Copy 1, Volume 1

Sketches of the history of man / by the honorable Henry Home of Kames ; Considerably enlarged by the last additions and corrections of the author.

  • Henry Home, Lord Kames
Date:
1813
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sketches of the history of man / by the honorable Henry Home of Kames ; Considerably enlarged by the last additions and corrections of the author. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    are not afraid of quadrupeds; not even of a cat, till they are taught by experience that a cat is their enemy. They appear to be as little afraid of a man naturally ; and upon that account are far from being flay when left unmolefted. In the un- inhabited illand of Vilia Grande, one of the Phi- lippines, Kempfer fays, that birds may be taken with the hand. Hawks, in fome of the South Sea illands, are equally tame. At Port Egmont in the Falkland Illands, geefe, far from being fhy, may be knocked down with a ftick. The birds that inhabit certain rocks hanging over the fea, in the illand of Annabon, take food readily out of a man’s hand. In Arabia Felix, foxes and apes fhow no fear of man ; the inhabitants of hot countries ha- ving no notion of hunting. In the uninhabited % illand Bering, adjacent to Kamlkatka, foxes are io little fhy that they fcarce go out of a man’s way. Doth not this obfervation fugged a final caule ? A partridge, a plover, a pheafant, would be loll to man for food, were they naturally as much afraid of him as of a hawk or a kite. The divilion of animals into different kinds, ferves another purpofe, no lefs important than thofe mentioned; which is, to fit them for different cli- mates. We learn, from experience, that no ani- mal nor vegetable is equally fitted for every cli- mate ; chickens, the male in amazement calls his neighbouring (forks together ; who, to revenge the affront put upon them, deftroy the poor innocent female j while he bewails his misfortune in heavy lamentation.
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