CHAP. II - STATE OF THE ARGUMENT CONTINUED

Summary

Suppose, in the next place, that the perfon, who found the watch, fhould, after fome time, difcover, that, in addition to all the properties which he had hitherto obferved in it, it poffeffed the unexpected property of producing, in the courfe of its movement, another watch like itfelf; (the thing is conceivable;) that it contained within it a mechanifm, a fyftem of parts, a mould for inftance, or a complex adjuftment of laths, files, and other tools, evidently and feparately calculated for this purpofe; let us enquire, what effect ought fuch a difcovery to have upon his former conclufion.

I. The firft effect would be to increafe his admiration of the contrivance, and his conviction of the confummate fkill of the contriver. Whether he regarded the object of the contrivance, the diftinct apparatus, the intricate, yet in many parts intelligible, mechanifm by which it was carried on, he would perceive, in this new obfervation, nothing but an additional reafon for doing what he had already done; for referring the conftruction of the watch to defign, and to fupreme art. If that conftruction without this property, or, which is the fame thing, before this property had been noticed, proved intention and art to have been employed about it; ftill more ftrong would the proof appear, when he came to the knowledge of this further property, the crown and perfection of all the reft.