104 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Perfection of insects as argued by others. 



of the earth bear no proportion to the multitude 

 of insects; and though, at first sight, herbs of 

 the field seem to be the parts of organized 

 Nature produced in the greatest abundance, yet, 

 upon more minute inspection, we find every 

 plant supporting a multitude of scarcely percep- 

 tible creatures, that fill up the compass of youth, 

 vigor, and age, in the space of a few days exist- 

 ence. In Lapland and some parts of America, 

 the insects are so numerous, that if a candle be 

 lighted they swarm about it in such multitudes, 

 that it is instantly extinguished by them ; and 

 in those parts of the world, the miserable inha- 

 bitants are forced to smear their bodies and faces 

 with tar, or some other unctuous composition, 

 to protect them from the stings pf their minute 

 enemies. 



Others, particularly Swammerdam, who argue 

 for the perfection of insects, say, that after an 

 attentive examination of the nature and anatomy 

 of the smallest as well as the largest animals, an 

 equal, or perhaps a superior degree of dignity 

 must be allowed to even the least. If, while we 

 dissect with care the larger animals, we are filled 

 with wonder at the elegant disposition of their 

 parts, to what a height is our astonishment raised 

 when we discover all these parts arranged in the 

 least in the same regular manner ? Notwithstand- 

 ing the smallness of ants, nothing hinders our 

 preferring them to the largest animals, if we 

 consider either their unwearied diligence, their 



