THE FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. 47 



consideration is combined, as it ought to be, with 

 that of the immense multiplication of life which 

 is admissible upon this system alone, we shall 

 find ample reason for acknowledging the wisdom 

 and the benevolent intentions of the Creator, who, 

 for the sake of a vastly superior good, has per- 

 mitted the existence of a minor evil. 



From this system of hostilities there must also 

 arise new relations among the different races of 

 animals. It affords a ready and effectual means 

 of preserving the proper balance between different 

 races. Each separate species of animals, far from 

 being isolated and independent, performs the part 

 assigned to it in the system of nature, and, how- 

 ever apparently insignificant, may have a sen- 

 sible influence on the rest of the animal creation. 

 Man, above all other animals, has effected a 

 most important change in the condition of a 

 multitude of other races, in every region where 

 his numbers have multiplied, where the arts of 

 civilization have enlarged his dominion, and 

 where science has armed him with still more 

 extensive power. 



In every department of nature it cannot fail to 

 strike us that boundless variety is a charac- 

 teristic and predominant feature of her produc- 

 tions. It is only when the object to be attained 

 is dependent upon certain definite conditions, ex- 

 cluding the possibility of modification, that these 

 conditions are uniformly and strictly adhered to. 



