multiply examples: for all our domesticated animals exhibit the power of restraining their instincts; and the extent of this power is in the ratio of their obedience. We shall not here inquire into the motives which regulate the obedience, knowing that the moralist is aware that compliance with the laws of society, in regard to man, is often disagreeable, and even forced,

There is another," (says the same philosopher, Outlines, p. 112.)" and very important respect, in which the nature of man differs from that of the brutes. He is able to avail himself of his past experience, in avoiding those enjoyments which he knows will be succeeded by suffering; and in submitting to lesser evils, which he knows are to be instrumental in procuring him a greater accession of good. He is able, in a word, to form the general notion of happiness, and to deliberate about the most effectual means of attaining it." We are compelled, however reluctantly, again to differ from this celebrated moralist, and to advance the opinion that the brutes do controul their instinctive powers under the guidance of experience; avoid enjoyments which are succeeded by sufferings; and submit to lesser evils, to avoid greater ones. We by no means venture to state, that the lower animals are always so prudent, and we presume that none will contend for the universality of such discretion in the human species. But that they are guided in their attempts to avoid evils and secure happiness, by the experience of the past, cannot admit of a doubt. A horse will submit to the lesser evil of mending his pace, rather than to the greater evil of being spurred. Dogs will often submit to the evil of continuing for a time in a constrained position, with a piece of bread upon their nose, until the signal of taking it be given, and exhibit unequivocal symptoms of satisfaction at obtaining happiness at so easy a rate. A goldfinch in confinement will submit to the evil of drawing up a small bucket by its chain, for the sake of the enjoyment of a draught of the water which it contains. Those who are conversant with the history of animals, must be acquainted with many other proofs of a similar kind.'

It follows likewise from the author's premises, that Lamarck's grand division of apathic or unfeeling animals is quite gratuitous; because sensation may be predicated of all ani mals, without exception. The alleged distinction of sensible and intelligent is scarcely less arbitrary.

Among his sensible animals, the sense of hearing, taste, smell, and touch, are well known to exist; and if an animal derives ideas from all these sources, is it conceivable that each class shall be preserved distinct, and no combination take place where the ingredients are already in contact? When a bee departs from its hive to collect food at the place where, on the preceding day, it obtained a bountiful repast, it is obvious that both the distance and direction must previously be contemplated, intimating the existence of complex ideas both of time and space. But it is not our intention to occupy the time of the reader in the refutation

of

of the theoretical opinions of an author, who, in his delineation of the mental powers of animals, substitutes conjectures for facts, and speculation for philosophical induction. Fortunately for his reputation, he possesses much real merit as a systematical naturalist.'

With respect to the arrangement of the valuable materials of this volume, we could have wished that the survey of the mental functions had been reserved for the close, and not interjected among reviews of a merely physical complexion: at least, when we have been holding converse with reason and the affections, we feel less inclined to consort with the structure and workings of the digestive system. This latter part of the subject, however, especially as far as it relates to animals of the higher orders, is unfolded in a masterly manner.

1

The circulating system and the urinary functions next pass in review; and an interesting chapter is devoted to the secretion of light, electricity, and color, in the animal frame. The first volume concludes with an exposition of the most important facts that have been hitherto ascertained relative to the reproductive system; comprizing some judicious remarks on the anomaly of hybridism, which seems to originate in confinement and habits of domestication, and the extent of which is immediately checked by the infertility of the produce.

Volume II. consists of four parts; the first treating of the condition of animals, with reference to their duration, distribution, and economical uses; the second, of the methods of investigation employed to ascertain their nature and actions; the third, of the rules of nomenclature; while the last, and most extended, exhibits a nomenclature of the animal kingdom. Under the first of these heads, the circumstances of age and disease are dispatched in a somewhat cursory man ner; and we could have tolerated a more ample discussion of the objection to the goodness of the Deity, that has been grounded on the mutual hostility of various races of animals: but the statements relative to hybernation and emigration are more detailed, and bespeak a familiar acquaintance with those remarkable phænomena in the animal economy. The train of reasoning, suggested by the organic remains scattered over the world, is plausible, ingenious, and in some respects (we believe) original: but it proceeds on the supposition of the creation of different races at different periods of the earth's existence; and, when taken in connection with other parts of the work, it involves the incongruity of the relics in question having belonged at once to recent and to extinct families. That they do in fact belong to both, we do not deny: but suclr an admission militates against the author's previous assertions; while his views do not account for the tropical

aspect

aspect of the impressions of ferns, reeds, palms, &c., which abound in our coal-formations, and the prototypes of which probably flourished long before the inhumation of quadrupeds in the alluvial districts. As we are led, however, to expect a more enlarged illustration of the writer's sentiments on these topics in a separate treatise, we shall waive their farther consideration at present.

Dr. F.'s directions relative to the examination and drawing of natural objects, the proper management of the microscope, the dissection, preparation, and preservation of specimens, &c., are well intitled to the attention of the practical zoologist, The following precautions, though simple and obvious, are too frequently neglected.

