300 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



itself is so adapted to its physical structure, that 

 it can avail itself of those laws without being aware 

 of their existence ; and as it is the object of the 

 limpet to remain fixed in one place, the pressure 

 it can exert by creating a vacuum is obviously 

 combined with the shape of its shell to give it 

 greater stability. The purposes in view, and the 

 means by which they are to be effected, are all dis- 

 tinct from each other, and clearly point out an 

 intention on the part of one Intelligent Contriver, 

 by which, with means various and distinct, the one 

 end is brought about. No instance ever suggested 

 by writers on Natural Theology can be more 

 striking or more instructive than this. 



We have already spoken of the proboscis of the 

 larger species of whelk, the Buccinum undatum : 

 the limpet is endowed with an instrument for ob- 

 taining its food, which, if less complex, is quite as 

 well adapted to the creature's necessities. This 

 instrument is its tongue, by means of which it is 

 able to devour those marine plants which are 

 adapted to its support. This tongue consists of a 

 parchment-like strap, a couple of inches long and 

 about half a line in diameter, having the end 

 fashioned something like the bowl of a spoon. On 

 subjecting it to the microscope this singular 

 tongue is found to be along its whole length set 

 with teeth, recurved like the top of a bill-hook, and 

 disposed in rows, four teeth in each alternate row, 

 and two differently shaped in the intermediate 

 space. 



By means of its tongue thus mounted, the 



