FINAL CAUSES. 1 I 



tion, and giving unequivocal signs of individual 

 vitality. The recent observations of Professor 

 Ehrenberg have brought to light the existence 

 of Monads, which are not larger than the 24,000th 

 part of an inch, and which are so thickly crowded 

 in the fluid as to leave intervals not greater than 

 their own diameter. Hence he has made the com- 

 putation that each cubic line, which is nearly the 

 bulk of a single drop, contains 500,000,000 of 

 these monads, a number which almost equals that 

 of all the human beings existing on the surface of 

 the earth. 



Thus, if we review every region of the globe, 

 from the scorching sands of the equator to the icy 

 realms of the poles, or from the lofty mountain sum- 

 mits to the dark abysses of the deep ; if we pene- 

 trate into the shades of the forest, or into the caverns 

 and secret recesses of the earth ; nay, if we take up 

 the minutest portion of stagnant water, we still meet 

 with life in some new and unexpected form, yet 

 ever adapted to the circumstances of its situation. 

 Wherever life can be sustained, we find life pro- 

 duced. It would almost seem as if Nature* had 

 been thus lavish and sportive in her productions 

 with the intent to demonstrate to Man the fertility 

 of her resources, and the inexhaustible fund from 

 which she has so prodigally drawn forth the means 

 requisite for the maintenance of all these diversified 



* In order to avoid the too frequent, and consequently irreverent, 

 introduction of the Great Name of the Supreme Being into famiUar 

 discourse on the operations of his power, I have, throughout this 

 Treatise, followed the common usage of employing the term Nature 

 as a synonym, expressive of the same power, but veiling from our 

 feeble sight the too dazzling splendour of its glory. 



