230 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



the whale and dolphin, &c., the position of the 

 tail is reversed ; it lies out horizontally ; and the 

 vertebrae correspond. These animals must rise to 

 breathe the air, and their tails are thus provided 

 to raise them easily to the surface ; a proof, if any 

 were wanted, that the spine, the very centre of 

 the system, is accommodated to the main function 

 of respiration. 



The tail of animals is the prolongation of the 

 spine. But it seems extraordinary that any one 

 should make this the ground of an hypothesis, 

 that when parts are repeated, they become more 

 and more imperfect as they recede from the cen- 

 tre. It is however referred to in view, because 

 the bones constituting the tail become small-er and 

 rounder, and terminate in cartilage in which there 

 is no bone. Is it not, on the contrary, obvious that 

 the tail of animals is constituted for its proper pur- 

 pose, firm towards the root, with muscles to play 

 it in all directions, and less firm and more elastic 

 towards the end to carry the brush? Can any 

 thing be better adapted to such purposes ? Would 

 it be more perfect if there were vertebrae instead 

 of round bones joined together ? In short, corres- 

 ponding as this part does with its uses, sometimes 

 as a brush to curl round the animal and be a man- 

 tle for warmth, sometimes as a rudder in running, 

 sometimes as a fan, and always reaching where 

 the ear or the tongue cannot reach — must all the 

 obvious provisions be lost sight of in the consider- 

 ation that animal bodies are constituted so imper- 



