?<& ■ - fi Snrgeon General's Office ^fcch'on,............./.......J............................. i -C no/ 0 3/3/. 1 •**' A '#. { ^s&L/+*~j, //^Z- LIBRARY OF THE MASS. MED. COLLEGE. Rules and Regulations. 1. Students attending any of the Lectures in the Massachusetts Medical College may take books from the Library during the course, by depositing I?lve Dollars with the Dean; and the students of any of the Medical Professors may have the same privilege on the same terms throughout the year. 2. The Library shall be open on the afternoon of every Saturday, from 3 to 5 o'clock, for the de- livery and return of books. 3. Three volumes may be taken at a time, and kept four weeks, or returned sooner if desired.— Twenty-five cents a week will be charged for each volume that is kept beyond that time ; and when a fine is incurred, it must be paid before any more books can be taken out. 4. All the books must be returned on or before the last Wednesday in February, and on or before the first Wednesday in August, preparatory to the semi-annual examinations of the Library. 5. If a volume be lost, or injured, the price of the book, or the amount necessary to repair the injury, as the case may be, will be deducted from the sum deposited; otherwise the whole amount will be returned to the depositor, when he ceases to use the Library. 11 Fnntth, Title r»i i FHIJL1 © C JLE $ in ///e< /j/n/ir/o/ §jm&i \\ ll'll ■r.U.U,.'-.ft..,r.r Published hy J. NTancrede, N^jta.MarlBoWV Str«t,Boston. 151 PREFACE. A MAN who has himfelf derived pleafure, or inftru&ion, from the perufal of a Book, naturally willies to have thefe advantages communicated to others; for we prefume, that what has Angularly affected ourfelves, is likely to produce a fimilar impreffion on the reft of Mankind. I have read few Performances with more complete fatisfa&ion, and with greater improvement, than the Studies of Nature: In no one have I found the ufeful and the agreeable more happily blended. What Work of Science difplays a more fublime Theology, in- culcates a purer Morality, or breathes a more ar- dent and more expanfive Philanthropy ? Saint Pierre has enabled me to contemplate the Univerfe with other eyes, has furnifhed new arguments to combat Atheifm, has eftablifhed, beyond the power of contradiction, the doclrine of an Univerfal Prov- idence, has excited a warmer intereft in favour of fuffering Humanity, and has diftlofed fources, unknown before, of moral and intellectual enjoy- ment. Unfettered by Syftem, unawed by author- ity, he looks immediately-into Nature; he ob- iv PREFACE. ferves, he thinks, he reafons for himfelf, and teaches his Reader thus to obferve, think and reafon. Like every one who has the courage to attack eftablifhed error, and to advance new truths, he has been treated, in his own Country, with affect- ed contempt, has been traduced, has been ridicul- ed. But time, and farther obfervation and expe- rience alone muft determine, whether his, or the received Theory of the Tides, that great engine of Nature, be moft conformable to the real order of the Globe. He no where difcovers the fpirit of an adverfary; he contends not for triumph, but for what he deems to be truth; he honours the virtues of thofe whofe opinions he finds himfelf conftrained to oppofe; for, with him, Goodnefs is ever in higher eftimation than Science, and Probity than Talent*. He difcovers more than one trait of refemblance to his illuftrious friend and fellow labourer in the field of Nature, John James Rouffeau ; the fame over acute fenfibility, the fame occafional fits of queruloufnefs, the fame irritability under the flea- bitings of anonymous criticifm. Saint Pierre ought to have known that his immortal Work was to be tranfmitted for the inftru&ioii and delight of ages and nations unborn, long, long after the diurnal and menftrual effufions of anonymous journalifts had funk into everlafting oblivion. He ought to have held on the majeftic " tenor of his PREFACE. way," equally regardlefs of their notice and of their neglect, of their cenfure and of their approbation, of their flattery and of their frown. What mat- ters it to fuch a man, whether Etudes de la Nature be abufed or extolled in the Journal de Paris ? He has unwittingly conferred on his critics an im* mortality not their own. One Homer has formed ten thoufand critics, but all the critics that ever exifted could not conftitute the ten thoufandth part of one Homer. It is a Angular phenomenon in the Hiftory of the prefent Period, that the Author of Studies of Nature, the profeffed Panegyrift and Penfioner of the ill fated Louis XVI, Ihould be carefled, fhould be refpected, fhould be promoted to honour, by that very National Convention which degraded, dethroned, decapitated his patron and benefactor. Can a ftronger teftimony be borne to wifdom and virtue ? Unfortunately for the Tranflator, the times ad- mitted not of opening a correfpondence with the Author, by which he might have availed himfelf, for obtaining a folution of many difficulties and doubts that arofe in the execution of his talk, and by which he might have rendered the Tranflation lefs unworthy of the Original. The fame caufe forbade the gratification of a wifh which he fondly entertained, that of prefenting the Englifh Reader with an engraved portrait of the form of the Man, vi PREFACE* with whofe mind he was endeavouring to make him acquainted. I have not even been able to difcover whether a portrait of him actually exifts ; at any rate, the prefent ftate of things rendered impracticable every attempt to procure a copy of it. After what the Author has himfelf faid, in his advertilements, of the reception which his Book has met with on the Continent, it would be imper- tinent to trouble the Reader witn any Hiftory of the Publication. The incenfe which has been of- fered to him, and the abufe he has fuftained ; the rapid fale of his own fucceffive Editions, and the multiplied piratical depredations committed upon him, conftitute together an irrefiftible proof of the merit of the Work. How it is to be rel- iftied by the Englifh Public, mull be fubmitted to the determination of time. The Tranflator dares not to flatter himfelf with the belief, that the en- thufiafm of the Reader of this Verfion is to keep pace with his own admiration of the Original; but if he may judge of the general mind from the fentiments occafionally exprefled, by perfons of various defcriptions, and of both fexes, to whom a confiderable part of the Book was fubmitted, in the progrefs of Tranflation, he is not deftitute of hope that it may excite fomething of that inter- eft, and produce a part of that effect, in England, which have attended the feveral French Editions. PREFACE. vii Saint Pierre, Frenchman as he ardently profef- fes himfelf to be, omits no occafion to dojuftice to the Englifti Character. If he combats an aftro- nomical Theory of our defervedly boafted Newton, he beftows unreferved praife on his real difcove- ries, and on what he prizes ftill more highly, the great qualities of his heart and mind. If he feems to have acquired any advantage over the Prince of Philofophers, he himfelf afcribes it chiefly to the weapons furnifhed him by Englifh Obfervers and Navigators, particularly Dampier, Ellis, Anfon, Carteret, Byron, Cooke, Clerke, Wales, and the great Newton himfelf. Thus, in a noble and liberal mind, candor and acutenefs of inveftigation walk hand in hand. I have endeavoured to profit by all the foreign Editions which I was able to procure. The few notes which I have prefumed to introduce, are marked with my initials, to diftinguifh them from thofe of the Author. With all my attention to the prefs, a few flips, I am forry to obferve, have crept in. The names of feveral Tropical vegeta- bles, fifties, quadrupeds and birds, in a great meafure unknown to Europe, are exactly tran- fcribed, or tranflated, according as the cafe requir- ed. I have, in a few inftances, adopted the Au- thor's orthography of certain names of Places, in preference to our own, becaufe it feemed more agreeable to the eye, and, at the fame time, con- viii PREFACE. veyed a more diftinct found to the Ear. If I bav« failed in doing juftice to my great Original, it is to be imputed neither to want of zeal nor to wil- ful inattention : To what then ?—capacity inade- quate to an undertaking fo arduous. H. H. Bethnal Green Road, $th Nov. 1795. T© GEORGE WASHINGTON PRESIDENT 01 the UNITED STATES. SIR, 1 HE Editor of the Studies of Nature, indulges the idea that in dedicating to you the American Edition of a work, fo much efteemed, he does not take a difrefpect- ful or unwelcome Iicenfe. As a member of the human family, he finds a fuperior gratifi- cation, in teftifving his refpect for a character, equally known and revered among mankind. As an American Citizen, he feels a fweet vjfatisfaction in paying the tribute of gratitude and veneration, in his power, to the man, VOL. J. A fi DEDICATION. whom his country delights to honour and td blefs, as having eminently contributed to ef- tablifh her independence, by his military com- mand ; to infure her peace and profperity, by his civil adminiftration -, and to enhance her glory, by his public and private virtues. But however congenial it is with his fentiments and feelings, he confiders it unauthorifed by propriety, for him to addrefs to you declara- tions of this nature, but as he appears in the character of Editor of a work, which he wifh- es to obtain, and conceives to deferve, your fa- vorable acceptance. The belief that the gener- al intention and execution, if not all the pecu- liar fentiments of the Studies of Nature will coincide with your views, encourages him to offer them to your attention. Such a belief is the natural confequence of his opinion that the work is calculated to intereft the Philofo- pher, by prefenting ingenious and ufeful fpec- ulation......the Philanthropift; by exciting " a DEDICATION. iU warmer interest in favour of suffer- ing humanity"........the Friend of Religion and Morals, by illuftrating the being and providence of Deity.....and the Lover of Na- ture, by difplaying the harmony and propor- tion, the beauty and utility that mark her pro- ductions. JOSEPH NANCREDE, Bojlon, February, 1797. * CONTENTS OF VOL. I. DP*ge EDICATION to President WASHINGTON .... i Preface............................i» Advertifement, refpedttng this Edition, and the work in general ix Explanation of the Plates.....Frontifpiece, Plate I.....xxviii Atlantic Hemifphere, Plate 11.................xxx STUDY I. Immenfity of Nature.....Plan of my Work .. . t STUDY II. Beneficence of Nature.............75 STUDY III. Objeftions againft Providence.........84 STUDY IV. Replies to the Objections againft Providence . . 89 Replies to the Objections founded on the Difor- ders of the Globe..............92 STUDY V. Replies to the Objections againft Providence, founded on the Diforders of the Vegetable Kingdom..................176 STUDY VI. Replies to the Objections againft Providence, founded on the Diforders of the Animal King- dom .....................198 STUDY VII. Replies to the Objections againft Providence, founded on the Calamities of the Human Race.....................225 STUDY VIII. Replies to the Objections againft a Divine Prov- idence, and the Hopes of a life to come, found- ed on the incomprehenfible Nature of GOD, and the Miferies of a prefent State.....32a STUDY IX. Objections againft the Methods of our Reafon, and the Principles of our Sciences ...... 356 VOL. I. B ADVERTISEMENT RESPECTING THE SECOND LONDON EDITION, AND THE WORK IN GENERAL. X HE firft Edition of this Work, publifhed in Decem- ber 1784, was nearly out of print in December 1785. It run its natural courfe, in about the fpace of a year, without my having employed any one trick of the trade to puff it off, to accelerate the fale, or to fend it abroad for a market : I may therefore flatter myfelf, that it has been gracioufly received in my own Country. It ap- pears likewife to have been relifhed by ftrangers ; for, within thefe fix months, pirated impreffions of it have appeared at Geneva and Avignon; and this literary plun- der might have injured me, had not M. Laurent de Ville- deuil, then Director general of the Prefs, now Intendant of Rouen, and univerfally known for the ftricteft hon- our and probity of character, given, on my fimple re- queft, the raoft peremptory orders to prohibit the ad- miffion of thefe pirated copies into the Kingdom.* Far- * 1 have been informed, that, within thefe four months, they had found their way to Lyons, to Marfeilles, to Toulon, and undoubtedly to other places; fo that the bookfellers of thofe cities hare not been provided, for four months paft, with copies of my Edition, by which the fale of it ha* been confiderably checked. An infringement, fo unjuftifiable of the rights £ ADVERTISEMENT. ther, the publication of this work afforded an opportuni- ty to Meffrs. the Count de Vergennes, the Baron de Bre- teuil and de Calonne, my ancient and illuftrious fubfcrib- ers, at the folicitation of my refpe&able friends, MefTrs. Hennin and Mefnard, of Conichard, of procuring for me, or for my family, fome annual marks of the King's be- nevolence. This fuccefs ought, undoubtedly, to have fatisfied me; but I am no lefs fo with the honourable prefeflions of friendfliip which have been tendered to me, by perfons of all conditions, and of both fexes, moft of whom are un- known to me. Some diftinguifhed me by their vifits ; and others, by epiflolary addreffes the moft affefting, convey- ing their thanks for my Bcfok, as if, in giving it to the Public, I had conferred a perfonal obligation on them- felves. Several of them have invited me to take up my refidence at their country feats, and to enjoy thofe rural fcenes, of which, as they are pleafed to fay, I am fo paf- fionately fond. Yes, undoubtedly, I fhould dearly love a country refidence, but a refidence which I could call my own., and not another man's. I made the beft acknowledgment in my power, to ten- ders of fervice fo flattering ; but could avail myfelf only of the good will which they breathed. Benevolence is the flower of friendfliip, and its perfume always lafts while you let it remain on the ftem, without gathering it. The airlifted father of a family has informed me, that my ftud- ies were to him the fweeteft fource of confolation in his diftrefs. An Atheift, of a city far diftant from Paris, has paid me frequent vifits, ftruck even to admiration, as he faid, at the harmonies ofplants which I had indicated, and of which he had recognized the exiftence in Nature. Perfonages of real importance, and others who wifhed to pafs for fuch, have endeavoured to allure me to them, by of property of Authors, and of their privileges, and fo contrary to legal authority, ought certainly to be difcouraged. And I look for redrefs a- gainft thefe a£b of injuftice from the equity of the Magiftrate who prelide* over rhe Prefs, Advertisement. XI holding out gilded profpefts of melioration of fortune : But as long as I can attain the rare felicity of being beloved, and, what is of ftill greater importance to me, the power of being ufeful, fo long fliall I fly, if I can, the calamity fo common, and fo humiliating, of being under protection. I fpeak not thus out of vanity, but to exprefs my gratitude, in the beft manner I am able, as my cuftom is, for the flighteft marks of kindnefs fhewn me, provided I can believe them fincere. I have reafon to believe, then, from thefe concurring fuffrages of perfons of character, that GOD has been pleafed to blefs my labours, though chargeable with man- ifold imperfections. I confider it to be my duty to ren- der the Work as worthy of the public efteem as 1 can : Accordingly, I have corrected, in this New Edition, the errors of the Prefs, the blemifhes in point of ftyle, and the obfcurities in point of meaning, which I remarked in the firfl ; and this partly by myfelf, partly with the af- fiftance of certain well informed friends, without how- ever retrenching any thing material, and this too in con- formity to their wiflies. I have only taken the liberty, for the fake of perfpicuity, to make fome tranfpofitions in the notes. In the fame view I have added fome oth- ers, and among thefe, in the explication of the plates, a geometrical figure, which renders perceptible to the eye the miftake of our Aftronomers, refpefting the flatnefs of the Earth at the Poles, and affords new proofs of the al- ternate and half yearly courfe of the Atlantic Ocean, by the melting of the polar ices. Finally, I have employed a fet of new and beautiful types of the foundery of M. Didot the younger, that the reputation of this Artift might contribute its fhare toward the celebrity of the Work. I fhould have deemed myfelf happy to derive informa- tion refpefting the fubjecl: of my Book, from the illumin- ation, and candid decifions, of literary Journalifts. Gen- tlemen of this defcription have been left, for this purpofe, entirely to their own difcretion ; for I have neither by Xll ADVERTISEMENT. myfelf, or others, folicited approbation, or deprecated crit* icifm; but they have, for the moft part, confined them- felves to obfervations ot no effential importance. That Journal which contains, of all others, the greate ft variety of articles, and which, from the great talents of the per- fons engaged in conducting it, feemed moft likely to in- ftruft me, finds fault with me for having affirmed, That animals were not expofed, by Nature, to perifh, like Man, by famine ; and it has objefted to me, the cafe of par- tridges and hares, in the vicinity of Paris, which fome- times die of hunger in the Winter. But as, on the one hand, thefe animals are multiplied without end, all around Paris ; and as, on the other, we mow down every thing, even to a blade of grafs, it neceflarily muft, fometimes, happen, that they perifh with hunger, efpecially if the Winter is fomewhat long. The famine, therefore, which they endure in our fields, is occafioned by the inconfider- atenefs of Man, not the improvidence of Nature. Par- tridges and hares do not die of hunger in the forefts of the North, where the Winter lafts for fix months together : They know well how to find under the fnow, the herb- age and fir apples of the preceding year, which Nature has buried there to ferve them as a feafonable fupply. The other objections raifed, againft fome of my pofi- tions, by the Gentlemen Journalifts, are neither more im- portant, nor much better founded. Moft of them treat as a paradox the caufe of the flu* and reflux of the Sea, which 1 afcribe to the alternate fufion of the polar ices ; which ices, in the Winter proper to each Hemifphere, are from five to fix thoufand leagues in circumference, but in their Summer, are not above two or three thoufand. But as no one of them has produced a fingle argument, either againft the principles of my theory, or againft the fafts by which 1 fupport them, or againft the confequences which 1 thence deduce, I have nothing to fay in reply, un- lefs that, as to the point in queftion, they have pro- nounced a decifion, without having examined into the ADVERTISEMENT. Xlll merits of the caufe ; an expeditious, indeed, but not per- fectly equitable, method ot adminiftering juftice. The Gentleman, who has the greateft number of fup- porters, and who, undoubtedly well merits that fupport, for the tafte which he difplays, in his daily criticifms of literary productions, has objected to me, tranfiently, that I deftroy the action of the Moon, which is in fuch perfect harmony with the phenomena of the tides. It is evident, that he has not taken the trouble to inform himfelf, either respecting my new Theory, or the old one. I deftroy nothing of the Moon's action on the Seas ; but, inftead of making her to act on the fluid Seas of the Equator, bv an aftronomical attraction, which produces not the flighteft effect on the mediterraneans and lakes of the torrid Zone itfelf, I make her to act on the frozen Seas of the Poles, by the reflefted heat of the Sun, acknowledged by the An- cients*, demonftrated by the Moderns, and which every man may experimentally demonftrate to himfelf, with a glafs of water. * *' The Moon diflblves ice by the humidity of her influence." Pliny's Natural Hiftory, book ii. chap, 101. When the Moon fhines, in the uights of Witter, in all her luflre, it freezes, no doubt, very fharply : Becaufe that, in this cafe, the North wind, which occafions this ferenity of the air, checks the warming influence of the Moou; but if the wind is ftilled ever fo little, you fee the Heavens covered with vapours which exhale from the Earth, and you feel the Atmofphere fofiened. I afcribe, as Pliny does to the light of that Star, a particular aftion on the frozen waters oftha Earth and on the Air; for 1 have frequently feen, in the fine nights of the torrid Zone, all the clouds of the Atmofphere difperfe, in an afcending direction ; which fuggefted the proverb in common ufe among failors, the Moon is eating up the clouds. Befides, our Naturalifts contradict themfelves, in fuppofing that the Moon moves the Ocean, while they refufe it all manner of influence, not only on the ices, but oo plants, becaufe, fay they, its heat does not make the fluid to afcend in the thermometer. I do not know, in faft, whether it docs, or does not aft, on fpirit of wine : But what conclufion can be de- duced from this? The igneous particles contained in pepper, cloves, pi- mento, cauftics, &e. which have fuch a powerful aftion on the fluids of the human body, would they communicate to fpirit of wine the flighteft ten- dency to afcend, by making an infuuo.n of them with that fluid? Fire, as wtjl «s th- other Elernfni.':, undergoes combinatory, which multiply its ac- xvi ADVERTISEMENT. Befides, it is far from being true, that the phafes of the Moon are, all over the earth, in harmony with the move- ments of the Seas. The flux and reflux of the Sea, on our coafts, follow rather the mean, than the real motion of the Moon. In other places, they are fubjeft to dif- ferent laws, which obliged Newton himfelf to admit, " That there muft of neceflity be, in the periodical re- " turn of the Tides, fome other mixed caufe, hitherto " undifcovered*." The explanation of thefe phenom- ena, which bid defiance to the Aftronomic Syftem, are in perfect harmony with my natural Theory, which af- cribes to the alternate heat of the Sun, whether direft, or reflefted by the Moon, on the ices of the two Poles, the caufe, the variety, and the conftant return, of the Tides ; and, efpecially, of the general and alternate Cur- rents of the Ocean, which are the immediate moving prin- ciples of thefe Tides. Our aftronomers, notwithftanding, have never attempted to give any account of the half yearly verfatility of thefe general Currents, fo well known in the Indian Ocean; nay, they appear to have been hitherto ignorant, that there exifted fimilar Currents in the Atlan- tic. This is, however, a fact which can no longer be • called in queftion, after the new proofs which 1 exhibit in the Third Volume of this Work. I have advanced, then no paradox, refpecting caufes fo evident ; but I have oppofed to an aftronomical fyf- tem, totally deftitute of phyfical proof, fafts incontrovert- ible, deduced from all the kingdoms of Nature; facts which have a multitude of correfpondencies, in the flux and reflux of all rivers and lakes which are fed from icy mountains, and which I could eafily multiply, and exhibit in new lights, relatively to the Ocean itfelf, if thjexe were occa- fion, and if health permitted. tion, in fuch and fuch an alliance, and reduce it to mere nothing in a dif- ferent fituation. We muft not pretend, then, with our inftrumems of PhU lofophy, to arrive at the capability of determining the effefts of natural eauies. * Newton'i Philofophy, chap. xxy. I ADVERTISEMENT. XVli One Journal, which, from the title it affumes, would feem deftined to inform all Europe, as well as that which, from its title, would be thought referved for the ufe of the learned, has thought proper to maintain a profound • filence, not only with regard to natural truths fo new, and fo important, but even with refpect to my whole Work. Others have oppofed to me, as a complete refutation, the authority of Newton, who did not think as 1 do. I refpect Newton for his genius and for his virtues, but I refpect truth ftill much more. The authority of great names Serves but too frequently as a ftrong hold to error. It is thus that, on the faith of a Maupertuis, and of a Conda- mine, Europe has till now believed, that the Earth was flattened at the Poles. I demonftrate, after their own op- erations, in the explication of the plates, at the end of the firft volume,, that it is lengthened out at the Poles. What anfwer is it poflible to give to the geometrical demonftra- tion which I produce of it ? For my own part, I am per- fectly convinced, that Newton himfelf would, at this day, renounce fuch an erroneous opinion, though he was the firft who broached it, if the truth muft be told. The Reader will be, undoubtedly, very much furprifed, to find men, of fuch celebrity, falling into contradiction lo unaccountable ; a contradiction adopted on their affer- tion, and publicly taught in all the Schools of Europe; and that no one fhould have appeared to refute the error, and armed with Sufficient courage to maintain the truth. I was fo aftonifhed at it myfelf, that I remained for fome time under the belief that I* and not they, had, on this arti- cle, loft every fentiment of evidence. 1 dared not even to difclofe my thoughts to any perfon refpefting this, any more than the other objects of thefe Studies ; for fcarcely have I met, in my progrefs through life, any but men fold to the fyftems which have led to fortune, or to thofe which promife to do fo. Accordingly, the more I was in the right, being alone and not backed by puffers, the more disadvan- tageous was the ground on which I had to combat them. VOL. i. c XVill ADVERTISEMENT. Befides, how is it poflible to reafon with perfons, who fhroud themfelves in the clouds of equations, or of meta- phyfical diftinctions, if you prefs them ever fo little by the Sentiment of truth ? When fuch refuges fail, they over- whelm you with authorities innumerable, which have fub- jugated themfelves, without a procefs of reafoning ; and by which they mean to fubdue, in their turn, the man efpec- ially who has not joined himfelf to any party. What then could I have done in this crowd of men, vain and intolerant, to each of whom an European educa- tion fays, from the days of infancy, Be the firjl; and among fo many Doctors titled, and without titles, who have appropriated to themfelves the right to freedom of Speech, unlefs it were to fhut myfelf up, as I frequently do, in my freedom of filence ?* If I Speak there, it is of few things, or of things of flight importance. In the Solitary and unconftrained paths, however, through which I followed truth, I recovered my confi- dence, with the new rays which her light diffufed, recol- lecting that the moft celebrated Scholars had been, in all ages, as much blinded by their own errors, as the illiterate are by thofe of other people. Befides, in order to deteci the inconfequent reaSoning of modern Aftronomers, it was * In fuch fociety, a man is not permitted to remain long in poffeffion of bis right of filence ; for they who fpeak chufe to have no hearers but fuch as are difpofed to applaud. I have remarked, that the degree of attention which the world pays to itt orators, is always in proportion to the degree of power, or of malignity, which it fuppofes them to poflefs. Truth, reafon, wit itfelf, in that cafe, go for nothing. If you would make the world lilleato you, you muft make youifelf feared. Thofe, accordingly^ who fhine in it, frequently employ turns of phrafeology which give you to underftand, that they are powerful friends, or dangerous adverfaries. Every plain, modeft, candid, good man, is, therefore, reduced to filence before them : It is in his power, however, to get deliverance from this ftate of conftraint, if he can bring himfelf to flat- ter his tyrants. But this would, in me, produce the diametrically oppofite efFeft, for I can flatter only where 1 love. Fly from the world, then, ye who will neither flatter nor malign ; for you will lofe in it, at once, the good which you expefted from it, and that which is the gift of your own ccnfcience. ADVERTISEMENT. XIX necefTary to employ only Some principles of Geometry, which are level to my capacity, and to that of all man- kind. Accordingly, having full conviction, from a mul- titude of obfervations, meteorological, nautical, vegetable and animal, that the waters of the polar ices had a natural proclivity Southward as far as the Equator, and vexed at being contradicted by the operations, more celebrated than they deServe to be, of Geometricians, I had the cour- age to examine their refults, and became convinced, that they ought to be the Same with my own. In a former Edition, I preSented both the one and the other to the Public : Theirs remain without a defence, and mine ftand unimpeached, though without declared partifans. In a fecond Edition, I have demonftrated their error on the principles of Geometry ; I now expect a decifion from the confcience of every candid Reader. By the prejudices of education our Aftronomers have been thus -mifled ; thofe prejudices which, from infancy, attach us, without reflecting, to fafhionable errors, that lead to fortune, and which engage us to reject Solitary truths that lead to none. They have been Seduced by the reputation of Newton, which has been obje&ed to by my- felf, and Newton had himfelf been Seduced, as uSually hap. pens, by his own Syftem. That Sublime Geometrician proceeded on the Suppofition, that the centrifugal force, which he applied to the motion of the Stars, had flattened the Poles of the Earth, by afting upon its Equator. Nor- wood, a Mathematician of England, having found, by meaf- uring the Meridian from London to York, the terreftrial degree to be eight fathom greater than that which Cajfini had meafured in France, "Newton," fays Voltaire, "af- " cribed this Small exceSs of eight fathom, in a degree, to " the fijrure of the Earth, which he believed to be that of " a Spheroid flattened toward the Poles; and he concluded, L< that Norwood, having taken his Meridian in a region " to the northward of ours, muft have found his decree " to be greater than that of Cajfini, as he fuppofed the XX ADVERTISEMENT. " curve of the Earth meaSured by Norwood to be the lon- ger of the two."* It is evident that, the degree being greater, and the curve longer, toward the North, Newton ought to have concluded that the Earth was lengthened out at the Poles ; but he deduced the directly oppofite conclufion, namely, that it was flattened there. The truth is, his Syftem of the Heavens occupying all the faculties of his vaft genius, prevented his detecting on the Earth a geometrical inconfequence : He adopted, therefore, with- out examination, an experiment which he thought favoura- ble to his Syftem, not perceiving that it was diametrically oppofite to him. Modern Aftronomers have, in their turn, Suffered themSelves to be Seduced by the reputation of Newton, and by a weakneSs So apt to warp the human mind, that of attempting to explain all the operations of Nature by a Single law. Bouguer himfelf, one of their co- operators, in his Treatife on Navigation, book v. chap. v. §. 2. page 43^, fays expreSsly, that, " on this difcovery of " the flattening of the Poles, the whole of Phyfics, almoft, " depends." Our Aftronomers, then, have Set out on a ramble to the extremities of the Earth, in queft of phyfical proofs of a celeftial Syftem, happy and luminous; and they were So dazzled with it beforehand, that they miftook, in their turn, the truth it Self, which, far from the prejudices of Europe, had, in deferts, juft fought refuge under their wings. If the moft illuftrious of modern Geometricians, could fall into So grofs an error in his peculiar Science; and if Aftronomers, in other reSpects, abundantly filled with a SenSe of their own Sagacity, have, under the influence of his name merely, deduced from their own operations a falSe conclufion in fupport of that error ; rejected the preceding experiments of their Schools, refpecting the finking of the barometer in the North, with the other ge- ographical obfervations which contradicted it; eftablifhed on it the bafis of all future phyfical knowledge • and have » Xenon's Philofophy, chap, xviii, ADVERTISEMENT. XXI given it afterwards, by the weight of their own reputation, an authority which has not left, to the reft of the Learned World, So much as the liberty of doubting; it behoves us, poor, ignorant and obfcure men, to take good care of ourfelves, we who Search after truth Singly for the happi- neSs of knowing it. Let us miftruft, then, in our reSearches after it, all human authority, as Defcartes did, who, by doubting only, diflipated the Philofophy of the age in which he lived, which had fo long concealed the laws of Nature from the eyes of all Europe, by means of the prej- udice of the name of Ariftotle, then held Sacred in every Univerfity : And let us affume as a maxim, that which Jed Newton himfelf to So many real difcoveries, and after him the Royal Society of London, who have taken it for their motto : Nullius in Verba. To return to literary Journals, if they have, as it were in concert, withheld their approbation from the natural objefts of thefe Studies, one of them has advanced, as I am told, that I had borrowed my Theory of the Tides by means of the polar ices, from certain Latin Authors. This Theory is at laft, it Seems, gaining proSelytes, Since it is exciting envy. To that imputation this is my anfwer. Had I known of any Latin Author who afcribed the Tides to the melting of the polar ices, I would certainly have named him, as a piece of juftice, which the defign of my Work, as well as every principle of confeience, demanded of me. I have not had, like fo many Philofophers, the vanity of creating, at my eafe, a World after my own fancy : But I have en- deavoured, with no Small labour, to collect the Several pieces of the plan of that in which we live, difperfed a- mong the men of all ages, and of all nations, who have ob- served it with the greateft care. Accordingly, I have tak- en my ideas of the allongation of the Earth at the Poles, from Childrey, Kepler, Tycho Brhae, CaJJini......and above all, from the operations of modern Aftronomers; of the extent of the frozen Oceans which cover the Poles, from xxii ADVERTISEMENT. Denis, Barents, Cook, and all the Navigators of the North and South Seas; of the ancient deviation of the Sun from the Ecliptic, from Egyptian Traditions, Chinefe Annals, and even from the Grecian Mythology; of the total fu- fion of the polar ices, and of the univerfal Deluge which it produced, from Mofes and Job; of the heat of the Moon, and its effeas on ice and water, from Pliny, and from re- cent experiments made at Rome and at Paris; of the Cur- rents and Tides which flow alternately from the Poles to- ward the Equator, from Chrijlopher Columbus, Barents, Marten, Ellis, Linfchotten, Abel Tafman, Dampier, Pen. nant, Renncfert, &c. I have quoted all thefe Obfervers in terms of high approbation. Had I known of any Latin Author, who afcribed to the melting of the polar ices the caufe of the Tides, in fo much as any one part of the Ocean, I would have quoted him in like manner, referving to myfelf the glory of the Architect, that of combining, and arranging thefe detach- ed obfervations; of allotting them to their peculiar fea- fons and latitudes, in order to clear them of the apparent contradictions, which had hitherto prevented the deduc- tion of any fair confequence from them; and, in a word, to aflign a caufe, and evident means, for effects which, dur- ing fo many ages, had been involved in myftery. I have formed, then, one Whole of all thefe Scattered truths, and have deduced from them the general harmony of the move- ments of the Ocean, of which the heat of the Sun is the firft caufe, the polar ices are the means, and the half yearly and alternate Currents of the Seas, with the diurnal Tides on our coafts are the effecls* Accordingly, if fome perfons * It will be a matter of fome difficulty for many perfons, to conceive how our Tides fhould poffibly, in Summer, rcafcend toward the North Pole, a: the very feafon when the Current which produces them is rufhing down from that Pole. They may fee a very fenfible image of thefe retrograde ef- fects of running waters, at the bridge of Notre Dame, at the opening of the arch which is fupported by the Quay Pelletier. The Current of the Seine, directed obliquely by a kind of dam, againft a pile of that arch, produces there a countt'ituirea.t, which conllamly rcafccuds agninfttbo twurfe wf the ADVERTISEMENT. XXlll before me, have affirmed, that the Tides are produced by the melting of the polar ices, which I am to this hour ig- norant that any one ever did, I, at leaft, am the firft who demonfbrated it. Other Europeans, prior to Chrijlopher Columbus, faid that there was another World ; but he was the firft who landed upon it. If others, in like manner, had affirmed, that the Tides have their origin at the Poles, no one had believed them', becaufe it was an affirmation deftitute of proof. , Before it waspoflible for me to collect and to complete my proofs, and to render them perfectly luminous, it be- came neceflary to difpel thofe thick clouds of venerable errors, Such as Poles flattened, and wafhed with Seas clear of ice, which our pretended Sciences had Spread between truth and us, and which were Sufficient to involve all our Phyfics in an eternal night. Here, then, is the glory at which 1 afpire, that of afTembling Some of the harmonies of Nature, in order to form a concert of them, which fhould elevate Man toward the great Author of All : Or, rather, I have aimed only at the felicity of knowing them myfelf, and of pointing them out to my fellow crea- tures ; for I am ready to adopt any other Syftem, which fhall prefent to the human underftanding a higher degree of probability, and to the heart of Man a purer confolation. To GOD alone glory is to be aScribed, and peace is Man's choiceft poffeffion, which is never fo pure and fo river, up to the very bubbling over of the dam. In like manner, the meltingj of the northern ices defcend, in Summer, from the bays adjacent to the po- lar Circle, going at the rate of from eight to ten leagues an hour, according to Ellis, Linfchotten and Barents; they flow towards the South, in the mid- dle of the Atlantic Ocean ; but coming to meet on their (bores, almoft in front, Africa and America, where they project on both fides, a violent re- flux is produced, to right and left, along the coafts of both Continents, which u forced northward above the Capes Bo'iador and St. Auguftin, which are rendered famous by their Currents. Now, as the fources from which they iffue have an intermittent flux of acceleration and retardation, occafioned by the diurnal and nofturnal aftion of the Sun on the ices of the eaftern and weftern Hemifphere of the Pole, their lateral countcrcurrents, that is, their Tides, have likcwife a fimilar intermittent flux. XXIV ADVERTISEMENT. profound as in the perception and the feeling of that very Glory which governs the Univerfe. My higheft ambi- tion is the delight of difcovering fome new rays of it, and, henceforward, my moft ardent wifh is to have the remain- der of my days illuminated by it, to the exclufion, as far as I am perfonally concerned, of that vain, fantaftical, un- satisfying, inconftant glory, which the world gives and takes away at pleafure. I have been thus diffufe on the right which I claim to the difcovery of the caufe of the Currents and Tides, from the melting of the polar ices, becaufe, having oppofed to moft of the received opinions on that fubjeft, many ob- fervations which I challenge as my own, if each required a fpecial manifefto, to afcertain my property in it, there would be no end to my advancing fuch pretenfions. Be- fides, if they Shall acquire fo much celebrity as to procure me, according to the fpirit of the age in which we live, perfidious applaufe, underhand perfecution, affected com- miSeration, all calculated to blaft my uncertain, tardy and hitherto hardly budding fortunes, I Solemnly declare that, affociated with no party, and able to oppoSe no one but mySelf fingly to every new adverfary, inftead of cram- ming the public prints, as the cuftom is, with recrimina- tion, abufe, complaint, lamentation, the wafte of time, I fhall defend myfelf only on my own ground, and fhall op- poSe to my enemies, whether Secret or avowed, Truth ; and nothing but Truth. Its mirror fhall be my Egis; and their image reflected from it, fhall become to each a Medufa's head. Or rather, may it be my lot, far remote from fickle and treacherous Man, under the roof of a Small ruftic cot, which I can call my own, on the bor- der of a wood, to elicite the ftatue of my Minerva from the trunk of her own tree, and place, at laft, a whole Globe at her feet. Farther, if the Gentlemen Reviewers have withheld from me their fuffrages, refpecting objects of fo much importance to the progrefs of natural knowledge, and if ADVERTISEMENT. XXV others have got the ftart of me, in precluding my claim to thofe of the Public, I Can already boaft the concur- rence of illuftrious names, among all conditions of men. The Sorbonne, to whom I am perfonally unknown, has done me the honour of adopting the new proofs of the Univerfal Deluge, which I have deduced from the total fufion of the polar ices : Thefe proofs have been laid down as axiomatical, in one of its thefes, maintained, for the firft time, by the Abbe de Vigueras, in his academical exercife of the 6th July, 1785. After all, fuppofing my friends, the Reviewers, to have expreffed ftill more reluftance to give an account of opin- ions, which contradict thofe of Academies, and ftrange even to moft of themfelves; and which muft have had a fufpicious appearance, from their very novelty, they have made me moft ample compenfation, in applauding me, far beyond my defert, for moral qualities, infinitely beyond the value of phyfical difcoveries, and which I fhould deem myfelf Angularly happy to attain.* All that is left me, therefore, is to congratulate myfelf on the general intereft, with which the Public has received the moral part of this Work. I have, however, left un- touched the great obje&s of political and moral reform • the. one, becaufe it was not permitted me to treat them as my confcience would have directed; and the other, be- cauSe my plan could not comprehend them. I have re- ftricted mySelf merely to abufes, which it is in the power of Government to rectify : But there are others as uni- verfal, which depend entirely on national manners. Such is among others, the celibacy of moft domeftic Servants. Had it been in my power to have enlarged on this topic, * I ought, undoubtedly, to diftinguiih, in the number of my panegyr- ifts, the two firft Writers who have given an account of my Work. The one, notwithftanding the fmallnefs of his page, and his propenfity to find fault, has announced it in a manner the moft flittering ; and the other, de- voted to the defence of morals and religion, has placed me by the fide of a man, at whofe feet I would have thought myfelf happy to fit, had Provi- dence bellowed on me the bleffing of being his contemporary. VOL. I. D XXVI ADVERTISEMENT. I could have demonftrated, that the arrangements of So- ciety never can contravene the laws of Nature ; that it 13 the intereft of mafters to have their domeftics marry, be- caufe they pay, let them do their beft, the expenfe of the Smuggled libertiniSm of Servants, much more exceffive, beyond all queftion, than that of an honeft Settlement, for the ftrumpet always will Spend more than the woman of character. I could have demonftrated the pernicious influence" which the bad morals of unmarried Servants have on thtf children of their mafters. I could, likewiSe, have dilated on the harfhneSs of our pretended Fathers of families, who abandon their Servants, on the firft attack oS ficknefs, or the approach of old age, or when they become parents; on the obligations under whichjhey lie, to provide for the neceffities of theSe men, who are their natural Sriends, the vi&ims of their ill temper, the witneffes of their weafc- neSs, and the Sources of their reputation, whether good or bad. I could have infifted on the neceffity of reeftab- hfhing in, at leaft, the firft rights of humanity, the unfor- tunate wretches deprived of moft of the privileges of cit- izens. I could have demonftrated what an influence their happinefs has on the happinefs oS families, and on national felicity, from what I have Seen in Some Pruffian families, where you find, in general, domeftics zealous, affectionate, refpectful and attached to their mafters; for they are born, they marry, and they die in the houfe of the mafter; and you frequently find under the Same roof a Succeffion of fathers and Sons, who have been mafters and Servants for two or, three centuries fucceffively. Once more, if I have been Somewhat diffuSe on the diforders and intolerance of Affociations, I have refpected States; I have attacked particular bodies of men, in the view of defending my country, and above all, in Support- ing the corps of Humanity. Of this we are all mem- bers in particular. But GOD forbid that I fhould think of giving a moment's pain to any one individual poffeffed advertisement. xxvu of fenfibility : I who have affumed the pen, only to Sup- port the motto prefixed to my Work ; Miferisfuccurrert difco ; (the experience of mifery has taught me to fuccour the mferable.J My dear Reader, whatever, then, may be your Situa- tion in life, I fhall cheerfully Submit to your decifion, if you judge me as a man, in a Work whoSe leading object is the happinefs of Mankind. If, on the other hand, I have attained the glory of communicating to you Some new pleaSures, and of extending your views into the un- bounded and myfterious field of Nature, reflect that, after all, thefe are the perceptions but of a man ; that they are a mere nothing compared to that which is; that they are the fhadows only of that Eternal Truth, collected by one who is himfelf a Shadow, and that a Small ray of that Sun of intelligence which fills the Univerfe, has been playing in a drop of troubled water. Multa abfeondha funt major a his ; pauca enim vidimus operum ejus. There are yet hid greater things than thefe be ; for we have fecn but a few of his Works. Ecclesiastic us xliii. 