54 NATURAL THEOLOGY, 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON THE SUCCESSION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 



The generation of the animal no more accounts 

 for the contrivance of the eye or ear, than, upon 

 Che supposition stated in the preceding chapter, the 

 production of a watch by the motion and mecha- 

 nism of a former watch, would account for the 

 skill and attention evidenced in the watch so pro- 

 duced — than it would account for the disposition 

 of the wheels, the catching of their teeth, the re- 

 lation of the several parts of the works to one 

 another, and to their common end ; for the suitable- 

 ness of their forms and places to their offices, for 

 their connexion, their operation, and the useful 

 result of that operation. I do insist most strenu- 

 ously upon the correctness of this comparison ; 

 that it holds as to every mode of specific propa- 

 gation ; and that whatever was true of the watch, 

 under the hypothesis above mentioned, is true of 

 plants and animals. 



I. To begin with the fructification of plants. 

 Can it be doubted but that the seed contains a 

 particular organization ? Whether a latent plan- 

 tule with the means of temporary nutrition, or 

 whatever else it be, it encloses an organization 



