It is generally granted that life is the highest perfection of corporeal beings, the most inestimable jewel of the creation. Life, though but in an insect, is more glorious than the sun. Solomon, making a comparison between living and lifeless things, prefers the meanest of living creatures before the best and noblest of dead things, “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” How much soever we may be astonished at the stupendous mass of inactive matter, yet the least animated particle is still an object of greater admiration. God, in creating the first individual of each species of living creatures, not only gave a form to matter, but also a principle of life; inclosing in each a greater or less quantity of organical particles, indestructible and common to all organized beings. These pass from body to body, perpetuating this life, and ministering to the nutrition and growth of each. Thus every production, or increase by generation, is a continuance of this life, of which every succession of creatures is always full. The total quantity of life remains the same; for whatever death seems to destroy, it does not affect that primitive life, which is diffused through all organized beings.

However much the nature of life may perplex the most able, acute, and diligent inquirers into the subject, or exceed the utmost reach of human comprehension; yet we see that it enables creatures to act, as it were, of themselves, and to seek and obtain such enjoyments as give them a sensible pleasure. The creatures on which this amazing property has been conferred, have also an inclination and ability to communicate it to their own species, which will succeed one another till time shall be no more! If we exercise our understanding on this remarkable instance of creating energy, it will tend to excite in us the most august thoughts of that almighty Being, who is the boundless source of existence, vitality, and motion to all his creatures!

In the work of creation, observes a learned author, after the formation of light, air, water, and earth, the originals of all material objects, God proceeded from creatures less excellent to those of a superior order. Such was his progress in the work of creation. Fish and fowl were both formed out of the water. Hence there is a nearer alliance and greater resemblance between the form and motions of creatures that swim and those that fly, than between such as creep and those that walk on the earth; and their bodies being intended to be lighter, and their motion swifter, the wise Creator saw fit to form them from a light and fluid element.

The number of the different species of fish to which names are given, and with whose figure at least we are a little acquainted, is, according to Linnæus, above four hundred. The majority of these are confined to the sea, and would expire in the fresh water, though there are a few which annually swim up the rivers, to deposit their spawn. Among the various sizes, some have monstrous shapes, and amazing qualities. Fishes are usually classed into three general divisions: the cetaceous, or those of the whale kind; the cartilaginous, or those which have gristles instead of bones; and the spinous, or bony kind, called so from their bones resembling the sharpness of thorns.

In the cetaceous species are included all the various kinds of Whales, the Norwhal, or Sea-Unicorn, the Dolphin, the Grampus, and the Porpoise. Though “God created great whales,”141 the words of Moses, according to the original, התנינם הגדלים ha-tan-neenin ha-gedoleen, says Dr. A. Clarke, must be understood rather as a general than a particular term, comprising all the great aquatic animals, such as these now mentioned. All these resemble quadrupeds in their internal structure, and in some of their appetites and affections. Like quadrupeds, they have lungs, a midriff, a stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, bladder, and parts of generation; their heart also resembles that of quadrupeds, with its partitions closed up as in them, and driving red and warm blood in circulation through the body; and to keep these parts warm, the whole kind are also covered between the skin and the muscles with a thicker coat of fat or blubber. The aorta, or principal artery, in that stupendous animal the whale, measures about a foot in diameter; and it is computed that the quantity of blood thrown into it, at every pulsation of the heart, is not less than from ten to fifteen gallons.

These animals possessing finer organs and higher sensations than others, show an eminent superiority. They have all the tenderness of birds or quadrupeds for their young, nurse them with constant care, and protect them from every injury. The female never produces more than one young, or two at the most; and this she suckles entirely in the manner of quadrupeds, her breasts being placed, as in the human kind, above the navel. The ends of these she protrudes at pleasure, to afford nutriment to her offspring. Perhaps the prophet Jeremiah has an eye to this when he says, “The sea-monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones.” Those of the cartilaginous kind, though not capable of nursing their young, yet bring them alive into the world, and defend them with courage and activity; while the spinous kind, a fierce, unmindful tribe, deposit their spawn, and leave the success to accident, without affording any protection.

As this first class of sea animals breathe the air, it is obvious they cannot bear to be a long time at once under water. They necessarily, every two or three minutes, emerge to the surface to take breath, as well as to spout out through their nostril (for they have but one), that water which they sucked in while gaping for their prey.

