FINAL CAUSES. 17 



proceedings, he hastens to explore the several 

 parts which compose the organized fabric, to 

 examine in minute detail the anatomy of its struc- 

 ture, and to ascertain the nature of the several 



actions that take place within it. But, over- 







whelmed by the multiplicity of objects, and lost 

 amidst the complication of phenomena, he soon 

 becomes dismayed by the magnitude and ar- 

 duous nature of the investigation. He finds 

 that his labours will be of no avail, unless, 

 previously to any attempt at theory, he takes a, 

 careful and accurate account of all the circum- 

 stances attending the history and conditions of 

 life, from the dawn of its existence to its ap- 

 pointed close. On tracing living beings to their 

 origin, he learns that every individual vegetable 

 and animal takes its rise from an atom of imper- 

 ceptible minuteness, and gradually increases in 

 bulk by successive accretions of new matter, 

 derived from foreign sources, and, by some re- 

 fined, but unknown process, transmuted into its 

 own substance. Then, following the progressive 

 developement of the organs, he observes them 

 undergoing various modifications/* as they are 

 assuming new forms, which characterise certain 

 definite epochs in the general growth of the 

 system. In a great number of instances, espe- 

 cially among the lower orders of animals, he 

 witnesses the same individual being acting, in 

 its time, a variety of different parts ; often re-ap- 

 VOL. i. c 



