260 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



can the structure in this, more than in the former 

 case, arise from the manner of employing the 

 part. The smooth surfaces, and soft flesh of fish, 

 were less hkely to notch the bills of birds, than 

 the hard bodies upon which many other species 

 feed. 



We now come to particularities strictly so called, 

 as being limited to a single species of animal. Of 

 these, I shall take one from a quadruped, and one 

 from a bird. 



I. The stomach of the camel is -well known to 

 retain large quantities of water, and to retain it 

 unchanged for a considerable length of time. This 

 property qualifies it for living in the desert. Let 

 us see, therefore, what is the internal organization, 

 upon which a faculty so rare and so beneficial de- 

 pends. A number of distinct sacs or bags (in a 

 dromedaiy thirty of these have been counted,) are 

 observed to lie between the membranes of the se- 

 cond stomach, and to open into the stomach near 

 the top by small square apertures. Through these 

 orifices, after the stomach is full, the annexed bags 

 are filled from it : and the water so deposited is, 

 in the first place, not liable to pass into the intes- 

 tines ; in the second place, is kept separate from 

 solid aliment ; and, in the third place, is out of the 

 reach of the digestive action of the stomach, or of 

 mixture with the gastric juice. It appears proba- 

 ble, or rather certain, that the animal, by the con- 

 formation of its muscles, possesses the power of 

 squeezing back this water from the adjacent bags 



