an exaggerated fuppofition, firce great numbers of those animals lay eggs by hundreds; the 765 females would produce the first year 7,650, the fecond 70, 500, the third 765,000, and fo progreflively.

Obferve,that among the infects without wings which I have juft enumerated, I have made no mention of maggots, caterpillars, aphides &c. which transform themfelves into winged infects. How many other forts of infects might not be found in different authors unknown to me, or whom I have not an oppor tunity of confulting! might not my calculation be infinitely encreafed by thofe that live in uninhabited countries, at the bottom of rivers, lakes and feas? If all thefe were known, furely we would find their numbers almost infinite.

But if all thefe infects multiplied every year according to the proportion stated above, and that this took place, without interruption, for five or fix years, what a prodigious number would not there then be in the world! What frightful devaftations would they not occafion! The ravages which a fingle army of locufts commits, aftonifhes and alarms us; but with what aftonifhment and alarm would we not be affected, were we to behold the mifchiefs which many hundred armies of infects, of different fpecies, would occafion, as numerous, and as dreadful as focufts!

The number of animals which this terraqueous globe of ours is capable of fuftaining, is determined by the extent of its furface. If in one year they were · to multiply to twice or three times their ufual number, the productions of the earth, proportioned to its furface, not being fufficient to maintain them, they would either die of hunger, or prey upon one another In order to prevent fuch an inconvenience, God hath wifely fet bounds to the life and multiplication of aniG 2

mals.

mals. Thofe which live long are not prolific, fo that the earth is not incommoded with their fpecies. But it is otherwife with thofe whofe lives are fhort. Accordingly infects which live but for a fhort time, produce multitudes of young. This numerous multiplication is likewife neceffary for them, as many of their eggs perifh by the injuries of the weather, and many ferye for food to other animals. So wife an ordination prevents the earth from being defolated by a greater number of animals than it can maintain, and preferves a juft proportion amongst its various inhabitants.

It is not without juftice, that the Scriptures give to God the title of Lord of Hofts. He is the Sovereign of legions of angels, of the armies of Heaven; of that multitude of birds which it has been fuppofed exceed five hundred fpecies; of the fifhes of the fea, and of the waters, of which one thousand different fpecies are known, and of thofe tribes of animals and ferpents, the fpecies of which amount to one hundred and fifty. However numerous thefe armies may be, thofe of the different fpecies of infects do not yield to them in that refpect. Lift up your eyes on high, "and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hoft by number: he cal"leth them all by names, by the greatnefs of his might, for that he is ftrong in power, not one faileth." ISA. XL. 26,

ous.

C

God has not manifefted his power only in the creation of this almoft infinite multitude of infects and other animals, but his wifdom is alfo confpicuWe have obferved that a too great multiplication would defolate the earth, which would not then be able to maintain them; but he has ordered it so that there is always a juft proportion, never too many nor too few. Without this wife provifion we might from time to time lofe certain fpecies of animals while

others

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others might multiply to fuch a degree as to become really hurtful. Can a balance fo equal, and in which we difcover fo much wifdom be the work of blind chance? Surely not: what is left to chance is never fixed, never regular. But here we behold a conftant and invariable proportion which can be nothing but the effect of a defign premeditated, and of a plan executed by an all wife and an almighty pow

er.

How many means has not the God of armies in ftore for chastifing the human race! All his legions are ready to fly at his command to execute his orders. To mention only the army of infects, how many means can he not employ to humble the pride of weak mortals! Thefe noxious creatures fometimes attack the greatest monarchs on their thrones, they defolate our fields, infeft our houses, and lead famine and death in their train. Though neceffary to a certain degree, their excefs is always pernicious. We fhould be in perpetual fear, did not we know that the Being who regulates their fecundity, loves us, and will not permit them to multiply beyond their proper bounds. We must not however flatter purselves too much. "All things work together "for good to the godly; but to finners they are turn"ed into evil. Fire, and hail, and famine and death, "all these were created for vengeance; the teeth of "wild beafts and fcorpions, ferpents and the fword,

punishing the wicked to deftruction. They rejoice "in his commandment, and are ready upon earth, when need is, and when his time is come, to obey his word." ECOLESIASTICUS XXXIX. 27. &c.

CHAP. V

CHAP. V.

OF THE RESPIRATION OF INSECTS.

RESPIRATION is that action of the lungs by which the air enters the bodies of animals and is expelled again without intermiffion. It is one of the most important functions of animal life, and without which no creature could fubfift; accordingly we find that every thing which lives refpires, or performs fome function nearly approaching to refpiration. It was the neceffity of this continual motion which determined the Creator to form in living creatures, thofe admirable organs which perform it. It is the fame neceffity too which makes us generally confound respiration with life, and confider these things as fo ftrictly combined that they can never exift apart. It is not merely in common language, that these two terms are confidered as fynonimous; the Scripture itself often ufes them indifferently. Mofes, meaning to indicate the deftruction of all animals by the waters of the deluge, fays that "all

flefh died that moved upon the earth, both of "fowl and of cattle, and of beaft, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, and of every

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man; all in whofe noftrils was the breath of life, "of all that was in the dry land died." GEN, vii. 21,22. David alfo expreffes himself in the fame manner, fpeaking of the death of animals; "if thou takest away their breath, they die and re"turn to their duft." PSAL. civ. 29. St Paul,

in the difcourfe he made at the Areopagus, like wife places refpiration among the best gifts of the Deity: he giveth to all life, and breath and all things."- ACT8 xvii. 25. An action fo neceffary, and which is at the fame time common to all animals, requires that I fhould ftop a moment to confider it, and endeavour to difplay all the fkill and the wifdom of him who is its author.

Some antient philofphers, fuppofing that infects had neither wind-pipe nor lungs, have denied their refpiration; but the air pump, invented by Otto Gerickin', and various experiments have convinced the modern's of the contrary. If we put an infect under the receiver of that inftrument and then pump out the air, it first grows weak and then dies. It is not therefore to be doubted but that infects like other animals have both wind-pipe and lungs. The first gives a free paffage to the air and the laft like a bellows inhale it when they dilate, and expell it when they contract. If we ftop the wind-pipe of animals they can no longer breathe and they die: the fame thing happens to infects when their refpiration is obftructed. All infects have not the wind pipe in the fame place of the body. In fome it is found at the mouth, others in the extremity of their body toward the tail, in which they differ from all other animals.

All forts of air are not proper for refpiration; it must be temperate; air either too thick or too thin would deftroy life; the one makes animals die in a very fhort time, and a too long abode in the other does not fail to produce the fame effect. But however neceffary air may be for life, fome there are which can difpenfe with it for four and twenty hours. If at the end of this period air is restored to them

they