336 
ACCIDENTAL ECONOMY IN NATURE. 
mistake accidental benevolent results in nature for 
intentional ends in the great schemes of economy 
and providence I will not however affirm that 
* This accidental description of natural economy has not yet 
been properly noticed,—it has been distinguished only in the 
current reflections of naturalists, and never systematized. 
In the process of reasoning there is a simple eflort to connect 
cause and effect, and carrying this mental process into the observance 
of nature we too often unite or link together circumstances having 
no ordained connexion in the system of the world,—we find an 
accidental meeting and agreement of facts having no intentional 
relationship, in the same way as fortuitous disagreements and 
departures from accustomed courses occur to us also occasionally, 
in nature. On due enquiry and comparison of a suspicious 
piece of economy with the ordinary situations and conditions 
of the respective subjects, our error may in general he corrected. 
Perfectly in unison with the sentiments entertained by myself 
relative to the proper way of pursuing the study of Natural 
History, I find thatSir G. Mackenzie (“ Illustrations of Phrenology,” 
p. 193,) observes, “ while some naturalists pursue with avidity 
the open ways that lead directly to the knowledge of the forms 
and distinctions of external objects they add little to the expansion 
of our minds, though much to the stock of our knowledge. Others 
when they see an effect are not content with the mere fact, but 
begin immediately an attempt to trace the chain which binds it to 
a cause with the view to discover that cause; and they put all 
their mental faculties into action.” 
Instances of this accidental economy are witnessed not unfre- 
quently in a truly natural state, but it is principally observed 
with animals and plants removed from a wild condition to 
domestication and cultivation. The reason of its frequent notice 
under the latter circumstances must be obvious, since by their 
removal from a state of nature they become exposed more abund¬ 
antly and more effectually to promiscuous conditions around 
which often are at discord with them, but which often also produce a 
