In the Mole we find a most scrupulous attention to the habits of the animal. It has short legs, feet armed with sharp nails, a pig-like nose, a velvet coat, a small external ear, a sunk protracted eye, all which are conducing to utility and safety. Its feet are like so many shovels, placed in so peculiar a manner as to enable the animal to remove the earth on each side, and throw it backwards. The cylindrical figure of the Mole, as well as the compactness of its form, arising from the terseness of its limbs, proportionably lessen its labor; because its bulk requires the least possible quantity of earth to facilitate its progress. The structure of its face and jaws is similar to those of a Swine, and equally adapted to work in the ground. The nose is sharp, slender, tendinous, and strong. The plush covering, which, by the smoothness, closeness, and polish of the short piles that compose it, rejects the cohesion of almost every species of earth, defends the animal from cold and wet, and from the impediment which it would otherwise experience by the adhesion of mould to its body. Being subterraneous, of all animals it comes out from soils of all kinds the brightest and cleanest. But its eyes are most to be admired. This animal occasionally visiting the surface of the earth, self-security required a perception of light. The Mole did not need large eyes to compass a great range of vision; and prominent eyes would have been less easily defended, whilst working under ground. To reconcile these inconveniences, these eyes are scarcely larger than the head of a corking pin; and these globules are so sunk in the skull, and sheltered with the velvet of their covering, that any contraction of the eye-brows, not only closes up the apertures, but offers a cushion to prevent any sharp or protruding substance from injuring them. These apertures in their open state, are like pin-holes in velvet, scarcely pervious to loose pieces of earth.[160]
The different tastes of animals show the wise economy of nature. Oxen delight in low grounds, because they afford the most palatable food. Sheep prefer barren hills, on which is produced a particular kind of grass called festuca, which they highly relish. Goats climb up the precipices of mountains, that they may browse on the tender shrubs; and accordingly have their feet constructed for jumping. Horses, not in a state of domestication, chiefly resort to woods, and feed on leafy plants. Nay, so various are the appetites of animals, that there is scarcely any plant which is not chosen by some, and left untouched by others. The Horse resigns the Water-Hemlock to the Goat; the Cow gives up the Monks-Hood to the Horse; for that on which some animals grow fat, others abhor as poison.—Hence no plant is absolutely poisonous, but only respectively. Thus the Spurge, that is noxious to man, is a most wholesome nourishment to the Caterpillar. That animals may not destroy themselves for want of knowing this law of nature, they are guarded by such a delicacy of taste and smell, that thus they can easily distinguish what is pernicious from what is wholesome; and when different animals subsist on the same plants, one kind always leaves something for the other, as the mouths of all are not equally adapted to lay hold on the grass; hence there is sufficient food for all.[161] The leaves and fruits of trees are intended as food for some animals, such as the Sloth and Squirrel; the latter of which has feet adapted for climbing. The Camel frequents the sandy and burning deserts, in order to obtain the barren produce of those soils. How wisely has the Creator provided for him! he is obliged to traverse those trackless wastes where frequently no water is found for many miles. Other animals, so circumstanced, would perish with thirst: but he can endure it without much inconvenience; his belly being full of cells, where he reserves water for many days.[162]
Quadrupeds are furnished with such clothing as is suitable to their various offices. To beasts, hair is a commodious covering, which, together with the texture of their skins, fits them in all sorts of weather to lie on the ground, and to render service to man. The thick and warm fleeces of others are a good defence against the cold and wet, and also a soft bed; and to many, a comfortable shelter for their tender young. All the animals near Hudson’s Bay are covered with a close, soft, warm fur; and, what is very surprising, and shows the wisdom and goodness of Divine providence, the Dogs and Cats which are taken thither from England, on the approach of winter, change their appearance, and acquire a much longer, softer, and thicker coat of hair than they originally had.
Many animals are armed with weapons of self-defence, some of which are used for the destruction of others. Nay, we scarcely know an animal which has not some enemy to contend with. Wild beasts are the most pernicious and dangerous enemies. But, that they may not, by too atrocious a butchery, destroy a whole species, even these are circumscribed within certain bounds. As to the most fierce of all, it deserves to be noted, how few they are in proportion to other animals. The number of them is not equal in all countries. These fierce animals sometimes destroy one another. Thus the Wolf devours the Fox. The Dog infests both the Wolf and Fox. The Tiger often kills its own male whelps. And wild beasts seldom arrive at so great an age, as animals which live on vegetables. For they are subject, from their alkaline diet, to various diseases, which tend to accelerate their death: while the Elephant, which feeds on vegetables, is fifty or sixty years before he attains his full strength, is in the highest state of vigor at about a hundred, and lives two or three hundred years. But, though animals are infested by their peculiar enemies, yet they frequently elude their violence by stratagems and force. Thus the Hare, by her doublings, often confounds the Dog. When the Bear attacks Sheep and Cattle, these flock together for mutual defence. Horses join heads together, and fight with their heels. Oxen join tails, and fight with their horns. Swine unite in herds, and boldly oppose themselves to any attack, so that they are not easily overcome: and, what is remarkable, all of them place their young, as less able to defend themselves, in the middle, that they may remain safe during the battle. Some animals consult their safety by night. When Horses sleep in woods, one by turn remains awake, and, as it were, keeps watch. When Monkeys, in Brazil, sleep on trees, one of them keeps awake, in order to give the sign when the Tiger creeps toward them; and in case the guard should be caught asleep, the rest tear him in pieces.
