Book IV. feedeth them. It is a manifeft Argument of the divine Care and Providence, in fupplying the World with Food and Neceffaries, that the Revens, accounted as unclean, and little regarded by Man, deftitute of Stores, and that live by Accidents, by what falleth here and there; that fuch a Bird, I fay, fhould be provided with fufficient Food; efpecially if that be true, which Ariftotle (f), Pliny (g), and Ælian (b), report of their unnatural Affection and Cruelty to their Young: "That they expel them their Nefts as foon as "they can fly, and then drive them out of the "Country".

Thus having confidered the wife Appointment of the Creator, in fuiting the Variety of Food, to Variety of Animals: Let us in the

IV. Place, Take a View of the peculiar Food, which particular Places afford to the Creatures inhabiting therein.

It hath been already obferved (), that every Place on the Surface of the terraqueous Globe, is ftocked with proper Animals, whofe Organs of Life and Action are curiously adapted to each refpective Place. Now it is an admirable Act of the divine Providence, that every Place affords a proper Food to all the living Creatures therein. All the various Regions of the World, the different Climates (k), the various Soils, the Seas, the Waters,

(f) Ariftot. 1. 9. c. 31. Hift. Animal.

(g) Pliny affirms this of the Crow as well as Raven: Cetera omnes [i. e. Cornices] ex eodem genere pellunt nidis pullos, ac volare cogunt, ficut & Corvi, qui robuftos fuos fœtus fugant longiùs. Nat. Hift. 1. 10. c. 12.

(b) Var. Hift.

(i) Chap.9.

Admiranda Natura difpenfatio eft, ut aliter, alioque mado, tempore, er induftriâ colatur terra feptentrionalis, aliter Ethiopia, &c. Quoad Aquilonares, hoc certum eft, in plerif

કુર

Waters, nay our very Putrefactions, and most nafty Places about the Globe, as they are inhabited by fome or other Animal, fo they produce fome proper Food or other, affording a comfortable Subfiftence to the Creatures living there. I might for Inftances (1) of this, bring the great Variety of Herbs, Fruits and Grains on the Earth, the large Swarms of Infects in the Air, with every other Food of the Creatures refiding in the Earth, or flying in the Air. But I fhall ftop at the Waters, because the Pfalmift, in the fore-cited civth Pfalm, speaks with relation to the efpecial Provifion for the Inhabitants of the Waters; and alfo by reason that many Land Animals have their chief Maintenance from thence.

que agris Veftrogothorum, parte objectâ Meridionali plage, Hordeum fpatio 36 Dierum à femine projecto maturum colligi, hoc eft à fine Junii ufque medium Augufti, aliquando celerius. Ea namque maturitas ex foli natura, aërifque clementiâ, ac humore lapillorum fovente radices, Soleque torrente, neceffariò provenit, ut ita nafcatur, ac maturetur, talefque Spica fex ordines in numero arifta habent. Ol. Mag. Hift. 1. 15. c. 8. Prata & pafcua tantâ luxuriant graminum ubertate aç diverfitate, ut neceffum fit inde arcere jumenta, nè nimio herbarum efu crepent, &c. Id. ib. 1. 19. c. 36.

(1) Among the many noble Contrivances for Food, I cannot but attribute that univerfal Aliment, Bread, to the Revelation, or at leaft the Infpiration of the Creator and Confervator of Mankind; not only because it is a Food used in all, or moft Parts of the World; but especially because it is of incomparable Ufe in the great Work of Digestion, greatly affifting the Ferment, or whatever caufes the Digeftion of the Stomach. Of which take this Example from the noble Mr. Boyle. He extracted a Menftruum from Bread alone, "that would work on Bodies more Compact than many "hard Minerals, nay even on Glass it felf, and do many "Things that Aqua-fortis could not do Yet by no

means was this fo corrofive a Liquor as Aq. fort. or as the "other acid Menftruum". Vid. the ingenious and learned Dr. Harris's Lex. Tech. verbo Menftruum, where the way of preparing it may be met with.

Now

Book IV. Now one would think, that the Waters were a very unlikely Element to produce Food for fo great a Number of Creatures, as have their Subfiftence from thence. But yet how rich a Promptuary is it, not only to large multitudes of Fishes, but also to many amphibious Quadrupeds, Infects, Reptiles, and Birds! From the largeft Leviathan, which the Pfalmift faith (m) playeth in the Seas, to the fmalleft Mite in the Lakes and Ponds, all are plentifully provided for; as is manifeft from the Fatnefs of their Bodies, and the Gaiety of their Afpect and

Actions.

And the Provifion which the Creator hath made for this Service in the Waters is very obfervable; not only by the Germination of divers aquatick Plants there, but particularly by appointing the Waters to be the Matrix of many Animals, particularly of many of the Infect-Kind, not only of fuch as are peculiar to the Waters, but also of many appertaining to the Air and the Land, who, by their near Alliance to the Waters, delight to be about them, and by that means become a Prey, and plentiful Food to the Inhabitants of the WaAnd befides thefe, what prodigious Shoals do we find of minute Animals, even fometimes difcolouring the Waters (n)! Of these (not only in the Water, but in the Air and on Land) I have always thought there was fome more than ordi

ters.

nary

(m) Pfal. civ. 26.

