INTRODUCTION. 17 
gotten their spiritual necessities and enjoyments ; 
and having implanted in the human soul a yearn- 
ing for the beautiful, has surrounded us with a 
thousand objects by whose charms that yearning 
may be gratified. And one of the most striking 
examples of this Divine care is to be seen in the 
profusion of minute objects spread around us, 
which apparently have no direct influence at all 
upon man’s physical nature, and have no con- 
nexion with his corporeal necessities. These ob- 
jects, subserving no gross utilitarian purpose, are 
intended to educate man’s spiritual faculties by the 
beauties of form, the wonders of structure, and the 
adaptations of economy which they display. Their 
beauty is sufficient reason for their existence were’ 
there no other. When their varied and ex- 
quisitely symmetrical forms are presented to the 
eye under the microscope, a thrill of pleasure is 
experienced, calm and pure, because free from all. 
taint of passion, and felt all the more intensely 
because nameless and indefinite. We are brought 
face to face with perfection in its most wonderful 
aspect—the perfection of minuteness and detail ; 
with objects which bear most deeply impressed 
upon them the signet-mark of their Maker ; and 
we observe with speechless admiration that the. 
Divine attention is acuminated and His skill 
concentrated on these vital atoms; the last 
B 
