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rative; but from what we know, we think ourselves justifiedin observing, that it would occupy a man his longest periodof existence alone to read. However, in conformity with ouroriginal design, we are bound to take a slight and cursoryview of living and sensitive existence. For this purpose wegenerally stipulate, that although we remember it has beensaid the favourers of system are averse to any thing whichis not treated in either a synthetic or analytic manner, andalthough we dissent from this position with respect to thenecessity for such arrangements in natural history, thebeings and their habits which form the subjects of thenaturalist’s conteihplations;—because those creatures are mostof them separate and distinct from each other;—but mustconfess the necessity of attention to the previous observationupon account of the complicated variety of the objects ;without some systematic arrangement this chaos would be,indeed, inexplicable.
The term animal comes from the Latin adjective animulis,expressive of the attribute of life; it means an animatedconscious existence,—a being possessed of common sensi-tive faculties, also of spontaneous locomotion, besides thoseof vegetation and generation ; which two last qualities arecommon to vegetables as well as animals. The term un-doubtedly claims a higher descent, but the previous des-cription will answer our purpose, as it would be veryeasy to trace its etymology through the Greek up to theSamaritan or Hebrew .
Of animals as well as vegetables, there are also specificand grand family divisions as well as minor and.peculiar dis-tinctions to be made: thus there are found to be existingdistinctions between one species of animals and others ofthe same class, and another, which are generally found to beregulated by the soil w'here they are bred, and occurs aswell in point of size, as in nature and disposition; forthose animals produced in a dry sunny soil, are strong andvigorous, though not luxuriant with respect to nervousenergy, and sharp and fierce with regard to disposition ;those, again, produced in warm and moist climates, areluxuriant, tender, and much larger than those produced indrv warm countries.
We are assured of extraordinary appearances in animalswith respect to size, in the interior of Africa , and also inSouth America ; which, to people who have never seensuch, or indeed, scarcely heard of them, appears totallyincredible. But it is not in all cases that the frequency ofappearance, or even our actual sensations, are the just cri-