32. EXPLANATION of the PLATES. FRONTISPIECE. TLATE FIRST. X HE Frontifpiece reprefents a folitude in the mountains of the Ifland of Samos. An attempt has been made, notwithstanding the fmallnefs of the field, to introduce, and to difplay, fome elementary harmonies, peculiar to iflands and to lofty mountains. Clouds of fand, formed by the winds on the fhores of the Ifland, and of water, pumped up by the Sun from the bofom of the Sea, are wafted toward the fummits of the mountains, which arreft them by their foflil and hydraulic attraftions. In the foreground of the landfcape are prefented fome of the trees which thrive in cold and humid Latitudes, among others, the tir tree and the birch. Thefe two fpecies of tree, which, in fuch iitua- tions, are almoft always found in company, exhibit different con- trails in their colours, their forms, their port, and in the animals which they nourifh. The fir raifes into the air his tall pyramid, clothed with leaves ftiflf, filiform, and of a dark verdure : And the birch oppofes to thefe a pyramidical form inverted, with leaves moveable, roundifh, and of a light green colour. The fquirrels are playing along the ftem, and among the boughs of the fir; and the female of the heath cock makes her neft in the mofs which covers the roots. The beavers, on the contrary, have built their habitation at the foot of the birch ; and a bird of that Spe- cies which eats the buds, is fluttering round the branches. The fir accommodates its quadrupeds in its boughs, and the birch finds lodging for its gueft upon its roots. The habits of their refpective birds are equally contrafted. Among all thefe animals, however, the moft perfect harmony fubfifis. The dog is looking quietly at EXPLANATION OF THE PLATER. XXIX their different employments, and exprefles, by the liftlefihefs of his attitude, the profound peace which reigns among the inhabitants of this defert. , At the entrance of a grotto formed in the fide of the mountain, is reprefented a man bufied in carving a ftatue of Minerva in the trunk of a tree. The figure of this Goddefs, the fymbol of Divine Wifdom, and the fubftance out of which it is formed, here charact- erize the Supreme Intelligence manifefted in the harmony of vegeta* bles. This Philofopher is Philocles. His hiftory is to be found in, Telemachus, Books XIII and XIV. XXX EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. ATLANTIC HEMISPHERE. PLATE SECOND. Volume I. THIS Plate reprefents the Atlantic Hemifphere, with its Sour- ces, its Ices, its Channel, its Currents, and its Tides, in the months of January and February. Though I am under the neceffity of here repeating feveral obfer- vations which have a place in the text, to thefe I am going to fub- join fome others, worthy, I am bold to fay, of the Reader's moft Serious attention. Obferve, in the firft place, that the Globe of the Earth is not rep- refented here, after the manner of thofe Geographers, who, in their maps of the World, exhibit it as a cavity, in order to give the re- treating parts the appearance of being on a great fcale. Their projection conveys a falfe idea of the Earth, by (hewing the retiring parts of its circumference, as the wideft; and, on the contrary, the prominent parts of the middle, as the narroweft. They prefent, not a convex Globe, but a concave. This figure reprefents it, fuch as it would appear to an eye placed in the Heavens, when the At- lantic Ocean is turned to it, and in our Winter. You may diftinguifh in it the fources of the Atlantic Ocean, which ifTue, in Summer, from the North Pole j its channel formed by the projecting and retreating parts of the two Continents ; and its difcharge comprehended between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, by which this Ocean empties itfelf, in Summer, into the Indian Ocean. The oppofite fide of this Hemifphere, though ftill, in a great meaf- ure, unknown to us, would prefent, as well as the Northern, a flu- viatic channel with all the fame acceflbries ; fources, ices, cur- rents, and tides, formed, not by Continents, but by the proj ections pf iflands, and of its fteep beds, which direct, during our Winter, the courfe of the Southern polar effufions into the Indian Ocean. However interefting thefe new projections of the Globe may be, it was impoffible for me to make the expenditure neceflary to procure! IXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XXXI engravings of them. It would have been extremely defirable to have exhibited a reprefentation of both Hemifpheres, each in its Summer and in its Winter, in order to fee their different Currents at each feafon, and to have prefented a bird's eye view of the Poles themfelves, as well in Winter as in Summer, in order to convey an idea of the extent of the cupolas of ice which cover them, and the currents which iflue from them, at the different feafons of the year. Thefe different fections would have required at leaft eight plates on a fcale greater than this, perceptibly to unfold the harmonies of this fingle branch of my Studies of Nature. Befides, this increafe of charts would have led to more particular and more copious de- tails, refpecting the diftributions of the Globe, which I did not mean to treat of in this Work, except as the fubject occafionally prefented. The fimple afpect of the Atlantic Hemifphere, in the months of January and February, will be fufficient to render intelligible what we .have faid refpecting the polar ices, and their periodical effix- fions. We fhall treat, in their order, of the fources of the Atlantic, of its ices, of its channel, of its currents, of its tides, and even of its difcharge. The Sources of the Atlantic Ocean, are, in Summer, at the North Pole. They are fituated in the Baltic Sea, the bays of Baffin and Hudfon, at Waigat's Strait, &c. It may be remarked on a Globe :n relief, that thefe fources, which conftitute the origin of the Atlantic Canal, turn round the Pole in a winding courfe, nearly fimilar to the circuitous current of a river round the mountain from which it defcends; fo that they collect, in this part, all the difcharges of the rivers which empty themfelves to the North, and carry their waters along into the Atlantic Ocean. From this arifes a prefump- tion, that there is, in proportion, much lefs polar effufion in the part of the South Seas which is oppofite to it. We fhall farther fee, that Nature has fubjected to the Atlantic channel the extremities of the two general currents of the Poles, which there terminate, after having made the circuit of the Globe ; and it is by way of op- pofition to the fources from which thefe currents iflue, that I give to the extremities of* their courfes the name of mouth. But let us at prefent confine ourfelves to the fubject of their fourcesi We conceive that the waters of thefe fources muft flow toward the Line, whither they are carried to replace thofe which the Sun i9 there every day evaporating ; but they have, befides, an elevation which facilitates their courfe. Not only are the ices from which lliey proceed very confiderably elevated over the Hemifphere, but XXXli EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. the Poles have themfelves a great elevation of foil. I ground thii affertion, in the firft place, on the obfervations of Tycho Brhae and Kepler, who faw the fliadow of the Earth oval at the Poles, in cen- traleclipfesof the Moon ; and on the authority oiCaJim, whoaf. figns fifty leaguesmorc to the axis of the Earth, than to its d.ameter in any other direction. In the fecond place, I have on my fide an- thentic experiments, colledted by the Academy of Sciences, but which have no longer been referred to fince the opinion became prevalent, that the Earth was flattened at the Poles. For example, it is well known, that in proportion as you afcend on a mountain, the mercury on the barometer fubfides: Now, the mer- cury finks in the barometer, in proportion as you advance north- ward. It falls about one line, in our Climates, when you afcend to an elevation of eleven fathom. According to the Hiftory of the A- cademy of Sciences, for 1712, page 4, the weight of one line of mer- cury, at Paris, is equivalent to an elevation of ten fathoms and five feet, whereas, in Sweden, you have to afcend only ten fathom, one foot and fix inches, to make the mercury fink one line. The At- mofphere of Sweden, therefore, is not fo high as that of Paris, and confequently the ground of Sweden is higher. To thefe obfervations may be farther fubjoined, thofe made by the Navigators of the North, who have always feen the elevation of the Sun above the Horizon greater, the nearer they approached to the Poles. It is impoffible to afcribe thefe optical effects to the Am- ple laws of the refraction of the Atmofphere. According to Bouguer, a well known Academician, in his Treatife on Navigation, book iv. chap. 3. fection 3. "Refraction elevates the ftars in appearance; " and we are alTured, by an infinite number of certain obfervations, " that when they appear to us in the Horizon, they are, in reality, " 33 or 34 minutes under it......In regions where the air is more " denfe, the refractions muft be fomewhat ftronger, and they are, " likewife, every thing elfe being equal, fomewhat greater in Win- " ter than in Summer. In the practice of navigation that difference " may be entirely neglected, and perpetual recurrence may be had " to the fmall table placed on the margin." You fee, in fact, at this part of his work, a fmall table, in which he lays down the greateft refraction of the Sun in the Horizon, at 34 minutes, for all the climates of the Globe. But how came it to pafs that Barents fhould have feen the Sun above the Horizon of Nova Zembla, on the 24th of January, in the fign of Aquarius, at five de- grees, twentyfive minutes, whereas he ought to have been there, in fixteen degrees, twentyfeven minutes, in order to be perceived in the EXPLANATION OF THE PLATBS. XXX1JI feventyfixth degree of northern Latitude, where Barents then was? The refraction of the Sun, then, above the Horizon, was nearly two degrees and a half, that is, four times as great, nay, more than Bou- guer fuppofes it to be, as he affigns only thirty four minutes, or near- ly, for every climate in general. Barents, in truth, was very much aftonifhed to fee the Sun fifteen days fooner than he expected; and he could not be perfuaded that it actually was only the 24th of January, but, by obferving that very night the conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter, announced for the Latitude of Venice at one hour after midnight, in the ephemeris of Jofcph Scala, and which took place that very night, at Nova Zem- bla, at fix of the clock of the morning, in the fign of Taurus, which gave him, at once, the longitude of his hut in Nova Zembla, and the certainty that it muft be the 24th of January. A refraction of two degrees and a half is undoubtedly very con- fiderable. We may, in my opinion, afcribe one half of it to the ap- parent elevation of the Sun in the very refractive Atmofphere of Nova Zembla, and the other half, to the real elevation of the Ob- ferver above the Horizon of the Pole. Barents, accordingly, ob- ferved, from Nova Zembla, the Sun in the Equator, juft as a man fees him earlier from the fummit of a mountain than at its bafis. It is, befides, a principle which admits of no exception, of the harmon- ic laws of the Univerfe, that Nature propofes to herfelf no one end, without conftraining all the elements to concur, at once, to the pro- du6tion of it. Of this we have adduced manifold proofs in the courfe of this Work. Nature, accordingly, having determined to indem- nify the Poles for the abfence of the Sun, makes the Moon pafs to- ward the Pole, which the Sun abandons: She cryftallizes, and re- duces into brilliant fnows, the waters which cover it; fhe renders its Atmofphere more refractive, that the prefence of the Sun may be detained longer in it, and reftored fooner to it: And hence, alfo, there is reafon to conclude, that fne has drawn out the Poles of the Earth themfelves, in order to beftow on them a longer participation of the influence of the Orb of Day. Certain celebrated Academicians have, it is true, laid it down as a fundamental principle, that the Earth was flattened at the Poles. Hear what the Academician, whom I laft quoted, fays on this fubiect. He had been employed, with fome others, to meafure a degree of the Meridian, near the Equator, Which they found to contain 56,74s fathoms : " But," continues he, "what is well worthy of attention, " the terreftrial decrees have not been found of the fame length, VOL I. i. XXXIV EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. " in other regions, where fimilar operations have been performed,' " and the difference is too great to be afcribed to the unavoidable " errors in obfervation. The degree upon the polar Circle is found " to be 57,422 fathoms. Accordingly, it follows, beyond contra- " diction, that the Earth is not perfectly round, and that it muft be " higher toward the Equator, than toward the Poles, conformably " to what other experiments indicate, which it is not neceflary here " to detail. The curving of the Earth is more hidden toward the "Equator in the direction of North and South, as the degrees are "fmaller there : And the Earth, on the contrary, is flatter toward "the Poles, becaufe there the degrees are greater." Bouguer't Treatife on Navigation, book ii. chap. 14. art. 29. I deduce, without hefitation, a conclufion diametrically oppofite, from the obfervations of thefe Academicians. I conclude that the Earth is lengthened out at the Poles, precifely for this reafon, that the degrees of the Meridian are greater there than under the Equa- tor. Here is my demonftration. If you place a degree of the Me- ridian, at the polar Circle, over a degree of the fame Meridian at the Equator, the firft degree, which is 57,422 fathoms, would exceed the fecond, which contains only 56,748 fathoms, by 674 fathoms, conformably to the operations of the Academicians themfelves. Confequently, if you were to apply the whole arch of the Meridian, which crowns the polar Circle, and which contains 47 degrees, to an arch of 47 degrees of the fame Meridian, near the Equator, it would produce a confiderable protuberance, its degrees being greater. This polar arch of the Meridian could not extend, in length, over the equinoctial arch of the fame Meridian, becaufe it contains the fame number of degrees, and, confequently, a chord of the fame extent. If it extended in length exceeding the fecond at the rate of 674 fathoms for each degree, it is evident that it would, at the extremity of its 47 degrees, get out of the circumference of the Earth ; that it would no longer pertain to the circle on which it was traced, and that it would form, on applying it to one of the Poles, a fpecies of flattened mufhroom, which would project round and round, its brim touching the Earth in no one point. In order to render the thing ftill more apparent, let us always fuppofe that the profile of the Earth at the Poles, is an arch of a circle, and that it contains 47 degrees, is it not evident, if you trace a curve on the infide of this arch, as the Academicians do, who flat- ten the Earth at the Poles, that it muft be fmaller than this arch within which it is defcribed, as being contained in it; and that the more this curve is flattened, the fmaller it becomes, as it will ap- EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XXXV proach more and more to the chord of the arch, that is, to a ftraight line ? Of confequence, the 47 degrees, or divifions, of this interior curve, will be, each in particular, as they are when taken together, fmaller than the 47 degrees of the arch of the containing circle. But, as the degrees of the polar curve are, on the contrary, greater than thofe of an arch of a circle, it muft follow, that the whole curve fhould, likewife, be of greater extent than an arch of a circle : Now it cannot be jot greater extent^ but, on the fuppofition of its being more protuberant, and circumfcribed round this arch; the polar curve, of confequence, forms a lengthened ellipfis. I here prefent a figure of the Globe, which I have got engraved, in order to render the miftakeofour Aftronomers perceptible t« •very eye. ARCTIC POLE. ANTARCTIC POLE. Let x be the unknown arch of the Meridian comprehended above the arclic polar circle ABC, and let D E F be the arch of the fame Meridian comprehended between the Tropics. Thefe two arches are, it is well known, each of 47 degrees. But though they both are fubtendcd by equal angles, A G C and DGF, they are by na XXXVI EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. means of equal expanfion : For, according to our Aftronomers, a degree of the Meridian at the polar Circle is greater, by 674 fathoms, than a degree of the fame Meridian near the Equator. It follows, therefore, that the unknown polar arch x of 47 degrees, exceeds, in extent, the equinoftial arch DEF, which likewife contains 47 de- grees, by 47 times 674 fathoms, which amount to 31,678 fathoms, or twelve leagues and two thirds. The queftion now to be determined, then, is, whether this unknown polar arch x is contained within the circle, in the curve A h C, or coincides with it, as A B C, Qr falls without its circumference, in the direction A i C. The unknown polar arch x cannot be contained within the Globe, as A h C, as is pretended by our Aftronomers, who will have it to be flattened there : For if it were contained, it would be evidently fmaller than the fpherical arch ABC, which furrounds it, conform- ably to this axiom, that the thing contained is fmaller than what contains it; and the more this curve A h C fhall be flattened, the lefs will be its extent, as it will approach nearer and nearer to its chord, that is, the ftraight line AKC. On the other hand, this polar arch x cannot coincide with the fpherical arch ABC, for it exceeds it by twelve leagues and two thirds. It muft belong, therefore, to a curve which falls without the circumference of the Globe, as in the direction A i C. The Globe of the Earth, then, is lengthened at the Poles, as degrees of the Meridian are greater there than at the Equator. Aftronomers have confequently erred, in concluding, from the magnitude of thofe degrees, that the Poles were flattened. I fhall conclude this demonftration by an image more trivial in- deed, but equally fenfible. If you divide the two circumferences of an egg, in length and in breadth, each into 360 degrees, would you conclude that this egg was flattened toward its extremities, be- caufe the degrees of its circumference in length, were greater than the degrees of its circumference in breadth r What is very Angular here, is, that Academicians employ the fame figure nearly, to de- duce refults which flatly contradict each other. They reprefent the Globe of the Earth like a Dutch cheefe. They take it for granted that the Globe is very elevated over the Equator. " The " curve of the Globe," fays Bouguer, in the paflage above quoted, " is more fudden toward the Equator, in the direction of North and " South, becaufe the degrees there are fmaller : And the Earth, on " the contrary, is flatter toward the Poles, becaufe the degrees " there are greater. One would imagine that the Equator was " diftinoViifhed only by the greateft rapidity of motion performed EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xxxvli "in the fpace of twentyfour hours ; but it is marked by a diftinc- " tion ftill more real, namely, a continued elevation, which muft be " about fix marine leagues and a half quite round the Earth, and "everywhere at an equal diftance from both Poles." We here fee the ftrange confequence deduced, at once, from the ■flattening of the Earth at the Poles, and from the magnitude of the degrees of the Meridian at that part, which necefTarily give to the poFar circle a projection beyond its circumference: Thofe which may be deduced from the elevation and more hidden curve of the Equator, would be no lefs extraordinary. They are precift 1 y thefe, if both the one and the other exifted, there would be no Sea under the Equator ; becaufe the courfe of the waters would be in this cafe determined, by the elevation of fix leagues and a half, and by the more hidden curvature of that part of the Earth, to withdraw from it, and, by the power of gravity, to flow toward the flattened Poles, nearer to the centre, and there to reeftablifh the fpherical fegment which the Academicians have cut off. Accordingly, on this hypothefis, the Seas would cover the Poles, and would there be of a prodigious depth, whereas we fhould have nothing but ele- vated Continents under the Line. But Geography demonftrates the direct contrary ; for it is around the Line that we find the great- eft Seas, and a great quantity of Lund barely up to their level; and, on the contrary, elevated countries and lofty beds of water are very- frequent, especially toward the North Pole. Let us now proceed to confider the polar ices. Though they are here reprefented, precifely in the fugitive, and leaft vifible, parts of the Globe, it is eafy to form a judgment of their very confiderable extent from the arch of the Meridian which embraces them. At the South Pole, where they are in a fmaller quantity, having juft undergone all the ardor of the Summer of that Hemifphere, they ftill extend from that Pole to the 70th degree of fouthern Latitude at the leaft. They there form, accordingly, a cupola, of an -.irch of more than 40 degrees, which, at the rate of twentyfive leagues, at leaft, to a degree, for degrees at this part of the Globe, conformably to the experience of our Academicians, are greater than toward the Equator, give a breadth of more than a thoufand and twenty leagues, or a circumference of more than three thoufand. It is impofliblc to call in queftion thefe dimenfions, for they are taken from the laft obfervations of Captain Cook, who made the tour of this cupola during their Summer. The ices of the North Pole are much more extenfive, becaufe they are reprefented in their Winter. On both the one and the jHCXviii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. other, a creft is exprefled, of about twenty leagues of elevation, at the Poles. I fhall not here repeat what I have already faid refpect. ing the height of thofe ices which are difcovercd floating at the ex- tremities of their cupolas, the elevation of which extends to twelve, nay, to fifteen hundred feet. I was exceedingly defirous of pro- curing a reprefentation, around thefe ices, of an irradiation, or kind of Aurora Borcalis, which might have rendered perceptible their circular extent, and have heightened the picturefque effect of the Globe, by rendering its Poles radiant ; for the South Pole, too, emits nocturnal corufcations, as Cook obferved 5 and it appears that thefe glories owe their origin to the ices. But M. Moreau the younger, who made the drawings for the plates of this Work, and particularly thofe under review, with all the intelligence and com- plaifance which characterize him, made me fenfible that the Chart had not a field fufficiently ample. He has, in other refpects, ren- dered thefe polar ices abundantly luminous, to make them diftin- guifhable, without eclipfing the contours of the Iflands, and of the Continents which they cover. As to the Atlantic channel, you can eafily diftinguifh in it, the prominent and the retreating parts of the two Continents, in cor- refpondence with each other. If to this you add the finuofity of its fource to the North, which feems to purfue a fcrpentine progrefs round our Pole, and its wide and divergent mouth, formed by Cape Horn on the one fide, and the Cape of Good Hope on the other, by which it difcharges itfelf, for fix months, into the Indian Ocean, as we fhall prefently fee, you will perceive in it all the pro- portions of a fluviatic canal. As to its declivity, in takin°- its de- parture from the Pole, to empty itfelf even in the Indian Ocean, and South Sea, by the Cape of Good Hope, I believe it to be, as I have faid in the text, nearly the fame with that of the courfe of the Amazon, Let us now confider the courfe of the polar effufion?, produced by the action of the Sun on the ices of the Poles. There iflues every year, a general Current from that which is heated by the Sun : And as that great Luminary vifits them alternately, it follows that there muft be two general oppofite currents, which communi- cate to the Seas their movement of circulation, and which are known in India by the name of the eafterly and wefterly monfoons, or Winter and Summer. This being laid down, let us examine the effufions of the South Pole, which is here reprefented in its Summer. The general Cur- rent, which iflues from it, divides into two branches, the one of EXPLANATION OF THE PLATIS. XXXl* which fets in toward the Atlantic Ocean, and penetrates even to its northern extremity. When this branch comes to force its way between the prominent part of Africa and America, finding itfelf flraitened on paffing from a wider to a narrower fpace, it form6, on the coaft, two counter currents, or 'vortices, which proceed in con- trary directions. The one of thefe counter currents runs to the Eaft, along the coafts of Guinea, up to the fourth degree South, ac- cording to the teftimony of Dampier. The other takes its depar- ture from Cape St. Auguftin, proceeds to the South Weft, along the coafts of Brafil, up to Maires Strait inclufively. This effect is the refult from a law in Hydraulics, the operation of which is gen- erally known : It is this, that as often as a current pafles from a wider channel into a narrower, it forms on the fides two counter cuircnts. The truth of this may be afcertained, by obferving the current of a brook, to the paffage of the water of a river under the arches near the abutment of a bridge, Sec. Accordingly, the current bears to the Eaft, along the coafts of Guinea, and to the South Weft, along the coafts of Brazil, during the Summer of the South Pole. But in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond the ftrait of the two Continents, it pufhes on to the North in full force, and advances to the very northern extremities of Europe and of America, bringing us twice every day, along our coafts, the tides of the South, which are the half daily effufions of the two fides of the South Pole. The other branch, which iflues from the South Pole, takes a di- rection to the weftward of Cape Horn, rufhes into the South Sea, produces in the Indian Ocean the Eaftern monfoon, which takes place in India during our Winter ; and having made the tour of the Globe by the Weft, comes to the Eaft, to unite itfelf by the Cape of Good Hope, to the general Current which enters into the At- lantic Ocean. It is poflible, partly, to trace on the Chart this gen- eral Current of the South Pole, with its two principal branches, its counter currents and its tides, by the arrows which indicate its dirtct, oblique, and retrograde movements. Six months after, that is, in our Summer, commencing toward the end of March, when the Sun, at the Line, begins to forfake the South Pole, and proceeds to warm the North, the effufions of the South Pole are flayed ; thofe of our Pole begin to flow, and the Cur- rents of the Ocean Change in all Latitudes. 'Ihegeneral Current of the Seas then takes its departure from our Pole, and divides, like that of the South, into two branches. The firft of thefe branches derives its foiuxes from \Y;tigat's, Iludfon's bay, &c. which then Xt EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. flow, in certain ftraits, with the rapidity of aflnice, and produce, to the North, tides which come from the North, from the Eaft, and from the Weft, to the great aftonifhment of Linfchotten, Ellis, and other Navigators, who had been accuftomed to fee them come from the South along the coafts of Europe. This Current, formed by the fufion of moft of the ices of the North of America, of Europe, and of Afia, which, at that feafon, prefent a circumference of almoft fix thoufand leagues, defcends through the Atlantic Ocean, pafTes the Line, and finding itfelf con- fined at the fame Strait of Guinea and Brafil, it forms on its fides, two lateral coi.nter currents, which fet in northward, as thofe formed, fix months before, by the Current of the South Pole, fet in fouthward. Thefe counter currents produce, on the coafts of Eu- rope, the tides which always appear to come directly from the South, though they atfually come, at that feafon, from the North. The branch which produces them advances afterward to the South, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, takes its courfe eaftward, forms, in the Indian Ocean, the wefterly monfoon ; and having en- compaffed the Globe, even to the South Sea, it proceeds to Cape Horn, reafcends along the coaft of Brafil, and there produces a cur- rent which terminates at Cape St. Auguftin, and is oppofed to the principal Current, uhich defcends from the North. The other branch of the Current, which, in Summer, flows from our Pole, on the oppofite fide of our Hemifphere, iflues through the pafTage called the North Strait, fituated between the moft eafterly rxtremity of Afia, and the moft wefterly of America. It defcends into the South Sea, where it is reunited to the firft branch, which tlten forms, as has been faid, the wefterly monfoon of that Sea. Be- fides, this branch, which iflues by the North Strait, receives much lefs of the icy effufions than that of the Atlantic Ocean, becaufe the deep bays which are at the fources of that Ocean, and the contours of thefe fame fources, which furround the Pole fpirally, receive, as we have feen, the greateft part of the icy effufions of the North Pole, and pour them into the Atlantic Ocean. The Ocean, accordingly, flows, twice a year round the Globe, in oppofite fpiral directions, taking its departure alternately from each Pole, and defcribes on the Earth, if I may venture to fay fo, the fame courfe which the Sun does in the Heavens. This Theory, I confidently affirm, is fo luminous, that, by means. of it, a multitude of difficulties may be refolved, which involve in much obfeurity the journals of our Navigators. Froger, for exam- ple, fays, that in Brafil the Currents come in conformity to the di- EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xli region of the Sun ; that is, they run northward, when he is in the northern figns of the Zodiac, and fouthward, when he is in the fouth- ern figns. It is impoffible, affurcdly, to explain this verfatile effect., from the prefTure, or the attraction of the Sun and of the Moon be- tween the Tropics, as thefe two Luminaries never tranfeend their bounds, and always proceed in one direction, from Eaft to Weft : But here is the folution, When this Current of Brafil runs to the South in our Winter, it is the general counter current of the South Pole, which is then fetting in to the North ; and when this Brafilian Current runs to the North in our Summer, it is the extremity of this fame general Current, which returns by Cape Horn. The fame thing does not take place refpecting the Current in the Gulf of Guinea, which is oppofite, and which runs always to the Eaft, though it be in precifely the fame fituation ; for, in our Win- ter, this Current, in the Gulf of Guinea, is the extremity of the gen- eral Current of the South Pole, which returns by the Cape of Good Hope, and which, at that feafon, fets in to the North, along the coafts of Africa, from the thirtieth degree of South Latitude, as far as to the fourth degree of the fame Latitude, according to the teftimony of Dampier. But this extremity of the general Current which fets in to the North, and which then takes its departure from the fourth degree South, to join the general Current, does not enter into the Gulf of Guinea, becaufe of the prodigious retreat of that Gulf ; fo that, in this part only, the Sea flows always to the Eaft, conforma- bly to the obfervation of all African Navigators. I fhall fupport the principles of my Theory by well authenticated facts, fupplied by Navigators of the higheft credit. Hear what Dam- pier fays of tiie Currents of the Ocean, in his Treatife of Winds, pages 386 and 387. " Befides, it is certain, that, univcrfally, Currents change their " courfes at certain feafons of the year: In the Eaft Indies, they run " from Fart to Weft one part of the year, and from Weft to Eaft the " other part. In the Raft Indies, and in Guinea, they change only a- " bout the time of full Moon. But this is to be underftood of the parts " of the Sea which are at no great diftance from the coaft: Not but " that there are, likewife, very powerful Currents, in the great O- " ccaa, which are not fubjected to thefe laws; but that is not " common. " On the coaft of Guinea the Current .fets in to the Eaft, except " at full Moon, or about it. But to the* South of the Line, from " Loango up to 25 or 30 degrees, it runs wit!- the wind from South " to North, except toward full Moon. VOL. I. F Xlh EXPLANATION 6F THE PLATES. " To the Eaft of the Cape of Good Hope, from the thirtieth de- " gree to the twentyfourth South Latitude, the Current fets in to " the Eaft, from the month of May to October, and the wind blows "during that period from Weft South Weft, or South Weft; but " from Ottober to May, when the wind is between Eaft North Eaft, " and Eaft South Eaft, the Current fets in to the Weft ; and this is "tobeunderftoodoffiveorfix leagues diftance from land, up ta "fifty, or thereabout; for at five leagues from land, there is no " Current, but we have a tide; and beyond fifty leagues from land, " the Current entirely ceafes, or becomes imperceptible. "On the coaft of India, to the North of the Line, the Current " runs with the monfoon. But it doe* not change quite fo foon, " fometimes by three weeks or more j after that, it changes no more " till the monfoon is fixed in the oppofite direction. For example, " the weftern monfoon commences about the middle cf April, but " the Current does not change till the beginning of May ; and tlie •< eaftern monfoon commences about the middle of September, but " the Current changes not till October.has begun." Dampier feems to afcribe the caufe of thefe Currents to the winds, which he calls Monfoons. But this is not the proper place for in- vestigating the caufe of the atmofpheric revolution, which, however, likewife depends on the Poles, whofe Atmofpheres are more or lefs dilated in Winter and in Summer, and whofe revolutions muft pre- cede thofe of the Ocean. I fliall confine my attention, at prefent, to the retardation of the wefterly Current, which does not affedt the In- dian Ocean till the month of May, in order to demonftrate, that it is the fame v.hich takes its departure from our Pole, in the month of March, and which takes place in various regions of India at eras pro- portional to the diftance of the point from which ic feis out. This Current arrives, then, toward the month of Aj. ril, at the Cape of Good Hope ; and this it is which renders the palfage round the Cape fo difficult to veffels returning from India in Summer. I fhall once more fupport myfelf, on this ground, by the authority of Dam- pier, iruhis Voyage round the World, vol. ii. chap. 14. This was on his return from India to Europe. " We loft time in trying to reach the Cape, which wc could not " make till the month cf October or November ; and it was now on- " ly the end of March. In fact, it is not ufual to make the Cape af- " ter the tenth of May." In addition to this, the Dutch Eaft India Company do net permit their fivps to remain there later than the month of March, becaufe from that period the Winds and the Cur- rents fleadily fet ::i from the Weft, v.hich drive the (hipping on the EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xllft •oaft • Hence we fee, that this Current, which comes from the Weft, in doubling the Cape, arrives there in the month ot April. From the preceding paflage, in Dampiefs Treatife onWns,^ have feen that this wefterly Current reached the coafts of India to- ward the middle of May : I mall produce another authority to prove that it reaches, about the middle of June, the ifland of T.man, which is much farther to the Eaft. I extract it from Anfons Voyage chap. I4; in the year .74*, on the fubject of the ifland of r.nun. I h* « only good anchorage ground for large fhips » oft the South Weft " part of the ifland. 1 he bottom of this road is filled with rocks of " coral, very fliarp pointed. It is unfafe to anchor there from the " middle of June to the middle of October, which isthe feafon of the " ivejlerly monfoons ; and the danger is farther increafed by the ex- " traordinary rapidity of the current of the tide which fets in to the " South Weft, between this ifland and that of Agnigan. During the " other eight months of the year, the weather there is fteady." Ob- ferve, by the way, that while the monfoon, or the current, comes from the Weft, the tide bears in a contrary direction between thofe two iflands; which is a confirmation of what we have faid, that tides are, for the moft part, only the counter currents of general Currents forced through narrow ftraits. It is, accordingly, evident that this Current, which leaves our Pole in March, reaches the Cape ot Good Hope in April, the coaft of India in May, the ifland of Tinian by the middle of June ; and that it traces round the Globe, the fpiral line which I have indicat- ed. It might be poffible to calculate the velocity, by the time em- ployed in running over thefe feveral diftances, and in reaching the other points of Latitude, till it gets up with Cape Horn, from which it fets in to the North, as far as Cape St. Auguftin, where it meets the general Atlantic Current toward the end of July. But the de- tail of fo many curious circumftances would carry me too far. In no one refpect is it poffible to afcribe the general Currents of the Indian Ocean, which, as has been faid, fets in, for fix months, to the Eaft, and fix months to the Weft, to the attraction or pre fill re of the Sun and of the Moon, between the Tropics ; for thefe Orb« move invariably in one direction, and their action is the fame at all times, within the extent of that Zone to which their motion is re- ftricted. Befides, if their action were the caufe of it, when the Sun is to the North of the Line, the wefterly monfoon ought to be felt on the coafts of India, as early as the month of March, for the Sun is then nearly in the Zenith of the Indian Ocean; but it becomes not perceptible till fix w«-ks after, that is, till the mor,th of May. xliv r.XPLANATION OF THE PLATES. On the contrary, when the Sun is to the South of the Line, and at the greateft diftance from the Indian Ocean, the monfoon takes place there a little after our autumnal Equinox, that is, in the month of October. Hence it is evident, that thefe revolutions of the Indian Ocean have not their focufes under the Equator, but at the Poles; and that the revolution of the month of March, which proceeds from the North by the Weft, takes fix weeks to render itfelf percep- tible in India, becaufe of the vaft circuit which it is obliged to make round the Cape of Good Hope; whereas that of the South Pole, which commences in the month of September, arrives much foon- er, becaufe it has no circuit to make : And, finally, that the era of thefe verfatile revolutions commences precifely at the Equinoxes, that is, the very moment when the Sun withdraws from the one Pole, on his way to warm the other. It is manifeft, therefore, that the half yearly and alternate Cur- rents of the Indian Ocean derive their origin from the half yearly and alternate fufion of the ices of the North and South Poles; and that their direction from Eaft to Weft, and from Weft to Eaft, is de- termined, in this Ocean, by the very proje6tion of the Continent of Afia. ' The Atlantic Ocean has, in like manner, two half yearly and al- ternate Currents, which have the fame origin, but one natural di- rection from North to South, and from South to North, though with fome deviation from Weft to Eaft, and from Eaft to Weft, by the ve- ry projection of the Atlantic channel. Our Navigators go on the fuppofition that, in this channel, there is but one perpetual Current, which, in our Hemifphere, always runs from South to North. Into this iniftake they have been led by the courfe of the tides, whkh, in fact, always do fet in to the North along our coafts, and thofe of Ba- hama; but efpecially, by our Aftronomical fyftem, which afcribes all the movements of the Ocean, to the action of the Moon, between the Tropics. How many errors may one fingle prejudice introduce into the ele- ments of human knowledge ! It blinds even the moft enlightened of Mankind, to fuch a degree, as to make them refill the eleareft ev- idence, and to reject, for a long feries of ages, the experience which every year is accumulating. 1 have collected from a multitude of Sea Voyages, and principally from thofe which Captain Cook performed round the World, with equal fagacity and intelligence, a great variety of nautical obferva- tions, which demonftrate, that the Currents of the Atlantic Ocean are alternate and half yearly, like thofe of the Indian Ocean. Not- EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xlv withrtanding, the very perfons who made and who relate thefe ob- fervations, mifled by the prejudice, that the action of the Moon be- tween the Tropics alone communicates motion to the Seas, and una- ble to reconcile their Currents w ith the courfe of that Luminary, de- duced only this conclufion, that they were naturally irregular, and their caufe inexplicable. Had they adhered to their own experience, which aflured them that thefe Currents changed twice every year ; that, in the Indian Ocean, they run for fix months in the fame direction with the courfe of the Moon, and fix months directly oppofite to it; and, in the At- lantic Ocean, indirections which have no relation whatever to the courfe of that Star ; that they are much more rapid as you approach the Poles, than between the Tropics, under the very gravitation of the Moon ; and, finally, that they diverge from the Pole that is heated by the Sun, toward that which lie has deferted ; they would then have referred the caufes of thefe variations to the Summer and Winter of each Hemifphere ; and they would have diflipated, in part, that cloud of error, with which our pretended Sciences have veiled the operations of Nature. Though thefe nautical obfervations are decifive as to myfelf, for they have been made by enlightened partifans of the Aftronomical Syftem which they totally fubvert, while they confirm the truth of my theory, I fhall, however, quote two ftill more curious, more au- thentic, and more impartial than all the others, becaufe they have not been picked up by men bred to the Sea, and who, confequently, have neither the prejudices nor the fyItems of the profeflion. The one has the inhabitants of a whole kingdom to vouch for him ; and the other, one of the moft terrible epochas of the naval Hiftory cf Europe : And both of them wonderfully confirm one of the moft a- greeable harmonies of the vegetable Hiftory of Nature, the elements of which I have prefented in the emigration ofplants. From the firft of thefe obfervations, we fhall demonftrate, that the Atlantic Current comes, in fact, from the South, and fets in north- ward, as Navigators believe, but tlris only during our Winter. It is, accordingly, produced, in this direction, by the effufions of the icesof the South Pole, which, in our Winter, flow toward the North; and not by the action of the Moon between the.Tropics, according to our Aftronomers, becaufe, at that very feafon, the Navigators of the Southern Hemifphere have found, beyond the Tropics, this fame Current coming from the South, which afluredly could not take place, if this Current were produced by theaaion of the Moon •n the Equator ; for, on this hypotlu'i., it would flow in a contra- XrVl EXPLANATION OT THE PLATES. ry direction in the Southern Hemifphere. But this is by no means the cafe, as I am able to prove, by the Journals of Abel Tafman, of Dampier, of Frafer, of Cook, &c. who found, beyond the 1 ropics in the Southern Hemifphere, this Current fetting in from the South, but only during our Winter. By the fecond of thefe obfervations we flull demonftrate, that the Atlantic Current comes from the North, and fets in fouthward in our Hemifphere, contrary to the opinion of Navigators, but only during Summer. Of confequence, it then proceeds direftly from the effufions of the ices of the North Pole, which, in our Summer, flow toward the South ; and it evidently deftroys, by this direction toward the Equator, the pretended action of the Moon between the Tropics, which, according to our Aftronomers, impreffes on the O- cean a motion toward both Poles. The firft of thefe obfervations is related by Mr. Thomas Pennant, a well informed Englifh Naturalift, unfettered by prejudice and by fyftem, at leaft as far as this important fubject is concerned. It is ex- tracted from his Voyage, in 1772, to the Hebrides, fmall iflandson the Weft of Scotland.* "But," fays this enlightened Traveller, " what is more real, and more worthy of attention, is this, that there " are frequently found here (on the Ifland of Hay) on the coafts of " all the Hebrides and Orkney Iflands, the feeds of the plants which " grow in Jamaica, and the adjacent Iflands ; fuch as thofe of the do- " lichos urens, guilandina bonduc, bonducetta, the mimofa fcandens " of Linnjeus. Thefe feeds, which are here called Molucca beans, " grow on the banks of the rivers of Jamaica; and thence wafted a- " long by the wefterly winds and currents, which predominate for " two thirds of the year, in that part of the Atlantic, they are driv- " en even to the fhores of the Hebrides. The fame thing fometimes " happens to the turtles of America, which are caught alive on thefe "■coafts; and this is put beyond the reach of doubt, fince there w;'.s " found, on the coaft of Scotland, a part of the maft of the Tilbury " man of war, which took fire, and was burnt near Jamaica.'' Mr. Pennant has neglected to inform us at what feafon thofe feeds, and thofe turtles, reach the weftern coaft of Scotland. Such omiflion of dates is an eftential defect, though very common with Travellers, who frequently neglect thofe of even their own partic- ular obfervations. It is only, however, by means of thefe dates, * Printed at Grncva in 1785, in a collection of Voyages and Travels to ilic Mountains and Iflands of Scotland; Paris, Nyon fenior, 2 vol». 8/0. vqh i, pajc 216 ami ii 7. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATKS. xlvii that wc arc enabled to take a glimpfe of the combined harmonies of Nature. What fhall we think, then, of the tafte of our Compil- ers of Voyages and Travels, who retrench thefe as tedious and un- important circumftances ? It is eafy to fee, notwithftanding, in the prefent cafe, that the feeds from the rivers of Jamaica, and the tur- tles of America, arrive in Winter on the coafts of the Hebrides and of the Orkneys, being driven thither, according to Mr. Pennant, by the " wefterly winds and currents," which " predominate there," fays he, " two thirds of the year." Now, it is well known that the wefterly winds blow there all the Winter through ; which is confirmed, in this relation, by its own proper teftimony, and, in the fame Collection, by other Travellers to Scotland. After aH it cannot poftibly be the Weft wind which wafts thefe feeds and thefe tortoifes fo far from Jamaica northward. The winds have no hold of bodies level with the furface of the water; and, affuredly, thofe from the Weft could not drive them to the North. Nay, Currents from the Weft could not poftibly produce this effect, for they would hurl them to the Eaft ; and as Jamaica is about 18 degrees to the North of the Line, thefe feeds and tortoifes would be driven afhore on the coaft of Africa of the fame Latitude, and not in the 59th degree North, on the coafts of the Hebrides and Orkneys, where, in fact, they do come afhore. The Current therefore, which wafts them along, proceeds in a northern direction, tending a little toward the Eaft, precilely as the Atlantic channel itfelf does, in that part of it. Accordingly, the important obfervations of theinhabitants of Scotland, on the fub- je£t of the grains of the Ifland of Jamaica, of the turtles of Amer- ica, and of a fragment of the maft of the Tilbury, thrown upon their coafts, inconteftably prove that the Atlantic Current comes from the South, and fets in to the North, as Navigators are difpofed to believe. But it has this direction only in our Winter; for I am going to demonftrate by another obfervation, no lefs curious, that in Summer, and in the fame Latitudes, the Atlantic Current comes from the North, and fets in to the South, in direct oppofition to the pretended action of the Moon between the I ropics, and contrary to the opinion of Navigators. But I ought not to fay opinion, for they have not a well informed opinion on the fubject. We have already produced the teftimony of the moft refpectablc northern Navigators, who unanimoufly bear witnefs, that the At- lantic Cur rent comes from the North, and fets in to the South in Summer, in its northern extremity : Such are thofe of Ellis, ot Barents, of Linfchotten, fcc. who, having navigated, in Summer, xlviii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. toward the vicinity of the arctic polar Circle, atteft that the Cur. rents, and even the tides have a fouthcriy direction, and defcend from the North, or, at moft, from the North Weft, or North Eaft, according to the bearing of the bays into which they have pen- etrated. We have befides adduced, in fupport of this important truth, the teftimony of the Navigators of North America, quoted by Denis, Governor of Canada, who atteft that the Currents of the North annually convey, in Summer, toward the South, long banks of float- ing ices, of a very confiderable depth and elevation, which runa- ground fo far to the Sou h as the banks of Newfoundland; and, finally, we have quoted the obfervation of Chrijlopher Columbus, who, in a much more fouthern Latitude, nay approaching to the Tropic of Ci-nccr, found, by experience, in September, that the mid- die of the Atlantic channel ran fouthward, and, confequently, de- fcended from the North. To thefe authorities we might fubjoin thofe of a multitude of other Navigators, who paid attention only to the driving of their fhips, and were convinced, in Summer, of the ex- iftence of this northern Current, without daring to admit it, or venturing to oppofe their own experience to an Aftronomical Syf- tci.i, which had got into vogue. Cut that I may omit nothing relating to a fubject fo eftential to Navigation, and to the ftudy of Nature, and to remove every pof- fibility of doubt as to the exiftence of this northern Current in Sum- mer, we fhall confine ourfelves to a fingle obfervation, but con- nected with a well known hiftorical event. T his obfervation is the lefs liable to fufpicion, that it is related without an intention to fa- vour any one Syftem, by a Traveller, who was neither Mariner nor Naturalift, and who deduced no other confequences from it, ex- cept thofe which concerned his fortune and his liberty. It is that of Souchu de Rennef art, Secretary to the Supreme Council of Mada- gascar, on leaving the Azores, the 20th of June, 1666, at that time on his return to Europe. Hiftory of the Eaft Indies. Book hi. chap. 5. " From 40 degrees," fays he, "up to 45, we faw broken marts, " fail yards, and round tops of fhips, which awakened an appre- " henfion that fome dreadful naval difarter had taken place. We "were not a little afraid that thefe fragments might have run foul " of one of our convoy, a veffel of confiderable burthen, called the " Virgin, an old crazy firp and very leaky. It has been fince af- " certained, that this wreck was occafioned by the naval combat " which took place Letween the French and Dutch on one fide, and EXPLANATION OP THE PLATES. xlix u the Englifh on the other. It would have been a happinefs to " thofe concerned to have known this fooner." In fact, the veflel on board of which Rennefort was, and to whom it was unknown that France and England were at war, had the misfortune to be taken and funk by an Englifh frigate, as far up the Channel as Guernfey, ten days after this obfervation, that is, the 8th of July. This horrible devaftation, fcattered over the Ocean, through a fpace of three degrees, or 75 leagues, was the effect of the moft ob- ftinate and bloody combat that ever took place on that element, be- tween the Englifh and the Dutch. It begun the nth of June, and lafted four days. The Englifh fleet confifted of 85 fhips of war, and the Dutch fleet of 90, commanded by De Ruyter. There were 21 thoufand men nearly on each fide, and 4,500 pieces of cannon. In that engagement the Englifh loft 23 fhips, moft of which were burnt or funk, and the Dutch only 4; but there was fcarcely a fliip which did not lofe her malls in whole, or in part. Nine thoufand men, nearly, perifhed on both fides. The Hiftorians of each Nation, as ufual, exalted the glory of their own fleet up to the fkies. One thing is certain, that nine thoufand human bodies, mutilated and half burnt, given up to fharks and fea dogs, prefented, to the monfters of the deep, the fpectacle of a ferocity which has no example, except in the annals of the Human Race ; and that this prodigious number of round tops, fail yards, and marts, floating about, mixed with flags bearing red croffes and white croffes, muft have conveyed fome information to the Barbarians of all the Southern regions of the Atlantic Ocean, in what manner the Powers, who pretend to be fubjected to the laws of Jesus Christ, fettle their quarrels*. * Thefe wrecks were, undoubtedly, carried farther than the Azores. It is probable that, at this feafon, a confiderable part of them floated as far as the coafts, and the weftern iflands of Africa. Now the ground of this quarrel between England and Holland was precifcly the African Slave Trade. Thofe Powers had commenced hoftilities the year before, on the coafts of Guin- ea, and at the Cape de Verd Iflands, to the ruin of thefe Countries. I fup- pofe, therefare, that thofe awful monuments of the battle off Oftend, muft have parted through the Cape de Verd Iflands, and near to that of St. John, which is fo little frequented by Europeans, that the Portuguefe call it Brava, or favage. Its good and hofpitable inhabitants, according to an Englifh Navigator, of the name of Roberts, who had a moft delightful opportunity of putting thefe amiable qualities to the ted, are fo humble, that they look oa wien of their own colour as fubjected, by the authority of Gob himfelf, to VOL. I. G 1 1XPLANATI0N OF THB PLATES- Thefe wrecks, fcattered over 75 leagues of Sea, came from about twelve miles to the North weft of Oftend, where this naval combal was fought, and were carried as far as the Azores, which Renne. the yoke of white men. In this opinion they are confirmed by obferving the balance of European commerce, one of the beams of which prefents to Europe benefits only, while the other, we.ghed down by calamities, contin- ually preffes on wretched Afika. But when from the fummit of their rocks, under the fhade of their cottoi trees, and of their pi antains, they beheld, along their peaceful mores, this frightful train of mafts, yards, galleries, poops, prows, half burnt, ftained with human blood, and intermingled with European ftandards, they then faw the fcale, loaded with the miferics of Africa, rife for a moment, ind the other, in its turn, fink with an oppreflive weight on Europe : And from this reaction of calamity, they, undoubtedly, perceived that an univcrfal Juftice governs, by equal laws, all the Nations of the Globe. A King of France, it has been faid, ordered the bodies of malefactors to be thrown into the river, marked with this difmal infeription : Let the Kings Juftice pafs. The Chinefe and Japanefe punifh, in the fame manner, the pi- rates who infeft the navigation of their rivers. Thus the wrecks of thefe fhips of war, which had fo often fcattered terror over the Atlantic Ocean, were hurried along by its Currents ; and their enormous bulging hulks, blackened by the fire, reddened with human blood, and become a fport to the billows of Africa, fpoke much more diftinctly than any infeription could, to the op- preffed inhabitants of thofe fhores : Beheld now, 0, ye black men ! the glory of the Whites, and the Juftice of God, pafjing along. It would be a calculation worthy, I do not fay of our modern Politician*, who no longer fet a value on any thing in the World, except gold and power, but of a friend of humanity, to ufcertain, "Whether the Negro Slave trade hat not occafioned as many woes to Europe as to Africa ; and what are the bene- fits of which it has been productive to thefe two divifions of the Globe. In the firft place, it would be neccflary to take into the account, of the ca- lamities of Africa, the wars which its Potentates wage with each other, in or- der to find a fupply of flaves to anfwer the demand of European traders; the barbarous defpotifm of its Sovereigns, who, for the attainment of this object, deliver up their own fubjefts ; the unnaturally degraded character of their fub- jects, who, after their example, frequently drag to thefe inhuman markets their wives and their children ; the depopulation of moft of the maritime countries of Africa, reduced to a defert, by the emigration of their inhabitants, who have been fweeped away into flavery; the mortality of a very confiderable proportion of thefe wretches, who perifh on their paffagc to America aiid th« EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. li fort's fquadron was leaving when he fell in with them. Oftend is about 51 degrees North ; and the Azores about 40, and far to the Weft. The firft of thefe wrecks were put in motion, from the North Weft Indies, by unwholefome food and the fcurvy, exceflive labour, fcanti- ncfs of provifions, the mercilefs whippings, and other punifhments which they are doomed to endure in our Colonies, and which deftroy the grcateft part, with mifery, mortification and defpair. Here, undoubtedly, is a fad detail of tears and bloodfhed, on the African fide of the account. But it is balanced, at leaft, by an equal train of evils on that of Europe : If you ftate on this fide, the very navigation of the coaft of Africa, the corrupted air of whick carries off the feamen of our trading vef- fels by whole crews at once, as well as the garrifons of our fettlemems on the coaft, and up the country, by the dyfentary, the fcurvy, putrid fevers, and efpecially by a fever peculiar to the coaft of Guinea, which brings the ftouteft man to his grave in three days. To thefe phyfical evils may be added, the moral maladies of Slavery, which deftroy, in our American Colonies, the very firft feelings of humanity ; becaufe, wherever there are flaves, tyrants fpring up, together with the influence of this moral depravation upon Europe. Add to the evils of this quarter of the World, the refources, in the field em- ployments of America, from which our own commonalty and peafantry are excluded, multitudes of whom are languifhing at home, in wrctchednefs, for want of employment, and the means of fubfiftence ; the wars which the Slave trade kindles among the maritime Powers of Europe, their fettlements taken and retaken ; their naval engagements, which fweep away nine thoufand men at a flroke, without reckoning thofe who are maimed for life ; their wars which, like a peftilencc, are communicated to the interior of Europe, by their alliances, and to the reft of the World by their commerce; when all thefe are taken into the ftatcment, it muft be allowed that the amount of Eu- ropean evils is a complete balance to thofe of Africa. As to the balance of benefits, it is reduced, on both fides, to a very nar- row compafs. It is impoffible with a good confcience, to enumerate among the bleffings which the inhabitants of Africa derive from the fale of their com- patriots, our iron fabrcs, with which they mangle each other, our wretched firelocks, with which they contrive to knoik one another on the head, and our ardent fpirits, which deftroy their reafon and their health : The whole then is reduced, in their favour, nearly, to a few paltry mirrors and tink- ling bells. With refpect to the benefits derived from this trade to Europe, there is fugar, coffee and cotton, with which America and its Iflands fupply us, by means of the labour of negro flaves ; but thefe rude and formlefs production* Ui EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. weft of Oftend, on the nth of June, which is the date of the begin- ning of the engagement, conformably to De Ruyter's letter, and the Hiftory of France, and they were found near the Azores by the aothofthefame month at fartheft, as muft be concluded from the relation oiRennefort, though the date of every day, in particular, is not infcrted. The Currents from the North had, accordingly, wafted them along, in nine days, more than 275 leagues to the South; without taking into the account, the confiderable progrefs which had been made to the weftward, on the whole amounting to much more than 34 leagues a day. It was not the wind, furely, which hurried thofe fragments to- ward the South Weft with fo much rapidity : The prevailing wind, at that feafon, was contrary to them. Renneforfs fquadron, which had juft met them, were fenfible of no other wind, but that which was carrying them to the North Eaft; and De Ruyter, in hisdif- patchcs, makes mention only of the South Weft winds, which blew during the engagement. Befides, as has been formerly obferved, what held could the winds have of bodies, level with the water? Much lefs could they have been carried fouthward, by the tides, which then fet in to the North, on our coafts : It muft have been, therefore, a direct Current from the North which carried them to the South, even in oppofition to the tides, and fomewhat to the Weft, by the direction of the Atlantic channel. The Atlantic Current, therefore, fets in to the South, in Summer, notwithftanding the pre- tended action of the Moon between the Tropics, and its courfe, at that feafon, can be afcribed only to the melting of the northern po- lar ices. Thefe two obfervations, fo authentic, farther confirm a pofition elfewhere laid down, that iflands are placed at the extremities of cur- rents. Linfchotten, who had fojourned at the Azores, remarks, that the fragments of moft of the fhipwrecks fuffered in the Alantic 0- can ftand no manner of comparifon with the perfected manufactures, and the crops of every kind, which might be derived from the fame fields by free, happy, and intelligent, European cultivators. It appears to me, that, if this balance of evils fo oppreffive, and of benefits fo trivial, were prefented to the maritime and Chriftian Powers of Europe, they would difcover, at length, that it is not fufficicnt to have banifhed Sla- very from their own territories, in order to render their fubjects induftrious and happy; but that they muft likewife profcribe it in their Colonics, for the fake of thefe very fubjects themfelves, for that of the Human Race, and (or the glory of their Religion. