60 THE MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS. 



might suppose to be formed of a uniform mate- 

 rial cast in a mould, would disclose, when exa- 

 mined under a powerful microscope, and with the 

 skill of a Brewster, the most refined and exqui- 

 site conformation. Yet, as I shall have occasion 

 to specify more in detail in its proper place, this 

 little spherical body, scarcely larger than a pea, 

 is composed of upwards of five millions of fibres, 

 which lock into one another by means of more 

 than sixty-two thousand five hundred millions of 

 teeth. If such be the complication of a portion 

 only of the eye of that animal, how intricate 

 must be the structure of the other parts of the 

 same organ, having equally important offices! 

 What exquisite elaboration must those textures 

 have received whose functions are still more 

 refined ! What marvellous workmanship must 

 have been exercised in the organization of the 

 nerves and of the brain, those subtle instruments 

 of the higher animal faculties, and of w^hich 

 even the modes of action are to us not merely 

 inscrutable, but surpassing all our powers 

 conception ! 



It is from the energies of life alone that or- 

 ganic forms are produced. No fabric achieved 

 by human power ever approached in refinement 

 the simplest of nature's works. The utmost 

 efforts of the ingenuity or skill of man in the 

 construction of the most delicate machinery is 

 infinitely surpassed by the most ordinary of the 



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