170 CONCHOLOGIST’S COMPANION. 
by means of strong tendinous threads, which she has 
the faculty of spinning on every emergency ; or when 
I watch the common Snail, slowly ascending the 
cavernous trunk of some aged oak, or climbing up a 
garden wall without the aid of wings, feet, or thread, 
solely by means of the viscid humour discharged 
from her skin; and consider the secret spark of life 
which is in each of them; “ that where we look for 
absolute destitution and can reckon upon nothing but 
wants,” some admirable contrivance amply compen- 
sates for every apparent deprivation, and preserves 
them, and their still more feeble offspring; my mind 
is carried up to the praise and adoration of that Gra- 
cious Being, whose wisdom, beneficence, and power 
are thus conspicuous in the humblest of his works. 
Helices abound in almost every part of the known 
world. They furnish an important article of food on 
the shores of the Mediterranean, where they are 
boiled in the shell, and served up with rice. They 
possess much of the quality of oysters, and are 
extremely nutritious. The use of them not unfre- 
quently retards the fatal termination of that less 
active form of consumption called a decline; and so 
long as a sufficient quantity could be procured, many 
patients have appeared convalescent, from the rapid 
recovery of their strength by the use of this nutritious 
food. 
