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Section One
By the Economy of Nature we understand the all-wise disposition of the Creator in relation to natural things, by which they are fitted to produce general ends, and reciprocal uses.
All things contained in the compass of the universe declare, as it were, with one accord the infinite wisdom of the Creator. For whatever strikes our senses, whatever is the object of our thoughts, are so contrived, that they concur to make manifest the divine glory, i.e. the ultimate end which God proposed in all his works. Whoever duly turns his attention to the things on this our terraqueous globe, must necessarily confess, that they are so connected, so chained together, that they all aim at the same end, and to this end a vast number of intermediate ends are subservient. But as the intent of this treatise will not suffer me to consider them all, I shall at present only take notice of such as relate to the preservation of natural things. In order therefore to perpetuate the established course of nature in a continued series, the divine wisdom has thought fit, that all living creatures should constantly be employed in producing individuals; that all natural things should contribute and lend a helping hand to preserve every species; and lastly, that the death and destruction of one thing should always be subservient to the restitution of another. I seems to me that a greater subject than this cannot be found, nor one on which laborious men may more worthily employ their industry, or men of genius their penetration ... .
Section 2
The world, or the terraqueous globe, which we inhabit, is everywhere surrounded with elements, and contains in its superficies the three kingdoms of nature, as they are called; the fossil, which constitutes the crust of the earth, the vegetable, which adorns the face of it, and draws the greatest part of its nourishment from the fossil kingdom, and the animal, which is sustained by the vegetable kingdom. Thus these three kingdoms cover, adorn and vary the superficies of our earth. It is not my design to make any inquiry concerning the center of the terraqueous globe. He, who likes hypotheses, may consult Descartes, Helmont, Kircher, and others. My business is to consider the external parts of it only, and whatever is obvious to the eye.
As to the strata of the earth and mountains, as far as we have hitherto been able to discover, the upper parts consist of rag-stone, the next of slate, the third of marble filled with petrifactions, the fourth again with slate, and lastly the lowest of free-stone. The habitable part of the earth, though it is scooped into various inequalities, yet is every where high in comparison with the water, and the farther it is from the sea, it is generally higher. Thus the waters in the lower places are not at rest, unless some obstacle confines them, and by that means form lakes, and marshes ... .
We often see new meadows arise from marshes dryed up. This happens sooner when the sphagnum has laid a foundation; for this in process of time changes into a very porous mould, till almost the whole marsh is filled with it. After that the rush strikes root, and along with the cotton grassesconstitutes a turf, raised in such a manner, that the roots get continually higher, and thus lay a more firm foundation for other plants, till the whole marsh is changed into a fine and delightful meadow; especially if the water happens to work itself a new passage ... .
It is scarcely to be doubted, but that the rocks and stones dispersed over the globe were formed originally in, and form the earth; but when torrents of rain have softened, as they easily do, the soluble earth, and carried it down into the lower parts, we imagine it happens that these solid, and heavy bodies, being laid bare, stick out above the surface. We might also take notice of the wonderful effects of the tide, such as we see happen from time to time on the sea-shore, which being daily and nightly assaulted with repeated blows, at length gives way, and breaks off. Hence we see in most places the rubbish of the sea, and shores.
The winter by its frost prepares the earth, and mould, which thence are broken into very minute particles, and thus, being put into a mouldering state, become more fit for the nourishment of plants; nay by its snow it covers the seeds, and roots of plants, and thus by cold defends them from the force of cold. I must add also that the piercing frost of the winter purifies the atmosphere, and putrid waters, and makes them more wholesome for animals ... .
