78 MEMOIRS OF 



" This word Nature is also extended to things which are 

 net born, to unorganized beings in general, in order to de- 

 signate the peculiar and intrinsic qualities which they al- 

 ways possess. The nature of gold is to be heavy, yellow, 

 and not Hable to decomposition by air or humidity, <fec. 

 Thus taken in its most generic acceptation, the nature of a 

 thing is that which makes it what it is — that which dis- 

 tinguishes it, which constitutes it — in a word, its essence : 

 and it is thus that we speak even of the Being of beings. — 

 of Him in whom, and by whom, are all things ; and there- 

 fore the expression applied to God, and to his attributes, is 

 a most improper term when applied to the vilest and most 

 perishable bodies. But that which exists in the nature of 

 each individual, exists also in each species, and each genus; 

 and thus, rising from abstraction to abstraction, we at 

 length arrive at the idea of a general nature of all things; 

 this embraces the qualities common to all beings, and the 

 laws of their mutual affinities : it is the nature of things 

 taken in its most abstract sense. Lastly, by a figure of 

 speech, common to all languages, this term has been em- 

 ployed for the things themselves, for the substances to which 

 these qualities belong. Nature then is, all beings, or the 

 universe, or the world ; and when consideied as contingent 

 and in opposition to the necessary Being, to God, it is call- 

 ed Creation. Nature, the world, creation, the whole of 

 created beings, are, then, so many synonymes. 



" But by another of those figures of speech to which all 

 languages are prone, Nature has been personified ; exist- 

 ing beings have been called the works of Nature, and the 

 general affinities of these beings among themselves liave 

 been called the laws of Nature. The definitive result of 

 these affinities, which is a certain constancy of motion, a 

 certain fixedness in the proportion of the species ; in short, 

 the preservation, to a certain degree, of the order once es- 

 tabhshed ; has been entitled the wisdom of Nature. Last- 

 ly, the enjoyments afforded to sensible beiiigs have taken 

 the name of the bounty of Nature. Here, under the 

 name of Nature, the Creator himself is evidently repre- 

 sented ; they are his works, his cares, his wisdom, and his 

 goodness, which are thus meant. Nevertheless, it is by 

 thus considering Nature as a being gifted with intelligence 



