18 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



CHAPTER III. 



APPLICATION OF THE ARGUMENT.* 



This is atheism: for every indication of contriv- 

 ance, eveiy manifestation of design, which existed 

 in the watch, exists in the works of nature ; with 

 the difference, on the side of nature, of being 

 greater and more, and that in a degree which ex- 

 ceeds all computation. I mean that the contriv- 

 ances of nature surpass the contrivances of art, in 

 the complexity, subtilty, and curiosity of the me- 

 chanism ; and still more, if possible, do they go 

 beyond them in number and variety ; yet in a 

 multitude of cases, are not less evidently mecha- 

 nical, not less evidently contrivances, not less evi- 

 dentlv accommodated to their end, or suited to 

 their office, than are the most perfect productions 

 of human ingenuity. 



* The arguments adduced in this chapter being drawn from the 

 laws according to which light is refracted by the humours of 

 the eye, the reader may be inchned to peruse the few observations 

 on the elements of this part of physics in the Appendix, No. 16. 



