3o8 THEPHILOSOPHY 



them, are buried in the air, as well as in the earth, or in water. 

 Thefe floating particles foon enter into the compofuion of new or- 

 ganized beings, who are themfclves ileftined to undergo the fiime 

 revolutions. This circulation of organized matter has continued 

 fince the commencement of the world, and will proceed in the fame 

 courfe till its final deflru6tion. 



With regard to the intentions of Nature in changing forms, a 

 complete invefligation of them exceeds the powers of human re- 

 fearch. One great intention, from the examples above enumerated, 

 cannot efcape obfervation. In the animal world, every fuccefllve 

 change is a new approach to the perfedlion of the individuals. Men, 

 and the larger animals, fome time after the age of puberty, remain 

 ftationary, and continue to multiply their fpecies for periods pro- 

 portioned to their refpedive fpecies. When thofe periods terminate, 

 they gradually decay till their final dilTolution. The fame obferva- 

 tion is applicable to the infed tribes, whofe transformations ftrike us 

 with, wonder. The caterpillar repeatedly moults or cafts off its {kin. 

 The butterfly exifted originally in the body of the caterpillar ; but 

 the organs of the fly were too foft, and not fufEciently unfolded. It 

 remains unfit to encounter the open air, or to perform the fumStiona 

 of a perfedl animal, till fome time after its transformation into a 

 chryfalis. It then burfts through its envelope, arrives at a ftate of 

 perfedion, multiplies its fpecies, and dies. All the changes in the 

 vegetable kingdom tend to the fame point. In the procefs of grow- 

 Tng, they are perpetually changing forms till they produce fruit, and 

 then they decay. Some plants, like caterpillars, go through all iheir 

 transformations, death not excepted, in one year. But others, like 

 man and the larger animals, befide the common changes produced 

 by growth and the evolution of different organs, continue for many 

 years in a flate of perfedion before the periods of decay and of 

 diflfolution arrive. But thefe perennial plaoits undergo, every year, 



all 



