24 INTRODUCTION. 



given them, in addition to what was necessary as a 

 means of welfare, a capacity for enjoyment in the 

 simple exercise of their limited powers and faculties.* 

 And no right-minded observer can witness many 

 similar instances of the apparent happiness of ani- 

 mals, without being led in like manner to meditate 

 on Him who is the source of all good. For our- 

 selves, we never witness, in particular, the broods of 

 gnats that may so often be observed hovering in the 

 air during still weather, successively rising and fall- 

 ing every instant,, without thinking of Paley's 

 shrimps, and being forcibly reminded of his conclu- 

 sion, that " it is a happy world after all." Perhaps, 

 however, it is in the instincts of animals that we see 

 the strongest evidence of a Creator's care ; in the 

 workings of a sagacity, apparently making near ap- 

 proaches, in some instances, to that of man, though 

 too narrow in its operations, and too uniform in its 

 results, to allow of our attributing it to the exercise 

 of any reasoning faculties like his. On this field, 

 which has been so largely treated of by many 

 authors, we are not at present about to enter far. 

 We will not stop to enumerate the numberless 

 cases, in which animal instinct shews itself, or to 

 point out the exact line of demarcation, by which it 



* We would strongly recommend the perusal of Paley's work 

 to all young naturalists, especially the chapter on " the Goodness 

 of the Deity," in which will be found some of the above argu- 

 ments carried further into detail. The system of animals devour- 

 ing one another, Paley well defends, by shewing it to be, under 

 all circumstances of their condition, the most merciful provision 

 that could have been made. 



