muscles; they creep, twist about, squeeze, and hold fast the bodies
they meet in their way; and easily slide everywhere. Their organs
are almost independent one on the other; so that they still live
when they are cut into two. The long-legged birds, says Cicero, are
also long-necked in proportion, that they may bring down their bill
to the ground, and take up their food. It is the same with the
camel; but the elephant, whose neck through its bigness would be too
heavy if it were as long as that of the camel, was furnished with a
trunk, which is a contexture of nerves and muscles, which he
stretches, shrinks, winds, and turns every way, to seize on bodies,
lift them up, or throw them off: for which reason the Latins called
that trunk a hand.

Certain animals seem to be made on purpose for man. The dog is born
to caress and fawn upon him; to obey and be under command; to give
him an agreeable image of society, friendship, fidelity, and
tenderness; to be true to his trust; eagerly to hunt down, course,
and catch several other creatures, to leave them afterwards to man,
without retaining any part of the quarry. The horse, and such other
animals, are within the reach and power of man; to ease him of his
labour, and to take upon them a thousand burdens. They are born to
carry, to walk, to supply man's weakness, and to obey all his
motions. Oxen are endowed with strength and patience, in order to
draw the plough and till the ground. Cows yield streams of milk.
Sheep have in their fleeces a superfluity which is not for them, and
which still grows and renews, as it were to invite men to shear them
every year. Even goats furnish man with a long hair, for which they
have no use, and of which he makes stuffs to cover himself. The
skins of some beasts supply men with the finest and best linings, in
the countries that are most remote from the sun.