9b PARTICULAR CONSIDERATIONS ON THE 



was added in the era of the new red sandstone, when the 

 earth had become suited for such a creature, so may these 1 

 creatures have been added when media, suitable for their 

 existence arose, and that such phenomena may take place 

 any day, the only cause for their taking place seldom be- 

 ing the rarity of the rise of new physical conditions on a 

 globe which seems to have already undergone the princi- 

 pal part of its destined mutations ? 



Between such isolated facts and the greater changes 

 which attended various geological eras, it is not easy to 

 see any difference, besides simply that of the scale on 

 which the respective phenomena took place, as the throw- 

 ing off of one copy from an engraved plate is exactly the 

 same process as that by which a thousand are thrown off. 

 Nothing is more easy to conceive than that to Creative 

 Providence the numbers of such phenomena, the time 

 when, and the circumstances under which they take place, 

 are indifferent matters. The Eternal One has arranged 

 for everything beforehand, and trusted all to the opera- 

 tion of the laws of his appointment, himself being ever 

 present in all things. We can even conceive that man, 

 in his many doings upon the surface of the earth, may 

 occasionally, without his being aware of it, or otherwise, 

 act as an instrument in preparing the association of con- 

 ditions under which the creative laws work ; and perhaps 

 some instances of his having acted as such an instrument 

 have actually occurred in our own time. 



I allude, of course, to the experiments conducted a few 

 years ago, by Mr. Crosse, which seemed to result in the 

 production of the heretofore unknown species of insect in 

 considerable numbers. Various causes have prevented 

 these experiments and their results from receiving candid 

 treatment, but they may perhaps be yet found to have 

 opened up a new and most interesting chapter of nature's 

 mysteries. Mr. Crosse was pursuing some experiments 

 in crystallization, causing a powerful voltaic battery to 

 operate upon a saturated solution of silicate of potash, 

 when the insects unexpectedly made their appearance. 

 He afterwards tried nitrate of copper, which is a deadly 

 poison, and from that fluid also did live insects emerge 

 Discouraged by the reception of his experiments. Mr 

 Crosse soon discontinued them ; but they were some years 

 after pursued by Mr. Weekes, of Sandwich, with pre- 

 ciselv the same results. This gentleman, besides trying 



