It hath been already observed[], that every Place on the Surface of the terraqueous Globe, is stocked with proper Animals, whose Organs of Life and Action are curiously adapted to each respective 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, nay our very Putrefactions, and most nasty Places about the Globe, as they are inhabited by some or other Animal, so they produce some proper Food or other, affording a comfortable Subsistence to the Creatures living there. I might for Instances[l] of this, bring the great Variety of Herbs, Fruits and Grains on the Earth, the large Swarms of Insects in the Air, with every other Food of the Creatures residing in the Earth, or flying in the Air. But I shall stop at the Waters, because the Psalmist, in the fore-cited civᵗʰ Psalm, speaks with relation to the especial Provision for the Inhabitants of the Waters; and also by reason that many Land Animals have their chief Maintenance from thence.
Now one would think, that the Waters were a very unlikely Element to produce Food for so great a Number of Creatures, as have their Subsistence from thence. But yet how rich a Promptuary is it, not only to large multitudes of Fishes, but also to many amphibious Quadrupeds, Insects, Reptiles, and Birds! From the largest Leviathan, which the Psalmist saith[m] playeth in the Seas, to the smallest Mite in the Lakes and Ponds, all are plentifully provided for; as is manifest from the Fatness of their Bodies, and the Gaiety of their Aspect and Actions.
And the Provision which the Creator hath made for this Service in the Waters is very observable; 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 Insect-Kind, not only of such 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 Waters. And besides these, what prodigious Shoals do we find of minute Animals, even sometimes discolouring the Waters[n]! Of these (not only in the Water, but in the Air and on Land) I have always thought there was some more than ordinary Use intended by the All-wise Creator. And having bent many of my Observations that way, I have evidently found it accordingly to be. For be they never so numberless or minute, those Animals serve for Food to some Creatures or other. Even those Animalcules in the Waters, discoverable only with good Microscopes, are a Repast to others there, as I have often with no less Admiration than Pleasure seen[o].
But now the usual Objection is, that Necessity maketh Use[p]. Animals must be fed, and they make use of what they find: In the desolate Regions, and in the Waters, for Instance, they feed upon what they can come at; but, when in greater Plenty, they pick and chuse.
But this Objection hath been already in some measure answered by what hath been said; which plainly argues Design, and a super-intending Wisdom, Power and Providence in this special Business of Food. Particularly the different Delight of divers Animals in different Food, so that what is nauseous to one, should be Dainties to another, is a manifest Argument, that the Allotment of Food is not a Matter of mere Chance, but entailed to the very Constitution and Nature of Animals; that they chuse this, and refuse that, not by Accident, or Necessity, but because the one is a proper Food, agreeable to their Constitution, and so appointed by the infinite Contriver of their Bodies; and the other is disagreeable and injurious to them.
But all this Objection will be found frivolous, and the Wisdom and Design of the great Creator will demonstratively appear, if we take a Survey,
V. Of the admirable and curious Apparatus in all Animals, made for the Gathering, Preparing and Digestion of their Food. From the very first Entrance, to the utmost Exit of the Food, we find every Thing contrived, made and disposed with the utmost Dexterity and Art, and curiously adapted to the Place the Animal liveth in, and the Food it is to be nourished with.
Let us begin with the Mouth. And this we find, in every Species of Animals, nicely conformable to the Use of such a Part; neatly sized and shaped for the catching of Prey, for the gathering or receiving Food[q], for the Formation of Speech, and every other such like Use[r]. In some Creatures it is wide and large, in some little and narrow: in some with a deep Incisure up into the Head[], for the better catching and holding of Prey, and more easy Comminution of hard, large and troublesome Food; in others with a much shorter Incisure, for the gathering and holding of herbaceous Food.