S04 NATURAL THEOLOaY. 



from us : from the benevolence which pervades the general 

 designs of nature, we ought also to presume that these con- 

 sequences, if they could enter into our calculation, would 

 turn the balance on the favorable side. Both these I con^ 

 tend to be reasonable presumptions. Not reasonable pre- 

 sumptions if these two cases were the only cases which 

 nature presented to our observation ; but reasonable pre- 

 sumptions, under the reflection, that the cases in question 

 are combined with a multitude of intentions, all proceeding 

 from the same author, and all, except these, directed to ends 

 of undisputed utility. Of the vindications, however, of this 

 economy, which we are able to assign, such as most exten- 

 uate the difficulty, are the following. 



With respect to venomous bites and stings, it may be ob 

 served, 



1. That, the animal itself being regarded, the faculty 

 complained of is good : being conducive, in all cases, to the 

 defence of the animal ; in some cases, to the subduing of its 

 prey ; and in some, probably, to the killing of it, when 

 caught, by a mortal wound, inflicted in the passage to the 

 stomach, which may be no less merciful to the victim than 

 salutary to the devourer. In the viper, for instance, the 

 poisonous fang may do that which, in other animals of prey, 

 is done by the crush of the teeth. Frogs and mice might bo 

 swallowed alive without it. 



2. But it will be said, that this provision, when it comes 

 to the case of bites, deadly even to human bodies, and to 

 those of large quadrupeds, is greatly overdone; that it might 

 have fulfilled its use, and yet have been much less deleteri- 

 ous than it is. Now I believe the case of bites which pro- 

 duce death in large animals — of stings I think there are 

 none — to be very few. The experiments of the Abbe Fon- 

 tana, which were numerous, go strongly to the proof cf this 

 point. He found that it required the action of five exasper- 

 ated vipers to kill a dog of a moderate size ; but that to the 

 killing of a mouse or a frog, a single bite was sufficient; 



