286 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



The hinge which unites them is a beautiful 

 piece of mechanism, and affords an admirable 

 illustration of that Infinite Goodness and Skill 

 by which, even in the humblest creatures, the 

 means are adapted to the end designed. The 

 processes of the opposite parts of the hinge lock 

 into each other, and are firmly kept together by 

 a ligament of great strength, and yet so elastic as 

 to act as a spring in opening the shell (whenever 

 the animal relaxes the muscle which keeps it 

 close), precisely as the spring of a watch-case 

 throws it open, whenever the power keeping it 

 shut is removed. 



The hinge and ligament differ in form in 

 different kinds of bivalves, and their modifications 

 mark out differences of genera, according to the 

 system of Linnaeus. In some, as in the mussel 

 and oyster, the hinge is very simple, and consists 

 almost entirely of the ligament itself; in the mya, 

 or gaper, the hinge is furnished with a thick, 

 strong, and broad tooth ; in the ligula there is a 

 broad tooth on each valve, with a cavity for the 

 reception of the cartilage or ligament which 

 binds the parts together ; the Venus-shell has a 

 hinge of three teeth, and in the area the hinge 

 becomes a complicated piece of apparatus, con- 

 sisting of numerous teeth or processes, inserted 

 between each other. None of these differences 

 are either unnecessary or undesigned. They are 

 all intended and adapted to give such a degree of 

 compactness to the hinge, as is suited to the 

 circumstances of the creature inhabiting the shell, 