Divine Providence is evidently displayed in keeping a just proportion amongst all the different species of animals: this prevents any one of them from increasing too rapidly, to the detriment of others. For the produce of the ground would be insufficient for the support of the animal creation, were their increase not regulated and limited by the over-ruling power of God. To which we may add, that, if some animals did not feed on others, the earth would be annoyed with putrified bodies. Therefore, when an animal dies, Bears, Wolves, Foxes, &c., expeditiously take the whole of it away. But if a horse die near a public road, in a few days he is swoln, burst, and at last filled with innumerable grubs of carnivorous Flies, by which his flesh is soon entirely consumed, and so does not become a nuisance to passengers by his poisonous stench. Thus the earth is not only kept clean from the putrefaction of dead carcases, but at the same time, by this economy of nature, the necessaries of life are provided for many animals.
Though animals should not die a violent death, still their powers only continue for a limited time: they have their determinate periods of growth, perfection, and decay: hence it becomes necessary that one race should succeed and replace another, and for this purpose they are endowed with a power of procreation. The formation of the fœtus, the manner of its existence, and the growth of its parts, are great secrets of nature; and in all viviparous animals, the milk found in the female parent is a maintenance ready for the young animal, the moment it enters the world. We have here, the nutritious quality of the fluid—the organ for its reception and retention—the excretory duct, annexed to that organ—and the determination of the milk to the breast, at the particular juncture when it is about to be wanted. The advanced pregnancy of the female has no intelligible tendency to fill the breasts with milk. The lacteal system is a constant wonder: and it adds to other causes of our admiration, that the number of the teats or paps in each species is found to bear a proportion to the number of the young. In the Sow, the Bitch, the Rabbit, the Cat, the Rat, which have numerous litters, the paps are numerous, and are disposed along the whole length of the belly: in the Cow and Mare, they are few.[163] And the teats of animals which give suck are exactly adapted to the mouth, particularly to the lips and tongue, of the suckling progeny. Herodotus observes, that the most useful animals are the most fruitful in their generation: whereas the species of those beasts that are fierce and mischievous to mankind are but scarcely continued. The historian instances in a Hare, which is always either breeding or bringing forth; and a Lioness, which bears but once and then loses all power of conception.
It is evident that animals have not only a principle of self-motion, but are endued with a degree of understanding; and have a will, including various passions. What then produces the disparity between men and brutes, the line which they cannot pass? It is not understanding: who can say that brutes have not this? We may as well assert that they have not sight, nor hearing. But the difference consists in this: man is capable of knowing and enjoying God; the inferior creatures are not. This is the specific difference between the two: the great gulf which the brute cannot pass over.
We meet with a striking instance not only of industry, but understanding in Beavers. In the northern parts of America, during the months of June and July, they assemble, and form a society, which generally consists of more than two hundred. They always fix their abode by the side of a lake or river; and in order to make a stagnant water above and below, they erect, with incredible labor, a dam or pier, perhaps fourscore or a hundred feet long, and ten or twelve feet thick at the base. When this dyke is completed, they build their several apartments, which are divided into three stories. The first is beneath the level of the mole, and is for the most part full of water. The walls of their habitations are perpendicular, and about two feet thick. If any wood project from them, they cut it off with their teeth, which are more serviceable than saws: and by the help of their tails, they plaster all their works with a kind of mortar, which they prepare of dry grass and clay, mixed together. In August or September, they begin to lay up their stores of food; which consist of the wood of the birch, the plane, and of some other trees. Thus they pass the winter, in the enjoyment of ease and plenty.[164]
In the Dog we perceive evident marks of sagacity, recollection, affection, and revenge. Sagacity:—In the year 1760, whilst one Richardson, a waterman of Hammersmith, was sleeping in his boat, the vessel broke from her moorings, and was carried by the current under a west country barge. Fortunately, the man’s dog happened to be present; and the sagacious animal awaked him, by pawing his face, and pulling the collar of his coat, at the instant when the boat was filled with water, and on the point of sinking; by which means he had an opportunity of saving himself from inevitable death.[165] Recollection:—A Dog, which had been the favorite of an elderly gentlewoman, some time after her death, on seeing her picture, when taken down from the wall, and laid on the floor to be cleaned, discovered the strongest emotions. He had never been observed, Dr. Percival believed, to notice the picture previously to this incident. Here was evidently a case of remembrance, or of the renewal of former impressions. Affection:—A few miles from Aberdeen, as a gentleman was walking across the Dee, when it was frozen, the ice gave way in the middle of the river, and he sunk; but, by grasping his gun, which had fallen athwart the opening, kept himself from being carried away by the current. A dog, who attended him, after many fruitless attempts to rescue his master, ran to a neighboring village, and took hold of the first person he met. The man was alarmed, and would have disengaged himself: but the Dog regarded him with a look so kind and significant, and endeavored to pull him along with so gentle a violence, that he began to think there might be something extraordinary in the case, and suffered himself to be conducted by the animal; who brought him to his master in time to save his life.[166] Revenge:—A pack of ravenous Fox-Hounds were half starved in their kennel, to render them more furious and eager in the chace: and were severely lashed every day by a merciless keeper, that they might be disciplined to the strictest observance of his looks and commands. It happened that this petty tyrant entered the kennel without his scourge. The dogs observed his defenceless state; and, instantly seizing him, at once satisfied their hunger and revenge by tearing him to pieces.[167]
The Monkey tribe is very numerous, and usually divided by naturalists into three classes. Those which have no tails are termed Apes, and such as have very short ones, Baboons; but by far the most numerous class consists of those which have long tails, and are known by the general name of Monkeys. Were we to dissect and examine the several component parts of any one creature which God has made, we should find a perfection among its several powers, and an adaptation of its construction to its situation in the grand scale of existence, far surpassing human wisdom.