10 FINAL CAUSES. 



exhibiting peculiar movements, actuated by 

 new and unknown powers, and gifted with high 

 and refined endowments. In place of the simple 

 combinations of elements, and the simple pro- 

 perties of mineral bodies, all organic structures, 

 even the most minute, present exceedingly com- 

 plicated arrangements, and a prolonged succes- 

 sion of phenomena, so varied and so anomalous, 

 as to be utterly irreducible to the known laws 

 which govern inanimate matter. Let us hasten, 

 with fresh ardour, to explore this new world 

 that here opens to our view. 



Turning, then, from the examination of the 

 passive objects of the material world, we now di- 

 rect our attention to the busy theatre of animated 

 existence, where scenes of wonder and enchant- 

 ment are displayed in endless variety around us ; 

 where life in its ever-changing forms meets the 

 eye in every region to which our researches can 

 extend ; and where every element and every 

 clime is peopled by multitudinous races of sensi- 

 tive beings, who have received from the boun- 

 teous hand of their Creator the gift of existence 

 and the means of enjoyment. Our curiosity is 

 powerfully excited by phenomena in which our 

 own welfare is so intimately concerned, as are 

 all those that relate to animal life ; and we 

 cannot but take a lively and sympathetic interest 

 in the history of beings in many respects so 

 analogous to ourselves like us possessing powers 



