70 LECTURE IL 



In the construction of animals, we find na- 

 ture proceeding upon an uniform plan, and 

 by variation of the same means, contriving 

 to produce beings extremely diversified in 

 form and faculty^ It has been observed that 

 Comparative Anatomy furnishes abundant 

 facts to the natural theologian, shewing that 

 intelligence must have operated in the con- 

 struction of living beings, by the evidence 

 it affords of design, and of the adaptation of 

 means to ends. This observation is however 

 more perfectly verified by human, than by 

 Comparative Anatomy ; for so well is man 

 acquainted with his own wants and desires, 

 and with the structure of the human bodv, 

 that he must be a dull, inconsiderate, or 

 perverse character, who can contemplate 

 the organs and structures which compose 

 it, without a feeling of admiration. The 

 very reverse however happens in Compa- 

 rative Anatomy. Many of the animals we 

 dissect, are, when living, concealed from 

 our view; they are hid beneath the surface 

 of the earth, or the waters ; they fly aloft 

 in the air ; or secrete themselves in the re- 

 cesses of the forest ; so that we have little 



