EXORDIUM. 241 



many of his works, that they can be only appreciated 

 by man with the assistance of the microscope. Surely 

 he who is but a tvork of God may be allowed to admire the 

 works of his Creator, without incurring derision or ridi- 

 cule, even though they are minutiae. Trifles are said to 

 take only with frivolous minds ; but minutiae are not ne- 

 cessarily trifles, as it will be easy to prove. Tt is not 

 only, in my own opinion, unscientific., but even swinish 

 and ridiculous, to contemn any thing merely on account 

 of its minuteness. To say nothing of the hackneyed ar- 

 gument, that greatness and littleness exist only by com- 

 parison, I will ask, if the Automaton Chess-player had 

 been made on a scale of l-20th of an inch to a foot, or 

 even much less, it would, in consequence, become despi- 

 cable as a work of art ? 



Suppose some individual, greatly distinguished by his 

 talents in ship-building, in making astronomical instru- 

 ments, or steam engines, &c., was also to evince a passion 

 for making minute automata and watch- work, such as 

 tarantula spiders, minute singing-birds, musical seals, or 

 even such curiosities as a coach drawn by fleas, &c. 

 would it shew good breeding, or good taste, to despise or 

 ridicule his minute labours, while we admired his 

 grander and more imposing works ? 



Now it does appear to me, that the Supreme Being 

 does, in some sense, resemble such an individual ; for 

 his power loves to display itself in every way in which it can 

 be displayed, whether upon the minute or arand scale, in the 

 creation of animalcules, as well as of fixed stars and I 



