274 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



sharp-sighted Lewenhoek has discovered insects, through 

 his microscope, each of which is a hundred million times 



smaller than a grain of sand But far, very 



far, be it from any man to consider such a seemingly unim- 

 portant creature unworthy of his observation, for it might 

 serve to turn our thoughts back from it to its Almighty 

 Creator. Is it not true that men admire much the buildings 

 of princely houses and courts: men have the greatest esteem 

 for their architects, and willingly concede to them art and 

 ingenuity; but sound reason proves to us that all the most 

 glorious palaces of the whole world, nay, all works of art and 

 science, made by man, are not at all to be compared to the 

 construction of one such animal ; for from them streams 

 forth a wisdom and omnipotence, before which all man's 



wisdom and power dwindles into a shadow Is 



it not, therefore, very becoming that a man should spend his 

 leisure time, or, at any rate, some of it, in contemplation of 

 the animal kingdom ? Let a man, I say, fix his attention 

 upon these wonders of the Highest Wisdom. But consider, 

 that such a living speck of dust, — what do I say ? — that such 

 a living being, many thousand times smaller than a speck of 

 dust, is supplied with the utmost perfection, not only of the 

 outward parts, — with their skins, joints, tendons, &c., and 

 thus placed in the position of a being able to move quicker 

 than man}' of the largest animals, — but also with everything 

 that is necessary to the internal arrangement and the circula- 

 tion of the fluids, without which no organized being can 

 exist: and still the whole animal above named is a hundred 

 thousand times smaller than a grain of sand ; but think how 

 many million times smaller than the animal must that be out 

 of which it was made. Let us observe, also, in considering 

 this amazing, this unspeakable smallness, that care is taken 

 for the continuation of such (as it were) invisible creatures, 

 and our thoughts must be silenced in amazement. What 

 think you, worthy reader, are they not the works of art of a 

 boundless omnipotence, conceptions of an unsearchable 

 wisdom, proofs of an endless goodness ? Do we not find in 

 these trifling things a most convincing proof of the infinite 

 greatness of Him who made them out of nothing? In short, 

 do they not convince us of the truth that there is a God ? 

 Now, I ask whether the contemplation of such seemingly 



