SPIRITUAL SIGHT.

are lost to him whose sight "the drop serene hath Well might Milton sing in plaintive

quenched." strains,

"Thus with the year

Seasons return; but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of eve or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom or summer's rose,
Or flocks or herds, or human face Divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me: from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off; and for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with a universal blank

Of nature's works, to me expunged and rased,

And wisdom, at one entrance, quite shut out."

There is, however, a more fearful privation still; it is spiritual blindness, an ignorance of the things that belong to our peace. Is this the state of the reader? Then, while it should be seriously bewailed, because of its guilt, and may well excite apprehension, because of its danger, it should be remembered that there is still hope concerning this thing. The means of cure are found in the word of God, the agency by which it can be rendered effectual is the power of the Holy Spirit. May He "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness," shine into the heart, "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!" 2 Cor. iv. 6.

THE TONGUE.

TONGUE OF THE GIRAFFE.

THE TONGUE.

CHAPTER I.

THE TONGUES OF VARIOUS ANIMALS-SPECIAL CONTRIVANCES FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES-THE WORKS OF GOD SHOULD BE STUDIED.

THE design of every created object is worthy its Author. Whenever, therefore, we find anything required to be accomplished for the welfare of his creatures, then, we trace his operation. But he ceases to work when he would continue to do so without an adequate reason. Of this fact we are reminded in connexion with the sense of taste in certain instances, it accords with the Divine wisdom and benevolence to endow it with great delicacy, and here it is found; in others, this grant would have been needless, and here it is withheld. The various modifications of the tongue are also exceedingly curious.

Taste in birds must be feeble, if it exists at all. The skin of their tongue has no tasters, found on those 'of

TONGUES OF BIRDS.

other creatures; and frequently this part is enveloped in a horny sheath; yet among them we shall discover facts well deserving attention. Thus, the tongue of the woodpecker is, as Paley long since remarked, "a particular instrument for a particular use;" and, "what,” he asks, "except design, ever produces such?" This bird lives chiefly on insects, lodged in the bodies of decayed or decaying trees. It is, therefore, furnished

Tongue of Woodpecker-showing also the elastic, hooped muscle which moves it.

with a hard, angular, and sharp bill for boring into the wood. When, by this means, it has reached the cells of the insects, its tongue. comes into play. No other species of bird has such an instrument. The tongue is so long, that it can be darted out three or four inches from the bill. It is tipped with a stiff, sharp, bony