18 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Wonderful regularity in the formation of the chick. 



During this whole process, every part appears 

 exactly at its proper time ; if, for example, the 

 liver is formed on the fifth day > it is founded on 

 the preceding situation of the chicken, and on 

 the changes that were to follow. No part of the 

 body could possibly appear either sooner or later, 

 without the whole embryo suffering; and each 

 of the limbs becomes visible at the fit moment. 

 This ordination, so wise, and so invariable, is 

 manifestly the work of a Supreme Being: but 

 we must still more sensibly acknowledge his 

 creative powers, when we consider the manner in 

 which the chicken is formed out of the parts 

 which compose the egg. How astonishing must 

 it appear, to an observing mind, that in this sub- 

 stance there should be, at all, the vital principle, 

 of an animated being. That all the parts of an 

 animal's body should be concealed in it, and re- 

 quire nothing but heat to unfold and quicken 

 them. That the whole formation of the chicken 

 should be so constant and regular. That, ex* 

 actly at the same time, the same changes wife 

 take place in the^geaerality of eggs. That the 

 chicken, the moment i^Js hatched, is heavier 

 than the egg was before r 



