the warm climates ebb 
 away, and the animals and animal remains which 
 they leave behind begin to be exhausted, numerous 
 flights of cranes, storks, and other birds with long 
 legs and adapted for wading, find their way to 
 more northerly countries ; and, as it is beautifully 
 expressed in the sacred volume, " know the times 
 of their coming," with a certainty which would be 
 wonderful if it were not part of the system or- 
 dained and directed by the Almighty. Those sea- 
 sonal movements of the birds not only furnish us 
 with a constant succession of objects of knowledge 
 and delight, and furnish us with the keys of nature 
 in parts of the world which we cannot possibly 
 visit, but they also admonish us of the lapse of
 
 BIRDS. 313 
 
 time, and warn us to perform our labours and dis- 
 charge our duties while it is yet day, because 
 " the night cometh in which no man can work." 
 
 As birds are the most aerial of all creatures in 
 their external structure and their motions, they 
 are also the most aerial in their internal structure 
 and their breathing. Taken in general, the action 
 of their system is more vigorous and their tempe- 
 rature higher than that of the mammalia ; and as 
 the breathing of an animal is ever in proportion to 
 the activity and heat of the system, and the birds, 
 exposed as they often are to the full action of the 
 wind high above the surface of the earth, have not 
 the same calmness in which to breathe, as the 
 mammalia have in their shelter upon the ground, 
 we might naturally look for some additional 'appa- 
 ratus in the way of breathing. For such we do 
 not look in vain ; for the interior of birds is not 
 only filled with air cells and*air sacks, but their 
 very bones are hollowed out so as to admit a free 
 passage to the air ; so that by this means, the 
 renovation of their blood by the action of the air 
 is not confined to the lungs as it is in the mam- 
 malia, but air has access to every important blood- 
 vessel, and the bird is capable of breathing all over. 
 Not only this, but there are some birds which 
 have the means of making the air of use to them 
 in the breaking of their fall and the altering of the 
 specific gravity of their whole bodies, and of that 
 of the several parts. The gannets and cormorants, 
 and some other birds which have the habit of 
 descending from a height and catching fishes in 
 the sea, have the skin of the breast attached to the 
 flesh only by ties at certain places ; and as those 
 ties are elastic, they admit a portion of air to be
 
 314 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 taken in. Such birds plunge head foremost into 
 the water in the act of capturing their prey ; and 
 there is no doubt that the elasticity of this air 
 takes off the shock that would otherwise be pro- 
 duced by the rapid contact of the water ; and not 
 only this, but it also helps to give buoyancy to the 
 fore part of the body of the bird, and enables that 
 to rise with greater ease when the bird, having 
 accomplished its purpose in the water, again pre- 
 pares to take the wing and mount upwards into 
 the sky. 
 
 In the production of birds there is a wonderful 
 uniformity ; and we find among them no such dif- 
 ference as there is between the ordinary and the 
 marsupial mammalia. Every bird, whatever may 
 be its nature, its form, or its size, is produced from 
 an egg ; and there is more similarity in their ge- 
 neral characters among the eggs of birds, than 
 there is among the young of any other class of 
 animals when they leave the body of the mother. 
 Every bird's egg is covered with a hard and brittle 
 shell of salts of lime, lined with membrane, and 
 containing a yolk and a white, at one particular 
 point of the union of which there is contained the 
 embryo or original germ of the future bird. The 
 egg has this curious property too, that in whatever 
 way it is turned or rolled about, the germ always 
 remains toward the upper side ; and it is essential 
 to the quickening of many eggs, at least during 
 incubation, that they should be moved to prevent 
 the yolk from descending through the white ; be- 
 cause if it should do so and the atmosphere act 
 directly upon the yolk through the shell, and with- 
 out the intervention of the white, the egg would 
 become putrid or addled and not produce a bird.
 
 BIRDS. 315 
 
 The membranes which invest the yolk of an egg, 
 and with which the embryo or rudiment of the bird 
 is connected, are exceedingly curious ; and, strange 
 as it may seem, there is in the egg, though as yet 
 it has no active life in itself, a rudimental portion 
 of two lives, namely, a certain part of the life of 
 the mother bird, which is to accomplish its purpose 
 during the incubation, and then to be no more ; 
 and the rudiment of a young life for the offspring, 
 which, if it meets with no calamity, shall come to 
 maturity, continue its race, and live for its ap- 
 pointed time. It happens in the case of those 
 membranes within the egg, as it does in that of 
 the placenta of the mammalia, while the young 
 remains in the uterus, that there are distinct vessels 
 belonging to the maternal part and to the off- 
 spring ; and then we can follow those vessels 
 downward from the larger maternal ones until the 
 most powerful microscope loses them at the surface 
 of contact, and that we can find those belonging 
 to the offspring a little on the other side of this 
 surface, and trace them onward to the vital parts 
 of the said offspring ; but when we have done this 
 our observation is at an end ; and there is some- 
 thing in that mysterious contact of the two lives, 
 which contact is at once a union and a separation, 
 which mocks at our philosophy and sets at nought 
 even our fancies and conjectures, so wonderfully 
 are the springs of life veiled from mortal eyes. 
 
 The great difference in this respect between 
 mammalia and birds appears to consist in the in- 
 ternal heat of the mother being necessary for the 
 young of the mammalia, until it is so far developed 
 that the principal actions of the vital system have 
 begun ; while in the birds, the egg is in such a
 
 316 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 state that the requisite degree of dry heat con- 
 tinued for the proper length of time will bring the 
 young to maturity independently of the mother. 
 The young of the marsupial mammalia, when they 
 are transferred from the internal uterus to the pouch, 
 have some slight resemblance to eggs ; but still 
 they have advanced much farther than in the case 
 with the eggs of birds ; and while the vitality of a 
 bird's egg can be preserved for a considerable time, 
 it is doubtful whether the embryo of a marsupial 
 animal could exist for five minutes, or even for one 
 minute, unless applied to the teat. 
 
 But though the heat of the mother is not abso- 
 lutely necessary for hatching the eggs of a bird, 
 this is the heat generally applied, unless in those 
 cases where the two parents perform the incubation 
 in turn. It has often been said that the ostrich 
 leaves her eggs to the chance heat of the desert ; 
 and it is true that not the ostrich only but very 
 many birds which lay their eggs upon the dry 
 sand, leave them and go forth to feed, while the 
 sun is warm and the air dry ; but as there is 
 generally dew upon such places during the night, 
 from the sand cooling much faster than the air 
 over it ; and as this dew would injure the eggs, 
 such birds return to them and protect them before 
 the dew begins to form ; and if it should rain 
 during the day, they sit most patiently, and for the 
 sake of their offspring abide the pelting of the 
 falling drops ; and not only so, but place their 
 bodies in that position by which the eggs shall be 
 best protected from any chance of injury. 
 
 The labours of birds in the construction of their 
 nests, the differences of those structures, and the 
 degree of ingenuity and apparent science with
 
 ACCIPITRES. 317 
 
 which many of them are constructed, form a most 
 interesting part of the rural history of the year ; 
 but it is a part upon which our limits forbid us 
 from entering ; and therefore we must be contented 
 with a few remarks on the different orders of birds, 
 and the characters which distinguish those orders 
 from each other. 
 
 Order I. Accipitres, or birds of prey. 
 These are the most powerful birds of the whole 
 class ; and their habits agree with their structure, 
 inasmuch as they all in a state of nature live upon 
 animal food, and the greater number of them kill 
 the prey which they eat. They occupy the same 
 place among birds which the carnivorous division 
 of the order carnaria does among mammalia. 
 
 Their characters are, the bill and claws crooked 
 and very strong, though varying in form and in 
 strength with the characters of the animals : and 
 by means of these they prey upon other birds, or 
 reptiles, and on the smaller mammalia. The 
 upper parts of their legs are very muscular, which 
 indicates a great power of action in the toes and 
 claws; the tarsal bones are seldom very long in 
 proportion to their strength ; and the under parts 
 of the toes are furnished with elastic pads, by 
 means of which they maintain their hold on their 
 perches without blunting the points of their claws. 
 In the more sanguinary ones the claws are the 
 principal instruments of death, for which purpose 
 their under sides are furnished with two trenchant 
 or tearing ridges separated by a groove ; while 
 those which are merely instruments of prehension 
 are smooth or round on their under sides. The 
 bill, which in these birds is usually called a beak, 
 differs much according to the habit of the owner.
 
 318 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 In those which feed upon living prey, that is, prey 
 which themselves have killed, it is furnished with 
 notches and irregularities near the point, which 
 bear some resemblance to the carnivorous teeth of 
 the mammalia, and are perhaps more characteristic 
 of a sanguinary habit and a habit of tearing recent 
 flesh than any other part of the structure. The 
 feet of those birds have all four toes, generally 
 placed three to the front and one to the rear, the 
 inner front and the rear one having the most 
 powerful claws ; but in some instances the external 
 one admits of being reversed so as that the toes 
 act two against two ; but a foot of this structure is 
 to be regarded as possessing more of the character 
 of a catching and carrying, than a killing instru- 
 ment. 
 
 Birds of prey are conveniently divided into two 
 sections, or families, according to r their times of 
 feeding. The first or diurnal family is composed 
 of falcons, hawks, eagles, vultures, with various 
 sub-divisions ; and birds of the second division are 
 known by the general name of owls. Of the first 
 family, the falcons are the boldest birds in pro- 
 portion to their strength ; they fly the highest, and 
 kill their prey in the air. The most powerful of 
 them are natives of cold countries, but they are 
 distributed over different parts of the world. The 
 hawks are shorter winged than the falcons, and 
 pursue their game at less elevations in the air ; 
 and some birds nearly allied to them, such as the 
 kites, and a few others, glide about with easy 
 flight, and often prey upon reptiles and the very 
 smallest mammalia. The eagles exceed all the 
 others in size and strength, and generally fly 
 high, but seize their prey upon the ground, by
 
 PASSERINE. 319 
 
 descending on it with vast impetuosity. The 
 vultures are more loosely made, and have less 
 powerful beaks and claws than the others; they 
 live in a great measure upon carrion, and are 
 chiefly found in the warm countries, where they 
 act the part of scavengers. Their claws are much 
 less adapted either for killing or for clutching prey 
 than the others ; and their chief use appears to be 
 in enabling the birds to retain their hold upon the 
 putrid carcasses on which they feed. The owls fly 
 abroad chiefly in the twilight ; and they are re- 
 markable for the fine extremities of their feathers, 
 in consequence of which they fly without making 
 almost any noise. The solid parts of their bodies 
 generally bear but a small proportion to theapparent 
 bulk of the feathers ; and though some of those 
 which inhabit the north are very powerful, they 
 are altogether more feeble than the diurnal birds 
 of prey. 
 
 Order II. Passerince, or birds resembling spar- 
 rows. This is an exceedingly numerous order, com- 
 prehending most of the wild birds which we observe 
 in ordinary situations, so that the name tells but 
 little, though it is not very easy to select a better. 
 It is divided into a number of groups or sub-orders. 
 Dentirostres, or toothed bills, include those birds 
 which feed more exclusively upon insects and small 
 invertebrated animals, though some of them are 
 understood to kill other smaller birds. Thrushes, 
 flycatchers, and most of our summer song birds 
 which feed upon caterpillars belong to this division. 
 Fissirostres, or open bills, feed upon insects which, 
 they catch on the wing. The different swallows 
 and goat-suckers have this character. Conirostres 
 have the bill thick at the base and sharp pointed ;
 
 320 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 they are, generally speaking, miscellaneous in their 
 feeding. Larks, tits, crows, and many other 
 birds, some of which are remarkahle for the bril- 
 liant colours of their plumag,e belong to this 
 division. A few sing sweetly, but the voices of 
 the majority are harsh, though many of them may 
 be taught to articulate words- Tenuirostres have 
 the bill slender, and their general habit is to pick 
 insects from crevices in the bark of trees, and 
 other places of concealment. Some of them run 
 in all directions upon the bark with the greatest 
 celerity, while others, known by the name of 
 humming-birds, from the noise which they make, 
 crowd the air in warm countries, are often ex- 
 ceedingly brilliant in their plumage, and some 
 species, though perfect birds in all their parts, do 
 not exceed the size of ordinary bees. Syndactyles, 
 or equal-toed birds, have the outer and middle 
 front toe of the same length, and both united to 
 each other in the basal part. They are very 
 brilliant birds in their colours ; the king-fisher is 
 one of the few British species ; and among foreign 
 ones the hornbills are remarkable for a large pro- 
 duction of horny matter at the base of the bill, 
 which sometimes stands upward in the shape of a 
 helmet, and at other times projects forward as if it 
 were a second bill on the top of the real one. These 
 are altogether curious birds, and most of them live 
 on animal food of some kind or other; many 
 chasing and catching the large winged insects, and 
 others fishing over the waters. 
 
 Order III. Scansorice, climbing birds. The 
 birds of this order are chiefly inhabitants of the 
 forests ; and we need not add that they are most 
 abundant in the warm parts of the world ; because
 
 BIRDS. 321 
 
 it is there that the forests supply the greatest 
 quantity of birds' food, whether those birds feed on 
 animal matter or on vegetable. They have the 
 feet formed for climbing, or what is called zygo- 
 dactylic, or equally yoked; that is, two toes turned 
 to the front and two to the rear. As is the case 
 with the handed animals, the birds of this order, 
 which are the most expert climbers, are bad walk- 
 ers, as the joints of their feet turn outward, to enable 
 them to reach and grasp a distant branch with the 
 foot; and many of them make use of the bill as an 
 additional climbing instrument, as some of the 
 handed mammalia make use of their prehensile 
 tails. Woodpeckers, cuckoos, toucans remarkable 
 for the largeness of their bills; and the almost 
 innumerable race of maccaws, parrots, and par- 
 rokeets, which make the tropical forests so gay 
 with their plumage, and so intolerable with their 
 incessant screaming, are examples of this order. 
 In the appearance, feeding, and disposition of these 
 birds there are many differences ; but in having 
 the climbing foot they all agree ; and, unless it be 
 by accident, there are not many of them that ever 
 alight or walk upon the ground, but they are 
 hatched and live and breed in the trees, though 
 many of them are birds of powerful wing, and can 
 without difficulty make their way from one part of 
 the forest to another. 
 
