starry heavens, and who, though surrounded by myriads of angels and cherubims, deigns, through the glory of numerous suns, to look down with compassion upon the sufferings of human nature, and cheer the heart of man with Divine consolation. Glory be to God the Father, and the Son, for ever and ever!*

NOVEMBER XVII.

Lobsters.

LOBSTERS would be very deserving of our attention, even if they were of no use to us as an article of food. The females of these crustaceous animals, a little before this period of the year, undergo a great change. They cast off their old coverings, and acquire new ones: in thus changing their covering, they at the same time increase in size; and this manner of growing is peculiar to all crustaceous animals, which augment in bulk every time they throw off their old shells; and the operation is very painful. At the time of their change, their stomach also is renewed; for both it and the intestines are then detached from the body: they gradually dissipate, and it would appear that the animal, during that change, fed upon the parts which before were subservient to digestion. The small white and round stones, which are improperly called crab's eyes, begin to form when the stomach is destroyed, and are afterward enveloped in the new one, where they continually diminish in size, till at length they entirely disappear. There is reason to believe that the animal makes use of them as a remedy against the diseases of its stomach, or that perhaps they are the receptacle which supplies the matter which they use to repair the loss of their shells.

Except at the time when they cast their shells, these animals keep at the bottom of the water, at a little distance from the shore. In winter they prefer the bottom of deep water, but in summer approach nearer the shore, if the want of food does not oblige them to plunge deeper in the sea. To enable them more easily so seize their prey, na

*The translator has ventured to differ from the original very materially in the above reflection, which too nearly resembles one already written to be repeated, and must have escaped the author's attention.

ture has given them several arms and legs. Some of their claws at times are as large as the head and trunk taken together. They also possess the singular property of reproducing their claws and horns, when they have been broken; they can even get rid of them when they are troublesome. They can perform this operation in any posture; but it is more easily effected when they lie on their backs, and the shell is broken, and the flesh bruised with strong pincers at the third or fourth joint of the claw. Immediately after the wound, the animal bleeds; the pain causes a general shaking of the limb, and soon afterward the wounded part detaches itself suddenly from the body. When the claw has been broken, a gelatinous substance oozes out, and staunches the blood; and if this was taken away, the animal would bleed to death. This gelatinous matter envelopes the rudiments of the new limb, which at first appears only like an excrescence, or small cone; and gradually becoming longer, takes the form of a limb, thus replacing the old one.

The manner in which these animals are propagated is very singular. The male carries the prolific matter in a very long thread. What chiefly distinguishes it is a double hook under the tail, which is not observable in the female. These animals are impregnated about autumn; and if at that time a female lobster is opened, the evidences of impregnation are perceived by the presence of several red clots. These gradually disappear; and under the tail, where the female has several little fibres, small round eggs are seen, resembling hemp-seed. The first eggs are visible in December, and soon amount to more than a hundred. As the warmth of the air increases, they grow larger, and before Midsummer small live lobsters are found amongst the eggs, of the size of an ant, and which remaining attached to the fibres, under the mother's tail, are fostered there till all the eggs are hatched. They then detach themselves from these fibres, and clinging to those of the roots of trees and herbs, which grow in the water near the shore, they there remain enveloped, till they are sufficiently large and strong to abandon themselves to the waves.

The lobster may justly be regarded as one of the most extraordinary creatures that exists on the earth. An animal, whose skin is a stone, which it casts off every year, and receives a new covering; an animal, whose flesh is in

its tail and feet, and its hair within its breast; whose stomach is in its head, and is yearly renewed, whilst the first function of the new stomach is to digest the old one; an animal that carries its eggs in the interior of the body while they are unimpregnated, but when that operation has taken place carries them externally under its tail; an animal, with two stones in its stomach, which are there engendered, and receive their growth, and upon which it feeds till they are consumed; an animal, which of itself can get rid of its limbs when they are inconvenient, and which replaces them with others, and whose eyes are placed on long moveable horns; must ever be regarded as a most singular creature, furnishing us with new motives of admiring and adoring the wisdom and power of the Almighty Creator.

NOVEMBER XVIII.

Advantageous Situation of all the Purts of the
Human Body.

