FINAL CAUSES. 17 



questions which so striking a phenomenon will na- 

 turally suggest? What, we are led to ask, is the 

 nature of this extraordinary revolution, extending 

 over the whole of that frame which had so long 

 delighted the eye by its beauty, and producing this 

 sudden and irretrievable extinction of the powers 

 of life? How comes it that all those mighty ener- 

 gies which the animal had so lately displayed, and 

 which had called forth our admiration, perhaps 

 even excited our envy, are at once and for ever 

 annihilated ? What was the bond, thus suddenly 

 dissevered, which held together the various parts 

 of that compound fabric ? What potent spell has 

 been dissolved, which could retain in combination 

 for so long a period the multifarious elements of 

 that complex organization ; and from the control 

 of which being now released, these elements hasten 

 to resume their wonted attractions, and entering 

 into new forms of combination, are scattered into 

 dust, or dissipated in air, leaving no trace of their 

 former union? What mechanical powers have been 

 employed in its construction? AVhat refined che- 

 mistry has been exerted in assimilating new par- 

 ticles of matter to those previously organized, and 

 in appropriating them to the nourishment of the 

 parts with which they became identified? By 

 what transcendent power, above all, did this assem- 

 blage of material particles first become animated 

 by the breath of life; and from what elevated 

 source did they derive those higher energies, appa- 

 rently so foreign to their inherent properties, and 

 investing these once lifeless and inert materials with 

 the exalted attributes of activity, of sensation, of 

 perception, of intelligence? Shall we ever com- 



VOL. I. c 