 Order IV. Gallinidce, poultry birds. These 
 occupy nearly the same relation in the class of 
 birds which ruminant animals occupy in that of the 
 mammalia; and, as is the case with the ruminant 
 mammalia, they are the most useful to man of the 
 whole class. Some of them are domesticated, and 
 others not, while others again live in a state of 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 WESLEY ? S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 half-domestication ; and in this also they agree 
 with the ruminants. The domesticated ones are 
 the different races of poultry, peacocks, turkeys, 
 guinea-fowl, and common fowl, together with 
 some species not much introduced into Europe, 
 which are domesticated in South America, and 
 which appear to have their native localities rather 
 nearer the water than our poultry. The pheasants 
 are the half-domesticated ones ; and the partridges 
 and grouse are those which remain in a state of 
 nature. Still farther to carry the parallel hetween 
 those birds and the ruminant mammalia, the flesh 
 and eggs of domestic poultry are superior to those 
 of all other domestic birds, just as the flesh and 
 milk of cattle and sheep are superior to those of 
 all other domestic mammalia. In like manner as 
 the wild ruminantia, the deer, and the antelopes, 
 are regarded as the noblest and choicest of four- 
 footed game, even so the wild pheasants, the 
 partridges, and the grouse are esteemed as the best 
 of all winged game in every part of the country 
 where they are found. 
 
 Some of the wild races appear to be natives of 
 very cold and elevated countries only, and to adapt 
 themselves to the severe winters on the northern 
 mountain tops by a total change of their plumage 
 from mottled to white, which alters back again 
 from white to mottled in the spring. This is the 
 case with the common ptarmigan, which is not 
 uncommon on the summits of some of the very 
 lofty mountains of Scotland, though rare in the 
 southern part of the island. The partridges, 
 though pretty generally distributed, are natives 
 of warmer climates, and inhabit more low- lying 
 and fertile places ; while those races which have
 
 BIRDS. 323 
 
 been absolutely domesticated are, generally speak- 
 ing, natives of the tropical forests or their margins ; 
 though some of them have followed mankind in 
 their migrations for so many years and into so 
 many variations of climate, that they are broken 
 into endless varieties. The turkey, though the 
 name which it has absurdly got would lead to the 
 supposition that it is a bird from the east, is a 
 native of the temperate parts of America ; and so 
 zealous and successful have the American people 
 been in the extermination of it from their forests, 
 that it is rare indeed in a state of nature, especially 
 in the inhabited parts of the country. The peacock 
 is from the forests of India, where numbers are 
 still to be seen in a state of nature ; and the 
 common fowl is from the same part of the world. 
 The guinea-fowl is from Africa, in some places of 
 which it is still abundant in a state of nature ; and 
 it is said that these birds are so partial to the 
 dwellings of men, that they come voluntarily to 
 the poultry yards in their neighbourhoods and do 
 not readily retire. 
 
 The gallinaceous birds agree thus further in 
 their habits with the ruminant mammalia, that the 
 greater number of them are social in their habits, 
 and attached to the society of each other ; and 
 that the males are polygamous, or have many 
 females in their train, and fight fierce battles of 
 gallantry about their females. They are not only 
 social with each other, but with all other animals 
 which do not offer injury to them ; for, though 
 they chiefly inhabit places where there is plenty of 
 food for them, and thus need few resources, and 
 have, in consequence, no very extraordinary degree 
 of animal sagacity, they are fond of the society of 
 Y 2
 
 324 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 all living creatures ; and there have been instances 
 of a solitary domestic hen forming an attachment 
 to a cow, a horse, or a pig, following it into the 
 fields, and being restless and discontented in its 
 absence. 
 
 They are all what is called gizzard birds, that is, 
 they have the principal stomach very strong and 
 muscular, for the purpose of grinding vegetable 
 food, and they swallow small pebbles to assist 
 them in this process. But still, they are not 
 exclusively vegetable feeders, but are rather mis- 
 cellaneous in their eating, and have no objection to 
 worms, insects, caterpillars, and all sorts of animal 
 garbage. In their vegetable feeding, they eat 
 seeds, buds, and fruits, rather than leaves. They 
 are all ground feeders, and their feet are what is 
 called rasorial, that is, formed for scraping in the 
 soil in search of anything eatable which may be 
 contained in it ; and many of them are partial to 
 rolling or basking in the dry dust. But, though 
 they all feed upon the ground, and the greater part, 
 if not the whole, nestle and rear their broods there, 
 yet all the woodland species roost upon trees during 
 the night. 
 
 Few of them make any formal nest ; but the 
 females are close sitters upon their eggs, and so 
 courageous in defence of their brood, as not only 
 to drive away birds of prey, but to fly in the face 
 of dogs and other mammalia. 
 
 They are very prolific ; their broods are nume- 
 rous; many of them breed twice in the year ; and, 
 in a state of domestication, the females continue 
 to produce eggs for a number of weeks, if they are 
 prevented from sitting by the daily removal of the 
 eggs, generally, however, leaving one.
 
 BIRDS. 325 
 
 When we contemplate the birds of this order, in 
 their relations to the rest of nature, and the use of 
 man, we cannot avoid feeling that in them, as in 
 the ruminant mammalia, the best bounty of Hea- 
 ven has been specially meted out to us, and for 
 our good, and, feeling the obligation, can we fail or 
 fall short of the gratitude, without the most just 
 and severe self-condemnation ! Somewhat allied 
 to the gallinaceous birds, though different from 
 them in various respects, are the very numerous 
 family of the pigeons. They do not consist of so 
 many different species as the gallinidre ; but they 
 are, in some instances at least, much more nume- 
 rous in individuals. They are much more vege- 
 table feeders than the others, and are birds of more 
 powerful wing. In almost all the species one male 
 and one female continue attached to each other ; 
 and therefore there is no warfare of gallantry among 
 them : but still, some of the species assemble in 
 immense flocks, flocks greatly exceeding those of 
 any other land birds with which we are acquainted. 
 They are birds of powerful wing ; and thus in 
 countries subject to seasonal alternations of plenty 
 and scarcity, they migrate in immense numbers, 
 numbers which, in the wilds of North America 
 especially, appear to be beyond all parallel in the 
 history of animated nature. AVe shall quote a short 
 passage from Wilson, the American ornithologist, 
 in illustration of the immense multitudes and habits 
 of those birds. He is alluding to the western states 
 of America, or those beyond the Alleghany moun- 
 tains. " These fertile and extensive regions," says 
 Wilson, " abound with the nutritious beech nut, 
 which constitutes the chief food of the wild pigeon. 
 Jn seasons when these nuts are abundant, corre-
 
 326 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 spending multitudes of pigeons may be confidently 
 expected. It sometimes happens that, having con- 
 sumed the whole produce of the beech trees in an 
 extensive district, they discover another, at the 
 distance perhaps of sixty or eighty miles, to which 
 they regularly repair every morning, and return as 
 regularly every evening, to their place of general 
 rendezvous, or, as it is usually called, the roosting 
 place. These roosting places are always in the 
 woods, and sometimes occupy a large extent of 
 forest. When they have frequented one of these 
 places for some time, the appearance it exhibits is 
 surprising. The ground is covered to the depth 
 of several inches with their dung ; all the tender 
 grass and underwood destroyed; the surface strew- 
 ed with large limbs of trees, broke down by the 
 weight of the birds clustering one above another : 
 and the trees themselves, for thousands of acre?, 
 killed, as completely as if girdled with an axe. The 
 marks of this desolation remain for many years on 
 the spot ; and numerous places could be pointed 
 out, where, for several years after, scarce a single 
 vegetable made its appearance. When these roosts 
 are first discovered, the inhabitants, from consider- 
 able distances, visit them in the night with guns, 
 clubs, long poles, pots of sulphur, and various 
 other engines of destruction. In a few hours they 
 fill many sacks, and load their horses with them. 
 By the Indians, a pigeon roost, or breeding place, 
 is considered an important source of national pro- 
 fit, and dependence for that season ; and all their 
 active ingenuity is exercised on the occasion. The 
 breeding place differs from the former (that is 
 from the settling roosts in the migrations) in its 
 greater extent. In the western countries abovo
 
 BIRDS. 327 
 
 mentioned, these are generally in beech woods, and 
 often extend, in nearly a straight line, across the 
 country for a great way. Not far from Shelby- 
 ville, in the state of Kentucky, about five years 
 ago, there was one of these breeding places, which 
 stretched through the woods in nearly a north and 
 south direction ; was several miles in breadth, and 
 was said to be upwards of forty miles in extent ! 
 In this tract, almost every tree was furnished with 
 nests, wherever the branches could accommodate 
 them. The pigeons made their first appearance 
 there about the 10th of April, and left it altogether 
 with their young, before the 25th of May." 
 
 There is no migration of pigeons, or perhaps of 
 any other birds, so wonderful as this of the pas- 
 senger pigeons of America ; but if we leave this 
 out of the question, there are some in the eastern 
 parts of the world which are by no means unworthy 
 of notice; and the pigeons there are of more varied 
 species, and some of them birds of far greater 
 beauty than the American ones. Between the 
 islands on the south-east of Asia, and the eastern 
 parts of New Holland, there is annually a great 
 migration of birds. On the line of that migration, 
 the country adjacent to Moreton Bay is a grand 
 rendezvous, as it is a wooded district, and in the 
 season abounds with wild fruits. The pigeons 
 resort to it in vast multitudes ; and some of them 
 rival in the brightness of their colours the very 
 gayest of the parrots. 
 
 Pigeons, notwithstanding their numbers, have 
 very small broods, only two at a time ; but those 
 broods follow each other in very rapid succession ; 
 so that from the ardour of their temperament, the 
 great quantity of food which they require, and
 
 328 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 their continued labour with their broods, pigeons 
 are among the most industrious of all the feathered 
 race. Their handsome forms too, and their attach- 
 ment to each other and to their young, give them 
 additional interest. But we need hardly say that 
 there is no truth in the often repeated fable of the 
 turtle mourning for her mate, any more than there 
 is in that of the widowed nightingale pouring forth 
 her plaintive notes on a similar occasion. The 
 cooing of the one, and the song of the other, are 
 both uttered by the male birds, and not by the 
 females ; and they are both songs of love and not 
 of sorrow. Birds know no sorrow in our sense of 
 the word, and their momentary sounds of alarm 
 are all harsh and screaming. 
 
 There is one curious physiological particular in 
 which the pigeons differ from most other birds; 
 their stomachs create a substance bearing some 
 slight resemblance to milk, which they bring up to 
 their bills, and, in part at least, employ in the feed- 
 ing of their young. 
 
 Order V. Echassiers, stilt birds or waders. 
 All the birds of the fourorderswhichwehavenoticed 
 are to be considered as land birds ; for, though 
 some of them resort to more humid places than 
 others, and a few find their food in the water, by 
 descending on the wing for the purpose of fishing, 
 there are none of them that launch themselves 
 upon the water, or even wade, or can bear to have 
 their plumage wet for any length of time. Many 
 of them, no doubt, are much in the habit of bathing 
 or washing themselves ; and it is curious to observe 
 some of them, as for instance, the long-winged 
 vultures, spreading out their pinions for the wind 
 to dry them, after having performed this operation.
 
 BIRDS. 329 
 
 Some of them too, as for instance those vultures, 
 especially such of them as play the part of scavengers 
 by the margins of the waters in tropical countries, 
 when the seasonal floods hegin to subside, have 
 reticulated scales on the tarsi, something similar to 
 those of the birds of this order ; but still they are 
 decidedly land birds. 
 
 Those which the system atists include in this 
 order, are not all water birds, or even birds of the 
 margins of the waters, dry or humid ; for there 
 are some of them which find their food in more 
 arid places than almost any other race of birds. 
 There is not however any way of getting a syste- 
 matic arrangement of birds, or of any other class 
 of natural productions, which shall in itself be per- 
 fectly natural, unless we come to the single species, 
 which would be no arrangement at all ; nor could 
 it afford any help to the knowledge of one from 
 the previous knowledge of another ; and, therefore, 
 we must submit to the unavoidable anomalies of 
 human systems, which cannot be perfect as applied 
 to the works of Divine wisdom, for the sake of 
 those parts of them that do convey useful know- 
 ledge. 
 
 Stilt-birds may be distinguished by their naked 
 legs, and generally by the length of the tarsi. 
 These enable them to wade to a considerable depth 
 in the water without wetting their plumage. They 
 all seize their prey with the bill ; and, therefore, 
 they have the neck long in proportion to the tarsi. 
 The degree of strength in the bill indicates the 
 peculiar food of these birds. Those which have it 
 hard and strong, are in general fishers, or, if not, 
 scavengers by the margins of the waters ; while 
 those which have the bill slender and pliable and
 
 330 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 along with this it often has the property of being 
 an organ of touch, by means of which the birds 
 are able to distinguish between what is fit for food 
 and what is not live upon insects, small mollus- 
 cous animals and worms. Those which live on 
 dry wastes and do not resort to the waters or their 
 margins, have the bill resembling in part, at least, 
 the bills of the gallinidae. 
 
