150 MEMOIRS OF 



shoulder-blades, and the basin, in a word, all tlie 

 bones. 



" We comprehend, in fact, that those who 

 admit but of one single substance, of whicli 

 every individual existence is but a manifestation, 

 would have pleasiu'e in adopting the idea that 

 these manifestations succeed each other in a 

 regular and progressive order ; that they all 

 bear the impression, and, in some measure, be- 

 come the images of one common type, or essen- 

 tial substance, and that each part, each part of 

 a part, not only represents the special whole 

 which contains it, but even the great whole 

 which contains all others 



" We, however, conceive nature to be simply 

 a production of the Almighty, regulated by a 

 wisdom, the laws of which can only be disco- 

 vered by observation ; but we think that these 

 hiws can only relate to the preservation and har- 

 mony of the whole ; that, consequently, all 

 must be constituted in a manner that contributes 

 to this preservation and to this harmony, but we 

 do not perceive any necessity for a scale of be- 

 ings, nor for an unity of composition, and we 

 do not believe even in the possibility of a succes- 

 sive ap})earance of different forms ; for it appears 

 to us that, from the beginning, diversity lias 



