NATURAL THEOLOGY. 368 



III. In the bivalve order of shell-fish, cockles, 

 mussels, oysters, &c., what contrivance can be so 

 simple or so clear as the insertion, at the back, of 

 a tough tendinous substance that becomes at once 

 the ligament which binds the two shells together, 

 and the hinge upon which they open and shut ? 



IV. The shell of a lobster's tail, in its articula- 

 tions and overlappings, represents the jointed part 

 of a coat of mail ; or rather, which I believe to be 

 the truth, a coat of mail is an imitation of a lob- 

 ster's shell. The same end is to be answered by 

 both ; the same properties, therefore, are required 

 in both ; namely, hardness and flexibility — a co- 

 vering which may guard the part without ob- 

 structing its motion. For this double purpose the 

 art of man, expressly exercised upon the subject, 

 has not been able to devise any thing better than 

 what nature presents to his observation. Is not 

 this therefore mechanism, which the mechanic, 

 having a similar purpose in view, adopts ? Is the 

 structure of a coat of mail to be referred to art ? 

 Is the same structure of the lobster, conducing to 

 the same use, to be referred to any thing less than 

 art? 



Some who may acknowledge the imitation, and 

 assent to the inference which we draw from it in 

 the instance before us, may be disposed, possibly, 

 to ask, why such imitations are not more frequent 

 than they are, if it be true, as we allege, that the 

 same principle of intelligence, design, and mecha- 

 nical contrivance was exerted in the formation of 