 The feet of these birds differ much in form. 
 Some, as the ostriches, which inhabit the same arid 
 countries as the camels, have the extremities of 
 their feet something resembling these, with only 
 two toes, and the external one smaller than the 
 other, and without any nail. But as a proof that 
 the feet are adapted to the pasture, the rhea of 
 South America, which runs among tall herbage for 
 a great part of the year, has three toes on the feet, 
 and so have the cassowary of the east, and the emu 
 of New Australia, both of which are on pastures 
 comparatively rich ; and the apteryx has the tarsi 
 short, and the feet as much developed as those of 
 a common fowl. These singular birds compose the 
 family of Brcvipennes, or short wings. 
 
 Pressirostres, or those with the bill narrow, and 
 not very long, but strong and pointed, form the 
 next family. They are field birds, swift on the 
 feet, and in some of the species, long on the legs, 
 but some of them frequent the soft grounds near 
 the water. They feed upon earth-worms, ground 
 insects, and larva?, and sometimes on the seeds of 
 plants. They have the hind toe wanting or very 
 small, and run on the spring of the other toes ; a 
 long hind toe is not adapted for rapid motion. 
 This family includes the bustards, plovers, lap wings, 
 oyster catchers, and a few others ; all of which are
 
 BIRDS. 331 
 
 swift-footed birds, and most are also active on the 
 wing. 
 
 The cultrirostral family, or those with knife- 
 shaped bills, come next. Most of them are large 
 and powerful birds, migrating with the seasons, 
 feeding upon reptiles, fishes, and other animal mat- 
 ters, and acting the part of scavengers in many 
 countries. Their .bill and gape are often of great 
 size, and their tarsi and necks are long. Cranes, 
 storks, boat-bills, herons, open-bills, spoon-bills, 
 and some others, are the typical birds of this 
 family. Many of them are very familiar with man, 
 resorting to cities, and perching and sometimes 
 making their nests on the house-tops. 
 
 Long-billed birds ( ' lonf/irostres ) form the next 
 family of this numerous and varied tribe. Their 
 bills are very long and slender, and generally flex- 
 ible in whole or in part. They are variously 
 formed, being arched downwards in the ibis and' 
 curlew, straight in some of the snipes and wood- 
 cocks, and turned upwards in the avosets. The 
 ibis genus live by the banks of rivers and feed 
 upon reptiles ; the others come gradually nearer 
 the water, and seek their food in softer ground in 
 proportion as their bills are more tender and sen- 
 tient. The avosets bring the succession down to 
 the shallow runs of water, from which they scoop 
 their food in a curious manner. These birds are 
 the true marsh birds, and some of them are ac- 
 counted delicacies for the table. 
 
 The long-toed birds ( ' macrodactyles ) form the 
 last regular family of wading birds. Their long 
 toes fit them for walking upon aquatic plants, and 
 some on the water itself. Most of them have par- 
 tial webs uniting their toes at their bases, and some
 
 332 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of them have the toes margined for the whole 
 length. They consist of rails, water hens, coots, 
 and several birds, chiefly American, in which the 
 toes are remarkably long. They live and nestle 
 in the tall herbage by the banks of streams and 
 pools, their habits are retiring, and most of them 
 can make their escape by running partly on and 
 partly in the water. The form of their bodies is 
 well fitted for making way through tangled vege- 
 tation ; and their long toes give them a footing on 
 grass and other herbage, where it is difficult for 
 any other animal to follow them. 
 
 There are some curious birds, of which the place 
 in the system is not very apparent, which are 
 usually placed here ; and all of them frequent the 
 margins of the waters. The carrion bird of New 
 Holland, which is about the size of a partridge, 
 black, with a sort of sheath on the basal part of 
 the bill; the pratincoles, which are handsome birds, 
 remarkable for the length of their wings and the 
 swiftness of their flight ; and the flamingos, which 
 have legs and necks of immense length, and are 
 remarkable for their bright red colour, are the 
 principal birds of those genera which do not con- 
 nect themselves very naturally with any of the 
 groups or families. 
 
 Order VI. Palmipedes, web-footed or swim- 
 ming birds While the birds of the preced- 
 ing order form a sort of intermediate inhabitants 
 between the land and the water, those of the pre- 
 sent order bring us upon the broad waters them- 
 selves, and thus their feet have a new function to 
 perform, that of rowing them along. But though 
 the water is one substance, and does not present 
 the same variety of surface as the land, and there-
 
 BIRDS. 333 
 
 fore does not need the same almost innumerable 
 variations in the structure of a foot adapted to it, 
 yet there are other functions to be performed by 
 the feet of those birds ; and those functions require 
 a different structure than if the feet were formed 
 for swimming only. All water birds necessarily 
 breed, and many of them repose upon, the land ; 
 and there are several that advance a considerable 
 way inland for the purpose of breeding, and which, 
 though they form their nests in tufts and bushes 
 near the water, range over the fields in quest of 
 their food. The way in which those swimming 
 birds arrive at the water, or change their localities 
 in it, is perhaps their best distinctions. 
 
 There are some which dive through the free 
 waters, remaining under the surface for a consider- 
 able time without wetting their plumage. These 
 are correctly enough called divers, though they are 
 not the only birds which dive. They, however, 
 invariably dive when they are to catch their food, 
 not to the bottom, as is the case with some of the 
 ducks, for they catch their prey by a snap of a 
 hard bill, which is often toothed that it may retain 
 its hold the better, and do not dabble or feel for 
 their food as the ducks do. In general they are 
 short winged birds, and some of them have the 
 wings so small as to be incapable of flight ; while 
 their legs are all placed so far backwards that they 
 are very bad walkers. Hence, perhaps, they are 
 the most exclusively water birds of the whole order. 
 Grebes, divers, guillemots, penguins, and several 
 others, belong to this well-defined family, some of 
 the last being wholly incapable of flight. 
 
 The next order, Longipennes, or long wings, are, 
 as water birds, the very reverse of the former,
 
 334 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 though like them they find their food in the free 
 waters. They are among the hest winged of all 
 birds in proportion to the weight of their bodies. 
 The numbers of some of them are astonishing, and 
 they are met with far from any land ; and some 
 are so rarely found there as to appear absolute 
 inhabitants of the wide seas. There are revolving 
 currents of Avide extent in some parts of the ocean, 
 especially in the Atlantic, a great quantity of sea 
 Aveed, and little fishes, and other small animals, 
 collect in those parts ; and there are tropical birds, 
 man-of-war birds, and others, with their flying 
 feathers remarkably produced, which are found 
 over such places. Petrels are generally distributed 
 over the surface of the water, some of them feed- 
 ing on the oil with which that surface generally 
 abounds ; gulls are well known on the shores of 
 most countries ; and terns skim the surface of the 
 ocean with a style of flight not very unlike that of 
 the swallows upon land. 
 
 The birds with all the four toes included in the 
 web, which we mentioned as not being exactly 
 swimming birds, descend from the air in plunges 
 upon their prey ; but though they can float about, 
 and sometimes do feed when in that situation, their 
 proper motion is on the wing. Pelicans, cormo- 
 rants, tropical birds, and a few others, belong to 
 this family. 
 
 The last family of the order have the bills flat, 
 and in many they are covered or margined with a 
 sentient membrane, so that the animals can feel 
 for their food. As they seldom take the wing, 
 except in their migrations, they may be considered 
 as more particularly birds of the shores and shal- 
 lows. They stand nearly in the same relation to
 
 BIRDS. 335 
 
 the rest of the water birds, as the poultry stand to 
 the other land birds, or as the ruminant animals 
 stand to the other mammalia. Some are vegetable 
 feeders, as geese and swans, others are miscellaneous 
 feeders, as the common ducks, and others feed 
 more exclusively on animal matters found at the 
 bottoms of the shallow waters, as is the case with 
 the diving ducks. 
 
 Such is a mere outline of the feathered race, in 
 their distinctions from each other, in their distribu- 
 tion over the land and the waters, in their general 
 habits, and in the more remarkable structures 
 which fit them for those habits. From the universal 
 action which those animals have, from the great 
 energy of many of them, from their commanding 
 the air, the land, and the sea, to an extent to which 
 all the three are not commanded by any other race 
 of animals, from the beauty of their forms, the 
 richness of their colourings, the wonderful perfec- 
 tion of mechanical design and execution which they 
 display, from the singular powers of endurance 
 which some of them possess ; and from the almost 
 countless number and variety of instincts, which 
 guide to the places best adapted for them, and 
 often induce them to pass from beyond the equator 
 to the regions of the extreme north, ere the sun 
 has apparently twice girdled the heavens, they form 
 one of the most inviting, one of the most lovely, 
 and one of the most instructive pages in the won- 
 derful volume of that creation which the bountiful 
 Author has opened wide to all His rational crea- 
 tures ; and who has so ordained, that in proportion 
 to their knowledge of this volume shall be the 
 measure of their true moral enjoyment.
 
 336 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1. In the class of reptiles we find not a less 
 display certainly of the wisdom and the power of 
 the Creator, for all the works which he has made 
 are alike perfect in their several kinds, but in them 
 we find that wisdom and power so differently dis- 
 played, that we are led equally to admire the end- 
 less variety of means by which ends can be accom- 
 plished, and the perfect manner in which every one 
 of those varied means is adapted to its respective 
 end. 
 
 In both their systems, the vital or vegetative 
 one, and the sentient or animal, the reptiles are 
 much less imperfectly developed than either the 
 mammalia or the birds. In those two classes the 
 more important functions of life are very similar 
 to each other, though the organs differ in form 
 according to the other habits of the creatures. So 
 that when we once understand how the functions 
 of circulation and breathing are carried on in them, 
 the knowledge thus obtained serves us through all 
 the mammalia and all the birds ; for down to the 
 very humblest member of either of those classes, 
 the double heart, the passage of all the blood 
 through the lungs, the constant exertion of a com- 
 paratively high degree of action in the system, 
 varying in the individual and species no doubt, but 
 still similar in kind, run through the whole.
 
 REFTILES. 337 
 
 When, however, we come to the reptiles, we 
 find that those fundamental operations of the ani- 
 mal system are less perfect ; thus the heart is only 
 partially double in the best developed ones, and 
 that in those which are the least so, it approaches 
 to the single heart of the fishes ; and it is not un- 
 worthy of remark, as showing the uniformity and 
 simplicity which run through the whole works of 
 creation, that those reptiles which have the nearest 
 approach to fishes in the structure of the heart, 
 have the hahits and the element of fishes in the 
 early stage of their existence, being then inhabi- 
 tants of the waters, and breathing by the means 
 of gills. 
 
 In consequence of this, the blood of the reptile?, 
 though red in the colour as it is in all vertebrated 
 animals how imperfect soever may be their deve- 
 lopment, is cold and small in quantity, as com- 
 pared with that in mammalia and birds. The 
 animals are, in consequence, languid in their gene- 
 ral motions, though capable of great exertions at 
 particular times ; and because they have not suffi- 
 cient action in themselves to generate even that 
 degree of heat which is required for the comfortable 
 existence of such as dwell in warm climates, these 
 are much more confined in their range than the 
 mammalia, and the birds of the same climates. 
 
 In the oldr systems of natural history, and up 
 to a comparatively recent period, those animals 
 were called Amphibia^ by which was understood 
 the capacity of living indiscriminately on land and 
 in the water, and not only living in the latter, 
 which is done by many mammalia and birds, but 
 actually breathing water in the same manner as 
 fishes. This is not true of any species, at least 
 
 YOL. I. Z
 
 338 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 at one and the same time, though some of the 
 lowest of the Batrackian, x>r frog-like reptiles, 
 have so close a resemblance to fishes, that it is not 
 very easy to draw the line of distinction between 
 them ; and it is worthy of remark that reptiles of 
 this order whether they change from that aquatic 
 habit which they have in the early stages of their 
 being, or continue in the doubtful state of the ob- 
 scure species just alluded to, are produced in a 
 manner somewhat resembling the production of 
 fishes, while the more perfect reptiles more resem- 
 ble birds in their mode of production. 
 
 In their general appearance and also in their 
 habits those animals have not much to recommend 
 them to the attention of mankind. Few of them 
 are either handsome in shape or gay in colour ; 
 and, setting all prejudice, allegory, and fable aside, 
 there are points connected with the characters of 
 Some of them which are not a little repugnant to 
 our feelings. Some reptiles are armed with a 
 most deadly poison, a substance of which there is 
 no vestige in mammalia or birds ; and others pur- 
 sue their prey with the most cold and unrelenting 
 ferocity, and are objects of terror in consequence of 
 their great strength and the savage use which they 
 make of it. The greater number are, however, on the 
 other hand, perfectly harmless, and some of them are 
 active and playful, and capable of forming attach- 
 ments to human beings. In the cold and temperate 
 latitudes there is no reptile at all formidable from 
 its strength, or dangerous from its poison ; and in 
 temperate countries the numbers are very few ; but 
 some of the serpent tribe are poisonous, and pre- 
 judice has transferred this dangerous property to 
 everything in the shape of a snake, and even to
 
 REPTILES. 339 
 
 the common toad, which, except to the insects on 
 which it feeds, and in the eating of which it does 
 no small service to man, is one of the most passive 
 and harmless creatures in existence. 
 
 We have said that, in consequence of the small 
 power which they have of generating heat, reptiles 
 are almost as passive to changes of temperature as 
 if they were not possessed of life ; and, though 
 there are abundance of frogs in our humid mea- 
 dows in the summer, though toads crawl about 
 toward evening after rain, and newts move more 
 nimbly in moist places, yet after the cold weather 
 sets in not a single reptile is to be seen. 
 