Their tails therefore are different from those of all other fish: they are placed so as to lie flat upon the surface of the water; while the other kinds have their tails, as we frequently see, upright or edge-ways. This position of the tail enables them to force themselves suddenly to the surface of the water, at pleasure. How well is it that animals of this enormous size do not approach our shores, for their presence would fright the other valuable fish from our coasts: they are therefore kept in the abysses of the ocean: just as wild beasts, impelled by the same over-ruling Power, which hide themselves in the recesses of the forest.142

The cartilaginous tribe, which have gristles instead of bones, unite the principal of both the other classes in their conformation: like the cetaceous, they have organs of hearing, and lungs: like the spinous, they have gills, and a heart without a partition. From the structure of their gills, these animals are enabled to live a longer time out of water than other fishes. The cartilaginous Shark, or Ray, lives some hours after it is taken; while the spinous Herring, or Mackarel, expires a few minutes after it is brought on shore. Some of this class bring forth their young alive; and others produce them by eggs, which are afterwards brought to maturity. Most fishes having cold blood, have not heat sufficient to produce the fœtus. The all-wise Creator therefore has ordained, that many of them shall propagate their species by eggs, and this they do near the shore; where, by means of the solar rays, the water is warmer, and fitter for that purpose; and also because water-insects abound more there, which afford the young fry nourishment. To the fish of the ocean, which cannot reach the shores by reason of the distance, the Creator has given eggs that swim, and these are hatched amidst the floating fucus, called sargazo. In all, however, the manner of gestation is nearly the same: for, on dissection, it is ever found, that the young, while in the body, continue in the egg till a very little time before they are brought forth; and as soon as they leave the shell, they also begin to quit the womb. It is confidently asserted, that the young of the several species of the Shark, when pursued, will take refuge in the belly of its mother, by swimming in at her mouth. Of the same class of fishes are the Ray, the Torpedo,143 the Lamprey, the Sturgeon, the Diodon, the Angler, the Lump-Sucker, the Pipe Fish, the Hippocampus, or Sea Horse, the Sea Porcupine, and the Galley Fish.

Of the spinous, or bony kind of fishes, these are obviously distinguished from the rest, by having a complete bony covering to their gills; by their being furnished with no other method of breathing than through the gills only; by their bones which are sharp and thorny; and by their tails, which are placed in a situation perpendicular to the body. The history of any one of this order very much resembles that of all the rest. They propagate not by bringing forth their young alive, as do the cetaceous tribes, nor by distinct eggs, as do the generality of the cartilaginous tribes, but by spawn, or pease, as they are generally called, which they produce by hundreds of thousands. The bones of this order of fishes, when examined slightly, appear to be entirely solid; yet, when viewed more closely, every bone is seen to be hollow, and filled with a substance less rancid and oily than marrow. These bones are very numerous, and pointed; and, as in quadrupeds, are the props or stays to which the muscles are fixed, which move the different parts of the body. The number of bones in all spinous fishes of the same kind is always the same. As this species partake less of the quadruped in their formation than any other, so they can bear to live out of their own element a shorter time. Some, indeed, are more vivacious in air than others: the eel will live several hours out of water; and the carp has been known to be fattened in a damp cellar. The method is, by placing the fish in a net well wrapped up in wet moss, the mouth only out, and hung up in a vault; then fed with white bread and milk, and the net sometimes plunged into the water.

The spinous class of fishes is more prolific than any other animal. Although their usual way of propagation is by spawn, yet there are some, such as the eel and the blenney, which produce their young alive. Their power of increasing is such, that if they were suffered to multiply unmolested, and remain undiminished for only a few years, the progeny of an individual would far exceed all human calculation. It is asserted, that a single herring, in the space of twenty years, would yield an offspring greater in bulk than ten such globes as this we inhabit. A female herring deposits at least 10,000 eggs, in the sea near to Great Britain!144 A tench lays 1,000 eggs. There have been 200,000 ova or eggs found in a carp; and in one of eighteen inches, 342,144: in a perch, weighing one pound two ounces, 69,216; and in a sturgeon of one hundred and sixty pounds, there was the enormous number of 1,467,500. Leewenhoeck counted in a middling-sized cod, nine million 384,000.

This multiplication of fishes is very astonishing; but the fact is, as they are obliged to devour one another for necessary subsistence, the whole natives of the deep without these extraordinary supplies, would soon be totally extinct. Were they to bring forth no more at a birth than land animals, the increase would be far too small for the consumption. The weaker species would soon be destroyed by the stronger, and the latter would soon after perish. Therefore to supply millions of animals with food, and yet not depopulate the watery realms, the issue produced by some of their species is almost incredible. The spawn is not by scores, but by millions: and by this amazing expedient, constant reparation is made proportionable to the immense havoc.

