The Philosophy of Natural HistorySamuel G. Simpkins, 1851 - 360 pages |
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animals appearance attack bees birds birds of prey blood bodies bones called capable carnivorous caterpillars cavity cells Cetacea chrysalis chyle climates color combs covered Crustacea devour digestion distinguished earth eggs elephant employed enabled existence external extremely feed feet female fishes flies furnished gastric juice give habitations hatched heat hive holes horse human inches inhabitants insects instinct kind labor larvæ legs live lungs males Mammalia manner mastication membrane migration mode motion mouth muscles nature nest neuters never nourishment objects observed operation organs ourang-outang papillæ perfect perform plants possessed prey principle produced propolis quadrupeds quantity Reaumur remarkable reptiles resembles respiration retina sagacity sensation sense shell situated skin society sometimes species stomach structure subclavian vein substances surface swallows tail teeth tion torpid transformation trees tribes trunk vegetable wasps whole wings winter worms young Zoophytes
Popular passages
Page 285 - ... ocean. It is divided into distinct columns of five or six miles in length and three or four in breadth...
Page 151 - ... capable of preserving animal substances from undergoing that process, the stomach itself would be digested. But we find, on the contrary, that the stomach, which at one instant, that is, while possessed of the living principle, was capable of resisting the digestive powers which it contained, the next moment, viz., when deprived of the living principle, is itself capable of being digested, either by the digestive powers of other stomachs, or by the remains of that power which it had of digesting...
Page 274 - Mr. John Hunter, in a letter to Mr. Pennant, informs us, " That he had diseected many swallows, but found nothing in them different from other birds as to the organs of respiration...
Page 202 - ... possible, and generally about the height of the common surface of the ground. It is always nearly in the shape of half an egg, or an obtuse oval, within, and may be supposed to represent a long oven. In the infant state of the colony, it is not above an inch, or...
Page 122 - If we did not have a natural language, we could not acquire an artificial one. it is demonstrable, that, if mankind had not a natural language, they could never have invented an artificial one by their reason and ingenuity.
Page 300 - One of this species, which has now been nine years in the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it; but what its age was when the latter received it from Ireland, is unknown . The same bird also furnishes a proof of the truth of the other remark ; having once, through the neglect of servants, endured hunger for twenty-one days, without any sustenance whatever.
Page 295 - ... comely, and, wonderfully undisfigured by the hand of time ; his eyes are of a lively blue ; his profile is Grecian, and very fine ; his head is completely covered with the most beautiful and delicate white locks imaginable; they are so long and abundant as to fall gracefully from the crown of his head, parting regularly from a central point, and reaching down to his shoulders ; his hair is perfectly snow white, except where it is thick in his neck ; when parted there, it shews some few dark shades,...
Page 231 - ... its torments, or to get rid of its cruel enemy, it strikes its head against the trees till it falls down dead. The glutton divides the flesh of the deer into convenient portions, and conceals them in the earth to serve for future provisions.
Page 67 - From the egg of this insect is hatched an animal differing entirely from its parent. Its body is long and cylindrical, and divided into a great many rings. It is provided with a large .number of very short legs, with jaws, and with several small eyes. It is familiarly known to us by the name of caterpillar. It lives in this state a considerable time, subsisting upon such food as is adapted to its nature. At length it casts off its skin, and appears in another form, without limbs. It ceases to feed...
Page 206 - When they attack the leg, the stain of blood upon the stocking extends more than an inch in width. They make their hooked jaws meet at the first stroke, and never quit their hold, but suffer themselves to be pulled away leg by leg, and piece after piece, without the smallest attempt to escape.