226 
THE HARMONY OF THE CREATION. 
19 July, 
before or since. Of that very curious flower, Codon Royeni, I saw 
but one plant ; and of this I brought away the whole. It is a 
remarkable coincidence, which, not having in my waggon any books 
of travels, I was not aware of at the time, that Thunberg should also 
have met with no more than a single plant, although anxious to pro- 
cure more. * Geranium spinosum, with a fleshy stem and large white 
flowers, was more abundant, and well deserved its name ; and a 
succulent species o£ Pelargonium was so defended by the old panicles, 
grown to hard woody thorns, that no cattle could browze upon it. 
In this arid countrj^, where every juicy vegetable would soon be 
eaten up by the wild animals, the Great Creating Power, with all- 
provident wisdom, has given to such plants either an acrid or poison-r 
ous juice, or sharp thorns, to preserve the species from annihilation 
in those regions, where, for good and wise purposes, they have been 
placed. The harmony which pervades every part of the universe, is 
not less wonderful and beautiful in the distribution of animals and 
vegetables over the face of the globe, than in the planetary system, 
and in the sublime arrangement of myriads of worlds throughout the 
inconceivable infinity of space. When we permit ourselves to con- 
template the great designs of the creation, all our boasted knowledge 
of Nature appears only as the ideas and the knowledge of children. 
Too intent on some little parts of the edifice, we often remain totally 
ignorant of the proportions and perfect symmetry of the whole. In 
the wide system of created objects, nothing is wanting, nothing is 
superfluous : the smallest weed or insect is as indispensably neces- 
sary to the general good, as the largest object we behold. Each has 
its peculiar part to perform, conducive ultimately to the well-being 
of all. Nothing more bespeaks a littleness of mind, and a narrow- 
ness of ideas, than the admiring of a production of Nature, merely 
for its magnitude, or the despising of one, merely for its minuteness : 
nothing more erroneous than to regard as useless, ^11 that does not 
visibly tend to the benefit of man. 
• Thunberg's Travels, vol. ii. p. 147. 
