網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

fimilar cafes, devoured one another. Jealousy is often the caufe of their fatal contentions; the male grafshoppers, and thofe of moft other infects, fight together for the poffeffion of a female. The ichneumons, which depofite their eggs in the bodies of caterpil lars, and which, for this purpofe, pierce them deeply with their flings, excite them by the pain to defend themselves.

It is faid, that fome infects have an averfion, and natural antipathy to certain animals, and many examples of this kind are related. No fly, it is faid, ever enters into a houfe, where the head or tail of a wolf is fufpended. Scorpions have an averfion at crocodiles, fpiders at toads, and when these animals appear, they dart upon, and kill them.

Some infects are fubject to the ftone. It is not doubted, but that this is the cafe with fome spiders; but the question is, whether the ftones can be found, and in what manner. Doctor Sennertus fays, that the infect must be put into a glass, full of Valerian root bruifed. Others fay, that it will be fufficicient to put that root under their webs. However

this may be, Doctor Simon Pauli being at Wittemberg, found a spider, as large as a nutmeg, which he put into a glafs with the above mentioned preparation; but, contrary to his expectation, the animal yielded no ftone. From this experiment he concludes, with too much precipitation, that what has been said of the ftone in fpiders, is a fable: for Doctor John Franck inclofed fifteen fpiders in a glass, with the prescribed precautions; they left there a ftone of an afh colour, with fmall black fpecks. This experiment fhews, that though all thefe infects are not affected with the stone, fome are. Lastly, it appears from the mufæum of Olaus Wormius, that a Brazilian infect, called the fea loufe, which fucks

the

the fifh called Acarambitamba, is fubject to the fame disease. Worinius himfelf had one of the ftones.

The regularity obfervable in the different members of infects, gave me an opportunity, in the last chapter, of remarking the infinite power, the wifdom, and the liberty of the Creator. The fubject

treated of in the prefent, is a no lefs fruitful fource of reflection. Man, accustomed to fee the fame objects every day, beholds them without regard; the moft ftriking proofs of the unlimited power and wifdom of the Deity, make no impreffion on his mind, when they become familiar to it. To draw him from his lethargy, he must be roufed by fome appearance extraordinary, fingular or important. All Nature teems with inftances of the power, the wif dom, the goodness of God, which bear alfo a character of novelty: it is neceflary, only to develope them, and to prefent them to the understanding. The fingular qualities of many animals, and of diverfe infects in particular, are of this number. It would appear, that the divine wisdom has endowed them with these perfections, folely with the view of exciting our attention, and of elevating our minds to the contemplation of the wonders of Nature. The duty of a true Christian is to conform to those invitations, and to acknowledge, in those fingular productions, the power and wifdom of a divine Author.

Let us fix our attention, in the first place, on the wonderful and almost infinite minutenefs of many infects. Because they do not approach to the fize of an elephant or a whale, or fome other animal of great bulk, are they lefs the production of a divine hand? I own that thefe large animals are Colof fufes, and deferve a marked attention; but infects, thofe minute inhabitants of the world, bear ftill more

admirable

admirable marks of power and wifdom. Is there not more art discoverable in the ftructure of the teeth of a Dermeftes than in that of the tufks of a boar? Is there not more beauty in the wings of fome butterflies, than in thofe of the peacock? How does the little excell the great, when we compare the head of a grafshopper with that of a horfe, the trunk of a flea, with the probofcis of an elephant! Whoever fhall reflect seriously on all this, will find that the powerful hand of the Creator is in every thing worthy of the higheft admiration; that it is no lefs confpicuous, to fay no more, in the fructure of a mite than in the formation of a Behemoth. We admire the fkill of a workman who can execute a piece of mechanifm fo minute as to be hardly dicernible by the eye, and with juftice. It is more difficult to make a chain fo finall hat a flea may be bound by it, than one fit to drag along a waggon; there is more dexterity required in moulding the figure of a small fly than in carving the image of an elephant. Let us therefore admire with deep humiliation the wifdom of God which is grand in great things, but which is no les fo in fmall. How great is the difference between his works and those of the most skilful artifts! We have already had occafion to make the remark Can they give to the mafterpieces of their hands thofe internal organs by which the works of nature execute all their motions? Can they polish the external furface of their production fo as to make them any way comparable to those of the Creator? However polifhed theirs may be, in comparifon with his they will always appear rough and rugged. Let us likewife compare the finalinefs of the things moft artificially constructed by human hands, with thofe fmall machines endowed with life and motion Let us compare them with the bodies of thote minute animals of which Lecuenhoeck difcovered many milions in a fingle

drop

drop of water; and his difcovery we cannot difcredit, for many learned men after him have made the fame experiments. Robert Hook, and many others affure us, that in one drop of water, of the fize of a grain of millet, there have been difcovered fometimes ten, fometimes thirty. and fometimes five and forty thousand of these animalculæ Do thefe owe their existence to chance? It would be ridiculous to fuppofe it; for chance cannot beftow a regular figure, nor arrange members in juft proportion, nor confer the faculty of propagation. Shali it be faid that they have been formed by other creatufes? But have thefe that infinite power which is neceflary for creation? Let it be our dutyto acknowledge that no caufe for their ex iftence can be affigned but God alone. He who hath iven the Sun its light to fhine by day; he who hath commanded the Moon and Stars to enlighten the night, is the fame who hath beftowed on certain infects, for certain purposes, the faculty of appearing luminous in the dark. The fame Creator who hath given to man the power of fpeech, to quadrupeds and birds their different voices, has given to infe&ts the power of producing certain founds. He who hath given to mufk its flavour, and to the animal we mentioned above, the power of diffeminating its offenfive eflluvia, is alfo the caufe of the different fmells which exhale from the bodies of infects. In fhort, the fame hand that hath impreffed upon minerals, on fifhes and on plants, the quality of yielding different colours for dying, is the fame who hath beflowed the fame qualities on different infects. And as we fee that there is not one of thofe particular qualities but what is bestowed for fome purpose, and a certain end, we cannot but acknowledge that the whole is directed by a wife being, who has formed one plan and purfued one defign, and who hath executed the whole with perfect precifion.

1

CHA P. IV.

OF THE BEAUTY OF MOST INSECTS.

NATURE furnishes every thing which can contribute to the gratification of our fenfes. There are creatures which it gives us pleasure to touch; we are delighted with the voices of others; there are fome which exhale the most agreeable perfumes, the taste of fome pleafes our palate, and the beauty of many charms the eye. Infects, otherwife fo defpifed, are well fitted to minifter to our gratification in this last respect. I have had occafion, in some of the former Chapters, to treat of that particular beauty which confifts in the juft proportion and judicious adaptation of their feveral members. Not to fall into ufelefs repetitions, I fhall confine myself here to the beauty of their colours, to the skill with which they are arranged, to the delicacy of each particular tint, and in general, to the admirable difpofition of the whole.

The brilliancy of thofe colours is particularly remarkable on their bodies and wings. It is true that we often find but one colour on the bodies of infects, but in fome it is fo beautiful and fhining that it furpaffes the finest varnish. Each part of the body has its particular colour, but all equally beautiful. I mean, for example, a certain fly, whofe back is like

polished

« 上一頁繼續 »