270 ANIMALS ADAPTED TO THEIR STATION. 



or ash-colour^ not very dissimilar to that of the sea ; 

 and it is well known^ that the Siberian hare, and other 

 inhabitants of northern regions, turn white on the ap- 

 proach of winter, when the ground, for months, is cover- 

 ed with snow. Thus, the same end is attained by 

 different means. If the outside form and colour are 

 thus nicely adapted to the accommodation of the animal, 

 the inside is no less so : its powers of digestion are suit- 

 ed to the food it is to consume : each one has its pecu- 

 liarities, that harmonize with its own mode of Hfe, and 

 with no other. The same study leads us still further : 

 it instructs us, that not their bodies only, but their 

 dispositions, inclinations, and degree of intelligence, 

 correspond exactly with the situation each creature is 

 to fill, and that more or less sagacity in any of them, 

 so far from increasing their happiness, would disqualify 

 them from performing their respective tasks. The in- 

 stincts of each tribe, of whatever class, are so nicely 

 contrived, as to promote, in the best possible manner, 

 its preservation and enjoyment, and demonstrate most 

 powerfully the design of an all-wise and beneficent 

 Creator, who delights to diffuse happiness to innumer- 

 able orders of beings ; even to the most minute and, 

 in our eye, inferior links of that stupendous chain that 

 reaches from celestial intelligences to the animalculae 

 that cannot be perceived without a microscope. The 

 mental powers appear to diminish, in a sort of scale 



