THE FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. 47 



pursuit of prey, and powerful weapons for attack and de- 

 struction. But nature has not left the weaker animals un- 

 provided with the means of repulse, of defence, or of escape. 

 For these purposes various expedients, either of force, of 

 swiftness, or of stratagem, have been resorted to in different 

 cases. 



That a large portion of evil is the direct consequence of 

 this system of extensive warfare, it is in vain to deny. But 

 although our sensibility may revolt at the wide scene of 

 carnage which is so generally presented to our view, our 

 more sober judgment should place in the other scale the great 

 preponderating amount of gratification which is also its re- 

 sult. We must take into account the vast accession that 

 accrues to the mass of animal enjoyment from the exercise 

 of those powers and faculties which are called forth by this 

 state of constant activity; and when this consideration is 

 combined, as it ought to be, with that of the immense multi- 

 plication of life which is admissible upon this system alone, 

 we shall find ample reason for acknowledging the wisdom 

 and the benevolent intentions of the Creator, who, for the 

 sake of a vastly superior good, has permitted the existence 

 of a minor evil. 



From this system of hostilities there must also arise new 

 relations among the different races of animals. It affords a 

 ready and effectual means of preserving the proper balance 

 between different races. Each separate species of animals, 

 far from being isolated and independent, performs the part 

 assigned to it in the system of nature, and, however appa- 

 rently insignificant, may have a sensible influence on the 

 rest of the animal creation. Man, above all other animals, 

 has effected a most important change in the condition of the 

 multitude of other races, in every region where his numbers 

 have multiplied, where the arts of civilization have enlariied 

 his dominion, and where science has armed him with still 

 more extensive power. 



In every department of nature it cannot fail to strike us 

 that boundless variety is a charactesistic and predominant 

 feature of her productions. It is only when the object to 



