10 FINAL CAUSES. 



land, how splendid is the field of observation that 

 lies open to the naturalist ! What variety is con- 

 spicuous in the tribes of Quadrupeds and of Rep- 

 tiles ; 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 capa- 

 city for motion through the light element of air. 

 What profusion of being is displayed in the wide 

 expanse of the ocean, through w^hich are scattered 

 such various and such unknown multitudes of ani- 

 mals ! Of Fishes alone the varieties, as to confor- 

 mation 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 lower divi- 

 sions of the animal scale ; some swimming in count- 

 less myriads near the surface ; some dwelling in the 

 inaccessible depths of the ocean : some attached to 

 shells, or other solid structures, the productions of 

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

 form, by their accumulation, enormous submarine 

 mountains, rising often from unfathomable depths 

 to the surface. What sublime views of the mag- 

 nificence of creation have been disclosed by the 

 microscope, in the world of infinite minuteness, 

 peopled by countless multitudes of atomic beings 

 which animate almost every fluid in nature? Of 

 these, a vast variety of species has been discovered, 

 each animalcule being provided with appropriate 

 organs, endowed with spontaneous powers of mo- 



