LIFE. INTRODUCTION. "THE works of the Lord are great;" but we must not estimate this greatness by their actual dimensions; else a man would be of less importance than a hippopotamus, and the Bass Rock would be immensely more valuable than either. It is a greatness not measurable by rule and line; not to be determined by bulk and weight; it is to be estimated by far other qualities,-by the relative importance which the objects bear to each other, by the variety and complexity of their parts, by the elaborateness with which they are constructed, by their fitness for the purposes which they are destined to subserve, and especially by the degree in which they shew forth the power, wisdom, skill, and goodness of Him who made them for His own glory. Many of the animals of which we are about to speak are so minute that the unassisted eye takes no cognisance of their presence; yet most of these,—perhaps all, if we were able to investigate them,-are so curiously fashioned, |