18 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



nifested in their structure, and adore that Almighty 

 power and goodness which by a wonderful machinery, 

 kept in motion by the constant action and re-action of 

 the great positive and negative powers of Nature, main- 

 tains in full force the circulations necessary to life, per- 

 ception, and enjoyment ; yet as there seems no dispro- 

 portion between the objects and the different operations 

 that are going on in them, and we see that they afford 

 sufficient space for the play of their systems, we do not 

 experience the same sensations of wonder and astonish- 

 ment that strike us when we behold similar operations 

 carried on without interruption in animals scarcely visi- 

 ble to the naked eye. That creatures, which in the scale 

 of being are next to non-entities, should be elaborated 

 with so much art and contrivance, have such a number 

 of parts both internal and external, all so highly finished 

 and each so nicely calculated to answer its end ; that 

 they should include in this evanescent form such a va- 

 riety of organs of perception and instruments of motion, 

 exceeding in number and peculiarity of structure those 

 of other animals ; that their nervous and respiratory sy- 

 stems should be so complex, their secretory and digestive 

 vessels so various and singular, their parts of generation 

 so clearly developed, and that these minims of nature 

 should be endowed with instincts in many cases superior 

 to all our boasted powers of intellect — truly these won- 

 ders and miracles declare to every one who attends to 

 the subject, " The hand that made us is divine." We 

 are the work of a Being infinite in power, in wisdom, 

 and in goodness. 



But no religious doctrine is more strongly established 

 by the history of insects than that of a superintending 



