Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/74

64 parts, we ſhall comply with thoſe conditions which the hypotheſis may reaſonably demand. The objection would be the weaker in the preſent caſe, becauſe any intercourſe of animals which may take place on the confines of Europe and Aſia, is to the advantage of the former, Aſia producing certainly larger animals than Europe. Let us then take a comparative view of the quadrupeds of Europe and America, preſenting them to the eye in three different tables, in one of which ſhall be enumerated thoſe found in both countries; in a ſecond, thoſe found in one only; in a third, thoſe which have been domeſticated in both. To facilitate the compariſon, let thoſe of each table be arranged in gradation according to their ſizes, from the greateſt to the ſmalleſt, ſo far as their ſizes can be conjectured. The weights of the large animals ſhall be expreſſed in the Engliſh avoirdupoiſe pound and its decimals; thoſe of the ſmaller, in the ſame ounce and its decimals. Thoſe which are marked thus,* are actual weights of particular ſubjects, deemed among the largeſt of their ſpecies. Thoſe marked thus,&dagger; are furniſhed by judicious perſons well acquainted with the ſpecies, and ſaying, from conjecture only, what the largeſt individual they had ſeen would probably have weighed. The other weights are taken from Meffrs. Buffon and D'Aubenton, and are of ſuch ſubjects as came caſually to their hands for diſſection. This circumſtance muſt be remembered where their weights and mine ſtand oppoſed: the latter being ſtated, not to produce a concluſion in favor of the American ſpecies, but to juſtify a ſuſpenſion of opinion until we are better informed, and a ſuſpicion, in the mean time, that there is no uniform difference in favor of either; which is all I pretend.