The Vegetable Kingdom
Section 6
Anatomy abundantly proves, that all plants are organic, and living bodies; and that all organic bodies are propagated from an egg has been sufficiently demonstrated by the industry of the moderns. We therefore the rather, according to the opinion of the skillful, reject the equivocal generation of plants; and the more so, as it is certain that every living thing is produced from an egg. Now the seeds of vegetables are called eggs; these are different in every different plant, that the means being the same, each may multiply its species, and produce an offspring like its parent. We do not deny, that very many plants push forth from their roots fresh offsets for two or more years. Nay not a few plants may be propagated by branches, buds, suckers and leaves fixed in the ground, as likewise many trees. Hence their stems being divided into branches, may be looked on as rootsabove ground, for in the same way the roots creep underground; and divide into branches. And there is the more reason for thinking so, because we know that a tree will grow in an inverted situation, viz. the roots being placed upwards, and the head downwards, and buried in the ground; for then the branches will produce leaves, and flowers. The lime-tree will serve for an example, on which gardeners have chiefly made the experiment. Yet this by no means overturns the doctrine, that all vegetables are propagated by seeds; since it is clear that in each of the foregoing instances nothing vegetates but what was part of a plant, formerly produced from seed, so that, accurately speaking, without seed no new plant is produced.
Thus again plants produce seeds, but they are entirely unfit for propagation, unless fecundation precedes, which is performed by an intercourse between different sexes, as experience testifies. Plants therefore must be provided with organs of generation; in which respect they hold an analogy with animals ... .
Moreover we cannot without admiration observe that most flowers expand themselves when the sun shines forth, whereas when clouds, rain, or the evening comes on, they close up, lest the genital dust should be coagulated, or rendered useless, so that it cannot be conveyed to the stigmata. But what is still more remarkable and wonderfull! When the fecundation is over, the flowers neither upon showers, nor evening coming on close themselves up. Hence when rain falls in the flowering time, the husbandman and gardener foretell a scarcity of fruits ... I cannot help remarking one particular more, viz. that the organs of generation, which in the animal kingdom are by nature generally removed from sight, in the vegetable are exposed to the eyes of all, and that when their nuptials are celebrated, it is wonderfull what delight they afford to the spectator by their most beautiful colours and delicious odors. At this time bees, flies, and other insects suck honey out of their nectaries, not to mention the humming bird; and that from their effete dust the bees gather wax ... .
Section 7
... Berries and other pericarps, are by nature allotted for aliment to animals, but with this condition, that while they eat the pulp they shall sow the seeds; for when they feed upon it they either disperse them at the same time, or, if they swallow them, they are returned with interest; for they always come out unhurt. It is not therefore surprising, that if a field be manured with recent mud or dung not quite rotten, various other plants, injurious to the farmer, should come up along with the grain, that is sowed. Many have believed that barley, or rye has been changes into oats, although all such kinds of metamorphoses are repugnant to the laws of generation, not considering that there is another cause of the phenomenon, viz. that the ground perhaps has been manured with horse-dung, in which the seeds of oats, coming entire from the horse, lye hid and produce that grain ... .
Section 8
The great Author and Parent of all things, decreed, that the whole earth should be covered with plants, and that no place should be void, none barren. But since all countries have not the same changes of seasons, and every soil is not equally fit for every plants, He therefore, that no place should be without some, gave to every one of them such a nature, as might be chiefly adapted to the climate; so that some of them can bear and intense cold, others an equal degree of heat; some delight in dry ground, others in moist, &c. Hence the same plants grow only where there are the same seasons of the year, and the same soil ... .
Section 10
Daily experience teaches us, that all plants as well as all other living things, must submit to death. They spring up, they grow, they flourish, they ripen their fruit, they wither, and at last, having finished their course, they die, and return to the dust again, from whence they first took their life. Thus all black mould, which every where covers the earth, for the greatest part is owing to dead vegetables. For all roots descend into the sand by their branches, and after a plant has lost its stem the root remains; but this too rots as last, and changes into mould. By this means this kind of earth is mixed with sand, by the contrivance of nature, nearly in the same way as dung thrown upon fields in wrought into the earth by the industry of the husbandman. The earth thus prepared offers again to plants from its bosom, what it has received from them. For when seeds are committed to the earth, they draw to themselves, accommodate to their nature, and turn into plants, the more subtle parts of this mould by the co-operation of the sun, air, clouds, rains, and winds; so that the tallest tree is, properly speaking, nothing but mould wonderfully compounded with air, and water, and modified by a virtue communicated to a small seed by the Creator. From these plants, when they die, just the same kind of mould is formed, as gave birth to them originally; but in such a manner, that it is in greater quantity than before. Vegetables therefore increase the black mould, whence fertility remains continually uninterrupted. Whereas the earth could not make good its annual consumption, unless it were constantly recruited by new supplies.
