356 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



XXV. 



MICROSCOPIC PHENOMENA IN THE ANIMAL BODY 



MOLECULAR MOTIONS CILIARY MOTIONS. 



We have noted the judicious course pursued by 

 Dr. Paley, in preferring the proofs of design 

 drawn from the structures of our bodies, which 

 secure our existence, or minister to our comforts 

 or enjoyments ; for in these there may \ve\\ be 

 perceived the object of the provisions, and the 

 mode by which they are attained ; and this sup- 

 ports us in a due estimate of ourselves, — seeing 

 that there is so much care of us, and that our 

 bodily and intellectual endowments have so many 

 relations to the system of nature. By the aid of 

 the telescope or microscope we are equally car- 

 ried, as it were, out of ourselves, to view nature 

 foreign to us. If, it has been justly observed, in 

 contemplating the heavens with minds ill con- 

 firmed as to the intentions of Providence towards 

 us, the study is far from being consolatory, the 

 same may be said of the microscopic world. The 

 discovery of the universal prevalence of life, of 

 animals within animals, of the inhabitants of a 

 drop of fluid as difficult to enumerate or arrange 

 as those of the ocean, gives rise to thoughts which 

 do not flatter our self-importance, more than the 