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. tin eean are threwn upon their coafts. The fame thing happens on the ftiores of the Bermudas, on thofe of Barbadoes, &c. Thefe floating bodies are wafted to prodigious dirtances, regularly and alternately, as the Currents of the Ocean themfelves are. The feeds of the i- fland of Jamaica are, accordingly, conveyed, in Winter, as far as the Orkneys, that is more than ic6o leagues from South to North, and a diftance of more than 1800 leagues, by the flux of the South Pole ; and, beyond a doubt, the fluviatic feeds of the Orkneys are carried along, in Summer, to the mores of Jamaica, by the flux of the North Pole. Thefe felffame correfpondencies muft fubfift between the. vegeta- bles of Holland and of the Azores. I am not acquainted with any of the feeds peculiar to the rivers of Jamaica; but I am abfolutely certain, that they poflefs the nautical characters which I have ob- ferved in thofe of all fluviatic plants. Here, then, is a new confir- mation of the vegetable harmonies of Nature, founded on the emi- gration of plants. It may be likewife applied to the emigration of fifties, which purfue fuch long and winding directions through the open Sea, guided, unqueftionably, by the floating feeds of fluvi- atic plants, for which they have, in all countries, a decided prefer- ence of tafte, and which Nature produces on the banks of rivers par- ticularly, with a view to their nourifhment. It appears to me poflible for Mankind, by means of the alternate Currents of the Ocean, to maintain a regular mutual correfpond- ence, free of all expenfi*, over all the maritime countries of the Globe. It might, perhaps, be poflible, by thefe means, to turn to very good account thofe vaft forefls which cover the northern dif- tricts of Europe and of America, confiding moftly of fir, and which rot on the face of thofe deferted lands, without producing any bene- fit to Man. They might be committed, in Summer, in well com- pacted floats, firft to the current of the rivers, and afterward to that of the Ocean, which would convey them, at leaft, to the Latitude of our coafts which are ftripped of planting, as the courfe of the Rhine pours every year into Holland, prodigious rafts of oak, felled in the forefts of Germany. The wrecks of the naval engagement off Of- tend, conveyed with fuch rapidity as far as the Azores, difcover, in fome degree, the extent of the refources which Nature offers to fup- ply in this way. Geography might, likewife, make this a fourceof many future ufe - ful and important difcoveries. To the effects of thofe Currents is Chriftopher Columbus indebted for the difcovery of America. A fimple reed of foreign growth, thrown on the weftern coafts of the llT SXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Azores, fuggefted to that great Man, the probability of the exiflence of another Continent to the Weft. He farther thought of availing himfelf of the Currents of the Ocean, on his return from his firft voyage to America ; for, being in imminent danger of perifhingina ftorm, amidft the Atlantic Ocean, without having it in his power to inform Europe, which fo long flighted his fervices, and derided his enlightened theory, that he had actually, at length, found out a New World, he inclofed the Hiftory of his difcovery in a calk, which he committed to the waves, confident that, fooner or later, it would reach fome fhore. A common glafs bottle might preferve fuch a depofit for ages on the furface of the Deep, and waft it repeatedly from Pole to Pole. It is not for the fake of our haughty and unfeeling Academicians, who refufe to fee any thing in Nature, which they have not imagined in their clofet, it is not for them that I thus dwell on the detail, and the application of thefe oceanic harmonies; no, it is for your fake, unfortunate mariners! It is from the mitigation of the woes to which your profeflion expofes you, that I one day expect my nobleft and moft durable recompence. One day, perhaps, a wretched individ- ual of your defcription, fhipwrecked on a defert ifland, may intruft to the Currents of the Seas, the fad talk of announcing to the habi- tations of Men, the news ef his difafter, and of imploring afijftance. Some Ceyx, perhaps, perifhing amidft the tempefts of Cape Horn, may charge them to watt his expiring farewel; and the billows of the Southern Hemifnhere fhall fpeed the tender figh to the fhores of Europe, to footh the anguifh of fome future Alcyone. After the facts which I have juft detailed, it is no longer poflible to doubt, that the Indian and Atlantic Oceans have their fources in the half yearly and alternate fufions of the ices of the South and North Poles; as they have half yearly and alternate Currents per- fectly correfponding to the Summer and Winter of each Pole. Thele Currents, it may well be believed, flow with much greater velocity, than the floating bodies on their furface. There is produced, at the Equinoxes, a retrogreflive impulfion in the whole mafs of their wa- ters at once, as appears, at thefe eras, from the univerfal agitation of the Ocean in all Latitudes. This total, and almoft inftantaneous fubverfion cannot poftibly be produced by the operation of the Moon and of the Sun, which proceed always in one direction, and are con- ftantly confined within the Tropics: But, as I have again and again repeated, it h produced by the heat of the Sun, which then partes al- moft inftantaneoufly from the one Pole to the other, melts the fro- zen Ocean which covers it, communicates, by the effufion of its ices, EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. If' ftew fources to the fluid Ocean, oppofite directions to its currents* and inverts the preceding preponderancy of its waters. Much lefs is it poflible to deduce, as has been done, the caufe of the tides, from the action of the Sun and of the Moon upon the E- quator; for, if this were fo, they muft be much more confiderable between the Tropics, near to the focus of their movements, than any where elfe : But this is by no means the cafe. Hear what Dampier fays, refpecting the tides on the coafts of India, near the Equator, in his Treatife on the Winds, page 378. " From Cape Blanc, on the coafts of the South Sea, from the third " to the thirtieth degree of South Latitude, the flux and reflux of " the Sea is only a foot and a half, or, at moft, two feet.....The tides " in the Eaft Indies rife very little, and are not fo regular as with " us, that is, in Europe.'.....They rife," fays he in another place, " to four, or, at moft, five feet.'' He afterwards informs us, that the higheft tide which he ever obferved on the coaft of New Hol- land, did not take place till three days after the full, or new Moon. The weaknefs, and the very confiderable retardation of thefe Tides, between the Tropics, evidently demonftrate, therefore, that the focus of their movements is not under the Equator; for if it were fo, the tides would be tremendous on the coafts of India, which arc in its vicinity, and parallel to it: But their origin is near the Poles, where they rife, in fact, from twenty to twentyfive feet, near Mag- ellan's Strait, according to the Chevalier Narbrough, and to a height equally confiderable at the entrance of Hudfon's Bay, if we may believe Ellis. Let us make a brief recapitulation. The tides are the half daily effufions of the ices of one of the Poles, juft as the general Cur* rents of the Ocean are its half yearly effufions. There are two gen- eral oppofite Currents annually, becaufe the Sun warms by turns, in the courfe of one year, the foutherrtand northern Hemifpheres; and there "are two tides every day, becaufe the Sun warms, by turns, ev- ery twentyfour hours, the eaftern and the weftern fide of the Pole that is in fufion. The fame effect exactly is vifible in many lakes fituated in the vicinity of icy mountains, which have currents, and a flux and reflux in the day time only. But it cannot admit of doubt, that, if the Sun warmed, during the night, the other fide of thofe mountains, they would produce, likewife, another flux and reflux in their lakes, and confequently, two tides in twentyfour hours, like the Ocean. The retardation of the tides of the Ocean, which is about twenty- four minutes the one from the other, arifes from the daily diminu- tion of the diameter of the icy cupola of the Pole in fufioh. Accord- M EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES." ingly, the focus of the tides is removing farther and farther ffoM our coafts. If their intenfity is fuch, according to Bouguer, that ouf evening tides are the ftrongeft in Summer, it is becaufe they are the diurnal effufions of our Pole, produced by the heat of the day in the fultry feafon. If, at that feafon, they are lefs ftrong in the morning than in the evening, it is becaufe they are the nocturnal effufionj which come from the other part of the Pole, and difcharge them- felves into the fources, in the fpiral direction of the Atlantic Ocean, but in a fmaller quantity. If, on the contrary, at the end of fix months, the ftiongeft tides, that is, thofe of the evening, become the weakeft; and the weakeft, that is, thofe of the morning, become the ftrongeft: It is becaufe they are then produced by the action of the Sun on the South Pole, and the caufe being oppofite, the effects muft be fo likewife. If the tides are ftronger one day and a half, or two days after the full Moon, it is becaufe that Luminary increafes by her heat the polar effufions, and, confequently, the quantity of water in the Ocean. The Moon pofleftes a degree of heat which not only evaporates wa- ter, as was afcertained by recent experiments at Rome and at Paris, but which melts the ices, as Pliny relates, in conformity to the ob- fervations of Antiquity. " The Moon produces thaw, refolving all " ices and frofts by the humidity of her influence.'' Natural Hifto- ry, Book ii. chap. 101. Finally, if the tides are more confiderable at the Equinoxes than at the Solftices, it is becaufe, as has been obferv ed, at the Equinoxes, there is the greateft poflible mafs of water in the Ocean, for the greateft part of the ices of one of the Poles is then melted, and thofe of the oppofite Pole then begin to diflblve. We are not to imagine that every tide is a polar effufion of the particular day when it happens ; but it is an effect of that feries of polar effufions which perpetually fucceed to each other ; fo that the tide which takes place to day on our coafts, is, perhaps, part of that which takes place, it may be for fix weeks together ; and its motion is kept up by thofe which flow every day in its feries. Thus in a row of balls placed on a billiard table, the firft which receives an impulfion, communicates it to the next, and that one to the follow- ing, and fo through the whole feries, and the laft only is detached from the row with what remains of the moving force. But here, too, we muft admire that other harmony which pervades the moft remote effects of Nature: It is this, that the evening and morning tides take place on our coafts, as if they iffued that very day from the higher and lower part of our Hemifphere ; and that the tides of Summer are precifely oppofite to thofe of Winter, as the Poles them- felves from which they flow. EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ivfi I could fupport this new theory by a multitude of facts, and apply it to moft of the nautical phenomena which have hitherto been deem- ed inexplicable ; but the time and the fpace left me forbid it. It is fufticient for me to have deduced from it the principal movements of the Seas. I was under the n^ceffiry of tracing the windings of this labyrinth with an application and labour of which the Reader cannot eafily form an idea. I have fhewn him its entrance and out- let, and prelent him with the clew. He will be able, undoubtedly, to go much farther without my afliftance. I can venture to affure him, that, by taking advantage of thefe principles, in perufing jour- nals and Sea voyages, that pretend to any thing like exactnefs in dates and obfervations, fuch as thofe of Abel Tafman, of Hugues, of Linfcbotten, of General Beaulieu, of Froger, of Frafer, of Dampier, of Ellis, Sec. he will find a new light diffufed over thofe paftages of marine journals, which are, for the moft part, fo dry, and fo ob- fcure. Had time and means been granted me to unfold this part of my fubject, and to difplay it in all the luminous fimplicity of which it is fufceptible, I have the vanity to thirfk that I could have rendered it, in many other refpects, highly interefting. I would have procured a reprefentation on two large folid globes, of the two general Cur- rents of the Ocean in Winter artd in Summer, with arrows which fhould have expreffed the exact intervals between one tide and an- other ; and of their counter currents, lateral to the paffage of all ftraits, which produce on different ftlores the counter tides, half dai- ly, daily, weekly, binary, half yearly. Thefe counter tides fhould have produced others, ©n the return, at the paffage of iflands ; fo that the Ocean would have been reprefented as a vaft fluid iffuing from each Pole, to make the circuit of the Globe, and forming, on its fhores, a multitude of counter currents, and counter tides, all dependent on the effufions of one Pole fingly. I fhould have em- ployed for this purpofe the beft authenticated marine Journals. It would, then, have been evidently clear, that the bays of Con- tinents, and even of Iflands, are flieltered from the general Cur- rents ; and I would have demonftrated, on the contrary, that the courfe and the direction of all rivers are adapted to thofe Currents and thofe tides of the Ocean, in order to accelerate them in certain places, and to retard them in others, juft as the courfe of brooks and rivulets is itfelf adapted to the current of rivers, and for the fame end. I would have done more ; in order to vindicate Geography from the charge of dry nets, and to unite the graces which all the king- VOL. I. H Iviii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES* doms of Nature communicate to each other, inftead of arrows, f fhould have illuftratcd my fubject by figures more analogous to the Seas, and have added new proofs to the theory of thofe polar effu- fions, by a reprefentation of feveral fpecies cf fifties of paffage, which, at certain feafons of the year, relign themfelves to their currents, in order to pafs from the one Hemifphere to the other. This much is certain, that the principal point of their union, as well from the one Pole as from the other, precifely is at the (trait formed by Guinea and Brafil, where, as has been faid, are formed thofe two great lateral counter currents which return toward the Poles. There is the rendezvous of the fifties from the North Po'e, and from the South Herrings, whales, and mackarel, are in Sum* mer, found in great abundance on thofe ftiores. The whales ot the North have formerly been fo common at Brafil, that, according t« the report of Navigators, the fifhery on its coafts was farmed out, and produced a confiderable revenue to the King of Portugal. I know not how it may be at prefent : Perhaps the noife of European artillery may have chaced them away from thofe coafts. A very productive cod fifhery was likewife carried on there, known all over America by the name of the Brafil cod. Cn the other hand, acording to the teftimony of Bofman, a Dutck Navigator, who has publifhed a very good account of Guinea, the whales of that fpecies which is called Northcaper are found in great abundance on the coaft of Guinea. He alleges that they refort thither to bring forth their young : Artus has favoured us with a catalogue of the fiflies of paffage which appear on that coaft during the different months of the year. Though it is very imperfect, we are enabled by it to diftinguifh the fifties which are peculiar to each Pole. In the months of April and May, it is a fpecies of ray which rifes to the furface of the water : In June and July, a fort of herring, in fuch quantities that the Negroes, on throwing among them a fim- ple leaden weight, at the extremity of a long line, furniftied with hooks, always draw up a confiderable number at every throw. During the fame months they catch a great many lobfters, fimilar, fays Artus, to thofe of Norway. In September, innumerable legions, and various fpecies, of mack- arel arrive there. At that feafon, too, appears a kind of mullet, which, unlike all other fifties, who delight in filence, flock to noife. 1 he Negroe:, avail themfelves of this inftinct as the means of catch- ing them. They tie to a piece of wood furrounded with hooks, a fcrt of cornet with its clapper ; thus furniflied, it is thrown into the fea ; and the motion of the waves toiling about the cornet, produces EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. lix a certain noife, which attracts the fifh in queftion, fo that, in at- tempting to lay hold of the piece of wood, they are thus themfelves caught. Kind Nature, accordingly, thus furnifties to the poor Ne- groes a fifhery adapted to their capacity and induftry. This fpecies of mullet appears, from its inftinct, deftined to travel through turbulent feas, and at noify feafons, for he is vifible only about the autumnal Equinox, at the revolution of the feafons. But in the months of October and November, thofe fhores are crouded with fifhes, whofe iMmes and manners are unknown to Europe, and which feem to appertain to the South Pole, whofe Currents are then in a ftate of activity. Such are, a fea pike or jack, the teeth of which are extremely fliarp, and the bite very dangerous : A fpecies offalmon, with white flefti, and of an exquifite flavour: Another called the ftarofthefea: A fpecies of fea dog, which has a very large head, and the throat in form of a warming pan ; it is marked on the back with a crofs : Some of them grow to fuch a iize, that a fingle one is fufficient to load two or three canoes. In December arrive vaft quantities of the korkofedo, or moon fifh ; they appear likewife in June. The korkofedo feems to regulate his progrefs by the folftices. He is as broad as long ; and is caught by a bit of fugcr cane fixed on a hook. The tafte which this fifh has for thefuyar cane is another proof of the harmonies cftablifhed between fifhes and veg- etables. Finally, in the months of January, February and March, may be feen, on the coaft of Guinea, a fpecies of imall fifh with large eyes, which Artus fuppolcs to be the oculus, orpifcis oculattts (eyed fifh) of Pliny. This, too, is an inhabitant of the boifterous equinoc- tial Seas, for he frifks and jumps about with a great deal of noife. Had time permitted, I would have extended thefe elementary concords to the different inhabitants of the departments of the Ocean. We fhould have feen, for example, the caufe of the alternate tran- sition of turtles, which, for fix months of the year, take up their abode in certain iflands, and which are found again, fix months af- ter, in other iflands, feven or eight hundred leagues diftant, putting it beyond the power of imagination to conceive how an amphibious animal, fo fluggifh and unwieldy, fhould be able to make a paffage fo immenfe toward places which it is impofiible fhe fhould perceive. We fhould have fesn their heavy failing fquadrons committin" themfelves, almoft without motion, in the night time, to the gener J Current of the Ocean, coafting by moon light the gloomy promon- tories of iflands, and feekin^, in their deferted creeks, fome fandy and tranquil bank, where, far from din, they may undifturbedly depofit their eggs. U EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Others, fuch as the mackarel, never fail to arrive, at the accuf. iomed feafon, on other fhores, conveyed by the fame Currents, be- caufe then they are blind. " When the mackarel come to the coafts " of Canada," fays Denis, formerly Governor of that country, " they have not the leaft glimmering of fight. They have a fpeck " on their eyes, which does not fall off till toward the end of June; " thenceforward they fee, and are caught by the line*." His tef- timony is confirmed by other Navigators, though there was no ne- ceffity for it. Other fifhes, fuch as herrings, expofe their filvery legions to glit- ter in the Sun on the northern ftrands of Europe and America, fhad- ed with firs, and advance forward and forward, till they reach even the palm groves of the L.ine, forcing their way along the fhores, in pppofition to the tides of the South, which are continually fupplying them with frefh pafture. Others, as the thunny, make their way, by favour of thefe ycry tides, and enter, in the Spring, into the Mediterranean, of which they make a complete circuit; and, though they leave no trace on their watery way, they do not fail to render themfelves vifible in Oie darkeft night, by means of the phofphoric lights which their motion excites. It is by thofe fame gleams of light that we per- ceive, in the night time, the turtle with their dufky colour, on the furface of the waters. You would imagine that thefe animals, fur- rounded by light, had flambeaus affixed to their fins and tails. The phofphoric qualities, accordingly, of the fea water, are in unifon even with the nocturnal voyages of fifhes. The Sun is the grand mover in all thefe harmonies. Arrived at the Equinox, he abandons one Pole to Winter, and gives to the other the fignal of Spring, by the fires with which he environs it. The heated Pole pours out, in every direction, torrents of water, and of melted ices, info the Ocean, to which it fupplies new fources. The Ocean then changes its courfe ; it draws into its general Cur- rent moft of the fifties of the North toward the South ; and by its lateral counter currents, thofe of the South toward the North. It attracts others even from the Continent, by the alluvions of the land, which the rivers difcharge: Such are the fifties with fcalcs, as falmon, which love, in general, to make their way upward againft the courfe of rivers. Thefe floating legions are attended by innumerable cohorts of fea fowls., which quit their natural climates, and hover around the, * Natural .Hiftory of North America, chap, ii, EXPLANATION OP THE PLATES. lx~ fifhes, to live at their expenfe. It is then that we find the fea fowls of the South flocking to the fhores of the North, as the pelican, the flamingo, the heron, the ftork; and thofe of the North find' -.^ their way to the South, as the lomb, the burgomafter, the cormo- rant. It is then that fands and fhallows the moft deferted, are crouded with inhabitants, and that Nature prefents new harmonks on every fhore. If the voyages of the inhabitants of the Seas would have diffufed new light on the Currents of the Ocean, thefe fame Currents would have furniflied us with new light refpecting the forms and manners of fiflies, which have to us fuch an uncouth appearance. Moft of thefe fiflies eaft their fpawn in fuch abundance, that the Sea is fre- quently covered by it for feveral leagues together. The Currents carry off this fpawn to prodigious diftances, and while the fathers and mothers unconcernedly indulge in the dalliance of love, on the coafts of Norway, their fry are hatching on thofe of Africa or Brafil. We fhould have feen their categories, fo wonderfully varied, of a configuration perfectly adapted to the different fites of the Ocean; Some, cut out into long fword blades, like the African fifh which bears that name, take pleafure in penetrating into the narroweft crevices of rocks, and in ftemming the moft rapid currents : Others, equally flat, are cut into a circular form, with two long horns, like fail yards, ilfuing from the head, and inverted behind, to fervethem as a helm, as the filvery moon fifh of the Antilles. Thefe moon fifh are continually fporting among the billows which break upon the rocks, without a fingle inftance being known of any one thrown a- fhore. Other fifties of a triangular fhape, and cut into the form of the cheft whofe name they bear, advance into the very middle of the fhelfy ground upon the fhore, where there is fcarcely any water, and difplay, in the bofom of the dufky rocks their blue fliining robes, bu- fpangled with ftars of gold. While fome, perpetually reftlefs, fcratch and fcrape into every chink along the beach, in queft of their prey ; others, in perfect tranquillity refpecting their prcwifion, remain immoveable, on a fix- ed ftation, expecting it. Some, incrufted in lumpifli habitations of ftone, pave the ground of the fhores, as the helmet, the Iambi, and the thuilec ; others, attached by threads to little pebbles, ride at anchor at the mouths of rivers, as the mufcle ; others glew them- felves to each other, as the oyfter ; others fix themfelyes as the heads of nails to the rocks, to which they cling by faction, as the limpit; others bury themfelves in the fand, as the harpe, the cockle, the knife handle ; and moft of the fhell fifh whofe exterior garments Irii FXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. are clear and brilliant; others, as the lobfter and the crab, armed with bucklers and corllets, lie in ambufh among the (tones, where they prefent to view only the extremities of their horns and their great claws. Had it been in my power, I would have ftudied the contrafts which thofe innumerable families form on the flime and on the rocks, where their fhells fparkle with the fires of Aurora, and with theluf- tre of purple and of the lapis lazuli. I would have defcribed thofe iea covered regions, clothed with plants of an infinite variety of forms, which never receive the rays of the Sun but through the me- dium of water. Their very valleys, where the currents gufli with the rapidity of fluices, produce plants elaftic, and perforated, fuch as the leaves of the feapeacock, through the apertures of which the waves pafs as through a fieve. I would have reprefented their rocks, rifing from the depth of the abyfs, like mounds incapable of being moved, with cavernous fides, prefenting briftly beds of madre- pores, and feftooned with moveable garlands oifucus, alga marina and other fea weeds of all colours, which fcrve as flicker, and bed- ding, for the calves and horfes of the Sea. During dorms, their dark bafes are covered with clouds of a phof- phoric light ; and founds unutterable, iffuing from their untracea- ble mazes, invite to the prey the filent legions of the inhabitants of the mighty Deep. I would have endeavoured to force my way into thofe palaces of the Nereids, in order to unveil myfteries hitherto con- cealed from the human eye, and to contemplate from afar the foot- fteps cf that infinite Wisdom uhich are impreffedon the oozy bottom of the Ocean. But refearches fo laborious, though fo delightful ; of fuch importance to our fifheries, and fo fertile of materials for Natur- al Hiftory, far tranfeendthe fortunes and the exertions of a Solitary. I have the confidence, however, to flatter myfelf with the belief, that the new Theory which I have prefented, refpecting the caute of the general Currents, and of the Tides of the Ocean, may be ren- dered u'eful to Navigation. It appears to me, that a veffel taking her departure hence in the month of March, with the courfe of our polar effufions, and keeping in the middle of the Atlantic channe' might proceed, in Summer, all the way to the Eaftindies, continually Favoured by the current. This 1 am able even to prove by the ex- perience of various Navigators. It is true that, during the feafon which is the Winter of the South Pole, the weathering of the Care »> dangerous, becaufe the wefterly monfoon, which then pred »tes, in thofe Seas, excites in them frequent fteriBs, a* well omi- as on EXPLANATION Of THE PLATES. Ixiii the coafts of India, which are oppofed to it; but I believe thefe in- conveniences might be avoided, by ftretching out into a higher Lat- itude. The fame veffel might return from the Eaftindies, fix months af- terwards, during our Winter, aided by the effufions of the South Pole. Advantage might be taken, on the contrary, of the counter currents of the general Currents, or of their lateral Tides, to go or return, at the intermediate feafons, by coafting along the Continents. It is eafy to deduce from this theory other means of information for the navigation of all Seas : For" example, afliftance might be derived from thofe currents for the difcovery of new iflands ; for ey^ery ifl- and is fituated at the extremity, or at the confluence of one or more currents as every volcano is placed in a counter tide. Here I clofe thefe nautical difquifitions, in which there are un- doubtedly, inaccuracies of ftyle, and manifold imperfections of vari- ous kinds ; but determined by particular circuinftances to bring this Work, without delay, before the tribunal of the Public, I havehaf- tened to prefent my Country with this laft teftimony of my attach- ment. I veckon on the indulgence of the really intelligent, and pre- fume to hope they will have the goodnefs to rectify my miftake*. STUDIES OF NATURE. STUDY FIRST. IMMENSITY OF NATURE: PLAN OF MY WORK. Some years have clap fed, fince I formed the defign of com* pofing a general Hiftory of Nature, in imitation of Anflotle, Pliny, Chancellor Bacon, and feveral illuftrious modern Au- thors. The field appeared to me fo vaft, that I could not be- lieve the poffibility of its being entirely pre-occupied. Befides, Nature invites to the cultivation of herfelf, perfons of every age and country ; and if fhe promifes the golden harveft of •difcovery, only to men of genius, fhe referves fome gleanings, at leaft, for the fimple and unlearned; for fuch, efpecially, as, like myfelf, are making a paufe every ftep they advance, trans- ported at the beauty of her divine productions. I was farther prompted to the execution of my great defign, in the view of rendering an acceptable fervice to my fellow- creatures, and of meriting their approbation ; particularly that of Louis XVI. my illuftrious benefactor, who, after the ex- ample of Titus and Marcus-Aurelius, devotes his whole at- tention to the felicity of mankind. In Nature herfelf alone we muft expect to find the laws of Nature ; and we plunge into difficulty and diftrefs, only in proportion as we deviate from thefe laws. To lludy Nature, VOL. I. B « Studies of naturc. therefore, is to aa the part of a good fubjea, and of a friend to humanity. I have employed in my refearches, all the powers of reafoning I polfefs ; and though my means may have been {lender, I can fay, with truth, that I have not per- mitted a fingle day to pafs,' without picking up fome agreea- ble, or ufeful, obfervation. I propofed to begin the compofition of my Work, when I had ceafed from obferving, and when I fhould have col- leaed all the materials neceflary to a Hiftory of Nature; but I found myfelf in the condition of the child, who, with a {hell, had dug a hole in the fand, to hold the water of the Ocean. Nature is of unbounded extent, and I am a human being, limited on every fide. Not only her general Hiftory, but that of the fmalleft plant, far tranfeends my higheft powers. Permit me to relate, on what occafion 1 became fenfible of this. One day, in Summer, while I was bufied in the arrange- ment of fome obfervations which I had made, refpe&ing the harmonies difcoverable in this Globe of ours, I perceived on a ftrawberry plant, which had been, accidentally, placed in my window, fome fmall winged infeas, fo very beautiful, that I took a fancy to defcribe them. Next day, a different fort appeared, which I proceeded, likewife, to defcribe. In the courfe ot three weeks, no lefs than thirty-feven fpecies, totally diftina, had vifited my ftrawberry plant: at length, they came in fuch crowds, and prefented fuch variety, that I was conftrained to relinquilh this ftudy, though highly amu- fing, for want of leifure, and, to acknowledge the truth, for want of expreffion. The infects, which I had obferved, were all diftinguifhable from each other, by their colours, their forms, and their mo- tions. Some of them (hone like gold, others were of the co- lour of filver, and of brafs ; fome were fpotted, fome ftriped; they were blue, green, brown, chefnut coloured. The heads of fome were rounded like a turban, thofe of others were drawn out into the figure of a cone. Here it was dark as a tuft of black velvet, there it fpark'e 1 like a ruby. There was not lefs cuverfity in their wings. In fome they STUDY I. 3 were long and brilliant, like tranfparent plates of mother of pearl; in others, ihort and broad, refembling net-work of the fineft gauze. Each had his particular manner of difpofing and managing his wings. Some difpofed theirs perpendicu- larly ; others, horizontally ; and they feemed to take pleafure in dilplaying them. Some tlew fpirally, after the manner of butteiflies; others fprung into the air, directing their flight in oppolition to the wind, by a mechanifm fomewhat fimdar to that of a paper-kite, which, in nfing, forms, with the axis of the wind, an angle, I think, of twenty-two degrees and a half. Some alighted on the plant to depofit their eggs ; others, merely to fhe'ter themfelves from the Sun. But the greateft part paid this vifit .from reafons totally unknown to me: tor fome went and came, in an incelfant motion, while others moved only the hinder part of their body. A great many oi them remained entirely motionlefs, and were like me, perhaps, employed in making obfervations. 1 fcornedto pay any attention, as being already fufficiently known, to all the other tribes of infeas, which my ftrawberry plant had atti^led ; fuch as the fnail, which neftles under the leaves; the butterfly, which flutters around; the beetle, which digs about its roots; the fmall worm, which contrives to live in the parenchyme, that is, in the mere thicknefs of a leaf; the wafp and honey-bee, which hum around the blofforns; the gnat, which fucks the juices of the ftem ; the ant, which licks up the gnat; and, to make no longer an enumeration-, the fpi- der, which, in order to find a prey in thefe, one after another, diftends his fnarcs over the whole vicinity. However minute thefe objeas may be, they, furely, me- rited my attention, as Nature deemed them not unworthy of her's. Could I refufe them a place in my general Hiftory, when fhe had given them one in the fyftem of the Univerfe ? For a ftill ftronger reafon, had I written the hiftory of my ftrawberry plant, I muft have given fome account of the in- feas attached to it. Plants are the habitation of infeas ; and it is impoffible to give the hiftory of a city,, without faying fomethjng of its inhabitants. 4 STUDIES OF NATURE. Befides, rny ftrawberry plant was not in its natural fituation, in the open country, on the border of a wood, or by the brink of a rivulet, where it could have been frequented by many other fpecies of living creatures. It was confined to an earth- en pot, amidft the fmoke of Paris. I obferved it only at va- cant moments. I knew nothing of the infeas which vifited it during the courfe of the day ; ftill lefs of thofe which might come only in the night, attraaed by fimple emanations, or, perhaps, by a phofphoric light, which efcapes our fenfes. I was totally ignorant of the various fpecies which might fre- quent it, at other feafons of the year, and of the endlefs other relations which it might have, with reptiles, with amphibious animals, fifhes, birds, quadrupeds, and, above all, with Man, who undervalues every thing which he cannot convert to his own ufe. But it was not fufficient to obferve it, if I may ufe the ex- preffion, from the heights of my greatnefs; for, in this cafe, my knowledge would have been greatly inferior to that of one of the infeas, who made it their habitation. Not one of them, On examining it with his little fpherical eyes, but muft have diftinguifhed an infinite variety of objeas, which I could not perceive without the affiftance of a microfcope, and after much laborious refearch. Nay, their eyes are inconceivably fupe- rior even to this inftrument; for it fhows us the objeas only which are in its focus, that is, at the diftance of a few lines; whereas they perceive, by a mechanifm of which we have no conception, thofe which are near, and thofe which are far off. Their eyes, therefore, are, at once, microfcopes and telefcopes. Befides, by their circular difpofition round the head, they have the advantage of viewing the whole circuit of the heavens at the fame inftant, while thofe of the Aftronomer can take in, at moft, but the half. My winged infeas, ac- cordingly, muft difcern in the ftrawberry plant, at a fingle glance, an arrangement and combination of parts, which, af- fifted by the microfcope, I can obferve only feparate from each other, and in fucceffion. On examining the leaves of this vegetable, with the aid of a lens which had but a fmall magnifying power, I found them di- vide'] into compartments, hedged round withbriftles, feparated S TU D Y I. 5 by canals, and ftrewed with glands. Thefe compartments ap- peared to me fimilar to large verdant inclofures, their brillles to vegetables of a particular order ; of which fome were up- right, fome inclined, fome forked, fome hollowed into tubes, from the extremity of which a liquid diftilled; and their canals, as well as their glands, feemed full of a brilliant fluid. In plants of a different fpecies, thefe briftles, and thefe canals ex- hibit forms, colours, and fluids entirely different. There are oven glands, which refcmble bafons, round, fquare, or radiated. Now, Nature has made nothing in vain. Wherever fhe has prepared a habitation, fhe immediately peoples it. She is never ftraitened for want of room. She has placed animals, furnifhed with fins, in a fingle drop of water, and in fuch mul- titudes, that Leewenhoek, the natural Philofopher, reckoned up to thoufands of them. Many others after him, and, among the reft, Robert Hook, have feen, in one drop of water, as fmall as a grain of millet, fome 10, others 30, and fome as far as 45 thoufand. Thofe who know not how far the patience and fa- gacity of an Obferver can go, might, perhaps, call in queftion the accuracy of thefe obfervations, if Lyonnet, who relates them in LJfcr'sTheology of Infects*, had not demonftrated the pof- fibility of it, by a piece of mechanifm abundantly fimple. We are certain, at leaft, of the exiftence of thofe beings whofe dif- ferent figures have aaually been drawn. Others have been found, whofe feet are armed with claws, on the body of the fly, and even on that of the flea. It is credible, then, from analogy, that there are animals feed- ing on the leaves ofplants, like the cattle in our meadows, and on our mountains ; which repofe under the fhade of a down imperceptible to the naked eye, and which, from goblets form- ed like fo many funs, quaff neaar of the colour of gold and filver. Each part of the flower muft prefent, to them, a fpec- tacle of which we can form no idea. The yellow anthera. of flowers., fufpended by fillets of white, exhibit to their eyes, double rafters of gold in equilibrio, on pillars fairer than ivory ; the corolla, an arch of unbounded magnitude, embellifhed with •lie ruby and the topaz; rivers of neaar and honey; the * Book II. chap. 3. See the laft note. 6 STUDIES OF NATURE. other parts of the flowret, cups, urns, pavilions, domes, which the human Architea and Goldfmith have not yet learned to imitate. . , I do not fpeak thus from conjeaure : for having examined. one day, by the microfcope, the flowers of thyme, I diftinguifh- ed in them, with equal lurprife and delight, fuperb flagons, with a long neck, of a fub fiance refembling amethyft, from the gullets of which feemed to flow ingots of liquid gold. I have never made obfervation, of the corolla {imply, of the fmalleft flower, without finding it compofedof an admirable fubftance, half tranfparent, ftudded with brilliants, and fhining in the moft liveiy colours. The beings which live under -a reflex thus enriched, mull have ideas, very different from ours, of light, and ot the otner phenomena of Nature. A drop of dew, filtering in the CapiL Jary, and tranfparent, tubes of a plant, preients, to them, twou- fands of cafcades ; the fame drop, fixed as a wave on the ex- tremity of one of its prickles, an Ocean without a fhore ; eva- porated into air, a vaft asnal Sea. They muft, therefore, fee fluids afcending, inftead of falling ; affuming a globular form, inftead of finking to a level; and mounting into the air, inftead of obeying the power of gavity. Their ignorance muft be as wonderful as their knowledge. As they have a thorough acquaintance with the harmony of only the minuteft objeas, that of vaft objeas muft efcape thera. They know not, undoubtedly, that there are men, and, among thefe, learned men, who know every thing, who can explain every thing, who, tranfiVnt like themfelves, plunge into an infinity on the afcending fcale, in \v hich they are loft ; where- as they, in viitue of their littlenefs, are acquainted with an op- pofite infinity, in the laft divifions of time and matter. In thefe ephemerous beings, we muft find the youth of a fingle morning, and the decrepitude of one day. If they pof- fefs hiitorical monuments, they muft have their months, years, ages, epochs, proportioned t j the duration of a flower ; they muft have a chronology different from ours, as their hydraulics and optics muft differ. Thus, in proportion as Man brings the elements of Nature near him, the principles of his Science difappear. STUDY!. 