Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

I
1
ANIMAL KINGDOM.
169
Animal for it is not the most perfectly composed, but rather the the three kingdoms of nnt.,™ . « nt i
.ingdom. ]east complex plants, which follow the most simply orga- tables grow and livp • mLv. i ' ,.inera 8 8row‘’ vege- Ammal
-^nized animals. It has been said that nature follows^ con- o^character commor r he^T’ ^ The Kingdon,
tinuous and ascending chain, from the mineral to the the above defin^^ to^^
plant, and from the vegetable to the animal kingdom, the adding to previous bulk “ TheSvrWtthV-°r tc6 power„ ?f
apex of which is crowned by the most perfect work of is observed by the late bishop of LlandaffTnhifrr8’- 1
creation,—the human race. Certain minerals, such as Essays, “ hath been admitted bv manv V Chen?tcal
amianthus or asbestos, no doubt exhibit a fibrous or woody contended that minerals, as well ^ animals and veoen.M™
structure; and coral, which has a stony texture, a vege- spring from seed, the greatest beino- noinoht8^.
table form, and polypus inhabitants, has been adduced in pension of the parts of a minute grain of sand ” IW
dlustrat.on of the union of the three kingdoms.; But all neral bodies in truth cannot be said to grow ThevTe
such fanciful speculations are the result of partial and in- ceive by aggregation or superposition, by mechanical »
accurate observation. The calcareous basis of the coral is chemical agency, an increase of particles Tournrfor,
formed by a species ofpolypus and has no more principle of indeed, was of opinion that stalactites in caves actuall v
increase in itself than the she I of the oyster or the waxen increased by an internal growth or propulsfon like S
cells of the honey-bee. Its elegant branches are created of plants and animals. But it is known that these con
by the instinctive labours of the animal inhabitants, which cretions .add to their bulk by successive deposft „„s of
alone are possessed of life. The animal and vegetable stony particles contained in tfie water which bathes their
kingdoms are more correctly compared to two great py- sides or percolates through the canal by which Ae
Tm »dmoTe asVe"; asceml ^ bUt d,Vergi”8 “f-s are frequently perLated. They pLess no a«ri-
more ana more as tney ascend. bute which bears the slightest affinity to that internal
Ihe extraordinary beings which by their ambiguous life which propels the fluids or assimilates the nutritive
nature may be said to have thus blended two kingdoms juices in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Minerals
into one, are called zoophytes- or animal plants. They then, are destitute of that active power'by which animals
were arranged by Tournefort among vegetables, and were and plants effect an individual appropriatL of such ma
at an after-period removed to the class to which they terials as conduce to their nourishment and increase “nd
really belong, chiefly on the authority and through the which is carried on, not by casual juxtaposition or’ the
abours ot Linnaeus and 1 alias. Ihese naturalists bore addition of similar particles previously prepared, but by
in m ml wlat few of their predecessors seem to have re- an admirable and elaborate process, through which the
membered, that locomotion, that is to say, the movement ponderous bullock, with its immense load of fleshy fibre
o a body fi om place to place en masse, though a general converts into its own muscular and sanguiferous system the
cl aracteristic, is not an essential or indispensable attn- sweet-smelling grass of the meadow; and through which
bate, of animality; for numerous animals of the mollus- also the size and flavour of our most delicious fruits are often
cous and radiated kinds are as permanently fixed to their primarily derived, from an addition to their natural soil
nw! r0CtS S Ta re,efs as t]ue “ostdeep'y r°oted of substances of a very different and less inviting nature
p ants are to the soil which gave them Dirth. Rome de Lisle has accurately observed that straight lines
wlrnl8 “S-atl0n and thf, pow?r ?f voluntary movement, in and plane surfaces are characteristic of mineraf bodies
whole or in part, are the principal characteristics of ani- but that animals and plants are composed of curved lines
mals, it is evident that the more these faculties become or rounded surfaces, resulting from diat central power of
developed, the greater will be their removal from the ve- life which dilates the internal organs in all directions, and
tends to produce spherical or cylindrical forms. The
seeds of plants, the eggs of birds, and the young of all
animals, are remarkable for the roundness of their out¬
lines.
The objects of natural history, however, are not now
divided into three kingdoms; for the characters which
connect together plants and animals on the one hand, and
distinguish both of these kingdoms from minerals on the
other, are so obvious and strongly marked, that the di¬
visions now established are those of ovganic and inovganic
bodies; the former including all animals and plants, the
latter all mineral substances. The definition of an ani¬
mal, given by M. Virey, is as follows: A. being, organized,
sensible, endowed with voluntary motion, and provided with
a central organ of digestion. And he thus defines a plant:
getable kingdom. The more perfect the plant, and the
more complicated the animal becomes, the greater dispa¬
rity will be perceived to exist between them. If, in dis¬
tinguishing the animal from the vegetable, nothing more
were required than to point out the differences between
an oak and an elephant, the line of demarcation would be
easily drawn, and the characters of the respective classes
could never more be confounded. But there are many
plants which, though less aspiring than the oak, lay claim
to a closer alliance to a higher kingdom ; and many ani¬
mals of a more carnivorous nature than the elephant are
much more nearly connected by their nature and attri¬
butes with the vegetable tribes. When we perceive a
living or animalized substance producing by suckers,
buds, or offsets from its own body,—when we see that
bv thp infliion™x • in • • . , u/yun uj uigtsLion. ivna ne mus aePnes a plant:
canable^ofre a^snml;Sht,fLir’ ^umidlty\lt ^ rendered A body, organized, insensible, not endowed with voluntary
En ri d^ r^1116 fufnCtl0ns10f vltahVftf a motion, nourished by external pores. To these he add's
Whfn W?asclrtffin m ?ran aPParent death’~ anotJher character, that the reproductive organs of plants
en we asceitain that it cannot live except in water, or are developed and thrown off every year, whereas those
be capable of p 7 thf altl?ough it may of animals are persistent. It is evident that the last
fixed for lif- , 'n fngUld and partial m]otlons’lfc 18 yet clause of his first definition—that which relates to the cen-
its nourisl nen0rahSinS e ^ SpaC?’ Where ^ denVeS ^ organ of digestion—if rigorously applied, would ex-
certainlv the d ^ °f exte™aK P,ores,—we have elude a number of the infusorial tribes from the animal
ceitainl) the description of an animal of the lowest order, kingdom,
Xtr h i /v H <■»» a y O
which applies at the same time almost equally well to
vegetable life. J
1 he following were the dicta of Linnaeus in relation to
Perhaps the most efficient mode of distinguishing be¬
tween animals and plants is by having recourse to a cer¬
tain range of characters, derived from the study of their
VOL. m.
Virev, Mceurs et Instinct dcs .hrinwux.