arrangement is necessitous; none other than that which exists, could have sufficed. Besides, rays of light passing through different media, are separated into their primary colors, and the picture on the retina would not be faithful (though its proportions might remain), unless the lenses of the eye possessed different refracting powers. This is the very method adopted, in the structure of the eye, to produce a perfect picture on the retina; it is an adaptation to the laws of light, and the property of color, in natural objects. pensable to the preservation of man: yet, the pleasure But, without asserting that all objects are beautiful, we may safely affirm with Balguy, that the pleasures of vision are "not only superadded, but almost of unmixed gratification, having but few pains to balance them." Again, the size and capacity of the eye, and the extent of vision, are expressly adapted to the wants of man. The eye embraces a class of objects which bear a certain proportion and relation to himself. A microscopic eye is suitable only for the wants of an insect, and could not have answered the necessities of man. These necessities, therefore, must have been foreseen and provided for, in the creation of the eye. Still farther: if the eye had been fixed, and unalterable in its structure, it would have required a uniform distance of the objects of which it took cognizance; if the lenses of the eye had been of the consistence of bone, they might still have answered the purposes of vision, but the range would have been limited; there is, therefore, an express adaptation in the structure of the eye, to the various distances of the objects which are presented to it; its len-heart the voiceless language of holiest love and selfses are subject to the action of muscles which minutely change their form, adjusting them so that the rays of light from an object may, with certainty, form a faithful image on the retina. This can not have arisen from any use or effort of the eye, for it depends upon the consistence of the lenses, and the existence of muscles, either of which would have been insufficient without the other. That little organ, the eye, what a glorious office it hath! to read the heaven-writ volume of nature, that revelation of God to man; to dwell upon the pages of inspiration, to behold the creations of genius, to perceive the soul-beaming features of friendship and affection, and to interpret to the enraptured forgetting sympathy. The eye, it is an inlet of inexpressible joy and beauty; truly its far-soaring and wide-searching power, so akin to thought, whose handmaid sight is, should lead the soul from earth to heaven, from the seen and temporal to the unseen and eternal, from Nature up to Nature's God. HOW TO DO GOOD.-A quaint writer who takes to himself the cognomen of Chas. Quill, gives a short and easy method of doing good, which will be found as effectual a one as could be adopted. He says Yet again, there is an adaptation of the eye to the degree of light in which an object is placed, a capacity of contraction and expansion of the pupil, which is, perhaps, of all mechanical contrivances in the hu-" Why do you begin to do good so far off? This is man system, the most exquisitely beautiful and singular. This too is a prospective contrivance. The defensive provisions of the eye furnish incontestable evidence of wisdom and beneficence. Its locality, its orbit, its lids, the contrivance to prevent the intrusion of foreign particles between the ball and the orbit, the projection of the bones of the brow, the cheek, and the nose, the eyebrows, the lashes, the secretions to moisten and lubricate it, the soft cushion on which it rests, and the toughness of its outermost coat; these are all defensive provisions, and they deserve especial consideration. It may be said, these defensive provisions are inseparable from the existence and use of the organ, absolutely necessary for its preservation; yet, certainly, the structure of the eye as an optical instrument, is complete, without the aid of any defences; they are, indeed, needful to the continuance of its use, and we say, therefore, that the supply of this necessity furnishes direct evidence of wisdom and benef icence. Yet, beyond this testimony, we perceive still more independent proof of the "predominant tendency of the contrivance." The existence of the eye is indis a ruling error. Begin at the centre and work outward. If you do not love your wife, do not pretend to such love for the people of the antipodes. If you let some family grudge, some peccadillo, some undesirable gesture, sour visage toward a sister or daughter, pray cease to teach beneficence on a large scale. Begin not at the next door, but within your own door-then with your next neighbor, whether relative, servant, or superior. Account the man you meet the man you are to bless. Give him such things as you have. How can I make him or her happier?' This is the question. If a dollar will do it, give the dollar. If advice will do it, give advice. If a look, a smile, or a warm pressure of the hand, or tear, will do it, give the look, smile, hand, or tear. But never forget that the happiness of our world is a mountain of gelden sands, and that it is your part to cast some contributory atom every moment." Two citizens courting the daughter of Themistocles, he preferred the worthy man to the rich one, and assigned this reason—" I had rather she should have a man without money, than money without a man." TELESCOPIC APPEARANCE OF THE