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Show l ~~ .( ~: . ' ... ---· , ... \ ... • 0 330 ACTIONS OF ANU'IALS. as having some relation to motion; for we call that which is quick" animated or lively." . . And this liveliness of most of the ammals, With which we are familiar (though there are some that have very little of it) gives a charm to th~ observation of animals far greater than we feel m that of any other of the productions of na~ure. The .most magnificent tree, or the most beautiful flower, 1s but a denizen of one little spot of earth; but a quadruped can range the whole country, a bird cross the s~as, and a fish circumnavigate the globe. There IS a notion of freedom about them, and that is always an inviting notion. . . Besides, there is an apparent commumcahveness in animals which we cannot trace in any thing else. Every thing that we can know about the other productions of natu-re we must find out by labour, or wait for with patience, till the " creeping pace of Time" (which always appears slow when our wish is fast) brings it about. But the animal co.mes fo.rward and tells its own story, thereby placmg us m the easy situation of specta~ors at a.dramatic ~epresentation ; and then, the actmg of different ammals, or of the same animal under different circumstances, is so varied that we never tire of them. Philosophically, we have no. more reason t? conclude that the action of any ammal, however mstantaneous and rapid it may be, is an original action, than we have to conclude that the germination of a seed, the growth of a plant, or the fal~ing of a st~ne. is an original action; because t~at which ~an begm Its action, or in any way chdnge ~ts state ~1thout cause, must also have begun its ex1stence without cause. But still as the action of the animal is so much more rapid and varied than that of most other. produ?tions of nature, and as it is produced i~1 the ammal without any antecedent that we can see, 1t has so f~r the appearance of original action .. When an .ammal runs, there is a natural cause for 1t, as certamly as there CHARACT~R 01!' ANIMAL LIFE. 331 is when a river runs; when a bird flies, there is a natural cause for it, as well as there is when the wind flies · and when an animal swims, there is a natural ca{Ise for it as certainly as there is when a bubble swims on the current of a river; but as we cannot get at the know~edge of th.at cause, or ~t least of part of it, the~·e Is.a myster~ous sort of onginality about "he actiOn I~self, which engages our attention much more than If we could resolve the whole into material elements. This more complicated nature of the animal than even the vegetable removes it at least one degre.e further from mere inorganic matter, and m.ake.s It more completely dependent upon orgamzatwn. Consequently, we cannot so vary animals by culture as we can vary plants, although we can educate them for more active purposes than any that can be answered by plants. . As those who have paid even moderate attenb.on to the subject can always distinguish th~ remams of plants, when dissolved. but n~t chymiCally. d~composed, from ~is.solv~d mo!gamc matter, so It .Is just as easy to d1stmgmsh ammal matter when dissolved but not decomposed, from vegetable matter in the ~arne state. The plant, if we except the parts which are soon evaporated by the atmosphere or washed away by the waters, is found to consist of f carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, that is, of charcoal and the elements of water. That matter may .be reduced to powder or to paste, but ~till we ca? ea~lly distinguish, not merely by chymiCal exammahon, but by the touch and the smell ; the last of. these, though not very strong, is peculiarly refreshmg, so that it is very healthful to walk over a fiel~ of good land after it has been turned up by ploughmg. Chymical decomposition, at. least . in th~ softer parts. very speedily follows ammal dissolutw.n; so that, when an animal substance has bee~ long m the earth, it is not easily detected, except m the bones |