 Now, it is a fact worthy of observation that the 
 power of endurance and of preserving life under 
 states of prolonged 4 privation, is as remarkable in 
 these animals as their passiveness to the vicissitudes 
 of the seasons. When we say passiveness to the 
 seasons, we must not be understood as implying 
 that the animals can bear seasonal changes without 
 being much affected by them ; for the very reverse 
 is the case, .they have little power of resistance ; 
 and therefore the weather commands them, while 
 Yhose animals which are better developed and have 
 more resources, can command the weather, and 
 preserve their vigour equally under the summer 
 sun and amid the winter snow. Reptiles can 
 bear hunger for a long time, without any apparent 
 loss of substance ; their heart will continue to 
 beat for several hours after it is separated 
 from the body, and the body will perform its 
 motions after the heart is taken out ; and though 
 the animal is divided in pieces, each piece will 
 continue to move for a considerable time. Farther 
 than this, those reptiles which have extended mem-
 
 340 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 bers to their bodies, such as feet and tails, can, in 
 many instances, recover these if removed by acci- 
 dent, which is a power not possessed by any of the 
 mammalia or birds. They live equally long with- 
 out the brain as without the heart ; and respiration 
 appears to have so little connexion with the slow 
 circulation of their blood, that most of them can 
 remain much longer under water than even the 
 diving birds, and the cetaceous mammalia ; and 
 also upon land they can suspend their respiration, 
 and, if circumstances so act upon them, let down 
 their slow circulation to the close confines of 
 absolute death, and yet revive again under the 
 influence of a beaming sun and a warm atmosphere. 
 Reptiles are an obscure race of animals, and 
 their manners have been much less observed, and 
 their history much less studied, and its parts much 
 less connected with general principles, than is the 
 case of any other vertebrated animals. But from 
 the few particulars above stated we shall perhaps be 
 enabled to get at least a glimmering at what their 
 use is in creation. There are certain places, espe- 
 cially in warm countries, where the alternations of 
 the seasons are so great, where the atmosphere is 
 so impure and rank, and where the whole circum- 
 stances are perfectly unfit for the habitation of 
 a mammiferous animal or a bird. Many of those 
 loathsome places are also so thick and matted with 
 branches, with grass, and with accumulated weed 
 and leaves, that no bird and none of the mammalia 
 could make way through. Those places y to which 
 we allude lie in regions where the seasons are 
 extreme, where the flood covering the ground to a 
 considerable depth often instantly follows the 
 drought, and where, at other times, the water is 
 dried up with almost equal speed: Such places
 
 REPTILES. 341 
 
 are as unfit for fishes as they are for the two 
 higher classes of animals ; and yet, from the very 
 structure of the earth, its motions, and the action 
 of the sun upon it, there must not only be such 
 places, in order that the system of the whole may 
 be perfect, but these must be places of extreme 
 production ; and therefore to prevent the productive 
 power from being choked and destroyed by the 
 fruits of its own wokring, it becomes necessary 
 that there should be a' peculiar class of beings 
 formed for such places beings which, obedient to 
 external action, as we have said the reptiles are, 
 should obey the sun and the physical circumstances 
 of the earth during all the variations of the 
 changeful year ; and this is exactly the office for 
 which the more powerful reptiles are especially 
 fitted. Inhabiting the land or the waters of those 
 regions which are the most rich and rank, the 
 most powerful of these creatures are called into 
 great vigour by the action of the sun ; and they 
 consume that which, hut for them, would die, and 
 rot, and breed pestilence, at the turn of the year, 
 when the great power which called it into existence 
 had ceased to operate. No doubt the animals of 
 this class, like those of all other classes, have 
 great shades of difference from each other, and 
 in the extreme points make slight approaches to 
 animals of other classes ; but in the more cha- 
 racteristic species they answer the description 
 which we have given; and our limits forbid us 
 from entering further into particulars. 
 
 Reptiles, which vary much in their structures, 
 and not a little in their habits, are divided into 
 four orders : tortoises (chelonict), lizards (sauria\ 
 serpents (ophidia), and frogs, and frog-like ani- 
 mals (latrachia).
 
 342 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 2. Order I. Tortoises, or ckelonia. The ani- 
 mals of this order are perhaps the best developed 
 of all the reptiles, though they are creatures of 
 very singular appearance. They have a short, thick, 
 and oval shaped hody, covered with a shell of a 
 peculiar kind of horny substance, or with a tough 
 membranous integument. In the case of a shell, 
 there are two distinct portions, the shield on the 
 back of the animal, and the breast-plate on the 
 under side. The shield is so united to the ver- 
 tebras of the back, and to the ribs, as that there is 
 no motion in these parts. The breast-plate is 
 fastened to the other by a sort of ribs, which are 
 however of membranous texture. This breast- 
 plate may be considered as representing the ster- 
 num or breast-bone ; and in this part of their ana- 
 tomy the animals so far approximate those Crustacea 
 who have their skeletons on the outside, that the 
 blade bones of the fore legs are placed on the under 
 sides of the ribs and not on the upper. In some 
 of the species this covering is of great strength, 
 and quite prevents all motion in those parts of 
 which it forms the basis, so that there is no heaving 
 and depression of the chest in the process of 
 breathing as there is in mammalia, nor of the 
 abdomen as there is in birds. The muscles 
 which assist in compressing the lungs and allow- 
 ing them to expand are inserted on the shield 
 and the legs, and their action is very slow, so 
 that the animals rather take a continued draught 
 of the air than receive it by a regular inhalation. 
 The only parts of the body \vhich are capable of 
 motion, are the head, the tail, and the fore legs. 
 The articulation of the different vertebras of the 
 neck is often very curious ; and there is no arti-
 
 CIIELONIA. 343 
 
 culated bone capable of sucli varied motions in an 
 equal length, as that of the neck of a short-necked 
 tortoise. The circulation is peculiar, consisting of 
 an imperfectly formed heart, and its connecting 
 vessels. There are two auricles to this heart, the 
 right one receiving the blood from the body, and 
 the left one that from the lungs ; but there is only 
 one ventricle for the propulsion of the blood from 
 the heart, which propulsion is the essential act of 
 circulation. It is true that this ventricle is par- 
 tially divided by a partition, but the two parts 
 communicate with each other, and thus the blood 
 which has been at the lungs and undergone the 
 action of the air there, mingles with the rest of the 
 blood, and the two together are sent over the body. 
 How much or how little of the blood requires to 
 be acted on by the lungs before it is fit for circu- 
 lation in the more active states of the animals has 
 not yet been determined ; and it is probable that 
 when they are in a state of inaction, the circulation 
 may go on and life continue, without any breathing, 
 for days, for weeks, or for months. The ordinary 
 breathing is performed by means of the mouth, and 
 the action of receiving the air has more resem- 
 blance to drinking than to breathing. The jaws 
 being closed, the tongue is lowered, a cavity is 
 formed, and the air fills this cavity by entering 
 through the nostrils. The tongue is then raised 
 first to close the nostrils, and then to obliterate 
 the cavity ; and thus the air is forced into the 
 lungs. Tortoises have no teeth, but have the jaws 
 covered with a horny substance, not unlike the bill 
 of birds, though in some of the species they are 
 covered with a tough skin only. The females pro- 
 duce a number of eggs, upon which they never sit,
 
 344 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 but leave them to be hatched by external nature. 
 Those eggs have a slight flavour of musk; but 
 they are in general eatable, even in those species 
 of which the flesh is not pleasant. Tortoises are 
 found only in countries where the heat is above 
 the average, some of them on land, some in the 
 sea, and some in the fresh waters. They are very 
 slow in their motions ; and, as their bones are less 
 perfectly formed than those of mammalia and birds, 
 they live to a great age, and continue growing 
 during the whole time. Most of the land ones 
 bury themselves in the ground during the cold 
 season ; and though they do this very slowly, their 
 labours are very sure. These animals are found 
 in the south of Europe, and in many of the warmer 
 parts of the world, and in India and some other 
 countries they grow to a very large size. 
 
 Many inhabit the fresh waters, and these have 
 webbed feet adapted for swimming. Some of the 
 smaller species are found in the rivers of conti- 
 nental Europe ; but those of America are much 
 larger and handsomer. These, like the land ones, 
 are covered with shields of considerable strength ; 
 and some have the breast plate jointed, and can 
 withdraw their head and feet entirely within the 
 shell, they being distinguished by the name of box 
 tortoises. 
 
 The species which inhabit the sea are by far the 
 largest : and of them the most celebrated as an 
 article of food is the green tortoise, known by the 
 name of turtle, which name is applied to all the sea 
 ones. It is very abundant in the seas of warm 
 latitudes, both in the east and west : and it has been 
 knoAvn as an article of food since the time of the 
 Romans. It can be brought alive without food
 
 SAURIA. 345 
 
 from a distance of two thousand miles or more ; 
 and some specimens are of such dimensions as to 
 weigh no less than eight hundred pounds. The 
 eggs are also much esteemed ; and the flesh is 
 accounted exceedingly nutritious. These animals 
 .feed on aquatic plants, and are so plentiful, that in 
 the markets of warm countries their flesh is as 
 abundant and cheap as that of ruminant animals 
 in Europe. 
 
 The nawksbill turtle is a more active species 
 than the former, of little value as food, but fur- 
 nishing the tortoise shell of commerce which is so 
 much used in the arts. There is no turtle in 
 the sea so far to the northward as Britain ; but 
 there is one not uncommon in the Mediterranean, 
 which is very large and active, rather coarse and 
 oily as food, but furnishing a thin shell without 
 much beauty of colour, which cabinet makers often 
 use upon coloured grounds instead of the genuine 
 shell of the hawksbill. 
 
 Some of the animals of this order have a soft 
 or leathery covering, and some of these, especially 
 one which inhabits the muddy rivers in the south 
 parts of North America, are very ferocious, preying 
 indiscriminately upon birds, fishes, and less power- 
 ful reptiles. Tortoises are altogether singular 
 animals, and the land ones especially are "perfect 
 models of patience and endurance. 
 
 3. Order II. Lizards Sauria, or tailed rep- 
 tiles. Like the tortoises, these are found only in 
 the warmer parts of the world ; and as is the case 
 with them, the more powerful species are found in 
 the water. But the species are far more numerous ; 
 some of them are very active animals ; and a few
 
 346 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are furnished with membranes, by the help of 
 which they can perform a sort of flight. 
 
 Their heart and whole circulating system are 
 very similar to those of the tortoises, and like 
 them they are all produced from eggs. None of 
 them sit upon their eggs for the purpose of hatching 
 them, but there are some species in which the 
 females watch them with considerable care. Their 
 skins are generally covered with horny scales, 
 which are minute grains in some, and large and 
 strong shields in others. 
 
 These animals have a power of moving the ribs, 
 although they have no diaphragm, and thus their 
 breathing is more complete than it is in the 
 tortoises. Many have the lungs descending far 
 into the cavity of the body (for reptiles having no 
 diaphragm have no separation of chest and belly), 
 and those which have this prolongation of the 
 lungs change the colours 'of their skins when they 
 are differently affected, often in a very singular 
 manner ; but the uses of these changes, and also 
 of the various inflations of membranes in different 
 species, are not known. 
 
 The young always issue from the eggs in that 
 form which they are to have through life ; but the 
 size, when they issue, is often very widely different 
 from that which they afterwards attain. The egg 
 of the crocodile is, for instance, not larger than 
 that of a goose, and yet the full-grown animal 
 reaches the length of not less than thirty feet, and 
 measures fully five feet in circumference at the 
 thickest part. 
 
 The eggs of the saurian reptiles are covered 
 with shells of considerable hardness ; but they are
 
 SAURIA. 347 
 
 easily distinguished from the eggs of birds, by the 
 parchment-like texture of the coat, the possibility 
 of dimpling it without fracture, and the equal 
 thickness of the two ends. The animals have 
 generally four legs, though sometimes only two ; 
 they have usually five toes armed with claws, and 
 often great power of holding on with the feet, so 
 that the lighter ones can run perpendicularly as 
 with the back undermost ; but their feet and legs 
 have an awkward appearance, as compared with 
 those of the mammalia ; and their tails, which are 
 often long, are always very thick at the basal part, 
 and have the appearance of a continuation of the 
 body, as if the animal were a serpent mounted on 
 feet. 
 
 Of crocodiled, there are several species, bearing 
 a considerable resemblance to each other, and 
 found only in the great rivers of the warmer parts 
 of the world. Their ferocity and power have 
 been both very much' exaggerated, but still they 
 are animals of no small strength and daring. They 
 have the tail compressed laterally, so that by its 
 motion from side to side, it assists them in making 
 their way through the water. They have five 
 toes on the fore feet and four on the hind ones, 
 but only three on each foot are furnished with 
 claws. The jaws are very long, and each armed 
 with a single row of powerful but ragged teeth ; 
 they have, however, no character as teeth, and 
 are neither carnivorous nor anything else, accord- 
 ing as the teeth of the mammalia are estimated : 
 they are merely spikes affixed to the jaw. The 
 gape of the crocodiles is wide ; and though they 
 have not, as was long supposed, any proper motion 
 of the upper jaw ; yet, as the articulation of the
 
 348 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 jaws is part of the skull, they, when they open 
 the mouth widely, always raise the head upwards 
 and backwards, which gives the same appearance 
 as if the jaws parted from each other by a motion 
 of each. Their mouths are not only unfit for 
 mastication, or for any other purpose than that of 
 simply seizing their prey, but they are incapable of 
 swallowing prey in the water, or any large prey 
 even on land, so that they take their larger prey 
 under the water and devour it, and often leave it 
 in the mud till it becomes putrid. The species 
 found in the Ganges is called the gavial, that of 
 the Nile, and some other African rivers, the croco- 
 dile, and those of the American rivers, caimans, or 
 alligators. There are varieties of most of them, 
 but the habits of all are very nearly alike. 
 
