and guiding the revolutions of worlds, or he who difco- 

 vers him bulled in regulating the oeconomy of anhive oi 

 bees, or deeply engaged in folding the wings of a beetle? 

 Such an obfervation, from fo elevated a character, 

 might be capable of exciting a very wrong and unfa- 

 vourable idea, with refpect to the fhidy of the fmallcr 

 branches of Natural Hiftory; as if unworthy of any 

 confiderable fhare of attention, or at leaft of but flight 

 importance, when compared with the higher orders of 

 Zoology. But let us recollect the fentiments of other 

 men, of the mofl comprehenfive minds, the moft bril- 

 liant abilities, and the mofl exalted piety and virtue. 



The celebrated Mr. BoYLE ufed to exprefs himfelf 

 on this fubjedlin a fomewhat lingular phrafe, viz. That 

 for his own part, his wonder dwelt not fo much on the 

 clocks as the watches of Nature ; and that the Creator 

 appeared in reality to be maximusin minimus. If we are 

 flruck with admiration at the prodigious bulk of the 

 elephant, or the rhinoceros, we are loll in aftonifliment 

 at the contemplation of a mite, for in that animal there 

 is a more complicated ftru&ure, and a greater variety 

 of parts than in the larger animals ; and how mult this 

 aftonifliment increafe, when we contemplate by the 

 help of glafles, thole innumerable legions of animal- 

 (ula, compared to which, a mite may itfelf be regarded 

 as a kind of elephant. 



The opinion of Pliny on the minuter parts of Na- 

 ture is evident, from his own words. <f In his tarn 

 parvis tamque fere nullis quae ratio! quanta vis! quam 

 inextricabili$ perfect io I". 



The 