7 Such, therefore, muft have been my ftrawberry plant, and its natural inhabitants, in tne eyes of my winged infeas, which had alighted to vifit it; but though I had been able to acquire, with them, an intimate knowledge of this new world, I was ftill very far from having the Hiftory of it. I muft have, pre- vioufly, ftudied its relations to the other parts of Nature ; to the Sun which expands its bloffom, to the winds which fow its feeds over and over, to the brooks whofe banks it forms and embellifhes. I muft have known, how it was preferved in Winter, during a cold capable of deaving ftones afunder ; and how it fhould appear verdant in the Spring, without any pains employed to preferve it from the froft ; how, feeble and crawling along the ground, it fhould be able to find its way, from the deepeft valley, to the fummit of the Alps, to traverfe the Globe from north to fouth, from mountain to mountain, forming, on its paffage, a thoufand charming pieces of chequer- ed work, of its fair flowers, and rofe-coloured fruit, with the plants of every other climate ; how it has been able to fcatter itfell from the mountains of Cachemire to Archangel, and from the Felices, in Norway, to Kamtfchatka; how, in a word, we find it, in equal abundance, in both American Continents, though an infinite number of animals is making inceffant and univerfal war upon it, and no gardener is at the trouble to fow it again. Suppofingall this knowledge acquired, I fhould ftill have arrived no farther than at the hiftory of the genus, and not that of the fpecies. The varieties would yet remain unknown, which ha e each its particular character, according as they have flowers fingle, in pairs, or difpofel in clufters; according to the colour, the fmell, and the tafte of the fruit ; according to the fize, the figure, the edging, the fmoothnefs, or the downy clothing of their leaves. One of our moft celebrated botanifts, Sebaflian le Vaillant*, has found, in the environs of Paris alone, five diftincl fpecies, three of which bear flowers, without pro- ducing fruit. In our gardens, we cultivate at leaft twelve dif- ferent forts of foreign ftrawberries; that of Chili, of Peru; the Alpine, or perpetual; the Swedifh, which is green, &c. But *BoUnicon Parifienfc S STUDIES Of NAT URt. how many varieties are there, to us totally unknown ! Has not every degree of latitude a fpecies peculiar to itfelf ? Is it not prefumable, that there may be trees which produce ftrawber. ries.as there are thofe which bear peafe and trench-beans? May we not even confider as varieties of the ftrawberry, the numerous fpecies of the rafpberry and of the bramble, with which it has a very ftriking analogy, from the fhape ot its leaves ; from its fhoots, which creep along the ground, and re- plant themfelves ; from the rofe-form of its flowers, and that of its fruit, the feeds of which are on the outfide ? Has it not, befides, an affinity with the eglantine and the rofe-tree, as to the flower ; with the mulberry, as to the fruit ; and with the trefoil itfelf, as to the leaves ; one fpecies of which, common in the environs of Paris, bears, likewife, its feeds aggregated into the form of a ftrawberry, from which it derives the botanic name of trfoliumfragiferum, the ftrawberry bearing trefoil ? Now, if we reflea, that all thefe fpecies, varieties, analogies, affinities, have, in every particular latitude, neceffary relations with a multitude of animals, and that thefe relations are altoge- ther unknown to us, we fhall find, that a complete Hiftory of the ftrawberry-plant would be ample employment for all the Naturalifts in the world. What a talk, then, would it be, to write the Hiftory, in like manner, of all the fpecies of vegetables, fcattered over the face of the whole Earth ? The celebrated Linnaus reckoned up from feven to eight thoufand of them ; but he had not travel- ed. The famous Sherard, it is faid, was acquainted with fix- teen thoufand. Another Botanift fwells his catalogue up to twenty thoufand. Finally, one ftill more modern, boafts of having himfelf made a colleaion of twenty-five thoufand; and he eftimates the number of thofe which he has not feen, at four or five times as many. But all thefe enumerations muft be extremely deteaive, if it is confidered, as has been remarked by this laft Obferver himfelf, that we know little or nothing of the interior of Africa ; of that of the three Arabias, and evert of the two Americas ; very little of New Guinea, New Hol- land and Zealand, and of the innumerable iflands of the South Sea, the greateft part of which are themfelves ftill undiscover- ed. We know hardly any thing of the Ifle of Ceylon, except S TU D Y I. 9 a little of the coaft; of the great ifland of Madagafcar ; of the iinmenfe archipelagos of the Philippines and Moluccas, and of almoft all the Afiatic iflands. As to that vaft Continent, with the exception of fome great roads in the interior, and fome parts of the coaft reforted to by the traffick of Europe, we may affirm that it is wholly unknown to us. How many immenfe diftrias are there in Tartary, in Sibe- ria, and even in many of the kingdoms of Europe, where the toot of Botanift never trod ! Some, indeed, have given us a Ijerbal of Malabar, Japan, China, &c. but if we reflea, that, in thefe countries, their refcarches never penetrated beyond the fea-coaft, and were generally confined to one feafon of the year, when a part only of the plants, peculiar to .each climate, ap- pear ; that they have vifited only the narrow regions adjoin- ing to our European faaories; that they have never dared to plunge into deferts, where they could have found neither fub- fiftence nor guide; nor ventured themfelves among the numer- ous tribes of barbarous Nations, whofe language they did not undeirftand ; we fhall find reafon to conclude, that their boaft- ed colkaions, however valuable, are ftill extremely imperfea. In order to be convinced of this, we have only to compare the time employed by them, in making their colleaions of plants, in foreign countries, with that which it coft Le Vaillant lo collea thofe of the vicinity of Paris only. The learned Tuurnefort had already made this a particular ftudy ; and, af- ter a mafter fo indefatigable had completed his Work, all the Botanifts of the capital, it was thought, might have gone to reft. Lf Vaillant, his pupil, had the courage to walk over the fame ground after him, and difcovered fuch a confiderable quantity of diftina fpecies, overlooked by Tournejort, that he doubled, at leaft, the catalogue of our plants. He made it amount to fifteen or fixteen hundred. And even then, he did not include in this enumeration, thofe which differ only in the colour of the flowers, and the fpots of the leaves, though Nature fre- quently employs fuch figns as thefe, in the vegetable world, to diftinguifh the fpecies, and to form their true charaaers. Hear wli.it Bocrhaave, his illuHrious Editor, fays of his labo- rious rcfearchcs : vol. i. r IO STUDIES OF NATURE". Incubuit quippe hmc labori ab anno 1696, uj'que in Maftidrn 1722 ; toto quidem tanti decurju temporu in eo occuptiusfem* per, nullum prater tens unqu.im, cujus plantas haud excuteret, angulum : vias, agios, valles, mantes, horlos, ncmora,Jlagna, paludes, flumina, npas,JiJJas, puteos, undequaque lujlrans. Contigttergo,crcbio, ut aetegeret maximi qua Tournefortu r'n- tentijimos ocutos rjfagcrant*. (Preface to the Botamcon Pa- rijienje, page 3 and 4.) Seoajttan It Vaillant, accordingly, employed no lefs than twenty-fix whole years, in his own country, and with the affift- ance of his pupils, in completing his botanical defcription of the plants of a tew fquare leagues; whereas the perfons who pretend to give us the Botany of many foreign countries, were alone and unaffisted, and difpatched the bufinefs in a few months. But, though his- fagacity and perfeverance feem to have left us nothing more to with for, I have my doubts, whether he has* made a complete colleaion of all the gifts which Flora fcatters over our plains ; and whether he has feen, if I may ufe the expreflion, to the bottom of her bafket. Pliny obferved plants, in places not comprehended in Boerkaave'i enumeration, and which grow on the tiles that cover our houfes, on rotten fieves, and fhe heads of ancient ftatues. It is, un- doubtedly,- certain, that we are, from time to time, difcover- ing fome, at no great diftance from Paris, which have no* place in the Botamcon of Le Vaillant. For my own part, if I might be permitted to hazard a con- jeaure, refpeaing the number of the diftina fpecies of plants, fpread over the Earth, fuch is my idea of the immenfity of Nature, and of her fubdivifions, that I am difpofed to believer there is not a fquare league of earth, but what prefents fome one plant peculiar to itfelf, or, at leaft, which thrives there better, and appears more beautiful, than in any other part of • He devoted his whole attention to this laborions undertaking, from the year i6p6 o March 1722. During a period of fuch length, he was conllantly and unweari-dly employed in it, never palling by the fmallelr corner without examin- ing what p'ants it contained- With the eye of an Obferver, he pried into every phce the roa^s. fields, vallies, mountains, gardens, forefls, pools, morafies, rivers, their banks di'ches, wells ; hence he had, frequently the good fortune, to difco- ver. uiatiy things which efcapsd even the eager eyes of the great Tournef»rt. STUDY f. IX the world. This makes the number, of the primordial fpecies of vegetables, amount to feveral millions, diffuled over as many millions of fquare leagues, of which the furface of our Globe confifts. The farther fouth we advance, the more their variety increafes within fpaces of the fame dimenfion. The Ifle of Taity, in the South Sea, was found to have a bo- tany peculiar to itfelf, and which had nothing in common with that of the places in Africa and America, which a.e fituated in the fame latitude ; nay, totally different from that of the adjacent iflands. And if we now reflea, that e ich plant has feveral different names, in its own country: th.tevery Nation impofes particular denominations, and that all thefe names, at leaft the greater pait, are varying every age, what difficulties does not the vocabulary alone oppoie to the ftulyof Botany ? All thefe preliminary notions, however, would ftill form only a ufelefs Science, did we even know, in the moft com- plete detail, all the parts of which plants are compofed. It is the combination of thefe parts, the attitude of the plants, their port, their elegance, the harmonies which they form, when grouped, or in contrail with each other, which it would be interefting to determine, I do not know that any thing has been fo much as attempted on this fubjea. As to their virtues, it may be affirmed, that they are for the moft part, unknown, or negated, orabufed. Their qualities are often perverted, in making cruel experiments on innocent animals, while they might be ufefully employed as miraculous remedies, to counteraa the ills of human life. We have pre- ferved, for example, in the Royal Cabinet at Paris, arrows more formidable than thofe of Hercules, though dipped in the blood of the fnake of Lerna. Their points are impregnated with, the juice of a plant fo venomous, that, though expofed to the air for many years, they can, with the flighteft punaure, deftroy the moft robuft of animals, in a few minutes. The blood of the creature, be the wound ever fo trifling, inftantly congeals. Bu* if the patient, at the fame inftant, is made to fwallow a fmall quantity of fugar, the circulation is immediately reftored. Both the poifon and the antidote have been difcovered by the fava- ges which inhabit the banks of the Amazon ; and it is of irn- 12 STUDIES OF N ATURE. portance to obferve, that they never employ in war, but only in the chace, this murderous method of deftroying life. Wherefore do not we, who pretend to fo much humanity and illumination, endeavour to afcertain, by experiment, whether this poifon might not be rendered medicinal in cafes of a fudden diffolution of the blood ; and fugar, in cafes of fudden coagulation? Alas! how is it to be expeaed wc fhould applv to the prefervation of Mankind, the malignant and deftrudive qualities of a foreign vegetable, we who are continually abufing, for mutual deftruaion, the precious gifts which Nature has bellowed, in the view of rendering human life innocent and happy ? The elm and the beach, under the fhade of which our fhepherds and their mates delight to dance, are hewn down into carriages, for mounting the thundering ordnance. We intoxicate our foldiers into madnefs, that they may kill each other, without hatred, with that very juice of the vine which Providence has given to be the means ot reconcilia- tion among enemies ? The lofty fir-trees, planted by the benig- nant hand of N.iturc, amidft the fnows of the North, to fhelter and warm the inhabitants, are converted into mafts, for the veffels of Europe, to carry the flames of devouring fire againft the peaceful inhabitants of the Southern Hemifphere ; and the canvas, defigneil for the humble cloathing of the village-maid, becomes a fail for the plundering corfair, to extend his ravages to remoteft IvJia. Our crops, and our forefts, are wafted over the Ocean, to fpread defolation over both the Old and New Worlds. But let us drop the hiftory of Man, and refume that of Na- ture. If, from the vegetable, we make a tranfition to the ani- mal kingdom, a field of incomparably greater extent prefents itfelf. An intelligent Naturalift, at Paris, fome years ago, announced, that he was in pofiefTion of more than thirty thou- fand diftina fpecies of animals. I know not whether the King's magnificent C ibinet may not contain more ; but I know well, that his Herbals contain only eighteen thoufand plants, and that about fix thoufand are in a ftate of cultivation in the Roy;d Botatvc G rden. This number of animals, however, fo fu- pei or to that of vegetables, is a mere nothing, in comparifon with vhat exifts on the Globe. When we recollea, that every fpecies of phrit > a point of STUDY I. 13 union for different genera ot infeas, and that there is not, per- haps, afingleone, but which has, peculiar to itfelf, a fpecies of fly, butterfly, gnat, beetle, lady-bird, fnail, &c. that thefe infeas ferve for food, to other fpecies, and thefe exceedingly numerous, fuch as the fpider, the dragon-fly, the ant, the for- micaleo; and to the immenfe families ot fmall birds, of which many claffes, fuch as the wood-pecker, an 1 the fwallow, have no other kind of nourifhment; that thefe birds are, in their turn,, devoured by birds of prey, fuch as kites, falcons, buzzards, rooks, crows, hawks, vultures, &c. that the gene- ral fpoil of thefe animals, fwept off by the rains, into the rivers, and thence to the Sea, becomes the aliment of almoft. innumerable tribes of fifhes, to the greateft part of which the Naturalifts of Europe tune not hitherto given a name ; that numberlefs legions of river and fea-fowls prey upon thefe fifhes: we fhall have good ground for believing, that every fpecjes of the vegetable kingdom ferves as a bafis to many fpecies of the animal kingdom, which multiply around it, as the rays of a circle round its centre. At the fame time, I have not included in this fuperficial re- prefentation, either quadrupeds, with which all the intervals ot magnitude are filled, from the moufe, which lives-under the grafs, up to the camclopard, who can feed on the foliage of trees, at the height of fifteen feet; or the amphibious tribes ; or the birds of night; or reptiles ; or polypufes, of which we have a knowledge fo {lender; or fea infeas, fome families of which, fuch as the crab-fifh, fhrimp, and the like, would be alone fufficient to fill the greateft cabinets, were you to intro- duce but a fingle individual of every fpecies. I do not include the madrepore, with which the bottom of the fea is paved be- tween the Tropics, and which prefent fo many different fpe- cies, that I have ken, in the Ifle of France, two great halls filled with thofe which were produced in the immediate vicinity of that Ifle, though there was but a fingle fpecimen of each fort. I have made no mention of infeas of many kinds, as the loufc and the maggot, of which every animal fpecies has its particular varieties, proper to itfelf, and which triple, at leaft, the kingdom of creatures exifting by refpiration. Neither have I taken into the account, that infinite number of living 14 STUDIES OF NATURE. things, vifiblc and invifible, known and unknown, which have no fixed determination, and which Nature has fcattered about, through the Air, over the Earth and along the depths of the Ocean. What an undertaking, then, would it be, to defcribe each of thefe beings, with the fagacity of a Reaumur? The life of one man of genius, would be fcarcely fufficient to compofe the Hiftory of a few infeas. However curious may be the memoirs tranfmitted to us, after the moft careful refearch, refpe&ing the manners, and the anatomy, of the animals moft familiarly known, in vain do we ftill flatter ourfelves with our having acquired a complete acquaintance. The principal [requifite, in my opinion, is yet wanting; I mean, the origin of their friendfhips and of their feuds. In this confifts, if I am not miftaken, the effence of their Hiftory, to which muft be refers ed their inftinas, their loves, their wars; the attire, the arms, and the very form, which Nature gives them. A moral fenti- ment feems to have determined their phyfical organization. I know not of any Naturalift who has engaged in a refearch of this fort. The Poets have endeavoured to explain thefe won- derful and innate inftinas, by their ingenious fiaions. The fwallow Progne flies the foreft; her fifter Philomela delights to fing in folitary places. Progne thus, one day, addrefle^ her: Le defert eft-il fait pour des talens fi beaux ? Venez faire aux cites eclater leurs merveilles : Auffi bien, en voyant les bois, Sans ceffe il vous fouvient que Teree autrefois, Parmi des demeures pareilles, Exerca fa fureur fur vos divins appas.----- Et e'eft le fouvenir d'un fi cruel outrage, Qui fait, reprit fa fceur, que je ne vous fuis pas'. En voyant les hommes, helas! II m'en fouvient bien davantase.* o * Thus imitated: Why wafle fuch fweetnefs on trie defert air ! Come, charm the city wih thy tuneful note. Think too, in folitude, that form fo fair , Felt violation : flee the horrid thought. STUDY I. 15 1 never hear the enchantingly melancholy fong of a night- ingale, flirouded irt-fhrubbery, and the lengthened piou-piou, which interrupt, like fighs, the mufic of that folitary fongfter, without believing, that Nature had revealed her adventure to the fublime La Fontaine, at the time fhe infpired him to com- pofe thefe verfes. If thefe fables were not the hiftory of men, they would be, to me, at leaft a fupplement to that of animals. Philofophers of name, unfaithful to the teftimony of their rea- fon and confcience, have dared to reprefent them as mere machines. They afcribe to them blind inftinas, which regu- late, in a manner perfeaiy uniform, all their aaions, without paffion, without will, without choice, and even without any degree of fenfibility. I one day exprefled my aftonifhment at this to J. J. Rovjfeau; and faid to him, it feemed exceedr ingly ftrange, that men of genius fhould maintain a pofition fo extravagant. He very fagely replied, The Jblution is this, When man begins to reafon, he ceajes to feel. In order to confute the opinions of fuch Philofophers, I (hall have recourfe, not to thofe animals whofe fagacity and induftry excite our admiration, fuch as the beaver, the bee, the ant, &c. I fhall produce only one example, taken from the clafs of thofe which are moft indocile, fuch as fifhes, and ftiall felea it from among a fpecies, governed by an in- ftina the moft impetuous and the moft ftupid, which is gluttony. The {hark is a fifh fo voracious, that he will not only de- vour his own fpecies, when preffed by hunger, but he fwal- lows, without diftinaion, every thing that drops from a fhip into the fea, cordage, cloth, pitch, wood, iron, nay, even knives. Nevertheless, I have been a frequent witnefs of his abftinence, in two remarkable circumftances; the one is, how- ever urged by famine ; he never touches a kind of fmall fifh, fpeckled with yellow and black, called the pilot fifh, which fwim juft before his fnout, to guide him to his prey, which he can- not fee till he is clofe to it; for Nature, as a counterbalance to Ah I Hflrr dear, fad Philomel replirs, 'Tis this that makes me lhun the haunts of men : Tereus and Courts the anguifh'd heart allies, And hades, for flicker, to the woods again. \6 STUDIES OF NATURE. the ferocity of this fifh, has rendered him almoft blind. The? other cafe is this, when you throw into the fea a dead fowl, the noife brings him to the fpot, but on difcovering it to be a fowl, he immediately retires, without devouring it ; this has furniflied failors with a proverb : The Jliarkjlee.s from the fea- ther. It is impoffible, in the firft cafe, not to afcribe to him fome portion of underftanding, which repreffes his voracity, in favour of his guides ; and not to attribute, in the fecond, his averfion to feathered flefh, to that univerfal reafon, which, deftining him to live along the fhallows, where cadaverous fubftanccs, of creatures perifhing in the fea, fall and are de- pofited, infpires him with an averfion for feathered animals, that he may not deftroy the fca-fowls, which refort thither in great numbers, employed, like himfelf, in looking out tor a livelihood, and in cleanfing the fhores from impurities. Other Philofophers, on the contrary, have afcribed the manners of animals, as thofe of men, to education ; and their natural affections, as well as their animofities, to refemblance ordiiTvmilitudeof form. But if fricndlhip is founded in finiili- tudeof form, how comes it, that the hen, that walks in fecuri- ty, at the head of her brood, among the horfes and oxen of a farm-yard, though part of her family is fometimes accidentally crufhed by the feet of thofe animals, colleas her young with anxious inquietude at fight of the hawk, a feathered animal like herfelf, who appears in the air but as a black point, and which, perhaps, fhe hardly, if ever, faw before ? Why does the dog, in the yard, fall a barking, in the night time, at the fmell only of the fox, an animal which has a ftrorig refem- blance to himfelf ? If habits of long Handing could influence animals, as they do men, how has it been poflible to render the oftxich of the defert familiar to fuch a degree, that he has been made to carry children on his plumelefs crupper ; where- as no fkill has, hitherto, been able to tame the fwallow, a bird which has, from time immemorial, built his neft in our houfes ? Where can we find, among the Hiftorians of Nature, a Tacitus, who fhall unveil to us thefe myfteries of the Cabinet of Heaven, without an explanation of which, it is impoffible to write the Hiftory of a fingle animal of the Earth ? We find STUDY!. 17 uo one fpecies deviating, like the human, from the laws im- pofed on it by Nature. Bees, univerfally, live in republics, as they did in the time of Efop. The common fly has always been a vagabond, a herd without any police or reftraint. How comes it that, among thefe, no Lycurgus has ever yet arifen, to reduce them into order, for the general good ; and to pref- cribe to them, as Philofophers tell us the firft Legifldtors among men did, laws diRated by their weaknefs, and by the neceflity of uniting in fociety ? On the other hand, Whence is it, as Machiavel affirms of Nations polfeffing too much happinefs, that among the canine fpecies, exulting in the fuperiority of their ftrength, no Catiline arifes, to impel his affociates to take advantage of the fecunty of their mailers, and deftroy them at once; no Spurtacus to roufe them to liberty by his howling, that they may live as fovcreigns of the foreft, they to whom Nature has given arms, courage, and fkill to fubdue, in whole armies, animals the moft formidable ? When fo many trivial laws of Nature are, under our very eyes, unknown, or mifunderftood, how dare we to aflign thofe which regulate the courfe of the ftars, and which embrace the immenfity of the Univerfe ? To the difficulties oppofed to us by Nature, let us add thofe which we ourfelves throw in the way. Firft, methods and fyftems of all forts prepare, in every man, his manner of view- ing objccls. I do not fpeak of Metaphyficians, who explain all by means of abftraa ideas; nor of Algebraifls, with their formules ; nor of Geometricians, with their compaffes ; nor of Chemifts with their falts; nor of the revolutions which their opinions, though intolerant in the extreme, undergo in every age. Let us confine ourfelves to notions the moft uni- verfally admitted, and fupported by the higheft authority. To begin with Geographers. They reprefent the Earth as divided into four principal parts, whereas, in reality, there arc only two. Inftead of the rivers which water it, the rocks which form its barriers, the chains of mountains which divide it into climates, and other natural fubdivifions, they exhibit it fpeckled all over with parti-coloured lines, which divide and fubdividc it into empires, diocefes, principalities, elefclorates, bailliwicks, falt-magazines. They have disfigured the origi- voi. j. D 18 STUDIES OF NATURE. nals, or fubftituted names without a meaning, in place of thofe which the native inhabitants of every country had given them,, and which fo well expreffed their nature. They call, for ex- ample, a city, near to that of Mexico, where the Spaniards fhed fuch oceans of human blood, the City of Angels, but to which the Mexicans give the name of Cuet-lax-coupan, that is the Jhakt in the water, becaufe that of two fountains, which iffue from thence, one is poifonous ; they call the MJJiffipi, that great river of North America, which the natives denominate MechaJJipi, the father of waters ; the Cordehe'res, thofe high mountains bordering on the South Sea, which are always cov- ered with fnow, and which are called by the Peruvians, in the royal language of the Incas, Ritifuyu,Jnow-ridge ; and fo of an infinite number of other proper names. They have ftripped the works of Nature of their diftinaive charaaers, and Nations of their monuments. On reading thefe ancient names, with their explanations, in Garcillajo de la Vega, in Thomas Gage, and the earlieft naviga- tors, you have impreffed on the mind, by means of a few Am- ple words, the landfcape of every country, and fomething of its natural Hiftory : without taking into the account, the refpeft attached to their antiquity, for this renders the places, which they defcribe, ftill more venerable. Thofe only of the Chi- nefe, who traffic with the Europeans, know that their country is called China. The name given it by the inhabitants is Chi- um-hoa, the middle-kingdom. They change the name of it, when the families of their fovereigns become extina. A new dynafty gives it a new name ; thus the law has determined, to inftrua Kings, that the deftiny of their people was attached to them, as that of their own family. Europeans have deftroyed all thefe correfpondencics. They fhall forever bear the pun- ifhment of this injuftice, as well as that of fo many other of their violations; for, obftinately perfevering in giving what names they pleafe to the countries which they feize, or in which they fettle, it comes to pafs that, when you fee the fame coun- tries on maps, or in Dutch, Englifh, Portugueze, Spanifh, or French books of travels, you are utterly incapable of diftin- guifhing any thing. Their very longitude is changed, foF every Nation now makes its own capital the firft meridian, STUDY I. *9 Botanifts miflead us ftill more. I have fpoken of the per- petual variations of their diaionaries ; but their method is no lefs faulty. They have devifed, in order to diftinguifh plants, charaaers the moft complicated, which frequently deceive them, though derived from all the parts of the vegetable king- dom, while they have never been able to exprefs, by a fingle defcriptive term, their combination, from which the unlearned can diftinguifh them at firft fight. They muft have magnify- ing glalfes and fcales, in order to clafs the trees of a foreft. It is not fufhcient to fee them ftanding and covered with leaves, the Botaniftmuft examine the flower, and frequently the fruit too. The clown knows them all perfeaiy, in the boughs which compofe his faggot. In order to give me an idea of the varieties of germination, I am fhewn, in bottles, a long feries of naked grains of all forms, but it is the capfule which preferves them, the downy tuft which re-fows them, the elaftic branch which darts them to a diftance, which I am interefted to examine. To fhew me the cha- raaer of a flower, it is prefented to me dry, difcoloured, and fpread out on the leaf of a herbary. Is it in fuch a ftate that I can diftinguifh a lily ? Is it not on the brink of a rivulet, raif- ingits ftately ftem over the verdant declivity, and refleaing,in the limpid ftream, its beautiful calix*, whiter than ivory, that I difccrn, and admire, the king of the vallies ? Is not its incom- parable whitenefs rendered ftill more dazzling, when fpotted, as with drops of coral, by the little, fcarlct, hemifpherical lady- bird, garnifhed with black fpecks, which conftantly reforts to it as an afylum ? Who can difcover the queen of flowers in a dried rofe ? In order to its being an objea, at once, of love and * According to Botanifts, the lily, has no calix, but only a corolla, confiding of many petals. They call the flower a corolla, and the cafe which contains the flow- ers acalix. This is, evidently, an abufe of terms. Calix, in Greek, and in Latin, meansa cup; and corolla, a little crown. Now, an infinite number of flowers, as the cruciform, the papilionaceous, thofe with long throats, and a multitude of others, are not formed like a coronet, nor their cafes like cups. I dare venture to affirm, that if Botanifts had given the fimplc name or cafe, or wrapper, to the parts of the plant which inclofe and proteft the flower before it blows, they would have been on the ro id to more than one curious difcovery. This impro- priety of elementary terms in the Sciences, is the firft twift given to human reafon; it is thereby put, from the very firft fetting out, entirely afide from the path of Na- ture. Scel'ol. II. Study XI. 20 STUDIES OF NATURE. of philofophv, it muft be viewed when, iffuing from the cleft of a humid rock, it fhines on its native verdure, when the zephyr balances it, on a ftem armed with thorns; when Aurora has bedewed it with her tears ; when, by its luftre and its fragrance, it invites the hands of lovers. A cantharide, fometimes, lurk- ing in its corolla, heightens the glowing carmine, by prefent- ing the contra ft of his emerald-coloured robe; it is then this flower feems to fay, that, fymbol of pleafure, from her charms, and the rapidity of her decay, like pleafure too, fhe carries dan- ger around her, and repentance in her bofom. Naturalifts betray us into ftill wider deviations from Nature, in attempting to explain, by uniform laws, and by the mere aaion of air, water, and heat, the expanfion ot fo many plants, growing on the fame dunghill, of colours, forms, favours, and pertun.es fo different. Do they try to decompound the prin- ciples of them ? Poifon and food prefent, in their ftoves, the fame refults. Thus Nature fports herfelf with their art, as with their theory. The corn plant alone, gathered in handfuls only by the vulgar, anfwers a thoufand valuable purpofes, while a multitude of vegetables have remained entirely ufelefs, in the laboratories of the learned. I remember my having read, many years ago, feveral grave difieitations on the manner of employing the horfe-chefnut as food for Cattle. Every Academy in Europe has, at leaft, pro- pofed its own ; and the refult of all their learned difquifitions wa», that the horfe-chefnut was ufelefs, unlefs prepared by a very ex pen five procefs, and that, even then, it was good only in the manufacture of tapers and hair powder. I was aftonifh- ed at t'.i:, not that '• aturalifts fhould be ignorant of its ufe,and that they had ftudied it merely as an article of luxury, but that Nature fhould have produced a fruit of no ufe even to the brute creation. But I was, at laft, cured of my ignorance, by the brutes themfelves. I happened to take my walk, one day, to the Bois de Boulogne*, with a branch of the horfe-chefnut in mv hand, when I perceived a goat feeding. I went up, and amufed myfelf with ftioaking her. As foon as fhe perceived the horfe-chefnut bough, fhe feized, and fnapped it up, inftant- * The Bois de Boulogne, and Chateau de Madrid, arc a wood, and calUe, not many miles from Paris. STUDY I. 21 ly. The lad who tended her told me, that the goats were all very fond of this plant, and that it contributed greatly to the in- creafeof their milk. I perceived, at fome diftance, in the chef- nut alley, which leads to the Chateau de Madrid, a herd of cows eagerly looking for horfe-chefnuts, which they greedily devoured, without fauce or pickle. Thus, our learned and ingenious fyftems conceal from us natural truths, with which every pcafant is acquainted. What a fpeaacle do our cabinets of preferved animals pre- fent ? To no purpofe has the art of a D.iubmton endeavoured to keep up the appearance ot life. Let induftry do its utmoft to preferve the form, their ftiffand motionlefs attitude, their fixed and flaring eyes, their briftly hair, all declare that they have been finitten with the ftroke of death. In fuch a Mate, even beauty itfelf infpires horror; whereas objeas the moft homely are agreeable, when placed in the fituation which Na- ture has affigned them. I have been often highly diverted, in the Weft-Indies, at the fight of a crab on the fand, {training, with his claws, to break into a huge cocoa-nut; or a fhaggy ape balancing himfelf on the fummit of a tree, at the extremity of a lianne, loaded with pods and brilliant flowers. Our books of Natural Hiftory are merely the romance of Nature, and our cabinets her tomb. To what a degree have our {"peculations and our prejudices degraded her ? Our trea- tifes on Agriculture fhew us, on the plains of Ceres, nothing but bags of grain ; in the meadows, the beloved haunt of the nymphs, only bundles of hay; and in the majeftic foreft, only cords of wood and faggots. What fhall we fay of the violence done to her by Pride and Avarice ? How many charming hills have been reduced to a flute of villanage, by our laws! What majeftic rivers degraded • into fervitude by impoits! The Hiftory of Man has been disfigured in a very different manner. If we except the intereft which religion, or huma- nity, has prompted fome good men to take, in favour of their fellow-creatures, the reft of Hiflorians have written under the impulfe of a thoufand different paffions. The Politician repre- fents JVLn, as divided into nobility and commonalty, into pa- pifts and huguenots, into foldiers and flaves; the Moralift, 22 STUDIES OF NATURE. into the avaricious, the hypocritcal, the debauched, the proud; the Tragic Poet, into tyrants and their viaims; the Comic, into drolls and buffoons ; the Phyfician, into the pi- tuitous, the bilious, the phlegmatic. They are univerfally exhibtcd as fubjeas of averfion, of hatred, or of contempt: Man has been univerfally diffeaed, and now nothing isfhewn of him but the carcafe. Thus the mafter-piece of Creation, like every thing elfe in Nature, has been degraded by our learning. I do not mean to affirm, however, that from fuch partial means, no ufeful difcovery has proceeded: but all thefe circles, within which we circumfcribe the Supreme Power, far from determining its bounds, only mark the limits of human genius. We accuilom ourfelves to crowd all our own ideas into that narrow fpace, and difhoneflly to rejea all that does not ac- cord with tiiem. We act the part ot the tyrant of Sicily, who fitted the unhappy traveller to his bed of iron; he violently ftretched, to the length of the bed, the limbs of thofe who were fhoiter, and cut fhort the limbs of thofe who were lon- ger. It is thus we apply all the operations of Nature to our pitiful methods, in order to reduce the whole to one common ftandard. Hurried away myfelf, by the fpirit of the age in which I live, I gave, at the end of the journal of my voyage to the Ifle of France, a fyftem of botany, in which I pretended to explain the expanfion of plants, as our Naturalifts explain that of madrepores, from the mechanifm of the fmall animals which conflitute them, I quote this Work, though I com- pofed it merely as an amufement, to prove how eafy it is to fupport a falfe principle by true obfervations; for having communicated it to J. J. RoufJ'eau, who was, it is well known, a great proficient in Botany, he faid to me; / do not adopt your fyftem ; but it would coft me, at leaf, fix months to refute it; and even then, I could not fatter myfelf with the certainty of having fucceeded. Had the decifion of this candid gentle- man been wholly unrefervcd, it could not have juftified my libertinifm. Fiaion cmbellifhes the hiftory of Man only, it degrades that of Nature. Nature is herfelf the fource of all that is is- study r. 23 genuous, amiable, and beautiful. By applying to her the vio- lence of our imaginary laws, or by extending to all her opera- tions, thofe with which we are acquainted, we conceal others, worthy of the higheft admiration, with which we are totally unacquainted. We add, to the cloud with which fhe veils her divinity, that of our own errors. They get into credit by time, by profefforfhips, by books, by protectors, by affociati- ons, and efpecially by penfions ; whereas no one is paid for fearching after truths, which have the improvement of Man- kind for their only objea. We carry with us, into refearches fo independent and fublime, the paffions of the college and of the world, intolerance and envy. Thofe who enter firft on the career, oblige thofe who come after them to walk in their footfteps, or to give it up ; as if Nature were their patrimony, or, as if the ftudy ot Nature were an exclufive trade, that did not admit of every one's par- ticipation. What trouble did it coft to eradicate, in France, the metaphyfics of Anflotle, which had become a fpecies of religion ? The philofophy ot Defcartes, which fupplanted it, might have fubfifted to this day, had its revenues been as am- ple. That of Newton, with its attraaions, is not more folidly eftablifhed. I have an unbounded refpea for the memory of thefe great men, whofe very deviations have aflifted us, in opening great highways through the vaft empire of Nature ; but, on more occafions than one, I fhall combat their princi- ples, and efpecially, the general applications which have been made of them, in the full perfuafion, that, if I renounce their fyftems, I promote their intentions. It was the ftudy of their whole life to raife men toward the Deity, by their fublime difcoverics, without fufpeaing, that the laws which they were eftablifhing in Phyfics, might, one day, ferve to fubvert thofe of Morality. In order to form a right judgment of the magnificent fpec- tacle of Nature, we muft fuffer every objea to remain it its place, and remain ourfelves in that which fhe has afligned to us. It is from a regard to our happinefs, that fhe has conceal- ed from us the laws of her Omnipotence. How is it poffible for a being fo feeble as Man, to embrace infinite fpace ? But fhe has brought within our grafp what it is at once ufeful and 24 STUDIES OF NATURE. delightful to know : namely, the emanations from her benefit cence. In the view of uniting Mankind, by a reciprocal communication of knowledge, fhe has given to each of us, in particular, ignorance, treafuring up Science in a common flock, to render us necelfary and interefting to each other. The Earth is covered over with vegetables and animals, the fimple vocabulary of which no Scholar, no Academy, no one Nation, will ever be able perfectly to acquire; but it is to be prefumed, that the human race is acquainted with all their properties. In vain do enlightened Nations boaft, that they are the great repofitories of all the Arts and Sciences. It is to Savages, to men utterly unknown, that we are indebted for the firft obfervations, which are the fource ot all Science. It is neither to the polifhed Greeks nor Romans, but to Nations which we denominate barbarous, that we owe the ufe of firn- plcs, of bread, of wine, of domeflic animals, of cloths, of dye-fluffs, of metals, and of every thing moft ufeful, and moft agreeable, for human life. Modern Europe glories in her difcoveries; but the inven- tion of the art of Printing, one of the faireft titles to immorta- lity, is to be afcribed to a perfon fo obfeure, that feveral cities ot Holland, of Germany, nay, of China, have claimed the difcovery as their own. Galileo would never have calculated the gravity of air, but for the obfervation of a fountain-player, who remarked that water could rife only.up to thirtv-two feet in the tubes of a forcing engine. Newton had never read the ftarry heavens, unlefs a fpeaacle maker's children, in Zealand, had, at play, with the lenfes in their father's Ihop, fuggefted the firft idea of the telefcopic cylinder. Our artillerv would never have fubjugated the New World, but for the accidental difcovery of gun-powder by a lazy monk ; and whatever glory Spain may pretend to derive from the difcovery of that vaft Continent, the Savages of Afia had planted Empires there, long before the arrival of Chriftopher Columbus. What muft have become of that great man himfelf, if the good and fimple inhabitants whom he found in the country had not fupplied STUDY I. *s him with pfovifions ? Let Academies, then, accumulate ma- chines, fyftems, books, eulogiums: the chief praife of all is due to the ignorant, who furnifhed the firft materials. Advancing no higher claim, I prefume to contribute my humble offering. It is the fruit of many years of application, which, amidft ftorms long and fevere, ftole away in thefe calm researches, like a fingle day of ferenity. I earneftly wifhed, if it fhould not be permitted me to reach a boundary, at which lo flop, to communicate to others, at leaft, the pleafure which I had enjoyed on my way. 1 have conveyed my obfervations in the beft ftyle of which I am capable; frequently ftepping afide to the right hand and to the left, as the fubjea carried me; fometimes abandoning myfelf to a multitude of projeas, which the infinite intelligence of Nature infpircs; fometimes dwelling with complacency on happier feafons and fituations, which are never more to return; fometimes plunging into futurity, panting after a more fortu- nate flate of being, of which the goodnefs of Heaven affords us now and then a glimpfe, through the dark clouds of this wretched life. Defcriptions, conjeaures, perceptions, views, objeaions, doubts, nay, my very ignorances, I have heaped all on one pile ; and I have given to thefe ruins the name of Studies, as a Painter does to the ftudies of a great original, to which he was unable to give a finifhing. Amidft this diforder, it was neceffary, however, to adopt fomething like method, without which, the confufion of the matter muft have ftill more increafed the infufficiency of the Author. I have followed the moft fimple. Firft, I endea- vour to refute the objeaions raifed againft a Providence ; I, then, proceed to examine into the exiftence of certain fenti- ments, which are common to all men, and which conftrain us to acknowledge, in all the works of Nature, the laws of her wifdom and goodnefs ; and, finally, I make an application of thefe laws to the Globe, to Plants, to Animals, and to M vn. Such, from the outfet, is the manner in which I propofe to dirca my courfe. It, in the rapid fketch I am going to pre- VOL. I. E .id and cloven hoof, traverfes the fnow-s of the North, and fills »•()[.. 1. <; 42 STUDIES OF NATURE. for him her dugs diftended with cream, in the moffy pafturef. The afs, the camel, the elephant, the rhinoceros, are detached, on his fervice, to the rocks, to the fands, to the mountains, and to the moraffes of the torrid Zone. Every region is fup- porting a race of fervants for him ; the rougheft, the moft ro- buft ; the moft patient, the moft ungrateful. But animals alone, in which are united the greateft number of utilities, live with him over the whole face of the earth. The fluggifh cow paftures in the cavity of the valley, the bounding fheep on the declivity of the hill. The fcrambling goat browzes among the flirubs of the rock ; the hog armed with a fnout, turns up the foundation of the marfhy ground, with the help of an appendage of fpurs, which Nature has planted above his heels, to prevent his finking in it; the fwim- ming duck feeds on the fluviatic plants; the hen, with atten- tive eye, picks up every grain fcattered about, and loft in the field; the pigeon, on rapid wing, colleas a fimilar tribute from the refufe ot the grove, and the frugal bee turns to account, for Man, even the fmall duft on the flower. There is no corner of the Earth where the whole vegetable crop may not be reaped. Thofe plants which are rejeaed by one, are a delicacy to another; and even to the finny tribes, contribute to their fatnefs. The hog devours the horfe-tail and hen-bane ; the goat, the thiftle and hemlock. All return, in the evening, to the habitation of Man, with murmurs, with bleatings, with cries of joy, bringing back to him the deli- cious tribute of innumerable plants, transformed, by a procefs the moft inconceivable, into honey, milk, butter, eggs, and cream. Man fubjeas, to his dominion, not only the whole vegeta- ble, but the whole animal creation, though their fmallnefs, their fwiftnefs, their ftrength, their cunning, nay, the very Elements, may feem to exempt them from his jurifdiaion. To begin with the infinite legions of infeas, his duck and his hen feed upon th%n. Thefe fowls fwallow even various forts of venemous reptiles, without fuftaining the flighteft in- jury. His dog fubdues for him every other fpecies of brute. The numerous varieties of that animal are evidently adapted to S T U D V I. A3 their feveral ufesvand ends; the fhephcrd's dog, for the wolf; the terrier, for thefox; the grey-hound, for animalsof the plain; the maftiff, forJ-ofe of the mountain ; the pointer, for birds; the water-fpaniehTor the amphibious race ; in a word, from the little lap-dfig of Malta, formed only for amulement, up to the huge hunter of the Indies, who, acording to Pliny and Plutarch, fcorns to attack any thing inferior to the lion or the elephant, and whofe breed ftill fubfifts among the Tartars, their fpecies are fo varied, in form, in fize, in refpea of in- ftina, that I am conftrained to believe, Nature has produced as many forts of them, as fhe has produced animal fpecies to be fubjugated. We crofs the breed of cats, of goats, of fheep, of horfes, a thoufand different ways ; and after all our efforts and combinations, we can, produce only a few trivial varieties, which deferve, in no refpea, to be compared with the natural varieties of the canine fpecies. While fome philofophers affign to every fpecies of dog a common original, others afcribe a difference ot origin to Man. Their fyftem is founded on the variety of fize and co- lour in the human fpecies ; but neither colour, nor ftatute, are dillinaivc charaaers, in the judgment of all Naturalifts. Acord- ing to them, colour is merely accidental; fuperior ftature only a greaterexpanfionof forms. Difference of fpecies arifes from the difference of proportions: now this charaaerizes that of dogs. The proportions of the human body no where vary ; the black colour, within the Tropics, is fimply the effea of the heat of the Sun, which tinges him in proportion as he approaches the line. And it is, as we fhall fee, one of the bleffings of Nature. His fize is invariably the fame in every age, and in all places, notwithftanding the influence of food and climate, by which other animals are fo powerfully affeaed. There are breeds of horfes and of black cattle, double the fize the one of other, as as any one may be convinced, by comparing the large artillery horfes of Holftein, with the fmall poneys of Sardinia, no taller than fheep; and the huge-Flanders ox >Mth the diminutive one of Bengal; but from the talleft to the fhorteft of the human race, there is not, at moft, the difference of a foot. Their ftature is the fame, at this day, as it was in the time of the Egyptians; 44 STUDIES OF NATURE. and the fame at Archangel as in Africa, as is evident from the length of mummies, and that of the tombs of the ancient In- dians, found in Siberia, along the banks of the river Petzora. The fomewhat contracted ftature of the Laplanders is to be imputed, I prefume, to their fedentary mode of living; for 1 have obferved, among ourfelves, a fimilar contraaion of fize in perfons of certain occupations, which require little exci cife. That of the pLta^onians, on the contrary, is more expanded than that of the Laplanders, though they inhabit a latitude as cold, from their greater difpofition to be moving about. The Laplander paffes the greater part of the year fhut up amidft his herds of rein-deer ; whereas the Patagonian is perpetually a flrollcr, for he lives entirely by hunting and fifhing. Befides, the firft travellers to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of thefe two nations, have greatly exaggerated the fmallnefs of the one, and the magnitude of other, becaufe they faw the Laplanders fquatted on the floor of their fmoky huts; and the Patagoniansjn a pofition which magnifies every objea, name- ly, at a diftance, on the fummit of their rocky fhores, whi- ther they flock as foon as a veffel appears, and through the fogs which are fo frequent in their climates, and which, it is well known, greatly increafe the apparent fize of all bodies, efpecially when inthe Horizon, by rcfraaing the light where- with they are furrounded. The Swedes and Norwegians, who inhabit fimilar latitudes, in which the cold prevents, as it is alleged, the expanfion of the human body, are of the fame ftature with the natives of Senegal, where the heat, for the oppofite reafon, ought to fa- vour growth ; but neither the one nor the other is taller than we are. Man, over the whole Globe, is at the centre of all magnitudes, of all movements, and of all harmonies. His ftature, his limbs, his organs, have proportions fo adjufted to all the works of Nature, that fhe has rendered them invariable as their combination. He conftitutes himfelf alone, a genus which has neither clafsjior fpecies, dignified, by way of excel- lence, with the title oMankind. He forms a real family, all the members of which are fcatter- ed over the face of the Earth, to collcft her produftions, and STUDY 45 are capable of maintaining a moft wonderful eorrcfpondencc, adapted to their mutual neceffitics. Man has been, in every age, the friend of Man, not merely from the intercfts of com- merce, but by the more facred, the more indiffoluble, bands . of Humanity. Sages appeared, two or three thonfandyears ago, in the Eaft, and their wifdom is now illuminating us at the rcmoteft verge of the Weft. To-day, a favage is oppreffed iu the wilds of America; he fends his arrow round from family to family, from nation to nation, and the flame of war is kindled in the four quarters of the Globe. We are all bondfmen for each other. We fhall frequently recur to this great truth, which is the bafis of the morality of Subjeas as well as of .Sovereigns. The happinefs of every individual is attached to the happinefs of Mankind. He is under obligation to exert himfelf for the ge- neral good, becaufe his own depends on it. But intereft is not the only motive which renders virtue a duty to him ; to Nature he is indebted for its fublimeft leffons. Bel;;p-born deftitute of inftina, he was laid under the neceffity of form- ing his intellca on her productions. He could imagine noth- ing but after the models of every kind with which flic had pre- fented him. He was inftruacd in devifing and pcifeeling the mechanic Arts, hom plans fuggefted by the induftry of animals ; and in the liberal Arts and Sciences, after the rr.ocicl of Nature's own immediate harmonies and plans. To her fub- lime ftudics he is indebted for a light which illuminates no other animal. Inftina difcovers to the animal its neceffitics only; but Man alone, has raifed himfelf from the dark womb of profound ignorance, to the knowledge and belief of a GOD. This knowledge has not been confined to a Socrates, or a Plato: No, they have it in common with Tartars, India. ;, Savages, Negros, Laplanders; with men of every description. It is the refult of every contemplation, whatever be the object, a grain of mofs, or the Sun. On it are founded all the affoci- ations of the human race, without a finale exception. As Man has formed his intellca on that of Nature, he'h; s been obliged to regulate his moral fenfebythatofher Author. He felt, that, in order to pleafe Him who is the principle of all 46 STUDIES OF NATURE. good, it was neceffarv to contribute to the general good; hence the efforts made by Man, in every age, to raife himfelf to GOD, by the praaice of virtue. This religious charaaer, which diflinguifhes him from every other fenfible being, be- longs more properly to his heart than to his underftanding. It is, in him, not fo much an illumination as a feeling, for it ap- pears independent even of the fpeaacle of Nature, and mani- lefts itfelf with equal energy in thofe who live moft remote from it, as in thofe who are continually enjoying it. Thcfen- fations of the infinity, of the univerfality, of the glory, and of the immortality with which it is conneaed, are inceffantly agi- tating the inhabitants of the city, as well as thofe ot the country, Man, feeble, miferable, mortal, indulges himfelf, everywhere, in thefe celeftial paffions. Thither he direas, without perceiv- ing it, his hopes, his fears, his pleafures, his pains, his loves; and paffes his life in purfuing, or combating, thefe fugitive impreffions of Deity. Such is the career which I have prefcribed to myfelf. But as, in a long voyage, we fometimes perceive, on our way, flowery ifle's, in the bofom of a great river, and enchanting groves on the fummit of inacceffible precipices : in like man- ner, the progrefs we fhall make in the ftudy of Nature, will gradually difclofe to us fome delightful profpeas. With thefe we fhall, at leaft, feaft the eye as we pafs along, if we are not permitted to flop, and furvey them at leifure. We fhall have frequent occafion to remark, that the works of Nature exhibit contraft, harmonies, and tranfitions, which wonderfully unite their different empires to each other. We fhall examine by what magic it is, that the contrafts are produavie, at once, of pleafure and pain, of friendfliip and hatred, of exiftence and deftruaion. From them proceeds that great principle of Love, which divides all the individuals into two great claffes, objeas loving, and objeas beloved. This principle extends from animals and plants, which are di- ftinguifhed by fex, down to infenfible fofhls ; as metals, which have magnetic powers, moft of which are ftill unknown to us; and from falts which ftrive to unite in the fluids where they fwim, up to the Globes, which have a mutual attraaion in the Heavens. It oppofes individual to individual by difference S T U D Y I. 47 ©f fex, and genus to genus by difference of forms, in order to extraa from them harmonies innumerable. In the Elements, Light is oppofed to Darknefs, Heat to Cold, Earth to Water, and their accords produce days, tempe- ratures, views, the moft agreeable. In vegetables, we fhall fee, in the forefls of the North, the thick and gloomy foliage, the tranquil attitude and the pyramidical form of the fir, con- traft with the tender verdure, and moveable foliage, ofthebirch, which, from its fpreading top and fleuder bafe, prefents the ap- pearance of a pyramid inverted. The forefts of the fouth will exhibit fimilar harmonies, and we fhall find them even in the herbage of our meadows. The fame oppofitions reign in the animal kingdom; and, to inftance only in fuch as are moft familiar to us, the bee and the butterfly, the hen and the duck, the indigenous fparrow and rambling fwallow, the nimble courfer and fluggifh ox, the patient afs and capricious goat; in a word, the cat and dog, difplay an endlefs contraft, onourflower-beds, in the meadow, in our houfes, of forms, of movements, of inftinas. I do not comprehend, in thefe harmonical oppofitions, the carnivorous animals, which make war on the others, and whofe correfponding intercourfe regards them not as living, but as dead. I underftand by contrail, that which Nature has eftablifhed between two claffes, different in manners, in incli- nations, and in figures, and to which, neverthelefs, fhe has given certain fecret fympathetic fen Abilities, which engage them, in their natural ftate, to inhabit the fame places, to affo- ciate together, and to live in peace. Such is the contraft of the horfe, who delights to gallop about in the fame field where the ox walks gravely on, ruminating as he goes. Such, again, is that of the afs, who, well-pleafed, follows, with a flow and meafured pace, the nimble-footed goat, up to the very preci- pices over which fhe Scrambles. From the bee and the butter- fly, up to the elephant and the camelopard, there is not a fin- gle animal on the Earth but what has its contraft, Man only excepted. The contraft of Man are all within himfelf. Two oppofite paffions, Love and Ambition, balance all his aaions. To * * *#» ■ 48 STUDIES OF NATURE. Love, are referable all the pleafurcs of the fcnfes; to Ambition, all thofe of the foul. Thefe two paffions are in perpetual con- terpoifc in the fame fubjea; and while the firft is accumulat- ing on Man every kind of corporeal enjoyment, and infenfi. bly finking him below the level of the beafts; the fecond prompts him to aim at univerfal dominion, and to exalt him- felf, at length, up to the Deity. Thefe two contradictory effeas are obfcrvable in all men, who have it in their power, without obftruaion, to follow thefe oppofite impulfes, whether in the clafs of Kings, or that of flaves. The Neros, the Call- gulas, the Domitians, lived like brutes, and exaaed the ado- ration due to Gods. We find in Negros the fame incontinence, the fame pride, and the fame ftupidity. Nature, however, has bellowed thefe two paffions on Man, as a fourcc of happinefs. She produces an equal number of each fcx, in order to dirca the love of every man to a fingle objea, and in that objeft fhe has united all the harmonies which are fcattered over her moft beautiful produaions. There is between Man and Woman a wonderful analogy of forms, of inclinations, and of taftes; but there is a difference ftill greater, of thefe very qualities. Love, as we fhall have occa- fion to obferve, refults only from contrails, and the greater they are, the more powerful is its energy. I could eafily de- monftrate this, by the evidence of a thoufand hiflorical facts. It is well known, for example, with what a mad excefs of paffion tint tall and clumfy foldier Mark Anthony loved, and was beloved by, Cleopatra ; not the perfon whom our Sculp- tors reprefent, of a tall, portly, fabine figure, but the Cleopatra whom Hiftorians paint, as little, lively, fprightly, carried, in difguife, about the ftreets of Alexandria, in