NOVEMBER XII.

EVERY THINg in the uniVERSE IS CONNECTED TOgether, and conCURS TO THE PRESERVATION AND PERFECTION OF THE WHOLE.

Every thing which the beneficent Creator has produced upon the earth is admirably connected together, and contributes to the mutual preservation of the whole. The earth itself, the rocks, the minerals, and the fossils, all owe to the elements their origin and support. The trees, plants, herbs, mosses, and all kinds of vegetables, derive their subsistence from the earth; while animals, in their turn, live upon the vegetable kingdom. All these afterward return to their first principles. The earth supplies the plant with its nutriment, the plant the insect, the insect the bird, the bird the wild beasts; and in their turn the wild beasts become food for the vulture, the vulture to the insect, the insect nourishes the plant, and the plant the earth. Man himself, who converts all these beings to his own use, often in turn becomes their prey. Such is the circle in which every created thing revolves.

Thus all creatures have been created for each other, and no one solely for itself. The tiger, the lynx, the bear, the ermine, the fox, and various other animals, yield us furs for our covering. The hounds pursue the fleet hare, and hunt down the stag in the forests to supply our tables; while the portion they themselves receive of the prey is very small. The ferrets drive the rabbits from their deepest recesses into our hands. The horse, the elephant, and the camel, are trained to carry loads, and the ox to yoke to the plough. The cow gives us her milk, the sheep her wool; the reindeer draws the sledge with velocity over the snow and ice: the swine, the hedgehog, and the mole, burrow in the earth, and turn it up, that the seeds of plants may be more easily propagated. The hawk is subservient to the pleasures of the chase, and the hen gives us eggs. The cock's shrill cries awaken us in the morning, and the carols of the lark delight us in the day. The morning and evening are hailed by the melody of the blackbird, and the night is sacred to the varied notes of the nightingale.

The brilliant plumage of the peacock delights the lovers of gayety. Fish from the depths of the ocean swarm upon our coasts, and enter our rivers in shoals, and supply an abundance of nourishment to men, birds, and beasts. The silkworm spins, that we may be clothed with its precious web; and the bees for our use collect their sweets from every flower that scents the air. The sea casts upon our coasts multitudes of crabs, oysters, and various kinds of shellfish, for the use of men and animals. The lanternbearer, or great fly of Surinam, shines during the night, and gives light to the inhabitants of that country.

If we also examine the different occupations and labours of men, we shall find that they equally tend to the same end which nature

has proposed. The mariner tempts the dangers of the sea, and braves the storm, to bring to his country merchandise which does not belong to him. The soldier sheds his blood in the service of his country, and to preserve the well-being of his fellow-citizens. The lawyer is occupied in the affairs of others; and sovereigns and magistrates, who sit at the helm of government, devote their time and their faculties in steering it for the good of the commonwealth. Parents amass treasures for their children. The husbandman sows and reaps seed, a very small part of which falls to his lot to consume. Thus we do not live for ourselves alone; and the wise Author of Nature has so ordered in his infinite mercy, that all beings shall be useful to one another. From this let us learn what are our moral duties. He who has power should succour the feeble. The man of learning should help with his advice those who are deficient, and impart of his wisdom to the ignorant. In fine, we should love our neighbour as ourselves; and by so doing we should the most effectually fulfil the designs of our Creator. The reciprocal duties which men owe to one another have induced them to form societies; for that which individual power could not effect is readily accomplished by united energy. No person could erect a stately edifice, or construct a palace, if he was obliged by himself to lay the foundation, dig the cellars, mould the clay, and bake the bricks, raise the walls, cover in the roof, make the windows, decorate the apartments, &c. But all this is easily performed when several artificers unite and mutually assist each other. Such is the constant law of nature, that in all the arts and sciences nothing beautiful or excellent can be effected without the concurrence of several persons. How many thousands of men are requisite to make a monarch powerful, and a nation renowned and prosperous!

In all this we have abundant cause to acknowledge the wisdom of our Creator, who, that all the inhabitants of the earth, and particularly man, might be happy, has established such relations and connexions among all beings, that one cannot subsist without the others. Experience daily teaches us that God has ever in view the welfare of his creatures for this purpose the whole world was planned, and so arranged, that all its parts concur to promote the general happiness of mankind. Even those things which we consider as the least important, and to which we scarcely condescend to turn our attention, contribute to our felicity. The very insects which appear so despicable and insignificant, are highly useful to us. Thousands of hands are daily employed in satisfying our wants, and thousands of animals perish to support our lives. And in how many other ways, of which we are ignorant, is not nature active in our favour!

Merciful and indulgent Father! teach us how to appreciate thy goodness, and estimate our felicity; cause to arise in our hearts the desire of doing in future all that our limited faculties and strength will admit of, to promote the cause of righteousness among men, and to imitate thy goodness to us by assisting, according to our several abilities, those who are in need.

NOVEMBER XIII.

COMMON SALT.

Salt forms the seasoning which is most extensively used, being common to the rich and the poor, the king and the beggar. Its savour is so grateful, and it possesseth such excellent properties for digestion, that we may regard it as one of the most precious gifts which nature has bestowed upon man. We procure it in different ways. The inhabitants of the coasts obtain it from the sea. They dig pits on the shore, which they call salt-pits, and plaster them with clay at a full tide the sea flows into them; and the water which it leaves soon evaporates by the heat of the sun, and there remains at the bottom of the pits abundance of salt. In other places nature furnishes salt springs, fountains and lakes; and to obtain salt from these the water is evaporated in large caldrons. In some places, again, salt is found in solid masses in the mountains; the most celebrated mines are those of Catalonia and Poland. All these different kinds of salt are alike in their chief properties. Experience teaches us that a certain proportion of salt dissolved in the stomach has a digestive power, and prevents the putrefaction and too great fermentation of the alimentary matter. Hence it is used internally to assist and retsore digestion; to remedy crudities in the stomach; to excite the appetite; and to stimulate the stomach, whose nerves it gently irritates, and favours all its operations. Common salt, then, may be regarded as one of the best digestives in nature; other salts act too powerfully, and are too disagreeable to the palate to be mixed with our food.

