PREFACE. IX 



study of number and figure. They are the laws 

 of growth and life ; and those who do not keep 

 them constantly in view, study nature as if it were 

 dead ; and, of course, fall into the same blunders 

 and absurdities as those who attempted to study 

 the heavens without the laws of physics, or pro- 

 perties of substances without those of chemistry. 

 The laws of physics and chemistry are nothing 

 but the ultimate facts, to which we always arrive 

 when we pursue the same course, and beyond 

 which we can never go ; and the ultimate facts in 

 the economy of organized bodies, or the laws of 

 life, as we may term them, are to be found in the 

 same way by observation. Sometimes they act 

 contrary to those of physics or chemistry, and 

 sometimes not ; but when the former is the case, 

 we always find that there is an organization, the 

 very best adapted for producing the effect. There 

 is not one violation of this, not one production 

 of nature doing any thing at any time, but just 

 that which, if we had studied it properly before, 

 we should have expected it to do ; and when we 

 find this adaptation universal and perfect, can we 

 doubt that it is the result of infinite wisdom ? and 

 believing it in our hearts, shall we be ashamed to 

 confess it? Shall we deny the wisdom of our 

 Maker, because he is all-wise ; or his power, because 

 he is all-powerful? With all our failings, we do 

 not deal so by our fellow-men ; and shall we 

 respect the works and contemn the Maker? 