the night-time, packed up in a parcel of goods, on the fhoulders of Appollodorin, to keep an Aflignation with Julius Ccefar. The influence of contrails, in Love, is fo certain, that, on feeing the lover, it would be eafily poffible to draw the portrait of the beloved objea, without having feen it, provided only it were known that the paffion was extremely violent. Of this I myfelf have made proof, on various occafions; among others, in a c in where I was entirely a ftranger. A gentleman of the STUDY i. 49 place, one of my friends, carried me to vifithis fifter, a very virtuous young lady, and he informed me, as we were going, that fhe was violently in love. Being arrived at her apartments, and Love happening to become the fubjea of converfation, it came into my head to fay to her, that I knew the laws which determined our choice in love, and that, if fhe would permit me, I could draw her lover's piaure, though he was utterly unknown to me. She bid me defiance: upon this, taking the oppofite to her tall and buxom figure, to her temperament and charaaer, which her brother had been defcribing to me, I paint- ed her favourite as a little man, not overloaded with flefh, with blue eyes, and fair hair, fomewhat fickle, eager after infor- mation. Every word I uttered made her blufh up to the eyes, and /he became ferioufly angry with her brother, accufing him of having betrayed her fecret. This, however, was not the cafe, and he was fully as much aftonifhed as herfelf. Thefe obfervations are of more importance than we, gene- rally, imagine. They will enable us to demonftrate, to'what a degree our Inftitutions deviate from the Laws of Nature, and weaken the power of Love, when they affign to Woman the ftudies and the employments of Man. Virtue alone knows how to turn thefe contrails to good account, in the married ftate, in which the duties of the two fexes are fo veiy different. There, too, fhe prefents to their natural ambition, a career the moft fublime, in the education of their children, whofe reafon it is their duty to form ; and their fweeteft recompenfe to re- ceive, in exchange, the firft fentiments of filial affeaion. In the hearts of their children their memory is to be perpetuated on the earth, in a manner more affeaing, and infinitely more indelible, than the memory of Kings on public monuments. W hat power can equal that which confers exiftence, and the power of thought; and what recollection can laft fo lonp- as that ot filial gratitude ? The government of a good King has been compared to that of a father ; but the empire of a virtuous Father can be compar- ed only to that of God himfelf. Virtue is, to Man the true law of Name. It is the harmony of all harmonies. Viitue alone can render Love fublime, and Ambition beneficent. It can derive the pureft gratification even from privations the VOL. I. H 50 STUDIES OF NATURE. moft fevere. Rob it of Love, Friendfliip, Honour, the Siitr, the Elements, it feels that, under the adminiftration of a Being juft and good, abundant compenfation is referved tor it, and it acquires an increafe of confidence in GOD, even from the cruelty and injuftice of Man. It was virtue that fuppOrted, in every fituation of life, an Antoninus, a Socrates, an Epi8e-> tus, a Fenelon ; that rendered them, at once, the happieft, and the moft refpe6table of Mankind. If, on the one hand, Nature has eftablifhed contrails, in all works, on the other, fhe has deduced from them harmonies which re-unite them all again. It would appear that, having fixed upon a model, it was her intention to communicate to all places a participation in its beauty. The light and difk of the Sunareacordingly, refleaed a tliouland different ways, by the planets in the heavens, by the parhelions and rainbow in the clouds, by the Aurora Boredlis in the ices of the North; in a word, by the reiraaions of the Atmofphere, the reflexes of the Waters, and the fpecular reflexions of moft bodies on the Earth. The iflands, in the midft of the Ocean, reprefent the mountainous forms of the Continent; and the Mediterranean Seas and Lakes in the bofom of mountains, reprefent the vaft plains of the mighty Deep. Trees, in the climate of India, affea the port of herbs; and the herbs in our gardens that of trees. A multitude of flowers feem modelled after the rofe and the lily. Among our domeflie animals, the cat appears to be formed on the model of the tyger, the dog on that of the wolf, the fheep on that of the cameb Every fpecies has its correfpondent, Mankind only excepted. That of the Monkey, which fome would make a variety of the human fpecies, has relations, much more direa, to other ani- mals. The man of the woods, with his long arms, his meagre feet, his flefhlefs paws, his flattened nofe, his liplefs mouth, his round eyes, his abominable hairy coat, has, certainly, a very impcrfeft refemblance to the Apollo of the Vatican ; and whatever inclination one might have to reduce Man to thebeaft, it would be difficult to find, in the female of that animal, a fe- cond model of the human figure, which fhould come near the Venus de Medicis, or the Diana of Allegrain, which is fhewn ST U D Y I. 52 at Lucienne. But I have feen monkeys which had a ftrong refemblance to the bear, as the bavian of the Cape of Good- Hope ; or to the greyhound, as the maki of Madagafear. Some are formed like little lions; fuch is a very handfome white fpe- cies, with a mane, found in Brafil. I prefume that moft fpecies, of quadrupeds, efpecially among the ferocious kinds, have their counterparts in thofe of the monkey tribe. Thefe fame correfpondencies are likewife difcernible in the numerous varieties of parrots, which, in their forms, their bills, their claws, their fcreajn, and their fports, imitate, for the moft part, birds of prey. Finally, they extend even to the plants, de- nominated, for this very reaun, mimojas, which reprefent, in their flowers, or in the aggregation of their grains, infeas, and reptiles, fuch as fnails, flies, Caterpillars, lizards, fcorpions,&c. Nature, in forming and prefenting thefe correfpondencies, muft have fome intention, which I do not comprehend. What is very remarkable, they are common only between the Tro- pics, where the forefts fwarm with every fpecies of the mon- key and parrot race. Perhaps fhe meant to exhibit, under harmlefs forms, thofe of the noxious animals, which are there found in great numbers, in order to expofe to the light of day the terrible figure of thofe fons of darknefs and carnage, and that none of her produaions fhould remain concealed, in the - womb of Night, from the eyes of Man. Whatever may be in this, no one animal, on the face of the Earth, is formed on the noble proportions of the human figure; and if Man, under the impulfe of paffion, frequently degrades himfelf to the level of the beafts, his reftlefsnefs, his intelli- gence, and his fublime affeaions, fufficiently demonftrate, that he himfelf is the counterpart of the Deity. Finally, the fpheres of all beings have a communication, by. means of rays, which feem to unite their extremities. We fhall remark on the flalaaities and chryftallizations of foffils the proceffes of vegetation; and I think we may perceive even the movement of animals in that of their magnetic influence. On the other hand, we fhall fee plants forming themfelves, alter the manner of foffils, without any apparent organization! fuch is, among others, the truffle, which has neither leaves* $1 STUDIES OF NATURE. nor flowers, nor roots. Others reprefent, in their flowers, the figure of animals, as the orchites ; or their fenfibility, as the fenfitive plant which lets fall, and fhuts its leaves at the flighteft touch; or their inftina, as the dionaa mufcipula, which catch- es flies. The petals of this plant are formed ot oppofite little leaves, impregnated with a fugary fubftance, which attracli the flies ; but the inftant they alight, thefe little leaves fuddenly clofe together with a fpring, like the jaws of a fox-trap, and pierce the fly with their prickly edges. There are others ftill more aftonifhing, as having within themfelves the principle of motion; fuch is the hedyfarum inovens or burum chandali, imported, fome years ago, from Bengal into England. This plant moves, alternately, the two pendent lobes which are attached to its leaves, though no ex- tcrior or apparent caufe contributes to this fpecies of ofcillation. But, without going fo far in queft of wonders, we fhall find, perhaps, in our common gardens, appearances of Nature ftill more furprizing. We fhall fee the pea, for example, pufhing out its tendrils, precifely at the height where they begin to to ftand in need of fupport, and curling them round the boughs, with an addrefs which can hardly be afcribcd to chance. Thefe relations feem to fuppofe intelligence; but we fhall find others ,ftill more amiable, which are a demonftration of goodnefs, not in the vegetable, but in the hand which formed it. Thejylpkwm, of our gardens, is a great terulaceous plant, which refembles, on the firft glance, what is known by the name of the fun- flower. Its capacious leaves are oppofed at the bafe, and their cavities uniting, form an oval cup, in which the rain water colleas, to the quantity of a pretty large glafs-full. They are placed in ftories, not in the fame direction, but at right angles, in order to receive the rain water that falls in the whole extent of their circumference. Its fquare ftem is very commodious fo? beingfirmly caught by the claws of .birds; and its flowers pro- duce feeds of which many of them are exccffively fond, parti- cularly the thrufh. So that this whole plant, like the perch of a parrot-cage, prefents, at once, to the birds, a refting place, and meat, and drink. We fhall, likewife, fpeak of the fmell and tafte of plants. We fhall remark, under thefe relations, a great number of bo* S T U D Y I. 53 tanical characlers, which are not the leaft certain It was from the fmell and tafte that Man acquired the firft know- ledge of their poifonous, medicinal, or nutritive qualities. Nay the very founds of plants are not to be overlooked; for when agitated by the winds, moft of them emit founds peculiar to themfelves, and which produce harmonies, or contrafts, the moft agreeable, with the fites of the places where they ufually grow. In India, the hollow canes ot the bamboo, which Ihade the banks of rivers, imitate, as they ruffle againft each other, the gufhing noife excited by the motion of afhip through the water; and the pods ot the cinnamon, agitated by the winds on the mountain's top, the tic-tac of a mill. The moveable leaves of the poplar con- vey to our ears, in the wood, the bubbling of a brook. The green meadows, and the calm forefts, fanned by the zephyrs, reprefent, in the hollow of the valley, and on the declivity of the rock, the undulations and murmurs of the waves of the fea breaking on the fhore. The early inhabitants of the Globe, ftruck with thefe myfterious founds, imagined that they heard oracles pronounced from the trunk of the oak, and that Nymphs and Dryads, inclofed in the rugged bark, inhabited the mountains of Dodona. The fphere of animals extends ftill farther thefe wonder- ful harmonies. From the motionlefs flielly race, which pave and ftrengthen the capacious bed of the Sea, to the fly who wings his way by night, over the plains of the torrid Zone, glittering with rays of light like a ftar, you will find in them the configurations of rocks, .of vegetables, of liars, A thoufand ineffable paffions, a thoufand inftinas animate them, which they exprefs in fongs, in cries, in hummings, nay, even in the articulate founds of the human voice. Some of them compofe noify republics, others live in a profound folitudc. The whole life of fome is i -.r.ployed in wa«ving war, that of others in making love. In their combats, they ufe every imaginable fpecies of armour, and every poflible method of availing themfelves of the weapons with which Nature has furnifhed them, from the porcupine, who darts his pointed arrows at the foe, to the torpedo, who invU fibly fmitcs his affailant, as with a ftrokeof elearicity. 54 STUDIES OF NATURE. Their loves are not lefs varied than their animofities. One muft have his feraglio; another is fatisfied with a tranfiem miftrefs; a third unites himfelf to a faithful companion, whom he never abandons till death makes the feparation. Man unites, in his enjoyments, their plea'ures and their tranfports; and, fatiated, fighs, and demands ot Heaven felicity of a different kind. We fnall examine, (imply by the light which reafon fup- plies, whether Man, fubjefted, by his body, to the condition of the animal creation, all whofe necefhticshe unites in him- felf, is not, by his foul, troduced into it, is neceffary. Pain and death are among ♦he proofs of her goodnefs. But for pain, we {hould be bruifing ourfelves, every ftep we took, without perceiving it. But for death, new beings could not be raifed into exif- tence; and fuppofing thofe which already are in the world could be rendered eternal, that eternity would involve in it the ruin of generations, of the configuration of the two fex- es, and of all the relations of conjugal, filial, and parental af- feaion ; that is to fay, of the whole fyftem of aaual happinefs. In vain do we fearch, in our cradles, for the archives which our tombs deny us: fhe paft, like the future, covers our myfterious deftiny with an impenetrable veil. In vain do we apply fo it the light which illumines us, and feek, in the origin of things, the weights, the times, and the meafurcs, which we find in their enjoyment; but the order which pro- duced them has, with relation to God, neither time, nor weight, normeafure. The divifions of matter and time were made only for circumfcribed, feeble, tranfient Man. The Univerfe, faid Nezvton, was produced at a fingle eaft. We are feeking for youth in what was always old, for old age in what is always young, for germs in fpecies, births in genera- tions, epochs in nature ; but when the fphere, in which we live, iffued from the hand of its divine Author, all times, all ages, all proportions, manifefted themfelves in it at once. In ord<»r that Etna might vomit out its fires, from the very firft conftruaion of thefe tremendous furnaces, lavas muft have been provided which had jiot yet begun to flow. In or- der that the Amazonian river might roll its ftream acrofs America, the Andes of Peru muft have been, from the be- ginning, covered with the fnows, which the winds of the Eaft had not yet accumulated upon them. In the bofom of new-created thefts, ancient trees muft have fprung up, that infeas and birds might find their proper aliment on the antique rind. Carrion muft have been created for the fupport of car- nivorous animals. There muft have been produced, in all the kingdoms of Nature, beings young, old, living, dying. study r. 59 and dead. All the parts of this immenfe fabric muft have appeared at the fame inftant; and if there was a fcaffolding, to us it has difappeared. Let others extend the boundaries of our Sciences, I fhall confider myfelf as having rendered a more ufeful fervice to my fellow-creatures, if I am enabled to fix thofe of our igno- rance. Our illumination, like our virtue, confifts in defend- ing : and our force in becoming fenfible of our feeblenefs. If I do not purfue the road which Nature has referved for her- felf, I fhall, at leaft, walk in that which Man ought to take. It is the only one which prefents him eafy obfervations, ufe- ful difcoveries, enjoyments of every defcription, without in- ftruments, without a cabinet, without metaphyfics, and with- out fyftcm. In order to be convinced how agreeable it is, let us con- ftrua, in conformity to our method, any group, with the fites, the vegetables, and the animals, moft commonly to be- found in our Climates. Let us fuppofe a foil the moft obdu- rate, a craggy protuberance on the coaft, where a river dif- gorges itfelf into the Ocean, prefenting a fleep toward the fea, and a gentle declivity toward the land : that, on the fide turned toward the fea, the billows cover with foam rocks clothed with fca-weed, fucufes, alga-marinas, of all colours, and of all forms, green, brown, purple, in tufts and garlands, as I have feen them on the coafts of Normandy, affixed to the rocks of white marl, which the fea detaches from the main fhore. Let us farther fuppofe, that, on the fide of the river, we fee on the yellow fand, a fcanty verdure, mixed with a little trefoil, and here and there a fprig of marine wormwood. Let us introduce fome willows, not like thofe which grow in our meadows, but the native crop of the foil, and fimilar to thofe which are to be feen on the banks of the Spree, in the vicinity of Berlin, with broad bufhy tops, and rifing to the height of more than fifty feet. Let us not forget, in this ar- rangement, the harmony of different ages, which itjs fo agree- able to meet, in every fpecies of aggregation, but efpecially * STUDIES OF NATURE. in that of vegetables. Let us obferve, of thefe willows fo imoothand full of moifture, fome pufhing their young bran- ches into the air, and others of an aged form, with pendentt top and hollow trunk. Let us add to thefe their auxiliary plants, fuch as the green moffes and gilded lichen, which marble their gray rind, and and fome of the convolvulufes, vulgarly called lady's-fmock, which delight to fcramble along their trunk, and to embellifh the branches, which have no flowers of their own, with leaves in form of a heart, and flowers white as fnow, hollowed into the fhape of a fpire. Let us, finally, introduce the inhabit tants natural to the willow, and its acceffory plants, their but- terflies,, their flies, their beetles, and other infeas, together with the feathered animals which make war on them, fuch as, the water-hen, polifhed like the burnifhed fteel, which catch- es them in the air ; the wag-tail, which purfues them on the land, making the movement from which he derives his name ; and the king's-fifher who hunts for them along the furface of, the water; and you will fee a multitude of agreeable harmo- nies arifing out of one fingle fpecies of tree. They are, however, ftill imperfea. To the willow let us oppofe the alder, which likewife affeas the bank of the river,. and which; by its form refembling that of a long tower, its broad foliage^ its dufky verdure, its flefhy roots, formed like cords running along the banks, and binding together the foil, forms a complete contraft with the extended mafs, the light foliage, the white-flreajced verdure, and the trundling roots of the willow. Add to this die individuals of the aider, of different ages, rifing like fo many verdant obelifks, with their parafite plants, fuch as the maiden hair, fpreading into ftars of verdure over the humid trunk, the long hart's tongue hanging from the boughs down to the ground, and the other acceffories of infeas and fowls, and even of quadrupeds, which, probably, contraft as to form, colour, gait and in- ftina, with thofe of the willow ; and we fhall have a delicious STUDY r. 6x concert of vegetables and animals, compofed of two trees on- ly, together with their accompaniments. If we illuminate our little plantation with the firft rays of Aurora, we fhall behold, at once, fhades deep and fhades tranfparent, diffufed over the verdure ; a dufky and a filver- ed verdure interfea each other, on the azure of the Heavens, and their foft reflexes, blended together, moving along the bo- fom of the waters. Let us, farther, fuppofe, what neither poetry nor painting can pretend to imitate, the odour of the plants, and even the fmell of the fea, the ruftling of leaves, the humming of infeas, the matin-fong of the birds, the hollow murmuring noife, intermixed with filence, of the bil- lows breaking on the fhore, and the repetitions of all thefe founds, repercuffed by the diftant echos, which, lofing them- felves in the fea, refemble the voice of the Nereids: Ah ! if Love, or Philofophy, fhould ever tempt you to fuch a foli- tude, you will find in it an afylum more delicious than the palaces of Kings can bellow. Would you wifh that fenfations of a different order fhould be excited ? Would you wifh to hear the voice of paffion and fentiment burft from the bofom of the rock ? Let the tomb of a virtuous and unfortunate man ftartup amidft the weeping willows, prefenting this infeription to the eye : —Here re/Is J. J. R o s s E A u. Would you wifh to ftrengthen the impreffion of this pic- ture, without, however, doing violence to Nature, as to the fubjea? Change the time, the place, the monument; let this ifle be Lemnos; the trees of thefe groves, laurels and wild olives, and this tomb the tomb of Philocletes. Look at the grotto, which ferved as a habitation to that great man, when abandoned by the Greeks, whofe battles he had fought; his wooden pot, the tatters in which he was clothed, the bow and arrows of Hercules, which, in his hands, had fubdued fo ma- ny monfters, and with which he, at laft wounded himfelf: and you will be impreffed with two powerful fenfations at unce, the one phyfical, which increafes in proportion as 62 STUDIES OF NATURE. you approach the works of Nature; becaufe their beauty dif- clofes itfelf oniv to the eye which examines it; the other mo- ral, which grows upon you, in proportion as you retire from the monuments of Virtue, becaufe to do good to men, and to be no longer within their reach, is a refemblance to the Deity. What would it be then, were we to take a glance of the ge- neral harmonies of this Globe ? To dwell only on thofe which are beft known to us, behold how-the Sun confiantly encircles with his rays one half of the Earth, while Night covers the other with her fhade. How many contrails and concords refult from their ever changing oppofitions ? There is not a fingle point in the two Hemifpheres, in which there docs not appear, by turns, a dawn, a twilight, an aurora, a noon, a fettiug of burnilhed gold, and a night fometimes ftudded with ftars, fometimes clothed in a fable mantle. The Scafons walk hand in hand under his eye, like the hours of the day. Spring crowned with flowers, precedes his flaming car; Summer furrounds it with her golden fheaves : and Autumn follows it, bearing her cornucopia running over with gloffy fruit. In vain would Winter and Night, retiring to the Poles of the World, attempt to fet bounds to his majeftic career : In vain do they raife out of the boforn of the polar Seas of the North and of the South, new Continents wkh their vallies, their mountains, and their icy corufcations : the Father of Day, with his fiery fhafts, overturns the far.taflic fabric; and-without defcending from his throne, re fumes the empire of the Univcrfe. Nothing can fcreen itfelf from his prolific heat. From the bofom of the Ocean, he raifes into the Air, the rivers which are afterwards to flow through the Old and New Worlds. He gives commandment to the Winds to diftribute them over iflands and continents. Thefe invifible children of the Air tranfport them, from place to place, under a thou- fand capricious forms. Sometimes they are fpread ever the fice of Heaver, like veils e'e gold and ft reamers of filk ; STUDY J. 63 Sometimes they are rolled up in the form of frightful dragons and roaring lions, vomiting out torrents of fire and thunder. They pour them out on the mountains in as many different ways, in dews, in rains, in hail, in fnow, in impetuous tor- ' rents. However extravagant the mode of performing their fervices may appear, every part of the Earth annually receives from them neither more nor lefs, than its accuftomed portion of water. Every river fills his urn, and every Naiad her fhell. In their progrefs, they imprefs on the liquid plains of the Sea, the variety of their charaaers. Some hardly ruffle the fmooth expanfe; others fwell it into billows of azure; and others turn it up from the bottom with a dreadful noife, and dafh it foam- ing over the rocky promontory. Every place poffeffes harmonies peculiar to itfelf, and every place prefents them in rotation. Run over, at pleafure, a Meridian, or a Parallel, you will find on it mountains of ice, and mountains of fire; plains of every kind of level, and hills of every curve ; iflands of all forms, and rivers of all currents; fome fpouting up, as if they iffued from the centre of the Earth, others precipitating themfelves down in cataraas, as if they were defcending from the clouds. Nevertheless, this Globe, agitated with fuch a variety of convulfive movements, and loaded with fuch a variety of burdens, apparently fo irre- gular, advances in a fteady and unalterable courfe through the immenfity of the Heavens. Beauties of a different order decorate its Archittaure, and render it habitable to fenfiblc beings. A girdle of palm-trees, to which are fufpended the date and the cocoa, furrounds it between the burning Tropics ; and forefts of moffy firs begird it under the Polar Circles. Other vegetables extend, like rays, from South to North, and, having reached a certain lati- tude, expire. The banana advances from the Line to the louthern fhore of the Mediterranean. The orange croffes that Sea, and embcllifhes, with its golden fruit, the fouthern ex- tremities of Europe. The moft neceffary plants, fuch as corn and the gramineous tribes, penetrate the fartheft, and {hong «4 STUDIES OF NATURE. from their weaknefs, ftretch, in the fhelterof the vailies, frorfi the banks of the Ganges to the fhores of the Frozen Ocean. Others, more hardy, take their departure from the rude climates of the North, advance over the fummit of Mount Taurus, and make their way, under favour of the fnows, into the very bofom of the Torrid Zone. The fir and the cedar clothe the mountains of Arabia, and of the kingdom of Ca- chemire, and view at their feet the fcorched plains of Aden and Labor, where the date and the fugar-cane are reaped. Other trees, equally averfe to heat and cold, have their cen- tre in the Temperate Zones. The vine languifhes in Germany and Senegal. The apple, the tree of my own country, never faw the Sun perpendicularly over its head; or defcribing round it the complete circle of the Horizon, to ripen its beautiful fruit. But every foil has its Flora, and its Pomona. The rocks, the moraffcs, the mire, the fand, have each vegetables peculiar to itfelf. The very fhallows of the fea are fertile. The cocoa- tree thrives only on the ftrand, and fufpends its milky fruit over the billows of the briny Deep. Other plants are adapted to the winds, to the feafons, to the hours of the day, with fuch exaa precifion, that, by means of them, Linnaus con- ftruaed botanical almanacks and time-pieces. Who is capable ot defcribing the infinite variety of their figure ? What cradles, arches, avenues, pyramids of verdure, loaded with fruits, prefent the moft enchanting habitations ? What happy republics lodge under their tranquil fhade! What delicious banquets are there prepared! Nothing of them is loft. The quadrupeds eat the tender foliage, the feathered race the feeds, and other animals the roots and the rind. The infe6ls feed on the offal. Their infinite legions are armed with every kind of inftruments for collecting it. The bees have their thighs furnifhed with fpoons, lined with hair, for picking up the fine powder of their flowers: the fly is provided with a pump for fucking out the fap ; the worm has an augre, a wimble, a file, to feparate the folid parts; and the ant has pin- STUDY I. 6S cers for carrying off the crumbs. On confidering the diverfity of form, of manners, of governments, of all thefe animals, and the continual wars which they wage, you would fuppofe them a multitude of foreign and hoitih: nations, who are on the point of deftroying each other. From thei: constancy in love, the perpetuity of their fpecies, their wonderful harmony with all the parts of the vegetable kingdom, you would receive the idea of a fingle people, which had its hereditary nobility, its carpenters, its pump makers, and other arti'ans. Other tribes hold vegetables in contempt, and are adapted to the Elements, to Day, to Night, to Tempefts, and to differ- ent parts of the Globe. The eagle trufts her neft to the rock which loofes itfelf in the clouds; the oftrich, to the parched fands of the defert; the rofe-coloured flamingo, to the mires of the Southern Ocean. The white bird of the Tropic, and the black frigat, take pleafure to fweep along, in company, over the vaft extent of the Seas, to view, from the higheft regions of the Atmofphere, the fleets of India toiling after them in vain ; and to circumfcribe the Globe from Eaft to Weft, difputing rapidity of flight with the Sun himfelf. In the fame latitudes, the turtle dove and the perroquet, lefs daring, travel only from ifle to ifle, having their young ones in their train, and picking up, in the forefts, the grains of fpicery which they brufh off as they hop from branch to branch. While fowls of this defcription preferve an equal temperature, under the fame Parallels, others find it in the track of the fame Meridian. Long triangles of wild-geefe andoffwansgoandcome every year from South to North, ftop only at the hoary limits of Winter, hurry, without defirei or aftonifhment, over the populous cities of Europe, and look down with difdain on their fertile plains, preferring the fur- rows of green corn in the midit of fnow : to fuch a degree does liberty appear preferable to abundance, even in the eyes of die animal creation ! On the other hand, legions of heavy quails, crofs the Sea, and go to the South, in queft of the Summer's heat. 1 >ward the end of September, they avail themfelves of a northerly vol. i. K f 66 STUDIES OF NATURE. wind to take their departure from Europe, and flapping oi\t wing, while they prefent the other to the gale, half fail, half oar, they graze the billows of the Mediterranean, with their fattened rump, and bury ti-emfelvcs in the fands of Africa; to ferve as food to the iamilhed inhabitants of Zara. There are animals which travel only by night. Millions of crabs in the Antilles, defcend from the mountains by the light of the Moon, clafhing their claws; and prefent to the Caraibs, on the fteril ftrand ot then iflcs, innumerable fhells replenifhed with exquifitive marrow. At other feafons, on the contrary, the tortoife quits the Sea, and lands on the fame fhores, to accumulate layers of eggs in their barren fands. The very ices of the Pole are inhabited. We find in their Seas, and under theii floating promontories of cry ftal, the black enormous whale, with moie oil on his back than a whole plan- tation of olives could produce. Foxes cloathed in precious furs, find the means ot living on ihorcs abandonded by the Sun; herds of rein-deer there {cratch up the fnow in fearch of mofs, and advance, braving, into thofe defolate regions of night, by the glimmering light of the Aurora Borealis. Through a Providence, worthy of the higheft admiration, places the moft unprolific, prefent to Man, in the greateft abundance, provifions, cloathing, lamps, and firing, not of hisownpro- duaion. How delightful would it be to behold the Human Race colleaing all thefe various bleflings, and communicating them to each other, in peace, from Climate to Climate ! We look with expeaation, every Winter, to the period when thf fwallow and the nightingale fhall announce to us the return of ferenity. How much more affeaing would it be, to behold the People of diftant Lands arrive, with the Spring, on our fhores, not with the dreadful noife of artillery, like modern Euro- ropeans, but with the found of the flute and the hautboy, as the ancient Navigators, in the earlier ages of the World ! We fhould behold the tawny Indian of Southern Afia, forcing his way, as formerly, up its mighty rivers, in his leathern S T U D Y I. 67 canoe; penetrating, through the current of the Petzora, to the extremities of the North, an J difplaying, on the frozen fhores of the Icy Sea, the riches of the Ganges. We fhould fee the copper-coloured Indian of America, in his vhollowed log, traverfing the extended chain of the Antilles, conveying from ifle to ifle, from fhore to fhore, perhaps to our very Continent, his gold and emeralds. Numerous caravans of Arabs, mount- ed on camels and oxen, would arrive, following the courfe of the Sun, from pafture to pafture, recalling the memory of of the innocent and happy life of the ancient Patriarchs. Winter itfelf would be no interruption to the communica- tion of mankind. The Laplander, covered with warm fur, would arrive, under favour of the fnow, in his fledge drawn by the rein-deer, and expofe for fale, in our markets, the fable fkins of Siberia. Did men live in peace, every Sea would be na- vigated, every region would be explored, all their produai- ons would be colleaed. What a gratification of curiofity would it be to liften to the adventures of thefe foreign travellers, attraaed to us by the gentlenefs of our manners ! They would not be flow in communicating, to our hofpitality, the fecrets of their plants, of their indultry, and of their traditions, which they will for ever conceal from our ambitious commerce.. It isamongthe members of the vaft family of Mankind that the fragments of their Hiftory are fcattered. How interefting would it be learn that of our ancient feparation, the motives which determined each tribe to choofe a feparate habitation, on an unknown Globe ; and to traverfe as Chance direaed, mountains which prefented no path ; and rivers which had not yet received a name ? What piaures would be prefented to us in the defcriptions of thofe countries, decorated with a pompous magnificence, as they proceeded from the hands of Nature, but wild, and un- adapted to the neceflities of Man deftitute of experience! They would paint to us the aftonifhment of their forefathers, at fight of the new plants which every new Climate exhibited to their view, and the trials which they made of them, as the moans of fubfiftcnce ; how they were aided, no doubt, in thei$ confiderable part df the World, of UicL inhuman dofirinc* and facrificet. 78 STUDIES OF NATURE. nothing, multiplies the refources of her intelligence, while the human eye becomes incapable of perceiving the boundary : Let me go on to fuppofe, that afterwards, difcovering to them, in the Heavens, a progreffion of greatnefs equally infinite, he had fhewn them, in the plan- ets, hardly perceptible to the naked eye, Worlds much greater than ours, Saturn, three hundred millions of leagues diftant; in the fixed flars, infinitely more remote, Suns which, probably, illuminate other Worlds; in the whitenefs of the Milky Way, ftars, that is Suns, innum- erable, fcattered about in the Heavens, as grains of duft on the Earth, without Man's knowing whether all this may not be more than the threfhold of Creation merely ; with what tranfports would they have viewed a fpeaacle which we, at this day, behold without emotion ? But I would rather fuppofe, that, unprovided with the magic of Science, a man like Fenelon had prefented him- felf to them, in all the majefty of Virtue, and thus ad- dreffed the Druids : " You frighten yourfelves, my 11 friends, with the groundlefs terrors which you inftil in- " to the people. God is righteous. He conveys to the " wicked terrible apprehenfions, which recoil on thofe " who communicate them. But He fpeaks to all men in " the bleffings which He bellows. Your religion would " govern men by fear ; mine draws them with cords of " love, and imitates his Sun in the firmament, whom He " caufes to fhine on the evil and on the good." Let me finally, fuppofe, that, after this, he had diftributed among them the fimple prefents of Nature, till then unknown, fheaves of corn, flips of the vine, fheep clothed with the woolly fleece : Oh ! what would have been the gratitude of our grandfathers ! They would, perhaps, have fled with terror from the Inventor of the telefcope, miftaking him for a Spirit ; but, undoubtedly, they would have fallen down, and worfhipped the Author of Telemachus. Thefe, after all, are only the fmalleft part of the bleff- ings for which their rich defcendants ftand indebted to Study if. 79 Nature. I fay nothing of that infinite number of arts, which are employed at home, to diffufe knowledge and delight ; nor of that terrible invention of artillery, which fecures to them the enjoyment of thefe, while the noife of it difturbs their repofe at Paris, only to announce vic- tories ; nor of that new, and ftill more wonderful, art of elearicity, which fcreens* their hotels from the thun- der ; nor of the privilege, which they have, in this venal age, of prefiding, in all States, over the happinefs of men, when they believe they have nothing more to fear from the powers of Earth and Heaven. But the whole world is engaged only in the purfuit of pleafure. England, Spain, Italy, the Archipelago, Hun- gary, alj Southern Europe, is adding, every year, wools * On the fubject of the effefts of Electricity, a thought abundantly impi- ous has been exprciTed, in a Latin verfe, the import of which is, that Man has difarmed the Deity. Thunder is by no means a particular inftrument of divine Juftice. It is neceffary to the purification of the air, in the heats of Summer. God has permitted to Man the occafional difpofal of it, as Ha has given him the power of ufing Fire, of crofting the Ocean, and of converting every thing in Nature to his advantage. It is the ancient My- thology, which, reprefenting Jupiter always wielding the thunder, has in- fpired us with fo much terror. We find, in the Holy Scriptures, ideas of the Divinity much more confolatory, and a much founder Philofophy. I may, perhaps, be miftaken, but I do not believe there is a fingle paffage in the Bible, in which thunder is mentioned as an inftrument of divine Juftice. Sodom was deftroyed by fhowers of fire and brimftone. The ten plagues, with which Egypt was fmitten, were the corruption of the waters, fjwarms of reptiles, lice, flies, the peftilence, ulcers, hail, .caterpillars, thick darknefr, and the death of the firft born. Corah, Dathan and Abiram, were donfumed by fire iffuing out of the Earth. When the Ifraelites murmured in the wildernefs of Paran ; the fire of the Lord burnt among thcmt and corf timed thtm that were in the uttermofl parts of the camp, Numb. xi. i. In the threatenings denounced againft the people in Leviticus, no menticn is made of thunder. Oh the contrary, it was amidft the noife of thunder that GOD promulgated his law to his chofen people, from Mount Sinai. Finally, in that fublime piece of poetry, wherein David fummons all the works of JEHOVAH, to praife him, he calls, among the reft, upon the thunder ; and it is not foreign to our purpofe to remark, that he includes, in his fummons, all the meteors which enter into the necellary harmony of the Univcrfe. He qualifies them with the majeftic title of the Avgds^ and thjls of the Most High, See Pfalai cxlviti. go studies of nature. to their wools, wines to their wines, filks to their filks. Afia fends them diamonds, fpices, muflins, chintzes and porcelain ; America, the gold and filver of her mountains, the emeralds of her rivers, the die fluffs of her forefts, the cochineal, the fugar cane, and the cocoa nut ot her fervid plains, which their hands did not cultivate ; Afri- ca, her ivory, her gold, her very children, which fcrve them as beafts of burden all over the globe. There is not a fpot of the Earth, or of the Sea, but what furnifhes them with fome article of enjoyment. The gulis of the Ocean provide them pearls, its fhallows, ambergris, and its icy promontories, furs. At home, they have re- duced the rivers and mountains to a ftate of vaffalage, in order to referve to themfelves feudal rights to fifheries and chaces. But there was no occafion to put themfelves to fo much expenfe. The fands of Africa, where they have no gamekeeper, fend them, in clouds, quails, and other birds of paffage, which crofs the Sea in Spring, to load their table in Autumn. The Northern Pole, where they have no cruifer, pours on their fhores, every Summer, le- gions of mackerel, of frefh cod and of turbots, fattened in the long nights of Winter. Npt only the fowls and the fifhes change, for them, their climate, but the very trees themfelves. Their orchards, formerly, were tranfplanted from Afia, and now, their parks from America. Inftead of the chefnut and walnut, which furrounded the farms of their vaffals, in the ruftic domains of their anceftors, the ebony, the forb apple of Canada, the great chefnut of India, the magnolium, the tulip bearing laurel, encircle their country palaces with the umbrage of the new World, and, ere long, of its fol- itudes. They have fummoned the jafmin from Arabia, the orange from China, the pineapple from Brafil, and a multitude of fweet fcented plants, from every region of the torrid Zone. They have no longer occafion for funs: They can difpofe of latitudes. They can convey, in their5 hot houfes, the heats qi Syria to exotic plants, at the very ITUDY If. ti feafon when their hinds are perifhing with the cold of the Alps, in their hovels. No one of the produaions of Nature can efcape their avidity. What they cannot have living, they contrive to have dead. The infeas, birds, fhell fifh, minerals, nay, the very foil of the moft diftant lands, enrich their cabi- nets. Painting and engraving prefent them with the prof- pea, and procure them the enjoyment, of the Glaciers of Switzerland, during the burning heat of the Dogdays ; and of the Spring of the Canaries, in the midft of Winter. The intrepid Navigator brings them, from regions into which the Arts dare not to penetrate, journals of voyages, ftill more interefting than the produaions of the pencil; and redouble the filence, the tranquillity, the fecurity of their nights, fometimes by a recital of the horrible tem- pefts of Cape Horn, fometimes by that of the dances of the happy Iflanders of the South Seas. Not only every thing that aaually exifts, but Ages paft, all contribute to their felicity. Not for the Temple of Venus only did Corinth invent thofe beautiful col- umns, rifing like palm trees ; no, but to fupport the al- coves of their beds. There voluptuous Art veils the light of the day through taffetas of every colour ; and imitat- ing, by foftened reflexes, either of moonlight, or of fun- rifing, reprefents the objeas of their loves like fo many Dianas or Auroras. The art of Phidias has for them pro- duced a contraft to female beauty, in the venerable bulls of a Socrates and a Plato. Obfcure fcholars, by efforts of labour, which nothing can remunerate, have for them procured the knowledge of the fublime geniufes, who were ornaments of the World, in times nearer to the Creation; Orpheus, Zoroafter, Efop, Lokman, David, Solomon, Confucius and a mul- titude of others, unknown even to Antiquity. It was not for the Greeks, it is for them, that Homer ftill fings of ▼ 9L. i. M 82 STUDIES Or NATURE. Heroes and of Gods, and that Virgil warbles the notes of the Latin flute, which ravifhed the ears of the Court of Auguftus, and there rekindled the love of Country and of Nature. For them it is that Horace, Pope, Addifon, La Fontaine, Gefner, have fmoothed the rough paths of Wifdom, and have rendered them more acceffible, and more lovely, than the treacherous ftecps of Folly. A multitude of Poets and Hiftorians of all Nations, a Sophocles, an Euripides, a Corneille, a Racine, a Shake- fpear, a Taffo, a Xenophon, a Tacitus, a Plutarch, a Sue- tonius, introduce them into the very clofets of thofe ter- rible Potentates, who bruifed, with a rod of iron, the head of the Nations, whofe happinefs was intrufted to their care, and call them to rejoice in their happy deftiny, and to hope for a better ftill, under the reign of another An- toftius. Thofe vaft geniufes, of all Ages, and of all Coun- tries, celebrating, without concert, the undecaying luftre of Virtue, and the Providence of Heaven, in the punifh- mentof Vice, add the authority of their fublime reafon to the univerfal inftina of Mankind, and multiply, a thouf- and and a thoufand times, in their favour, the hopes of an- other life, of much longer duration, and of more exalted felicity. Does it not feem reafonable, that a chorus of praife fhould afcend, day and night, from the dome of every ho- tel' to the Author of Nature ? Never did ancient King of Afia accumulate fo many means of enjoyment in Suza, or Ecbatana, as our common tradefmen do in Paris. Thefe Monarchs, neverthelefs, every day paid adoration to the Gods; they would engage in no enterprize till the Gods were confulted; they would not fo much as fit down to table, until the libation of religious acknowledgment was poured out. Would to GOD that our Epicureans were chargeable with indifference only to the hand which is continually loading tkem with benefits ! But it is from 5 T U D Y II. «3 the very lap of plenteoufnefs and pleafure, that the voice of murmuring againft Providence now arifes. From their Libraries, ftored with fo many fources of knowledge, iffue forth the black clouds which have obfcured the hopes and the virtues of Europe. *4 STUDIES OF NATURE. STUDY THIRD, OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE. THERE is no God," fay thefe felf conftituted fages. From the work form your judgment of the workman.* Obferve firft of all, this Globe of ours, fo deftitute of proportion and fymmetry. Here it is deluged by vaft feas ; there it is parched with thirft, and prefents only wilderneffes of barren fand. A centrifugal force, oc- cafioned by its diurnal rotation, has heaved out its E- quator into enormous mpuntains, while it flattened the Poles : For the Globe was originally in a ftate of foftnefs ; whether it was a mud recovered from the empire of the Waters, or, what is more probable, a fcum detached from the Sun. The volcanoes, which are fcattered over the whole Earth, demonftrate, that th,e fire which formed it is ftill under our feet. Over this fcoria, fo wretchedly levelled, the rivers run as chance direas. Some of them inundate the plains; others are fwallowed up, or precipitate themfelves in cataraas, and no one of them prefents any thing like a regular current. The iflands are merely fragments of the Continent, violently feparated from it by the O- cean; and what is the Continent itfelf, but a mafs of hardened clay ? Here the unbridled Deep devours its * See replies to this objection in Study IV, S T U D Y III. 85 " fhores ; there, it deferts them, and exhibits new moun- " tains, which had been formed in its womb. Amidft " this conflia of contending elements, this baked lump " grows harder and harder, colder and colder, every day. " The ices of the Poles, and of the lofty mountains, ad- " vance into the plains, and infenfibly extend the uni- " formity of an eternal Winter over this mafs of confu- " fion, ravaged by the Winds, the Fire and the Water. " In the vegetable World, the diforder increafes upon " us.* Plants are a fortuitous produaion, of humid and " dry, of hot and cold, the mould of the Earth merely. " The heat of the Sun makes them fpring up, the cold *' of the Poles kills them. Their fap obeys the fame me- " chanical laws with the liquid in the thermometer, and " in capillary tubes. Dilated by heat, it afcends through M the wood, and redefcends through the rind, following " in its direaion the vertical column of the air which " imprefles that direaion. Hence it is that all vegeta- " bles rife perpendicularly, and that the inclined plane " of a mountain can contain no more than the horizon- " tal plane of its bafe, as may be demonftrated by Geom- " ctry. Befides, the Earth is an ill afforted garden, '* which prefents, almoft every where, ufelefs weeds, or " mortal poifons. " As to the animals, which we know better, becaufe " they are brought nearer to us, by fimilar affeaiorvs, •' and fimilar wants, they prefent ftill greater abfurdities.f " They proceeded, at firft, from the expanfive force of " the Earth, in the firft Ages of the World, and were " formed out of the fermented mire of the Ocean and of " the Nile, as certain Hiftorians affure us; among oth- f ers Herodotus, who had his information from the Priefts " of Egypt. Moft of them are out of all proportion, * The reply is in Study V. t Thp reply to this is in Study VI. 86" STUDIES Or NATURE. " Some have enormous heads and bills, fuch as the tott- " can ; others long necks and long legs, like the crane : " Thefe have no feet at all, thofe have them by hundreds ; " others have theirs disfigured by fuperfluous excref- " cences, fuch as the meaninglefs fpurs of the hog, which, " appended at the diftance of fome inches from his feet, " can be of no fervice to him in walking. " There are animals fcarcely capable of motion, and " which come into the World in a paralytic flate, fuch " as the floth or fluggard, who cannot make out fifty paces " a day, and fcreams out lamentably as he goes. " Our cabinets of Natural Hiftory are filled with mon- " fters; bodies with two heads; heads with three eyes, " fheep with fix feet, &c. which demonftrate that Nature " aas at random, and propofes to herfelf no determinate " end, unlefs it be that of combining all poffible forms: " And, after all, this plan would denote an intention " which its monotony difavows. Our Painters will al- " ways imagine many more beings than can podTibly be " created. Add to all this, the rage and fury which def- " olate every thing that breathes : The hawk devours " the harmlefs dove in the face of Heaven. " But the difcord which rages among animals is noth- " ing, compared to that which confumes the human race.* " Firft, feveral different fpecies of men, fcattered over " the earth, demonftrate that they do not all proceed from " the fame original. There are fome black, others white, " red, copper coloured, lead coloured. There are fome " who have wool inftead of hair; others who have no " beard. There are dwarfs and giants. Such are, in " part, the varieties of the human fpecies, every where " equally odious to Nature. No where does fhe nourifh " him with perfea good will. He is the only fenfiblc " being laid under the neceffity of cultivating the earth, * The reply is in Study VII. STUDY III. tf " in order to fubfift : And, as if this unnatural mother " were determined to perfecute, with unrelenting feveri- " ty, the child whom fhe has brought forth, infe&s devour " the feed as he fows it, hurricanes fweep away his har- " veils, ferocious animals prey on his cattle, volcanoes " and earthquakes deftroy his cities; and the peftilencc " which, from time to time, makes the circuit of the " Globe, threatens, at length, his utter extermination. " He is indebted to his own hands for his intelligence, " his morality is the creature of climate, his governments " are founded in force, and his religion in fear. Cold " gives him energy ; heat relaxes him. Warlike and " free in the North, he is a coward and a flave between " the Tropics. His only natural laws are his paffions. " And, what other laws fhould he look for ? If they " fometimes lead him aftray, is not Nature, who bellow- " ed them upon him, an accomplice at leaft, in his crim- " inality ? But he is made fenfible of their impulfe, only " as a warning never to gratify them. " The difficulty of finding fubfiftence, wars, impofts, " prejudices, calumnies, implacable enemies, perfidious '• friends, treacherous females, four hundred forts of bod- " ily diftemper, thofe of the mind, both more cruel and " more numerous, render him the moft wretched of crea- " tures that ever faw the light. It were much better that " he had never been born. He is every where the viaim " of fome tyrant. Other animals are furniftied with the " means of fighting, or, at leaft, of flying ; but man has " been toffed on the Earth by chance, without an af- " ylum, without claws, without fangs, without velocity, " without inftina, and almoft without a fkin; and as if it " were not enough for him to be pcrfecuted by all nature, " he is in a ftate of perpetual war with his own fpecies. " In vain would he try to defend himfelf from it. Vir- (< tue flaps in, and binds his hands, that vice, in fafetv, may 38 STUDIES OF NATURE. M cut his throat. He has no choice, but to fuffer, and to " befilent. " What, after all, is this virtue, about which fuch pa- " rade is made ? A combination of his imbecility ; a re- " fultof his temperament. With what illufions is fhe " fed ? Abfurd opinions, founded merely on the foph- " ifms of defigning men, who have acquired a fupreme " power by recommending humility, and immenfe riches " by preaching up poverty. Every thing expires with us. " From experience of the paft, let us form a judgment of " the future; we were nothing before our birth ; we fhall " be nothing after death. The hope of our virtues is a " mere human invention, and the inftina of our paffions " is of divine inftitution. " But there is no GOD.