16 CONCHOLOGIST S COMPANION. 
the gradual development of a plant, the progressive 
advancement of every moral excellence. 
And shall no tender, or appropriate emblem rise 
on the mind of the Conchologist, when he observes 
the tints of the aurora, or the colour of gold, or 
purple amethyst emerging from under a rough tartar, 
or shaggy epidermis? The Christian philosopher 
confesses in the humble shell-fish, a striking emblem 
of human nature in a savage or unconverted state ; 
without beauty, without comeliness, destitute of all 
those graces which exalt the man, or adorn the 
Christian. But, behold! the hand of the refiner is 
upon him; he emerges from the veil of obscurity 
which had previously invested his moral faculties ; 
or rather, to borrow the emphatic language of inspira- 
tion; ‘‘he is quickened, when dead in trespasses 
and sins ;” * he stands forth in all the perfection of his 
nature; and remembering that he is no longer his 
own, that he is bought with a price, he seeks to 
glorify his Maker with his body and his spirit, which 
are his. 
To return from this digression to the immediate 
subject of my letter. We admit that shells are 
beautiful, and that they are admirably adapted to the 
exigencies of the wearers: but how shall we account 
* Eph. ii. L 
