sometimes six leaves, which spring from so many knobs. They prepare the nutritive juice for the ear of corn, which is seen in miniature in spring, upon opening a stalk through the middle. Even in autumn this ear of corn may be seen, in the form of a little cluster, when the knobs are still very close together. When the plant begins to bud, the two upper leaves of the stalk join together, inclose the ear of corn, and protect it,. till it has acquired some consistency. Before that happen, all the knobs, and particularly the two last, though soft, are very closely connected, and very little space between them. But as soon as the ear of corn has pierced through its coats, all its parts lengthen, and the leaves give them all the juices they contain. By degrees the knobs harden, and the under leaves dry up; and the juices which nourished them are no longer used: but in strengthening the stem. After all these preparations the blossom appears. This blossom is a little white stalk, extremely slender, which comes from the juice of the grain. Several other little stalks surround it. They are at first yellowish, afterwards, they grow brown, and at last become blackish, a little before they fade and fall off. The chief use of these stalks is to nourish a little cluster, which is in the bag of grains. As soon as the corn has done blossoming, there appear grains, which contain the germ, and which come to perfection long before the meally substance appears. This substance gradually multiplies, while the sap collects round a part extremely fine and delicate, like down. This down, which exists longer than the blossoms, serves, among other things, to support the opening of the principal pipe that goes through the corn. fruit ripens as soon as it has attained its full

The

growth.

growth. Then the stalks and the ear whiten, and the greenish colour of the grains become yellow or dark brown. These grains are still, however, very soft, and their meal contains much moisture; but when the wheat is quite ripe, it becomes dry and hard. The wisdom which appears in the construction and vegetation of corn, will appear even in the smallest blade. The leaves, for example, which surround it, before it has attained its full growth, even those leaves have their use; and it seems as if the wisdom of the Creator had placed them round the blade, for the same reason that an architect raises a scaffolding about a building, which, when the building is finished, he takes away. For as soon as the blade has attained its full length and consistency, the leaves which protected it dry up and fall off. Whole months pass away, before the ear of corn ventures to appear and expose itself to the air; but as soon as every thing is prepared for the formation of the blossoms and fruit, they all appear in a few days. With what skill also are the stalks and the ear of corn constructed! If the former were higher, the nutritive juice could not so well penetrate into them; if, on the contrary, the corn had been placed lower, the moisture would have made it spring up before it was reaped; birds and other animals would get at and destroy it. If the stem was weaker and smaller, the wind would break it; and if it was stronger and thicker, little animals might lodge in it, birds would perch upon it, and pick out the grain.

Merciful and beneficent Father! may all those who behold a field of wheat, and contemplate with pleasure the waving corn, may they experience

rience all the sentiments of love and admiration which thy goodness ought naturally to excite.

....

AUGUST III.

THE DOG DAYS.

THE sun, besides its diurnal motion, which appears to convey it from east to west, and which occasions the revolution of day and night, seems evidently to have another motion from west to east; by means of which, at the end of 365 days, it comes again near the same stars from which it had removed for six months, and to which it was drawing near the other six months. On this account, the ancient astronomers divided the seasons according to the stars which the sun meets in its annual course. They divided this course into twelve constellations, which are the twelve signs of the zodiac, called the twelve houses of the sun, because it seems to dwell a month in each of them. The summer begins with us when the sun enters the sign Cancer, which happens the 21st or 22d of June. It is then that the sun is raised at the highest above our horizon, and darts its rays almost directly upon us; and, of course, at that time begins the heat of summer, which always increases in the following month, by degrees, as our globe is more heated by the burning rays of the sun.. This is the reason that July and part of August is generally the hottest part of the year; and experience has proved, that from the 20th of July to the 10th of August, the heat is at the height. Now, of all the stars in conjunction with the sun, the dog-star is the

brightest..

brightest. Lost in the rays of the sun, it disappears from us for a month, as is the case with every star which the sun meets in its course, and the month of its disappearing is the time of the dog-days. These observations would be of little importance, were it not to remove a rooted prejudice among many people. An ancient tradition attributes the heat usually felt at this time to the influence of the dog-star upon the earth and its inhabitants. This opinion is proved to be absurd, from this circumstance alone, that the concealment of the dog-star, in the rays of the sun, does not take place in the time we call dogdays. Those days, properly speaking, do not in reality begin till the end of August, and they terminate towards the 20th of September. And as the dog-star, or the sirius, always advances farther, it will attain in time to the months of October and November. It will at last be found to fall in the month of January, and we shall then, in the dog-days, experience severe cold. When we reflect on this, we may plainly see, that it is impossible this star should occasion the great heats which we suffer, or the effects they produce.-When, therefore, in the supposed dog-days, the wine or beer spoils in bad cellars; when things liable to ferment turn sour; when stagnated waters dry up as well as the springs; when dogs and other animals, and men also, are seized with madness; when we are attacked with disorders, which imprudence in hot weather draws upon us; this does not happen because a star conceals itself behind the sun. It is the extreme heat of the air, at that season, which is the sole cause of all those effects. Whoever can suppose, that certain figures, which the imagination forms. to itself in the sky, can have any influence on

our

our globe, and on the health and reason of man, discovers great want of judgement. It is not the stars, it is generally ourselves, which we ought to accuse of the evils we suffer. If then there should be at those seasons dangerous maladies, let us not impute them to the influence of the dogstar, which is entirely chimerical! Let us rather believe they proceed from our misconduct and neglect. If we consider the point seriously, we sin against a wise Providence, by indulging such prejudices. Can we suppose an infinitely good Being, the Ruler of the world, to have created any thing in the heavens, or in the earth, to be a torment and misery to his creatures? If we believe in such as an inevitable fatality, we cannot admit or acknowledge a Creator, the essence of wisdom and goodness. Instead of being guilty of such an error, let us glorify God, and secure our peace, by believing ourselves to be under the protection of a merciful Father, contrary to whose will not even a hair can fall from our heads.

AUGUST IV.

SLEEP.

WE fall asleep more or less quickly according to the constitution and state of health. But be it quick or slow, it is certain it comes always in the same manner, and the circumstances which precede it are the same in all men. The first thing which happens when we are falling asleep is a stupefaction of the senses, which, no longer receiving exterior impressions, slacken and gradually