8 FINAL CAUSES. 



mity in the results. All is strictly detined, and 

 subjected to rigid rule : all is subordinate to one 

 pervading principle of order. The Great Creator 

 of the universe has exercised in its construction the 

 severest and most refined geometry, has traced with 

 unerring precision the boundaries of all its parts, 

 and has prescribed to each element and each power 

 its respective sphere and limit. 



Far different is the aspect of living Nature. The 

 spectacle here offered to our view is every where 

 characterised by boundless variety, by inscrutable 

 complexity, by perpetual mutation. Our attention 

 is solicited to a vast multiplicity of objects, curious 

 and intricate in their mechanism, exhibiting pecu- 

 liar movements, actuated by new and unknown 

 powers, and gifted with high and refined endow- 

 ments. In place of the simple combinations of 

 elements, and the definite properties of mineral 

 bodies, all organic structures, even the most mi- 

 nute, present exceedingly complicated arrange- 

 ments, and a prolonged succession of phenomena, 

 so varied and so anomalous, as to be utterly irre- 

 ducible to the known laws which govern inanimate 

 matter. Let us hasten, with fresh ardour, to ex- 

 plore this new world that here opens to our view. 



Turning, then, from the examination of the pas- 

 sive objects of the material world, we now direct 

 our attention to the busy theatre of animated ex- 

 istence, M^iere scenes of wonder 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 peo- 

 pled by multitudinous races of sensitive beings, 



