PROSPECTIVE CONTRIVANCES. 169 



CHAPTER XIV. 



PROSPECTIVE CONTRIVANCES. 



I CAN hardly imagine to myself a more distinguishing 

 'iiark, and consequently a more certain proof of design, than 

 l)reparatio7i, that is, the providing of things beforehand, 

 which are not to be used until a considerable time after- 

 wards ; for this implies a contemplation of the future, whicli 

 belongs only to intelligence. 



Of these iwos>ipective contrivances the bodies of animals 

 furnish various examples. 



I. The human teeth afford an instance, not only of pro- 

 spective contrivance, but of the completion of the contriv- 

 ance being designedly suspended. They are formed within 

 the gums, and there they stop ; the fact being, that their 

 farther advance to maturity would not only be useless to the 

 new-born animal, but extremely in its way ; as it is evident 

 that the act of kicking, by which it is for some time to be 

 nourished, will be performed with more ease both to the 

 nurse and to the infant, while the inside of the mouth and 

 edges of the gums are smooth and soft, than if set with hard- 

 pointed bones. By the time they are w^anted the teeth are 

 ready. They have been lodged within the gums for some 

 months past, but detained as it were in their sockets, so 

 long as their farther protrusion would interfere with the 

 office to which the mouth is destined. Nature, namely, 

 that intelhgence which was employed in creation, looked 

 beyond the first year of the infant's life ; yet, while she was 

 providing lor functions which were after that term to be- 

 come necessary, was careful not to incommode those which 

 (receded them. What renders it more probable that this 

 is the effect of design, is, that the teeth are imperfect, while 

 all other parts of the mouth are perfect. The lips are per- 

 fect, the tongue is perfect ; the cheeks, the jaws, the palate, 

 the pharynx, the larynx, are all perfect : the teeth alone are 



Nnt Thonl. 8 