* If there were, He would be " unjuft. What being, of unlimited power and goodnefs, " would have expofed, to fo many ills, the exiftence of " his creatures; and laid it down as a law, that the life of " fome could be fupported only by the death of others ? " So much diforder is a proof that there is no GOD. It " is fear that formed him. How muft the World have " been aftonifhed at fuch a metaphyfical idea, when Man " firft, under the influence of terror, thought proper to " cry out, that there was a GOD ! What could have made " him GOD ? Why fhould he be GOD ? What plea- " fure could he take in that perpetual circle of woes, of " regenerations and deaths.+" * The reply is in Study VIII. ■J- The refutation of thefe objections will be found by the numeral chan- afters, which correfpond to each particular Study. All of them are there refolved direftly, or indireftly; For it was not poffible to follow, in a Work of this kind, the fcholaftic order of a fyftem of philofophy, & T U JOY I V. STUDY FOURTH. REPLIES TO THE OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVI- ' DENCE. iDUCH are the principal objeaions which have been raifed, in almoft every Age, againft a Providence, and which no one will accufe me of having ftated too feebly. Before 1 attempt a refutation of them, I muft be per- mitted to make a few refleaions on the perfons who main- tain them. Did thefe murmurings proceed from fome wretched mariners, expofed at fea to all the revolutions of the At- mofphere, or from fome oppreffed peafant, labouring un- der the contempt of that fociety whom his labour is feed- ing, my aftonifhment would be lefs. But our Atheifts are, for the moft part, well fheltered from the injuries of the Elements, and efpecially from thofe of Fortune. The greateft part of tbem have never fo much as travelled. As to the ills of Civil Society, they moft unreafonably complain ; for they enjoy its fweeteft and moft refpeaful homage, after having burft afunder all its bands, by the propagation of their opinions. What have they not written on Friendfhip, on Love, on Patriotifm, and on all the Human Aflbaions, which they have reduced to the level of thofe of the hearts, while fome of them could render human affeaion almoft divine by the fublimity of their talents 1 VOL. I. N g0 STUDIES OF NATURE* Are not they, in part, the very perfons to whom many of our calamities may be juftly imputed, for their flatter- ing, in a thoufand different ways, the paflions of our mod- ern tyrants, whilft a crofs, rifing in the midft of a defert, comforts the miferable ? It is a matter of no fmall diffi- culty to retain thefe laft in a rational devotion ; and it is a* moral phenomenon which appeared to me, for a long time, inexplicable, to behold, in every Age, atheifm fpring- ing up among men who had moft reafon to cry up the good- nefs of Nature, and fuperftition among thofe who have the jufteft ground of complaint againft her. It is amidft the luxury of Greece and Rome, in the bofom of the wealth of Indoftan, of the pomp of Perfia, of the volup- tuoufnefs of China, of the overflowing abundance of Eu- ropean Capitals, that men firft flirted up, who dared to deny the exiftence of a Deity. On the contrary, the houfelefs Tartars; the Savages of America, continually preffed with famine; the Negroes, without forefight, and without a police; the inhabitants of the rude climates of the North, fuch as the Laplanders, the Greenlanders, the Efquimaux, fee Gods every where, even in a flint. I long thought that atheifm, in the rich and luxurious, was a diaate of confcience. " I am rich, and I am 3 " knave," muft be their reafoning, " therefore there is no " GOD." " Befides, if there is a GOD, I have an ac- " count to render." But thefe reafonings, though natur- al, are not general. There are atheifts, who poffefs legit- imate fortunes, and ufe them morally well, at leaft exter- nally. Befides, for the contrary reafon, the poor man ought to argue thus; "I am induftrious, honeft and miferable; " therefore there muft be no Providence." But in Na- ture herfelf we muft look for the fource of this unnatural ratiocination. In all countries, the poor rife early, labour the ground, live in the open air, and in the fields. They are penetrated STUDY IV. 9* with that aaive power of Nature which fills the Univerfe. But their reafon, finking under the preffure of calamity, and diftraaed by their daily occafions, is unable to fupport its luftre. It flops fhort, without generalizing, at the fen- fible effeas of this invifible caufe. They believe, from a fentiment natural to weak minds, that the objeas of their religious worfhip will be at their difpofal, in proportion as they are within their reach. Hence it is that the devo- tions of the common people, in every country, are prefent- ed in the fields, and have natural objeas for their centre. It always attraas the religion of the peafantry. A hermit- age on the fide of a mountain, a chapel at the fource of a ftream, a good image of the Virgin, in wood, niched in the trunk of an oak, or under the foliage of a hawthorn, have, to them, a much more powerful attraaion than the gilded altars of our Cathedrals. I except thofe, however, whom the love of money has completely debauched, for fuch perfons muft have faints of filver, even in the coun- try. The principal religious aas of the people in Turkey, in £effia, in the Indies and in China, are pilgrimages in the fields. The rich, on the contrary, prevented in all their wants and wifties by men, no longer look up to GOD for any thing. Their whole life is paffed within doors, where they fee only the produaions of human induftry, luftres, wax candles, mirrors, fecretaries, parafites, books, wits. They come infenfibly to lofe fight of Nature; whofe produaions are, befides, almoft always exhibited to them disfigured, or out of feafon, and always as an effea of the art of their gardeners, or artifans, They fail not, likewife, tQ interpret her fublime opera- tions, by the mechanifm of the arts moft familiar to them. • Hence fo many fyItems, which eafily enable you to guefs at the occupation of their authors. Epicurus, exhaufted by voluptuoufnefs, framed his world and his atoms, with r)2 STUDIES OF N AT U R E. which Providence has nothing to do, out of his own apa- thy ; the Geometrician f% °F THE S01jTb PwUiflvd by- J.N.uorede.NUo.Mirlboro1; Str.«t Boston. STUDY IV. ng guer* has well remarked, who thought the faa aftonifhing, but without affigning any reafon for it; becaufe the Sun being alternately toward both Poles, the effeas of the Tides muft neceflarily be oppofite, like the caufes which produce them. But I beg leave to fuggeft harmonies, between the O- cean and the Poles, ftill more extenfive and more ftriking. A,t the Solftices the Tides are lower than at any other fea- fon of the year; and thefe, likewife, are the feafons when there is moft ice on the two Poles, and, confequently, leaft water in the Sea. The reafon is obvious. The Winter Solftice is, with-refpea to us, the feafon of the greateft cold ; there is, accordingly, at that time, on our Pole, and on our Hemifphere, the greateft poflible accumulation of ice. It is, indeed, at the South Pole, the Summer Sol- ftice; but there is little ice melted on this pole, becaufe the aaion of the greateft heat is not felt there, as with us, but when the Earth has an acquired heat, fuperadded to the a&ual heat of the Sun, which takes place only in the fix weeks that follow the Summer Solftice; and thefe give us, likewife, in our Summer, the hotteft feafon of the year, which we call the Dog Days. At the Equinoxes, on the contrary, we have the high- eft Tides. And thefe are precifely the feafons when there is the leaft ice at the two Poles, and, of courfe, the greatteft mafs of water in the Ocean. At our autumnal Equinox, in September, the greateft part of the ices of the North Pole, which has undergone all the heats of Summer, is melted, and thofe of the South Pole begin to diffolve. It is farther remarkable, that the tides, at our vernal Equinox, in March, rife higher than thofe of September, becaufe it is the end of Summer to the South Pole, which contains much more ice than ours, and, confequently, fends to the * Bcuguer, Treatife of Navigation, page 153. 130 STUDIES OF NATURE. Ocean, a much greater mafs of water. Audit coritaina more ice, becaufe the Sun is fix days lefs in that Hemif- phere, than in ours. If I am afked, Why the Sun does not communicate his light and heat, in exaaiy equal pro- portions, to both Poles ? I fhall leave it to the learned to affign the caufe, but fhall afcribe the reafon of it to the Divine Goodnefs, which has been pleafed to bellow the larger fhare of thefe bleflings, on that half of the Globe which contains the greateft quantity of dry land, and the greateft number of inhabitants. I fhall fay nothing of the intermittance of thefe polar effufions, which produce, on our coafts, two fluxes and two refluxes, nearly in the fame time that tlie Sun, making the circuit of the Globe, over our Hemifphere, alternate- ly heats two Continents and two Oceans, that is, in the fpace of twentyfour hours, during which his influence twice aas, and is twice fufpended. Neither fhall I fpeak of their retardation, which is nearly three quarters of an hour from one day to another, and which feems to be regulated by the different diameters of the polar cupola of ice, the extremities of which, melted by the Sun, diminifh and retire from us every day, and whofe effufions mnft, confequently, require more time to reach the Line, and to return from the Line to us. Neither fhall I dwell on the other relations which thefe polar periods have to the phafes of the Moon, efpecially when fhe is at the full; for her rays poffefs an evaporating heat, as the late exper- iments, made at Rome and at Paris, have demonftrated : For this would lay me under the neceffity of detailing a feries of obfervations and faas, which might carry me too far. Much lefs fhall 1 involve myfelf in a difcuffion of the Tides of the South Pole, which, in the Summer of that Pole, in the open Sea, come immediately from the South and South Weft, in vaft furges, conformably te the expe- study iy\ 121 rience of the Dutch Navigator, Abel Tafman, in the months of January and February 1692 ; and of their ir- regularity on the coafts of that Hemifphere, fuch as thofe on the coafts of New Holland, where Dampier, in the month of January 1688, found, to his great aftonifhment, that the higheft Tide, which fet in from eaft quarter north, did not come till three days after full moon, and wliere his fhip's company, ftruck with confternation, Were, for feveral days together, under the apprehenfion that their veffcl, which they had hauled up on the beach to be refitted, could never be got afloat again.* I fhall fay nothing of thofe of New Guinea, where, toward the end of April, the fame Navigator experienced feveral, on the contrary, in the fpace of a fingle night, which extend- ed, in direa oppofition to ours, from North to South, and came from the Weft in very rapid fwells, tumultuous, and preceded by enormous furges, which did not break ; nor of the inconfiderable elevation of thefe Tides on the coaft of Brafil, and in moft of the iflands of the South Sea, and of the Eaft Indies, where they rife only to 5, 6, 7, feet, whereas Ellis found them 25 feet high at the en- trance of Hudfon's Bay, and the Chevalier Narbrough, 20 feet at the entrance of Magellan's Straits. Their courfe toward the Equator in the South Sea, their retardations and accelerations on thefe fhores, their direaions, fometimes eaflward, fometimes weftward, ac- cording to the Monfoons; finally, their rife, which in- creafes in proportion as we approach the Pole, and dimin- ifhes in proportion to our diftance from it, even between the Tropics, demonftrates, that their focus is not under the Line. The caufe of their motions depends not on the. attraaion, or the prcffure, of the Sun and of the Moon, on that part of the Ocean; for thefe forces would, un- • Dampier's. Voyages : Trea'.ife on Winds and Tides, pages 378 and 379. VOL. I. R 122 STUDIES OF NATURE. doubtedly, aa there with the greateft energy, and in pe- riods as regular as the courfe of thefe two luminaries ; but it feems to depend entirely on the combined heat of thefe fame luminaries, on the Poles of the Globe, the ir- regular effufions of which, not being narrowed in the fouthern Hemifphere, as in ours, by the channel of two adjacent Continents, produce, on the fhores of the Indian Ocean and the South Sea, expanfions vague and inter- mitting. It is fufficient, therefore, to admit thefe alternate effu- fions of the polar ices, which it is impoffible to call in queftion, to explain, with the greateft facility, all the phe- nomena of the Tides, and of the Currents of the Ocean. Thefe phenomena prefent, in the journals of Navigators the moft enlightened, a perpetual obfcurity, and a multi- tude of contradiaions, as aften as thefe fame Navigators perfift in afcribing the caufes of them to the conftant pref- fure of the Moon and of the Sun on the Equator, with- out paying attention to the alternate Currents from the Poles, which direa their courfe to that fame Equator ; to their counter currents, which returning toward the Poles, produce Tides ; and to the revolutions which Winter and Summer effect, on thefe two movements. It has been fuppofed, indeed, in modern times, that the Sea muft be clear of ice under the Poles, and this is founded on the groundlefs affertion, that the Sea freezes only along the fhore; but this fuppofition is the creature of men in their clofets, in contradiaion to the experience of the moft celebrated Navigators. The efforts of Cap- tain Cook, toward the South Pole, demonftrate its errone- oufnefs. That intrepid mariner, in the month of Febru- ary, the Dog Days of the Southern Hemifphere, never could approach nearer to that Pole, where there is no land, than the 70th degree of Latitude, that is, no nearer than five hundred leagues, though he had coafted round study iv, i*3 its cupola of ice for a whole Summer; befides this dif- tance did not compofe half the magnitude of the cupola, for he was permitted to advance fo far only under favour of a bay, opened in a part of its circumference, which every where elfe was of much greater extent. Thefe bays, or openings, are formed in the ice, merely by the influence of the neareft adjacent lands, where Na- ture has diftributed fandy zones, to affift in accelerating the fufion of the polar ices, at the proper feafon. Such are, to throw it out only on our way, tor time permits me not here to unfold all the plans of this wonderful Architeaure; fuch, I fay, are thofe long belts of fand which encompafs South America, in Magellan's Land ; and thofe of Tartary, which commence in Africa, at Zara, or the Defert, and proceed forward till they terminate in the north of Afia. The winds, in Summer, convey the igneous particles, with which thofe Zones are filled, to- ward the Poles, where they accelerate the aaion of the Sun upon the ices. It is eafy to conceive, independent of experience, that the fands multiply the heat of the Sun, by the refkaions of their fpecular and brilliant parts, and preferve it a long time in their interftices. It is certain, at leaft, that the greateft openings in the polar ices are always to be found in the direaion of the warm winds, and under the influ- ence of thefe fandy tracks of land, as I could eafily de- monftrate, were this the proper place. But we may fee examples of it, without quitting our own Continent, nay, in our very gardens. In Ruffia, the rivers and lakes al- ways begin to thaw at the banks, and the fufion of their ices is accelerated, in proportion as the ftrand is more or lefs gravelly, and as they meet, relatively to the ftrand, in the direaion of the South wind. We obferve the fame effeas in our own gardens, to- ward the clofe of Winter. The ice which covers the 124 STUDIES OF NATURE. gravel on the alleys, melts firft ; afterward that which it on the earth, and laft of all, that which is in the bafons. The fufion of this, too, begins at the brink, and the length of time neceffary to complete it, is in proportion to the extent of the bafon"; fo that the central part, or that which is fartheft from the earth, is likewife, the laft that diffolves. There can remain, therefore, not the flighteft fhadow of doUbt, that the Poles are covered with a cupola of ice, conformably to the experience of Navigators, and the diaates of natural reafon. We have taken a glance of the icy dome of our own Pole, which covers it, in Win- ter, to an extent of more than two thoufand leagues over the Continents. It is not fo eafy to determine its eleva- tion at the centre, and Under the very Pole; but the height muft be immenfe. Aftronomy fometimes prefents, in the Heavens, an im- age of it fo confiderable, that the rotundity of the Earth feems to be remarkably affeaed by it. I take the liberty of quoting, what I find, on this fub- jea, in an Englifh Author of note, Childrey* This Nat- uralift fuppofes, as I do, that the Earth, at the Poles, is covered with ice, to fuch a height, that its figure is there- by rendered fenfibly oval. This he proves by two very curious aftronomical obfervations. " What obliges me, " befides," fays he, " to embrace this paradox, is, that it " ferves to refolve admirably well, a difficulty of no fmall " importance, which has greatly embarraffed Tycho Brha'e " and Kepler, refpeaing central eclipfcs of the Moon, " which take place near the Equator ; as that was which " Tycho obferved in the year 1588, and that obferved by " Kepler in the year 1624 : Of which he thus fpeaks • M Notandum eft hanc Luna: eclipfim finftar illius quam • Natural Hiftory of England, pages 24/5 and 247. STUDY IV. *2£ *f Tycho, anno 1588, obfervavit totalem, & proximam cen- " trali) egregie calculum fefelliffe ; nam nonfolum mora " totius Luna; in tenebris brevis fuit,fed et duratio reli- " qua multo magis ; perinde quafi tellus elliptua effet, de- " metientem breviorem habensfub lEquatore, longiorem a '* polo uno ad alteram. That is, It is worthy of remark, " that this eclipfe of the Moon," (he is fpeaking of that " of the 26th September, 1624) like the one which Tycho " obferved, in the year 1588, which was total, and very " nearly central, differed widely from the calculation ; for " not only was the duration of total darknefs extremely " Jhort, but the reft of the duration, previous, and poftenor, " to the total objcuration, was fiill Jhorter ; as if the fig- " tire of the Earth were elliptical, having the fmaller di- " ameter under the Equator, and the greater, from Pole ,l to Pole. The detached maffes, half melted, which are every year torn from the circumference of this cupola, and which are met with, floating at fea, prodigioufly diftant from the Pole, about the 55th degree of Latitude, are of fuch an elevation, that Ellis, Cook, Martens, and other Navigators of the North, and of the South, the moft accurate in their details, reprefent them as, at leaft, as lofty as a fhip under fail : Nay, Ellis, as has already been mentioned, does not hefitate to affign to them an elevation of from 1500 to 1800 feet. They are unanimous in affirming, thqt thefe vaft fragments emit corufcations, which render them per- ceptible before they come to the Horizon. I fhall re- mark by the way, that the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Light, may, very probably, owe its origin to fimilar re- fleaions from the polar ices, the elevation of which may, perhaps, one day be determined by the extent of thefe very lights. Whatever may be in this, Denis, Governor of Canada, fpeaking of the ices which defcend, every Summer, from 125 STUDIES OF NATURE. the North, upon the great bank of Newfoundland, fays, that they are higher than the turrets of Notre Dame, and that they may be feen at the diftance of from tg to 18 leagues. Their cold is felt on fhip board at a fimilar diftance. " They are," according to his account,* " fome- " times in fuch numbers, being all carried forward by " the fame wind, that there have been veffels, making " toward the land to fifh, which fell in with fome of them, " in a feries of a hundred and fifty leagues in length, and " upward ; which coafted along them for a day or two, " the night included, with a frefh breeze, and every fail " fet, without being able to reach the extremity. In " this manner they keep on under way, looking for an " opening through which the veffel may pafs ; if they " find one, they crofs it, as through a ftrait ; otherwife, " they muft get on, till they have outfailed the whole •' chain, in order to make good their paffage ; for the " way is throughout blocked up with ice. Thefe ices " do not melt, till they meet the warm water toward the " South, or are forced by the wind on the land fide. " Some of them run aground in from 25 to 30 fathoms " of water ; judge of their'height, exclufive of what is " above water. The fifhermen have affured me, that " they faw one aground, on the great bank, in 45 fathom " water, and which was, at leaft, ten leagues round. It " muft have been of a great height. Ships do not come " near thefe ices, for there is danger left they fhould over- " turn, according as they diffolve on the fide expofed to " the greateft heat." It is to be obferved, that the ices in queftion are already more than half melted by the time they reach the banks of Newfoundland ; for, in faa, they fcarcely go any far- ther. It is the Summer's heat which detaches them from • Natural Hiftory of North America. Vol. ii. chap. 1, pages 44 and 45. STUDY IV. 187, the North, and they are enabled to make even fuch a progrefs fouthward, only by means of their floating down the current, which carries them toward the Line, where they arrive, in a ftate of diffolution, to replace the waters which the Sun is continually evaporating in the torrid Zone. Thefe polar ices, of which our mariners fee only the borders and the crumbs, muft have, at their centre, an ele- vation proportioned to their extent. For my own part, I confider the two Hemifpheres of the Earth as two mountains with their bafes applied to each other at the Line, the Poles as the icy fummits of thefe mountains, and the Seas as rivers flowing from thefe fummits. If, then, we reprefent to ourfelves the proportions which the glaciers of Switzerland have to their mountains, and to the rivers which flow from them, we fhall be able to form fome faint idea of thofe proportions which the glaciers of the Poles bear to the whole Globe and to the Ocean. The Cordeliers of Peru, which are only mole- hills, compared to the two Hemifpheres, and the rivers, which iffue from them, only rills of water compared to the Sea, have felvages of ice, from twenty to thirty leagues broad, briftled, at their centre, with pyramids of fnow from twelve to fifteen hundred fathoms high. What, then, muft be the elevation of thefe two domes of polar ice, which have in Winter, bafes of two thoufand leagues in diameter ? I can have no doubt, that their thicknefs, at the Poles, muft have reprefented the Earth as oval, in central eclipfes of the Moon, conformably to the obferva- tions of Kepler and Tycho Brhae. I deduce another confequence from this configuration. If the elevation of the polar ices is capable of changing in the Heavens the apparent form of the Globe, their weight muft be fufficiently confiderable to produce fome influence on its motion in the Ecliptic. There is, in faa, 128 STUDIES OF NATURE. a very fingular correfpondcnce between the movement, by which the Earth alternately prefents its two Poles to the Sun, in one year, and the alternate effufions of the polar ices, which take place in the courfe of the fame year. Let me explain my conception of the way in which this motion of the Earth is the effea of thefe ef- fufions. Admitting, with Aftronomers, the laws of Attraaion among the heavenly bodies, the Earth muft certainly pre- fent to the Sun, which attraas it, the weighticft part of its Globe. Now, this weightieft part muft be one of it| Poles, when it is furcharged with a cupola of ice, of an extent of two thoufand leagues, and of an elevation fupe* rior to that of the Continents. But as the ice of this Pole, which its gravity inclines toward the Sun, melts in; proportion to its vertical approximation to the fource of heat, and as, on the contrary, the ice of the ©ppofite po|e increafes in proportion to its removal, the neceffary con- fequence muft be, that the firft Pole becoming lighter, and the fecond heavier, the centre of gravity paffes alter- nately from the one to the other, and from this recipro- cal preponderancy muft enfue that motion of the Globe in the Ecliptic, which produces our Summer and Winter. From this alternate preponderancy, it muft likewife happen, that our Hemifphere, containing more land than the fouthern Hemifphere, and being, confequently, heav- ier, it muft incline toward the Sun for a greater length of time; and this, too, correfponds to the matter of faa, for our Summer is five or fix days longer than our Win- ter. A farther confequence is, that our Pole cannot lofe its centre of gravity, till the oppofite Pole becomes load- ed with a weight of ice fuperior to the gravity of our Continent, and of the ices of- our Hemifphere; and this, likewife, is agreeable to fa£l, for the ices of the South Pole are more elevated, and more extcnfivc than thofe STUDY IV. 129 of the northern ; for mariners have not been able to pen- etrate farther than to the 70th degree of South Latitude, whereas they have advanced no lefs than 820 North. Here we have a glimpfe of the reafons by which Na- ture was determined to divide this Globe into two Hem- ifpheres, of which the one fhould contain the greateft quantity of dry land, and the other the greateft quantity of water ; to the end that this movement of the Globe fhould poffefs, at once, confiftency and verfatility. It is farther evident, why the South Pole is placed immediate- ly in the midft of the Seas, far from the vicinity of any land ; that it might be able to load itfelf with a greater mafs of marine evaporations, and that thefe evaporations accumulated into ice around it, might balance the weight of the Continents with which our Hemifphere is fur- charged. And here I lay my account with being oppofed by a very formidable objeaion, It is this. If the polar ef- fufions occafion the Earth's motion in the Ecliptic, the moment would come in which, its two Poles being in equilibrio, it could prefent to the Sun the Equator only. I acknowledge that I have no reply to make to that difficulty, unlefs this be one; We muft have recourfe to an immediate will of the Author of Nature, who is pleafed to deftroy the inftant of this equilibrium, and who reeftablifhes the balancing of the Earth on its Poles, by laws with which we are unacquainted. Now, this con- ceffion no more weakens the probability of the hydraulic caufe, which I apply to it, than that of the principle of the attraftion of the heavenly bodies, which attempts to explain it, I am bold to fay, with much lefs clearnefs. This very attraaion would foon deprive the Earth of all maimer of motion, if it alone aaed in the ftars. If we would be fincere, it is in the acknowledgment of an intelligence, fuperior to our own, that all the mechanical vol. 1. s 13° STUDIES OF NATURE. caufes, of our moft ingenious fyftems, muft iflue. The will of GOD is the ultimatum of all human knowledge. From this objeaion, however, I ffeall deduce confe- quences, which will diffufe new light on the ancient ef- feas of polar effufions, and on the manner in which they might have produced the Deluge.* On the fuppofition, then, of the reeftablifhment of the equilibrium between the Poles, and of the Earth's con- ftantly prefenting its Equator to the Sun, it is extremely probable, that, in this cafe, it would be fet on fire. In faa, on this hypothefis, the waters which are under the E- quator, being evaporated by the unremitting aaion of the * The Priefts of Egypt maintain, according to Herodotus, that the Sun had feveral times deviated from his courfe ; accordingly our hypothefis has rothing new in it. They had, perhaps, deduced the fame confequericei from this, that we have done. One thing is certain ; they believed that the Earth would, one day, perifh by a general conflagration, as it had been •verwhelmed by an univerfal deluge. Nav, I believe it was one of their Kings, who, as a fecurity againft either one or the other of thefe calamities, hard two pyramids built, the one of brick, a prefervative againft fire ; the other of ftone, a prefervative againft an inundation. The opinion of a future conflagration of Nature is diffufed over many nations. But effefts fo terrible, which would fpeedly refult from the mechanical carufes, by which Man endeavours to explain the laws of Nature, can take place only by an immediate ord»r of the Deity. He preferves his works conformably to the fame Wifdom with which they were created. Aftronomers have, for many Ages, been obferving the annual motion of the Earth in the Ecliptic, and never have they feen the Sun fo much as a fingle fecond fliort of, or beyond, the Tropics. GOD governs the World by variable powers, and deduces from thefe, harmonies -which are invariable. The Sun neither moves In the circle of the Equator, which would fet the Earth 6n fire, nor in that of the Meridian, which wonJd produce an inundation of water ; but his courfe is traced in the Ecliptic, defcribing a fpiral line between the two Poles of the World. In this harmonious courfe, he difpenfes cold and heat, drynefeand humidity, and derives from thefe powers, each of frhem deftruttive by itfelf, Latitudes fo varied, and fo temperate, all over the Globe, that ao infinite number of creatures, of aB extreme delicacy, find in them, every degree wf temperature adapted, to the nature ef tbsi* frail «xiftence, STUDY IV. »3l Sun, would become irrevocably fixed in ice at the Poles, where they would receive, without effea, the-influecice of that luminary, which would be to them conllantly in the Horizon. The Continents being thus dried up, under the torrid Zone, and inflamed by a heat every day increaf- ing, would quickly catch fire. Now, if it be probable that the Earth would perifh by fire, were the Sun's mo- tion confined to the Equator, it is no lefs probable, that it muft he deluged with water, if the courfe of the Sun were in the direaion of the Meridian. Oppofite means produce contrary effeas. We have juft feen, that the alternate effufions of part of the polar ices merely, are fufficient for renewing all the waters of the Ocean, .for producing all the phenome- na of the Tides, and for effeaing the balancing of the Earth in the Ecliptic. We believe them capable of en- tirely inundating the Globe, were the fufion to take place all at once. Let it but be remarked, that the effufion of only a part of the ices of the Cordeliers, in Peru, is fuf- ficient to produce an annual overflow of the Amazon, of the Oroonoko, and of feveral-.other great rivers of the New World, and to inundate a great part of Brafil, of Guiana, and of the Terra Fir ma of America.; that the melting of part of the fnows on the mountains of the Moon in Africa, occafions every year the inundations of Sene- gal, contributes to thofe of the Nile, and overflows vaft tracks of country in Guinea, "and tlie whole of Lower Egypt ; and that fimilar effeas are innually reproduced in a confiderable part of fouthern Afia, in the kingdoms of Bengal, of Siam, of Pegou, and of Cochin China, and in the diftrias watered by the Tigris,, the Euphrates, and many other rivers of Afia, which have their fources in chains of mountains perpetually covered with ice, name- ly, Taurus and Imaiis. Who, then, can entertain a doubt, that the total fufion of the, iccj of both Poles, would he. *3-' Studies of nature. fufficient to fwell the Ocean above every barrier, and completely to inundate the two Continents ? Fhe elevation of thefe two cupolas of polar ice, vaft as Oceans, muft it not far furpafs the height of the higheft land, when the fimple fragments of their extremities, af- ter they are half diflblved, are as high as the turrets of Notre Dame ; nay, rife to the height of from fifteen to eighteen hundred feet above the Sea ? The ground on which Paris Hands, at forty leagues diftance from the fhore of the Sea, is only twentytwo fathom above the level of neap tides, and no more than eighteen above the higheft fpring tides. A great part of both the Old and New World is of an elevation much inferior even to this. For my own part, if I may venture to declare my o-, pinion,I afcribe the general Deluge to a total effufion ot the polar ices, to which may be added that of the icy mountains, fuch as the ices of the Cordeliers and of Mount Taurus, the chains of which extend from twelve to fifteen hundred leagues in length, with a breadth of twenty or thirty leagues, and an elevation of from twelve to fifteen hundred fathom. To thefe may be ftill farther added the waters diffufed over the Atmofphere, in clouds, and im- perceptible vapours, which would not fail to form a very confiderable mafs of water, were they colleaed on the Earth. My fuppofition then is, that, at the epocha of this tre- mendous cataftrophe, the Sun, deviating from the Eclip- tic, advanced from South to North,* and purfued the di- * I find an hiftorical teftimony in fuppoit of this hypothefis, in the Hif. tory of China by Father Mat lint, Book I, " During the ieign of Yaiis, the '* fcvenih Emperor, the Annals of the Country relate, that for fix days io- •' gethcr ihe Sun never fet, fo that a general conflagration was apprehend. " cd.'' The refult, on the contrary, was a deluge which inundated the ■Whole of China. The epoch of ibis Chinefe deluge, and that of the Univer- fal Deluge, are in the fame century. Yajis was born 2307 years before Chjust, and the Univerfal Deluge happened 2348 years before the fame STUDY IV. Jqi TftEi'ion of one of the Meridians which paffes through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and of the South Sea. In this courfe he heated only a Zone of water, frozen as well as fluid, which, through the greateft part of the circum- ference has a breadth of four thoufand five hundred leagues. He extraaed long belts of land and fea fogs, which ac- company the melting of all ices, of the chain of the Cor- deliers, of the different branches of the icy mountains of Mexico, of Taurus, and of Imaiis, which like them run South and North ; of the fides of Atlas, of the fummits of Teneriff, of Mount Jura, of Ida, of Lebanon, and of all the mountains covered with fnow, which lay expofed to his direa influence. He quickly fet on fire, with his vertical flame, the Con- ftellation of the Bear, and that of the Grofs of the South; and, prefently, the vaft cupolas of ice, on both Poles, fmoked on every fide. All thefe vapours, united to thofe which arofe out ot the Ocean, covered the Earth with an univerfal rain. The aaion of the Sun's heat was far- ther augmented by that of the burning winds of the fandy Zones of Africa and Afia, which blowing, as all winds do, toward the parts of the Earth where the air is moft rarefied, precipitated themfelves, like battering rams of fire, toward the Poles of the World, where the Sun was thena6ling with all his energy, Innumerable torrents immediately burft from the North Pole, which was then the moft loaded with ice, as the Deluge commenced on the 17th of February, that feafon of the year, when Winter has exerted its full power over our Hemifphere. Thefe torrents iffued all at once from every flood gate of the North ; from the ftraits of the Se^ of Anadir, from the deep gulf of Kamfchatka, from the epoch, according to the Hebrew computation. The Egyptians likewife, had traditions rcfpc&ing thefe ancient alterations of the Sun's courfe. >LS4 STUDIES OF NATURE. Baltic Sea, from the ftrait of Waigat's, from the unknown fluices of Spitbergen and Greenland, from Hudfon's Bay, and from that of Baffin, which is ftill more remote. Their roaring currents rufhed furioufly down, partly through the channel of the Atlantic Ocean, hurled it up from the abyffes of its profound bafon, drove impetuouf- ly beyond the Line, and their collateral counter tides forced back upon them, and increafed by the Currents from the South Pole, which had been fet a flowing at the fame time, poured upon our coafts the moft formidable of Tides. They rolled along, in their furges, a part of the fpoils of die Ocean, fituated between the ancient and the new Continent. They fpread the vaft beds of fhells which pave the bottom of the Seas at the Antilles and Cape Verd Iflands, over the plains of Normandy; and carried even thofe which adhere to the rocks of Magel- lan's Strait, as far as to the plains which are watered by the Saone. Encountered by the general Current of the Pole, they formed at their confluences horrible counter tides, which conglomerated, in their vaft funnels, fands, flints and marine bodies, into maffes of indigefted granite, into irregular hills, into pyramidical rocks, whofe protu- berances variegate the foil in many places of France and Germany. Thefe two general Currents of the Poles hap- pening to meet between the Tropics, tore up, from the bed of the Seas, huge banks of madrepores, and toffed them, unfeparated, on the fhores of the adjacent iflands, where they fubfift to this day.* * 1 have feen in the lfla of France, fome of thefe great beds of inadrc pores, of the height of fevxn or eight feet, rctembling ramparts, left quite dry, more than three hundred paces from the fhore. The Ocean has left, en every laud, fome traces of its ancient excurfions. There have been found, en the fteep ftrand of the diftrift of Caux, fome of the fhells peculiar to the Antilles Iflands, particularly a very larg^one, called the T/tui/ee; in ih- .•:r.tyardsof Lyons, that wh.ch they call the cock and hen, which is car«*h; STUDY IV. 4g(5 In other places, their waters, flackened at the extremity of their courfe, fpread themfelves over the furface of the ground in vaft fheets, and deposited, by repeated urtdula- tions, in horizontal layers, the wreck and the vifcidities of an infinite number of fifhes, fea urchins, fea weeds, fhells, corals, and formed them into ftrata of gravel, partes of marble, of marie, of plafter and calcareous ftones, which conftitute, to this day, the foil of a confiderable part of Europe. Every layer of our foffils was the effect of aa univerfal Tide. While the effufions of the polar ices were covering the wefterly extremities of our Continent with the fpoils of the Ocean, they were fpreading over its trafterly extremities thofe of the Land, and depofited on the foil of China, ftrata of vegetable earth, from three to Four hundred feet deep. alive in no Sea whatever but the Straits of Magellan : fhe teeth and jaws ef (harks, in the fands of Eftampes. Ouc quarries are filled with the fpoils »1 the Southern Ocean. On the other hand, if we may believe the Memoirs of Father Le Comte, the Jefuit, there are in China ftrata of vegetable earth from three to four hundred feet deep. This Miflionary afcribes to thefe, and with goyd reafon, the extreme fertility of that country. Our beft foils in Europe are not above three or four feet deep. If we had Geo- graphical Charu which fhould reprefent the different layers of our foflii fcells, we might diftinguifh in them the directions and the focufes of the ancient currents which lodged them. I fhall purfue this idea no farther ; but here is another, which may prefent new objefls of curiofity to the" learned, who put greater value on the monuments raifed by Man, than on thofe of Nature. It is this, As we find in the foffils of thefe weftern re- gions, a multitude of the monuments of the Sea, we might, perhaps, be able to trace thofe of our ancient Continent, in thofe ftrata of vegetable earth of three and four hundred feet depth, in the countries of the Eaft. Firft] it is certain, from the teftimony of the M.flionary above quoted, that pit coal ,s fo cornroon in China, that moft of the Chinefe make ufe of no oth- er fuel. Now, it is well known th.it pit coal owes its origin to the forefts which have been buri.-d in the bowels of the Earth. It might be poffible therefore, to find amidft thefe wrecks «f the vegetable creation, thofe of terreftrial animals, of men, and «fithe firft arts of the World, fue\ n leaft »< porfcfTed fome dejres cf folidity. 1$6 STUDIES OF NATURE, Then it was that all the plans of Nature were reverfed. Complete iflands of floating ice, loaded with white bears, run aground among the palm trees of the torrid Zone, and the elephants of Africa were toffed amidft the fir groves of Siberia, where their large bones are ftill found to this day. The vaft plains of the Land, inundated by the Wa- ters, no longer prefented a career to the nimble courfer, and thofe of the Sea, roufed into fury, ceafed to be navi- gable. In vain did Man think of flying for fafety to tha lofty mountains. Thoufands of torrents rufhed down their fides, and mingled the confufed noife of their waters with the howling of the winds, and the roaring of the thunder. Black tempefts gathered round their fummits, and diffufed a night of horror in the very midft of day. In vain did he turn art eager eye toward that quarter of the Heavens where Aurora was to have appeared : He per- ceives nothing in the whole circuit of the Horizon but piles of dark clouds heaped upon each other ; a pale glare here and there furrows their gloomy and endlefs battal- ions ; and the Orb of Day, veiled by their lurid corufca- tions, emits fcarcely light fufficient to afford a glimpfc, in the firmament, of his bloody difk, wading through new Conftellations. To the diforder reigning in the Heavens, Man, in def- pair, yields up the fafety of the Earth. Usable to find in himfelf the laft confolation of Virtue, that of perifhing free from the remorfe of a guilty confcience, he feeks, at leaft, to conclude his laft moments in the bofom of Love, or of Friendfliip. But in that age of criminality, when all the fentiments of Nature were ftifled, friend repelled friend, the mother her child, the hufband the wife of his bofom. Every thing was fwallowed up- of the waters: Cities, palaces, majeftic pyramids, triumphal arches, em- belltfhed with the trophies of Kings : And ye, alfo, which ought t® have furvived the ruin even of a World, ye STUDY IV. 187 peaceful grottos, tranquil bowers, humble cottages, the re- treats of innocence ! There remained on the Earth no trace of the glory and felicity of the Human Race, in thofe days of vengeance, when Nature involved in one ru- in all the monuments of her greatnefs. Such convulfions, of which traces without number ftill remain, on the furface, and in the bowels of the Earth, could not poffibly have been produced fimply by the ac- tion of an univerfal rain. I am aware that the letter of Scripture is exprefs in ref- pea to this ; but the circumftances which the Sacred Hiftorian combines, feem to admit the means which, on my hypothefis, effeaed that tremendous revolution. In the book of Genefis it is faid, that it rained, over the whole Earth, for forty days and forty nights. That rain, as we have alleged, was the refult of the vapours produced by the melting of the ices, both of the Land and of the Sea, and by the Zone of Water which the Sun paffed over in the direaion of the Meridian. As to the period of forty days, that quantity of time appears to me abundantly fufficient to the vertical aaion of the Sun on the polar ices, to reduce them to the level of the Seas, as fcarcely more than three weeks are neceffary, of the prox- imity of the Sun to the Tropic of Cancer, to melt a con- fiderable part of thofe on our Pole. Nay, at that feafon, nothing more feems to be wanting but a few puffs of fouthcriy, or fouth Weft wind, for a few davs to difengage from the ice the fouthern coaft of Nova Zembla, and to clear the ftrait of Waigat's, as has been obferved by Mar- tens, Barents, and other Navigators of the North. It is farther faid, in the Book of Genefis, " All the " fountains of the great Deep were broken up, and the win-*. dows of Heaven were opened." The expreffion, the foun- tains of the great Deep, can, in my opinion, be applied on- ly to an effufion of the polar ices, which are the real fources of the Sea, as the effufions of the ice on moun- tains are the fources of all the great rivers. The expref- ▼ OL. I. T 13^ STUDIES Or NATURE. fion, the windows, or cataraas, of Heaven, denotes like- wife, if I am not miftaken, the univerfal refolution of the waters diffufed over the Atmofphere, which are there fupported by the cold, the focufes of which were then deftroyed at the Poles. 1 It is afterwards faid, in Genefis, that after it had rain- ed for forty days, GOD made a wind to blow, which cauf- ed the waters that covered the Earth to difappear. This wind, undoubtedly, brought back to the Poles the evap- orations of the Ocean, which fixed themfelves anew in ice. The Mofaic account, finally, adds circumftances which feem to refer all the effeas of this wind to the Poles of the World, for it is faid, Gen. viii. 2, 3, " The " fountains alfo of the Deep, and the windows of Heav- " en, were flopped, and the rain from Heaven was re- " ft rained ; and the waters returned Jrom off the Earth " continually, and after the end of the hundred and fifty " days the waters were abated." The agitation of thefe waters from fide to fide contin- ually, perfeaiy agrees to the motion of the Seas, from the Line to the Poles, which muft then have been performed without any obftacle, the Globe being, on that occafion, entirely aquatic; and it being poffible to fuppofe that its annual balancing in the Ecliptic, of which the polar ices are at once the moving powers and the counterpoife, had degenerated, at that time, into a diurnal titubation, a con- fequence of its firft motion. Thefe waters retired, then, from the Ocean, when they came to be converted anew in- to ice upon the Poles ; and it is worthy of remark, that the fpace of a hundred and fifty days, which they took to fix themfelves in their former ftation, is precifely the tjme which each of the Poles annually employs, to load it- felf with its periodical congelations. We find, befides, in the fequel of this hiftorical ac- count) of the Deluge, expreffions analagous to the fame caufes : " GOD faid again to Noah, while the Earth re- *' maineth, feed time and harveft, and cold and heat, and STUDY IV. 139 w Summer and Winter, and day and night, fhall not •• ceafe.*" There muft be nothing fuperfluous in the Words of the Author of Nature, as there is nothing of this defcrip- tion in his Works. The Deluge, as has been already mentioned, commenced on the feventeenth day of the fec- ond month of the year, which was among the Hebrews, as with us, the month of February. Man had by this time eaft the feed into the ground, but reaped not the harveft. That year, cold fucceeded not to the heat, nor Summer to Winter, becaufe there was neither Winter nor cold, from the general fufion of the polar ices, which are their natur- al focufes ; and the night, properly fo called, did not fol- low the day, becaufe then there was no night at the Poles, where there is alternately one of fix months, becaufe the Sun, purfuing the direaion of a Meridian, illuminated the whole Earth, as is the cafe now, when he is in the E- quator. To the authority of Genefis, I fhall fubjoin a very cu- rious paffage from the Book of Job,t which defcribes the Deluge, and the Poles of the World, with the princi- pal charaaers of them which I have juft been exhibiting. 4. Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta Terrae ? In- dica Mihi, fi habes intelligentiam. 5. Ouis pofuit menfuras ejus, fi nofti ? Vel quis te- tendit fuper earn, lineam ? 6. Super quo bafes illius folidatae funt ? Aut quis de- mifit lapidem angularem ejus, 7. Cum mane laudarent fimul Aftra matutina, & jubi- larent omnes Filii Dei ? 8. Quis conclufit oftiis J Mare, quando erumpebat qua- fi ex utero procedens : * Gen. ch. viii. ver. 22. + Ch. xxxviii. J Though the fenfe which I affix to this paffage, does not greatly differ" - from that of M. de Saci, in his excellent tranflation of the Bible, there are, at the fame time, feveral exprrffions, to which I afljgn a meaning rather op- pof'c te that of this learned Gentleman. *4° STUDIES OT NATURE. 9. Cum ponerem nubem veftimentum ejus, & caligine, illud, quafi pannis infantiae, obvolverem ? 10. Circumdeidi illud terminis meis, & pofui ve&em & oftia ? 11. Et dixi: Ufque hue venies, fed non procedes am- plius ; & hie confringes tumentes fluaus tuos, 12. Numquid pofl ortum tuum praecepifti diliculo, & oftendifti Aurorae,* locum fuum ? 13. Et tenuifti concutiens extrema Terrae, 8c, excuffifti impios ex ea ? 14. Reftituetur ut lutum + fignaculum, & ftabit ficut veftimentum. 15. Auferetur ab impiis lux fua, & brachium excelfum. confringetur. lft. OJlittm, properly fpeaking, fignifies an opening, a difgorging, a fluice, a flood gate, a mouth ; and not a barrier, according to Saci's Tranflation, Obferve how admirably the fenfe of this verfe, a&d of that which follows, it adapted to the Mate of conftraint and inactivity to which the Sea is reftrifled at the Poles, furrounded with clouds and darknefs, like a child in fwad- dling clothes in his cradle. They are, likewife, expreffive of the thick fog* which furround the bafis of the polar ices, as is well known to all the mar- iners of the North. sdly. The preceding epithets of the foundations of the Earth; of thefajlen. ing of the joundations ; offlietching the line upon it; of the Sea's breaking forth, as if iffuing from the womb, determine particularly the Poles of the World, from whence the feas flow over the reft of the Globe. The epithet of tor- Tier flone, feems, likewife, to denote more particularly the North Pole., which, by its magnetic attraction, diftinguifh.es itfelf from every other point of the Earth. * Aurora, locum fuum, the place of the Aurora, The Aurora Borealis is, perhaps, here intendea. The cold of the Poles produces the Aurora, for there is fcarce any fuch thing between the Tropics, The Pole is, accord- ingly, properly fpeaking, the natural place of the Aurora. In the verfe following, the cxpreffion, tenuifti concutiens extrema Terra, evidenUy charac- terizes the total effufions of the polar ices, fituated at the extremities of the Earth, which occafioned the Univerfal Deluge. + Reflituelur ut lutum fignatulum. This verfe is very obfeure in the Tranf- jation of M. de Saci. It appears to me here defcriptive of the foffil fhells, H'liich, over the whole Earth, are monuments of the Deluge. B T U D Y IV. *4* 16. Numquid ingreflus es profunda Maris, 8c in noviffi- mis Abyffi * deambulafti ? ty. Numquid apertae funt tibi portae Mortis,f & ollia tenebrofa vidifti ? 18. Numquid confiderafti latitudinem Terras ?J Indica Mihi, fi nofti omnia. 19. In qua via lux habitet, & tenebrarumquis locus fit. to. Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos fuos, & in- telligas femitas domus ejus. 21. Sciebas tunc quod nafciturus effes ? Et numerum dierum tuorum noveras ? 22. Numquid ingreflus es thefauros nivis, aut thefau- ros grandinis afpexifti ? 23. Qua; preparavi in tempus hoftis, in diem pugnae & belli. * In noviffimis Abyffi, in the fearch (at the fources) of the Depth. Saci tranflates it, in the extremities of the Abyfs. This verfion deftroys the corref- pondence of the expreflion under review, with that of the other polar char- afters, fo clearly explained before j and the antithefis of novtffima, with that of profunda Maris, which goes before, by affixing the fame meaning to it. Antithefis is a figure in frequent ufe among the Orientals, and efpecially in the Book of Job. Koviffima Abyffi, literally denote, the places which ren. ovate th» Abyfs, the fources of the Sea, and, confequently, the polar ices. + Porta Mortis, & ojlia tenebrofa ; the gates of Death, and the doors tftht Jhadew of Death, ot, the gates of Darknefs. The Poles, being uninhabiuble, are, in reality, the gates of Death. The epithet dark here denotes the nights of fix months duration, which hold their empire at the Poles. This fenfe is farther confirmed by what is fubjoined in the following verfes; the lecui tencbrarum, place of darknefs, and the thejaurus nivis, treafures of the fnow. The Poles are, at once, the place of darknefs, and that of the Aurora. % Latitudinem Terra. Literally : Haft thou perceived the breadth (the Lat- itude) of the Earth ? In truth, al 1 the charafters of the Pole could be known only to thofe who had courfed over the Earth in its Latitude. There were, in the times of Job, many Arabian travellers who went eaftward, and weft- ward, and fouthward, but very few who had travelled northward, that is to fay, in Latitude, Ut Studies or nature. Common Verfitm of the Bible. 