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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 wifdom 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 endowing 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 structures 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 fling of the wafp, and the probofcis of the gnat! What might not larger animals do, when fuch as thefe can either ferve or injure you! Learn then to respect the Creator, even in thofe works that appear to you the most vile.'

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The enlightened among the heathen thought in the fame way with the fathers of the church. It does not become a reafonable man, fays Ariftoile, capriciously to blame the study of infects, nor to take a distaste at it from the trouble it occafions. Nothing in nature is mean; every thing is fubf lime, every thing worthy of admiration.'

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Pliny expreffes himself on the fame fubject in terms ftil ftronger, 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 otherwiie with those which by their fmallness feem to be almost nothing. It is in them we difcover the perfection of wisdom and of power. How could fpace enough be found in the body of a gnat, not to speak of other animals fill more minute, for thofe organs, that are the • inftruments of fo many different fenfations? Where could Nature find room for the organs of night; 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 the not fupplied the wings and the members, formed a ftomach and inteftines greedy of blood, efpecially 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 almoft 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 noise it makes when grinding the wood, it has deftined for food. The fize of the elephant astonishes us;

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we

· we view with admiration towers built on the back of that animal; we are furprised 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 most admirable. Her wifdom is no where more confpicuous than in her fmalleft works. There she unites herfelf as it were into a fingle point, and there the concentrates herfelf wholly. I beg there'fore of fuch of my readers who defpife thofe things, not to difdain the account I give of them; let them remember, that in nature there is nothing inconfiderable, nothing fuperfluous.'

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What would one think of an artift who fhould be able to reduce all the wheels and movements of a watch into fo fmall compafs, that the whole might be fet in a ring like a diamond? One would admire it without doubt: and indeed fuch a mafterpiece 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 wifdom of the Creator feem particularly confpicuous in the formation of the moft minute. Can we, then, justly neglect fuch a call upon our worship and adoration! However fmall thefe 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

Galen fupports with much found fenfe the rea foning I here ufe, and perfectly juftifies the conclufion. That great man fays, that the smaller things

the greater is their value, and that workman is the most to be prized, who can make in fmall compafs what others cannot make but in large. He relates to this purpofe, the inftance of a sculp tor 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 del. cacy, that the very reins of the horfes were to be feen, and although their limbs were not larger than thofe 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 herfes fo very minute.

I know that the ftudy I am to treat of is fubject to many inconveniences. Infects are not al ways to be found, many appear only at a particular time of the year, and that is fo fhort, that they are often gone before we are aware. Some efcape us by the velocity of their flight; others fhew themfelves only at night, and oblige us to watch for them at that feafon. Some live in places which are of difficult accefs or which we cannot at all reach others make their abode in fubftances which we fee but feldom. Ore may be within our power but its volume is fo diminutive, that the best mi croscope cannot difcover all its parts; or its poison

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ous nature will not allow us to become familiar with it. Befides, with what difficulty do we attempt to explore the interior ftructure of their bodies? The inftruments which anatomy has invented for diffection become ufelefs when we prepare to enter into a detail of the minute parts of the greater animals. How then is it poffible to obferve with precifion, the vifcera, the veins, the arteries, the fibres, and mufcles of creatures fo fmall, and fo delicate as infects? But thefe difficulties, however great they may appear, ought not to difcourage the Naturalift, nor prevail over the reafons that fhould urge him to profecute his researches. Those I have already mentioned, deferve his attention; thofe I fhall enumerate in the fequel, are not lefs important; and I flatter myfelf, that if, free from prejudice, he will deign to weigh them maturely, he will not condemn my attempt. Far from claffing me with that Emperor who fpent his life in catching flies, he will allow that the study of infects, in which I have engaged, is not unworthy my character as a Clergyman,

It will eafily be imagined that I must have had con. fiderable afliftances to enable me to profecute this flu. dy, which has for its object, the greatness and majesty of the Divine Being. It was neceffary in the first place to confult the facred Scriptures, and in the next, to penetrate into the bofom of Nature, to difcover in that treasure thofe marks of goodnefs, of wif dom and power which his hand has there fo richly lavifhed. It is true, that in this last part of my work, I have trode in the fteps of many wife and illuftrious men, and I

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