The greatest inconvenience that attends the use of objects preserved in alcohol arises from the evaporation of the spirits, and the risk of having the specimen destroyed by putrefaction before the change is observed. When the glass is closed by cork merely, the evaporation sometimes takes place very rapidly, by its capillary attraction, and this effect is sometimes accelerated by a thread from the object passing through the mouth of the ves sel along with the cork. The evaporation of the spirit may be retarded by giving it a thin covering of fixed oil; or, it may be altogether prevented, by covering the mouth of the vessel with two or three folds of bladder bound round the edges tightly with pack-thread. If the layers of bladder are well coated with mucilage of gum-arabic, glue, or the white of an egg, the utmost security will be obtained. If a piece of tin-foil be coated on the under-side with glue, and then tied closely over the mouth of the vessel, and again coated with glue on the outside, and a slip of bladder tied closely over it, every risk may be avoided. The surface of the bladder may now be coated with coloured varnish, to improve the appearance of the preparation. The advantage at tending a covering of glue or mucilage, over the common varnish frequently used, arises from their insolubility in alcohol. Objects preserved in alcohol may be taken out for the purpose of examining their structure, after carefully macerating them in water,'

To the author's general canons of classification, most rational naturalists will probably be disposed to subscribe; and their exemplification, which occupies many pages, manifests both elaborate reflection and a philosophical spirit of arrange ment. Setting out with the great and important division of animals into Vertebral and Invertebral, he includes under the former those with warm blood, viz. quadrupeds and birds; and those with cold blood, viz. reptiles and fishes. The quadrupeds comprize the Mammalia and Monotremata; the former including the Placentaria and Marsupialia, and the latter, the family of Echidna. Under Placentaria, by far the most nu

merous

merous category of the class, are ranged Pedata, Unguiculata, Ungulata, and Apoda, with inferior sections; and under Marsupialia, the Opossums, Kangaroos, &c. The Birds are divided into Fissipedes, or Terrestrial, viz. Gallinaceous, Columbine, Accipitrine, Passerine, and Waders, and into Palmipedes, or Aquatic, with the hind-toe either united with or separated from the fore-toe. The Reptiles constitute three orders, designed Chelonea, Sauria, and Batrachia, the first comprehending the Tortoise tribes; the second, the Lizards and Serpents; and the third, Frogs and Toads. The general division of the Fishes is into Cartilaginous and Osseous; and the sub-divisions are determined by the structure of the branchiæ, or other permanent characters. The main divisions of the invertebral animals are Gangliata, Annulosa, and Radiata; subordinate to which are the Mollusca, with their respective classes and orders; the Crustacea, with their orders and sections; -and the Insects, distributed into eleven orders, the Myriapoda, Cirrhipedes, Annelides, Entozoa, Echinodermata, Acalepha, Zoophyta, and Infusoria.

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From this intimation of some of its leading titles, our zoological readers may comprehend the outlines of Dr. Fleming's plan of arrangement: but the merits of the details can only be appreciated by having recourse to the original. Where the range of objects is so amazingly extensive and multifarious, it cannot be expected that any mode of distribution, proposed by a single individual, should be free from defect: but, when we consider the present complicated state of natural science, we owe it to Dr. Fleming to state, that the mode of arrange ment which he offers to the public is not less philosophical than any of those that have recently issued from the French or the German school. His style of grouping considerably re sembles that of Cuvier, but is more strictly methodical, and contains occasional references to such species as are indigenous to this country. His exposition of the serpent-tribes, and of the class of fishes, in particular, is luminous and comprehensive. Like most similar attempts at systematical classification, the present involves divisions within one another, to which it is difficult to assign appropriate abstract designations; and general or particular divisions are frequently set forth without any corresponding titles, while class, order, &c., are employed with a latitude of interpretation. "All this, however, should in fairness be ascribed to the poverty of language, which is incompetent to supply a number of terms adequate to the orderly partitions of the great system of living beings.

REV. OCT. 1823.

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The analytical table prefixed to these volumes will afford a more consecutive view of the nature and distribution of their contents than our limited space will permit us to exhibit. The impression which the perusal of them has left on our minds is so highly creditable to the author's taste, sagacity, and professional knowlege, that we have much satisfaction in learning that a synopsis of the British Fauna, by the same hand, is already in considerable forwardness of publica tion. We must not, however, be so ungalant as to dismiss the present work without making mention of five illustrative plates, of commendable accuracy and neatness, engraved from drawings by Mrs. Fleming. Several clerical errors may be overlooked on account of the author's remoteness from the press: but the same apology will scarcely be sustained for occasional breaches of the peace between noun and verb. Verbum sapienti.

FOR OCTOBER, 1823.

NOVELS.

Art. 12. The King of the Peak; a Romance. By the Author of "The Cavalier," &c. 3 Vols. 12mo. 17. 1s. Boards, Longman and Co. 1823.

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Whatever may be our chance of living to witness a radical reform in Parliament, we have been allowed to see something like a radical reform in our circulating libraries. We well remember the time, for it is not far distant, when a novel like The King of the Peak' would have appeared as a star of first-rate magnitude in the firmament of fiction, at which we should have pointed our critical telescopes with considerable interest: but the last few years have exhibited such an inky-way of talent, that a novelwriter who, a quarter of a century ago, would have shone with lustre, now hides his head "inter ignes minores." The centre of the new system, - the sun round which all the rest revolve, -is the great Scotch novelist; and it is to him principally that we must hold ourselves indebted for the production of the lesser lights. The writer of the present volumes may be very properly denominated one of this "Jove's satellites," for he is a decided and far from despicable attendant on that northern luminary. Mr. Lee Gibbons, as he has been pleased to call himself, is already known to the public as the author of "The Cavalier," and of "Malpas; or, Le Poursuivant d'Amour;" the former of which manifested proofs of strong though rather coarse talent: a character that may be applied in some degree to the volumes be fore us.

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