NATURAL THEOLOGY. 17 



prenie piece of art he now added to the rest? 

 Can this be maintained without absurdity? Yet 

 this is atheism.* 



* We must leave this logical and satisfactory argument un- 

 touched. In this chapter our author is laying the foundation for 

 a course of reasoning on the mechanism displayed in the animal 

 body. The argument in favour of a creating and presiding In- 

 telhgence may be drawn from the study of the laws of physical 

 agency: — such as the properties of heat, light, and sound; of 

 gravitation, and chemical combination; the structure of the globe, 

 the divisions of land and sea, the distribution of temperature ; nay, 

 the mind may rise to the contemplation of the sun and planets, 

 their mutual dependence, and their revolutions ; but, as affording 

 proofs obvious not only to cultivated reason but to plain sense, 

 almost to ignorance, there is nothing to be compared with that for 

 which our author is preparing the reader in this chapter, the me- 

 chanism of the animal body, and the adaptations which affect the 

 well-being of living creatures. 



2* 



