CHAPTER XII. 



(THE POTTER.) 



'Whether progressing on the solid surface, or moving through the water, or 

 tunneling the sand, advancing or retreating in its tube, the Annelid performs mus- 

 cular feats distinguished at once for their complexity and harmony. In grace of 

 form the little worm excels the serpent. In regularity of march, the thousand- 

 footed Nereid outrivals the Centipede. The leaf-armed Phyllodoce swims with 

 greater beauty of mechanism than the fish; and the vulgar earthworm shames the 

 mole in the exactitude and skill of its subterranean operations. Why, then, should 

 the "humble worm " have remained so long without a historian? Is the care, the 

 wisdom, the love, the paternal solicitude of the Almighty not legible in the surpass- 

 ing organism, the ingenious architectures, the individual and social habits, the 

 adaptation of structure to the physical conditions of existence of these " degraded 

 beings?" Do not their habitations display His care, their instincts His wisdom, 

 their merriment His love, their vast specific diversities His solicitous and inscrut- 

 able Providence.' DR. WILLIAMS. 