 The other sauria are so very numerous and 
 diversified, that the mere names of them would 
 occupy much space. The greater number of them 
 feed upon insects, some catching them by speed, 
 others by lying in wait, and others again by means 
 of the viscid matter with which their extensile 
 tongues are covered. Some of them are diurnal 
 and others nocturnal. The number of insects 
 which they destroy is almost incredible, and as 
 insects are the real pests of man in the hot climates, 
 the services which the different species of lizards 
 render to him are far from unimportant, inde- 
 pendently of their use in free nature, in preserving 
 the balance of the racesof beings in situations where 
 this could hardly be done by any other known 
 means. These saurian reptiles appear uncouth 
 creatures to us. accustomed as we are to the sight 
 chiefly of mammalia or four-footed creatures, and 
 there are many parts of their curious bodies of the
 
 OPHIDIA. 349 
 
 uses of which we are ignorant ; but we must not 
 make our ignorance the measure of usefulness in 
 nature, but rather extend the sphere of our in- 
 quiries ; for we may rest assured that there is a 
 lesson of wisdom, not only in every creature which 
 God has made, but in every organ and part of 
 every creature. The produced membranes, the 
 skin capable of inflation, the singularly formed eyes 
 and feet, and all the other parts different from 
 what we observe in the animals of our own country, 
 which we meet with in those haunts of the sunny 
 lands, must all have their purposes in that beautiful 
 system of creation, where nothing has been made 
 in vain ; and instead of idly wondering at them we 
 but establish our claim to that rank which our 
 Maker has been pleased to assign us, when we 
 examine them all with reverence, and contemplate 
 them with an eye to the increase of knowledge. 
 
 4. Order III. Ophidian reptiles, serpents. 
 These are the species, or rather this is the order 
 to which the name reptile strictly and properly 
 applies r arid they are the ones on account of which 
 the prejudice to which we have alluded appears to 
 have been taken up against this very curious, and 
 generally speaking, very harmless class of animals. 
 The ophidian reptiles have no external feet ; and 
 many of them have scarcely any rudiments of those 
 internal bones to which the feet of animals are 
 usually attached. It is among them,too, that the 
 species armed with deadly venom are found ; for 
 though some of the saurian reptiles discharge 
 secretions from certain pores of their bodies, which 
 impart a deleterious quality to provisions over 
 which they pass ; yet there is no vertebrated ani- 
 mal armed with a poisoning tooth, except some of
 
 350 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the ophidian reptiles. We sometimes read of the 
 stings of serpents, but there is no vertebrated ani- 
 mal provided with a sting ; and though various 
 spines and sharp projections from the bodies of 
 such animals, and, among the rest, the antlers or 
 sharp branches of the. horns of deer, have been 
 supposed capable of inflicting poisoned wounds, 
 the probability is, that the imagined poisoning is 
 nothing more than the greater degree of pain and 
 systematic derangement produced by a ragged 
 wound ; and we often find that a wound inflicted 
 by a rusty nail, and even by a clean knife, in some 
 parts of the body, will bring on disease which is as 
 fatal as the most deadly poison of any serpent.* 
 
 The poisonous serpents form but a small part 
 of the whole ; their poison appears to be given 
 them as a sort of substitute for mechanical strength ; 
 the most deadly ones are chiefly confined to wild 
 places in the warmer regions of the world, and 
 they are animals remarkable for the general peace- 
 ableness of their dispositions, the concealment in 
 which they live, and the rare instances in which 
 they do harm to man or to the larger mammalia. 
 They live lives of indolence, seldom come abroad, 
 and very seldom eat ; and probably there is no 
 instance of a human being having received hurt 
 from one of them, except through carelessness, or 
 foolhardiness, in attacking the creature without 
 knowing the proper means of defence against it. 
 
 Serpents are conveniently arranged into two 
 divisions, those which have the scales on the upper 
 and under parts of the body alike ; and those 
 which have them different. The former division 
 are never poisonous, and some of them are very 
 handsome animals. The first division have, gene-
 
 OPIIIDIA. 351 
 
 rally speaking, some vestiges of shoulder bones ; 
 and the common snakes, which are most inoffensive 
 creatures, have the ribs nearly encircling the body ; 
 and they walk by means of the flexures of the 
 body, without any immediate advantage from the 
 scales on the belly acting as feet. These serpents 
 have the teeth small and nearly of equal size ; and 
 some of them have the muscles so irritable that 
 the animal breaks in pieces by a very slight blow, 
 if that blow is given when it is in a state of excite- 
 ment. The greater number of these are ovi- 
 parous, that is, produced from eggs ; but there are 
 a few which it is understood hatch their eggs 
 internally. 
 
 Serpents of the second division have the scales 
 on the under part of the body differently formed 
 from those on the upper ; and those scales on the 
 under part are so united to .the ribs, as that the 
 rib forms a kind of leg, and the scale a sort of 
 foot, by means of which a curious gliding motion 
 is performed. These are the true serpents, and 
 they are remarkable for the extent to which the 
 jaws can be opened and the gullet distended, so 
 that the animal can swallow and digest prey 
 several times larger in diameter than its own body. 
 This distension of the mouth is produced partly by 
 the introduction of a bone intermediate between 
 the lower jaw and the skull, and partly by the 
 elasticity of the substance by which the bones are 
 united. 
 
 Those serpents admit of division into such as are 
 armed with no poison, and such as are so formed. 
 The smaller ones of the first division live upon 
 prey of moderate size, and have the mouth well 
 furnished with teeth ; four rows in the upper jaw
 
 352 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and three in the under, are the regular number in 
 those true serpents which are not poisonous. Some 
 of the larger ones are animals of vast power, and, 
 though their exertions of strength are - momentary 
 as compared with those of many other animals, 
 they are very great while they last. 
 
 The hoa of the rich and humid districts hy the 
 banks of rivers in tropical America, and the python 
 of places nearly similar in the south-east of 
 Asia, and especially in the south-eastern islands, 
 are the more formidable of those crushing serpents ; 
 and some of them are stated to have attained the 
 enormous length of from thirty to forty feet, while 
 the folds into which they can compress their bodies 
 are sufficient to crush the hardest bones. Many 
 of the stories repeated of them are no doubt incor- 
 rect ; but still they are formidable animals. The 
 chief specific distinction between the boa of Ame- 
 rica, and the python of the Asiatic islands, consists 
 in the boa having one row of scaly plates on the 
 under side of the tail, and the python two rows. 
 Powerful as those serpents are, they do not .poison, 
 neither do they give a deadly bite ; for their teeth 
 are so constructed as to assist in the operation of 
 swallowing only. Of the poisonous serpents, some 
 have no common teeth in the upper jaw, but 
 merely a fang or poison tooth on each side ; but 
 there are others in which there are common teeth in 
 the upper jaw behind the poison teeth. One of the 
 most deadly of the poisonous species is the bush- 
 master of tropical America, but like the allied 
 species, the common rattle snake of North Ame- 
 rica, it is seldom if ever the first to make the 
 attack on any larger animal. The smell of those 
 very large poisonous serpents is said to be so offen-
 
 REPTILES. 3 5 
 
 sive as to give notice of their presence to human 
 beings or other animals which go near their hid- 
 ing places in the thick bushes of the tropical forests. 
 In other parts of the world the poisonous snakes 
 are not quite so formidable in size as the American 
 ones ; but some of the smaller ones of very hot 
 countries are deadly in proportion to their size. 
 The greater number of the true serpents are ex- 
 pert swimmers, and readily take to the water ; and 
 a number of those which have common teeth in 
 the upper jaw in addition to the poison fangs, are 
 aquatic in their habits. It must not be understood, 
 however, that they are animals which breathe 
 under water, for all serpents, whatever may be the 
 place of their common habitation, are breathers of 
 air by means of their lungs. The greater number 
 of the true serpents hatch their eggs internally, or 
 are what is called ovovivipa.rous, that is, produce 
 their young from eggs, and also bring them forth 
 alive. This is the case with the common viper, 
 which is found in some wild and neglected spots of 
 England, though not nearly so common now as 
 when the country was less cultivated ; but though 
 vipers and most others of the division bring forth 
 their young alive, the common story is not true 
 that they swallow their young when danger appears, 
 and discharge them forth again from the mouth 
 when the danger is over. This is quite incon- 
 sistent with the general physiology of the whole 
 race of the true serpents. Those animals, whether 
 furnished with poison fangs or not, have the diges- 
 tive power so strong and extending so far up, even 
 to the mouth end of the gullet, that the moment 
 any substance is taken in there, it is not only dead, 
 but in progress of being decomposed ; and thus a 
 
 VOL. I. A A.
 
 354 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 
 
 female viper or any other true serpent could not 
 possibly swallow her young without at the same 
 time making a meal of them. 
 
 Serpents, in all their varieties, offer singular sub- 
 jects of contemplation to the reflecting student of 
 the works of nature ; but their haunts are of diffi- 
 cult access, their habits are so obscure, their 
 powers are in some instances really so dangerous, 
 and in other instances they have been so beset 
 with imaginary danger, that less is known of them 
 than of any other living creatures, and far less 
 than the very singular powers with which they are 
 armed, and the very singular parts which they 
 play in the great working of nature, seem justly to 
 deserve. 
 
 5. Order IV. Batrachia, frogs and frog-like 
 animals. Reptiles of this order differ from those 
 of the other three orders in many points both 
 of their structure and their economy. They have 
 but one auricle as well as one ventricle to the 
 heart ; their breathing is even more limited, and 
 their blood colder than that of the others : they 
 have, generally speaking, two equal lungs in the 
 mature or adult state ; but in the earlier stages 
 they have gills bearing some resemblance to the 
 gills of fishes, placed like these on arches of bone, 
 or cartilages attached to the os hyoides, and 
 covered by a gill-lid, which, however, is in most of 
 the species absorbed as well as the gills are, when 
 the animals change from the young to the perfect 
 state. There are, however, three curious genera, 
 siren, proteus, and menolranckus, which appear 
 to retain the gills during the whole period of their 
 lives ; but the manners of those singular animals 
 are very obscure. Some of them pass the greater
 
 REPTILES. 355 
 
 part of their lives not only in the waters, but in sub- 
 terraneous waters which are nearly cut off from the 
 air and light. While the gills remain, the artery 
 proceeding from the heart divides into as many 
 branches as there are gills, and the veins from the 
 gills unite, and convey their contents to a dor- 
 sal tunicle, which, something like the vena porta, 
 which supplies the liver in man, is a vein at the 
 receiving end and an artery at the other. From 
 this the systematic arteries branch off, which 
 carry the blood over the body ; and the systematic 
 reins bring it back again to the auricle of the sin- 
 gle heart. The dorsal vessel is thus the subcuticle 
 for the systematic side of the head in mammalia 
 and birds ; and this is also the case in the circu- 
 lation of fishes. 
 
 In .those species which have the gills during 
 their change from the young to the perfect state, 
 all the vessels which supplied the gills become 
 obliterated except two, and these go to the two 
 lobes of the lungs ; the other parts of the circu- 
 lation remaining much the same as before, only 
 the structure of the body itself is different. 
 
 Those reptiles have no shield or breast-plate 
 like the chelonia, neither are they covered with 
 scales as is the case with many of the second and 
 third orders. The integument of their body is, 
 in all cases, a naked skin ; and so little is their 
 system disposed to the production of hard matter, 
 that out of the many which are found, in almost 
 every part of the world, there is only one which 
 has claws on the toes. 
 
 The eggs of the batrachia have some resem- 
 blance to the spawn of fishes. They are in 
 clusters or in chains ; and, in many instances, they 
 A A 2
 
 356 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are not fecundated till in the act of passing from 
 the body of the female. They are wholly gelatin- 
 ous, and without the slightest vestige of a shell of 
 hard matter ; nor do the parent animals take the 
 least concern in the hatching of them. 
 
 The young not only have gills and live in the 
 water, but they have produced mandibles and a 
 tail something like the hinder part of a fish. In 
 this stage the young of the common species are 
 called tadpoles ; but after a time the feet make 
 their appearance, and soon afterwards the fish-like 
 parts disappear. In one American species, the 
 tadpole is so large in proportion to the frog, that 
 it was long supposed that the change went the 
 other way, by the frog being changed to a fish, 
 which, however, is not the case. 
 
 It is worthy of remark here, as a general law of 
 the whole living world, that when, by any of those 
 causes of monstrosity for which we are unable to 
 account, any one individual happens to deviate 
 from the common form or type of its kind, the 
 deviation is always a falling short and never an 
 exceeding of that type ; and, in the case of those 
 animals that undergo transformations, of which 
 there are remarkable instances in some of the 
 invertebrated animals, the young in their untrans- 
 formed stage are always lower in development than 
 the transformed and mature ones. 
 
 This is a portion of the philosophy of nature 
 which is equally fraught with wonder and with 
 instruction, and calculated to force upon us, even 
 should we vainly attempt to resist it, the grand 
 truth of the being of a creating and preserving 
 God. If, indeed, those other proofs of this awful 
 but delightful truth, which are set forth in the
 
 REPTILES. 357 
 
 whole works of creation, and all their laws and 
 changes, which lie thicker than " the leaves in 
 Vallamhrosa," were destroyed ; or if man should 
 become " deaf as the adder" to their voice ; there 
 is that in this one which no mind of the least 
 candour and discernment could possibly resist. 
 
 Considered as mere matter, and possessing the 
 qualities of mere matter, there is hardly a shade 
 of difference which the most lynx-eyed observer can 
 detect between the matter which composes a man and 
 a monkey; and there is very little difference in these 
 respects between the matter which forms either of 
 these, and that which forms the humblest reptile. 
 Now, if these were only the properties of matter, 
 or matters of fact in every case and in all cases, why 
 should there be a pause at any one of these types, 
 beyond which the matter that has once assumed 
 this type cannot go ? In the material world, 
 sophistry itself cannot find a single line in the way 
 of this progress. But all nature proclaims that 
 there is a bar; and therefore this bar is inde- 
 pendent of the properties of matter, superior in 
 power, and capable of controlling them. Nor can 
 we find any origin for this, but in the power and 
 the pleasure of a creating God, all-wise and al- 
 mighty; and the law which determines every 
 creature after its kind, is as much a work of crea- 
 tion, and as independent of the laws of dead 
 matter, or of the substance of that matter consi- 
 dered merely as such, as the years beyond the flood 
 are of the years which have not yet arrived. - 
 
 The animals which compose the batrachian 
 order are frogs, toads, salamanders of the land and 
 the water, amphiumas, axoloti, menobranchi,
 
 358 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ^ 
 
 protei, and sirens"; for the last of which there 
 are no appropriate English names. 
 
