60 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



not proceed from the exhausted or deteriorated nature of the 

 material. 



Amongst the infusoria, the animals called Monads, of Avhich 

 there is a great variety, exhibit very curious phenomena. They 

 are of a globular form, and this globe is seen first to contract and 

 then divide, each becoming a distinct animal. And something 

 like this may be done artificially by the division of the fresh- water 

 polypus, or hydra ; and what is deficient in the divided portion is 

 supplied by a new growth, be it head or tail. The thing, however, 

 is not so remarkable, if we consider that those lower animals have 

 abundant resemblance to vegetables ; and that in cutting off por- 

 tions the experimenter is cutting off buds. These buds or tuber- 

 cles, if left to undergo their natural changes, acquire independent 

 motion, produce tcntacula, or feelers, to procure food, and, thus 

 prepared to be independent, fall off from the parent stock. 



The microscope exhibits another instance in the Volvox. It is 

 a transparent globule, within which smaller globules may be seen ; 

 and when matured the parent bursts, discloses the offspring, and 

 dies. 



In all these examples, we see that there is no reason to speak 

 of exhausted or deteriorated matter, or debility in the powers of 

 life. 



So in the higher and the more complex animals we find one set 

 of organs decaying and another rising into existence. Contem- 

 plating the one, we would say that the powers were decaying ; 

 contemplating the other, that they were fresh and vigorous. We 

 must come to the conclusion, then, that the growth of parts, or 

 the period of their developement, the decay of the animal, or of 

 the parts of the animal is by an ordinance which is very inaccu- 

 rately expressed by the terms exhaustion of life, or imperfection 

 of the material. Imperfection, in truth, is a relative term, and 

 means failure or insufficiency towards the accomplishment of 

 certain purposes. If the object in view were the duration of ani- 

 mal bodies for a great length of time, we might be justified in say- 

 in'' that the materials they are made of are imperfect ; but this is 

 clearly not the design with which they are formed. 