The Animal Kingdom
Section 11
The generation of animals holds the first place among all things, that raise our admiration, when we consider the works of the Creator; and that appointment particularly, by which he has regulated the conception of the fetus, and its exclusion, that it should be adapted to the disposition and way of each living animal, is most worthy of our attention.
We find no species of animals exempt from the stings of love, which is put into them to the end, that the Creator’s mandate may be executed, increase and multiply; and that thus the egg, in which is contained the rudiment of the fetus may be fecundated; for without fecundation all eggs are unfit to produce an offspring ... .
Section 12
... Most of the insect kind neither bear young nor hatch eggs; yet their tribes are the most numerous of all living creatures; insomuch that if the bulk of their bodies were proportionate to their quantity, they would scarce leave room for any other kinds of animals. Let us see therefore with what wisdom the Creator has managed about the propagation of these minute creatures. The females by natural instinct meet and copulate with the males; and afterwards lay their eggs, but not indiscriminately in every place; for they all know how to choose such places as may supply their offspring in its tender age with nourishment, and other things necessary to satisfy their natural wants; for the mother, soon after she has laid her eggs, dies, and were she to live she would not have it in her power to take care of her young.
Butterflies, moths, some beetles, wevils, bugs, cuckow-spit insects, gall-insects, tree bugs, &c. lay their eggs, on the leaves of plants, and every different tribe chooses its own species of plant. Nay there is scarce any plant, which does not afford nourishment to some insect; and still more,there is scarcely any part of a plant, which is not preferred by some of them. Thus one insect feeds upon the flower; another upon the trunk; another upon the root; and another upon the leaves. But we cannot help wondering particularly, when we see how the leaves of some trees, and plants, after eggs have been let into them, grow into galls; and form dwellings, as it were, for the young ones, where they may conveniently live ... .
Section 15
As soon as animals come to maturity, and want no longer the care of their parents, they attend with the utmost labor, and industry, according to the law and economy appointed for every species, to the preservation of their lives. But that so great a number of them, which occur everywhere, may be supported, and a certain and fixed order may be kept up amongst them, behold the wonderful disposition of the Creator, in assigning to each species certain kinds of food, and in putting limits to their appetites. So that some live on particular species of plants, which particular regions, and soils only produce. Some on particular animalcula, and others on carcasses, and some even on mud and dung. For this reason Providence has ordained, that some should swim in certain regions of the watery element, others should fly; some should inhabit the torrid, the frigid, or the temperate zones, and others should frequent deserts, mountains, woods, pools or meadows, according as the food proper to their nature is found in sufficient quantity. By this means there is no terrestrial tract, no sea, no river, no country, but what contains, and nourishes various kinds of animals. Hence also an animal of one kind cannot rob those of another kind of its aliment; which, if it happened, would endanger their lives or health; and thus the world at all times affords nourishment to so many, and so large inhabitants, at the same time that nothing, which it produces, is useless or superfluous.
Section 18
... If we consider the end for which it pleased the Supreme Being to constitute such an order of nature, that some animals should be, as it were, created only to be miserably butchered by others, it seems that his Providence not only aimed at sustaining, but also keeping a just proportion amongst all the species; and so prevent any one of them increasing too much, to the detriment of men, and other animals. For if it be true, as it is most assuredly, that the surface of the earth can support only a certain number of inhabitants, they must all perish, if the same number were doubled, or tripled.
There are some viviparous flies, which bring forth 2000 young. These in a little time would fill the air, and like clouds intercept the rays of the sun, unless they were devoured by birds, spiders, and many other animals ... . The white fox is of equal advantage in the Lapland alps; as he destroys the Norway rats which, are generated there in great abundance; and thus hinders them from increasing too much in proportion, which would be the destruction of vegetables.