 The frogs and toads are well known from the 
 native species ; but there are some of the foreign 
 species which have very singular economy in their 
 mode of production. The eggs are placed by the 
 male on the back of the female, where they form 
 little cells, and are hatched and quickened there 
 till the tadpoles are able to take to the water. 
 
 The salamanders have long tails, and thus they 
 are saurians in their mere form, but they are true 
 batrachians in all their essential characters. It is 
 worthy of remark that these batrachian reptiles 
 have got the name of a fabled animal which could 
 live in the fire, which animal never had, nor pro- 
 bably could have, any real existence ; whereas the 
 nature of most batrachian reptiles is such that they 
 could not live in a medium so warm as the tempe- 
 rature of health in the human body. Some of 
 these animals occur in Europe; but they are much 
 more numerous in America. 
 
 The amphiumas have the feet very short, with 
 three toes upon each, and the body long and 
 slender. They have their gills in the perfect state. 
 
 The axaloti retain their gills, in the form of long 
 tufts; at least, this much is said of them. It is an 
 animal but little known, and found only in the 
 lakes near Mexico. 
 
 Proteus is about a foot long and as thick as the 
 human finger. It has hitherto been found only in 
 some of the subterranean passages by which the 
 very singular lakes in the south part of Austria 
 communicate with each other. It has four legs, 
 but they are very small, and its eyes are so minute
 
 PISHES. 350 
 
 and so much covered by the skin that they are 
 hardly visible. 
 
 The sirens are the last and the most singular of 
 the whole order. They are formed something like 
 eels, and have three tufts of gills; they have small 
 fore feet, but not a vestige of hind ones. Some 
 have maintained that they are the young of another 
 race, as, for instance, of the salamanders ; but their 
 bones have the consistency of those of perfect 
 animals, which is not the case with those of the 
 newly-formed young of any species of batrachia. 
 They inhabit the marshes of the warmer parts 
 of North America, and feed upon worms and 
 other small animals. There are several species, 
 and some of them attain the length of nearly three 
 feet. 
 
 Such is a very short outline of the reptiles, 
 animals which are inferior in their development, 
 but so well adapted to their places in nature as to 
 force us to declare " In wisdom hast thou made 
 them all." 
 
 c CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FISHES. 
 
 THESE form the last class of vertebrated animals'; 
 and although from the nature of their habitation 
 they are in a great measure concealed from the 
 common observation of human beings, yet they 
 are not the least wonderful of the works of God, 
 or the least demonstrative of that wisdom, power, 
 and goodness, of which the whole creation is one
 
 360 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 continued proof. The waters, which are the pro- 
 per habitation of the fishes, occupy, including the 
 oceans and seas, and the fresh waters which adorn 
 and fertilise the land, about three fourths of the 
 whole surface of the globe which we inhabit ; and 
 as these waters are fertile in their depth and not 
 in their mere surface, their productive powers bear 
 a much higher proportion to their mere extent 
 than the productive powers of the land. 
 
 Other circumstances, besides a more ample and 
 extended pasture, confer advantages upon those 
 animals which inhabit the waters, and can breathe 
 and perform all the other functions of their eco- 
 nomy under the surface. They are comparatively 
 little affected by the changes of seasons and of 
 the weather. Until we reach the very extremes 
 of latitude, the difference of temperature in the 
 water at different seasons is not great ; and even 
 under the ice the temperature is never so low as 
 it is in the air during the nights of the spring and 
 the autumn, even in our temperate latitudes. The 
 most violent storms, which lash the surface of the 
 ocean waters into mountain waves, do not disturb 
 the tranquillity of the deep beyond a few fathoms. 
 The element in which the fishes reside is so nearly 
 of the same specific gravity as their bodies, that 
 they have little weight to carry. Thus fishes dwell 
 more at their ease than any inhabitants of the 
 land ; and growing, swallowing and digesting their 
 food, and continuing their races, in which last 
 their fertility is truly astonishing, are the only 
 tasks that are imposed upon them. "With few ex- 
 ceptions, they have no provision to make for their 
 offspring; and as many (probably the greater 
 number) are exempted from decay, they increase
 
 FISHES. 361 
 
 and multiply, and fill the mighty volume of the 
 waters to such an extent that the most fertile 
 places of the land are barren and tenantless in 
 comparison. 
 
 Fish breathe air through the medium of water ; 
 and though they have only a single heart, they 
 have a double circulation. Their breathing appa- 
 ratus are gills, or fibres, attached to arches of bone 
 on each side of the neck. The action of the mouth 
 of the fish receives the water, which passes through 
 the gill fringes, and is discharged by the action of 
 the gill covers. In the meanwhile the heart, 
 which answers to the right side of that in mam- 
 malia and birds, sends the blood to the gills, where 
 it undergoes the necessary action of the air con- 
 tained in the water ; after which it is carried to an 
 arterial trunk situated on the spine. This acts as 
 a systematic ventricle, and sends the blood all over 
 the body, from which the veins bring it back to 
 the heart, whence it is again sent to the gills. 
 
 Fishes have the whole body adapted for pro- 
 gressive motion through the water, the principal 
 organ in the performance of which is the tail or 
 caudal fin, but the greater part of the muscles of 
 the body conduce to the same purpose. The chief 
 motion of the spine of a fish is horizontal. The 
 tail striking the water right and left, w r hich is 
 contrary to the principal motion of the spine in 
 other vertebrated animals. There are, however, 
 other fins, which have some slight resemblance to 
 the legs of mammalia. Those which answer to 
 the fore legs are called pectoral fins, and those 
 which answer to the hind legs ventral fins ; but the 
 last vary in their position, and in some genera 
 they are wholly wanting. There are also fins on
 
 362 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the back, which are called dorsal, and on the 
 under part of the body backwards, which -are 
 called anal. 
 
 The dorsal and anal fins are placed on the same 
 plane with the caudal or grand propelling fin, and 
 they act along with that, either in directly adding 
 to the lateral force of its stroke, or giving it a 
 fulcrum of resistance. The pectoral fins and the 
 ventrals, where the latter exist, are placed across 
 the plane of the caudal ; they are thus chiefly used 
 in ascending and descending motions ; and their 
 place, in the case of the ventrals, or their absence, 
 are the characters, which, in part at least, 
 guide us to the habits of the fish. _Fishes which 
 swim near the surface generally have the ventral 
 fins placed far backwards, while those which feed in 
 the depths have them on the fore-part of the body ; 
 and in those which are, properly speaking, bottom 
 fishes, the ventral fins are wanting. 
 
 The fins of fishes consist of membranes spread 
 out upon rays ; and there are some not unimportant 
 distinctions of the animals founded on the charac- 
 ters of these. If the rays consist of a single pair 
 each, which is more or less stiff and elastic, they 
 are called spinous, and the fishes which have them 
 are called acanthopterygii, which means having fins 
 with spinous rays. If the rays are formed as a 
 number of jointed pieces, whether of greater or 
 less consistency, the fishes are called malacopte- 
 rygii, which means that they have the rays of the 
 fins jointed or articulated, or that, in consequence 
 of these joints in the rays, the fins are soft and 
 flexible. 
 
 The bones of fishes do not contain so much 
 earthy matter as those of warm-blooded animals ;
 
 FISHES. 363' 
 
 and even in those that have much of the bony 
 character in their skeletons, the vertebra: of the 
 spinal column are articulated by means of a carti- 
 laginous substance. The vertebra itself consists of 
 two peltate conical cups, and they are applied 
 cup to cup, with their mouths in the articulation, 
 the two adjoining cavities being filled with cartila- 
 ginous matter which unites them together, and 
 allows of a very rapid and elastic motion without 
 the least risk of dislocation. These vertebras are 
 generally furnished with very produced trans- 
 verse processes which have the mesial plane, and 
 to them the principal muscles are attached ; the ribs 
 are also in general articulated to lateral processes ; 
 but in many species the cavity of the body occu- 
 pies only a very small part of the length of the animal. 
 Those bones of fishes, to which the ventral fins 
 are attached, and which for this reason answer, at 
 least in a slight degree, to the pelvis of mammalia, 
 are not in any of the species articulated upon the 
 spine ; and in those which have them articulated 
 on the throat, they are attached to the bones of 
 the shoulders. The bones of the head vary much 
 in different fishes ; but the brain is in general not 
 much developed. In the greater number the sense 
 of vision seems to be acute, and the principal one 
 upon which they depend. They also are, at least 
 in some of the species, sensible to sounds, and 
 have been trained to come at a call ; but it does 
 not appear that the sense of smelling and tasting 
 are at all acute ; nor does what we are accustomed 
 to call the sense of touch seem to be very ener- 
 getic. Pain and laceration, unless they affect the 
 gills, or suspend in some way the more important 
 functions of life, appear to be but little heeded by
 
 364 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 fishes. It is probable also that tbeir locomotive 
 powers are not so much injured by flesh wounds, 
 even though serious ones, as those of the warm- 
 blooded animals. Their muscles, though of a 
 fibrous texture as they are in these latter, have their 
 fibres differently arranged, they being interrupted 
 at the surface of every two flakes of which the 
 muscles are composed. 
 
 Fish are, as every body knows, generally covered 
 with scales, varying much in form and character 
 in different species. Except the mouth they have 
 no prehensile organs by means of which they can 
 lay hold of or retain those substances on which 
 they feed, and though there are some that can 
 adhere by suckers to rocks and other substances, 
 there are none that can grasp. 
 
 Though very few fishes have the mouth adapted 
 for biting or dividing their food, and none have a 
 grinding motion of the jaws, yet they are very 
 variously, and some of them very copiously furnished 
 with teeth. As is also the case with birds and 
 reptiles, the anterior parts of whose mouths, as in 
 this class, are little else than prehensile instruments, 
 which seize the food, but do little towards prepar- 
 ing it for the stomach, the fishes have a kind of 
 double mouth. The anterior part above is formed 
 of the intermaxillary and maxillary bones; and 
 there are often bones even behind the arches of the 
 gills, attached to the os hyoides or bone of the 
 tongue ; and all these parts, and also the tongue 
 itself, are often beset with teeth ; but to describe 
 the functions and forms of all ihe varieties would 
 require volumes. The os hyoides also supports the 
 rays to which the gill cover is attached. This 
 cover consists of three pieces, the operculum, the
 
 FISHES. 365 
 
 suboperculum, andtheinteroperculum; and in fishes 
 which have the gills the most free, and, are, in con- 
 sequence, the greatest breathers of the class, there 
 is a preoperculum, with free motion, by which the 
 apparatus of the gill-lid is articulated upon the 
 tympanum. There are, however, very considerable 
 structural differences in the breathing apparatus of 
 fishes. 
 
 The digestive apparatus of fishes offers very 
 considerable varieties, according to the nature of 
 their food ; but as we have not the same facilities 
 of showing the different parts of their economy as 
 we have in land animals, many of the conclusions 
 to which the structure points, are, at the best, only 
 vague and conjectural. 
 
 For the purpose of continuing the species, all 
 the fishes, as indeed all the other vertebrated ani- 
 mals, have the sexes distinct in different individuals. 
 The more characteristic ones, or those which are 
 sometimes called the true fishes, are all oviparous. 
 There is a sort of pairing, or, at all events attach- 
 ment of the sexes for each other in this the most im- 
 portant part of their economy ; but the impregnation 
 of the ova, or roe of the true fishes, does not take 
 place till it is excluded from the body of the female. 
 Thus there is in them one step lower than there is 
 in the batrachian reptiles ; frogs, for instance, in 
 which the ova are impregnated while in the act of 
 exclusion. Viewed with that reverence which 
 becomes rational beings when they turn their at- 
 tention to the more important functions of the 
 living creation, this is a most wonderful and most 
 instructive matter. The care which is taken of 
 the very rudimental germ of the animal, is in pro- 
 portion to the development of the higher animal
 
 366 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 powers with which it is to be invested ; and there 
 are the most elaborate provisions made for the 
 protection of the single embryo of most of the 
 mammalia, while the most prolific of the fish which 
 have their millions at a brood, cast that brood 
 upon the waters, and leave it to the common course 
 of nature. 
 
 There are, however, some fishes which are less 
 perfect as fishes in other parts of their structure, 
 which are viviparous, or, at all events, ovovivi- 
 parous, that is, which bring forward their impreg- 
 nated germs internally ; and either produce their 
 young actually alive or in a horny envelope, by 
 which they are protected from external injury. 
 The shark and skate families have that habit ; 
 and though they are remarkable for their endu- 
 rance, their energy, and in very many of the spe- 
 cies, their voracity, it is worthy of notice that, in 
 many structural parts, they are far less perfectly 
 developed than most of the fishes which are purely 
 oviparous, and commit their offspring to the 
 waters. 
 
 Our knowledge of the anatomy of fishes is so 
 imperfect, that there is more difficulty in forming 
 such an arrangement of them as shall be useful as 
 a means of knowledge, than there is in the case of 
 any other vertebrated animals. There is, however, 
 one great or primary division that applies to the 
 structure, and also the principal habits and cha- 
 racters of fishes ; and it has the advantage of our 
 being able to form it on the skeleton, and not on 
 mere external appearances. That is the division 
 into bony fishes, or fishes properly so called, and 
 cartilaginous fishes, or chondropterygii. The dis- 
 tinction between these goes further than that of
 
 PISHES. 367 
 
 the true fish, having hard bones, and the others a 
 skeleton, more of the consistency of cartilage or 
 gristle; for the chondropterygii, though they breathe 
 air through the medium of water as well as the 
 others, have the gills either attached to the walls 
 of cells, or are without the perfect gill-cover, which 
 characterises the true fishes. 
 
