' v/ v< 



life. All its limbs previously bent, J$ft arid with- 

 out action " a ma?& of pap or soft substance, 

 apparently putriiiecj,; in which every thing seems 

 confoftnded" unf&fct, strengthen themselves, and 

 are put in action. Supported on six legs, hence- 

 fortli the insect gently treads the earth, or sus- 

 tained by light wings covered with a brilliant 

 scaly dust, be as lighty takes his aerial flight. 

 We cannot better assure ourselves of the gradu- 

 ated march of nature, than by the contemplation 

 of these periods of insect life. The same day 

 that they have quitted their cocoon, they are 

 ready to procreate their species ; the male seeks 

 the female, soon after which their short career is 

 terminated, and they die worn out. The females 

 also perish almost immediately after laying their 

 eggs. 



In considering the life of the silk- worm and its 

 silver winged progenitor, in the relation in which 

 thoy stand to other insects, and the amount which 

 is allotted to them of animate enjoyments in their 

 position in the scale of creation, one is almost 

 tempted to hold forth the evidences of wisdom 

 and goodness beyond what is directly manifested 

 in that history. But this is not at all necessary ; 

 for the argument is comparative, and the amount 

 of power and beneficence must be regarded in 

 connexion with the rank which the animal has 

 to fill. The great proofs of wisdom, every where 

 tempered by bounty, must be derived from a 

 contemplation of the whole of the animal king- 

 dom. It is there alone that we see how great is 



