BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 43 



this small part of matter which composes the body 

 of an animal ! What properties, what harmony, 

 and what correspondence between the various parts ! 

 How many combinations, arrangements, causes, ef- 

 fects and principles, conspire to complete one end; 

 and another writer observes: u In the single ounce 

 of matter which composes the body of a Sparrow, 

 we see all the instruments necessary for eating, for 

 digestion, for respiration, for seeing, ior hearing, for 

 smelling, for walking, for flying, for the performance 

 of ever) animal function, and of every motion. All 

 the parts of the complicated machine are perfectly 

 appropriated, completely adapted to their respective 

 uses ; and all disposed with the most exact organi- 

 zation." All this is very true, but would not the 

 wonder have been still more augmented, had the 

 specimens been taken from among those little curi- 

 osities of the Western hemisphere, called Humming- 

 birds ; with the addition that its beak is pointed like 

 a needle, its claws not thicker than a common pin ; 

 that its nest is about half an inch deep, its egg about 

 the size of a small pea ; and that nevertheless this 

 diminutive bird is adorned with a plumage of the 

 richest hues, and covered with a down that makes 

 it resemble a velvet flower? Upon its head is a 

 black tuft of incomparable beauty; the breast is of 

 a rose colour, its belly white as milk, the b: ck, 

 wings,. and tail are grey, with a border resembling 

 silver, and as if streaked with gold of the brightest 

 hue! But indeed the structure of the smaller in- 

 sect, or minutest animal in the creation of God carries 



