FINAL CAUSES. 23 



pie properties of mineral bodies, all organic structures, even 

 the most minute, present exceedingly complicated arrange- 

 ments, and a prolonged succession of phenomena, so varied 

 and so anomalous, as to be utterly irreducible to the known 

 laws which govern inanimate matter. Let us hasten, with 

 fresh ardour, to explore this new world that here opens to 

 our view. 



Turning, then, from the examination of the passive ob- 

 jects of the material world, we now direct our attention to 

 the busy theatre of animated existence, where scenes of won- 

 der and enchantment are displayed in endless variety around 

 us; where life in its ever-changing forms meets the eye in 

 every region to which our researches can extend; and where 

 every element and every clime is peopled by multitudinous 

 races of sensitive beings, who have received from the boun- 

 teous hand of their Creator the gift of existence and the means 

 of enjoyment. Our curiosity is powerfully excited by pheno- 

 mena in which our own welfare is so intimately concerned, 

 as are all those that relate to animal life; and we cannot but 

 take a lively and sympathetic interest in the history of be- 

 ings in many respects so analogous to ourselves, like us pos- 

 sessing powers of spontaneous action, impelled by passions 

 and desires, and endowed with capacities of enjoyment and 

 of suffering. Can there be a more gratifying spectacle than 

 to see an animal in the full vigour of health, and the free 

 exercise of its powers, disporting in its native element, re- 

 velling in the bliss of existence, and testifying by its inces- 

 sant gambols the exuberance of its joy ? 



We cannot take even a cursory survey of the host of living 

 beings profusely spread over every portion of the globe, 

 without a feeling of profound astonishment at the inconceiva- 

 ble variety of forms and constructions to which animation 

 has been imparted by creative power. What can be more 

 calculated to excite our wonder than the diversity exhibited 

 among insects, all of which, amidst endless modifications of 

 shape, still preserve their conformity to one general plan of 

 construction ? The number of distinct species of insects 



