god's providential care 207 



cling to the circumscnbed limits of their native rock, 

 with as unconquerable a partiality as if they were 

 Swiss, and these fragments of stone were their own 

 dear Alps. They crawl and twine over the surface, 

 and round the edges ; but it is with the utmost reluc- 

 tance, and only by the use of force and stratagem 

 combined, that I can get one off from the hold to 

 which he tenaciously clings. I am watching the 

 development, and I may say metamorphosis, of the 

 little brood with interest, and cannot yet say what 

 they are ; but I think they will turn out to be either 

 Ophiocoma rosiila, or 0. ?ninuta, probably the latter. 

 Now is not this a very pretty list of the tenantry of 

 a bit of slate-rock two inches square ? And does it 

 not read us an instructive homily, — one of those 

 *' sermons in stones" that the poet speaks of, — on the 

 beneficent care of Him who " openeth his hand, and 

 satisfieth the desire of every living thing" ? What a 

 family is his to be provided for day by day, and yet 

 every mouth filled ; — not one of these hungry polypes 

 going unsupplied ! What a vast amount of happiness 

 we here get just a glimpse of! for life, the mere 

 exercise of vital functions in health, and in suitable 

 circumstances and conditions, — the circumstances and 

 conditions, I mean, for which the creatures themselves 

 are fitted — is undoubtedly enjoyment, probably of as 

 high a nature as the inferior animals are capable of 

 receiving. We need not then ask for what purpose 

 God has made so great a variety of creatures of no 

 apparent benefit to man. Is it not an end Avorthy of 

 a Being infinitely wise and good, that He has stocked 

 every nook and corner of his world, even to overflow- 



