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move^ and have our being. Take away the Unseen and the 
Supernatural^, and all would resolve itself into chaos. 
By no effort of ours could we force a single atom to combine 
otherwise than in accord with its nature. It is otherwise with 
organized nature. In this realm we are permitted to be to a 
certain extent creators, in so far that many of the most useful 
plants, and fruits, and grains are not exactly such as they are 
given to us by nature, but modified by art. Scientists have 
overcome the repugnance which God has implanted in animals 
to union with divergent types, and produced thus some 
monstrous results, of which the so-called Lejjorides (half 
rabbit half hare) j were a short-lived example.* In all these 
artificial variations, however, there is wanting that fixity of 
organization which belongs to the primitive type. This is 
shown by the continual tendency to relapse into the wild or 
natural state. 
Every creature has its nature, and rejoices in the perfect- 
ness of that nature. The personal will and identity of the 
bird is as manifest as in that of the man ; God having so 
decreed that each life that he has given should be in its 
measure a reflection of his own ever-blessed existence. 
The following anecdote illustrates my meaning. The writerf 
is relating how he had undertaken to make an artificial dove 
which was to sustain itself in the air by means of an ingenious 
mechanism : — 
“I had wrought unceasingly at its construction for more than three 
months. The day was come for the trial. I placed it on the edge of a 
table, after having carefully closed the doors, in order to keep the discovery 
secret, and to give my friend a pleasing surprise. A thread held the 
mechanism motionless. Who can conceive the palpitations of my heart, and 
the agonies of my self-love, when I brought the scissors near to cut the fatal 
bond ? Zest ! the spring of the dove starts, and begins to unroll itself with 
a noise. I lift my eyes to see the bird pass, but after making a few turns 
over and over, it falls, and goes to hide itself under the table. Eosine, my 
dog, who was keeping there, moves ruefully away. Eosine, who never sees 
a chicken, or a pigeon, without attacking and pursuing it, did not deign even 
to look at my clove, which was floundering on the floor. This gave the 
finishing stroke to my self-esteem. I went to take an airing on the ramparts. 
I was walking up and down, sad and out of spirits, as one always is after a 
great hope disappointed, when, raising my eyes, I perceived a flight of cranes 
passing over my head. I stopped to have a good look at them. They were 
advancing in triangular order, like the English column at the battle of 
Fontenoy. I saw them traverse the sky from cloud to cloud. All ! how 
well they fly, said I to myself. With what assurance they seem to glide 
along the viewless path which they follow. Shall I confess it ? Alas ! may 
I be forgiven ! The horrible feeling of envy for once, once only, entered my 
* See Dr. Lucas, Heredite Naturelle. T. ii., 201. 
t Zavier de Maistre, quoted by E. Naville, Lecture iv., 1863, Geneva. 