(2) The Infects that for the moft part difcolour the Waters, are the finall Infects of the Shrimp kind, called by Swam merdam, Pulex aquaticus arborefcens. Thefe I have often feen fo numerous in ftagnating Waters in the SummerMonths, that they have changed the Colour of the Waters to a pale or deep Red, fometimes a Yellow, according to the Colour they were of. Of this Swammerdam hath a pretty Story told him by Dr. Florence Schuyl, viz. Se aliquando Studiis intentum, magno quodam horrifico rumore fuifje tur

batur

nary Use intended by the All-wife Creator. And having bent many of my Obfervations that way, I have evidently found it accordingly to be. For be they never fo numberlefs or minute, thofe Animals. ferve for Food to fome Creatures or other. Even

those Animalcules in the Waters, discoverable only with good Microfcopes, are a Repast to others there, as I have often with no lefs Admiration than Pleasure feen (0).

batum, & fimul ad caufam ejus inquirendam excitatum; verùm fe vix eum in finem furrexiffe, cùm Ancilla ejus pæne exanimis adcurreret, & multo cum fingultu referret, omnem Lugduni [Batavorum] aquam effe mutatam in fanguinem. The Caufe of which, upon Examination he found to be only from the numerous Swarms of thofe Pulices. V. Swamm. Hift. Infect. p. 70.

The Caufe of this great Concourfe, and Appearance of thofe little Infects, I have frequently obferved to be to perform their Coït; which is commonly about the latter end of May, and in June. At that Time they are very venereous, friiking and catching at one another; and many of them conjoined Tail to Tail, with their Bellies inclined one towards another.

At this Time alfo they change their Skin or Slough; which I conceive their rubbing against one another mightily promoteth. And what if at this Time they change their Quarters? Vid. Book VIII. Chap. 4. Note (ƒ),

Thefe fmall Infects, as they are very numerous, fo are Food to many Water-Animals. I have feen not only Ducks fhovel them up as they fwim along the Waters, but divers Infects alfo devour them, particularly fome of the middle-fized Squille aquatice, which are very voracious Infects.

(0) Befides the Pulices laft mentioned, there are in the Waters other Animalcules very numerous, which are fearce vifible without a Microfcope. In May, and the Summer Months, the green Scum on the top of ftagnating Waters, is nothing else but prodigious Numbers of thefe Animalcules: So is likewife the green Colour in them, when all the Water feems green. Which Animalcules, in all Probability, ferve for Food to the Pulices Aquatici, and other the minuter Animals of the Waters. Of which I gave a pregnant Inftance in one of the Nympha of Gnats, to my Friend the late admirable Mr. Ray, which he was pleafed to publifh in the laft Edition of his Wifdom of God in the Creation, p. 430.

But

But now the ufual Objection is, that Neceffity maketh Ufe (p). Animals must be fed, and they make use of what they find: In the defolate Regions, and in the Waters, for Inftance, they feed upon what they can come at; but, when in greater Plenty, they pick and chuse.

But this Objection hath been already in fome measure answered by what hath been faid; which plainly

(p) Nil adeò quoniam natum ft in Corpore, ut uti Poffemus. fed quod natum'ft, id procreat ufum. And afterwards,

Propterea capitur Cibus, ut fuffulciat artus,

Et recreet vireis interdatus, atque patentem

Per membra ac venas ut amorem obturet edendi.

And after the fame manner he difcourfeth of Thirft, and divers other Things. Vid. Lucret. 1.4. . 831, &C.

Against this Opinion of the Epicureans, Galen ingeniously argues in his Difcourfe about the Hand. Non enim Manus

Manus

Lyra

ipfa (faith he) hominem artes docuerunt, fed Ratio. autem ipfa funt artium organa; ficut Lyra mufici muficam non docuit, fed eft ipfius artifex per eam, quâ praditus eft, Rationem agere autem non poteft ex arte abfque or ganis, ita & una qualibet anima facultates quafdam à suâ ipfius fubftantia obtinet, Quod autem corporis particula animam non impellunt, manifefte videre licet, fi animalia recèns nata confideres, que quidem priùs agere conantur, quàm perfectas habeant particulas. Ego namque Bovis vitulum cornibus petere conantem fæpenumero vidi, antequam ei nata effent cornua; Et pullum Equi calcitrantem, &c. Omne enim animal fua ipfius Anima facultates, ac in quos ufus partes fua polleant maximè, nullo dottore, prafentit. Quâ igitur ratione dici poteft, animalia partium ufus à partibus doceri, cùm

antequam illas habeant, hoc cognofcere videantur? Si igitur Ova tria acceperis, unum Aquila, alterum Anatis, reliquum Serpentis, & calore modico foveris, animaliaque excluferis; illa quidem alis volare conantia, antequàm volare poffint; hoc autem revolvi videbis, & ferpere affectans, quamvis molle adhuc invalidum fuerit. Et fi, dum perfecta erunt, in unâ eâdemque domo nutriveris, deinde ad locum fubdialem ducta emiferis, Aquila quidem ad fublime; Anas autem in paludem; Serpens verò fub terrá irrepet Animalia quidem mihi videntur Naturá magis quàm Ratione artem aliquam [Texxd artificiofa] exercere: Apes fingere alveolos, &c. Galen de ufu Part 1. c. 3.

plainly