FINAL CAUSES. 17 



proceedings, he hastens to explore the several 

 parts which compose the organized fabric, to 

 examine in minute detail the anatomy of its struc- 

 ture, and to ascertain the nature of the several 

 actions that take place within it. But, over- 

 whelmed by the multiplicity of objects, and lost 

 amidst the complication of phenomena, he soon 

 becomes dismayed by the magnitude and ar- 

 duous nature of the investigation. He linds 

 that his labours will be of no avail, unless, 

 previously to any attempt at theory, he takes a 

 careful and accurate account of all the circum- 

 stances attending the history and conditions of 

 life, from the dawn of its existence to its ap- 

 pointed close. On tracing living beings to their 

 origin, he learns that every individual vegetable 

 and animal takes its rise from an atom of imper- 

 ceptible minuteness, and gradually increases in 

 bulk by successive accretions of new matter, 

 derived from foreign sources, and, by some re- 

 fined, but unknown process, transmuted into its 

 own substance. Then, following the progressive 

 developement of the organs, he observes them 

 undergoing various modifications, as they are 

 assuming new forms, ^^hich characterise certain 

 definite epochs in the general growth of the 

 system. In a great number of instances, espe- 

 cially among the lower orders of animals, he 

 witnesses the same individual being acting, in 

 its time, a variety of difierent parts ; often re-ap- 



VOL. I. c 



GBO7 



