NATURAL THEOLOGY. 287 



This aperture, even in its ordinary state is like a 

 pin-hole in a piece of velvet, scarcely pervious to 

 loose particles of earth. 



Observe, then, in this structure, that which we 

 call relation. There is no natural connexion be- 

 tween a small sunk eye and a shovel palmatcd foot. 

 Palmated feet might have been joined with goggle 

 eyes ; or small eyes might have been joined with feet 

 of any other form. What was it therefore which 

 brought them together in the mole ? That which 

 brought together the barrel, the chain, and the 

 fusee in a watch — design; and design in both 

 cases inferred, from the relation which the parts 

 bear to one another in the prosecution of a com- 

 mon purpose. As hath already been observed, 

 there are different ways of stating the relation, 

 according as we sat out from a different part. In 

 the instance before us, we may either consider the 

 shape of the feet, as qualifying the animal for that 

 mode of life and inhabitation to which the structure 

 of the eye confines it; or we may consider the struc- 

 ture of the eye as the only one which would have 

 suited with the action to which the feet arc adapted. 

 The relation is manifest, whichever of the parts re- 

 lated we place first in the order of our consideration. 

 In a word, the feet of the mole are made for digging: 

 the neck, nose, eyes, ears, and skin, are peculiarly 

 adapted to an under-ground life ; and this is what 

 I call relation. 



