104 Natural Theology. 



tion of special adaptations that the excellence of 

 Paley's Natural Theology mainly consists. Very 

 little can be added to the examples he has selected 

 for illustration. The most of them are still recog- 

 nised as good, and most of them are so plain that 

 they were as well understood in his clay as now, 

 with all the advance in science. We shall not, how- 

 ever, confine ourselves to simple structure ; for the 

 function of an organ may be as special in its adap- 

 tation as structure possibly can be. Among the 

 strongest cases mentioned by Paley, is the ligament 

 within the hip-joint, fastening the ball and socket 

 firmly together. It is a strong case, but this con- 

 trivance did not appear for the first time in man, 

 nor is it confined to the higher animals. Some of 

 the sea-urchins, dug out of the old geological forma- 

 tions, have their spines fastened to them by a ball 

 and socket joint of most exquisite workmanship, and 

 a ligament to hold the joint in place. This special 

 contrivance appeared just as soon as an animal was 

 created whose general structure and habits called 

 for it. It has been continued from that time to this, 

 and is now found in members of the animal king- 

 dom furthest removed from each other in their organ- 

 ization and rank. 



. Among the shell-fish, we find almost every spe- 

 cies with some special adaptation of structure cor- 

 responding to its instincts and mode of life. The 

 cuttle-fish is a combination of special adaptations. 

 He has a syphon tube, through which he forces a 

 jet of water, that, by its reaction, enables him to 



