De ViPhysica 



And Nature shows her power nowhere 

 more clearly or more admirably than in the 

 parts of animals. In their eyes, as those 

 of hawks and owls ; their ears, as those of 

 hares or bats ; in the foot of the camel or 

 the polar bear, the wing of the humming 

 bird, of the dragon fly, or the condor ; in 

 the trunk of the elephant, or the vertebral 

 column of the boa-constrictor ; in the tongue 

 of the woodpecker, or the battery of the 

 electric eel ; in the claws, jaws, wings, 

 weapons, and all the marvellous organis- 

 ations of insects, and briefly, in all the in- 

 numerable parts of animals, as well as in 

 the knowledge, generally intuitive, which 

 every animal possesses, of how to use its 

 peculiar organs so as to employ them to 

 the best advantage : we see the Power of 

 Nature, in actual existence and operation. 



What is this power ? What do we mean by 

 Nature, the Natura-Naturans ? Or in other 



