582 THE UNIVERSE. 



faculty of reason, doubled by the power of aiming at the 

 ideal, perhaps proposes to itself to create one day, along 

 with man or after him, a still superior being. This new 

 creature, which modern religion and poetry appear to have 

 foreseen in the ethereal and radiant type of the Christian 

 angel, would be provided with moral faculties, the nature 

 and essence of which elude our understanding. 



" We ought to satisfy ourselves with laying down this re- 

 doubtable problem without attempting to resolve it. This 

 great mystery, to use the beautiful expression of Pliny, is 

 concealed in the majesty of nature, latet in maj estate naturae, 

 or, better, in the thoughts and omnipotence of the Creator 

 of worlds." 