MOON. "THE neighboring moon her monthly round To an inhabitant of the earth the moon at all times presents an object of the highest interest and attraction, and in all ages of the world "this refulgent lamp of night" has been the subject of the deepest respect. Among the Orientals, and the Hebrews in particular, her worship was extensive and famous, and she was more regarded than even the sun. The new moons, or the first days of every month, were observed as festivals, and were celebrated with sound of trumpets, entertainments, and sacrifice. The full moon, we are informed, was considered favorable for any undertaking by the Greeks, and no motives could induce them to enter upon an expedition, march an army, or attack an enemy, till the full of the moon. Plutarch relates that the Athenians entertained terrific ideas of eclipses of the moon, for Nicias and his army, when capable of retreating unobserved from the enemy, refused to embark from Syracuse because the moon became suddenly eclipsed in the dead of night. This ignorant and superstitious conduct proved fatal to that heroic commander and his brave companions, who were all shortly afterward either slain or taken prisoners. Although one of the smallest of the heavenly bodies, from her proximity to the earth she is apparently the largest and most brilliant. Her beautiful appearance in the skies, with her regular variations, attracts the notice of the most inattentive and unobservant spectator. She is the inseparable companion of the earth, her satellite, and while she revolves round her primary, revolves also with her round her common centre, the sun. The diameter of the moon is two thousand one hundred and seventy miles-her distance from the earth is two hundred and forty thousand miles, round which she revolves in about twenty-nine days, and a half; thus she travels twelve times round our earth in one of our years; hence it would appear that the inhabitants of the moon can only have twelve days in one of our years, but each day is equal to twenty-nine and a half of our days. She rises every night at fifty-two minutes later than on the preceding night, having travelled thirteen degrees toward the east, and travels round the ecliptic in eighteen years and two hundred and twenty-five days. times with her western side only bright; and again we observe her perhaps during the day like a fleecy cloud, with her western part ragged and torn; and after a little time we have lost her altogether, till at the return of a certain period she makes her appearance. These changes constitute some of the most striking phenomena in the heavens, and the cause that produces them is the rotatory motion of the moon about our earth. Her orbit like that of the planets is an ellipse, but considerably more eccentric, and its plane does not coincide with that of the ecliptic, but is inclined to The moon is an opaque body, shining only with it at an angle of five degrees; the two points where reflected light-such is evident from the different the moon's orbit intersects the ecliptic are called the appearances she assumes. If she shone by her own moon's nodes; that in which the moon passes from native light, she would always appear full, but as she the southern side of the ecliptic to the northern, is shines only by reflecting the light of the sun, her called the ascending node, and the other the descendluminous part presents different shapes according to ing. The moon always turns the same side toward her situation as it respects the earth: sometimes we the earth, and the earth is as it were a satellite to the see her with a full face, bright in every part-some-moon, and must present a most splendid appearance from the moon, being thirteen times as large as the moon is to us. On that side of the moon, however, which is turned from the earth, that planet can not be seen, and if a lunarian whose customary place of residence is on the farthest side of the moon, has his curiosity excited by the marvellous tales of travellers from this side of the lunar surface respecting a large body shining almost continually in the skies; before he can be convinced of the truth by ocular demonstration, he will have to make a journey of about fifteen hundred miles-not always fixedly keeping the same side toward him, or rising and setting as the moon does to us, but presenting all its sides in the course of twenty-four hours of our time. The earth occasionally will present a luminous ring, occasioned by our eighteen degrees of twilight, and at times a beautiful crescent. The surface of the moon as a telescopic object, presents a most interesting appearance, indicating that its surface is composed of hills, valleys, and caverns, and perhaps of seas, lakes, and rivers, and all the varieties of distribution that are known to be on the surface of the earth, although the actual existence has not yet been ascertained. That there are mountains and hills in the moon, may be inferred with considerable certainty from those parts which are supposed to be elevations casting a shadow opposite to the sun, as well as from the jagged appearance of the edge of the moon when she is horned or gibbous; the valleys and cavernous parts are distinguished by the shadows appearing next to the sun. Some of the mountains form elevated continuous ridges, others are insulated and conical, having the precise form of the terrestrial volcano. The assertion is startling, but there are lunar volcanoes in different stages; Dr. W. Herschell saw three in a state