ALTERNATE GENERATIONS. 135 



Is there any thing in this regulation of the duration of 

 life in animals which recalls the agency of physical 

 forces? Does not, on the contrary, the fact, that, while 

 some animals are periodical and bound to the seasons in 

 then- appearance, others are independent of the course 

 of the year, show distinctly their independence of all 

 those influences, which, under a common expression, are 

 called physical causes ? Is this not further illustrated in 

 the most startling manner by the extraordinary changes, 

 above alluded to, which one and the same animal may 

 undergo during different periods of its life \ Does not 

 this directly prove the immediate intervention of a power 

 capable of controlling all these external influences, as well 

 as regulating the course of life of every being, and esta- 

 blishing it upon such an immutable foundation, within 

 its cycle of changes, that the uninterrupted action of 

 these agents does not interfere with the regular order of 

 its natural existence 1 



There is, however, still another conclusion to be drawn 

 from these facts : they point distinctly at a discriminating 

 knowledge of time and space, at an appreciation of the 

 relative value of unequal amounts of time and an 

 unequal repartition of small, unequal periods over longer 

 periods, which can only be the attribute of a thinking 

 being. 



SECTION XX. 



ALTERNATE GENERATIONS. 



While some animals go on in gradual development, 

 from the first formation of their germ to the natural end of 

 their life, and bring forth generation after generation, a 



