10 INTRODUCTION. 



the latter to the well-being of the system of or- 

 ganic life by which the earth is occupied. The 

 two portions of the subject may be treated as Cos- 

 mical Arrangements and Terrestrial Adaptations. 

 We shall begin with the latter class of adapta- 

 tions, because in treating of these the facts are 

 more familiar and tangible, and the reasonings less 

 abstract and technical, than in the other division 

 of the subject. Moreover, in this case men have 

 no difficulty in recognising as desirable the end 

 which is answered by such adaptations, and they 

 therefore the more readily consider it as an end. 

 The nourishment, the enjoyment, the diffusion of 

 living things, are willingly acknowledged to be a 

 suitable object for contrivance ; the simplicity, the 

 permanence of an inert mechanical combination 

 might not so readily be allowed to be a manifestly 

 worthy aim of a Creating Wisdom. The former 

 branch of our argument may therefore be best 

 suited to introduce to us the Deity as the institutor 

 of Laws of Nature, though the latter may after- 

 wards give us a wider view and a clearer insight 

 into one province of his legislation. 