If we attentively examine the different parts which compose the human body, we shall find that they are situated in the most convenient manner for their different uses. It belonged to the Creator to arrange them as seemed best to him, and his wisdom has assigned to every member that place which is most proper for it; and in forming our bodies, he has not only provided for their necessities and convenience, but he has also paid attention to their beauty and ornament.

With regard to our wants, it is manifest that all the parts of our body are situated in the most convenient manner. Our body was to be a machine, capable of moving of itself, by the power given to it, without the necessity of receiving an impulse from an external force. It was requisite that our limbs should execute with promptitude and celerity the volitions of our soul. All the bones are united to each other; and that we may easily use our limbs, extend or shorten the arm, lower or raise ourselves at pleasure, the bones are divided into several articulations, and each one is terminated by a round head, which is received into a cavity formed for it in another bone, and it moves in this

without any inconvenience, because it is covered with a smooth and polished cartilage, and moistened by an oily fluid, which thus prevents the cartilage's suffering from friction. It is very remarkable that these bones are yet so firmly fixed in their sockets, that they do not slip, and move from each other, though the feet have to support such a heavy burden, and the hands are sometimes obliged to bear very heavy weights.

God has also provided for our convenience in the arrangement and disposition of the different parts of our body. The determinations and desires of the soul may be executed by the different organs of the body without trouble or impediment. By means of the senses the mind is readily informed of all that can interest it, and the different members of the body obey its orders. The eye, which watches over the whole body, occupies the most elevated place; it turns with facility in all directions, and can observe all that passes. The ears are also placed in a conspicuous situation, on each side of the head, and they are open day and night to communicate to the soul every impression of the mind. As the aliments have to pass into the mouth before they arrive in the stomach, the organ of smell is placed immediately above, to preserve us from eating any thing noxious or prejudicial. As to the sense of touch, it has not its immediate seat in any one particular place, but is distributed to every part of the body, that we may be sensible of pleasure and of pain, of those things that are injurious, and of those that are salutary. The arms, which are the ministers that the soul employs to execute most of its desires, are situated near the breast, where the body has the greatest power, and without being too far distant from the inferior parts, they are placed in that manner which is most convenient for all kinds of exercise and labour, and for the defence of the head and other members.

Lastly, the Creator, in forming our body, has also condescended to attend to its beauty; which he has made to consist in the harmony and exact proportion of the members, and in the agreeable blending of colours, with a fine and delicate skin. Thus we see that the parts of the body which are double, as the eyes, the ears, the arms, the legs, are placed on each side the body at an equal height, answering to right and left; while those that are single, as the

forehead, the nose, the mouth, and the chin, are situated in the middle. This proportion obtains in the small as well as in the great. The length of the sole of the foot makes the sixth part of the height of the whole body, as that of the face is the tenth part. In infants, the head is greater in proportion to the rest of the body; the reason of which is, that the head being the principal part of the body, and the seat of the senses, it ought sooner to arrive at perfection; and the more so, as being chiefly composed of bones, it cannot extend like the fleshy parts, which otherwise it would have done. For in infancy we observe, that all the limbs grow at the same time, and extend themselves in length, breadth, and thickness, in such exact proportion, as always to be in harmony with the size of the whole body.

Admire, then, O man, the perfection and beauty of thy body; the relation, harmony, and proportion which are preserved in all its parts! Observe how each member is connected with another, without their ever being embarrassed, or impeding each other in their different functions; how they are placed in the most suitable places of the body, the more easily to fulfil their different functions, and mutually to assist one another! All these organs are so many springs in the wonderful machine; they correspond together, and act in concert to complete the several purposes for which they are designed. Be careful not to destroy this beautiful machine, nor injure it by thy disorders and excesses. Be careful not to degrade it by base and infamous passions; but so act that thy body may be a living monument of God's wisdom and goodness. And more especially neglect nothing that can tend to improve thy soul, which has been so debased by sin; and use all thy endeavours to reestablish it in its original purity by the grace and mediation of thy Redeemer.

NOVEMBER XIX.

Order and Regularity of Nature.

WHEN We contemplate the world, we discover in every di rection the traces of a supreme intelligence, which has ordered every thing, and foreseen all the effects that would result from the powers which were imparted to nature; an