

24 FINAL CAUSES. 



already known and described cannot be estimated at less 

 tban 100,000; and every day is adding to the catalogue.* 

 Of the comparatively large animals which live on land, how 

 splendid is the field of observation that lies open to the na- 

 turalist! What variety is conspicuous in the tribes of Quad- 

 rupeds and of Reptiles; and what endless diversity exists in 

 their habits, pursuits, and characters! How extensive is the 

 study of Birds alone; and how ingeniously, if we may so 

 express it, has nature interwoven in their construction every 

 possible variation compatible with an adherence to the same 

 general model of design, and the same ultimate reference to 

 the capacity for motion through the light element of air. 

 What profusion of being is displayed in the wide expanse of 

 the ocean, through which are scattered such various and such 

 unknown multitudes of animals ! Of Fishes alone the varie- 

 ties, as to conformation and endowments, are endless. Still 

 more curious and anomalous, both in their external form, 

 and their internal economy, are the numerous orders of 

 living beings that occupy the lowxr divisions of the animal 

 scale; some swimming in countless miyriads near the sur- 

 face; some dwelling in the inaccessible depths of the ocean: 

 some attached to shells, or other solid structures, the pro- 

 ductions of their own bodies, and which, in process of time, 

 form, by their accumulation, enormous submarine moun- 

 tains, rising often from unfathomable depths to the surface. 

 What sublime views of the magnificence of creation have 

 been disclosed by the microscope in the world of infinite 

 minuteness, peopled by countless multitudes of atomic be- 

 ings which animate almost every fluid in nature ? Of these, 

 a vast variety of species has been discovered, each animal- 

 cule being provided w^ith appropriate organs, endowed with 

 spontaneous powers of motion, and giving unequivocal signs 

 of individual vitality. The recent observations of Profes- 



* Four-fifths of the insects at present known have been discovered within 

 the last ninety years: for in 1743, Ray estimated the total number of species 

 at 20,000 only. See his work on " The Wisdom of God as manifested in the 

 Creation," p. 24. 



