CEPHALOPODS. 317 



must be exceedingly great, even in lakes beds 

 are formed of the deposits of the shell-fish 

 inhabiting them, how much more gigantic must 

 they be in the ocean, this will be evident from 

 the superior number and size of the oceanic 

 shells compared with the minute species, the 

 Limnea, Planorbis, &c. that inhabit our lakes 

 and pools. Thus, as reefs and islands are formed 

 by the coral animals, the bed of the ocean may 

 be elevated by the shells of dead testaceous 

 ones. That eye which is never closed, that 

 thought which is never intermitted, that power 

 which never rests, but, engaged in incessant 

 action, and employing infinite hosts of under- 

 agents to effect his purposes, sees and provides 

 for the wants of the whole creation : the plant 

 absorbs from the soil, the animal after devouring 

 the plant, or the plant-fed creature, returns to 

 the earth what the plant had absorbed, and so 

 maintains the proper equilibrium ; He who num- 

 bers the hairs of our head, numbers the work- 

 men that he employs, employing them only in 

 such proportions so distributed, as may best ac- 

 complish His purposes. 