As the different species of fishes are designed to occupy the waters, and range to and fro in that element, so they are wonderfully formed for that purpose. The chief instruments of the motion of a fish are the fins, which in some fishes are more numerous than in others. The fish in a state of repose, spreads all its fins, and seems to rest on its pectoral and ventral fins near the bottom: on folding the right pectoral fin, its body inclines to the right side; and on folding the left fin, it inclines to that side.—When the fish desires to have a retrograde motion, striking with the pectoral fins, in a contrary direction, effectually produces it. When the fish desires to turn, a blow from the tail sends it round; but if the tail strike both ways, then the motion is progressive. If the dorsal and ventral fins be cut off, the fish reels both to the right and left, and endeavors to supply its loss by keeping the rest of the fins in constant action. If the right pectoral fin be cut off, the fish leans to that side; if the ventral fin on the same side be cut off, then it loses its equilibrium entirely. When the tail is cut off, the fish loses all motion, and is carried wherever the water impels it.

In addition to the fins, an aquatic animal is furnished with an air bladder, a philosophical apparatus in its body; this sustains and enables it, at will to raise itself to the surface of the water, or, otherwise, to descend. When any accident has burst this air bladder, or it has been punctured by way of experiment, the fish remains at the bottom of the vessel or river, totally unable to ascend. Flounders, Soles and Skates, which are without this appendage, seldom rise in the water, and when they do, require a great effort. The simple action of the fins is not sufficient to raise the fish, its specific gravity being greater than the fluid in which it is immersed. The bag containing the air is supposed to be muscular, and when the air is compressed into a smaller compass by the action of this muscular power, the bulk of the fish is contracted with it; whereby, since the absolute weight remains the same, the specific gravity, which is the sinking force, is increased, and the fish sinks; when, on the contrary, this compression is removed, the air bladder expands, the fish is specifically lighter, and it ascends.

In fish, we find the arrangement of the teeth nicely adapted to the habits of the different species. For instance, in the Pike, the teeth are placed with their points projecting backwards towards the throat, by which an easy ingress is afforded, but which at the same time prevents all egress, and retains most effectually the prey when seized. The alarm excited among smaller fishes at the approach of the Pike, is thus poetically expressed:

The Sword-Fish is distinguished by the upper jaw, which runs out in the figure of a strong and sharp sword, sometimes to the length of three feet, with which he scruples not to engage the whale himself.145 The Sun-Fish is one round mass of flesh; only it has two fins, which act the part of oars.

The great Creator has beautified the innumerable myriads that swim in the vast ocean, giving the greatest proportion to their shapes, the gayest colors to their skins, and a polished surface to their scales. The eyes of some are surrounded with a scarlet circle; while the backs of others are diversified with crimson stains. View them when they glance along the stream, or when they are fresh from their native brine; the silver is not more bright, nor the rainbow more glowing than their vivid, glossy hues! But we are lost in wonder at the exquisite contrivance and delicate formation of their gills: by which they are accommodated, even in that dense medium, with the benefits of respiration! A piece of mechanism this, possessed by the meanest of the watery tribe; yet infinitely surpassing, in the fineness of the structure of its operation, whatever is curious in the works of art, or commodious in the palaces of princes.

As the spinous order of fishes is extremely numerous, various modes of classing them have been followed by different naturalists. The simplest is that of Linnæus, who ranks them in four divisions, according to the positions of the fins. The 1st division is what that celebrated naturalist terms Apodal; and includes the most imperfect of the order, namely, those which want the ventral or belly fins, and it consists of the following genera:—The Eel, the Wolf-Fish, the Launce, or Sand-Eel, and The Sword Fish.—The 2d division consists of the Jugular fishes, or those which have ventral fins before the pectoral, or nearer to the gills; and includes the Dragonet, the Weever, the Cod, and the Blenny. The 3d division is called the Thoracic, or those fishes which have the belly fins immediately under the pectoral; and includes the Goby, or Roch-Fish, the Bull-head, the Doree, the Flounder, the Wrasse, the Perch, the Stickleback, the Mackerel, the Surmulet, and the Gurnard. The 4th division consists of the Abdominal, or those which have the ventral fins behind the pectoral, nearer the tail, and includes the Loach, the Salmon, the Pike, the Argentine, the Atherine, the Mullet, the Flying-Fish, the Herring, the Carp, &c. To the fishes, included in these four divisions, must be added, all the several species belonging to each, some of which are numerous.

