NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



81 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE ARGUMENT CUMULATIVE. 



Were there no example in the world of con- 

 trivance except that of the eye, it would be alone 

 sufficient to support the conclusion which we draw 

 from it, as to the necessity of an intelligent Cre- 

 ator. It could never be got rid of; because it 

 could not be accounted for by any other supposi- 

 tion, which did not contradict all the principles 

 we possess of knowledge ; the principles accord- 

 ing to which things do, as often as they can be 

 brought to the test of experience, turn out to be 

 true or false. Its coats and humours, constructed 



[The figure is introduced to remind the reader of the fine adjust- 

 ment of the eye; a subject explained in the Appendix: — A, B, 

 is the object, and the hues represent the hght reflected from it into 

 the eye. On the surface of the cornea, which is the transparent 

 part of the eye, the rays are in a certain degree refracted. Passing 

 through the coat called cornea, they enter the aqueous humour. 

 In their transmission through it, they pass into the pupil. They 

 enter the lens or crystalline humour, and by the greater power of 

 refraction in this humour, the rays are drawn to a point and im- 



