Volume 1

A history of the earth, and animated nature / By Oliver Goldsmith. With an introductory view of the animal kingdom, tr. from the French by Baron Cuvier. And copious notes embracing accounts of new discoveries in natural history: And a life of the author by Washington Irving. And a carefully prepared index to the whole work.

  • Oliver Goldsmith
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of the earth, and animated nature / By Oliver Goldsmith. With an introductory view of the animal kingdom, tr. from the French by Baron Cuvier. And copious notes embracing accounts of new discoveries in natural history: And a life of the author by Washington Irving. And a carefully prepared index to the whole work. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mals which burrow under ground, as the mole and the shrew-mouse, have, in general, exceedingly small eyes; while in some they have been found nearly wanting, as in the blind rat {Mus typhlus, Linn.). The cat, the lemur, and other animals which pursue their prey during the night, are peculiarly adapted, by the construction of their eyes, for acutely perceiving objects, when illuminated by a very small quantity of light. The eyes of reptiles and fish are accommodated to the medium in which they reside. The chameleon can move one eye with rapidity, and in various directions, while the other remains fixed. Reptiles residing generally in the water, also fish, and the cetacea, such as the dolphin and seal, have their eyes covered with a dense skin, and the lens is more convex than in other animals. The arachnides, or spiders, possess generally eight eyes, arranged upon the upper part of the head in a symmetrical form; and there are not less than twenty-eight in the common millepede (Julus terrestris). The insect tribes enjoy great variety and intensity in their visual organs ; but the precise limits of this sense among the lowest animals in the scale of creation is not yet clearly ascertained. The organ of hearing is excited by vibrations or undulations of air, of water, or of some solid medium, recurring at intervals, with different degrees of frequency. These impulses are received upon the tympanum or ear-drum; thence they are communicated to the acoustic nerve, and are finally transmitted to the brain. When the vibrations are not performed in equal times, or do not occur more frequently than seven or eight in a second, there is heard merely a noise. But when they rise much above this velocity, a very low or grave musical note is first heard. By an increase of velocity, the note becomes higher or more acute, and the ear is finally capable of perceiving sounds resulting from 31,000 impulses in a second. There is a regular gradation among animals in the perfection of the organ of hearing, but none of them can rival the delicacy with which the practised ear in man perceives minute changes of tone, alterations in the quality or expression of sound, and varieties in its intensity and loudness. Feeble and timid quadrupeds generally have their ears directed backwards, to warn them of approaching danger; while, in the predaceous tribes, the ears are placed forwards, to aid in discovering their prey. Animals, though seldom susceptible of musical notes, sometimes exhibit an aversion for the low or grave sounds. This is remarkably the case with the lion. In bats, the sense of hearing is surprisingly acute. L’organe de la generation est done d’un sixifeme sens, qui est dans sa peau in- tdrieure. Perhaps a greater claim to the right of being termed the sixth sense may be established in favour of that feeling of resistance, or muscular sense, by which we perceive the degree of force exercised by particular muscles. The mouth and lips of a new-born animal are directed by this sense to their proper function ; and the adult would be in danger of a fall while engaged in walking, leaping, or other active exercises, if he were for a moment unconscious of the present state of the muscles appropriated to those actions. Shooting, bounding, and taking aim, presuppose a consciousness of the degree of muscular exertion sufficient to produce a certain effect; and instances are not want- ing of its surprising accuracy.. Thus, the Indian fresh-water fish called the Chcetodon rostratus, will hit an insect with a small drop of water at a distance of several feet, and the encumbered insect speedily falls an easy prey. When the elephant is annoyed by flies, he will discharge a large quan- tity of water upon the part attacked, with sufficient accuracy and force to dislodge them. The deadly spring of the lion and tiger exhibits the instantaneous result of the muscular sense in its most tremendous form. Dr. Yellowley mentions the case of a woman who was afflicted with the disease called anoesthesia, where the muscular sense of her hands was lost, although the muscular power remained. On turning her eyes aside, she used to drop glasses, plates, &c., which were held in safety as long as another sense supplied the place of the lost one. The stomach and intestines are possessed of certain peculiar sensations which declare the state of these viscera; and indeed every part of the body is susceptible of sensations, more or less painful, Avhen affected by accident or disease. Pain teaches an animal to avoid hurtful objects, and is wisely given as a safeguard to his frame; accordingly, its seat is mostly at the surface. The deep parts of the body have but little sensation, as it would there be only a useless encumbrance. The animal is continually warned, by uneasy sensations, to change his posture frequently, to avoid high degrees of heat, and in general to accom- modate his frame to surrounding circumstances. Many animals are defective both as to ears and nostrils, several are destitute of eyes, and some are reduced solely to the sense of touch, which is never wanting. In the higher animals, impressions made ripon the external organs of sense are transmitted by the nerves to the brain and spinal marrow, which form the central masses of the nervous system. The elevation of an animal in the scale of creation may [frequently] be determined by the volume of its brain, and the degree in which