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they differ in being warm blooded, breathing by means of lungs instead of gills, bringing forth their young alive and nourishing them with their milk.

To these orders it has sometimes been proposed to add a ninth, and this arrangement is adopted by Dr Ware for the purpose of embracing certain animals, which are furnished with a pouch (marsupium) into which the young are received long after birth, on the approach of danger. From this singular apparatus, they have received the name of Marsupial animals, and though this character is a very remarkable one, it has not been thought sufficiently important by Cuvier to entitle them to rank as a distinct order, and he has accordingly distributed them among the other orders of the Mammalia, to which they have the greatest resemblance. Thus the Ornithorynchus is placed among the Edentata, the Kanguroo with the Rodentia, and the Opossum with the Carnivora. The Ornithorynchus in fact appears to us to be hardly entitled to a place among the Marsupial animals, as it is destitute of a pouch, the very circumstance from which they derive their name, though it possesses the Marsupial bones, and some peculiarities in the structure of other important organs, which Dr Ware considers a sufficient reason for ranking it with that order.

This animal, now generally known by the name of duck billed platypus, is one of the most curious and interesting in natural history, and produced on its first discovery considerable confusion in the Linnæan classification. When first brought to England from New Holland, the only place in which it has been found, it was supposed to be artificial. Numerous specimens have since been obtained, and farther and more minute investigations of its intimate structure have satisfied naturalists, that it is a genuine production of nature. In some respects it has a strong resemblance to a bird, being furnished with a broad, spoon bill, like a duck, and being destitute of teeth, excepting two imperfect ones situated in the lower part of the mouth. No apparatus has been discovered by which it can suckle its young, and the inhabitants of New Holland believe, that it is oviparous, and that it lays two eggs. It is an aquatic animal, with webbed feet, and inhabits the rivers and marshes of New Holland. The body is covered with a thick, soft fur like that of a beaver, and the

animal has no inconsiderable resemblance to a small otter. It has four legs and a flat tail, covered with fur like the body. Its greatest length from the tip of the beak to the extremity of the tail is thirteen inches. The only specimen of this singular animal of which we have any knowledge in this country, is in Peale's Museum in Philadelphia. The first specimens sent to Europe were brought to London and described by Dr Shaw, who gave the animal the name of Platypus Anatinus, from the shape of its feet and its resemblance to a duck. It is now, however, known by the name of Ornithorynchus Paradoxus; and it is certainly a much greater paradox in the animal kingdom, than anything hitherto known. Still the singular combination of parts in this animal, strange as it is, tends not at all to render probable the existence of such a creature as a mermaid, under which denomination, some miserable specimens of human ingenuity and fraud have lately been exhibited in this city and in London.

The various productions of the animal kingdom have an intimate relation with each other, and it is not difficult to trace points of similarity and resemblance, from zoophytes, which seem to be the connecting link between animals and vegetables, up to man, who is preeminently the lord of the creation, distinguished from all others as much by the superiority of his physical powers, as by that of his moral faculties. Among the zoophytes, which are divided into three distinct classes, but very imperfect traces of animal organisation are discoverable. Some of them are destitute both of nervous and circulating systems, some have no digestive apparatus, and derive their nourishment wholly from external absorption, and some have no distinction of sexes. Their division into classes rests on the greater or less simplicity of their structure.

Among the other classes of the invertebral animals, however, a more perfect organisation exists. Insects, though destitute of a heart, have an imperfect kind of circulation of the blood, they are furnished with organs of digestion, and nerves of sensation and sense; and some of the animals belonging to the classes Mollusca, Crustacea, and Vermes have a still more complete and complicated structure, simple however in comparison with that of the vertebral animals.

VOL. XIX.-No. 45.

52

Fishes, the lowest of the vertebral animals, are furnished with a brain and all the organs of sense; their digestive organs are similar to those of the other animals of their class, their bones however are softer, the heart has but one auricle, and one ventricle, and they breathe by gills or branchiæ instead of lungs. Reptiles are divided into four orders, and a considerable variety is found in their anatomical structure. Many of them have two auricles and but one ventricle to the heart; they have a small brain and but an imperfect nervous system. They breathe by means of lungs, but require a small quantity of air only; hence they will live for some time, when almost entirely deprived of it. The structure of birds, which form the next class, approaches still nearer that of the mammalia. They have a double circulation, one for the whole system, and one for the lungs, and the organs of sense in great perfection, particularly that of sight. Their digestive apparatus is peculiar; being unable, from the want of teeth, to masticate their food, they are furnished with a particular organ to grind it. This structure is not so remarkable in carnivorous birds, as in those that live on vegetables, for animal food requires less attrition for the purposes of digestion than vege

table.

