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The one is not more impoffible than the other; nay there would be a neceffity that the thing fhould actually happen in order to preferve uniformity in the economy of nature. The partifans of the fyftem however, cannot bring a fingle probable fact to fhew that the first man was formed either by a concourfe of atoms, or by the heat of the Sun. How than can they pretend to affign fuch an origin to Infects whofe organs and ftructure are not lefs admirable than those of the human body? But we have faid enough to convince any reafonable mind that creation is the work of a power different from any thing that falls under the obfervation of our fenfes. This truth is obvious to the flighteft reflection, to wit, that all animals at prefent exifting have defcended by regular generation from thofe which originally received from the hand of God, their figure, their form, their parts, their life and their faculties.

CHA P. II.

DEFINITION OF AN INSECT.

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In order to give an accurate defcription of infects we ought to be intimately acquainted with them; but we are fo fhort fighted, our intellects are fo limited, that in general we only fee objects by halves. little knowledge cofts us an infinite deal of labour, and fometimes the fubjects we endeavour to get acquainted with prefent unfurmountable obftacles to our refearch. This is the cafe with infects, fo that while

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while we confine ourselves to defcribe their external parts, it is but juft that allowance fhould be made for our defects.

There is a strong analogy between infects and plants. The latter originate from a feed which is nothing but a hufk in which plants, however large they may be when grown, are found entire: Infects iffue from an egg enveloped in its fhell, which enclofes them in all their proportions. Plants grow daily by the acceffion of alimentary particles; infects are developed, fwell and increafe by means of a nutritive juice. Plants at firft put forth a ftem, and afterwards cloathe themfelves with leaves; infects begin by appearing in the form of a worm, and then acquire wings. The leaves of plants are full of neryes, which divide into a multitude of ramifications; the wings of infects have likewife a vast number of. fimilar nerves. Leaves differ from one another in form, and in the finuations of their margin; wings likewise are varied by their configuration, and by the manner in which their extremities are indented. Plants push out flower-buds. Infects become Nymphs and Chryfalids. As thofe buds after having flowered give fruit in their maturity; nymphs and chryfalids after a certain time produce perfect infects. Laftly, as fruits contain the feeds proper for perpetuating the fpecies of plant which produces them, infects when arrived at their ftate of perfection carry alfo within them the feed from which fimilar infects are to be generated.

Notwithstanding this ftriking conformity between plants and infects, the latter must not be ranged in the clafs of vegetables. They are an order of be ings higher in the fcale than plants, and we cannot hefitate in claffing them with animals. One of our chief reafons for placing them in this rank is their

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being capable of voluntary motion, whereas plants are rooted to one fpot. They have a power of go ing in fearch of food at their pleasure; but vegetables can only draw theirs from the fpot on which they are placed.

Let it be attended to in general that God hath fo reftrained the operations of nature that, of the three kingdoms of which it is compofed, none of them can encroach on the rights of another. We never fee animals become plants, nor plants degenerate into foffils. All maintain the rank which the Creator hath affigned them without being able to quit it. It is remarkable, however, that the matter of which thefe three kingdoms are compofed is the fame, and that it differs only in the arrangement which the wifdom of God hath thought proper to give it. The Scriptures do not fuffer us to be ignorant of what that matter is. "The earth was without form and

void, and the fpirit of God moved on the face of "the waters." GEN. 1. 2. Thefe then are the principles of which God compofed the three kingdoms of nature Of the elements of earth and water, are produced minerals, plants and animals of every kind. Of the combinations which the Creator made of thefe, we fee grow," the herb bearing feed, the "fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind; the mo

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ving creature, that hath life, and fowl that fly a"bove the earth in the open firmament of Heaven, "and every living creature that moveth." We may go farther, and fay that all things originate from water, fince the facred writers have affured us that the earth was compofed cf it, by the power of the Creator." He commanded the waters under the Heavens to be gathered together unto one place, and the dry land to appear; and it was fo, and God called "the dry land earth." The earth, fays St Peter, rofe out of the water, and it fubfifts in the water

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by the word of God." The confequence to be drawn from this is. that the fubjects of the three kingdoms of nature differ from one another only accidentally. Indeed it may be faid that minerals are only fixed vegetables; that vegetables are volatile minerals and fixed animals; laftly that animals are volatile vegetables that can transport themfelves from one place to another according as they have occafion. The whole of thefe bodies fuffer continual changes; vegetables ferve for food to animals, and are converted by digeftion into the fubftance of the animal which they nourish. This animal dies and returns to the kingcom of fofsils fince it is changed into carth, and then rifes again in the form of a vegetable. Minerals likewife ferve for the food of plants. Vapours exhale from the bofom of the earth, which infinuating themfelves through the roots of vegetables, contribute to their growth; and in this way minerals become plants.

These continual transformations evidently fhew that the matter of which the three kingdoms are com pofed is the fame. But this is ftill more fenfibly per ceived in the diffolution of thefe bodies. Every thing that exifts is compofed of the fame matter into which if refolves itself; this is a principle that is not contested. What we find then in the diffolution of bodies ought to pass for the matter of which they are compofed. Now according to this idea we shall find that plants and animals are formed of water and of earth; for, in the diffolution which takes place daily in these bodies, they at first resolve themselves into water by the corruption of their particles, and when that humidity is evaporated there remains nothing but a mafs of earth. But further we may venture to affirm that it would be impofible by art to dispose minerals to undergo the firft effects of this diffolu

tion. A famous Chemist, a man worthy of credit, has at least affured me that they may be reduced to the state of water. I think myself therefore ftill the more intitled to conclude that all bodies without exception are compofed of the fame matter and are de rived from the fame origin.

The distance between the two kingdoms is fo very indiftin&t that it is difficult to fay where the one ends and the other begins. We fee for inftance that corals are the limits between the mineral and the vegetable kingdoms. They are minerals in matter and hard. ness, vegetables in their manner of growth; and this has made them be claffed as marine plants. The paffage from vegetables to animals is not lefs abrupt. Here we find the Zoophytes which the old Botanifts fup. pofed to be as much related to animals as to plants. Here alfo we find In'ects which in many circum ftances approach to the nature of vegetables but which in others fo nearly refemble animals that it is impoffible to deny them a place in that kingdom.

On examining infects we find that they are not furnished with bones like other animals, nor indeed have they any occafion for fuch. Let large and heavy bodies enjoy thefe for the purpofe of fupporting their mafs of flesh, and of preventing them from finking under their burthen. But to light and small bodies like thofe of infects, whofe fubftance properly fpeaking is not flefh, and which fupport themfelves fufficiently, bones would be of no ufe. It is likewife peculiar to infects to be deftitute of blood. That which is feen on killing a flea or a bug, is only what they have pillaged from fome other animal. They have however a fort of lymph, which performs to them the fame animal functions which the blood does to others.

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