There are two classes of animals inhabiting the water, which commonly receive the name of fishes, entirely different from the preceding ones, and also very distinct from each other. They are divided by naturalists into crustaceous and testaceous: both of which, being totally unlike fishes in appearance, seem to invert the order of nature. As those of the cetaceous, cartilaginous, and spinous orders, have their bones on the inside, and their muscles externally placed for the purpose of life and motion; so these, on the contrary, have all their bony parts on the outside, and their muscles within. For instance, persons who have seen a Lobster, or an Oyster, perceive that their shells bear a strong analogy to the bones of other aquatic animals; and that by these coverings they are sustained and defended.

Crustaceous fishes, such as the Crab and Lobster, have shells resembling a firm crust, and in some measure capable of yielding to pressure or strength. Testaceous fishes, such as the Oyster or Cockle, are furnished with shells of considerable hardness, very brittle, and susceptible of yielding to compressure like the others. Of the crustaceous kinds, are the Lobster, the Crab, and the Turtle:146 and the testaceous, includes the numerous tribes of Oysters, Muscles, Cockles, and Sea Snails. Some of these are extremely prolific. Under the tail of a Lobster, Dr. Baster says, he counted 12,444 eggs, besides those that remained in the body unprotruded. The female Turtle lays about eighty or ninety eggs at a time, each the size of a pigeon’s egg, in a hole prepared with her fore feet in the sand, a little above the high-water mark, which she covers so dexterously, that it is no easy task to find the place; and then returns to the sea, leaving them to be hatched by the solar rays. At the end of fifteen days, she deposits about the same number of eggs again: and in fifteen days more, repeats the same; three times in all, using the same precautions every time for their safety.

Among shell-fish, how various is their figures? The shells of some seem to be the rude production of chance, rather than of skill or design. Yet, even in these, we find the nicest dispositions. Though uncouth, they are exactly suited to the exigencies of their respective tenants. Some, on the other hand, are extremely neat; their structure is all symmetry and elegance; no enamel is comparable to their polish. Not a room in all the palaces of Europe is so adorned as the tenement of the little fish that dwells in Mother of Pearl. Where else is such a mixture of red, blue, and green, so delightfully staining the most clear and glittering ground? But what is more admirable than all their beauty, is the provision made for their safety. As they have no speed to escape, so they have no dexterity to elude their foe: so that, were they naked, they must be an easy prey to every free-booter. To prevent this, what is only clothing to other animals, is to them clothing, habitation, and castle. They have a fortification which grows with them, and is part of themselves. And by means of this, they live secure amidst millions of ravenous jaws. The dark inky fluid, which the Cuttle-Fish emits when alarmed, not only tinges the water, but, at the same time, is so bitter, as immediately to drive off its enemies.

The Nautilus, when he means to sail, discharges a quantity of water from his shell, by which it is rendered lighter than the surrounding medium, and, of course, rises to the surface. The shell forms a kind of boat, and he extends two of his arms upward, which are each furnished at their extremity with an oval membrane, that he unfurls to the wind for a sail. The other six arms hang over the sides of the shell, and supply the place of either oars or rudder, with which he rows himself along. When disposed to dive, he strikes sail, and at once sinks to the bottom. When the weather is calm, he ascends again, and performs his voyage without chart or compass.

Thus, we see, according to the beneficent purpose and blessing of God, the “waters bring forth abundantly.” The finny tribes are numerous beyond all calculation; they crowd to our shores in vast abundance, from which our markets are regularly and plentifully supplied. And, as one judiciously observes, what a merciful provision is this for the necessities of man! Many hundreds of thousands of mankind live, during a great part of the year, on fish only. Fishes, which are liable to few diseases, afford not only a wholesome, but a very nutritive diet; and generally come in vast quantities to our shores, when in their greatest perfection. In this also we may perceive that the kind providence of God goes hand in hand with his creating energy; for, while manifesting his wisdom and power, he is making a permanent provision for the sustenance of man through all his generations. The Mackerel, the Herring, and various other kinds, when lean, wander up and down the ocean: but when fat they throng our creeks and bays, or haunt the running streams. Who bids these creatures leave our shores when they become unfit for our service? Who rallies and recalls the undisciplined vagrants, as soon as they are improved into desirable food? Surely the furlough is signed, the summons issued, and the point of re-union settled, by a Providence ever indulgent to mankind, and loading us with benefits.

