Animal

[Lat., Fr., Sp., animal; from Lat. anima, breath, life.) A being which lives, moves, and feels. It is very difficult to define properly what an animal is, as the ordinary characters of animal life seem to be po e ed by vegetables also, and thus it becomes almost impo ible to say when animal life ceases and vegetable life begins. It is very easy for any person to tell the difference between a lion and an oak, and to refer them to their proper kingdoms in nature; but when we descend to the minute forms of each kingdom, it becomes exceedingly difficult to a ert which is an animal and which is a plant. Many minute forms, which have oсcupied the attention of microscopic observers, and which for a length of time have pa ed undisputed for animals, are now proved to be vegetables; and there are still many which the zoologist and botanist must, for the time being, accept as common property. In general terms, however, an animal may be defined as a being which is capable of nourishing itself and of reproducing its species, which has sensation, and is endowed with the power of voluntary motion.