ESSAY 1X. 441 nature that distributes this uniform * food into the several parts of the animal by his appointed laws, and gives proper nourish- ment to each of them. Again, idly. If the food of which one single animal par- takes be never so various and different, yet the same laws of motion, which God has ordained in the animal world, convert them all to the same purposes ofnourishment for that crea- ture. Behold the little bee gathering its honey from a thousand flowers, and laying up the precious store for its winter food. Mark how the crow preys upon a carcase, anon it crops a cherry from the tree ; and both are changed into the flesh and feathers of a crow. Observe the kine in the meadows feeding on a hundred varieties of herbs and flowers, yet all the different parts of their bodies are nourished thereby in a proper manner : Every flower in the field is made use of to increase the flesh of the heiter, and to make beef for men : And out of all these varieties there is a noble milky juice flowing to the udder which provides nourish. ment for young children. So near a-kin is man the lord of the creation, in respect of his body, to the brutes that are his slaves, that the very same food will compose the flesh of both of them, and make them grow up to their appointed stature. This is evident beyond doubt in daily and everlasting experiments. The same bread- corn which we eat at our tables will give richsupport to spairows and pigeons, to the turkey and the cluck, and all the fowls of the yard : The mouse steals it and feeds on it in his dark retire- ments while the hog in the sty, and the horse in the manger, would be glad to partake. When the poor cottager has nursed up a couple of geese, the fox seizes one of them for the sup- port of her cubs, and perhaps the table of the landlord is furnished with the other to regale his friends. Nor is it an uncommon thing to see the favourite lap-dog fed out of the same bowl of milkwhich is prepared for the heir of it wealthy family, but which nature had originally designed to nourish a calf. The same milky material will make calves, lap-dogs and human bodies. How various are our dishes at an entertainment ? how has luxury even tired itself in the invention of meats and drinks in an excessive and endless variety ? Yet when they pass into the e By the word f0 uniform" here I do not.mean, that all the parts of each spire'of grass, by whichanimals are nourished and increased, are perfectly simi- tar, any more than the parts of earth and water, by which vegetables are nou- rished andgrow, are all perfectly of one shape and size ; but I believe it will be easily granted me, that the parts of every spire of grass are not so variousand multiform, as to answer all the various partsof the animal which are supported and increased by it, as well as the flesh and limbs, &c. of diff'rent animals. This will be yet more evident, if we 'consider that nature turns all food whatsoee e into the uniform substance of w chyle," before the animal is nourished by it, which shall be sheen immediately.
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