109 



their centre : the latter are designed for each other. 

 Plants are allied to plants; animals to animals. ni- 

 mals and plants are linked together by their mutual ser- 

 vices. Behold how closely this young ivy entwines itself 

 round this majestic oak ! It dravf s its substance from it, 

 and its life depends on that of his benefactor. Ye 

 great ones of the earth, ye represent this oak : refuse 

 not your support to the indigent ; suffer them to ap- 

 proach you, and to obtain from you sufficient to relieve 

 their necessities. 



Consider this caterpillar thick-set with hair ; the birds 

 dare riot touch it : notwithstanding -which, it serves 

 them for food : oy what means 1 a fly pierces the 

 living caterpillar; she lays her eggs in his body : the 

 caterpillar remains alive ; the eggs hatch ; the young 

 ones^row at. the expence of the caterpillar, and are 

 afterwards changed into flies which serve for sustenance 

 to the birds. , 



There are continual wars betwixt animals ; but things 

 are so wisely combined, that the destruction of some of 

 them occasions the preservation of others, and the fecun- 

 dity of the species is always proportionable to the dan- 

 gers that threaten individuals. 



10. All is metamorphosis in the physical world': 

 forms are continually changing : the quantity of matter 

 alone is invariable : the same substance passes succes- 

 sively into the three kingdoms : the same composi- 

 tion becomes by turns a mineral, plant, insect, reptile, 

 fish, bird, quadruped, man. 



The organized machines are the principal agents of 

 these transformations : they change or dissolve all mat- 

 ters that enter within them, and that are exposed to the 

 action of their secret springs : they f^nvert some into 

 their own substance, others they evacuate under divers 

 forms, which render these matters proper tor entering 

 into the composition of different bodies. Thus, animals 

 that multiply prodigiously, as some species of insects, - 

 have, perhaps, for their principal end that uf metainer- 

 F- 0' 



