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Show I H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. Such a mode of reafoning is rather a cenfure of. the condutl:. of pr~- 'd than of the clime of America, and not nnhke the fccptl cal opl- Vl ence · h d'fi nions attributed to king Don Alphonfo the ~ife~ ~efpechng t e 1 p~- fition of the heavenly bodies. If the .fidl: md1vtduals of tho~e ammals came not fo from the hand of the Creator, but the cltme of America has been the caufe of their fuppofed irregularity, whenever thofc animals lhould be tranfported to Europe their forms would grow perfeCt, and their difpofition . aud inftin~ alfo; .at leafl: after ten. or twelve 'generations thofe tmferablc a.nJm~ls wht.ch the malianant ~lime of America 'has deprived of thetr tatls, thelr horns, and tl~eir tufks, woUid.recover them ·t·uitlcr a more benignant clime. .No) thofc philofophers wou\l ft1y, becaufc it is not'.fo cafy to recover frG>mJ nature what is 'loft, as 'to loft: what fbe has gtveo ; · fo · •that ':llthough thofe poor anirl'lalSI w'oukl• t'lot ip .t.he old continent recov~ · their .tails, their tufl{s, or 'th~i1r '116 ·ns; ftill 1 t muft be allowed that. nbe o1tma(e, of America has b'een the ·caufe of their lofing them·. Be it fO<..,. ,:A prcfent, however,1'we fball not treat of ~rregularities which confiH: in· any deficiency but of thofe where there 1S an e.xcef~ of ma~tcr. We allude at prefent to the oftriches, which, accordmg to Mr;• de Paw (x!; have from a vice of nature, two extraordinary toes in teach M their_ feet/ but that we may not quit the quadrupeds, 'we.tfhaH! nicrltion t;hc Unau, a fpecies of American floth, which atnongfi other of,its iJ:rog~tlaritics, has got forty-fix ribs. " The number of fopty-fix nbs m "an animal of [o [mall a •body," tfays,Mr.. de Butfon, " .is ;,a,;.kind of " error or excefs of nature ; for no an ima~ even among the lat;gefl>, " or among thofe which have the longci\ .body 'in .propal'i:.ion to thci"' " thickne(s, has fo many. The elephant has not tmore than forty, th~ "borfe thirty-fix, the badger thirty, the dog twenty-fix, and marr " twenty-four." If the firfl: U nau which ever was, had the .fitm'e number of ribs given it by the Creator which r its poil;~rity, l,~a.vei at prefent, the reafoning held by Mr. der Bnfion is .a aenfmct of,·Ptoy.io dence ; and when he fays that that exceffive number of ribs h~s b~en an error of nature, he me;1ns an error of Providence, who is efficient (.") Mr. de P~w is deceived with rc ~ard 10 tl.1c number of ~oc" of t~1e o(irich of Ari1cric~, for it has no more than 1hrce; ~hhough 111 1he bwdcr p;u·t of tt ~ feet It ha3 a rollnd ~nd callous (welling which fervcs in place of a 1:1lon, and l,Jy the vulgar is thought to be ;1 toe. , · ·nature. 5 H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. nature. We are certain fuch an idea is far from the elevated mind of the count de Buffon; but the fpirit of philofophy, which runs through all his works, leads him fometimes into rather exceptionable expreffions (a). If, on the contrary, thofe philofophers believe, that the Unau had originally a number of ribs proportioned to the fize of its body, and that the malignant clime of America did increafc them gradually afterwards, we ought to believe, that if that fpecies of q uadruped was tranfported to the old continent, and was bred under a more favouring fky, it would at Jail: be re!l:ored to its primitive perfeCtion. Let the experiment be made ; let two or three males of this ungraceful fpecicc:, and as many females, be tranfported there, and if, after twenty or more generations, it is found that their number of ribs begins to dimini{h, then we 01all acknowledge that the land of America is the moft unhappy, and its clim· te the moft baneful in all the world. lf it happens otherwifc, we will fay, as we !hall henceforward f.1.y, that the logic of thefe gentlemen is more contemptible than that quadruped, a.nd that their reafonings arc mere paralogifms. In other refpeCls it is truly to be wondered at in a country where there has been fuch a fcarcity of mattel', that nature D-10uld have made a tranfgreffion by an excefs of it in the ribs of floths, and in the toes of ofirichcs. J3ut to 01ew that thofe philofophers, while exerting themfdves to fix the charaCter of malignity on the climate of the new world, h<1d totally loft recolleCtion of the mifcries of their own continent; let us afk. them what is the moO: miferab le animal in America, they will immediately anfwer. the !loth; becaufc this animal is th .. mofl: im .. perfeCt in its oganization, the moft in c:1pable of motion , the moft unprovided with arms for its defence, and alrovc all, that it appears to have 1 {s fenu1tions than any oth'"'r quadruped ; an animal, truly wretched, condemned by nature to inaCtivity, lif1:lcffi1 cfs, famine, and melancholy, by which it continually excites the compaffion. and horror of (n) The count de Btlffon, udirous ofaffigning a rcafon why man re fills the influence of climate better th~n the animals, fay s, in volume ;xvi 'i, " Man is altogether 1hc work of "heaven, the animals in many rcfpdls arc but produflions of the earth." This propofirion :1ppcars a little too. bold; but we meet with many !lill frrongcr in his Epochcs rlc l r~ Nature. Pp2 other ~91 DISSI'!.R.T. 1 v. '-"v--1 |