STRUCTURE OF FEATHERS. 13 



how entirely adapted to answer its required purposes! 

 how light and buoyant, yet strong and firmly knit ! how 

 beautiful, and at the same time how useful as a covering, 

 as an organ of flight, as a means of defence, as an orna- 

 mental adjunct this last being not the least important, 

 either to the feathered creature itself, or to man, to whom 

 God has given the fine sense of appreciating and enjoying 

 that which is beautiful, and for whom He has provided a 

 dwelling-place full of beauties, a glorious universe, sur- 

 veying which, we may well exclaim with Milton : 



These are thy glorious works, parent of good ! 



Almighty, this Thy universal frame : 



Thus wondrous fair ; Thyself, how wondrous then ! 



Unspeakable ; who sittest above the heavens 



To us invisible, or dimly seen 



In these Thy lowest works : yet these declare 



Thy goodness beyond thought and power divine. 



And not the least wonderful of God's works is the 

 feather of a common fowl, in which, it is true, we have 

 neither the bright hues, nor the fine silky filaments which 

 give such richness and grace to the plumage of many birds. 

 Yet, as the structure is essentially the same in all feathers, 

 it may well answer the purpose of enabling us to illustrate 

 this part of our subject. First, then, let us notice that we 

 have here the barrel, or quill, a semi-transparent tube, 

 pointed at the bottom, and closed above by a dry mem- 

 brane, which once connected it with the living bird, and, 

 extending up the interior of the quill, formed the medium 

 of growth and nourishment to the whole feather. We 

 have next the shaft, or stem, which is a continuation of the 

 quill, and, like it, is of a hard horny nature, differing from 

 it, however, in shape, not being cylindrical, but having 

 four sides, which become more and more distinctly defined 

 as the shaft tapers off with an inward inclination to the 

 terminal point. It is lined with a soil pulpy substance, 

 somewhat analogous to the pith in plants, which is white 

 and opaque, and which, like the membrane in the quill, 

 was no doubt absorbed from the body of the bird, and gave 

 out the principle of vitality to the webs, which are lateral, 

 or side prolongations of the outer layer of the coat of the 



