6

(ays St Auguftin,) is poffeffed of beauties pecu liar to itself. The more man confiders them, the more they excite his admiration, and the more they engage him to adore the Author of Nature, who has made every thing in wisdom, who has fubjected every thing to his power, and whole f goodness governs the whole. Thefe attributes are difcoverable in the very vileft of animals, which are defined by their nature to perifh, and whofe diffolution terrifies us. They are small, it is true, but the delicacy and arrangement of their parts is admirable. If we examine with attention a common fly, its agility will appear more furprising, than the fwiftnefs of a beast of prey at full fpeed; and with the fame attention, the ftrength of the camel will feem lefs wonderful than the labour of an ant."

If you talk of a stone, fays St Bafil, of a gnat cr of a bee, your difcourfe is a fort of demonftration of the power of him who formed them; for the wifdom of the workman generally manifefts itself He who hath ftretched hath hollowed the bed

in what is moft minute.

out the heavens, and who

of the ocean, is the fame who hath pierced the lling of the bee, to form a paffage for its poifon.?

St Jerome is equally clear: It is not only in the creation of the heavens, of the earth, of the Sun, and the fea, of elephants, camels, horfes and oxen, of tigers, bears, and lions, that the Creator is to be admired. He is not lefs great

6

.

$ great in the production of the fmalleft animals, fuch as ants, flies, gnats, and other infects, which we know better by fight than by name. The fame and the fame wisdom are remarkable in all.

power

It is without reason, fays Tertullian, that you despise those animals, whofe minuteness the great workman of Nature has recompenced by endow. ing them with industry and strength. By this he has fhewn that greatness may be found in the fmalleft things, as well as ftrength in weakness, to use the words of an apoftle. Imitate, if you can, the ftructures of the bee, the granaries of the ant, ⚫ the webs of the fpider, and the threads of the filk ⚫ worm! Put your patience to the proof, by endeavouring to fupport the infults of thofe animals which attack you even in your beds, the poison of the cantharides, the fting of the wafp, and the probofcis of the gnat! What might not larger animals do, when fuch as thefe can cither ferve or injure you! Learn then to refpect the Creator, even in thofe works that appear to you the most vile.'

a

The enlightened among the heathen thought in the fame way with the fathers of the church. It does not become a reasonable man, fays Ariftotle, capriciously to blame the ftudy of infects, nor to take a diftafte at it from the trouble it occafions. Nothing in nature is mean; every thing is fublime, every thing worthy of admiration.'

[6]

Pliny exprefies himself on the fame fubject in terms ftill stronger, and what he fays deferves particular attention. It is eafy. fays he, to conceive how Nature has given to bulky bodies the qualities we fee them poffefs. Enough of matter enters into the mafs, to contribute without difficulty to the formation of the various faculties with which the has endowed them; but it is otherwife with those which by their fmailnefs feem to be almost nothing. It is in them we discover the perfection of wisdom and of power. How could space enough be found in the body of a gnat, not to speak of other animals ftill more minute, for thofe organs, that are the • inftruments of fo many different fenfations? Where • could Nature find room for the organs of light; where for thofe of tafte and fmell? Where could fhe find matter for the organ of found, fo • fhrill and fo acute in that little animal? With what art has fhe not fupplied the wings and the ' members, formed a ftomach and inteftines greedy ' of blood, especially of the blood of man? With what industry has fhe not provided the means of fatisfying its appetite? She has furnished it with a weapon, and as if this inftrument, though almost imperceptible, was capable of variety of forms, fhe has beftowed on it a fharp point, and has hollowed it, that it might ferve as an inftrument for piercing, and a pump for fucking at the fame time. What teeth has fhe not given to the Teredo? Of this we may judge by the noife it makes when grinding the wood, it has deftined for food. The fize of the elephant astonishes us;

we

we view with admiration towers built on the back

of that animal; we are furprifed at the ftrength in 'the neck of an ox, and at the weight he can raise with his horns; the voracity of tigers amazes us, and we wonder at the mane of the lion. But it is not in thefe inftances that Nature appears moft 'admirable. Her wifdom is no where more confpicuous than in her smallest works. There fhe unites herself as it were into a fingle point, and ⚫ there fhe concentrates herself wholly. I beg therefore of fuch of my readers who despise those things, not to difdain the account I give of them;

let them remember, that in nature there is nothing inconfiderable, nothing fuperfluous.'

What would one think of an artist who fhould be able to reduce all the wheels and movements of a watch into fo small compafs, that the whole might be fet in a ring like a diamond? One would admire it without doubt; and indeed fuch a masterpiece would be worthy of admiration and would be prized far above a watch of the common fize. The fame thing may be faid of animals. The power and wisdom of the Creator feem particularly con-. fpicuous in the formation of the moft minute. Can we, then, jufly neglect fuch a call upon our worfhip and adoration ! However fmall these creatures are, even those which are with difficulty discovered by the aid of the microfcope, they have all the parts that are neceffary for them; they have all articulations, muscles, and nerves; and all are covered with a fkin fuited to their condition.

Galen

P

Galen fupports with much found fenfe the rea foning I here ufe, and perfectly justifies the conclu fion. That great man fays, that the fmaller things are, the greater is their value, and that workman is the moft to be prized, who can make in small compass what others cannot make but in large. He relates to this purpose, the inftance of a sculptor of his time who reprefented, on a ring, the fi gure of Phaeton in a chariot drawn by four horfes. The work was executed with fo much deli. cacy, that the very reins of the horfes were to be feen, and although their limbs were not larger than those of a flea, the teeth in their mouths were vifible. From this Galen takes occafion to remark the infinite diftance between the power of the creature, and that of the Creator, between the wifdom of the Being who formed the flea, and the fkill of the fculptor, who had reprefented horfes fo very minute.

I know that the ftudy I am to treat of is fub. ject to many inconveniences. Infects are not al only at a particular

ways to be found, many appear time of the year, and that is fo fhort, that they are often gone before we are aware. Some escape us by the velocity of their flight; others fhew themfelves only at night, and oblige us to watch for them at that feafen. Scme live in places which are of difficult accefs or which we cannot at all teach others make their abode in fubftances which we fee but feldom. One may be within our power, but its volume is fo diminutive, that the best mi. crofcope cannot difcover all its parts; or its poison

ous