In the last Book, having survey’d the Earth it self in Particular, I shall next take a View of the Inhabitants thereof; or the several Kinds of Creatures[a], that have their Habitation, Growth, or Subsistence thereon.
These Creatures are either Sensitive, or Insensitive Creatures.
In speaking of those endow’d with Sense, I shall consider:
I. Some Things common to them all.
II. Things peculiar to their Tribes.
I. The Things in common, which I intend to take Notice of, are these Ten:
1. The five Senses, and their Organs.
2. The great Instrument of Vitality, Respiration.
3. The Motion, or Loco-motive Faculty of Animals.
4. The Place, in which they live and act.
5. The Balance of their Numbers.
6. Their Food.
7. Their Cloathing.
8. Their Houses, Nests or Habitations.
9. Their Methods of Self-Preservation.
10. Their Generation, and Conservation of their Species by that Means.