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where the assistance of other animals is denied him.

Where the horse and reindeer disappear, a hardy and sagacious species of dog, peculiar to the polar regions, supplies their place. It is on sledges drawn by dogs, that the Esquimaux and Kamtschatdales travel over their snowy plains.

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The correspondence between the covering of animals and the climate which they inhabit, is strikingly exemplified in the dog species. In the polar regions they are covered with thick shaggy hair resembling wool; while in warm countries, as in Barbary, their skin is perfectly smooth, and almost destitute of hair. In the same way, the thick warm wool which we see upon sheep here, changes into hair in the torrid zone. Even in the same country the covering of several animals changes with the changing seasons. As Dr. Paley has observed on this subject, "every dealer in hare-skins and rabbit-skins knows how much the fur is thickened by the approach of winter."

a The animals of the frigid zones, generally speaking, are covered with rich fur, which not only protects them from the extreme cold of these regions, but supplies man with articles of comfort and luxury.

As it would be impossible in our limited space to give even a brief outline of the animal kingdom, we shall conclude this chapter by giving a general view of the great divisions into which animals are usually classed.

DIVISIONS OF ANIMALS.

The Animal Kingdom may be divided into five groups or subkingdoms.

1. VERTEBRATA which includes all those animals possessing a skull and a vertebral column or backbone. It is sub-divided into five classes. 1. Mammalia or animals which are generally covered with hair, and which suckle their young. The whale belongs to this group. 2. Birds. 3. Reptiles (crocodiles, lizards, tortoises, turtles, serpents). 4. Amphibia (toads, frogs, neuts). The Amphibia have gills, when young, which enable them to breathe, in water. They are provided with lungs in the adult state, by which they are fitted to breathe in air. 5. Fishes which are covered with scales, and breathe by gills.

2. ANNULOSA (Lat. annulus, a ring), which include 1. Insects, as flies, bees, butterflies. 2. Centipedes. 3. Spiders. 4. Crustacea or those animals that have their bodies protected by a hard crust, such as lobsters, crabs, shrimps. 5. Echinodermata (Lat. echinus, a hedgehog; derma, skin) such as sea-urchins, and star fishes. 6. Annelida or worms.

3. MOLLUSCA (Lat. mollis, soft), animals with soft bodies, which are generally enclosed in a hard shell. This shell sometimes consists of a single piece, as in the univalves." Snails and whelks are examples. Sometimes the shell consists of two pieces, united by a hinge (bivalves), as in the cockle and oyster; sometimes the shell is divided into chambers by partitions as in the nautilus.

4. CŒLENTERATA (Gr. koilos, hollow; enteron, an intestine). This group, which was formerly named Radiata, includes the coral animal, the sea anemone, sea jellies, &c.

5. PROTOZOA (Gr. protos. first; zoon, an animal). This, as the name implies, is the lowest division of animals. Many of them can be seen only by a microscope, and, on account of their minute size, are called anamalcules. The sponges, however, are of large size. The infusoria may be found abundantly in stagnant water. The foraminifera fabricate beautiful little shells. Chalk, or white limestone, has been mainly formed by these minute shells.

Univalve, one valve or shell.
Bivalve, two valves or shells.

CHAPTER XVI.

DISTRIBUTION OF MAN.

THE earth was made for MAN; and hence he is found in every country and in every climate, from the torrid regions of Africa and America to

"Farthest Greenland-to the pole itself,

Where, failing gradual, life at length goes out."

On the banks of the Senegal the human body supports a degree of heat which causes the spirit of wine to boil; in the regions of the poles it sustains a degree of cold which causes mercury to freeze.

"The HUMAN ANIMAL," Dr. Paley observes, "is the only one which is naked, and the only one which can clothe itself. This is one of the properties which render man an animal of all climates and of all seasons. He can adapt the warmth or lightness of his clothing to the temperature of his habitation."

Another quality which enables man to live in every climate is, that he has been made capable of deriving nourishment from every kind of food. Without this physical capability or, in other words, if man were not an omnivorous animal-he could not occupy and have dominion over the whole earth. In the frigid zone, except in those parts which border on the temperate regions, there is neither seed-time nor harvest, nor vegetable food of any kind; and the inhabitants are consequently confined to animal food.

a The Esquimaux of Greenland dwell as far north as the seventieth degree of latitude; while in the southern hemisphere, a wretched race of men (the Petcheres) exists on the bleak and barren shore of Terra del Fuego.

b It is to the sea in those regions that man is chiefly indebted for his support. Its temperature, as we have already stated (page 177), is milder than that of the land; and it teems with fish, seals, and other aquatic animals, which supply the inhabitants of those sterile regions with food, light, and fuel.

"The teeming seas supply

The food their niggard plains deny."

The great walrus or sea-horse is found in herds upon the ice; and the whale, the monarch of the ocean, makes this his chosen resort. The oil of these animals is most useful to the inhabitants of those dark and dreary regions; and their fur or skins, particularly of the bear and the seal, are most valuable for clothing and other useful purposes.

In the torrid zone, on the contrary, man lives almost entirely upon vegetable food, which is the only kind of diet suited to the climate. But it is in the temperate regions that man is really an omnivorous animal. In these climates every kind of food is produced, and man partakes of it all.

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Some naturalists have thought it possible to class mankind according to the diversity of their food: as carnivorous (flesheaters), ichthyophagists (fish-eaters), frugivorous (fruit and corn-eaters), &c. ; but such a classification would evidently be partial in its application and erroneous in principle. The Scriptures informs us that all the inhabitants of the earth are descended from a single pair; and though to us no additional proof is required on this point, yet it is satisfactory to know that the investigations of physiological and anatomical science have demonstrated that, however dissimilar men may be in external appearance, habits of life, physical power, and intellectual capacities, their internal structure is the same; or, in other words, that they all belong to the same species.

In the animal and vegetable world we find great varieties

in the form, appearance, and qualities of individuals of the same species, for some of which we are utterly unable to account; and even to children of the same family this observation is often applicable.

"There's some peculiar in each leaf and grain,

Some unmark'd fibre, or some varying vein."

Can we wonder then at the great varieties that have arisen among men since the world began, scattered as they have been over every country, climate, and soil?"

Some naturalists have divided mankind into three distinct races or varieties; some into five; while others have augmented the number to seven, and even to ten. The colour of the skin, quality of the hair, form of the features, and shape of the skull, are the traits by which the different races of men are generally distinguished.

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(1). Caucasian or European. (2). Mongolian or Asiatic. (3). Ethiopian or African. (4). Indian or Native American. (5). Malay.

"The difference between the most dissimilar characters, between a philosopher and a common street porter, for example, seems to arise not so much from nature as from habit, custom, and education. When

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