 COMMON FISH, OR FISH PROPERLY SO CALLED. 
 
 These form by far the most numerous of the two 
 subclasses ; but they admit of farther subdivision 
 into two orders, acanthopterygii, or those which 
 have spinous or unjointed rays in the dorsal fin, 
 and sometimes the first dorsal, in the case of their 
 having more than one, formed of spines only with- 
 out any connecting membrane ; and malacopte- 
 rygn, which have the rays of the dorsal fin jointed 
 or soft. The first of these great orders is by far 
 the most numerous in species ; but some of the 
 most valuable, in an economical point of view, 
 belong to the second. Our limits prevent us from 
 giving any more than a mere list of the families, 
 and in this we shall follow the arrangement of 
 Cuvier, as the best approximation upon a subject 
 where perfect accuracy cannot be obtained. 
 
 SPINOrjS-FINNED FISH. 
 
 These consist of fifteen pretty well defined fami- 
 lies, comprising many genera, species, and indivi- 
 duals, differing much from each other, but still 
 agreeing in the general character on which the 
 order is founded. 
 
 Percoides, the perch family. This family is 
 named after the common perch, which, on that 
 account, must be considered as the typical fish.
 
 368 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 They are all very active fishes, of an oblong form, 
 covered with large, hard, and rough scales, with 
 generally strong spines in the dorsal fins, and the 
 operculura, the preoperculum, or both, with toothed 
 or with spinous edges. They have the jaws, the 
 vomer, and generally the palatal bones, armed with 
 teeth. Some, as the common perch, inhabit the 
 fresh waters ; but the greater number are found in 
 the sea, and chiefly in warm climates. Their flesh 
 is in general wholesome and palatable, but not so 
 rich as that of many other fishes. They admit of 
 subdivision, according to the part of the body on 
 which the ventral fins are situated. The greater 
 number have them thoracic, or immediately under 
 the pectorals, and in their habits they are ascend- 
 ing and descending fishes ; but they differ much 
 from each other in their breathing apparatus, and 
 in the form and number of their dorsal fins. They 
 have the ventral fins attached to the same number 
 of bones as the pectoral ones, so that the two act 
 in concert. Another and much smaller division of 
 this family have the ventral fins jugular, or situated 
 on the throat in advance of the pectorals, and 
 articulated on the os hyoides. This is the proper 
 position of those fins in a bottom fish, because 
 they really belong to and direct the motions of the 
 head more than the body. Some of this division 
 are very singular in their appearance, and equally 
 singular in their habits. The weavers, which are 
 found in muddy bottoms on various parts of the 
 British shores, and inflict serious, but not, as is 
 sometimes alleged, poison wounds, with the spines 
 of their first dorsal fins, are instances ; and a still 
 more remarkable instance occurs in the star-gazer 
 of the Mediterranean, which remains at the bottom
 
 FISHES. 369 
 
 in water of considerable depth, and is remarkable 
 for the vast size of its eyes, which are placed so 
 completely on the top of the head that it has no 
 command except above the body. In it we can 
 better see the mode in which those jugular fins 
 act, the fish striking downwards with them, and 
 thus darting the head upwards with great rapidity 
 to seize any prey that may happen to pass over it. 
 The mouth also opens upwards, and the whole 
 structure is admirably fitted for enabling it to seize 
 objects above it in the water. Fishes of this divi- 
 sion, and, indeed, ground fishes generally, are far 
 more tenacious of life than such as live and feed 
 near the surface ; ajid, excepting in their peculiar 
 evolutions for the capture of their prey, their mo- 
 tions are slow and their range limited. Some of 
 them which have been observed on the muddy 
 shores of Northern Australia, have the action of 
 the fins so powerful that they can leap about like 
 frogs after the retiring tide has left the bank dry. 
 A third division of this family has the ventral fins 
 behind the pectorals, and generally so far behind 
 that they are not in any way connected with the 
 bones of the shoulder. This position indicates a 
 more straight-forward motion ; and that the body 
 has to be raised as well as the head, and the fish 
 to seek its food below it as well as above. The 
 mullet, or perhaps rather the surmullet, which is 
 so much esteemed by lovers of fish, and the mango 
 fish of the Ganges, are specimens of this division. 
 The last-mentioned one, which is reckoned the 
 finest fish in Bengal, is remarkable for having the 
 pectoral fins produced in thread-like filaments,some 
 of which are double the length of the body. 
 2. Armed Cheeks. Many of the fish of this family 
 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are of singular appearance, on account of the hard 
 plates, and often of the sharp spines with which the 
 sides of their heads are furnished. Many of them 
 also have long filaments on the sides of the head, 
 in front of the abdominal fins. The gurnards are 
 examples of this family. 
 
 3. Scienoides. The maigre family have spines 
 on the operculum, but no teeth on the vomer or 
 palatal bones. Some of the species are common 
 in the warmer seas, where their flesh is esteemed 
 as food. On the British shores they are rare. 
 The bones of the fore part of the head are gene- 
 rally hollow, which gives that part an enlarged 
 appearance ; and in many of the species the 
 ventral fins are partially covered with scales. 
 
 4. Sparoides, the gilt-head, or sea bream family, 
 are also fishes of the warmer seas, though indi- 
 viduals of some of the species occasionally stray to 
 the British shores. The body is deep in propor- 
 tion to its length, but compressed laterally ; the 
 dorsal fin is single, with spinous rays in the 
 interior part, and soft ones in the posterior ; there 
 are two kinds of teeth, subject to great varieties in 
 the different species ; but in the more character- 
 istic ones there are six incisive teeth in each jaw, 
 and generally four rows of cheek teeth in the 
 upper jaw, and three in the under. 
 
 5. Menides. This is a small family chiefly 
 confined to the warmer seas. Theyare distinguished 
 by the upper jaw being retractile and protractile, 
 in consequence of the long peduncles of the inter- 
 maxillary bones. Several species inhabit the 
 Mediterranean ; but the greater number are in- 
 habitants of the tropical seas. One of the Ame- 
 rican species, the stone-bass of the West India
 
 PISHES. 371 
 
 islands, is understood to stray occasionally to the 
 coast of Cornwall. Many of the species are 
 excellent as food. 
 
 6. Squamipennes (scaly fins), are distinguished 
 by having the soft, and frequently also the spinous 
 parts of their dorsal and anal fins so completely 
 covered with scales that it is not easy to distinguish 
 between the fin and the body. They arc chiefly 
 inhabitants of the warm seas, and equally remark- 
 able for their singular shape and the beauty of 
 their colours. 
 
 7- Scomberoidcs.The mackarel family is com- 
 posed of a vast number of fishes, having the scales 
 very small and the body smooth. They are all 
 remarkable for the power of the caudal fins, and 
 the rapidity of their motion through the water. 
 They are also highly valuable in an economical 
 point of view, in which respect the common 
 mackarel stands at the head of the family, 
 especially in tropical climates. They vary greatly in 
 form and appearance ; and some are very singular. 
 The tunny and the John Dory are instances. The 
 sword-fish also is remarkable for the vast produc- 
 tion of the snout or upper jaw, both sides of which 
 are armed with formidable teeth, and altogether this 
 single appendage is a very powerful weapon. Nor 
 must we forget to mention the coryphine or dolphin 
 of the ancients, which is celebrated in romantic 
 story, and so splendid in reality, as one of the 
 most brilliant inhabitants of the deep. In the tro- 
 pical seas, and even in the Mediterranean, numerous 
 shoals of those fishes drive along with the rapidity 
 of lightning, and make the sea for miles as rich and 
 radiant as if it were inlaid with all the gems of the 
 east. On these occasions they are generally in 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 pursuit of the flying fishes, which leap out of the 
 water only to fall into the jaws of the coryphine, just 
 as the salmon in our estuaries leap out of the water 
 in order to fall into the jaws of the seal or the 
 porpoise. All the mackarel family, and indeed all 
 surface fishes, are remarkable for their metallic 
 lustre when alive, for the short time that they 
 live after being taken out of the water, and for the 
 rapidity with which the flesh becomesunwholesome. 
 The luxurious Romans, who were perhaps the 
 most thoroughly sensual people upon earth, used 
 to bring the coryphine alive on the table before 
 their guests, in order that these might glut their 
 eyes with the changes of its colour while dying, 
 before proceeding to gormandise on its flesh. 
 
 8. Tcenioides (riband fishes). The fishes of 
 this family are remarkable for the length and 
 slenderness of their bodies, which are compressed 
 laterally, and sometimes the tail ends in a point, 
 without any caudal fins. They chiefly inhabit the 
 warm seas, but they are discursive, and a few are 
 found on the British shores. 
 
 9. Theutyes, the lancet fish family. These are 
 very remarkable fishes, occurring chiefly in the 
 warm seas, and some of them feeding exclusively 
 upon sea weed. Their bodies have in many 
 instances nearly the form of those of the flounders, 
 but they stand the other way in the water, swim- 
 ming on the thin edge, while the flounders, which 
 are bottom fishes, swim on the flat one. Many of 
 them are relished as food; but they are rather 
 dangerous while living, because of the powerful 
 spines with which certain parts of their bodies, 
 often the tail, immediately in front of the caudal 
 fin, are furnished. In the lancet fishes, pro-
 
 FISHES. 373 
 
 perly so called, those spines are of considerable 
 length, with edges as sharp as a knife, and 
 when the sailors attempt to catch them they 
 cut their hands to the bones. Those spines 
 are, however, merely weapons of defence against 
 their enemies, and not weapons of attack, if the 
 fishes are let alone ; and it is worthy of remark, 
 that, as those vegetable-feeding fishes have their 
 chief defences in the tail, so many of the vege- 
 table-feeding mammalia have theirs in kicking 
 with the hind feet, which is very remarkable in 
 the horse, the kangaroo, and the giraffe, a blow of 
 the foot of which last will shatter the skull of a 
 lion to pieces. 
 
 10. Pharyngii lalyrinthiformi. The fishes 
 which belong to this family have a remarkable 
 structure of the bones of the pharynx, that is, of 
 the bones which, articulated to the os hyoides, are 
 situated above the arches which support the gills. 
 These bones are formed with a number of laby- 
 rinths, or cavities, capable of holding a supply of 
 water, Avhich the fishes can give out in small 
 quantities, so as to keep the gills moist, and enable 
 them to live when out of the water. This is a 
 singular property, and most of the fishes which 
 possess it inhabit singular countries, where they 
 appear and disappear as if by a sort of miracle, in 
 consequence of which the ancients supposed that 
 they were rained down from the clouds. The fact 
 is, that the supply of water in the cells of the 
 pharynx enables the fishes to exist on dry land for 
 a considerable time ; and thus they climb the 
 banks of the temporary pools, which become 
 seasonally dry in tropical countries ; and contrive 
 to make their way over the land to the nearest
 
 374 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 piece of water. The climbing perch of India is 
 one of the most remarkable of the family, and it 
 is sometimes found in trees a good many feet above 
 the ground. 
 
 11. Mugiloides, the mullet family. The fishes 
 of this family must not be confounded with those 
 mullets or surmullets to which allusion has already 
 been made. They get the name mugil from the 
 murmuring sound produced by their gill-lids when 
 taken out of the water and lying panting upon the 
 shore. Their body is nearly cylindrical, their 
 head depressed, and their muzzle short. Their 
 bodies are covered with large scales, and their 
 heads with scaly plates of an angular shape. The 
 opening of their mouth rises with an angle in the 
 middle, and a similar form of the bones of the 
 pharynx gives the same angular appearance to the 
 entrance to the gullet ; and thus it admits only 
 very minute substances to pass. The teeth are in 
 general small, and in some of the species so very 
 minute as hardly to be visible ; but, contrary to 
 what one would expect, the stomach is an organ of 
 great power, being muscular, or having some re- 
 semblance to the gizzard in birds. At particular 
 seasons of the year fish of this family resort to the 
 mouths of rivers in large troops, and are remarkable 
 for their activity, and the briskness with which 
 they leap out of the water. 
 
 12. Gobioides, the goby or sea gudgeon fa- 
 mily, are rather singular fishes. They have the 
 spines of the dorsal fin slender and flexible, a large 
 intestine without any caeca! appendages, and no air 
 bladder. Some of them are small fishes, remark- 
 able for the quantity of soft and glary matter with 
 which their skins are covered j and of these the
 
 PISHES. 375 
 
 greater number are ovoviviparous, or hatch their 
 young internally, instead of depositing spawn as is 
 the general habit of fishes. Many of them are very 
 singular in their appearance, but most of them are 
 comparatively small sized. Others are of more 
 ample dimensions, among which may be enu- 
 merated the cat-fish or wolf-fish, which is remark- 
 able for its powerful teeth and the ferocious cat-like 
 appearance of its head. It is common on the 
 British shores, and more so on the northern than, 
 the southern ones; its flesh is wholesome, but 
 rather dry, and there is a prejudice against it in 
 consequence of its appearance. 
 
