LIFE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



"The works of the Lord are great;" but we must not 

 estimate this greatness by their actual dimensions ; else a 

 man would be of less importance than a hippopotamus, and 

 the Bass Rock would be immensely more valuable than 

 either. It is a greatness not measurable by rule and line ; 

 not to be determined by bulk and weight ; it is to be 

 estimated by far other qualities, — by the relative import- 

 ance which the objects bear to each other, by the variety 

 and complexity of their parts, by the elaborateness with 

 which they are constructed, by their fitness for the pur- 

 poses which they are destined to subserve, and especially 

 by the degree in which they shew forth the power, wisdom, 

 skill, and goodness of Him who made them for His own 

 glory. Many of the animals of which we are about to speak 

 are so minute that the unassisted eye takes no cognisance 

 of their presence ; yet most of these, — perhaps all, if we 

 were able to investigate them, — are so curiously fashioned, 



