GENERAL REMARKS CONCLUSION. 89 



vitality are performed by structures, whose constituent 

 substance is scarcely more dense than the surrounding 

 element in which they dwell; yet, in these frail tene- 

 ments, these mere definite aggregations of globules, life 

 is for awhile enshrined, and confers the power of re- 

 sisting the chemical and mechanical effects of external 

 agents, of traversing the ocean, of pursuing live prey, 

 of taking cognisance of danger, and of escaping from 

 its approach. But the moment that life departs, the 

 materials of which these organisms are composed, re- 

 leased from the dominion of the laws of vitality, are 

 resolved into fluid molecules, and rapidly pass into their 

 original elementary condition. 



FINAL EFFECTS. With regard to the consideration 

 of the general purposes in the economy of Nature which 

 these invisible beings are destined to effect, I would 

 leave the intelligent reader to draw his own inferences 

 from what has been advanced; being convinced, that 

 no well-regulated mind can rise from the contemplation 

 of the marvels revealed by the microscope, without 

 being so deeply impressed with a sense of awe, of 

 humility, and of dependence, as to be secured from the 

 arrogance and presumption of attempting to interpret 

 the final purposes of the ETERNAL, even in the minutest 

 of HIS works. 



