gathering what it yields. Its productions are not casual, for it seldom happens that fields are destroyed by drought or inundations. But it is melancholy, that men, who are generally so inattentive, so insensible to the blessings of God, should be so in this respect also. We look upon grass with contempt or indifference, perhaps because it grows under our feet, and has not been made the object of our care and culture. But whatever may be the cause of our indifference, it is certainly quite inexcusable. Would to God, that, at the sight of our meadows enamelled with flowers, we were sensibly touched with the goodness of the Creator, who, with a bountiful hand, pours out abundance for men and animals!. Would to God that we were well convinced that his mercy is every where, and that there is not a corner of the earth where we may not discover traces of his good providence! Yes, every country, every soil, the good and the bad, the sandy and the marshy, the gravelly and the clayey, all equally proclaim the beneficence of the Preserver of the universe. JULY XVII. THE MORNING TWILIGHT. IT cannot be doubted, that this phenomenon, which we daily behold, is, equally with the rest, designed for our benefit. The twilight is nothing more than a prolongation of day; which prepares our eyes sometimes to bear the full light, and at other times the darkness of the night. But twilights are not always the same; they vary according according to seasons and climates. Toward the poles they last longer than in the torrid zone. The people of that zone behold the sun rise di rectly above their horizon, and sink down in the same direction under the lower hemisphere; by which means they are left all at once in total darkness. On the contrary, the sun reflecting its rays obliquely towards the poles, and not sinking much below the horizon of the neighbouring people, their nights, though long, are almost all along attended with the twilight; therefore not dark. It is an happiness for the former to have scarce any twilight, and for the others to have an almost constant dawn. As for us, who are placed nearly at an equal distance from the torrid and frigid zones, we plainly observe that our twilights become shorter in proportion as the days shorten; and that they increase as the days lengthen. We enjoy day-light an hour and more after the sun has set. The twilight is equally long before the sun rises above the horizon. We owe this useful circumstance to the properties of the air. God hath surrounded the earth with an atmosphere, which rises very high. He formed such proportion between this air and the light which comes upon it, that when it enters directly down into it, nothing can obstruct its course; but when a ray enters sideways, or obliquely, into this air, the ray, instead of passing through the air in a direct line, bends or descends a little lower; so that most of the rays which pierce the atmosphere alongside of the earth, fall again, by means of this inflection, upon the earth. Instead of following their course in passing by the side, they are bent by the air, and directed towards the earth. Thus, when the sun approaches our horizon, many of its rays which pass pass by us, and are not sent towards us, meet the mass of air which surrounds us, and bending in that mass they reach our eyes; so that we see daylight long before the sun itself appears. This refraction of light in the body of air which surrounds us, is a work equally full of wisdom and goodness for all the people of the earth; but it is a particular blessing to those who inhabit the frigid zones. They would be plunged in frightful darkness for several months together, if they had no twilight. Perhaps this explanation of the origin of twilights may not be intelligible to every body, but let us leave to philosophers a further detail of it, and let us limit ourselves to the reflecting on it as reasonable beings, and as Christians. It only requires an upright heart, willing to glorify his Creator. The honest, though ignorant Christian, may possibly be wiser than many philosophers, who, while they explain and calculate the twilights, lose sight of that great Being who gives to man the light of day. ..<>........ JULY XVIII. EVENING TWILIGHT. THE evening twilight is that faint light, which, after sun-set, still is visible in our atmosphere, particularly in the west. It is occasioned partly by the refraction and reflection of the rays of the sun in our atmosphere; and partly by the atmosphere of the sun itself, known by the name of zodaical light, which sometimes appears, but particularly towards evening in spring, and in autumn towards morning. When the sky is se VOL. II. I rene, rene, the smallest stars are visible at twilight; which continues from sun-set till the dark night, and generally lasts two hours. In the island of Senegal, where the nights are almost always as long as the days, the twilight lasts but a few moments. The interval between sun-set and the darkness of night, is scarce more than a quarter of an hour. Thus, as soon as the sun is ten or fifteen degrees below the horizon, darkness is spread over all the country, and it is like midnight. It is about the first of March, and the eleventh of October, that our twilights are the shortest. When the northern declension of the sun, and that of the equator under the horizon, are such that the sun does not descend eighteen degrees below the horizon, the twilight lasts all night. This is the reason, that in the summer sol stice we have scarce any night in our countries; and that there is none in the more northern parts, though the sun is below the horizon. The advantage which accrues to us and many other creatures from twilights is very evident. Το go all at once from broad day to dark night, would be very inconvenient. So sudden a change would hurt the organs of sight. Travellers would lose their way, surprised with sudden night; and birds be in danger of perishing. The wise Author of nature has prevented all this, as by means of twilight we pass gently and gradually from day to night. JULY 193 JULY XIX., THE EPHEMERAL FLY. THIS insect is called ephemeral, on account of the short duration of its life in the state of a fly. It is one of the prettiest sorts of little flies. It undergoes five transformations. First, the egg contains the principles of its life. It comes out a caterpillar, which turns into a chrysalis, afterwards into a nympha, and ends in being a fly. This fly lays its eggs on the water, where the heat of the sun hatches them. Each egg produces a very small red worm, which winds about as it moves. They are found all summer in great abundance on ponds and marshy places. But, as soon as the water begins to grow cold, the little worm makes itself a bag, or a little house, where it passes the winter. Towards the end of that season it ceases to be a worm; it enters into its third state, and is transformed into a chrysalis. It sleeps then till spring, and becomes by degrees a pretty nympha, or a sort of mummy, something in the form of a fish. On the day of its metamorphosis, the nympha at first appears lifeless and without motion. At the end of six hours, the head shews itself, and rises by degrees to the surface of the water. The body afterwards disengages itself slowly and gradually till at last the whole animal comes out of the shell. The new born fly falls on the water, and remains motionless for some minutes. By degrees it begins to revive, and feebly stirs its wings. Then it moves them quicker, and tries first to walk and then to fly. As these flies are all hatched nearly at the same moment, they |