270 



THE BEASON WHY. 



I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts are mine." 

 PSALM L. 



the soil sticking to its coat, by which its progress would be impeded. 

 From soils of all kinds, the little worker emerges shining and clean. 

 "What I have always most admired in the mole is its eyes. This animal 

 occasionally visiting the surface, and wanting, for its safety and direction, to bo 

 informed when it does so, or when it approaches it, a perception of light was 

 necessary. I do not know that the clearness of sight depends at all upon the 

 size of the organ. What is gained by the largeness or prominence of the globe 

 of the eye, is width in the field of vision. Such a capacity would be of no use to 

 an animal which was to seek its food in the dark. The mole did not want to 

 look about it ; nor would a large advanced eye have been easi'y defended from 

 the annoyance to which the life of the animal must cjnstantly expose it. How 

 indeed was the mole, working its way under ground, to guard its eyes at all? 

 In order to meet this difficulty, the eyes are made scarcely larger than the head 

 of a corking-pin ; and these minute globules are sunk so deeply in the skull, and 

 lie so sheltered within the velvet of its covering, as that any contraction of what 

 may be called the eye-brows, not only closes up the apertures which lead to the 

 eyes, but presents a cushion, as it were, to any sharp or protruding substance 

 which might push against them. This aperture, even in its ordinary state, is 

 \ike a pin-hole in a piece of velvet, scarcely pervious to loose particles of ear h. 

 -Paley. 



Fig. 70. ELEPHANTS DBUfKING. 



1076. Wliy lias the elephant a short unbending neck ? 



Because the elephant's head is so heavy, that it could not have 

 been supported at the end of a long neck (or lever), without a 

 provision of immense muscular power. 