of ignition at the same time-they resembled a small piece of burning charcoal covered by a thin coat of white ashes, and he further noted a large portion of burning matter which he supposes was more than three miles in diameter. The height of the lunar mountains was formerly supposed to exceed very considerably that of the mountains of the earth, but the laborious exertions of Herschell and others have determined the fact, that none of them exceeds five miles in height. The inhabitants of the moon, if the moon be inhabited by beings whose organization resembles our own, must be capable of living with a very small quantity of atmospheric air and little water. It has been a subject of discussion whether or not she is furnished with an atmosphere. Reason and analogy decide in the affirmative, but it is less than a mile high, and is never clouded, so that the sun must shine for a whole fortnight without intermission on the same spot, without having his heat materially moderated either by the interposition of the atmosphere, or by the evaporation of the moisture. That there is very little water in the moon beyond perhaps springs and small rivers, has been inferred from two remarkable circumstances-the absence of clouds, and the irregular appearance of the margin of the moon as seen in a solar eclipse, no part of it being terminated by a line sufficiently regular to allow us to suppose it the surface of the fluid. The light emitted by the moon produces no heat; if her rays are concentrated by a powerful mirror and thrown on the bulb of a thermometer, no effect is perceptible; the light of the full moon is three hundred times less than that of the sun. When the moon is full in the highest or lowest part of her orbit, she does not appear perfectly round; in the former case a trifling deficiency is apparent in the lower edge, and the contrary in the latter, in consequence of our not having a full view. of the enlightened side. The moon is of course a spherical body; for a luminous globe, though but at a small distance from the eye, will appear like a plain or circular flat surface, this will be evident to any one who makes the experiment with a cannon ball heated red hot. Connected with the moon are many important subjects, such as eclipses, tides, etc. An eclipse is the interception of the light of one of the luminaries by the interposition of an opaque, and in respect to their objects are characterized as a solar or lunar eclipse. An eclipse of the moon is occasioned by the intervention of the body of the earth directly between herself and the sun, thus intercepting the sun's rays; or it may be otherwise described as resulting from the passage of the moon through the shadow of the earth, and at the same moment that we observe an eclipse of the moon, the lunarians must witness a solar eclipse. When the moon's entire light is intercepted, it is called total; when only part, it is termed partial. Eclipses of the moon happen only when that planet is at the full; because then only does the earth intervene between the sun and it; neither do they occur every full moon, or in those full moons which happen in the nodes or very near them. If the moon's orbit was in the plane of the ecliptic, that is, if she moved in the same plane as the earth and sun, there would be an eclipse of the sun every new moon or change, and an eclipse of the moon every time she was at the full; but these frequent and regular privations of light in the sun and moon are prevented by the moon's course being in an oblique direction to the ecliptic, which she only twice intersects in every period. The number of eclipses of the moon is two. The largest duration of a total eclipse is five hours and a half. A remarkable one occurred in 1647 when the figure of the moon could not be seen even with a telescope, although the sky was clear and stars of the sixth magnitude were visible; and in 1454 the moon was eclipsed by a comet. This phenomenon is one of great importance to us, and also to the inhabitants of the moon-if that planet be inhabited by beings of similar capabilities and wants as ourselves. By a lunar eclipse the sphericity of the earth is determined, the deduction that the sun is larger than the earth and that the earth is larger than the moon; for if the sun were not larger than the earth, the shadow could not converge or end in a point; and if the earth were not larger than the moon, the latter could never be totally eclipsed, but the earth's shadow envelopes it at the distance of the lunar orbit-the longitude of places is also ascertained by the same phenomenon. Those regular ebbs and flows of the sea which are termed tides, are also produced by the influence of How cheerless and uncomfortable would be our nights were we destitute of the light which this sister orb, our faithful and inseparable companion, dispenses! How important are even her eclipses in our astronomical, geographical, and chronological calculations. How salutary her mechanical influence, which balances the ocean and actuates the world of waters. We see in her-us in all the bright emanations from the divine hand of the Almighty-a manifestation of his wisdom, and a continual exemplification of his love. the moon in conjunction with the sun. It is reported the same circle of diurnal motion when at the full in of the philosopher Aristotle, that he threw himself December, as the sun does in June. The advantages into the Euripus because he could not ascertain the of the harvest moon to the industrious