All the animals belonging to the class Mammalia, at the head of which stands man, are more perfect in their organisation; and though differing immensely from each other in their external appearance, have no inconsiderable resemblance in their internal structure. They have all a double heart, composed of two auricles and two ventricles; one carries on the general circulation, and the other the pulmonary or that of the lungs. The digestive organs are varied according to the kind of food upon which the animals subsist; those that feed on vegetables having a more extensive and complicated structure for the purposes of digestion than the carnivorous. The circumstances, which entitle this class to be placed at the head of the animal kingdom, are numerous, and most of them are stated in the following extract from Cuvier's Règne Animal. 'Les mammifères doivent être placés à la tête du règne animal, non seulement parce que c'est la classe à laquelle nous appartenons nous mêmes, mais encore parce que c'est celle de toutes qui jouit des facultés les plus multipliées, des sensations les plus délicates, des mou

vemens les plus variés, et où l'ensemble de toutes les propriétés parait combiné pour produire une intelligence plus parfaite, plus féconde en ressources, moins esclave de l'instinct et plus susceptible de perfectionnement.'

Every one who examines with attention the various classes of animals, their structure, habits, and peculiarities, must be struck with the perfect adaptation of the bodily powers of all to the situation in which they are placed, to the manner in which they are to live, and the food by which they are. to be nourished; and he cannot fail to notice the wonderful manifestations of infinite goodness, as well as of infinite power, that are everywhere displayed in the works of creation. He will perceive, that while some are calculated to live in certain climates, or can subsist during a portion of the year only, that others enjoy a far more extended range, and are wholly independent of the change of seasons; that some, destined to obtain their food by violence, are furnished with weapons of attack and defence, which are denied to those which are not compelled to resort to the same means for subsistence; that while some are fitted to live on one kind of food only, others subsist on that of a different or even an opposite nature; and that man is the only animal who can live without inconvenience in almost every quarter of the globe, and upon almost every kind of food; a proof certainly, that his physical powers are superior to those of the rest of the animal creation.

Our readers may apprehend, that in this long digression, we have lost sight in some measure of the work before us; we can assure them, however, that all the topics we have noticed were suggested by the perusal of the introduction alone, and that we are indebted to it for many of the facts and statements which we have offered. As it would be impossible for us to speak of all the subjects, which are treated in this volume, we think it best to confine what further remarks we have to make almost exclusively to those points, in which our own species is the most interested.

The human race has been divided by Blumenbach into five varieties, to which all the various tribes of men may be ultimately traced. These are first, the Caucasian; second, the Mongolian or Tartar; third, the African, Ethiopian or Negro; fourth, the American; fifth, the Malay.

First. The Caucasian variety is supposed to have originated in the vicinity of that chain of mountains, which are situated between the Caspian and the Black Seas, and among which Mount Caucasus is conspicuous. This variety is distinguished by the fine form of the head and the great beauty of the features. The Georgians and Circassians are among the best specimens of it. It embraces all those nations that are or have been the most distinguished in arts, arms, learning, science and civilisation. To it belonged in ancient times the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and it comprehends at the present day the inhabitants of the whole of Western Asia, of the greater part of Europe, and the descendants of Europeans throughout the world. The principal ramifications of this variety may be distinguished, it is said, by the analogy of language.

Second. The Mongolian variety embraces the inhabitants of the eastern part of Asia, of China and Japan, and those' of the northern part of Europe, the Calmucs and others. It is distinguished by a low, slanting forehead, high cheek bones, straight, black hair, thin beard, and olive complexion. Among some portion of this variety a considerable degree of civilisation exists, and no small progress has been made in the arts of life; but everything among them is stationary; no improvement has taken place for ages, and they have hardly in any instance availed themselves of the advances, which have been made in science and the arts in other parts of the world.

Third. The African, Ethiopian or Negro variety is remarkable for its black color, curled hair, flat nose, compressed cranium, and large lips. The individuals belonging to it are nearly all in an uncivilised state, and have an apparent inferiority in intellectual capacity. This may be and probably is the result of accidental circumstances.

Fourth. The American variety, which includes all the original inhabitants of America, except the Eskimaux, is distinguished by no very striking characteristic, either of features, complexion, or language, in all of which there is a considerable diversity among the numerous tribes, which inhabit our vast continent. The color of the skin is usually red, the form of the head and the shape of the face resemble that of the Mongolian variety; the lips however are larger, and the nose

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