Salt is therefore a particular blessing, though perhaps it is less esteemed because of its universality. But were we in the practice of paying more attention to the blessings which we daily receive from God, we should have infinitely more cause to acknowledge and admire his goodness. Salt, besides the uses which we have enumerated, is interesting to the observer of nature, from its external appearance; the least particles of it seeming as if they were cut into eight angles, and six sides, like a die; hence such masses are of a cubical form. And here again we have an evidence of a Supreme Being, who has given to the salt an invariable form, and has shaped the different masses in the same model from the beginning of the creation; thereby proving that its origin is not owing to chance, or fortuitous circumstances, but to the will of an intelligent Being. And this thought is too important, and too essential to our present and eternal peace, to be disregarded, or not to be impressed upon our minds so deeply as never to be effaced.

NOVEMBER XIV.

ORIGIN OF FOUNTAINS.

All great rivers are formed by the streams of smaller ones uniting, and these take their rise from brooks which fall into them; and the brooks derive their origin from springs and fountains. Of this there can be no doubt; but whence do springs proceed? Since water, by its gravity, as well as fluidity, always occupies the lowest parts of the earth's surface, whence can the water come which flows so constantly from the most elevated regions?

It is ascertained, in the first place, that rain, snow, and generally all the exhalations which fall from the air, supply a great portion of the water that flows from springs. Hence it is that fountains and rivers are so rare in Arabia Deserta, and in certain parts of Africa, where it never rains. The waters, then, insinuate themselves into the earth, where they penetrate till they are obstructed by beds of clay, through which they cannot pass; and thus accumulating, form fountains or they collect in cavities, which afterward overflow; or the waters gradually rill through innumerable crevices, to the lowest places to which they can descend. Thus the water is continually flowing, and forms subterranean currents, which, uniting with more of the same description, make what is called a vein of water.

It is, however, very probable, that in some countries fountains do not owe their origin solely to the waters which descend from the atmosphere; for considerable springs and lakes are sometimes found on high mountains, which would seem not to be altogether produced by either rain or snow. There are many springs that in all seasons yield the same quantity of water, and even sometimes supply more during a time of great heat and long-continued drought than in moist and rainy weather. There must, then, be some other cause contributing to the formation and continuance of fountains.

Many springs are formed by vapours, which, being suspended in the atmosphere, are driven by currents of air towards mountains and elevated places, or by the power of attraction are drawn towards these great masses. The atmosphere is more or less loaded with aqueous exhalations, which being driven and pressed against hard and cold rocks, are condensed in drops, and thus increase the springs. We must, however, admit that all springs cannot derive their sources from this cause; for if this was the case, would not the Rhine, the Danube, and other rivers, which flow from high mountains, be dried up in winter, when these enormous masses are covered with ice and snow? Caverns which communicate with the sea, or with lakes, must contribute to the origin of fountains. The water of the sea having passed into these great cavities by subterranean canals, rises in vapours through a number of crevices, and forms drops, which, falling by their own gravity, sometimes take a contrary direction, because water cannot always make its way where vapours penetrate. Lastly,

it is possible that the sea-water, particularly in countries bordering upon the ocean, may filter through the earth, and produce springs; and such springs have generally a taste resembling that of the waters whence they originate. But the springs which are met with near the summits of high mountains cannot proceed from such a cause, for the sea-water cannot ascend so high.

All the causes we have now enumerated contribute more or less to the origin of fountains; and perhaps there are still other causes operating, of which we are ignorant. Nature is always simple in her operations; but this simplicity does not consist so much in employing only one cause to produce each effect, as in employing in every case the fewest possible causes; by which the presence of auxiliary causes concurring to produce the proposed effect of nature is not prevented.

Be this, however, as it may, and though the origin of fountains were more doubtful and obscure than it really is, we must look up to God as the creator and preserver of these salutary springs. 'He speaks, and the fountains play from the bosom of the hills. The springs become rivulets, and these swell into noble rivers, which carry fertility and abundance through a country. The inhabitants of the meadows allay their thirst in the pure streams, and seek repose in the shady groves through which they gently flow.' God causes the beneficent fountains to spring from the high places of the earth: sometimes they wind among the mountains, till their meanders are lost amid the distant plains; or they precipitate themselves in cataracts, and increase by the union of different streams. Thus God preserves in the kingdom of nature that continual circulation which contributes to the fertility of the earth, the salubrity of our dwellings, and the evacuation of water, where too great abundance would be prejudicial to us.

NOVEMBER XV.

HAIR OF THE HEAD.

If we examine the curious structure and various uses of the hair which covers and adorns our heads, we shall find it well worthy of our attention, and discover in it evident proofs of the wisdom and power of God.

Each hair appears to the naked eye an oblong slender filament, with a bulb at the extremity thicker and more transparent than the rest of the hair. The filament forms the body of the hair, and the bulb the root. The large hairs have their roots, and even part of the filament, enclosed in a small membranous vessel or capsule. The size of this sheath is proportionate to the size of the root, being always rather larger, that the root may not be too much confined, and that some space may remain between it and the capsule. The root or bulb has two parts; the one external, the other internal. The external is a pellicle composed of small lamina; the internal is a glutinous fluid,