200 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



at these forms — in all the variety which is often 

 crowded under a single lens — without recognising 

 instinctively that the work of the graver is work 

 strictly analogous, — addressed to the same per- 

 ceptions, — founded on the same idea, — having for 

 its object the same end and aim. And as the 

 work of the graver varies for the mere sake of 

 varying, so does the work on these microscopic 

 shells. In the same drop of moisture there may 

 be some dozen or twenty forms, each with its own 

 distinctive pattern, all as constant as they are 

 distinctive, yet having all apparently the same 

 habits, and without any perceptible difference of 

 function. 



It would be to doubt the evidence of our senses 

 and of our reason, or else to assume hypotheses of 

 which there is no proof whatever, if we were to 

 doubt that mere ornament, mere variety, are as 

 much an end and aim in the workshop of Nature 

 as they are known to be in the workshop of the 

 goldsmith and the jeweller. Why should they 

 not ? The love and desire of these is universal in 

 the mind of Man. It is seen not more distinctly 

 in the highest forms of civilised art than in the 



