PLATE XII. FISHES. FIG. 1. Callicthys 265 2. Pectoral bony ray of a Silurus, found in digging at Blakenham parva Rectory, in Suffolk PLATE XIII. FISHES (continued.) FIG. 1. Malthe Vespertilio 2. Lateral view of the head of do. 3. A species of fishing frog from China PLATE XIV. 263 262 262 3. Portion of do. to show the stitching of the leaves. PLATE XVI. QUADRUPEDS. Chlamyphorus truncatus 291 437 298 INTRODUCTION. THE Works of God and the Word of God may be called the two doors which open into the temple of Truth; and, as both proceed from the same Almighty and Omniscient Author, they cannot, if rightly interpreted, contradict each other, but must mutually illustrate and confirm, "though each in different sort and manner," the same truths. Doubtless it was with this conviction upon his mind, that the learned Professor,' from whom I have borrowed my motto, expresses his opinion-that in order rightly to understand the voice of God in nature, we ought to enter her temple with the Bible in our hands. The prescribed object of the several treatises, of which the present forms one, is the illustration of the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of the Deity, as manifested in the Works of Creation; but it is not only directed that these primary attributes should be proved by all reasonable arguments derived from physical objects, but also by discoveries ancient and modern, and the whole extent of literature. As the Holy Scriptures form the most interesting portion, in every respect, of ancient literature; and it has always been the habit of the author of the present treatise to unite the study of the word of God with that of his works; he trusts he shall not be deemed to have stepped out of the record, where he has copiously 1 The pious Heinrich Moritz Gaede, Professor of Natural History in the University of Liege. 2 See Monographia Apum Angliæ, i. 2, and Introd. to Ent. i. Pref. xiij. &c, drawn from the sacred fountains, provided the main tenor of his argument is in accordance with the brief put into his hands. Those who are disposed to unite the study of Scripture with that of nature, should always bear in mind the caution before alluded to, that all depends upon the right interpretation, either of the written word or created substance. They who study the word of God, and they who study his works, are equally liable to error; nor will talents, even of the highest order, always secure a man from falling into it. The love of truth, and of its Almighty Author, is the only sure guide that will conduct the aspirant to its purest fountains. High intellectual powers are a glorious gift of God, which, when associated with the qualities just named, lead to results as glorious, and to the light of real unsophisticated knowledge. But knowledge puffeth up, and if it stands alone, there is great danger of its leading its possessor into a kind of self-worship, and from thence to self-delusion, and the love of hypothesis. It is much to be lamented that many bright lights in science, some from leaning too much to their own understanding, and others, probably from having Religion shown to them, not with her own winning features, nor in her own simple dress, but with a distorted aspect, and decked meretriciously, so that she appears what she is not, without farther inquiry and without consulting her genuine records, have rejected her and fallen into grievous errors. To them might be applied our Saviour's words, Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures. These observations apply particularly to two of the most eminent philosophers of the present age, one for the depth of his knowledge in astronomy and general physics; and the other in zoology. It will be easily seen that I allude to La Place and Lamarck, both of whom, from their disregard of the word of God, and from seeking too exclusively their own glory, have fallen into errors of no small magnitude. It is singular, and 66 worthy of observation, that both have based their hypothesis upon a similar foundation. La place says, " An attentive inspection of the solar system evinces the necessity of some central paramount force, in order to maintain the entire system together, and secure the regularity of its motions." One would expect from these remarks, that he was about to enforce the necessity of acknowledging the necessary existence of an intelligent paramount central Being, whose goings forth were co-extensive with the universe of systems, to create them at first, and then maintain their several motions and revolutions, so as to prevent them from becoming eccentric and interfering with each other, thus-Upholding all things by the word of his power. But no-when he asks the question, What is the primitive cause ? instead of answering it immediately, he refers the reader for his hypothesis to a concluding note, in which we find that this primitive cause, instead of the Deity, is a nebulosity originally so diffuse, that its existence can with difficulty be conceived. To produce a system like ours, one of these wandering masses of nebulous matter distributed through the immensity of the heavens, is converted into a brilliant nucleus, with an atmosphere originally extending beyond the orbits of all its planets, and then gradually contracting itself, but at its successive limits leaving zones of vapours, which, by their condensation, formed the several planets and their satellites, including the rings of Saturn!!6 It is grievous to see talents of the very highest order, and to which Natural Philosophy, in other respects, is so deeply indebted, forsaking the Ens Entium, the God of gods, and ascribing the creation of the universe of worlds to a cause which, according to his own confession, is all but a non-entity, 1 System of the World, E. Tr. ii. 330. 2 lbid. Appendix, concluding note. 4 Ibid. 357. 6 Ibid. 358. He speaks, indeed, of a Supreme Intelligence, but it is as Newton's god,-whom he blames for attributing the admirable arrangement of the sun, of the planets, and of the comets, to an Intelligent and Almighty Being,1-and of an Author of Nature, not, however, as the preserver and upholder of the universe, but as perpetually receding, according as the boundaries of our knowledge are extended; thus expelling. as it were, the Deity from all care or concern about his own world. While the philosopher thus became vain in his imaginations, the naturalist attempted to account for the production of all the various forms and structures of plants and animals upon similar principles. Lamarck, distinguished by the variety of his talents and attainments, by the acuteness of his intellect, by the clearness of his conceptions, and remarkable for his intimate acquaintance with his subject, thus expresses his opinion as to the origin of the present system of organized beings. "We know, by observation, that the most simple organizations, whether vegetable or animal, are never met with but in minute gelatinous bodies, very supple and delilicate; in a word, only in frail bodies almost without consistence and mostly transparent." These minute bodies he supposes nature forms, in the waters, by the power of attraction; and that next, subtle and expansive fluids, such as caloric and electricity, penetrate these bodies, and enlarge the interstices of their agglutinated molecules, so as to form utricular cavities, and so produce irritability and life, followed by a power of absorption, by which they derive nutriment from without." The production of a new organ in one of these, so formed, animal bodies, he ascribes to a new want, which continues to stimulate; and of a new movement which that want produces and cherishes." He next relates how this can be effected. 1 System of the World, E. Tr. ii. 331. 3 lbid. 333. 2 Ibid. 332. 4 Anim. sans Vertèbr. i. 174. 5 lbid. 181. |