great diversity of form. If we compare the most perfect species with those which are least so, or if we only compare together the different species of the same class, we shall be struck with admiration at the astonishing variety which nature has produced in the vegetable kingdom. If we only consider the numerous tribe of mushrooms, or the different species of plants termed imperfect, we cannot but admire the great fecundity of nature in these vegetable productions, which differ so much from all others that they can scarcely be ranked among the number of plants.

If we rise some degrees higher in the scale of plants, we contemplate with pleasure those which have stalks; from the grass which grows amongst stones, to that inestimable plant which is the chief source of our nourishment. We next observe the great variety of creepers; from the tender bind-weed to the vine.

Another most admirable thing in the garden of nature is, that in all this variety the most perfect harmony obtains. All plants, from the hyssop which grows on the wall to the cedar of Lebanon, have the same essential parts. A little herb is as completely formed as the most beautiful rose; and the rose as the most lofty oak. In all are observed the same general laws of growth and increase, and yet each species is distinct. Out of so many thousand plants, there is not one which does not possess a distinct character, properties, mode of receiving nourishment, of growing, and propagating itself. What inexhaustible riches we discover in their forms, colours and proportions! What pleasure we receive from observing their varieties, and beholding the beauties of the vegetable kingdom! Our soul, delighted with the prospect, raises itself towards God, the Father and Cre ator of nature, whose bounty is every where manifest; whose power has produced all these plants, and whose wisdom has arranged them in order and beauty.

AUGUST XXII.

Reflections upon the Animal Kingdom.

THE animal kingdom may be considered as a well-regulated state, in which is a suitable number of inhabitants, each having an allotted place; faculties necessary to perform

their requisite duties, and rewards and punishments to excite them to action; with a sufficient protection against their different enemies. In this republic of animals, those which are the weakest, and they are by far the greatest number, are obliged to submit to the greatest; and all are under subjection to man, as the representative of the Deity. The inhabitants of the animal kingdom find in all parts of the earth a sufficiency of food and employment. They are dispersed in every direction, and their nature, constitution, and organs, are adapted to the different abodes assigned them.

Their employments are various, and tend either to increase their species, to provide for their subsistence, or to defend themselves against their enemies. All the parts of their bodies are adapted to their peculiar nature and functions. They possess certain instincts which compensate for their deprivation of reason; instincts which are diversified in various ways, according to their necessities; instincts for motion; instincts to enable them clearly to discern their food, to seize, and to prepare it ; instincts to construct nests and suitable habitations; to propagate their species, to defend themselves, and to secure shelter from danger, &c.

In each class of animals there are some that live upon prey, seizing the individuals that superabound in other classes. Each species has its peculiar enemies; hence none of them increase too much, and a proper proportion is maintained. Animals that are weak, or have some defect, are commonly the first which fall a prey to others; decayed fruits and carcasses are devoured, by which means the earth is not troubled with them; the air is not infected; and the purity and freshness of nature are preserved untainted.

Beasts of prey have a structure adapted to their mode of life; they have great strength, agility, industry, and cunning. But that they may not destroy the whole tribe of animals, they are restricted within certain limits. They do not multiply so fast as other animals; and they often destroy one another, or their young ones become the victims of savage rapacity

Some animals sleep during the winter, and live upon the fruits of the earth. Weak animals are provided with the means of defence proportionate to their place of abode, and

the dangers to which they are exposed; their natural wea pons, their agility, their hiding-places, and their cunning, preserve them from destruction; and thus the proper balance is maintained between every species of the brute creation.

Animals are in some measure obliged to perform the functions assigned them; because upon this their comfort depends. They find their advantage in following the laws which nature has prescribed for them; and cannot transgress them without subjecting themselves to various evils. The class of mammalia are the largest in size as well as fewest in number, and they fulfil very important functions. Birds perform various offices; they eat superfluous grains, devour dead carcasses, and diminish the number of insects. The greater part of amphibious animals live upon prey. The least animals are the most numerous, and very vo racious.

