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Show ~0 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTOr. Leaves the cold caverns of the deep, and creeps On shelving shores, or climbs on rocky steeps. As in dry air the sea-horn stranger roves, Each muscle quickens, and each sense improves; Cold gills aquatic form respiring lungs, And sounds aerial flow from slimy tongues. " So Trapa rooted in pellucid tides, In countless threads her breathing leaves divides, 330 complicate animals, existed long before the quad_rupeds or more complicate ones, which in some measure accords w1th the theory of Linneus in re pcct to the vegetable worlcl; who thinks, that ~11 the plants now extant arose from the conjunctio~1 and reprod~ctwn ~f about sixty different vegetables, from whteh he constitutes Ins natural orders. As the blood of animals in the air becomes more oxygenated in their luno-s than that of animals in water by their gills; it becomes of a mo;e' scarlet colour, and from its greater stimulus the sensorium seems to produce quicker motions and finer sensations; and as water is a much better vehicle for vibrations or sounds than air, the fish, even wl1en dying in pain, are mute in the atmosphere, though it is probable that in the water they may utter sounds to be heard at a considerable distance. See on this subject, Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Canto IV. 1. 176, Note. So TrajJa rooted, 1. SS5. The lower leaves of this plant grow under water, and are divided into minute capillary ramifications; while the upper leaves are broad and round, and have air bladders in their footstalks to support them above the surface of the water. As the CANTO I. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. V\1aves her bright tresses in the watery mass, And drinks with gelid gills the vital gas; Then broader leaves in shadowy files advance, Spread o'er the crystal flood their green expanse; 340 And, as in air the adherent dew exhales, Court the warm sun, and breathe ethereal gales. " So still the Tadpole cleaves the watery vale With balanc'd fins, and undulating tail; aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, by exposing a large surface of vessels with their contained fluids to the influence of the air; so these aquatic leaves answer a similar purpose like the gills of fish, and perhaps gain from water a similar material. As the material thus necessary to life seems to be more easily acquired from air than from water, the subaquatic leaves of this plant and of sisymbriurn, oenanthe, ranunculus aguatilis, water crow-foot, and some others, are cut into fine divi sions to increase the surface, whilst those above water are undivided; see Botanic Garden, Vol. II. Canto IV. I. £04, Note. Few of the water plants of this country are used for economical purposes, but the ranunculus fluviatilis may be worth cultivation; as on the borders of the river Avon, near Rino·wood, the cottagers cut this plant every morning in boats, ' almost all the year round, to feed their cows, which appear in good condition, and give a due quantity of milk; sec a paper fi·om Dr. Pultney in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. V. So stilt the Tadpole, I. 34~. The transformation of the tadpole from an aquatic animal into au aerial one is abundantly curious. |