By the invention and assistance of magnifying glasses, the two extremes of the creation, as Mr. Baker intimates, which were out of the reach of former ages, have been brought under our observation: the telescope is directed to the heavenly bodies, and the microscope to unknown species of animals, &c. The first appearance of the microscope was about the year 1621; since which period it has been very much improved. It is to this valuable optical instrument that we are indebted for a great part of our present philosophy: we are brought into a kind of new world.

Numberless animals are discovered, which, from their minuteness, must otherwise for ever have escaped our observation. How many kinds of these invisibles there may be, says Mr. Adams, is still unknown; as they are discerned of all sizes, from those which are barely invisible to the naked eye, to such as resist the action of the microscope, as the fixed stars do that of the telescope, and with the greatest powers hitherto invented appear only as so many moving points.

The smallest living creatures our instruments can show, are those which inhabit the waters; for though animalcules, equally minute, may fly in the air, or creep upon the earth, it is scarcely possible to get a view of them; but as water is transparent, and confines the creatures in it, we are able, by applying a drop of it to our glasses, to discover, to a certain degree of smallness, all that it contains.

Leewenhoeck calculates, that a thousand millions of animalcules, which may be discovered in common water, are not altogether so large as a common grain of sand! Eminent naturalists have discovered not less than 30,000 in a single drop of water! What a display is this of the manifold wisdom of God! While he makes some of the aquatic tribes so large, that they seem to require almost a whole sea to float in, he forms others so astonishingly minute, that several thousands will adhere to the point of a needle.147

Every animalcule being an organized body, how delicate and subtile must the parts be that are necessary to constitute it, and to preserve its vital actions! How inconceivably small must it be, and yet a perfect animal. In animalcules, we discover the same multiplication of parts, diversity of figures, and variety of motions, as in the largest animals. How amazingly curious must be the internal structure of these creatures! how minute the bones, joints, muscles, tendons! how exquisitely delicate the veins, arteries, nerves! What a number of vessels and different circulations must be contained in one of these little creatures, and yet all have sufficient room for the performance of their several functions, without interfering with each other! It is difficult to conceive how in so narrow a compass, there should be contained a heart as the fountain of life propelling the circulating fluid, veins and arteries as the conductors of the blood, a brain to supply nerves in every part of the minute structure, muscles necessary to its motions, glands for the secretion of its fluids, stomach, and bowels to digest its food, eyes to direct its progress, a mouth to take in its nourishment, and organs of generation to propagate its kind!

Animalcules in general, continues Mr. Adams, are observed to move in all directions with equal ease and rapidity, sometimes obliquely, sometimes straight forward; sometimes moving in a circular direction, or rolling upon one another, running backwards and forwards through the whole extent of the drop, as if diverting themselves; at other times greedily attacking the little parcels of matter they meet with. Notwithstanding their extreme minuteness, they know how to avoid obstacles, or to prevent any interference with one another in their motions: sometimes they will suddenly change the direction in which they move, and take an opposite one; and, by inclining the glass on which the drop of water is, as it can be made to move in any direction, so the animalcules appear to move as easily against the stream as with it. When the water begins to evaporate, they flock towards the place where the fluid is, and show a great anxiety and uncommon agitation of the organs with which they draw in the water. These motions grow languid as the water fails, and at last cease altogether, without a possibility of renewal if they be left dry for a short time. They sustain a great degree of cold as well as insects, and will perish in much the same degree of heat that destroys insects. Some animalcules are produced in water at the freezing point, and some insects live in snow.

[In the American Journal of Science and Arts for April, 1830, there is a letter to the editor, from Dr. Joseph E. Muse, from which the following is an extract:

“When the winter had made considerable progress, without much frost, there happened a heavy fall of snow; apprehending that I might not have an opportunity of filling my ice house with ice, I threw in snow, perhaps enough to fill it; there was afterwards severely cold weather, and I filled the remainder with ice; about August the waste and consumption of ice, brought us down to the snow; when it was discovered that a glass of water which was cooled with it, contained hundreds of animalcules, I then examined another glass of water, out of the same pitcher, and with the aid of a microscope, before the snow was put in it, found it perfectly clear and pure; the snow was then thrown into it, and on solution the water again exhibited the same phenomenon; hundreds of animalcules, visible to the naked eye with acute attention, and when viewed through the microscope resembling most diminutive shrimps; and wholly unlike the eels discovered in the acetous acid, were seen in the full enjoyment of animated nature.

“I caused holes to be dug in several parts of the mass of snow in the ice house, and to the centre of it; and in the most unequivocal and repeated experiments had similar results.”]

