260 ON THE HUMAN FACULTIES, 



progressively expanded and diversified until the 

 arts have reached the perfection in which we 

 now see them. 



In the vegetable world in all its varieties and 

 to increase the supplies of which agriculture was 

 called into use, how few of its species compara- 

 tively do we find adapted to, or used for animal 

 subsistence only ; limited to which they would have 

 been, had they been created merely for thepreser- 

 vation of the vital principles ? And what a large 

 proportion, in all their diversified species and 

 parts, have been converted by the ingenuity of 

 man to the most comprehensive purposes; thus 

 producing occupations most essential to his hap- 

 piness, and calling forth his inventive faculties 

 to the utmost limits of their power? Our hus- 

 bandry, our habitations, our arts in general, our 

 navigation, and our commerce, chiefly depend 

 upon the human application of vegetable sub- 

 stances according to their respective capabilities ; 

 thus confirming, in the most ample degree, the 

 innate faculties of man, and the intentions of the 

 Creator, that these should be called forth from 

 those resources in the natural world, which he has 

 prepared for their especial developement. 



If we examine the animal kingdom, still more 

 distinguished as it is for the variety of its species 

 and for the diversity of their movements, we find 

 the same capabilities of being useful to man, and 

 the same incentive to human action, as in the 



