"ATOMS ORGANIZED." 11 



size and gigantic expanse ? The wisdom of the Creator is 

 concentrated in these minims of creation, in order the better 

 to develope His power ; since in these creatures, whose ex- 

 cessive minuteness renders it difficult, and even impossible, 

 to observe some of them with the unassisted eye, how can 

 we conceive it possible to arrange all the machinery which 

 exists in the bodies of these " atoms organized," as perfect 

 and as complex as in those of the largest ? The little beetle 

 (Atomaria atomos), and the minute parasitic fly (My mar 

 monas), although not one-hundredth part of an inch in 

 length, possess precisely the same number of organs, and 

 even of joints of those organs, as their larger brethren of the 

 tribes to which they respectively belong. To neglect this 

 portion of the creation is to say, that these living machines, 

 in which the rules of the most perfect mechanical knowledge 

 have been implicitly followed, and of which the various parts 

 are arranged with the utmost art, but which are nevertheless 

 so fine and delicate as to escape our view, are less worthy of 

 regard than the larger machines made precisely upon the same 

 model. Absurd reasoning ! Who does not regard the skill 

 of the artificer capable of forming a minute pocket-watch, 

 with its delicate machinery, as more worthy of notice than 

 that of the workman who can but construct a town-clock. 



The benefits and injuries resulting to mankind from these 

 creatures (insignificant though they may be regarded) are, 

 moreover, amply sufficient to prove that they are, on the 

 contrary, well deserving of his attention, either with a view 

 of extending the former or diminishing the latter. Of their 

 obnoxious powers all are more or less directly or indirectly 

 cognizant, their minute size insuring them success in their 

 assaults, and scarcely permitting the possibility of extirpa- 

 tion. On the other hand, the benefits we experience from 

 insects are scarcely less extensive, serving as an ample 

 counterbalance against their attacks upon our properties or 