There is one remarkable circumstance, says Mr. Lobb, that we must not pass over in our contemplation of these minute animals: which is, that they are found proportionably much stronger, more active and vivacious, than large ones. The spring of a flea in its first leap, how vastly does it outstrip any thing of which animals are capable! A mite, how vastly swifter does it run than a racehorse! M. de L’Isle has given the computation of the velocity of a little creature scarcely visible by its smallness, which he found to run three inches in half a second: now, supposing its feet to be the fiftieth part of a line, it must make 500 steps in the space of three inches; that is, it must shift its legs 500 times in a second, or in the ordinary pulsation of an artery!

The modes of propagation among these animalcules are various, and the observation of them is extremely curious. Some multiply by a transverse division; and it is remarkable, that though in general they avoid one another, it is not uncommon, when one is nearly divided, to see another push itself upon the small neck which joins the two bodies in order to accelerate the separation. Others, when about to multiply, fix themselves to the bottom of the water; then becoming first oblong, and afterwards round, turn rapidly as on a centre, but perpetually varying the direction of their rotatory motion. In a little time, two lines forming a cross are perceived: after which the spherule divides into four, which grow, and are again divided as before.148 A third kind multiply by a longitudinal division, which in some begins in the fore part, in others in the hind part; and from others a small fragment detaches itself, which in a short time assumes the shape of the parent animalcule. Lastly, others propagate in the same manner as the more perfect animals.

The same rule seems to hold good in these minute creatures, which is observable in the larger animals, namely, that the larger kinds are less numerous than such as are smaller, while the smallest of all are found in such multitudes, that there seem to be myriads for one of the others. They increase in size, like other animals, from their birth, till they have attained their full growth: and when deprived of proper nourishment, they in like manner grow thin and perish.

And, if the extreme minuteness of the parts of animalcules is not merely surprising, but far above our utmost conception, what shall we say to those various species, to which the mite itself, in point of size, is, as it were, an elephant? Naturalists suppose another species, or order, of invisible animalcules; namely, such as escape the cognizance even of the best microscopes, and give many probable conjectures concerning them. Reason and analogy give some support to the existence of an infinite number of these imperceptible creatures. The naked eye, say some, takes in from the Elephant to the Mite; but there commences a new order, reserved only for the microscope, which comprehends all these from the Mite to those twenty-seven millions of times smaller; and this order cannot be said to be exhausted, if the microscope be not arrived at its last degree of perfection.

Among the Egyptians, all the natives of the water were in some degree esteemed sacred. In many parts the people did not feed upon them. The priests in particular never tasted this kind of food; and the reason why they abstained from it, was the sanctity imputed to this class of creatures. For they were sometimes considered as sacred emblems: at other times worshipped as real deities. One species of fish called Oxurunchus, had, according to Strabo, a temple, and divine honors paid to it. A fish called Phagrus, was, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, worshipped at Syene. The Lepidotus and Eel, were, as we find from Herodotus, objects of adoration; being each, sacred to the god Nilus. This is ridiculed by Antiphanes, who says, that an Eel among the Egyptians was reverenced equally with their gods.

The Jews were under a divine prohibition not to make an idolatrous graven image or likeness of any aquatic animals. However strange this idolatry may appear, yet, such was its extent, that it prevailed not only in Syria, but in the borders of Lebanon, also at, Ascalon, Ashdod, and Joppa, cities within the precincts of the tribes of Dan and Judah. Hence we see the propriety of the judgments inflicted upon the Egyptians. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood.—Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.—And the fish that was in the river died: and the river stunk.” This was a punishment particularly well adapted to the state of that blinded and infatuated people: as it showed them the baseness of those elements which they reverenced, and the insufficiency of the gods in which they trusted. And this remarkable display of the Divine displeasure was the means of affording knowledge very salutary to the Israelites; as it served to warn them not to fall into the same or any similar act of idolatry, when they had seen it thus debased and exposed, and attended with such instances of accumulated evil.149

Father Lamy remarks, that the principal parts of Fishes are the gills, scales, and fins. Some have scales, and no fins; others have neither scales nor fins. Upon which is founded the distinction which Moses makes of clean and unclean fishes. Such as have neither scales nor fins are thought unclean. The authority for this is what the Lord commanded Moses to communicate to the children of Israel. “These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you: they shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but you shall have their carcases in abomination.” The physical reason for this distinction may be, because those which have fins and scales are the most nourishing; and the others, which are without fins and scales, being, in general, very difficult of digestion,—such as the Conger, Eel, &c., which are too gross and fat for many stomachs. Among the Romans, no fishes were suffered to be offered up in sacrifice, or served up to the table of the gods, but such as were scaly.

