90 ORGANIC REMAINS. 



have, in former Periods, occupied our Planet, afford in their 

 fossil remains, the same evidences of contrivance and design 

 that have been shown by Ray, Derham, and Paley, to per- 

 vade the structure of existing Genera and species of orga- 

 nized Beings. 



From the high preservation in which we find the remains 

 of animals and vegetables of each geological formation, and 

 the exquisite mechanism which appears in many fossil frag- 

 ments of their organization, we may collect an infinity of 

 arguments, to show that the creatures from which all these 

 are derived were constructed with a view to the varying 

 conditions of the surface of the Earth, and to its gradually 

 increasing capabilities of sustaining more complex forms of 

 organic life, advancing through successive stages of perfec- 

 tion.* 



* When we speak of different forms of animal life, as possessing' various 

 degrees of perfection, wc do not impute to any creature the presence of ab- 

 solute imperfection, we mean only, that animals of more simple structure 

 discharge a lower office in the gradually descending scale of animated beings 

 All perfection has relation to the object proposed to be attained by each 

 form of organization that occurs in nature, and nothing can be called 

 imperfect which fully accomplishes the end proposed : thus, a Polype, or 

 an Oyster, are as perfectly adapted to their fimctions at the bottom of the 

 sea, as the wings of the Eagle are perfect, as organs of rapid passage 

 through the air, and the feet of the stag perfect, in regard to their functions 

 of affecting swift locomotion upon the land. 



Unusual deviations from ordinary structure appear monstrosities only, 

 until considered with reference to their peculiar use, but are proved to 

 be instruments of perfect contrivance, when we understand the nature 

 of the service to which they are applied : thus ; the beak of the Cross 

 Bill (Loxia curvirostra, Linn.) would be an awkward instrument if ap- 

 plied to the ordinary service of the beaks of the Passercne Order, to 

 which this bird belongs; but viewed in relation to its peculiar function of 

 extracting seeds from between the indurated scales of Fir cones, it is at 

 once seen to be an instrument of perfect adaptation to its intended 

 work. 



The Perfection of an organized Body is usually considered to be in pro- 

 portion to the Variety and compound Nature of its parts, as the imperfection 

 '^ usually considered to be in the Ratio of its Simplicity, 



