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four, and mani hands. These have thumbs, or toes, separate, on each of the four feet. We here find Orang-outang (sometimes called the wild-man), and the Monkey.

The Third Order contains Carnivorous animals, or fleshfeeders, having no separate thumbs, or great toes without nails; as the Dog and Cat.

The Fourth Order contains the Gnawers, having no canine teeth (those which are called eye-teeth), feeding almost wholly on vegetable substances; as the Rat and Squirrel.

The Fifth Order is Edentata, or animals wanting teeth; as the Sloth and Armadillo.

The Sixth Order, Pachyderma, thick skin animals with hoofs; as the Elephant, Horse and Hog.

The Seventh Order contains the Ruminating animals, such as chew the cud, having front teeth (incisors) below only, and feet with hoofs cloven, or divided; as the Ox, Sheep and Camel.

The Eighth Order, Cete, contains aquatic animals (such as live in water), having no kind of feet, or whose feet are finlike-limbs; as the Whale and Dolphin.

We have enumerated all the orders of the class Mammalia, as it is the one in which man is placed; we shall now notice the remaining classes of animals, without going into so minute a detail of their orders.

CLASS II, Contains Birds (Aves), which are distinguished by having the body covered with feathers and down, long naked jaws, two wings formed for flight, and bi-ped (from bis, two, and pedes, feet). The orders in this class, are chiefly distinguished from each other by the peculiar make of the bill and feet.

CLASS III, Amphibia, contains amphibious animals, including what are commonly called reptiles. It is divided into four orders:

1st. With shells over their back, and four feet; as the tortoise and turtle.

2d. Covered with scales, and having four feet; as the crocodile and lizard.

3d. Body naked, destitute of feet; as serpents and snakes. 4th. The body naked, and having two, or four feet; as the frog and toad.

CLASS IV, Contains Fishes (Pisces), natives of the water, unable to exist for any length of time out of it; swift in their motions, and voracious in their appetites; breathing by means of gills, which are generally united in a long arch; swimming by means of radiate fins, and mostly covered with scales.

Third order-Fourth order - Fifth order-Sixth order-Seventh OrderEighth order-Class 2d-Class 3d-Class 4th.

Second Grand Division.

CLASS V, Mollusca, bodies soft, without bones, but their muscles attached to a skin which forms a calcareous covering called a shell, and is, in many cases, produced from their skin. These animals possess no organs of sense but those of taste and sight, and these are often wanting; the nautilus and cuttle fish are of the highest order of Molluscous animals.

One order contains animals without heads, having a shell usually of two pieces; these are called bivalves; as the oyster, clam, and snail.

Third Grand Division.

We proceed next to those animals called Articulated; these have jointed trunks, and mostly jointed limbs. They possess the faculty of locomotion, or changing place; some have feet, and others are destitute of them; the latter move by trailing along their bodies.

CLASS VI, Annelida, contains such animals as have red blood, without a bony skeleton; bodies soft and long, the covering divided into transverse rings; they live mostly in water; some of them secrete calcareous matter which forms a hard covering, or shell; as the earth or angle worm, and leech.

CLASS VII, Crustacea, contains animals without blood, with jointed limbs fastened to a calcareous crust; they breathe by a kind of gills.

CLASS VIII, Archnida, contains spider-like animals without blood, jointed limbs, without horns; they breathe by little openings, which lead to organs resembling lungs, or by little pipes distributed over the whole body; these do not pass through any important change of state, as insects do; they have mostly six or eight eyes, and eight feet, and feed chiefly on living animals; examples of this class are the spider and scorpion.

CLASS IX, Insecta, or insects, without blood, having jointed limbs and horns; they breathe by two pipes, running parallel to each other, through the whole body; they have two horns; they are mostly winged, having one or two pairs; a few are without wings; mostly with six feet. They possess all the senses which belong to any class of animals, except that of hearing.

The winged insects pass through several changes or 'metamorphoses. The Butterfly is first an egg; this when hatched is long and cylindrical, and divided into numerous rings, having many short legs, jaws, and several small eyes; this is the

Second grand division, what class does it contain ?--What order in this class is mentioned?-Articulated animals-Class 6th-Class 7th-Class 8thClass 9th-Metamorphoses of insects.

larva, or caterpillar. At length it casts off its skin and appears in another form without limbs. It neither takes nourishment, moves, nor gives any signs of life; this is called chrys'alis. In process of time, by examining it closely, the imperfect form of the butterfly may be seen through the envelope; this, it soon bursts, and a perfect butterfly appears. When about to pass into the chrys'alis state, of which they appear to have warning, the insect selects some place where it may repose safely during its temporary death. The silk worm spins its silken web to wrap itself in, and this web is that from which all our silks are made.