In this distinction, direction, and prohibition, concerning fishes, there is a further meaning. Dr. Spencer says, “God ordained this distinction of meats, that the puerile nation of the Hebrews might be led by an application of this law to the first elements of sanctity and actual purity. And this conjecture is founded upon the reason God himself has assigned for this institution; for after he had delivered the law about separating the clean from the unclean animal, he immediately adds, ‘Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’ Which words St. Peter applies not to legal but to evangelical sanctity, such as we should aspire to through the whole course of our lives. I must not deny that the text of Leviticus, in the outward letter, requires only a sort of legal sanctity, extending merely to corporeal purification: but it is agreeable to the umbratic nature of that law, that we should believe those words to have contained a more sacred meaning at the bottom, and to have directed the Jews to a sort of purity properly so called, and conformable to that of the Divine nature itself, under the figure of external purification.” Indeed without a view to the moral purification of the soul, an institution merely affecting the body would be but of minor importance.

This distinction then being founded upon the moral principles of good and evil, no doubt the peculiarities of the animals themselves will serve to furnish instruction. A celebrated writer on this subject remarks:—The progressive motion of fishes is owing to the tail: for so may a boat be driven forward by the agitation of a single oar from the stern. The fins serve to keep a fish upright, and support it while it is stationary in any part of the water. The centre of gravity being above the middle region of the body, a fish floats unnaturally with its back downwards, when the fins are taken off. The scales of fishes, which are very hard, bright, and radiated, compose a sort of armor, which serves for their defence, and adds at the same time an appearance of light and purity. The fishes thus distinguished differ as much in their way of life from the smooth and slimy inhabitants of the waters, as in their color and appearance; for they are generally disposed to raise themselves from the bottom, and swim about with agility in the superior regions of the water; while the Eel buries itself in the mire, and all the crustaceous tribe lie scrabbling upon the ground. Fishes of the Eel or snake kind are disturbed by thunder and storms, and swim about when the waters are thick and turbulent: but as soon as the elements are at rest again, they presently slide down to their native mud.

Thus the mind, when polluted with impiety, and bowed down with unbelief, cannot be raised to the contemplation of evangelical truth, unless it is alarmed by the fear of Divine judgments; on which occasion profligate sinners are sometimes most violently agitated, hurrying themselves as fast as they can into a state of repentance. But as this is a temporary repentance, excited merely by a fear of suffering, the effect abides no longer than the cause continues to operate; and so their terrors and their penitence vanish together. When there was alarming thunder and destructive hail in the land of Egypt, and fire from the Lord ran along the ground, even Pharaoh could recollect himself, and say, “I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. But when he saw that the rain, and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” Such is the fruitless issue of that involuntary repentance, which has no principle of Divine grace to support it. The moral of this distinction is obvious: the whole being a figurative monition, that a sordid and groveling way of life was to be abhorred by those who professed to serve God; whose mind being under the direction of revealed truth, and influence of the Holy Spirit, their affections were to be raised from vice to virtue, from pollution to purity, from things temporal to things eternal. There are many persons who bury themselves in the mud like the Eel, drown their senses in eating and drinking, or waste their precious time in sleep and idleness;150 utterly disregarding all serious reflection, devotional elevation, holy rectitude, and spiritual enjoyment. Our Saviour, who spake many things to the Jews in parables, says, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” This was spoken to fishermen, who had been called from their employment by our Lord, and to whom he said, “I will make you fishers of men.” They had hitherto been laboring to catch fish, but hereafter they were to catch men: thus their secular calling is turned into a spiritual channel. The word σωγηνη is said to mean a drag-net, the particular use of which is to drag fishes up from the bottom of the water. The similitude between that occupation from which, and that employment to which our Saviour called them, consists in these particulars:—the sea in which they were now to fish is the world, the fishes they were to catch are Jews and Gentiles, the net with which they were to catch them is the Gospel, and they themselves were to be fishermen. Or thus:—by the net may be understood the Gospel; by the sea into which it is cast, the unconverted world; by casting the net into the sea, the preaching of the Gospel; by those that cast the net into the sea, ministers; by the fishes enclosed, the hearers; by the net gathering of every kind of fishes, profane persons as well as sincere Christians; by the net being full and drawn to shore, a set time coming when the Gospel shall have fulfilled that for which it was sent, the mystery of God being finished; by the good being gathered into vessels as valuable and precious, and the bad cast away as vile and contemptible, that separation which shall be made at the final close of time between merely nominal and real Christians, casting the former into hell, and bringing the latter to heaven.

