NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATTON. 123 



'' If the properties adopted b}' the elements :it the moment 

 of their creation adapted them beforehand to the infinity 

 of compHcated useful purposes which they have aheady 

 answered and may have still farther to answer, undei* 

 many dispensations of the material world, such an 

 aboriginal constitution, so far from superseding an in- 

 telligent agent, would only exalt our conceptions of the 

 consummate skill and power that could comprehend such 

 an intinity of future uses under future systems, in the 

 original groundwork of his creation/' 



A late writer, in a work embi-acing a vast amoiuit of 

 miscellaneous knowledge, but written in a dogmatic style, 

 argues at great length for the doctrine of more immediate 

 exertions on the part of the Deity in the Avorks of his 

 creation. One of the most striking of his illustrations 

 is as follows : — " The coral polypi, united by a common 

 animal bond, construct a defined form in stone ; many 

 kinds construct many forms. Kxv allotted instinct may 

 permit each polypus to construct its Own cell, but there is 

 no superintending one to direct the pattern, nor can the 

 woi'kers unite by consultation for such an end. There is 

 no recipient for an instinct by which the pattern might 

 be constructed. It is God alone, therefore, who is the 

 architect ; and for this end, consequently, he must dispose 

 of every new polypus required to continue the pattern, 

 in a new and peculiar position, which the animal could 

 not have discovered by itself. Yet more, millions of 

 these blind workers unite their works to form an island, 

 which is also wrought out according to a constant general 

 pattern, and of a very peculiar nature, though the 

 separate coral works are numerousl}' diverse. Still less, 

 then, here is an instinct possible. The Gre«.t Architect 

 himself must execute Avhat he planned, in each case 

 equally. He uses these little and senseless animals as 



