NATURAL THEOLOGY. 207 



III. A third general property of animal forms 

 is beauty. I do not mean relative beauty, or that 

 of one individual above another of the same spe- 

 cies; but I mean, generally, the provision which 

 is made in the body of almost every animal to 

 adapt its appearance to the perception of the ani- 

 mals with which it converses. In our own spe- 

 cies, for example, only consider what the parts 

 and materials are of which the fairest body is 

 composed ; and no further observation will be ne- 

 cessary to show how well these things are wrap- 

 ped up, so as to form a mass which shall be capa- 

 ble of symmetry in its proportion, and of beauty 

 in its aspect ; how the bones are covered, the 

 bowels concealed, the roughnesses of the muscle 

 smoothed and softened ; and how over the whole 

 is drawn an integument, which converts the dis- 

 gusting materials of a dissecting-room into an 

 object of attraction to the sight, or one upon 

 which it rests at least with ease and satisfaction- 

 Much of this effect is to be attributed to the inter- 

 vention of the cellular or adipose membrane, 

 which lies immediately under the skin ; is a kind 

 of lining to it ; is moist, soft, slippery, and com- 

 pressible ; everywhere filling up the insterstices of 

 the muscles, and forming thereby their roundness 

 and flowing line, as well as the evenness and 

 pohsh of the whole surface. 



All which seems to be a strong indication of de- 

 sign, and of a design studiously directed to this pur- 

 pose. And it being once allowed that such a pur- 