 13. Pectorales pediculati, or fishes which 
 have the pectoral fins with a pedicle or solid piece 
 between the rays and the body, which gives to 
 these fins something of the appearance and also 
 of the efficiency of a sort of hand ; from this we 
 might infer that they are leaping fishes ; and it is 
 probable that those to which we formerly alluded 
 as being found on the north coast of New Holland, 
 and leaping about the banks like frogs, when the 
 tide ebbs away, belong to this family, and not to 
 the one under which we alluded to them. There 
 are only two or three genera, which are not 
 very handsome fishes, neither are they dignified 
 with very choice names. One of them is called 
 the sea-devil, from its hideous appearance ; and 
 another the sea-frog. They are chiefly mud fishes; 
 and it is understood that the long filaments which 
 are attached to their heads are used by them to 
 entice those small fishes on which they live. The 
 proper English name of the sea-devil is the angler. 
 It is not uncommon on the British coasts ; but its 
 singular appearance makes it generally disliked,
 
 376 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 14. Labroides, the labrus, so called from the 
 size of their lips. They have an oblong body 
 covered with broad, but rather thin scales. A 
 single dorsal fin, supported in the interior part by 
 spines, to each of which there is usually attached 
 a membranous appendage. These fleshy lips are 
 usually double, one immediately over the jaw, and 
 the other beyond that. They have no ca?cal ap- 
 pendages to the intestinal canal, and their air- 
 bladder is usually of considerable size and strength. 
 In some of them the teeth are pointed ; but in 
 others they are arranged on the jaw, like paving 
 stones. The greater number of them inhabit the 
 warm seas, and some the rivers of warm countries; 
 but there are several species which are found on 
 the British shores, though only on the south. 
 
 1 5. Pipe-mouthed fishes are remarkable for the 
 prolongation of the fore part of the head into a sort 
 of tube, at the extremity of which the mouth is 
 situated. They are usually divided into fistulariae, 
 or pipe fishes, commonly so called ; and centrisci^ 
 which have the body oval and compressed, The 
 first have the body slender, and the tubular part of 
 the mouth very much produced ; and they are 
 furnished with filaments issuing from between the 
 lobes of the tail, which are sometimes longer than 
 the body of the fish. They are very singular fishes 
 in appearance, and found only in the warmer seas, 
 with the exception of one small species, centriscus, 
 which is not unfrequently met with in the Medi- 
 terranean. They are curious fishes, but, in an 
 economical point of view, they are of little or no 
 value.
 
 FISHES. 377 
 
 MALACOPTERYGII. 
 
 These form the second great section of bony 
 fishes ; their general character is, that the rays of 
 all their fins are soft and jointed, and do not, like 
 those of the former, contain spines. There is in 
 fact, a less disposition to the production of hard 
 matter upon the surface of their bodies than there 
 is on that of the former, and, taken altogether, 
 their motion in the water is perhaps not so rapid ; 
 but some of these are exceedingly numerous, and 
 to man they are the most valuable of all fishes. 
 They are conveniently divided into three orders, 
 according to the position of the abdominal fins, or 
 the absence of these organs. Those orders ai'e : 
 abdominales, or those which have the ventral fins 
 situated behind the pectorals ; sulrachiati, or those 
 which' have the abdominal fins under, or in advance 
 of, the pectorals ; and apodes, or those which are 
 without ventral fins. These distinctions do not re- 
 late merely to the structure of the animals, but are 
 connected with some of their habits. Those with 
 the abdominal fins are straightforward swimmers, 
 and range chiefly in the free waters ; those which 
 have these fins situated far forward are more of 
 ground fishes ; and the apodal ones remain chiefly 
 at the bottom of the waters. 
 
 MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 
 
 These comprise by far the greater number of 
 the soft-finned fishes, and they include very many 
 of those which inhabit the fresh waters. They are 
 subdivided into five families.
 
 378 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 1. Cyprinidce, the carp family, have the mouth 
 \vith a small opening, and weak jaws, and, in mogt 
 of the species, without any teeth. To compensate 
 for this, however, the bones of the pharynx are 
 very strongly toothed. The rays in the gills are 
 not very numerous ; their bodies are scaly ; they 
 have no soft fin on the back, 'and no ca?cal appen- 
 dages to the digestive organs. They are the least 
 carnivorous of all fish, living mostly upon the roots 
 and leaves of aquatic plants, and such seeds and 
 other vegetable substances as fall into the water. 
 The typical species is the common carp ; and there 
 are some which are very handsome in their ap- 
 pearance, and often kept in glass vessels as orna- 
 ments in rooms. The gold fish of China is one of 
 the most remarkable of these ornamental fishes. 
 
 2. Esoces, or the pike family. These differ 
 greatly in their disposition from the fishes of the 
 former family, being as voracious and fond of ani- 
 mal food as the former are vegetable and harmless. 
 There is no soft fin on the back ; the upper jaw 
 has its edge formed by the intermaxillary bones ; 
 the intestinal canal is short, and all are furnished 
 with an air bladder. The pikes, properly so called, 
 have the upper jaw furnished with small pointed 
 teeth ; and the vomer, the tongue, the palatal, and 
 pharyngeal bones, and also the arches of the gills, 
 thickly set with teeth arranged in the same manner 
 as those of a card. The lower jawis furnished with 
 long and powerful teeth and they are remarkable 
 for the strength of their bite. Some others of the 
 family are of a more simple character, but remark- 
 able for the production of their pectoral fins, which 
 are so large as to support them for some time in 
 the air. They are usually termed flying fishes,
 
 FISHES. 379 
 
 but the epithet is misapplied, for they cannot fly 
 that is, they cannot give themselves either impulse 
 or direction in the atmosphere. They merely 
 spring from the surface of the water, and. the great 
 length of their pectorals enables them to rise to the 
 height of a good many feet, and extend their leap 
 to the distance of a good many yards. One can 
 easily see, however, that they are helpless in the 
 air, for each one rises in its own direction, and falls 
 when the force of its leap is exhausted, without any 
 of that consent which we find among winged ani- 
 mals which fly in concert. These are found only 
 in the warm seas, to which they give a peculiar 
 character, by rising out of the water as if they were 
 birds, and sometimes alighting on the decks of 
 ships. Sometimes, however, a straggler finds its 
 way to the British shores. 
 
 3. Siluridce, the silure family, differ considerably 
 from the two families already mentioned, and also 
 from the rest of the order. They in general have 
 a naked skin without scales, though sometimes 
 partially covered by plates of hard matter ; the 
 maxillary bones in the upper jaw are either rudi- 
 mental, or they are produced into long and flexible 
 barbels. They are furnished with a strong jointed 
 ray as the first of the dorsal and pectoral fins ; and 
 they have sometimes soft fins on the posterior part 
 of the back, as in the salmon family. The strong 
 ray of the pectoral fin is often a very powerful 
 weapon. One species of this family is the largest 
 fresh- water fish which is found in Europe. 
 
 4. Salmonides, the salmon family, are among the 
 most interesting divisions of the finny tribe. They 
 have the body covered with scales ; the first dorsal 
 fin with soi't rays, and the second small and
 
 380 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 adipose, that is, consisting of a membrane filled 
 with fat, and not supported by any rays. They 
 are all furnished with an air-bladder, and most of 
 them have numerous cascal appendages to their 
 intestines. Their motions are in general rapid 
 through the free waters ; and, generally speaking, 
 they feed much and have rapid digestion. Some 
 of them reside constantly in the fresh waters ; and 
 they almost all ascend the rivers and streams for 
 the purpose of spawning. They are, perhaps, the 
 most desirable, and the most wholesome and nutri- 
 tious of fishes. 
 
 5. Clupeas, the herring family. The greater 
 number of these are salt-water fishes ; but in many 
 particulars they are closely allied to the salmon 
 family. None of them, or at least few of them, 
 inhabit the fresh waters, or ascend far up the 
 rivers ; but they all approach the shore for the 
 purpose of spawning ; and some of them do so in 
 immense numbers, and are of great value in an 
 economical point of view. The common herring 
 is perhaps the most valuable, and the white bait 
 the most esteemed by epicures as a dainty. 
 
 MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIATI. 
 
 These form the second grand division of soft 
 finned fishes, and the third order of the whole 
 class. They are divided into three families, all of 
 which, however, have this general character, that 
 the ventral fins are immediately under the pec- 
 torals, articulated upon and supported by the 
 shoulder bones. 
 
 ; ]. Gadites, the cod family. These are distin- 
 guished by having the ventral fins under the throat, 
 and sharp and pointed. Their bodies are mode-
 
 FISHES. 381 
 
 rately long, not much compressed, and covered 
 with soft scales. Their heads are without scales ; 
 their vomer and jaws in the back part are armed 
 with teeth generally of small size, and arranged 
 like a card or rasp. Their gill openings are very 
 wide, and their gills consist of seven rays. They 
 are found chiefly in the temperate or cold seas, 
 often in vast multitudes, and some of them are 
 prolific absolutely beyond imagination, a single cod 
 fish producing more than four millions of young at 
 a birth. The cod, the haddock, the ling, and a 
 number of others, belong to this family ; they are 
 known by the name white fish, from the colour of 
 their flesh, and are perhaps more valuable than 
 any other inhabitants of the waters. 
 
 2. Flat-fish. These have something very re- 
 markable in their character. They are all ground 
 fishes, found on the banks in the sea, or the estu- 
 aries of rivers ; and, though they are flat as their 
 name imports, and have one side generally white 
 and the other coloured, the white side is not the 
 belly and the coloured side the back, as in most 
 fishes ; but there is a twist in the neck which 
 throws the eyes sometimes to the right hand and 
 sometimes to the left ; and the fish swims on the 
 side, its principal motion being up and down, and 
 not lateral, as in other fishes. The turbot, the 
 sole, and the flounder are examples of these fish, 
 which have their flesh white and very wholesome. 
 
 3. Discoboli. These have the ventral fins 
 formed into a sort of disc, by means of which they 
 can sometimes hold on upon rocks and other sub- 
 stances, and so catch their food in the water as it 
 races past them.
 
 382 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 MALACOPTERYGII APODES. 
 
 These form the fourth order of fishes, and the 
 last of the soft-firmed ones. They consist of only 
 one family, angu'dliformes, or eel-shaped fishes. 
 Their general character is that of having no ven- 
 tral fins, having the pectorals very much advanced, 
 and swimming by the flexure of their lengthened 
 bodies by a sort of \vriggling motion resembling 
 that of serpents. They are mostly ground fishes, 
 and the common eel may be taken as a specimen. 
 
 Here, then, are two orders of fishes, not very 
 numerous in genera or in species, but very peculiar 
 in their habits, which do not 'fall in exactly either 
 with the bony or the cartilaginous fishes. 
 
 Order V. Lophobranchii. With the jaAvs 
 complete and free, but with the gills arranged in 
 tufts along the branchial arches. Their bodies 
 are generally covered with hard plates ; and they 
 have a very singular appearance. There is scarcely 
 any flesh upon their bodies ; and therefore they 
 are of little or no use. They are strange-looking 
 creatures, and popularly known by the names of 
 sea-needles, sea-horses, and others. They are 
 found chiefly in the warmer seas. 
 
 Order VI. Plectognathi, soldered jaws. These 
 have the bones of the head united, and in this 
 respect they approach the cartilaginous fishes, 
 which have comparatively little distinction of bone 
 and joint in that part of the body. There are two 
 families of them, gymnodontes and sclerodermi. 
 The first have no distinct teeth, but have the jaws 
 covered with a plate of matter resembling ivory. 
 They are strange-looking fishes, almost wholly in-
 
 FISHES. 383 
 
 habitants of the warm seas, and many have the 
 body covered with spines, and are capable of 
 inflating it like a ball. They are called moon 
 fishes, and various other names. 
 
 The Sclerodermi have the body with a rough 
 covering. Some of them are on that account called 
 file fishes ; but others have the body covered with 
 large bony plates, and have it of such unusual 
 figure that they are not improperly called trunk 
 fishes. They, as Avell as the former family, are 
 found chiefly in the tropical seas. 
 
 CHONBROPTERYGH. 
 
 These are the cartilaginous fishes which have all 
 , their bones flexible, and scarcely any distinction of 
 bone and joint. These fishes have, however, many 
 parts of their bodies more completely organised 
 than the bony fishes ; and in the matter of their 
 reproduction, which is a very important one in the 
 physiology of all animals, they approach more 
 nearly to the higher orders of animals than even 
 the more characteristic fishes. They are, generally 
 speaking, ovoviviparous, and have connexion of the 
 sexes, so that they form a sort of link between the 
 true fishes and the other vertebrated animals. 
 They are conveniently divided into two orders. 
 
 Order VII. (Of the whole class.) Chondro- 
 pterygii, with free gills. These have so far a re- 
 semblance to the ordinary fishes that their gills have 
 a singular orifice, very open, but without any rays 
 to the membrane. There are only two genera of 
 them ; the sturgeons, which generally inhabit the 
 rivers of the colder countries, and are of large size 
 and furnished with hard plates along their bodies. 
 The flesh of the common sturgeon resembles veal, 
 the air-bladder furnishes the finest isinglass, and
 
 384 WESLEY'S PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the roe is prepared into caviare, which is highly 
 esteemed in the Eastern parts of Europe. The 
 other genus of this family is chimcera, which are 
 very singular fishes, of extraordinary shape, and 
 approaching slightly to the sharks in the structure 
 of their breeding apparatus. 
 
 Order VIII. Chondropterygii, with fixed gills. 
 These have numerous gill openings, and some of 
 them are the most rapacious of fishes. They in- 
 clude the sharks and skates, or rays, which con- 
 stitute one family ; and the cyclostomata, which 
 constitute another. The sharks and rays have the 
 mouth opening under the snout, and in some of 
 the species it is armed with very formidable teeth. 
 The cyclostomata have the mouth in the form of a 
 sucker by means of which they attach themselves 
 to the bodies of other fishes and exhaust their 
 substance. The lamprey and the flag are examples 
 of this order. 
 
 Such is a very imperfect outline of the finny 
 tribes ; but, brief and inperfect as it is, it is suffi- 
 cient to show that the wisdom, the power, and the 
 goodness of the Almighty are not confined to any 
 part of His works; but that while the heavens 
 and the earth declare His glory, the sea, in the 
 mighty volume of its waters, witnesseth to the 
 same, and the whole proclaim that He is " God 
 ever all, blessed for ever." 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 J. HADDON, PRINTER, FINSBCRT.
 
 UCSB LIBR'ARY
 
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