be cut away, then it loses its equilibrium entirely. When the tail is cut off, the fish loses all motion, and gives itself up to where the water impels it.

From hence it appears, that each of these instruments has a peculiar use assigned it; but, at the same time, that they all conspire to assist each other's motions. Some fish are possessed of all, whose motions are yet not the swiftest; others have but a part, and yet dart in the water with great rapidity. The number, the size, and the situation of the fins, therefore, seem rather calculated to correspond with the animal's figure, than solely to answer the purposes of promoting its speed. Where the head is large and heavy, there the pectoral fins are large, and placed forward, to keep it from oversetting. Where the head is small, or produced out into a long beak, and therefore not too heavy for the tail, the pectoral fins are small, and the ventral fins totally wanting.

As most animals that live upon land are furnished with a covering to keep off the injuries of the weather, so all that live in the water are covered with a slimy glutinous matter, that, like a sheath, defends their bodies from the immediate contact of the surrounding fluid. This substance may be considered as a secretion from the pores of the animal's body; and serving, not only to defend, but to assist the fish's easy progress through the water. Beneath this, in many kinds, is found a strong covering of scales, that, like a coat of mail, defend it still more powerfully; and under that, before we come to the muscular parts of the body, an oily substance, which supplies the requisite warmth and vigour.

The fish, thus protected and fitted for motion in its natural element, seems as well furnished with

the means of happiness as quadrupeds or birds; but if we come to examine its faculties more nearly, we shall find it very much inferior. The sense of touching, which beasts and birds have in a small degree, the fish, covered up in its own coat of mail, can have but little acquaintance with.

The sense of smelling, which in beasts is so exquisite, and among birds is not wholly unknown, seems given to fishes in a very moderate proportion. It is true that all fishes have one or more nostrils; and even those that have not the holes perceptible without, yet have the proper formation of the bones for smelling within. But as air is the only medium we know for the distribution of odours, it cannot be supposed that these animals, residing in water, can be possessed of any power of being affected by them. If they have any perception of smells, it must be in the same manner as we distinguish by our taste; and, it is probable, the olfactory membrane in fish serves them instead of a distinguishing palate: and by this they judge of substances, that, first tincturing the water with their vapours, are thus sent to the nostrils of fish, and no doubt produce some kind of sensation. This most probably must be the use of that organ in those animals; as otherwise there would be the instruments of a sense provided for them, without any power in them of enjoyment.

As to tasting, they seem to make very little distinction; the palate of most fish is hard and bony, and consequently incapable of the powers of relishing different substances. This sense among quadrupeds, who possess it in some degree, arises from the soft pliancy of the organ, and the delicacy of the skin which covers the instruments of tasting; it may

be considered, in them, as a more perfect and delicate kind of feeling in the bony palate of fish, therefore, all powers of distinguishing are utterly taken away; and we have accordingly often seen these voracious animals swallow the fisherman's plummet instead of the bait.

Hearing in fishes is found still more imperfect, if it be found at all. Certain it is, that anatomists have not been able to discover, except in the whale kind, the smallest traces of an organ, either within or without the head of fishes. It is true that in the centre of the brain of some fishes are found now and then some little bones, the number and situation of which are entirely accidental. These bones Mr. Klein has supposed to constitute the organ of hearing but if we consider their entire dissimilitude to the bones that serve for hearing in other animals, we shall be of another opinion. The greatest number of fishes are deprived of these bones entirely: some fish have them in small numbers, and others in abundance; yet neither testify any excellence or defect in hearing. Indeed, of what advantage would this sense be to animals that are incapable of making themselves heard? They have no voice to communicate with each other, and consequently have no need of an organ for hearing. Mr. Gouan, who kept some gold fishes in a vase, informs us, that, whatever noise he made, he could neither disturb nor terrify them he halloed as loud as he could, putting a piece of paper between his mouth and the water, to prevent the vibrations from affecting the surface, and the fishes still seemed insensible: but when the paper was removed, and the sound had its full play upon the water, the fishes seemed in

stantly to feel the change, and shrunk to the bottom. From this we may learn, that fishes are as deaf as they are mute; and that when they seem to hear the call of a whistle or a bell at the edge of a pond, it is rather the vibrations of the sound that affect the water by which they are excited, than any sounds they hear.

Seeing seems to be the sense fishes are possessed of in the greatest degree; and yet even this seems obscure, if we compare it to that of other animals. The eye, in almost all fish, is covered with the same transparent skin that covers the rest of the head; and which probably serves to defend it in the water, as they are without eye-lids. The globe is more depressed anteriorly, and is furnished behind with a muscle, which serves to lengthen or flatten it, according to the necessities of the animal. The crystaline humour, which in quadrupeds is flat and of the shape of a button-mould, in fishes is as round as a pea; or sometimes oblong, like an egg. From all this it appears, that fish are extremely nearsighted; and that, even in the water, they can see objects at a very small distance. This distance might very easily be ascertained, by comparing the refraction of bodies in the water, with that formed by a lens that is spherical. Those unskilled in mathematical calculations, will have a general idea of this, from the glasses used by near-sighted people. Those whose crystalline humour is too convex, or, in other words, too round, are always very nearsighted; and obliged to use concave glasses, to correct the imperfections of Nature. The crystalline humour of fish is so round that it is not in the power of any glasses, much less of water, to correct their

vision. This crystalline humour in fishes, all must have seen; being that little hard pea-like substance which is found in their eyes after boiling. In the natural state it is transparent, and not much harder than a jelly.

From all this, it appears how far fish fall behind terrestrial animals in their sensations, and consequently in their enjoyments. Even their brain, which is by some supposed to be of a size with every animal's understanding, shows that fish are inferior even to birds in this particular. It is divided into three parts, surrounded with a whitish froth, and gives off nerves as well to the sense of sight as of smelling. In some fish it is grey, in others white; in some it is flatted, in others round; but in all extremely small, compared to the bulk of the animal.*

*To Dr. Monro we are indebted for the elucidation of this intricate subject, in his dissertation on the anatomy and physiology of fishes. These animals have nothing which can with propriety be called a neck; for as they feed in an horizontal direction, and can move their bodies upwards or downwards, a long neck would hinder their progression: the gullet is short, and hardly to be distinguished from the stomach, since the food is retained almost equally in both. The intestines are generally short, making only three turns, and ending in the vent, placed towards the middle of the under part of the body. Their liver is very large, placed mostly on the left side, and contains a great portion of oil. The eggs, or roe, are deposited in two oblong bodies, one on each side the abdomen. The air-bladder is an elastic bag, which can easily be contracted or dilated for the purpose of either rising or sinking in the water, in proportion as it contains more or less air, and consequently increases or diminishes the specific gravity of their bodies: all the tribe of flat fish are unprovided with this organ, and are consequently obliged to remain always at the bottom