I have often thought that, if a few animals, however promiscuously selected, were grouped according to their natural dietetic characters, we should have an ocular and a convincing demonstration to which class man naturally belongs.
As a fair representation of the general bodily conformation of the carnivorous division of the animal kingdom, look at the bull-dog, jackal, alligator, and tiger. (Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.)
Fig. 1.
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BULL-DOG.
There are, of course, a variety of smaller and larger animals which present the carnivorous organization in a still more striking aspect, as the spider, vu]ture, anaconda, shark, hyena, &c., whose history and habitudes are familiar to all naturalists. If any attribute of character, bodily or mental, stands out prominently in form, limbs, features and expression, it is that of unmistakable and unmitigated ferociousness. On every part of the organization a predacious or bloodthirsty nature seems indelibly stamped; and this "language of signs" is universally understood by the animal kingdom.
"Gloomily retired,
The villain spider lives, cunning and fierce,
Mixture abhorred! Amid a mangled heap
Of carcasses, in eager watch he sits,
O'erlooking all his waving snares around,"
