have, in former Periods, occupied our Planet, afford in their fossil remains, the same evidences of contrivance and design that have been shown by Ray, Derham, and Paley, to pervade the structure of existing Genera and species of organized Beings.
From the high preservation in which we find the remains of animals and vegetables of each geological formation, and the exquisite mechanism which appears in many fossil fragments of their organization, we may collect an infinity of arguments, to show that the creatures from which all these are derived were constructed with a view to the varying conditions of the surface of the Earth, and to its gradually increasing capabilities of sustaining more complex forms of organic life, advancing through successive stages of perfection.[1]
- ↑ When we speak of different forms of animal life, as possessing various degrees of perfection, we do not impute to any creature the presence of absolute imperfection, we mean only, that animals of more simple structure discharge a lower office in the gradually descending scale of animated beings. All perfection has relation to the object proposed to be attained by each form of organization that occurs in nature, and nothing can be called imperfect which fully accomplishes the end proposed: thus a Polype, or an Oyster, are as perfectly adapted to their functions at the bottom of the sea, as the wings of the Eagle are perfect, as organs of rapid passage through the air, and the feet of the stag perfect, in regard to their functions of effecting swift locomotion upon the land.
Unusual deviations from ordinary structure appear monstrosities only, until considered with reference to their peculiar use, but are proved to be instruments of perfect contrivance, when we understand the nature of the service to which they are applied: thus; the beak of the Cross Bill (Loxia curvirostra, Linn.) would be an awkward instrument if applied to the ordinary service of the beaks of the Passerine Order, to which this bird belongs; but viewed in relation to its peculiar function of extracting seeds from between the indurated scales of Fir cones, it is at once seen to be an instrument of perfect adaptation to its intended work.
The Perfection of an organized Body is usually considered to be in proportion to the Variety and compound Nature of its parts, as the imperfection is usually considered to be in the Ratio of its Simplicity.