All that we see so admirable in the animal kingdom demonstrates the existence of a superior Being who is allpowerful, and infinitely wise. For who besides could have peopled this vast globe with so many living creatures of such different kinds, or provided them with all that is ne, cessary to their life and well being? Who but an Omnipotent Being could have supplied all the wants of the numerous animals that exist? Or who else could have given them so much sagacity and industry; so much address and instinct; assign to each living creature its peculiar element; form all the limbs, joints, bones, muscles, nerves, and vessels; unite them with so much harmony and perfection, that each animal can perform its different motions in the manner best adapted to its particular manner of life, and the circumstances in which it is placed?

AUGUST XXIII.

Division of the Earth.

ALL the known world is divided into four principal parts; Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Europe is the smallest. Its length from east to west is about three thousand miles, and its breadth from north to south about two thousand five hundred. Its inhabitants possess various countries in the three other quarters of the globe, and nearly half the earth

is under their subjection. The Europeans traverse every part of the globe, and receive the produce of every clime. They are the most enlightened of any people upon the earth, and cultivate the arts and sciences with the greatest success. Europe is the only quarter of the globe that is every where cultivated, and covered with towns and cities; the only part whose inhabitants support an uninterrupted commerce with each other, and who profess, with only some slight variations, the same religion. The three other quarters are inhabited by a number of different people, who have little connexion together, scarcely know one another, and differ as much in their manners as in their religion and mode of living.

Asia is the largest continent known; its length, from the Dardanelles on the west, to the eastern shore of Tartary, is four thousand seven hundred miles; and its breadth, from the southern extremity of Malacca to the most northern cape of Nova Zembla, is four thousand three hundred and eighty miles. As the countries situated in the interior of this part of the world are not visited by the refreshing seabreeze, nor watered by many rivers-as they contain farextending plains and barren mountains, the heat and the cold are both extremely intense; the earth has scarcely any fertility, and is never cultivated.

At present these regions are only inhabited by people who dwell in tents, and lead a wandering life, which seems to be rendered necessary by nature. The more settled inhabit, ants of Asia often suffer from the restless unquiet disposition of these wandering tribes. The northern part, which is full of lakes, marshes, and forests, has never been regularly inhabited. But the southern, eastern, and western parts are the finest countries in the world; particularly those situated towards the south: they are most luxuriantly fertile, producing in lavish abundance every thing that is necessary for the comforts of life.

Africa is a peninsula of very great extent; stretching from Cape Bona north, to the Cape of Good Hope south, four thousand three hundred miles; and its breadth, from Cape Verd to Cape Guardafin, is three thousand five hundred miles. It is under the torrid zone, and contains vast sandy deserts, mountains of a stupendous height, forests burning beneath the ardent sun-beams, and monsters of every description.

The excessive heat enervates all the faculties of the soul. We know very little of the interior parts of the country; and though so contiguous to Europe, very few well-regulated states have yet been discovered.

America, the largest division of the known world, and only discovered by Europeans within the last three centuries, is composed of two great continents, separated by a narrow isthmus, which is surrounded by a number of islands. The cold which reigns in the northern parts, the few useful productions found there, and its distance from inhabited countries, are the causes why it is not yet entirely known; but there is reason to believe that the natives are not civilized.

Forests and marshes still cover a great part of the country, and the eastern parts are the only ones cultivated. In South America there formerly existed considerable empires; the rest of the country was inhabited by wild people. The serpents, reptiles, and insects, are much larger than the greatest that are known in Europe. America contains the largest extent of country in the world, with proportionably the fewest inhabitants, If we calculate the number of leagues contained in these four parts of the earth, they will seem very considerable; and yet altogether they will not amount to the fourth part of the whole globe, which, great as it is, appears small when compared with the immense bodies in the heavens. It may, however, justly be regarded as a vast theatre, where the wonders of God are continually displayed; and as we can know very little of the worlds around us, let us endeavour to become acquainted with that which we inhabit.

AUGUST XXIV.

Of the Nature and Properties of Light. THOUGH We continually experience the utility of light, we cannot precisely determine its nature. All that the greatest philosophers have said of it is conjectural. Whether it is a fluid surrounding our earth, and which, to become perceptible, requires being agitated and put in motion by the sun or some other inflamed body; or whether it is fire itself, which by the emanation of its infinitely subtile par