62 COMPARISONS OF STEUCTURE IN ANIMALS. 



The conversion of the anterior hmbs into 

 paddles shows to what an extreme the struc- 

 tural changes in their elementary parts may 

 be carried; for although in the whale, the 

 dugong, and others, the anatomist can de- 

 termine the bones composing them, yet when 

 we come to examine the paddles of those 

 strange extinct reptiles of gigantic size, the 

 plesiosaurus and the ichthyosaurus, we find 

 them composed of rows of numerous small 

 bones of irregular form, " polygons or trape- 

 zoids, less Hke phalanges, than the radii of 

 the fins of a fish." In the pectoral fins of the 

 fish, indeed, we see the last rudiments of the 

 anterior extremity among the vertebrate 

 classes. 



How infinite are the resources of the Divine 

 Mind! with what ease are the same organs 

 fashioned into instruments for different pur- 

 poses! Ingenious as are the contrivances of 

 man, how few and feeble are they when com- 

 pared Avith those of the Almighty ! Man 

 labours and studies and calculates, and pro- 

 duces a machine at once compUcated and im- 

 perfect: others improve upon it; but still it is 

 imperfect, and so it must ever remain. But 

 the plans of the Almighty Creator surprise us 



