ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 13 



created every animate and inanimate thing in nature for the 

 benefit of man. A sense of gratitude alone should induce him 

 to examine and learn the properties of those gifts, upon the 

 proper use and appreciation of which depend, in a great degree, 

 his health, his happiness, and duration of life in this world. 



To understand natural history perfectly in all its departments, 

 is to he able to perceive and describe the wonders of the crea- 

 tion. Every step in its study is a step in the pursuit of truth. 

 No man can follow long in the path without being convinced that 

 material atoms possess in themselves no formative quality, which 

 enables them to unite spontaneously to produce an animal, a 

 vegetable, or a mineral form. The complex arrangement, the 

 adaptation of parts to each other, the economy of means in the 

 fulfilment of a definite purpose, indicate that design existed pre- 

 vious to the existence of organic form and life. It is impossible 

 to believe that atoms are self-endowed with ability to aggregate 

 themselves together into any organized shape at pleasure, either 

 as a bird, or snail, or other being, in obedience to impulses of 

 affection or aversion. The student of nature must perceive 

 there is no spontaneity in matter, and that the infinitely various 

 forms which result from the combination of its elements, are due 

 exclusively to laws imposed upon them in the beginning, by the 

 OMNISCIENT MASTER AND ARCHITECT of all created things. 



A naturalist cannot be an atheist. Absolute truth, which " is 

 the extreme limit of human knowledge," includes no incom- 

 patibility. The facts and phenomena of the physical universe 

 are in beautiful harmony with each other, and those who observe 

 them understandingly are inevitably led to bow in humble adora- 

 tion before the inscrutable First Cause. The phenomena of 

 God's works cannot be inconsistent with God's truth, with God's 

 revelations to man. When partially, or imperfectly observed, 

 facts may seem to conflict with each other, and with the sacred 

 Word; but the moment all their mutual relations have been 

 ascertained, the perfect harmony which exists between the facts 

 of the universe and their Creator becomes manifest. 



To ascertain and understand the laws of God, exhibited in the 

 structure of the globe, and in the living organizations which 

 exist on its surface ; to bring to light whatever may lie hidden 

 in the obscure recesses of nature ; to expose Truth in her naked- 

 ness, stripped of the distorting disguises in which ignorance and 



