193 



10. It remains only to add a few reflections. And 

 first, what admirable wisdom is displayed, in the mo- 

 tion of various animals, suited to their various occa- 

 sions ! In some, their motion is swift; in others, 

 slow ; and both diversified a thousand ways. 



And first, for swift or slow motion. This is exactly 

 proportioned to the occasion of each animal. .Rep. 

 tiles, whose food, habitation, and nests lie in the next 

 clod, plant, tree, or hole, or which can bear long 

 hunger, need neither legs, nor wings, but their vermi- 

 cular motion answers all their purposes. 



Beasts, whose occasions require a larger room, have 

 accordingly a swifter motion : and this in various de- 

 grees, answerable to their range for food, and the ene- 

 mies they are to escape from. 



But as for birds who are to traverse vast tracts of 

 land and water, for their food, habitation, breeding 

 their young, and for places of retreat and security, 

 from various inconveniences : they are endued with 

 the faculty of flying ; and that swiftly or slowly, a 

 long or short time, according to their occasions. In 

 all this, the wisdom of God appears, ordering all 

 things well. 



Again. I low admirable in the motion of all crea- 

 tures, is the neat, geometrical performance of it ! The 

 most accurate mathematician cannot prescribe a nicer 

 motion than that they perform, to the legs and wings 

 of those that fly or valk, or to the bodies of those 

 that creep. IN either can the body be more completely 

 poised, for the motion it is to have in every creature. 

 From the largest elephant to the smallest mite, the 

 body is exactly balanced. The head is not too heavy, 

 nor too light for the rest of the body, nor the rest of 

 the body for it. The bowels are not too loose, or so 

 placed as to swag, overbalance, or overset the body ; 

 but well braced, and accurately distributed to main, 

 tain the equipoise of it. The motive parts also are 

 admirably well fixed, in respect to the centre of gra- 

 vity, placed in the very poiatr which best serves to 

 support and convey the body* Every leg bears its 



VOL. i, & 