husbandman cause of the flux and reflux of the sea; this may are very remarkable; for at the autumnal part of the possibly be an idle tale, but we are nevertheless cer-year she rises sooner after sun-setting than she does tain that the ebbing and flowing of the sea was one in any other full-moon week in the year. Thus she among many of the subjects the ancients were not affords an immediate supply of light after sunset, able fully to comprehend. The appeal which Canute which is very beneficial for those employed in the made to the certain irresistible flow of the sea, when harvest and gathering in of the fruits of the earth. he meant to rebuke his flattering courtiers, is a proof that at a very early period of English history the tides had drawn attention, and as no one can notice them for any length of time without perceiving that on the same days of the moon's age they happen at the same place at very nearly the same hours of the day-a connexion between them and the moon could not fail to be traced. It is easy to suppose that although the attractive influence can not alter the shape of a solid part of the globe, yet it may nevertheless produce certain effects upon the fluid portions. Thus then it is the ocean is drawn toward the moon, and it is therefore high water at the place perpendicularly under the moon or where the moon crosses the meridian. If we fix a string to the side of a flexible hoop and swing it round in a circle, we may readily conceive how the part next the hand would draw out or swell by the drawing of a spring, and also how the opposite part would fly or swell by the centrifugal force, it being least drawn in, and how the intervening parts of the hoop would become depressed and flattened. It is thus with the ocean; that part which is immediately under the moon is raised by its attraction up into a swell, and that part which lies on the opposite side of the earth is thrown up into a similar swell by the motion of the earth in its orbit, by the centrifugal force. TRIFLES.-Be not greedy of great gain. You will find it hard to eat more than a loaf a day-two coats worn at once are uncomfortable-a great house will but remind you of your own littleness, and continually mock you with the thought that your last habitation will be cold, dark, and narrow, one that wealth can not adorn, or make safe from the attacks of the clay worm. Throw away pride. Humility is a safe garb in which to travel the dangerous ways of life.-The well-dressed man is often made to stand and deliver. He who walks in the dark, may break his head unless he stoops. He who would live long, will live temperately. If you would take a long lease here, dwell not in an unhealthy house. Drunkenness is a pestilence, and poisons many habitations. Distrust not your neighbor, nor covet his possessions. If you have confidence in yourself, you will have confidence in those around you. The honest man finds much that is pure and beautiful in the world: for his eyes are mirrors that reflect only on pleasant objects. But the knave looks through a darkened glass, and everything around wears a sombre-a forbidding aspect. Search out the The sun has also some action on the waters, but only in the proportion of three to ten, in consequence of his great distance from the earth compared to that of the moon sometimes it happens at the full and change of the moon that the sun's attractive force is united with that of the moon and increases it. This union is productive of what are called spring tides; at other times, during the half moons, the attractive power of the sun and moon counteract each other, and produce what are termed neap tides-the word Are you a seeker after pleasure? neap is derived from the Saxon; it signifies low, poor, and minister to their necessities. decrescent, and is used only in reference to the tides. that flashes across the dark waters, when the storm From the earliest ages an opinion has been enter-breaks up, is the reward that attends a good action. tained that the moon has an influence on the weather and the human constitution; the celebrated Dr. Mead was a believer in this doctrine; it is certainly a fact that insane persons experience an increase of their disorder at the full and change of the moon, and hence their disorder is called lunacy, from the Latin word luna, the moon. Whatever credence may be attributed to this idea, the wisdom and beneficence of the Deity to man are very conspicuous in the appointment of this attendant on the earth, the use of which is particularly experienced in the winter, she being much longer above the horizon when most enlightened in that season than in the summer; for at the time of her being full she always moves in a part of the zodiac opposite to the sun, and consequently describes nearly Seek not to penetrate the mysteries beyond.-The brave man is master of his own fate, and buffets the opposing waves as they rise. Deal justly with your fellows; judge mildly of their errors; with your own hands carn your daily bread, and the frosts of age shall sit lightly on your brow.-The evening of your days shall be very calm, and a pleasant light shall linger and play about your grave. Do not despise the poor. Remember that while honest virtue is often clothed in rags-vice flaunts it gayly in satin, and dazzles the eye with costly jewels. If you are rich, study to be happy; if you are poor, strive to be content. Be wise enough to accommodate yourself to circumstances; do not fancy that they will accommodate themselves to you |