This parabolical method of conveying important instruction, by which heavenly things are represented and set forth by expressions borrowed from earthly things which are familiar to us, was very ancient, as appears from Jotham’s parable, and much in use among the Jews. It engaged the attention, because it was pleasant; it assisted the memory, which is apt to retain what is conveyed in this form; it excited inquiry after the meaning of what was thereby intended: and, consequently, was likely to be rendered beneficial to the hearers. Father Quesnel remarks, The net of God’s word, animated by his Spirit, draws souls out of the abyss of sin and error, to Christian faith and piety. The net and vessel of the visible church receives both the good and bad fishes, true Christians and hypocrites. This is neither the time, nor the place of distinction; all must continue mixed together till the great day of separation. A man’s being in the church will not infallibly assure him of salvation: as yet there is time to become such as we ought to be. But the moment will come, when all desires and endeavors to this purpose will be attended only with despair. And who knows but this moment may be just at hand. Our faith is very weak if we can think of being separated from the righteous without shuddering. Our love of salvation is very faint, if we do not endeavor earnestly to separate ourselves in this world from the wicked, by the holiness of our lives and conversation.

Section II.—On Fowls.

Number of Species — Superiority and peculiar Construction — Skill in building their Nests — Power and season of Propagation — Dexterity in providing Food — Instinct — Migrations — Insects — Religious Improvement.

Not any part of nature is destitute of inhabitants. The woods, the waters, the depths of the earth, have their respective tenants; while the transparent and elastic air, and those regions where man can never soar, but with much art and at considerable risk, are occupied with the most beautiful creatures. Every order of animals is fitted for its situation in life; but none more apparently so than birds. Though inferior to beasts in the scale of nature, yet they hold the next rank, and far surpass fishes and insects, both in the structure of their bodies, and in their sagacity.

The number of species in this order of animals is very numerous, amounting to above eight hundred. As some degree of classification appears necessary, they have therefore been arranged into eight orders. The 1st is the Struthious, or Ostrich order, or those which never rise from the earth. This includes the Ostrich, the Cassowary, the Dodo, the Solitary, and the Nazarene. The 2d is the Rapacious order. This includes the Eagle, the Condor, the Vulture, the Falcon, the Shrike, or Butcher-Bird, and the Owl. The 3d is the Gallinaceous, or Poultry order, which is without both the talons and the hooked bill of the rapacious kind. This includes the Bustard, the Cock, the Turkey, the Pintada, or Guinea-Hen, the Grous, the Peacock, the Pheasant, the Curassow, the Partridge, and the Quail. The 4th is what some authors have termed the Columbine order. This includes the Dove, or Pigeon, with its varieties. The 5th is the order of Pies. This includes the Crow, the Roller, the King-Fisher, the Cuckoo, the Wood-Pecker, the Oriole, the Nuthatch, the Bee-Eater, the Wryneck, the Creeper, the Hornbill, the Parrot, the Ani, the Wattle Bird, the Grackel, the Bird of Paradise, the Beef-Eater, the Curucui, the Barbets, the Jacamer, the Tody, and the Humming Bird. The 6th is the Passerine, or Sparrow kind. This includes the Starling, the Thrush, the Chatterers, the Grosbeaks, the Bunting, the Finch, the Fly-Catchers, the Lark, the Wagtail, the Warblers,151 the Titmouse, the Swallow, the Goatsucker, the Coly, the Tanager, and the Manakins. The 7th is the Cloven-footed Water-Fowl, including those with pinnated feet. This includes the Heron, the Ibis, the Curlow, the Snipe, the Sandpiper, the Plover, the Oyster-Catcher, the Pratincole, the Rail, the Gallinule, the Boatbill, the Umbre, the Jacana, the Sheathbill; and with pinnated, or finned feet, the Phalarope, the Coot, and the Grebe. And the 8th is the Web-footed Water-Fowl. This includes the Avoset, the Courier, the Flamingo, the Auk, the Guillemot, the Diver, the Tern, the Petrels, the Gull, the Mersanger, the Duck, the Pelican, the Albatross, the Skimmer, the Penguin, the Tropic Bird, and the Darter. These eight orders take in the several species belonging to each, some of which are very numerous; the Duck genus alone embraces one hundred species, differing much both in size and plumage. Thus we see in birds also, that God has shown his wisdom and his power, in the gradation from the vast Ostrich, and Cassowary, to the Humming-Bird, which, in size is not much larger than the Bee.