the number of those bones, which may be looked upon as accessory, and, by the prolongation, the shortening, or junction, of the others, that the skeleton of a horse differs from that of the human body. We see in the description of the horse these facts too well established to doubt; but, to follow these relations still further, let us consider separately some essential parts of the structure; for example, we find ribs in all quadrupeds, in birds, and in fish; and we find the vestiges even in the shell of the turtle. Let us also consider, that the foot of a horse, so different in appearance from the hand of a man, is, notwithstanding composed of the same bones, and that we have, at the extremity of each of our fingers, the same little bone resembling a horse-shoe, which terminates the foot of that animal. From this we may judge if this hidden resemblance is not more marvellous than the apparent differences; if this constant conformity and design followed from man to quadrupeds, from quadrupeds to cetaceous animals, from cetaceous animals to birds, from birds to reptiles, from reptiles to fish, &c. in which the essential parts, as the heart, intestines, spine, senses, &c. are always found, does not imply, that, in creating animals the Supreme Being has followed but one idea, and varied it, at the same time, in every possible manner, that man may equally admire the magnificence, execution, and simplicity of the design. In this point of view, not only the ass and horse, but man, monkies, quadrupeds, and all animals, may be looked upon as making but one family; but ought we, therefore, to conclude, that in this great and numerous family, which the Almighty has conceived and created from nothing, there are smaller families projected by nature and produced by time? some of which are composed only of two individuals, as the horse and the ass; others of several individuals, as the weazle, the pole-cat, the ferret, &c. and also that in vegetables there are families of ten, twenty, thirty plants, &c. If these families existed, in fact, they could only be formed by the mixture, the successive variation, and the degeneration of the original species; and, if we admit, for once, that there are families in plants and animals, that the ass is of the family of the horse, and that he only differs because he has degenerated; we may say, with as much propriety, that the monkey belongs to the family of man, and he is a man degenerated; that man and the monkey had but one common origin, like the horse and ass; that each family, as well in animals as in vegetables, come from the same origin, and even that all animals are come from one species, which, in the succession of time, by improving and degenerating, has produced all the races of animals which now exist.