286 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



hesion of almost every species of earth, defends 

 the animal from cold and wet, and from the im- 

 pediment which it would experience by the mould 

 sticking to its body. From soils of all kinds the 

 little pioneer comes forth bright and clean. In- 

 habiting dirt, it is of all animals the neatest. 



But what I have always most admired in the 

 mole is its eyes. This animal occasionally visiting 

 the surface, and w^anting, for its safety and direc- 

 tion, to be informed when it does so, or when it 

 approaches it, a perception of light w^as necessary. 

 I do not know that the clearness of sight depends 

 at all upon the size of the organ. What is gained 

 by the largeness or prominence of the globe of 

 the eye, is width in the field of vision. Such a 

 capacity would be of no use to an animal which 

 w^as to seek its food in the dark. The mole did 

 not want to look about it ; nor would a large ad- 

 vanced eye have been easily defended from the 

 annoyance to which the life of the animal must 

 constantly expose it. How indeed was the mole, 

 working its w^ay under ground, to guard its eyes 

 at all ? In order to meet this difficulty, the eyes 

 are made scarcely larger than the head of a 

 corking-pin ; and these minute globules are sunk 

 so deeply in the skull, and lie so sheltered within 

 the velvet of its covering, as that any contraction 

 of wiiat may be called the eye-brows, not only 

 closes up the apertures which lead to the eyes, but 

 presents a cushion, as it were, to any sharp or pro- 

 truding substance which might push against them. 



