358 APHIDES. 



of "power : an apple-tree, several feet, perhaps, in 

 its circumference, spreading its branches over a 

 rood of land, sickens and dies from the puncture of 

 the aphis lanata, a creature so small as to be im- 

 perceptible on its limbs. How many eyes may be 

 required to find out or comprehend the mechanism, 

 objects, agreements, and gradations of Nature ; and 

 the expansion which the human intellect must 

 undergo to receive such an accession of knowledge, 

 is beyond the reach of thought. We frequently ex- 

 patiate upon the increased wisdom and acquirements 

 of mankind, considerable as they may be ; yet how 

 trifling has our annual accession of information 

 been, when we consider how little we in fact know 

 even of the considerable wonders of creation, and 

 what inconceivable stores are hidden from us, and 

 five thousand years of man's life have been expended 

 in obtaining almost nothing ! Hence, perhaps, we 

 may conjecture, that any infinite increase in worldly 

 wisdom is not necessary to our being here, or we 

 should have been given faculties and intelligence 

 commensurate to our necessities. This considera- 

 tion must not check our investigation, or the work- 

 ings of such powers as we are endowed with : so 

 much remains to be done in an intermediate region 

 that is great for " little man, 1 ' suitable to his reason, 

 and required by his endowments, that no want of 

 adequate materials for action can ever be feared, 

 and fitting employment that may make us wiser 

 and happier here, and expand and calm the mind to 

 contemplations of superior and better wisdom. 



