NATURAL THEOLOGY. 107 



to break the bones ; this to scorch the soles of the 

 feet. Here, pain and misery are the very objects 

 of the contrivance. Now, nothing of this sort is 

 to be found in the works of nature. We never 

 discover a train of contrivance to bring about an 

 evil purpose. No anatomist ever discovered a 

 system of organization calculated to produce pain 

 and disease ; or, in explaining the parts of the hu- 

 man body, ever said, this is to irritate ; this to in- 

 flame ; this duct is to convey the gravel to the kid- 

 neys ; this gland to secrete the humour which forms 

 the gout : if by chance he come at a part of which 

 he knows not the use, the most he can say is, that 

 it is useless ; no one ever suspects that it is put 

 there to incommode, to annoy, or to torment." 



The TWO CASES which appear to me to have the 

 most difficulty in them, as forming the most of 

 the appearance of exception to the representation 

 here given, are those of venomous animals, and of 

 animals preying upon one another. These proper- 

 ties of animals, wherever they are found, must, I 

 think, be referred to design ; because there is in 

 all cases of the first, and in most cases of the 

 second, an express and distinct organization pro- 

 vided for the producing of them. Under the first 

 head, the fangs of vipers, the stings of wasps and 

 scorpions, are as clearly intended for their pur- 

 pose, as any animal structure is for any purpose 

 the most incontestably beneficial. And the same 

 thing must, under the second head, be acknow- 

 ledged of the talons and beaks of birds, of the tusks. 



