Statural theology. 235 



of nerves, equal almost to the optic nerve in thick- 

 ness, which pass first along the roof of the mouth, 

 and then along the upper chap dow^n to the point 

 of the bill, long as the bill is."- 



But to return to the train of our observations. 

 The similitude between the bills of birds and the 

 mouths of quadrupeds is exactly such as, for the 

 sake of the argument, might be wished for. It is 

 near enough to show the continuation of the same 

 plan : it is remote enough to exclude the supposi- 

 tion of the difference being produced by action or 

 use. A more prominent contour, or a wider gap, 

 mio^ht be resolved into the effect of continued 

 efforts, on the part of the species, to thrust out the 

 mouth or open it to the stretch. But by what 

 course of action, or exercise, or endeavour, shall 

 we get rid of the lips, the gums, the teeth, and 

 acquire in the place of them pincers of horn ? By 

 what habit shall we so completely change, not 

 only the shape of the part, but the substance of 

 which it is composed? The truth is, if we had 

 seen no other than the mouths of quadrupeds, we 

 should have thought no other could have been 

 formed : little could we have supposed that all the 

 purposes of a mouth furnished with lips and armed 

 with teeth could be answered by an instrument 

 which had none of these — could be suppHed, and 

 that with many additional advantages, by the hard- 



■''^ These are branches of the fifth nerve of the head, which 

 alone, of all the nine nerves of the brain, bestows sensibility on 

 the organ of touch. 