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CLASS X.

Zo'ophites, or animal plants. Here we find the lowest beings in the animal kingdom. Some of the orders of this class contain animals which have neither heart, brains, nerves, nor any apparent means of breathing. These are sometimes called animal plants; many of them, as the corals, are fixed to rocks, and never change place. The term coral includes under it many species; the red coral used for ornaments, is the most beautiful. The substance of coral, when subjected to chemical analysis, is found to consist chiefly of carbonate of lime; the hard crust which envelopes the animal substance, is an excretion formed by it in the same way as the

May not this be considered as a lesson to man to anticipate and provide for the change in his existence, which his bodily infirmities, and his daily observation, teach him is to be his own lot?

Class 10th-Description of Zoophites-Corals.

shells of the oyster and lobster are produced, or as nails grow upon the fingers and toes of the human body. The quantity of this carbonate of lime elaborated by the little coral animal is truly wonderful; islands are formed, and harbours blocked up by it. Fig. 133, a, represents a branching coral; the dots show the apertures by which the animal receives its nourishment. Some of the zoophites are fixed by a kind of root, to the bottom of the sea; some, as the sea-nettle, which appears like the segment of a circle, are carried about by the motion of the waters, without any voluntary motion, as, are also the sea-daisy, sea-marygold, and the sea-carnation, so named from an apparent resemblance to those plants. We find here the sea-fan, the sea-pen, and the madrepore, the latter of which are often thrown together in vast quantities.

The sponge also belongs to this class of strange animal substances; it consists of a fibrous mass, containing a jelly-like substance, which, when touched, discovers a slight sensation, the only sign of life manifested by it. There are many species of sponge; those most valued in the arts are found in the Mediterranean sea and Indian ocean. Some grow upon rocks, and are found covering the interior of submarine caves. The Spongia parasitica is seen growing upon the back and legs of a species of crab; sometimes as many as forty individual sponges extend themselves over the crab, impeding the motion of its joints, spreading like a cloak over its back, or forming for its head grotesque and towering ornaments, from which the poor crab vainly attempts to disencumber itself.

Some species of the sponge grow to a very large size; one has been found in the East Indies in the form of a cup, capable of containing ten gallons of water. The fibrous part of the sponge is the skeleton of the animal; the large apertures (see Fig. 133, b,) serve to carry out fluids from within; while the water by which the animal is nourished, is imbibed by minute pores; this continual circulation of water is one of the most important functions of the living sponge.

These animals resemble plants in their manner of producing others; they form a species of germ, like the bud growing upon the stalk; this falls off from the stem, and becomes a perfect animal. If a part of one of those animals is separated from the rest, it will itself be as perfect a living animal as was the whole before. A polypus can be divided into as many animals as it contains atoms; some of this order are very properly called hydras (many headed). Besides these, there is another order of animal substances, infusoria, which appear

Various kinds of zoophites-Sponge-manner in which these animals are reproduced.

like a homogeneous mass, having no appearance of any limbs whatever; these are either angular, oval, or globular.

LECTURE XLVIII.

Man at the head of the Kingdoms of Nature.-Comparison between Animals and Plants.-Conclusion.

In our last lecture, after a glance upward to the heavenly bodies, we returned to our globe, and considered its various substances; here we found two classés of bodies, inorganized and organized substances; the former including minerals, the latter embracing the animal and vegetable kingdoms. We then took a brief view of the animal creation.

At the head of the animal kingdom, we found man, sufficiently resembling brute animals in his material frame, to constitute part of an extensive class, embracing the ape, elephant, and dog; yet between the lowest degree of intelligence in the human race, and the highest faculties of brutes, there is a line of distinction marked by the hand of the Almighty, in characters too obvious for doubt. God said, "let us make man in our own image, and he breathed into him the breath of life, and man became a living soul."

Some writers have attempted to show that man differs only from the inferior order of animals in possessing a greater va riety of instincts. But however wonderful may, appear the instinctive perceptions of brutes, they are destitute of reason; and incapable of being the subjects of moral government; we' must, therefore, both from our own observation and the declarations of scripture, infer, that the faculties of man differ, not in degree only, but distinctly in their nature, from those of all other beings upon our globe.

"Man (says Buffon), by his form and the perfection of his organs, and as the only being on earth endowed with reason, seems properly placed at the head of the kingdoms of nature. All in him announces the lord of the earth; his form marks his superiority over all living beings; he stands erect, in the attitude of command, he can gaze upon the heavens; on his face is imprinted the character of dignity; the image of his soul is painted upon his features, and the excellence of his nature penetrates through his material organs, and animates the expression of his countenance."

Man at the head of the animal kingdom-How resembling inferior animals -How differing from them--Buffon's description of man.

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