4. Where waft thou, when I laid the foundations of the Earth \ Declare, if thou haft underftand- ing. 5. Who hath laid the meafures thereof, if thou knoweft \ Or who hath ftretched the line upon it ? 6. Whereupon are the founda- tions thereof fattened r Or who laid the corner ftone thereof ? 7. When the morning ftars fang together, andali the Sons of GOD fliouted for joy. S. Or who fhut up the Sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had illued out of the womb ? 9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick dark- nefs a fwaddling band for it, 10. And brake up for it my decreed place, and fet bars and doors, 11. And faid, Hitherto fhalt thou come, but no farther : And here fhall thy proud waves be ftajd. 12. Haft thou commanded the morning fince thy days ? and eaufed the dayfpring to know his place, 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the Earth, that the wicked might be fbaken out of it? Tranflation of Saint Pierh'j Verfton. 4. Wherrwafl thou, when I laid the foundations of the Earth? TellitMe,if thou haft any knowl- edge. 5. Knoweft thou who it is that determined its dimenfions, and who regulated its levels ? 6. On what are its bafes fecur- ed ; and who fixed its corner ftone 1 7. When the ftars of the morn- ing praifed Me all together, and when all the Sons of GOD were tranfported with joy. 8. Who appointed gates to the Sea, to fhut it up again, when it inundated the Earth, rufhing as from its mother's womb ; 9. When I gave it the cloud* for a covering, and wrapped it up in darknefs, as a child is wrapped up in fwaddling clothes I 10. I fhut it up within bounds well known to me : I appointed for it a bulwark and fluices, n. And faid to it, Thus far fhalt thou come, but farther thou fhalt not pafs, and here the pride of thy billows fhall be broken. 12. Is it thou who, in opening thine eyes to the light, haft given commandment to the dawning of the day to appear, and haft fhewn to Aurora the place where fhe ought to arife i 13. Is it thou who, holding i« thy hands the extremities of the Earth, haftconvulfed it,andfhak- en the wicked out of it ? 6TUDY IV. 143 14. It is turned as clay to the fcal, and they ftand as a garment. 15. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm fhall be broken. 16. Haft thou entered into the fprings of the Sea ? or, Haft thou walked in the fearch of the Depth ? 17. Have the gates of Death been opened unto thee ? or, Haft thou feen the doors of the Ihadow of Death ? 18. Haft thou perceived the breadth of the Earth ? Declare if thou knoweft it all. 19. Where is the way where light dwelleth ? and as for dark- nefs, where is the place thereof? 20. That thou fhouldeft take it to the bound thereof, and that thou fhouldeft know the paths to the houfe thereof? 21. Knoweft thou it, becaufe thou waft then born ? or, Becaufe the number of thy days is great ? 22. Haft thou entered into the treafures of the fnow ? or, Haft thou feen the treafures of the hail, 23. Which I have referved a- gainft the time of trouble, againft ihe day of battle and war i 14. Amultitude of minutemon- uments of this event fhall remain imprefled in the clay, and fhall fubfift as the memorials of that devaluation. 15. The light of the wicked fhall be taken from them, and their lifted up arm fhall be broken. 16. Haft thou penetrated to the bottom of the Sea, and walked over the fources which renovate the Abyfs? 17. Have thefe gates of Death been opened to thee ; and haft thou furveyed the dark difgorg'- ings of the Depth ? 18. Haft thou obferved where the breadth of the Earth termi- nates ? If thou knoweft all thefe things, declare them unto Me. 19. Tell me where the light in- habits, and what is the place of darknefs, 20. That thou mayeft conduct each to its deftination, feeing thou knoweft their habitation, and the way that leads to it. 21. Didft thou know, as thefe things already exifted, that thou thyfelf wert to be born ; and hadft thou then difcovered the fleeting number of thy days ? 22, 23. Haft thou, I fay, enter- ed into the treafures of the fnow, and furveyed thofe tremendous refervoirs of hail, which I have prepared againft the time of the adverfary, and for the day ef battle and war ? »44 STUDIES OF NATURE. The Reader, I flatter myfelf, will not be difpleafed at my having deviated fomewhat from my fubjeft, that I might exhibit to him the agreement between my hypothe- fis and the traditions of the Holy Scriptures; and efpec- ially between it and thofe, though not free from ob- fcurity, of a Book, perhaps, the moft ancient that exifts. Our moft learned Theologians agree in thinking, that Job wrote prior to Mofes. Whether this be the cafe or not, furely no one ever painted Nature with greater fub- limity. We may, farther, arrive at complete affurance of the general effect, of the polar effufions on the Ocean, from the particular effects of the icy effufions of mountains, on the lakes and rivers of the Continent. I fhall here re- late fome examples of thefe laft ; for the human mind, from its natural weaknefs, loves to particularize all the objecfs of its ftudies. And this is the reafon why it ap- prehends, much more quickly, the laws of Nature, in fmall objefts, than in thofe which are great. Addifon, in his remarks on Miffon's Tour to Italy, page 322, fays, that there is in the Lake of Geneva, in Summer, towards evening, a kind of flux and reflux, oc- cafioned by the melting of the fnows, which fall into it in greater quantities after noon, than at other feafons of the day. He explains, befides, with much clearnefs, as he generally does, from the alternate effufions of the ices on the mountains of Switzerland, the intermittance of cer- tain fountains of that country, which flow only at partic- ular hours of the day. If this digreflion were not already too long, I could demonftrate, that there is no one fountain, nor lake, nor river, fubjecf to a particular flux and reflux, but what is in- debted for it to icy mountains, which fupply their fources. 1 fhall fubjoin but a very few words more refpecf- ing thofe of the Euripus ; the frequent and irregular movements of which fo much embarraffed the Philofo- phers of Antiquity, and which may be fo eafily explain- STUDY IV. *45 td from the icy effufions of the neighbouring moun- tains. The Euripus, it is well known, is a ftrait of the Arch- ipelago, which feparates the ancient Beotia from the ifl- and of Eubea, now Negropont. About the middle of this ftrait, where it is moft narrow, the water is known to flow, fometimes to the North, fometimes to the South, ten, twelve, fourteen times a day, with the [rapidity of a tor- rent. Thefe multiplied, and, very frequently, unequal movements, cannot poffibly be referred to the tides of the Ocean, which are fcarcely perceptible in the Mediterra- nean. A Jefuit quoted by Spon* endeavours to recon- cile thefe to the phafes of the Moon ; but fuppofing the table of them, which he produces, to be accurate, their regularity and irregularity will always remain a difficulty of no eafy folution. He refutes Seneca, the Tragic Poet, who afcribes to the Euripus but feven fluxes, in the day time only: Dum lafta Titan mergat Oceano juga. Till Titan's tired fteeds in th' Ocean plunge. He adds farther, I know not after whom, that in the Sea of Perfia the flux never takes place but in the night time; and that under the Arctic Pole, on the contrary, it is per- ceptible twice in the day time, without being ever obferv- ed in the night. It is not fo, fays he, with the Euripus. I fhall obferve, by the way, that his remark with re- fpecf. to the Pole, fuppofing it true, evinces that its two diurnal fluxes are the effecf s of the Sun, who afts, only during the day, on the two icy extremities of the Conti- nents of the New World, and of the Old. As to the Euripus, the variety, the number, and the rapidity of its fluxes, prove that they have their origin, in like manner, in icy mountains, fituated at different diftances, and under * Voyage to Greece and the Levant, by Spmt y»1. ii. page 340, VOL. I. U 146 STUDIES OF NATURE. different afpeftg of the Sun. For, according to that fame Jefuit, the ifland of Eubea, which is on one fide of the ftrait, contains mountains covered with fnow for fix months of the year ; and we know equally well, that Be- otia, which is on the other fide, contains feveral moun- tains of an equal elevation, and even fome which are crowned with ice all the year round, fuch as Mount Oeta. If thefe fluxes and refluxes of the Euripus take place as frequently in Winter, which is not affirmed, the caufe of them muft be afcribed to the rains which fall, at that fea- fon of the year, on the fummits of thefe lofty collateral mountains. I fhall enable the Reader to form an idea of thefe, not very apparent, caufcs of the movements of the Euripus, by here tranfcribing what Spon relates, in another place,* of the Lake of Livadia, or Copai'de, which is in its vicin- ity. This lake receives the firft fluxes of the icy effufions of the mountains of Beotia, and communicates them, un- doubtedly, to the Euripus, through the mountain which feparates them. " It receives," fays he, " feveral fmall •' fivers, the Cephifus and others, which water that beau- " tiful plain, whofe circumference is about fifteen leagues •* and abounds in corn and pafture. Befides, it was for- " merly one of the moft populous regions of Beotia. " But the water of this lake, fometimes, fwells fo vio- " lently, by the rains and melted fnows, that it once in- " undated two hundred villages of the plain. It would " even be capable of producing a regular annual inunda- " ti»n, if Nature, aflifted, perhaps, by Art,+ had not con- * Voyage to Greece and the Levant, by Spon , vol. ii. pages 88 and 89. + Spon, undoubtedly, did not confider what he was faying, when he fuggefted an idea of the poffibility of Art aflifting Nature in the conftruc- tion of five fubterransan canals, each (en miles long, through a folid rock. Thefe fubterranean canals are frequently met with in mountainous Countries, of which I could produce a thoufand inftances. They contribute to the circulation of waters, which could not otherwife force a paffage through ex- tended chaim yf mountains. Nature pierces the rocks, and fends riven STUDY IV. M7 " trived for it an outlet, by five great canals, under the " adjacent mountain of the Euripus, between Negropont " and Talanda, through which the water of the lake is " gulped up, and throws itfelf into the Sea on the oppo- " fite fide of the mountain. The Greeks call this place " Catabathra : (the whirlpools.) Strabo, fpeaking of this " lake, fays, neverthelefs, that there appeared no outlet " in his time, unlefs it be, that the Cephifus, fometimes, " forced a paffage under ground. But it is only neceffary " to read the account which he gives of the changes that " take place in this morafs, not to be furprifed at what through the apertures, juft as fhe has pierced feveral of the bones of the hu- man body, for the purpofe of tranfmitting certain veins. I leave to the Read- er the profecution of this new idea. I have faid enough to convince him, that this Globe is not the production of diforder or chance. I fhall conclude thefe obfervations, with a reflection refpecting the two Travellers, whom I have been quoting: It may, perhaps, have a good moral effeft. Spon was a Frenchman, and George Wheeler Englifh. They travelled in company over the Archipelago. The former brought home with him a great collection of Greek infcriptions and epitaphs; and the lit- erati of the laft age cried him up highly. The other has given us the names and charafters of a great many very curious plants, which grow on the ru- ins of Greece, and which, in my opinion , convey a very affefting intereft into his relations. He is little known among us. According to the defcriptive titles which each of thefe Gentlemen affum- ed, Jacob Spon was a Phyfician aflbciate of Lyons, and an eager inveftigator of the monuments of men. George Wheeler was a Country Gentleman, and enthufiaftically attached to thofe of Nature. Their taftes, to judge from fituations, ought to have been reverfed ; and that the Gentleman fhould have been fond of monumental infcriptions, and the Phyfician of plants; but, as we fhall have occafion to obferve, in the fcquel of thefe Studies, our paffions fpring out of contrarieties, and are, almoft always, in oppofition to our conditions. It was from an effeft of this harmonic law of Nature, that though thefe Travellers were, the one Englifh, and the other French, they lived i« the moft perfeft union. I remaik, to their honour.that they quote ead» other in terms of the higheft refpeft and approbation. Minifters of State, would you form Societies which fhall be cordially united among themfelves, do not affort Academicians with Academicians, Soldiers with Soldiers, Merchants with Merchants, Monks with Monks, but aflbciate Men of, oppofite conditions, and you will behojd harmony pervade the aflbciation; provided, however, that you exclude the ambitious, which is indeed, no eafy talk, ambition being one of the firft vices which •ur mode of education initils. 148 STUDIED OF NATURE. " he has affirmed of its outlets. Mr. Wheeler, who went " to examine this fpot after my departure from Greece, " fays it is one of the greateft curiofities in the country, " the mountain being near ten miles broad, and almoft en- • ' tirely one mafs of folid rock." I have no doubt that feveral obje&ions may be ftarted againft the hafty explanation which has been given of the courfe of the Tides, of the Earth's motion in the Eclip- tic, and of the Univerfal Deluge, by the effufions of the polar ices ; but, I have the courage to repeat it, thefe phyfical caufes prefent themfelves with a higher degree of probability, of fimplicity and of conformity to the general progrefs of Nature, than the aftronomical caufes, fo far beyond our reach, by which attempts have been made to explain them. It belongs to the impartial Reader to de- cide. If he is on his guard againft the novelty of fyftems, which are not yet fupported by puffers, he ought to be no lefs fo, againft the antiquity of thofe which have many fuch fupporters. Let us now return to the form of the great bafon of the Ocean. Two principal Currents crofs it from Eaft to Weft, and from North to South. The firft, coming from the South Pole, puts in motion the Seas of India, and, direfted along the eaftern extent of the Old Conti- nent, runs from Eaft to Weft, aud from Weft to Eaft, in the courfe of the fame year, forming, in the Indian Ocean, what are called the Monfoons. This we have already re- marked ; but what has not been hitherto brought forward, though it well deferves to be fo, is, that all the bays, creeks and mediterraneans of fouthern Afia, fuch as the gulfs of Siam and Bengal, the Perfian Gulf, the Red Sea, and a great many others, are directed, relatively to this Current, North and South, fo as not to be Hemmed by it. The fecond Current, in like manner, iffuing from the North Pole, gives an oppofite movement to our Ocean, and, inclofed between the continent of America and ours, proceeds from North to South, and returns from South tc^ STUDY IV. ,49 North in the fame year, forming, like that of India, real Monfoons, though not fo carefully obferved by Navigators. All the bays and mediterraneans of Europe, as the Baltic, the Channel, the Bay of Bifcay, the Mediterranean prop- erly fo called; and all thofe on the eaftern coaft of A- merica, as the Bay of Baffin, Hudfon's Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, as well as many others which might be mention- ed, are direfted, relatively to this Current, Eaft and Weft; or, to fpeak with more precifion, the axis of all the open- ings of the Land in the Old and New Worlds, are perpen- dicular to the axis of thefe general Currents, fo that their mouth only is croffed by them, and their depth is not expofed to the impulfions of the general movements of the Ocean. q It is becaufe of the calmnefs of bays, that fo many vef- fels run thither in queft of anchoring ground ; and it is for this reafon that Nature has placed, in their bottoms, the mouths of moft rivers, as we before obferved, that their waters might be difcharged into the Ocean, without being driven furioufly back by the direction of its Cur- rents. She has employed fimilar precautions for the fecu- rity of even the fmalleft ftreams which empty themfelves into the Sea. There is not a fingle experienced feaman who does not know, that there is fcarcely a creek but what has its little rivulet. But for the Wifdom apparent in thefe difpofitions, the ftreams, deftined to water the Earth muft frequently have deluged it. Nature employs ftill other means for fecuring the courfe of rivers, and efpecially for prote£ling their discharges in- to the Sea. The chief of thefe are iflands. Iflands pre- fent, to the rivers, channels of different directions, that if the Winds, or the Currents of the Ocean, fhould block up one of their outlets, the waters might have a free paffage tbrough another. It may be remarked, that fhe has mul- tiplied iflands at the mouths of rivers the moft expofed to this twofold inconveniency ; fuch as, for example, at that wl". the Amazon, which is forever attacked by the Eaft »$• STUDIES OF NATURE. wind, and fituated on one of the moft prominent parts of America. There they are fo many in number, and form with each other channels of fuch different courfes, that one outlet points North Eaft, and another South Eaft, and from the firft to the laft the diftance is upward of a hun- dred leagues. Fluviatic iflands are not formed, as has been currently believed, of folid fubftances waflied down by rivers, and aggregated: They are, on the contrary, for the moft part, very much elevated above the level of thefe rivers, and many of them contain rivers and mountains of their own. Such elevated iflands are, befides, frequently found at the confluence of a fmaller and a greater river. They ferve to facilitate their communication, and to open a double paffage to the current of the fmaller river. As often then as you fee iflands in the channel of a great river, you may be affured there is fome lateral inferior river, or rivulet, in the vicinity. There are, in truth, many of thefe confluent rivulets which have been dried up by the ill advifed labours of men, but you will always find, oppofite to the iflands which divided their confluence, a correfpondent valley, in which you may trace their ancient channel. There are, likewife, fome of thefe iflands in the midft of the courfe of rivers, in places expofed to the winds. I fhall obferve, by the way, that we recede very widely from the intentions of Nature, in reuniting the iflands of a riv- er to the adjoining Continent; for its waters, in this cafe, flow in only one fingle channel, and when the winds hap- pen to blow in oppofition to the current, they can efcape neither to the right nor to the left; they fwell, they over- flow, inundate the plains, carry away the bridges, and oc- cafion moft of the ravages which, in modern times, fo frequently endamage our cities. We do not, then, find bays or gulfs at the extremities of the Currents of the Ocean ; but, 'on the contrary, ifl. t.ids. At the extremity of the great eaftern Current of 6 T U D T IV. IJt the Indian Ocean is placed the Ifland of Madagafcar, which protecis Africa againft its violence. The iflands of the Terra del Fuego defend, in like manner, the foutht em extremity of America, at the confluence of the eaJk ern and weftern Currents of the South Seas. The numer- ous archipelagos of the Indian Ocean and South Sea are fituated about the Line, where the two general Currents of the North and South Seas meet. With iflands, too, it is that Nature prote6h the inlets of bays and mediterraneans. Great Britain and Ireland cover that of the Baltic ; the iflands of Welcom and Good Fortune cover Hudfon's Bay ; the ifland of St. Laurence protects the entrance of the gulf which bears that name; the chain of the Antilles, the gulf of Mexi- co ; the ifles of Japan, the double gulf formed by the pen- infula of Goree with the country adjacent. All cur- rents bear upon iflands. Moft of thefe are, for this rea- fon, noted from their prodigious fwells, and their gufts of wind ; fuch are the Azores, the Bermudas, the ifland of Triftan, of Acunhah, &c. Not that they contain with- in themfelves the caufes of fuch phenomena, but from their being placed in the focufes of the revolutions of tbe Ocean, and even of the Atmofphere, for the purpofe of weakening their effefts. They are in petitions nearly fimilar to thofe of* Capes, which are all celebrated for the violent tempefts which beat upon them: As Cape Finif- terre, at the extremity of Europe ; the Cape of Good Hope, at that of Africa; and Cape Horn, at that of A- merica. Hence comes the fea proverb to double the Cape, to exprefs the furmounting of fome great difficulty. The Ocean accordingly, inftead of bearing upon the re- tiring parts of the Continent, fets in upon thofe which are moft prominent; and it muft fpeedily have deftroyed thefe, had not Nature fortified them in a moft wonderful manner. The weftern coaft of Africa is defended by a long bank of fand, on which 'the billows of the Atlantic Ocean are *5« STUDIES OF NATURE. continually breaking. Brafil, in the whole extent of it* fhores, oppofes to the winds, which blow continually from the Eaft, and to the Currents of the Sea, a prodigious rampart of rocks, more than a thoufand leagues long, twenty paces broad at the fummit, and of an unknown thicknefs at the bafe. It is a mufket fhot diftant from the beach. It is entirely covered at high water, and on the retreating of the tide, it exhibits the elevation of a peak. This enormous dike is compofed of one folid mafs lengthWife, as has been afcertained by repeated borings ; and it would be impoffible for a veffel to get into Brafil, were it not for the feveral inlets which Nature has formed.* Go from South to North, and you find fimilar precau- tions employed. The coaft of Norway is provided with a bulwark nearly refembling that of Brafil. Pont Oppi- dan tells us, that this coaft, which is nearly three hundred leagues in length, is, for the moft part, fteep, angular, and pendant; fo that the Sea, in many places, prefents a depth of no lefs than three hundred fathoms clofe in fhore. This has not prevented Nature from protecting thefe coafts, by a multitude of ifles, great and fmall. " By fuch a rampart," fays that Author, " confifling of, pcr- " haps, a million, or more, of maffy ftone pillars, found- *' ed in the very depth of the Sea, the chapiters of which " rife only a few fathoms above the furface, all Norway " is defended to the Weft, equally againft the enemy, and " againft the Ocean." There are, however, fome coaft harbours behind this fpecies of fea bulwark, of a con- ftruclion fo wonderful. But as there is frequently great danger, adds he, of fhips being driven afhore, before they can get into port, from the winds and currents which are very violent in the ftraits of thefe rocks and ifles, and from the difficulty of anchoring in fuch a vaft depth of water, Government has been at the expenfe of faftening feveral hundreds of ftrong iron rings in the rocks, more * See Hiftory of the Troubles of Brafil, by F:!:r Morean. STUDY IV. *53 than two fathoms above water, by which veffels may be fafely moored. Nature has infinitely varied thefe means of prote&ion, efpecially in the iflands themfelves which protect, the continent. She has, for example, furrounded the Ifle of France with a bank of madrepores, which opens only at the places where the rivers of that ifland empty themfelves into the Sea. Other iflands, feveral of the Antilles in particular, were defended by forefts of mangliers which prow in the fea water, and break the violence of the waves, by yielding to their motion. To the deftruftion, perhaps, of thefe vegetable fortifications, we ought to afcribe the irruptions of the Sea, now fo frequent in fev- eral iflands, particularly that of Formofa. There are others which confift of pure rock, rifing out of the bofom of the waves, like huge moles ; fuch is the Maritimo, in the Mediterranean. Others are volcanic, as the Ifle of Fuego, one of the Cape de Verd iflands, and feveral oth- ers, of the fame defcription, in the South Sea, rife like pyramids with fiery fummits, and anfwer the purpofe of lighthoufes to mariners, by their flame in the night time, and their fmoke by day. The Maldivia iflands are defended againft the Ocean, by precautions the moft aftonifhing. In truth, they are more expofed than many others, being fituated in the very midft of that great Current of the Indian Ocean, of which mention has been already made, and which paffes and re- paffes them twice a year. They are, befides, fo low, as hardly to rife above the level of the water; and they are fo fmall, and fo numerous, that they have been computed at twelve thoufand, and feveral are fo near each other, that it is poflible to leap over the channel which divides them. Nature has firft collected them into clufters, or ar- chipelagos, feparated from each other by deep channels which go from Eafl to Weft, and which prefent various paffages to the general Current of the Indian Ocean. Thefe clufters arc thirteen in number, and extend, in a VOL. I. W *54 STUDIES Or NATURF. row, from the eighth degree of northern to the fourth de- gree of fouthern Latitude, which gives them a length of three hundred of our leagues of 25 to a degree. But let us permit the interefting and unfortunate Fran- cis Pyrard, who there paffed the flower of his days, in a ftate of flavery, to defcribe the architecture of them ; for he has left us the beft defcription which we have of thefe iflands, as if it were neceffary that, in every cafe, things the moft worthy of the efteem of Mankind fhould be the fruit of fome calamity. '* It is wonderful," fays he, '" to *' behold each of thefe clufters encompaffed round and " round with a great bulwark of ftone, fuch as no human " art can pretend to equal in fecuring a fpot of ground " within walls.* Thefe clufters are all roundifh, or oval, " and are about thirty leagues each in circumference, fome " a very little more, others a very little lefs, and are all in " a feries, and end to end, without any contraft whatever. " There are, between every two, channels of the Sea, " fome broad, others very narrow. When you are in " the centre of a clufter, you fee, all around, that great " bulwark of ftone, which, as I have faid, encompaffes " it, and defends the ifles againft the impetuofity of the " Ocean. But it is truly frightful, even to the boldeft, " to approach this bulwark, and to behold the billows " coming from afar, to burft with fury on every fide: fl For then, I affure you, as a thing I have feen a thouf- " and and a thoufand times, the perturbation, or bubbling " over, exceeds the fize of a houfe, and is whiter than a " fleece of cotton : So that you fecm furrounded with a " wall of brilliant whitenefs, efpecially when Ocean is " in his majefty." Pyrard farther obferves, that moft of the iflcs, inclofed in thefe fubdivifions, are furrounded, each in particular, by a particular bank, which farther defends them againft the Sea. But the Current of the. Indian Ocean, which Voyage to the Maldivias, chap, x, STUDY IV, 155 gaffes through the parallel channels of thefe clufters of iflands, is fo violent, that it would be impoffible for Mankind to keep up a communication between one and another, had not Nature arranged all this injher own won- derful manner. She has divided each of tlfefe clufters by two particular channels, which interfeft them diagonally, and whofe extremities exaftly terminate at the extremi- ties of the great parallel channels which feparate them. So that if you wifh to pafs from one of thefe archipela- gos to another, when the current is eafterly, you take your departure from that where you happen to be, by the diagonal canal of the Eaft, where the water is calm, and committing yourfelf afterward to the current which paffes through the parallel channel, you proceed, in a deflefting courfe, to land on the oppofite duller, into which you en- ter by the opening of its diagonal channel, which is to the Weft. The mode of proceeding is reverfed, when the current changes fix months afterwards. Through thefe interior communications the iflanders, at all feafons, can make excurfions from ifle to ifle, the whole length of the chain, from North to South, notwithftanding the vio- lence of the currents which feparate them. Every ifle has its proper fortification, proportioned, if I may fay fo, to the danger to which it is expofed from the billows of the Ocean. It is not neceffary to fuppofe the water roufed into a tempeft, in order to form an idea of their fury. The fimple aftion of the trade winds, how- ever uniform, is fufficient to give them, unremittingly, the moft violent impulfion. Each of thefe billows, join- ing, to the conftant-velocity impreffed upon it every in- ftant by the wind, an acquired velocity, from its particu- lar movement, would form, after running through a con- fiderable fpace, an enormous mafs of water, were not its courfe retarded by the currents which crofs it, by the calms which flacken it, but, above all, by the banks, the {hallows, and the iflands which break it. •* 1,56 STUDIES OF NATURE. A very perceptible effeft of this accelerated velocity of the waves is vifible on the coafts of Chili and Peru, which undergo, however, only the fimple concuflion and reper- cuffion of the waters of the South Sea. The fhores are inacceffible through their whole extent, unlefs at the bot- tom of fome bay, or under the fhelter of fome ifland fitu- ated near the coaft. All the iflands of that vaft Ocean, fo peaceful as to have obtained the diftinctive appellation of Pacific? are unapproachable on the fide which is expofed to the Currents occafioned by the Trade Winds only, un- lefs where fhelves or rocks break the impetuofity of the billows. In that cafe, it is a fpeftacle at once magnificent and tremendous, to behold the vaft fleeces of foam, which inceffantly rife from the bofom of their dark and rugged windings; and to hear their hoarfe roaring noife, efpecial- ly in the night time, carried by the winds to feveral leagues diftance. Iflands, then, are not fragments feparated by violence from the Continents. Their pofition in the Ocean, the manner in which they are there defended, and the length of their duration, conftitute a complete demonftration of this. Confidering how long the Sea has been battering them withf its brilliant particles, that we never find the fnow cov- 164 STUDIES OF NATURE. ering it for any confiderable time together, even in the middle of our fevereft Winters. Thofe who have croffed the fands of Eftampes, in fummer, and in the heat of the day, know well to what a violent degree the heat is there reverberated. It is fo ardent, certain days in Summer, that, about twenty years ago, four or five paviers, who were at work on the great road leading to that City, be- tween two banks of white fand, were fuffocated by it. Hence it may be concluded, from fafts fo obvious, that but for the ices of the Pole, and of the mountains in the vicinity of the torrid Zone, a very confiderable portion of Africa and Afia would be abfolutely uninhabitable, and that but for the fands of Africa and Afia, the ices of our pole would never melt. Every icy mountain, too, \&s, like the Poles, its fandy girdle, which accelerates the fufion of its fhows. This we have occafion to remark, in the defcription of all mountains of this fpecies, as of the Peak of Teneriff, of Mount Ararat, of the Cordeliers, &c. Thefe Zones of fand furround not only their bafes, but there are fome of them on the higher regions of the mountains, up to the very peal^s; it frequently requires feveral hours walking to get acrofs them. The fandy belts have a ftill farther ufe, that of contrib- uting to the repair of the wafte, which the territory of the mountain, from time to time, undergoes : Perpetual clouds of duft iffue from them, which rife, in the firft inftance, on the fhores of the Sea, where the Ocean forms the firft vdepofits of thefe fands, which are there reduced to an im- palpable powder by the inceffant dafhing of the waves up- on them ; we afterwards find thefe clouds of duft in the vicinity of lofty mountains. The conveyance of the fands is made from the fhores of the Sea into the interior of the Continent, at different feafons, and in various man- ners. The moft confiderable happens at the Equinoxes, tor then the Winds blow from the Sea into the Land, $ee what Corneille le Bruyn fays of a fandy tcmpeftx in STUDY IV. 165 which be was caught, on the fhore of the Cafpian Sea. Thefe periodical conveyances of the fand form a part ol the general revolution of the Seafons. But as to the in- terior of different countries, partial tranfits take place ev- ery day, which are very perceptible toward the more ele- vated regions of the Continents. All travellers who have been at Pekin, are agreed, that it is not poflible to go abroad, during a part of the year, into the ftrects of that City, without having the face cov- ered with a veil, on account of the fand with which the air is loaded. When I/brand Ides arrived on the frontiers of China, at the extremity of the outlet of the mountains in the neighbourhood of Xaixigar, that is, at that part of the creft of the Afiatic Continent, which is the moft elevated, from which the rivers begin their courfes, fome to the North, others to the South, he obferved a regular period of thefe emanations. " Every day," fays he,* " at noon " regularly, there blows a ftrong guft of wind, for two " hours together, which, joined to the fultry heat of the " Sun by day, parches the ground to fuch a degree, that " it raifes a duft almoft infupportable. I had obferved " this change in the air fome time before. About five. " miles above Xaixigar, I had perceived the Heavens " cloudy, over the whole extent of the mountains; and " when I was on the point of leaving them, I faw perfeft ** ferenity. I even remarked at the place where they ter- " minate, an arch of clouds, which fweeped from Weft " to Eaft, as far as the mountains of Albafe, and which " feemed to form a feparation of Climate." Mountains, accordingly, poffefs, at once, nebulous and foflil attrac- tions. The firft furnifh water to the fources of the rivers which iffue from them, and the fecond fupply them with fand, for keeping up their territory and their minerals. * Journey from Mofcow to China, ckap. xi. l66 STUDIES OF NATURE. The icy and fandy Zones are found in a different harmo- ny, on the Continent of the New World. They run, like its Seas, from North to South, whereas thofe of the Old Continent are directed, conformably to the length- wife direftion of the Indian Ocean, from Weft to Eaft. It is very remarkable, that the influence of icy moun- tains extends farther over the Ocean than over the Land. We have feen thofe of the two Poles take the direftion of the channel of the Atlantic Ocean. The fnows which cover the long chain of the Andes, in America, ferve, in like manner, to cool the whole of the South Sea, by the aftion of the Eaft wind which paffes over it; but as part of that Sea, and of its fhores, which is fheltered from this wind, by the very height of the Andes, would have been expofed to an exceflive heat, Nature has formed an elbow weftward, at the moft foutherly part of America, which is covered with icy mountains, fo that the frefh breezes, which perpetually iffue from them, may graze along the fhores of Chili and Peru. Thefe breezes, denominated the foutherly, prevail there all the year round, if we may believe the teftimony of every Navigator. They do not, in truth, come from the South Pole ; for if it were fo, no veffel could ever double Cape Horn ; but they come from the extremity of Magellan's Land, which is evidently bent backward, with relation to the fhores of the South Sea. The ices of the Poles, then, renovate the waters of the 5ea, as the ices of mountains renovate thofe of the great rivers. Thefe effufions of the polar ices prefs toward the Line, from the aftion of the Sun, who is inceffantly • pumping up the waters of the Sea, in the torrid Zone, and determines, by this diminution of bulk, the waters of the Poles to rufh thitherward. This is the firft caufe of the motion of the South Seas, as has been already obferv- ed. It would appear highly probable, that the polar effu- fions are proportioned to the evaporations of the Ocean, Put without lofing fight of the leading objeft of our en- STUDY IV. t6y quiry, we fhall examine for what reafon Nature has taken ftill greater care to cool the Seas, than the Land, of the torrid Zone : For it merits attention, that not only the polar Winds which blow there, but moft of the rivers which empty themfelves into the South Seas, have their fources in icy mountains, fuch as the Zara, the Amazon, the Oroonoko, &c. The Sea was deftined to receive, by means of the riv- ers, all the fpoils of vegetable and animal produftions o- ver the whole Earth ; and as its courfe is determined toward the Line, by the daily diminution of its waters, which the Sun is there continually evaporating, its fhores, within the torrid Zone, would have been quickly liable to putrefaftion, had not Nature employed thefe different methods to keep them cool. It is for this reafon, as cer- tain Philofophers allege, that the Sea is fait between the Tropics. But it is likewife fo to the North ; nay, more fo, if we may rely on the recent experiments of the inter- efting M. de Pages. It is the falteft, and the heavieft in the World, according to the teftimony of an Englifh Nav- igator, Captain Wood, in 1676. Befides, the faltnefs of the Sea does not preferve its waters from corruption, as is vulgarly believed. All who have been at Sea know well, that if a bottle, or a cafk, is filled, in hot climates, with fea water, it foon becomes pu- trid. Sea water is not a pickle ; it is, on the contrary, a real lixivial, which very quickly diffolves dead bodies. Though fait to the tafte, it takes out fait fooner than frefh water, as our common failors know, from daily experi- ence, who employ no other, in frefhening their fait provi- fions. It blanches, on the fhore, the bones of all ani- mals, as well as the madrepores, which, when in a ftate of life, are brown, red, and of various other colours, but which, being rooted up, and put into fea water, on the brink of the fhore, in a little time become white as fnow. Nay more, if you fifh in the fea for a crab, or a fea ur- chin, and have them dried, to preferve them, unlefs you l68 STUDIES OF NATURE. firft wafh them in frefh water, all the claws of the crab, and all the prickles of the urchin, will fall off. The joints by which the limbs are attached, diffolve in pro- portion as the fea water, with which they were moiftencd, evaporates. I myfelf have made this experiment to my coft. The water of the Sea is impregnated not only with fait, but with bitumen, and other fubftances befides, which we do not know ; but fait is in it, in fuch a proportion, as to aflift the diffolution of cadaverous bodies floating in it, as that which we mingle with our food affifts digeftion. Had Nature made it a pickle, the Ocean would be cover- ed with all the impurities of the Earth, which would thus be kept in a ftate of perpetual prefervation. Thefe obfervations will indicate to us the ufe of volca- noes. They do not proceed from the internal fires of the Earth, but they derive their origin, and the materials which keep them lap, from the waters. In order to be convinced of this, you have only to remark, that there is not a fingle volcano in the interior of Continents, unlefs it be in the vicinity of fome great lake, fuch as that of Mexico. They are fituated, for the moft part, in iflands, at the extremity, or at the confluence of the Currents of the Sea, and in the counter tide of their waters. This is" the reafon why we find them in fuch numbers toward the Line, and along the fhore of the South Sea, where the South wind, which perpetually blows there, brings back all the fubftances fwimming about in a ftate of diffolution. Another proof that they owe their fupport to the Sea is this, that, in their eruptions, they frequently vomit out torrents of fait water. Newton afcribed their origin, and their duration, to caverns of fulphur, inclofed in the bow- els of the Earth. But that great man had not reflefted on the pofition of volcanoes in the vicinity of wrater, nor cal- culated the prodigious quantity of fulphur, which the mag- nitude, and the duration, of their fires muft have requir- ed. Vefuvius alone, which burns night and day, from time immemorial, would have confumed a mafs of it Iarg- STUDY IV. 169 er than the whole kingdom of Naples. Befides, Nature does nothing in vain. What purpofe could be anfwered by fuch magazines of fulphur in the interior of the Earth ? We fhould find them completely entire in places, where they are not confumed by the fire. Mines of fulphur are no where found but in the vicinity ofvolcanoes. What, befides, could renovate them when exhaufted ? A fupply fo conftant, for keeping up volcanoes, is not in the Earth, but in the Sea. It is furniftied by the oils, the bitumens, and the nitres of vegetables and animals, which the rains and the rivers convey off from every quarter into the O- cean, where the diffolution of all bodies is completed by its lixivial water. To thefe are joined metallic diffolu- tions, and efpecially thofe of iron, which, as is well known, abounds all over the earth. Volcanoes take fire, and feed themfelves wkh all thefe fubftances. Lemery, the Chymift, has imitated their effefts, by a compofition confifling of filings -of iron, fulphur and ni- tre, moiftened with water, which caught fire of itfelf. If Nature had not kindled thefe vaft furnaces on the fhores of the Ocean, its waters would be covered with vegetable and animal oils, which could- never evaporate, for they refill the-aftiori of the air. You may have frequently ob- ferved them, when ftagnated in fome undifturbed bafon, from their colour refembling the pigeon's neck. Nature purifies the waters by the fire of volcanoes, as fhe purifies the air by thofe of thunder; and as ftorms are more com- mon in hot countries, fhe has in thefe, likewife, multi- plied volcanoes, and for the fame reafon. She burns on the fhores the impurities of the Sea, as a Gardener burns, at the end of Autumn, the refufe of his garden. We find lavas, indeed, in the interior of countries;. but a proof that they are indebted to the water for their original is this, that the volcanoes which produced them, became extinft whenever the waters failed them. Thefe volcanoes were kindled, like thofe which ftill fubfift, by vegetable and animal fermentations, with which the Earth VOL. I. Y I/O STUDIES OF NATURE. was covered after the Deluge, when the fpoils of fo many forefts, and of fo many animals, whofe trunks and bones are ftill found in our quarries, floated on the furface of th< Ocean, and formed prodigious depofits, which the cur- rents accumulated in the cavities of the mountains. It cannot be doubted, that in this ftate, they caught fire by the effeft of fermentation merely, juft as we fee flacks of damp hay catch fire in our meadows. It is impoffible to call in queftion thefe ancient conflagrations, the tradi- tions of which are preferved in Antiquity, and which immediately follow thofe of the Deluge. In the ancient Mythology, the hiftory of the ferpent Python, produced by the corruption of the waters, and that of Phaeton, who fet the world on fire, immediately follow the hiftory of Philemon and Baucis,* efcaped from the waters of the Deluge, and are allegories of the peftilence, and of the volcanoes, which were the firft refults of the general dif- folution of animals and vegetables. All that now remains is, to refute the opinion of thofe who maintain, that the Earth is a fecretion from the Sun. The chief arguments by which they fupport it are its Volcanoes, its granites, the vitrified ftones fcattered over its furface, and its progreflive refrigeration from ^ear to year. I refpeft the celebrated Author who has advanced this opinion, but 1 venture to affirm, that the grandeur of the images which this idea prefented to him, has feduced his imagination. We have faid enough refpefting volcanoes, to demon- ftrate that they do not proceed from the interior of the. Earth. As to granites, they do not prefent, in the aggre- gation of their grains, the remoteft veftige of the aftion of fire. I do not know their origin ; but certainly there is no foundation for referring it to that element, becaufe it cannot be afcribed to the aftion of water, and [becaufe fhells are not found in them. As this affertion is deftitute The Author, undoubtedly, means Deucalion and Pyrrh*. STUDY IV. 171 ©f all proof, it is unneceffary to undertake a refutation of it. I fhall obferve, however, that granites do not appear to be the produftion of fire, on a comparifon with the la- vas of volcanoes ; the difference of their fubftances fup- pofes different caufes in their formation. Agates, flints, and every fpecies of the filex, feem to be analogous to vitrifications, from their half tranfparency, and from their being ufually found in beds of marl, which refemble banks of lime extinguifhed ; but thefe fubftances are not the produftions of fire, for lavas never prefent any thing fimilar. I have picked up, on the flinty hills of Low- er Normandy, oyfter fhells perfeftly complete, amalga- mated with black flints, which they call bifets. Had thefe bifets been vitrified by fire, they would have calcined, or, at leaft, altered the oyfter fhells which adhered to them ; but thefe were as found as if juft taken out of the water. The fhelving fea coaft along the diftrift of Caux, are formed of alternate ftrata of marl and bifets, fo that, as they are cut perpendicularly, you would call it a great- wall, of which the layers had been regulated by an Archi- teft ; and with fo much the greater appearance of proba- bility, that the people of the country build their houfes of the fame materials, difpofed in the felf fame order, Thefe banks of marl are from one to two feet broad, and the rows of flints, which feparate them, are three or four inches thick. I have reckoned feventy or eighty of fuch horizontal ftrata from the level of the Sea up to that of the Land. The thickeft are undermoft, and the fmall- er atop, which, from the fea mark, makes the aggregate appear higher than it really is; as if Nature intended to employ a certain degree of perfpcftive to increafe the ap- parent elevation : But, undoubtedly, fhe has been deter- mined to adopt this arrangement from reafons of folidity, which are perceptible in all her Works. Now, thefe banks of marl and flint are filled with fhells, which have; undergone no alteration from the force of fire, and which would be in perfeft prefervation, had not the preffure of 172 STUDIES OF NATURE. that enormous mafs broken in pieces the largeft of them. I have feen fragments extrafted of that which is called the tuilee, which is found alive only in the Indian Ocean, and the broken pieces of which, when put together, form- ed a fhell much more confiderable than thofe of the fame fpecies which are ufed for holding the holy water, in the church of Saint Sulpice at Paris. I have, likewife, remarked there a bed of flints com- pletely amalgamated, and forming a fingle table, the fec- tion of which was perceptibly about one inch thick by more than thirty feet in length. Its depth in the cliff 1 did not afcertain; but, with a little art, it might be de- tached, and fafhioned into the moft fuperb agate table in the world. Wherever thefe marls and flints are found, fhells are likewife found in great quantities, fo that as marl has been evidently formed of their wreck, it appears to me extremely probable, that the flints have been com- pofed of the very fubftance of the fifhes which were there inclofed. This opinion will appear lefs extraordinary, if we ob- ferve that many of the comes d'ammon, and of fingle fhelled foffils, which, from their form, have refitted the. preffurejaf the ground, and not being compreffed by it, have not ejefted, like the double fhelled, the animal matter which they contained, but exhibit it within them, under the form of cryftals, with which they are ufually filled, whereas the two fhelled are totally deftitute of it. The animal fubftances of thefe laft, I prefume, con- founded with their crufhed fragments, have formed the different coloured paftes of marble, and have communicat- ed to them the hardnefs and polifh of which thefe marbles are fufceptible. This fubftance prefents itfelf, even in fhell fifh when alive, with the charafters of agate, as may be feen in feveral kinds of mother of pearl, and among others, in the half tranfparent, and very hard knob, which terminates what is called the harp, finally, this flony fubftance is found, befuu-5, in land animals ; tor I ha\ - STUDY IV. 173 feen, in Silefia, the eggs of a fpecies of the woodcock, which are highly prized in that country, not only becaufe they are a great delicacy for the table, but becaufe the white, when dried, becomes hard as a flint, and fufcepti- ble of a polifh fo beautiful, that they are cut and fet as rings and other trinkets. I could eafily fwell this article, by demonftrating the geometrical impoffibility that our Globe fhould have been detached from that of the Sun, by the tranfit of a Comet, becaufe it muft have, on the very hypothefis of this 1m- pulfion, been hurried along in the Sphere of the Comet's attraftion, or carried back into that of the Sun. It has, in truth, remained in the fphere of the Sun's attraftion; but it is not eafy to conceive how it never came to ap- proach nearer, and how it comes to maintain the diftance of nearly thirty two millions of leagues, while no Comet prevents its returning to the place from which it fet out. The Sun, it is faid, has a centrifugal force. The Globe of the Earth, therefore, muft be retiring from it. No, it is alleged, becaufe the Earth has a conftant tendency to- ward that Luminary. It muft, accordingly, have loft the centrifugal force, which fhould adhere to its very nature, as being a portion of the Sun. 1 could go on to fwell the article,*by farther demon- ftrating the phyfical impoffibility, that the Earth fhould contain in its bowels fo many heterogeneous fubftances. on the fuppofition of its being a feparation from a body fo homogeneous as the Sun; and I could make it appear, that it is impoffible they fhould be, in any refpeft, confid- ered as the wreck of folar and vitrified fubftances (if it be poffible for us to have an idea of the fubftances from which light iflues) feeing fome of our terreftrial Ele- ments, fuch as Water and Fire, are abfolutely incompati- ble. But I fhall confine myfelf to the refrigeration af- cribed to the Earth, becaufe the evidence on which this opinion refls, is level to the comprehcnfion of all men, and is of importance to their fecurity. *74 STUDIES OF NATURE. If the Earth is getting colder and colder, the Sun, from' which it is faid to have been feparated, muft be getting cold in proportion ; and the mutual diminution of the heat in thefe two Globes, muft become perceptible in a courfe of ages, at leaft on the furface of the Earth, in the evaporations of the Seas, in the diminution of rains, and efpecially in the fucceffive deftruftion of a great number of plants, which are killed every day, merely from the dimunition of only a few degrees of heat, when the Cli- mate is changed upon them. Not a fingle plant, however, has been loft of all thofe which were known to Circe, the moft ancient of Botanifts, whofe Herbal Homer has, in fome meafure, preferved for us. The plants celebrat- ed in fong by Orpheus, and their virtues, fubfift to this day. There is not even a fingle one which has loft any thing of its ancient attitude. The jealous Clytia ftill turns toward the Sun; and the beautiful fon of Liriope, Nar- ciffus, continues to admire himfelf on the brink of the fountain. Such are the teftimonies adduced from the vegetable kingdom, refpefting the uniformity and conftancy of the temperature of the Globe ; let us examine thofe of the Human Race. There are fome of the inhabitants of Swit- zerland, it is alleged, who have perceived a progreffive accumulation of the ices on their mountains. I could op- pofe to this evidence, that of other modern Obfervers, who, in the view of ingratiating themfelves with the Princes of the North, pretend, with as little foundation, that th£ cold is dirainifhing there, becaufe thefe Princes have thought proper to cut down the forefts of their States; but I fhall adhere to the teftimony of the An- cients, who could not poffibly intend to flatter any one on a fubjeft of this nature. If the refrigeration of the Earth is perceptible in the life of one man, it muft be much more fo in the life of Mankind; now, all the temperatures dcfcrihed by the moft ancient Hiftorians, as that of Germany by Tacitu>, STUDY IV. !7£, of Gaul by Cefar, of Greece by Plutarch, of Thrace by Xenophon, are precifely the fame at this day, as they were at the time when thefe feveral Hiftorians wrote. The Book of Job the Arabian, which, there is reafon to be- lieve, is more ancient than the Writings of Mofes, and which contains views of Nature much more profound than is generally imagined, views, the moft common whereof were unknown to us two centuries ago, makes frequent mention of the falling of the fnows in that country, that is, toward the thirtieth degree of North Latitude. Mount Lebanon, from the remoteft antiquity, bears the Arabian name of Liban, which fignifies white, on account of the fnows with which its fummit is covered all the year round. Homer relates that it fnowed in Ithaca when Ulyffes ar- rived there, which obliged him to borrow a cloak of the good Eumeus. If, during a period of three thoufand years, and more, the cold had gone on increafing from year to year, in all thefe Climates, their Winters muft now have been as long and as fevere, as in Greenland. But Lebanon, and the lofty provinces of Afia, have preferved the fame tempera- ture. The little Ifle of Ithaca is ftill covered in Winter with the hoar fro ft; and it produces, as in the days of Telemachus, the laurel and the olive. 