SEA-SHORE LESSONS. 11 



boat with us, to push them over into the bright 

 waves ! Nay, the very effort thus to obtain freedom, 

 albeit it may not be entirely successful, is itself 

 conducive in no small degree to mental and 

 corporeal vigour. 



Then in the objects themselves which we study 

 how much is there that is wholesome to the moral 

 and intellectual powers as fresh air and exercise 

 to the bodily functions ! The various depart- 

 ments of natural history, of which the sea- 

 side furnishes illustrations, exhibit innumerable 

 organised structures, singularly beautiful in them- 

 selves, and marvellously adapted to places, 

 conditions, and circumstances. It ministers in no 

 small degree to the health and vigour of the mind 

 to examine such structures, and note such 

 adaptations, and suffer them to enforce the lessons 

 they read us as to Creative power, foresight, and 

 beneficence. 



It is not necessary for us to inquire as to the 

 manner in which Creative power and wisdom have 

 been exercised. We are not called upon to deter- 

 mine what the method may have been or may 

 still be ; whether the great Originator has produced 

 the organisms we admire, directly or indirectly 

 by the action of general laws. Whatever view 

 we may take, the result is the same. We discover 

 substances and elements highly complicated in 

 their relations, resulting in organisms so adapted 

 to the conditions they are placed in, that it is 

 impossible not to admit that the adaptation is 

 designed by the same Agent in which the structure 