It is sufficient for us, that nothing is made by Providence in vain, and that whatever is made, is made with supreme wisdom. For it does not become us to pry too boldly into all the designs of God. Let us not imagine, when these rapacious animals sometimes do us mischief, that the Creator planned the order of nature according to our private principles of economy; for the Laplanders have one way of living; the European husbandman another; the Hottentots and savages a third, where as the stupendous economy of the Deity is one throughout the globe, and if Providence does notalways calculate exactly according to our way of reckoning, we ought to consider this affair in the same light, as when different seamen wait for a fair wind, every one, with respect to the part he is bound to, who we plainly see cannot all be satisfied.
Section 19
The whole earth would be overwhelmed with carcasses, and stinking bodies, if some animals did not delight to feed upon them. Therefore when an animal dyes, bears, wolves, foxes, ravens, &c. do not lose a moment till they have taken all away. But if a horse e.g. dyes near the public road, you will find him, after a few days, swoln, burst, and at last filled with innumerable grubs of carnivorous flies, by which he is entirely consumed, and removed out of the way, that he may not become a nuisance to passengers by his poisonous stench ... .
Lice increase in a wonderful manner in the heads of children, that are scabby, nor are they without their use, for they consume the redundant humours.
The beetle kind in summer extract all moist and glutinous matter out of the dung of cattle, so that is becomes like dust, and is spread by the wind over the ground. Were it not for this, the vegetables that lye under the dung, would be so far from thriving, that all that spot would be rendered barren.
Section 20
Lastly; all these treasures of nature so artfully contrived, so wonderfully propagated, so providentially supported throughout her three kingdoms, seem intended by the Creator for the sake of man. Every thing may be made subservient to his use, if not immediately, yet mediately, not so to that of other animals. By the help of reason man tames the fiercest animals, pursues and catches the swiftest, nay he is able to reach even those, which lye hid in the bottom of the sea.
By the help of reason he increases the number of vegetables immensely, and does that by art, which nature, left to herself, could scarcely effect. By ingenuity he obtains from vegetables whatever is convenient or necessary for food, drink, clothing, medicine, navigation, and a thousand other purposes.
He has found the means of going down into the abyss of the earth, and almost searching its very bowels. With what artifice has he learned to get fragments from the most rocky mountains, to make the hardest stones fluid like water; to separate the usefull metal from the useless dross, and to turn the finest sand to some use! In short when we follow the series of created things, and consider how providentially one is made for the sake of another, the matter comes to this, that all things are made for the sake of man; and for this end more especially, that he by admiring the works of the Creator should extoll his glory, and at once enjoy all those things, of which he stands in need, in order to pass his life conveniently and pleasantly.
Section 21
This subject concerning the economy of nature, a very small part of which I have lightly touched upon, is of such importance and dignity, that if it were to be properly treated in all its parts, men would find wherewithal to employ almost all the powers of the mind. Nay time itself would fail before even the most acute human sagacity would be able to discover the amazing economy, laws, and exquisite structure of the least insect, since as Pliny observes, nature no where appears more herself, than in her most minute works. Every species of created beings deserves to engross one examiner.
If according to gross calculation we reckon in the world 200 species of vegetables, 300 of worms, 12000 of insects, 200 of amphibious animals, 2600 of fishes, 2000 of birds, 200 of quadrupeds; the whole sum of the species of living creatures will amount to 40000. Out of these our country has scarcely 3000, for we have discovered only about 1200 native plants, and about 1400 species of animals. We of the human race, who were created to praise and adore our Creator, unless we choose to be mere idle spectators, should and in duty ought to be affected with nothing so much as the pious consideration of this glorious palace. Most certainly if we were to improve and polish our minds by the knowledge of these things, we should beside the great use which would accrue to our economy, discover the more excellent economy of nature, and more strongly admire it when discovered.
Omnium elementorum alterni recurfi sunt, Quicquid alteri perit in alterum transit.—Seneca1
Translated by Benjamin Stillingfleet
Reading and Discussion Questions
1.In what sense is this text about “economy” in the natural world? Under what modern scientific discipline might this work be classified?
2.Does Biberg’s Christian faith seem at all in conflict with his scientific goals here? Is there anywhere that it seems to have clouded his observational abilities, or does it merely inspire his devotion to the field?
3.How do lice and fleas and beetles all serve as evidence for the goodness of the creator?
1“Reciprocal changes occur in the case of all elements. Whatever is lost to one thing moves on to another.”