100 THE UNIVERSE. 



pomp and gold), he felt tempted to exclaim, "Ah! let me 

 rather see a butterfly born. In his puniest creatures God 

 reveals his power and majesty; you, in your splendid fetes, 

 often display only your weakness and misery ! " 



Anatomically and physiologically speaking, the human 

 mechanism is very rude and coarse, compared to the ex- 

 (juisite delicacy revealed in the organism of certain animals. 

 But in us the intellect, the real sceptre of the universe, 

 predominates over the apparent imperfection of matter. 

 Through it man alone approaches those chosen creatures 

 who shine near the throne of the Eternal, and form a bond 

 of union between heaven and earth; if in his structure he 

 belong to our sphere, he seems already to elevate himself 

 towards the supreme Essence by the .splendour of his 

 genius. 



A grand and philosophic truth, which a glance at the 

 organization of insects will instantly demonstrate. 



In her slightest sketches nature knows how to unite 

 power to an exquisite fineness of mechanism ; the first 

 glance at insects proves this, and thus so soon as their in- 

 teresting histoi-y is displayed before us, we feel no longer 

 tempted to treat them with the disdain that poets have 

 shown. A simple butterfly, a single fly humbles the pride 

 of man, and despite of him levels his forests, devours his 

 crops, and reduces him to despair. An insect of this kind, 

 unknown to him who apostrophizes it with contempt, 

 petrifies the countryman with terror, Avhile its sting is death 

 to him! 



Simple little two-winged flies, gnats, and mosquitoes, 

 the puny look of which would never lead one to dread 

 aggression from such a quarter, are nevertheless enemies 

 of the most inconvenient kind to our species. In some 

 countries, where they SAvarm by myriads on all sides, man 



