32 NATURE IS PERFECT 



ing the negative. The personal equation must 

 be left out, for it is hardly likely that any 

 naturalist can suggest an improvement in the 

 design of a diatom, of a radiolarian, or of a 

 section of an ordinary plant. Laplace, the 

 famous French astronomer, and undoubtedly 

 one of the greatest astronomers of any nation, 

 thought he could suggest a much better 

 position in the heavens for the Moon (see 

 Richard Proctor's The Expanse of Heaven, 

 chap. ii.). Similarly, to judge by the inter- 

 pretation put by some on the structure of 

 minute forms of life, daring, if not conceit, 

 manifests itself in a surprising degree. 



Shakespeare teaches us all a lesson on this 

 point : 



'To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 

 To throw a perfume on the violet, 

 To smooth the ice or add another hue 

 Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light 

 To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, 

 Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.' 



