226 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



that, nevertheless, there is no glutinous cohesion 

 between them — that, therefore, by some mechan- 

 ical means or other, they catch or clasp among 

 themselves, thereby giving to the beard or vane 

 its closeness and compactness of texture. Nor is 

 this all ; when two laminae which have been sepa- 

 rated bv accident or force are brouojht together 

 again, they immediately reclasp ; the connexion, 

 whatever it was, is perfectly recovered, and the 

 beard of the feather becomes as smooth and firm 

 as if nothing had happened to it. Draw your 

 finoer down the fealher, which is against the grain, 

 and you break, probably, the junction of some of 

 the contiguous threads ; draw your finger up the 

 feather, and you restore all things to their former 

 state. This is no common contrivance : and now 

 for the mechanism by which it is effected. The 

 threads or laminae above mentioned are interlaced 

 w^ith one another ; and the interlacing is perform- 

 ed by means of a vast number of fibres or teeth, 

 which the laminae shoot forth on each side, and 

 which hook and grapple together. A friend of 

 mine counted fifty of these fibres in one twentieth 

 of an inch. These fibres are crooked, but curved 

 after a different manner ; for those which proceed 

 from the thread on the side towards the extremity 

 of the feather are longer, more flexible, and bent 

 downward ; whereas those which proceed from 

 the side towards the beginning or quill end of the 

 feather are shorter, firmer, and turn upwards. 

 The process, then, which takes place is as follows : 