176 STUDIES OF NATURE. STUDY FIFTH. REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE, FOUNDED ON THE DISORDERS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 1HE Earth is, fay the Objeftors, a garden very injudi- cioufly laid out. Men of wit, who never travelled, have amufed themfelves with painting it, proceeding from the hand of Nature, as if the giants had been fighting in it. They reprefent its rivers flowing at random ; its moraffes as vaft colleftions of mud ; the trees of its forefts turned upfide down; its plains buried under rocks, or overfpread with briars and thorns ; all its highways rendered un- paffable ; all its culture the puny efforts of human genius. Such reprefentations, though pifturefque, have, I ac- knowledge, fometimes afflicted me, becaufe they infpired me with diftruft of the Author of Nature. To no pur- pofe could it be fuppofed that, in other refpefts, He had loaded Man with benefits; one of our firft and moft prefix- ing neceffities had been overlooked, if He had neglefted to care for our habitation. The inundations of rivers, fuch as thofe of the Amazon, of the Oroonoko, and a great many others, are periodical. They manure the lands which they inundate. It is well known, befides, that the banks of thefe rivers fwarmed with populous nations, before any European had formed a fettlement there. The inhabitants derived much benefit STUDY V. ijj from thefe inundations, partly from the abundance of the fifheries, partly from the fertility communicated to the lands. So far from confidering them as convulfions of Nature, they received them as bleffings from Heaven, juft as the Egyptians prized the overflowings of the Nile. Was it, then, a mortifying fpeftacle to them, to fee their deep forefts interfefted with long alleys of water, which they could without trouble traverfe, in all direftions, in their canoes, and pick the fruits at their eafe ? Nay, certain tribes fuch as thofe of the Oroonoko, determined by thefe accom- modations, had acquired the fingular habit of dwelling on the tops of trees, and of feeking under their foliage, like the birds, an habitation, and food, and a fortrefs. What- ever may be in this, moft of them inhabited only the banks of the rivers, and preferred them to the vaft de- ferts with which they are furrounded, though not expofed to inundations. We fee order only where we can fee corn grow. The habit which we have acquired of confining the channels of our rivers within dikes and mounds, of gravelling, and paving our high roads, of applying the ftraight line to the alleys in our gardens, and to our bafons of water, of fquar- ing our parterres, nay, our very trees, accuftoms us infen- fibly to confider every thing which deviates from our rec- tangles, as abandoned to confufion. But it is in places with which we have been tampering, that we frequently fee real difordcr. We fet fountains a playing on the tops of mountains ; we plant poplars and limes upon rocks ; we throw our vineyards into valleys, and raife our mead- ows to the declivities of hills. Let thefe laborious exertions be relaxed ever fo little, and all thefe petty levellings will prefently be confound- ed under the general levelling of Continents, and all this culture, the work of Man, difappears before that of Na- ture. Our fheets of water degenerate into marfhes; our hedge row elms burft into luxuriancy; every bower is choked, every avenue clofes: The vegetables natural to VOL. i. /. 178 STUDIES OF NATURE. each foil declare war againft the ftrangers ; the ftarry thif- tle and vigorous verbafcum, ftifle under their broad leaves the Englifh fhort graffy fod ; thick crops of rye grafs and trefoil gather round the trees of Paleftine; the bramble fcrambles along their ftem, with its prickly claws, as if mounting a breach ; tufts of nettles take poffeffion of the u#n of the Naiads, and forefts of reeds, of the forges of Vulcan; greenifh fcales of minium corrode the faces of our Venufes, without paying any refpeft to their beauty. The trees themfelves lay fiege to the cattle; the wild cherry, the elm, the maple, mount upon its ridges, plunge their long pivots into its lofty pediments, and, at length, obtain the viftory over its haughty cupolas. The ruins of a park no lefs merit the refleftions of the Sage, than thofe of an empire : They equally demonftrate how in- efficient the power of Man is, when ftruggling againft that of Nature. I have not had the felicity, like the primitive Naviga- tors, who difcovered uninhabited iflands, to contemplate the face of the ground as it came from the hand of the Creator ; but I have feen portions of it which had un- dergone alterations fufficiently fmall to fatisfy me, that nothing could then equal their virgin beauties. They had produced an influence on the firft relations which were formed by them, and had diffufed over thefe a frefh- nefs, a colouring, a native grace inexpreffible, which will ever diftinguifh them to advantage, notwithftanding their fimplicity, from the learned defcriptions which have been given of them in modern times. To the influence of thefe firft afpefts, I afcribe the fu- perior talents of the earlieft Writers who have painted Nature, and the fublime enthufiafm which a Homer and an Orpheus have transfufed into their poefy. Among the Moderns, the Hiftorian of Anfon's expedition, Cook, Banks, Solander, and fome others, have defcribed feveral of thefe natural fites, in the iflands of Tinian, Maffo, Ju- an Fernandez and Taiti, which have delighted all perfons STUDY v. m of real tafte, though thefe iflands had been, in part, degrad- ed by the Indians and Spaniards. I have feen only countries frequented by Europeans, and defolated by war, or by flavery : But I fhall ever re- colleft with pleafure two of thefe fites, the one on this fide the Tropic of Capricorn ; the other beyond the fix- tieth degree of North Latitude. Notwithftanding my in- ability, I am going to attempt a fketch of thefe, in order to convey, as well as I can, an idea of the manner in which Nature difpofes her plans in Climates fo very oppofite. The firft was a part, then uninhabited, of the Ifle of France, of fourteen leagues extent, which appeared to me the moft beautiful portion of it, though the black free booters, who take refuge there, had cut down, on the fea fhore, the lataniers with which they fabricate their huts, and on the mountains, the palmettos, whofe tips they ufe as food, and the liannes, of which they make fifhing nets. They likewife degrade the banks of the rivulets, by dig- ging out the bulbous roots of the nymphaea, on which they live, and even thofe of the Sea, of which they eat, without exception, every fpecies of the fhelly tribes, and which they leave here and there on the fhore, in great piles burnt up. Notwithftanding thefe diforders, that part of the ifland had preferved traces of its ancient beau- ty. It is perpetually expofed to the South eaft wind, which prevents the forefts that cover it from extending quite down to the brink of the Sea; but a broad felvage of turf, of a beautiful fea green, which furrounds it, fa- cilitates the communication all around, and harmonizes, on the one fide, with the verdure of the woods, and, on the other, with the azure of the billows. The view is thus divided into two afpefts, the one pre- fenting land, the other water. The land profpeft prefents hills flying behind each other, in the form ot an amphithe- atre, and whofe contours, covered with trees in pyramids, exhibit a majeftic profile on the vault of Heaven. Over thefe forefts rifes, as it were, a fecond foreft of palmettos, l8o STUDIES OF NATURE. which balance, above the folitary valleys, their long col- umns, crowned with particoloured plumes of palms, and furmounted with a fpiral peak. The mountains of the in- terior prefent, at a diftance, oval fhaped rocks, clothed with great trees, and pendent liannes, floating, like drape- ry, by every breath of the wind. Above thefe rife lofty pinnacles, round which are continually collefted the rainy clouds ; and when thefe are illuminated by the rays of the Sun, you fee the colours of the rainbow painted on their peaks, and the rain water flowing over their dufky fides in brilliant fheets of chryftal, or in long-fillets of filver. No obftacle prevents your perambulating the borders which embellifh their fides and their bafes, for the rivulets which defcend from the mountains, prefent, along their banks, flips of fand, or broad plates of rock, from which they have wafhed the earth clean away. Befides, they clear away a free paffage from their fource, to the place of their dif- charge, by undermining the trees which would grow in their channel, and by fertilizing thofe which do grow on their margin ; and they expand over thefe, through their whole courfe, great arches of verdure which fly off in perfpeftive, and which are vifible from the fhore of the Sea. The iiannes interweave themfelves along the cir- cumference of thefe arches, fecure their arcades againft the winds, and decorate them moft beautifully, by oppos- ing to their foilage other foilages, and to their verdure garlands of gloffy flowers, or pods of various colours. If a tree, wafted by age, happens to fall down, Nature, which univerfally haftens on the deftruftion of all ufelefs beings, covers its trunk with maiden hair of the moft beautiful green, and agarics undulated with yellow, faffron and purple, which feed on its fpoils. Toward the fea fide, the turf which borders the ifland, is up and down fowed with thickets of latanier, whofe palms, formed into a fan, and attached to pliant mem- branes, radiate in the air, like fo many verdant funs, Thefe lataniers advance even into the Sea, on the capes STUDY V. i8j of the ifland, with the land fowls which inhabit them; while the fmall bays, fwarming with multitudes of fea fowl which fwim in the water, and which are paved, if I may be allowed the expreffion, with madrepores of the colour of the peach bloffom ; the black rocks covered with rofe coloured nerits, and fhells of every kind, pene- trate into the ifland, and refleft, like fo many mirrors, all the objefts of the Land and of the Heavens. You would imagine that you faw the birds flying in the water, and the fifhes fwimming among the trees, and you would be tempted to fay, Here is the marriage of Terra and Ocea- nus, who thus blend and confound their domains. In the greateft part even of uninhabited iflands, lying between the Tropics, when the difcovery of them was made, the banks of fand which furround them were found to be filled with turtle, which came thither to lay their eggs, and with the fcarlet flamingos, which, as they fit on their nefts, refemble burning torches. They had, befides, a border of mangliers, covered with oy flers, which oppofed their floating foliage to the violence of the waves, and of cocoa trees loaded with fruit, which advancing into the very fea, along the breakers, prefented, to the mariner's eye, the afpeft of a city with its ramparts and its avenues, and announced to them from afar the afylum prepared for them by the God of the Seas. Thefe different kinds of beauty muft have been common to the Ifle of France, with many other iflands, and were, in all probability, de- flroyed by the craving neceffities of the firft mariners who landed upon them. Such is the very imperfeft reprefent- ation of a country, the Climate of which, according to ancient Philofophers, was uninhabitable, and the foil of which modern Philofophers confider as a fcum of the O^ cean, or of volcanoes. The fecond rural fcenery, which I furveyed with rap- ture, and of which I am going to attempt a defcription, was in Ruffian Finland, when I was employed, in 1764, nn a vifitation of its fortreffes with the Generals of the l82 STUDIES OF NATURE. corps of Engineers, in which 1 then ferved. We were travelling between Sweden and Ruffia, through a coun- try fo little frequented, that the firs had encroached on the great line of demarkation which feparates the boundaries of the two countries. It was impoffible to get through in a carriage, and we were under the neceffity of employing the country people to cut down the trees, that our equi- pages might follow us. We were able, however, to pen- etrate, in every direftion, on foot, and frequently on horfeback, though we were obliged to infpeft the wind- ings, the fummits, and the fmalleft receffes of a great number of rocks, in order to afcertain their natural capa- bility of defence, and though Finland is fo covered with thefe, that ancient Geographers have given it the furname of Lapidofa (flony.) Not only are thofe rocks fcattered about in great blocks, over the furface of the earth, but the valleys, and entire hills, are there, in many places, formed of a fingle mafs of folid rock. This rock is a foft granite which exfoliates, and whofe fcurf fertilizes the plants^ at the fame time that the enormous mafs fhelters them from the North Wind, and reflefts on them the rays of the Sun, by their curves, and the particles of mica with which it is filled. The bot- toms of thefe valleys were fkirted with long borders of meadow, which every where facilitate the communica- tion. At the places where they were pure rock, as in their original ftate, they were covered with a plant, cal- led, by the natives, Kloukva, which thrives on the rock. It comes out of the clefts, and feldom rifes higher than a foot and a half; but it fpreads in all directions, and ex- tends far and wide. Its leaves and verdure refemble thofe of the box, and its boughs are loaded with a red berry, good to eat, refembling the ftrawberry. The fir, the birch, and the fervice tree vegetated won- derfully well on the fides of thofe hills, though in many places, they found fcarcely earth fufficient in which to infert their roots. The fummits of moft of them were STUDY V. jfj rounded in form of a fcull cap, and rendered quite glitter- ing by the water which oozed acrofs the long crevices that furrowed them. Many of thefe fcull caps were per- feftly bare, and fo flippery, that it was difficult to walk over them. They were crowned, round and round, with a broad belt of mofs of an emerald green, out of which ftarted here and there an infinite multitude of mufhrooms of every form, and of every colour. Some of them were fliaped like large fcarlet coloured tweezer cafes, fludded with dots of white; others were orange coloured and formed like a parafol ; others yellow as faffron, and of the oblong form of an egg. Some were of the pureft white, and fo well rounded, that you would have taken them for ivory draughtfmen. Thefe moffes and mufhrooms fpread along the threads of water which flowed from the fummits of the rocky hills, extended in long rays acrofs the woods with which their fides were covered, and proceeded to fkirt their ex- tremities, till they were confounded with a multitude of ftrawberry and rafpberry plants. Nature, to indemnify this country for the fcarcity of apparent flowers to pleafe the eye, of which it produces but few, has bellowed their perfumes on feveral plants, fuch as the calamus aromati- cus, the birch which, in Spring, exhales a kind of odour of ro{es, and the fir, the apple of which is fweet fcented. She has, in like manner, diffufed colours the moft agreea- ble, and the moft brilliant, of flowers, on the moft com- mon ot vegetables, fuch as on the cones of the larch, which are of a beautiful violet, on the fcarlet grains of the forb apple, on moffes and mufhrooms, and even on turnip radifhes. On the fubjeft of this laft vegetable, hear what the ac- curate Corneille le Bruyn fays, in his Voyage to Archan- gel:* " During our refidence among them (the Samoie- " des) they brought us feveral forts of turnips, of various * Vel. iii, pnge 21. 184 STUDIES OF NATURE. " colours, and extremely beautiful. Some of them were" " violet coloured, like our plumbs, gray, white, yellowifh, " all of them ftreaked with red, like vermillion, or the " finefl laca, and as grateful to the eye as a pink. I painted " fome of them on paper in water colours, and fent fome " to Holland, in a box filled with dry fand, to one of my " friends, who is fond of fuch cui iofities. I carried thofe " which I had painted to Archangel, where no one would " believe they were copied after Nature, till I produced " the turnips themfelves : A proof that no great attention " is paid there, to the rareft and moft curious produc- " tions of Nature." I take thefe turnips to be of the radifh fort, the bulb of which grows above ground. At leaft I prefume fo, from the drawing itfelf of Corneille le Bruyn, and from having feen fuch in Finland ; they are in tafte fuperior to that of our colewort, and have a flavour fimilar to the ar- tichoke bottom. I have produced thefe teftimonies of a Painter, and that Painter a Dutchman, refpeftingthe beau- ty of thefe coloured vegetables, to correft the prejudice with which fo many are hurried away, that in the Indies only the Sun gives a magnificent colouring to plants. But nothing, in my opinion, equals the beautiful gre«n of the plants of the North, in Spring. I have frequently admir- ed, in particular, that of the birch, of the turf, and of the moffes, fome of which are glazed with violet and purple. The folemn firs themfelves, then burft into feftoons of the moft delicate green ; and when they come to throw, from the extremity of their branches, the yellow tufts of ftami- na, they appear like vaft pyramids, loaded all over with lit- tle lamps. We encountered no obftacle in traverfing their forefts. Sometimes there lay in the way an aged birch, laid low by the hand of Time, and internally confumed by the worm; but in flepping on the rind, it fupports you like a piece of thick leather. The wood of thefe birches decays very faft, and their bark, which no humidity is able to corrupt, is STUDY V. l8,5 carried away, on the melting of the fnows, into the lakes, where it fwims about all in one piece. As to the firs, when they fall, humidity and the moffes confume them in a very little time. This country is interfefted with great lakes, which every where prefent new means of commu- nication, as they penetrate far into the land by their branching gulfs, and exhibit a new fpecies of beauty, by reflecting, in their ftill waters, the openings of the val- leys, the moffy hills, and the pendent firs bending from the promontories over their fhores. It would be no eafy matter to defcribe the hofpitable reception which we found in the folitary manfions of thefe northern regions. Their mafters exerted themfelves in every poffible way, to detain us among them for many days together. They fent to the diftance of ten, of fif- teen leagues, invitations to their friends and relations, to come and affift them to entertain us. The days and the nights paffed away in dancing and feftivity. In the cit- ies, the principal inhabitants regaled us by turns. Amidft this hofpitable conviviality, we made the tour of the cities of poor Finland, Wiburg, Villemanftrand, Frederick- fham, Niflot, &c. The cattle of this laft town is fituated on a rock at the difcharge of lake Kiemen, which fur- rounds it with two catarafts. From its platforms you perceive the vaft extent of that lake. We dined in one of its four towers, in a fmall apartment illuminated by win- dows like gun ports. It is the very apartment in which the unfortunate Ivan was fo long confined, who defcend- ed from the Throne of the Ruffian Empire, at the age of two years and a half. But this is not the place to expa- tiate on the influence which moral ideas may diffufe over Landfcapes. Plants, then, are not fcattered about at random over the Earth ; and though nothing has been hitherto faid ref- pefting their general arrangement in different Climates, this fimple fketch is fufficient to demonftrate, that there is order in their combination. If we examine, in like VOL. I. a a i86 STUDIES OT NATURE. manner, however fuperficially, their expanfion, their at- titude, their magnitude and proportions, we fhall find that there is as much harmony in the aggregation of their parts, as in that of their fpecies. It is impoffible, in any one refpeft, to confider them as mere mechanical produc- tions of heat and cold, of drynefs and humidity. Our fcientific Syftems have brought us back precifely to the opinions which precipitated barbarous Nations into idol- atry, as if it were neceffary that the perfeftion of our il- lumination fhould be the recommencement and return of our darknefs ; conformably to the well grounded cenfure of the Author of the Book of Wifdom : Aut ignem, aut fpiritum, aut citatum a'erem, aut gyrumfiellarum, aut ni- iniam aquam,aut folem & lunam, reclores orbis terrarum Deos putaverunt :* " They could not out of the good " things that are feen, know him that is; neither, by " confidering the works, did they acknowledge the Work " Mafter: But deemed either fire, or wind, or fwift air, " or the circle of the ftars, or the violent water, or the " lights of Heaven, to be the Gods which govern the " world." All thefe phyfical caufes, united, could not have deter- mined the port of one fingle mofs. In order to be con- vinced of this, let us begin with examining the circulation of plants. It has been laid down as an indubitable princi- ple, that their faps afcend through the wood, and rede- fcend through the rind. To the experiments which have been detailed in proof, I fhall oppofe only the inftance of a great chefnut tree, in the garden of the Thuilleries, near the terrace of the Feuillants, which, for twenty years paft, has had no bark round its under part, and which, notwithftanding, is in perfeft vigor. Many elms on the Boulevards are in the fame ftate. On the other hand, we have feen old hollowed willows, which have not a bit of good wood left. Befides, how is it poflible to apply this * Wifdom of Solomon, chap. xiii. ver. s. STUDY V. 1S7 principle of vegetation to a multitude of plants, fome of which are compofed entirely of tubes, and to others which have no rind, being enclofed only in dry pellicles ? Neither is there more truth in the fuppofition that they rife in a perpendicular line, and that to this direftion they are determined by the aftion of columns of air. Some, it muft be allowed, do follow this direftion, as the fir, the ftalk of corn, the reed. But a much greater number.de- viate from it, fuch as creeping plants ot every fpecies, vines, liannes, French beans, &c.....Others afcend ver- tically, and having arrived at a certain height, in an air perfcftly unobftructed, fork off in various tiers, and fend out their branches horizontally, as the apple tree; or in- cline them toward the earth, like firs; or hollow them in form of a cup, like the faffafras ; or round them into a mufhroom's head, like the pine ; or ftraighten them into a pyramid, like the poplar ; or roll them as wool on the dif- taff, like the cyprefs ; or let them float at the difcretion of the winds, like the birch. All thefe attitudes may be feen under the fame bearing of the wind. Nay, there are fome which affume forms, that all the art of the gardener could hardly imprefs upon them. Such is the badamier of the Indies, which grows up into the form of a pyramid, and carries it divided into ftories, like the king of the chefs board. There are plants uncommonly vigorous, which, far from purfuing the ver- tical line, recede from it the very moment that they get above ground. Such is the falfe potatoe of India, which loves to crawl along the fand of the fhores, in hot coun- tries, covering whole acres in its progrefs. Such, too, is the ratan of China, which frequently grows in fimilar fit- uations. Thefe plants do not crawl from weaknefs. The fcions of the ratan are fo ftrong, that,the Chinefe make cordage of them for their fhipping ; and when they are on the ground, they ferve as a trap for the deer, who find it impoffible, with all their force, to difengage themfelves. They are nets fpread out by the hand of Nature. l88 STUDIES OF NATURE. I fhould never have done were I to run over, ever fq haftily, \he different ports of vegetables ; what I have faid is evidence fufficient, that there is; not a fingle one whofe direftion is determined by the vertical column of the air. This error has gained currency, from its being taken for granted that plants affefted the greateft volume of air ; and this error in Phyfics has produced another in Geometry ; for, on this fuppofition, they muft all precip- itate themfelves to the Horizon, becaufe there the column of air is much more confiderable than in the Zenith. We muft, in like manner, rejeft the confequences which have been deduced from it, and laid down, as principles of Ju- rifprudence for the divifion of lands in our boafted ma- thematical treatifes ; fuch is the following, That no more wood, or corn, or grafts, can grow on the declivities of a, mountain, than what would grow on the area of its bafts. There is not a woodcutter, nor haymaker, in the world, who could not demonftrate the contrary from his experi- ence. Plants, it has been faid-, are mechanical bodies. Well then, try to conftruft a body fo Aim, fo tender, fo fragile, as that of a leaf, which fhall for whole years refill the winds, the rains, the keeneft froft, the moft ardent Sun. A fpirit of life, independent of all Latitudes, governs plants, preferves them, reproduces them. . They repair the injuries which they may have fuftained, and fkin over their wounds with a new rind. The pyramids of Egypt are crumbled into powder ; but the graffes which cloth- ed the foil, while the Pharaohs filled the throne, fubfift to this day. How many Greek and Roman fepulchral mon- uments, the ftones of which were rivetted with iron, have, one after another, difappeared ! Nothing remains around their ruins, except the cypreffes which fhaded them. It is the Sun, fay they, who gives exiftence to vegeta- bles, and who maintains that exiftence. But that great a- gent of Nature, all powerful as he is, muft not be confid- STUDY v. 18a ered as the only and determining caufe even of their ex- panfion. If his heat invites moft of thofe of our Climates to open their flowers, it obliges others to fhut them. Such are of this laft defcription, the great nigKtfhade of Peru, and the arbor trifiis (the fad tree) of the. Moluccas, which flower only in the night time. Nay, his remotenefs from our Hemifphere does not deftroy in it the power of Na- ture. At that feafon vegetate moft of the moffes which clothe the rocks with an emerald coloured green ; and then the trunks of trees cover themfelves, in humid fit- uations, with plants imperceptible to the naked eye, call- ed Mnium and Liehen, which give them the appearance, in frofty weather, of columns of green bronze. Thefe vege- tations, in the very feverity of Winter, overturn all our reafonings, refpefting the univerfal effefts of heat, as plants, of an organization fo extremely delicate, feem to need, in order to their expanfion, a temperature the mof$ gentle. Again, the fall of the leaf itfelf, which we have been taught to confider as an effeft of the Sun's abfence, is not occafioned by the cold. If the palm retains its foliage, all the year round, in the South, the fir is equally an evergreen in the North. The birch, it is true, te&'la^h, and feveral other fpecies of trees, fhed their leaves in, northern Climates, on the approach of Winter ; but a fim- ilar depredation is likewife made on other trees, to the Southward. It is the refinous fubftance, we are told, which preferves the foliage of. the fir in the North : But the larch, which is likewife a refinous plant, is ftripped of its verdure in Winter; whereas the filaria, the ivy, the privet, and many other fpecies, which are not refinous^ continue with us, in full verdure, at all feafons. Without having recourfe to mechanical caufes, the ef- fefts of which always contradict themfelves, whenever you attempt to generalize them, Why not recognize, in thefe varieties of vegetation, the ftcady and uniform direftion of a Pro\ idence ? That Ih evidence has affigned to the 19a STUDIES OF NATURE. South, trees always green, and has clothed them with a broad foliage, to fhelter the animal creation from the heat. In another refpeft, likewife, have the animals of hot clim- ates been tenderly cared for, in being provided with cloth- ing denuded of hair, confequently, light and coed ; and in having their habitations garnifhed with green ferns and liannes, ever frefh and ever comfortable. Neither has bountiful Nature neglefted the animals of the North. She has fpread as a roof over their heads, the ever green firs, whofe lofty and tufted pyramids ward off the fnow from their roots, and whofe branches are fo well furnifhed with long gray moffes, that the trunk is rendered almoft invifible ; for a bed, fhe has accumulated a bank of mofs on the ground, in many places more than a foot in thick- nefs; and the foft and dry leaves of many trees, which fall precifely at the approach of the inclement feafon : Finally, their provifion too, is laid up in ftore, namely, the fruits of thofe very trees, which have then arrived at full maturity. To thefe fhe has added, here and there, the fcarlet clufters of the forb apple, which, fparkling afar over the whitenefs of the fnows, invite the birds to an afy- lum ; fo that the partridge, the moorcock, every fpecies of fnow bird, the hare, the fquirrel, frequently find, under the fhelter of the fame fir, a lodging, food and the means of warmth. But one of the greateft bleffings of Providence to the an- imals of the North, is, the clothing of them with furred garments of long and thick hair, which regularly grow in Winter, and fall off in Summer. Naturalifts, who con- fider the hair of animals as a fpecies of vegetation, are at pains to account for this growth and decay, from the influence of heat. They pretend to fupport their fyftem by the inftance of the human hair and beard, which grow rapidly in Summer. But I would afk them, how it comes to pafs that, in cold countries, horfes which, in Summer, arc fleek and fmooth, affume, in Winter, a long and fhag- gy cpat, like the fleece of a fheep ? To this they reply, STUDY V. igt It is the internal heat of their body, increafed by the ex- ternal aftion of the cold, which produces this wonderful phenomenon. This is all very well. But I am under the neceffity of objefting, that cold does not produce this effeft on the human beard and hair, for it retards their growth ; that, befides, in the cafe of animals on which Providence be- ftows a clothing peculiarly warm, the hair is much longer and thicker on thofe parts of their body that have the leaft natural heat, fuch as the tail, which is very bufhy in horfes, martens, foxes and wolves ; that this hair is fhort and thin on the parts which have moft natural heat, as the belly. Their backs, their ears, and frequently their very paws, are the parts moft amply furniftied with hair. But I fatisfy myfelf with merely propofing this laft objeftion; the external and internal heat of an African lion ought, furely, to be, at leaft, as ardent as that of a Siberian wolf; Whence is it, then, that the firft is fmooth, as if newly fhaven, whereas the other is fhagged up to the eyes ? The cold, which we have been taught to confider as one of the greateft obftacles of vegetation, is as neceffary to certain plants as heat is to others. If thofe of the South could not thrive in the North, thofe of the North would not fucceed better in the South. The Dutch have made many a vain attempt to make the fir grow at the Cape of Good Hope, in order to find a fupply of fhip mafts, which fell at a very high price in India. Many planters, in the Ifle of France, have made attempts, equal- ly fruitlefs, to raife in that ifland the lavender, the daify, the violet, and other plants of our temperate climates. Alexander, who tranfplanted whole nations at his pleaf- ure, could not, with all his efforts, make the ivy of Greece grow in the vicinity of Babylon,* though he was very ambitious of afting, in India, the charafter of Bacchus ia eomplete ftyle. * Sec Plutarch and Pli»y. XCjt STUDIES OF NATURE* I am perfuaded, however, that it might be poflible to fucceed in effecting thefe vegetable tranfmigrations, by employing ice, in the South, for the propagation of north- ern plants as we employ ftoves, in the North, in the pro- pagation of the plants of hot Climates. I do not believe there is a fingle fpot on the Globe, in which we could not, with a little addrefs and induftry, procure ice, as ea- fily as we can procure fait. In the whole courfe of my travels, I have never met with a temperature more fultry than that of the Ifland of Malta, though I have twice croffed the Line, and have paffed a confiderable part of my life in the Ifle of France, where the Sun is vertical twice a year. The foil of Malta confifts of little hills of white ftone, which refleft the rays of the Sun with fo much force, that the eyefight is fenfibly affefted by it ; and when the wind from Africa, known by the name of Syroco, which iflues from the fands of Zara,on its way to melt the ices of the North, comes to pafs over that Ifle, the air is as hot as the breath of an oven. I recolleft, at that feafon, a figure of Neptune in* bronze, on the fea fhore, the metal of which was heated to fuch a degree, that you could fcarcely apply your hand to it. They, howev- er, imported into the ifland fnow from Mount Etna, which is fixty leagues diftant; they kept it for months together, laid on ftraw in vaults, and it was to be bought for a far- thing a pound weight, even when farmed out. Since, then, it is poffible to have ice in Malta, during the Dog Days, I think it might be procured in every country of the Globe. Nature, befides, as we have feen, multiplies icy mountains in the vicinity of hot countries. I may, perhaps, be here reproached with indicating the means of promoting the increafe of luxury ; but as the commonal- ty now live only on the luxury of the rich, my fuggeftion may tend to promote, at leaft, the extenfion of the fcience •f Nature. So far is cold from being the enemy of all plants, that it is in the North we find forefts of the talleft growth, and STUDY V. igg of the greateft extent in the World. It is only at the foot of the eternal fnows of Mount Lebanon, that the ce- dar, the king of vegetables, rifes in all his majefty. The fir, which is, next to him, the greateft tree of our forefts, arrives at a prodigious fize only on icy mountains, and in the cold climates of Norway and Ruffia. Pliny tells us, that the largeft piece of timber which had ever been feen at Rome, up to his time, was a vaft log of fir, a hundred and twenty feet long, and two feet fquare at both ends, which Tiberius had conveyed from the cold mountains of Voltolino, in Piedmont, and which Nero employed in his amphitheatre. You may judge, fays he, what muft have been the length of the tree as it grew when a cutting of it had fuch dimenfions. However, as I believe that Pliny means Roman feet, which are of the fame dimenfion with thofe of the Rhine, we muft fubtraft from this meafure- ment about a twelfth part nearly. He quotes, befides, the fir maft of the veffel which brought from Egypt the obe- lifk that Caligula ordered to be fet up in the Vatican ; this maft was four fathoms in circumference. I know not where it might have grown. But I myfelf have feen firs in Ruffia, compared to which thofe of our temperate clim- ates are mere twigs. Among others I remember to have feen, between Peterfburg and Mofcow, two logs which exceeded in fize the largeft of our maft for fhips of war, though thefe confift of feveral pieces. They were cut from the fame tree, and ferved as mounting blocks at the gate of a peafant's farm yard. The boats which convey provifions from Lake Ladoga to Peterfburg are not much fmaller than thofe which ply between Rouen and Paris. They are conftrufted of fir planks from two to three inches thick, fometimes two feet broad, and whofe length is that of the whole barge. The Ruffian carpenters of the can- tons where they are built, make only a fingle plank out of one tree, timber being in fuch plenty there, that they do not take the trouble to faw it. VOL. 1. uli *94 STUDIfS OF NATURE. Before I had travelled into northern countries, I took it for granted, in conformity to the laws of our Phyfics, that the earth muft there be ftripped of every thing like vegetation, by the rigor of the cold. I was very much af- tonifhed to find there the largeft trees I had ever feen in my life, and growing fo near each other, that a fquirrel could eafily fcamper over great part of Ruffia, without touching the ground, by fpringing from branch to branch. This vaft foreft of fir covers Finland, Ingria, Eftonia, the whole fpace comprehended between Peterfburg and Mofcow, and thence extends over a great part of Poland, where oaks begin to appear, as I know from aftual obfervation, hav- ing travelled through thefe countries. But what I have feen is a very fmall part only of thefe immenfe forefts, for it is well known that they extend from Norway all the way to Kamfchatka, fome fandy deferts excepted ; and from Breflau to the fhores of the Frozen Ocean. I fhall conclude this article with refuting an error al- luded to in the preceding Study ; namely, that cold is di- minifhed in the North, in proportion as the forefts are cut down. As this pofition has been advanced by fome of our moft celebrated Writers, and afterwards retailed, as the cuftom is, by a multitude of others ; it is of importance to overturn it, as being highly prejudicial to rural econo- my. I had long adopted it as inconteftably certain, on the faith of Hiftory ; but I was at length cured of my miftake, not, however, by books, but by fimple peafants. One day in Summer, about two o'clock after noon, be- ing about to crofs the foreft of Ivry, I faw fome fhep- herds with their flocks, who kept at a confiderable dif- tance from it, repofing under the fhade of fome trees that were fcattered up and down through the country. I afked them, Why they did not go, with their flocks, to take fhel- ter in the foreft, from the heat of the Sun. ? They told me it was too hot there at that time of the day, and that they never drove their fheep thither, except in the morn- ing and evening. Being defirous, however, of traverfing, ST U DY V. 19J in broad day, the woods in which Henry IV, had hunted, and of arriving betimes at Anet, to take a view of the country palace of Henry II, and of the tomb of Diana of Poitiers, his miftrefs, I engaged a lad belonging to one of the fhepherds to attend me as a guide, which was a very eafy matter to him, for the great road leading to Anet croffes the foreft in a ftraight line; and it is, on that fide fo little frequented, that 1 found it covered in ma- ny places, with tufts of grafs and ftrawberry plants. I felt all the way, as I walked along, a ftifling heat, and much more ardent than was at that hour felt in the open country. I did not begin to refpire freely, till I had got fairly clear of it, and had made my efcape from the edge of the foreft more than the diftance of three mufket fhot. In other refpefts, thofe fhepherds, that folitude, that filence of the woods, blended with the recolleftion of Henry IV, appeared to me much more affefting and fub- lime, than the emblems of the chace in bronze, and the cyphers of Henry II, interwoven with the crefcents of Diana, which embellifh, on all fides, the domes of the Caftle of Anet. This royal refidence, loaded with an- cient trophies of love, infpired, at firft, a mixed emotion of pleafure and melancholy, which gradually fubfided in- to profound forrow, on recollefting that this love was il- licit ; but this was followed, at laft, by fentiments of ven- eration and refpeft, which took complete poffeflion of my mind, on being informed that, by one of thofe revolutions to which the monuments of men are fo frequently fub- jefted, the caftle was then inhabited by the virtuous Duke of Penthievre. I have fince reflefted on what the fhepherds told me, refpefting the heat of the woods, and on what I myfelf had experienced; and I have, in faft, remarked that, in the Spring, all plants are more forward in the vicinity of woods, and that you find violets in flower on their bor- ders much earlier than you gather them on the open plain, or on a naked hill. Forefts, then, fheUer the land from 10f> STUDIES «F NATURE. cold, in the North ; but what is equally wonderful, they fhelter it likewife from the heat in warm countries. Thefe two oppofite effefts are produced entirely from the dif- ferent forms and difpofition of their leaves. In the North, thofe of the fir, the larch, the pine, the cedar, the juniper, are fmall, gloffy and varnifhed ; their delicacy, their varnifh, and the endlefs variety of their direftion, reflect the heat around them a thoufand different ways : They produce nearly the fame effefts as the hair of the animals of the North, whofe furs are warm in proportion as the hair is fine and gloffy. Befides, the leaves of fome fpe- cies, as of the fir and of the birch, are perpendicularly fufpended from the branches, by long moveable mem- branes, fo that with every breath of the wind they reflect. all around the rays of the Sun, like fo many mirrors. In the South, on the contrary, the palms, the tallipot, the cocoa, the banana, bear large leaves, which, on the fide next the ground, are rather rough than gloffy, and which, fpreading horizontally, form a deep fhade below, where there is not the leaft refleftion of heat. I admit, at the fame time, that the clearing away of forefts difpels the coldnefs occafioned by humidity ; but it increafes the dry and fharp colds of the North, as has been found on the lofty mountains of Norway, which were formerly cultivated, but are now uninhabitable, becaufe they are completely {tripped of their woods. This clearing of the ground likewife increafes the heat in warm countries, as I have had occafion to obferve in the Ifle of France, on feveral parts of the coaft, which are become fo parched, fince every fpecies of tree has been fwept away, that they are at this day abfolutely un- cultivated. The very grafis which pufhes away during the rainy feafon, is in a fhort time quite burnt up by the Sun. What is ftill worfe, there rcfults from this parch- ednefs of the coafts, the drying up of a great many rivu- lets ; for the trees, planted on the heights, attraft thither the humidity of the air, and fix it there, as we fhall fee in STUDY V, *97 the Study on Plants. Befides, by deftroying the trees which are on the high grounds, you rob the valleys of their natural manure, and the plains of the pallifades which fhelter them from the high winds. Thefe winds defolate, to fuch a degree the cultivation in many places, that nothing can be made to grow. I afcribe to this laft piece of mifmanagement the fterility of the heaths in Brittany. In vain has the attempt been made to reftore their ancient fertility : It never can fucceed, till you be- gin with recalling their fhelter and their temperature, by refowing the forefts. But there is a requifite prior even to this; you muft render the peafantry happy. The prof- perity of a country depends, before, and above all things, •n that of its inhabitants. 198 STUDIES OF NATURE. STUDY SIXTH. REPLY TO OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE, FOUNDED ON THE DISORDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. E fhall continue to difplay the fecundity of North- ern Regions, in order to overturn the prejudice, which would afcribe this principle of life, in plants and animals, only to the heat of the South. I could expatiate on the numerous and extenfive chafes of elks, rain deer, water fowls, heath cock, hares, white bears, wolves, foxes, mar- tens, ermines, beavers, &c. which the inhabitants ot the northern diftrifts annually carry on, the very peltry of which, above what they employ for their own ufe, fup- plies them with a very confiderable branch of commerce for the markets of all Europe. But I fhall confine myfelf entirely to their fifheries, becaufe thefe precious gifts of the Waters are prefented to all Nations, and are no where fo abundant as in the North. From the rivers and lakes of the North are extracted incredible multitudes of fifhes. John Schaffer, the accu- rate Hiftorian of Lapland, tells us,* that they catch an- nually at Torneo, no lefs than thirteen hundred boat loads of falmon; that the pike there grow to fuch a fize, that fome are found as long as a man, and that every year they W * Hiftory pf Lapland, by John Schaffer, STUDY VI. 199 fait as many as are fufficient for the fupport of four king- doms of the North. But thefe fifheries, however produc- tive, fall far fhort of thofe of the Seas.* From the bofom of thefe is dragged the enormous whale, which is ufually about fixty feet in length, twenty feet broad over the body and at the tail, eighteen feet high, and which yields up to a hundred and thirty barrels ot oil. The fat is two feet thick, and in cutting it off, they are under the necef- fity of ufing great knives, fix feet long. From the Seas of the North, annually take their depar- ture innumerable fhoals of fifhes, which enrich the fifhers of all Europe ; fuch as cod, anchovies, fturgeon, dory, mackerel, pilchers, herrings, fea dogs, belugas, fea calfs, porpoifes, fea horfe, puffers, fea unicorns, faw fifh, &c..... The fize of them all is confiderably larger than in tem- perate Latitudes, and they are divided into much more numerous fpecies. There are computed as high as twelve fpecies of the whale tribe ; and plaice are caught in thofe feas of the enormous weight of four hundred pounds. But I fhall farther confine myfelf to thofe fifhes which are beft known to us, herrings, for example. It is an in- conteftable flfct, that the Seas of the North every year fend out a quantity more than fufficient to feed all the in- habi tants of Europe. We are in poffeffion of Memoirs which prove, that the herring fifhery was carried on fo far back as the year 1163, in the Straits of Sunda, between the Iflands of Schonon and Seeland. Philip de Mefieres, Governor to Charles VI, relates, in the Old Pilgrim's Dream, that in the year 1 389, during the months of September and Oftober, the quantity of herrings in thofe Straits was fo prodigious, that, " For feveral leagues together you might," fays he, " have cut them with a fword; and it is credibly report- " ed, that there are forty thoufand boats which are em- " ployed in nothing elfe, for two months, but in catching • Confult Frtderk Martens ef Hamburg, aoo studies Of nature* " herrings; each boat containing, at leaft, fix perfons, " and many not lefs than ten ; and befides thefe, there " are five hundred great and fmall veffels of burden, em- " ployed wholly in picking, falting, and barrelling up the " herrings." He makes the number of perfons engaged in this fifhery amount to three hundred thoufand, Pruf- fians and Germans. In 1610, the Dutch, who carry on the herring fifhery ftill farther to the North, where the fifh is better, employ- ed in it three thoufand boats, fifty thoufand fifhermen without reckoning nine thoufand other veffels employed in barrelling, and conveying them to Holland, and a hundred and fifty thoufand perfons, partly at fea, partly on fhore, engaged in the carrying trade, in preparing and felling. At that period they derived a revenue from it, of two millions, fix hundred and fifty thoufand pounds fterling. I myfelf have witneffed in Amfterdam, in 1762, the joy of the populace, expreffed by difplaying ftreamers and flags over the fhops where that fifh was expofed to fale, on the firft arrivals ; and in every ftreet this was the cafe. 1 have been informed in that city, that the Com- pany eftablifhed for carrying on the herring fifhery was richer, and fed more mouths, than the Eaft India Compa- ny. The Danes, the Norwegians, the Swedes, the Ham- burgers, the Englifh, the Irifh, and fome traders of the ports of France, particularly of Dieppe, fitted out veffels for this fifhery, but in too fmall a number for a fall of manna fo plentiful and fo eafily gathered. In 1782, at the mouth of the Gothela, a fmall river which wafhes the walls of Gottenburg, one hundred and thirtynine thoufand barrels were cured by fait, three thoufand feven hundred were fmoked, and two thoufand eight hundred and fortyfive cafks of oil were extracted from what could not be preferved. The Gazette of France,* which contains an account of this fifhery, re- Friday the 11th Oftober, 1782. STUDY VI. 101 maiks tha^ previous to 1752, thefe fifhes had entirely dif- appeared for 72 years together. I afcribe their defertion of this coaft to fome naval engagement, which had chafed them away by the noife of the artillery, as is the cafe with the turtle of the ifland of Afcenfion, which forfake the road for weeks together, when veffels patting that way difcharge their great guns. It may, perhaps, be likewife accounted for, from a conflagration of the forefts, which might have deftroyed the vegetables that attracted them to the coaft. The good Bifhop of Berghen, Pont 'Oppidan, the Fen- tlon of Norway, who introduced into his popular fer- mons, complete trafts of Natural Hiftory, as being ex- cellent articles of Theology, relates,* that when the her- rings coafted along the fhores of Norway, " The whales, " which purfue them in great numbers, and which dart " their water fpouts into the air, give to the Sea, at a " diftance, the appearance of being covered over with " fmoking chimnies. The herrings, in order to elude " the purfuit, throw themfelves clofe infhore into every " little bay and creek, where the water, before tranquil, " forms confiderable fwellings and furges, wherever they " croud to make their efcape. They branch off in fuch " quantities, that you may take them out in bafkets full, " and the country people can even catch them by the " hand." After all, however, that the united efforts of all thefe fifhers can effeft, hardly any impreffion is made on their great general column, which coafts along Ger- many, France, Spain, and ftretches as far as the Straits of Gibraltar; devoured, the whole length of their paf- fage, by an innumerable multitude of other fifhes, and fea fowls, which follow them night and day, till the column is loft on the fhores of Africa, or returns, as other Au- thors tell us, to the Climates of the North. * Pont Oppidan's Natural Hiftory of Norway. VOL. I. C C 202 STUDIES OF NATURE. For my own part, I no more believe that herrings return to the Seas from which they came, than that fruits reaf- cend the trees from which they have once dropped. Na- ture is fo magnificent in the entertainments which fhe provides for Man, that fhe never ferves up the fame difhes a fecond time. 1 prefume, conformably to an obferva- tion of Father Lamberti, a miffionary in Mingrelia, that thefe fifhes accomplifh the circuit of Europe by going up the Mediterranean, and that the extreme boundary of their emigration is the extremity of the Black Sea; and this is the more probable, that the pilchers, which take their de- parture from the fame places, follow the fame track, as is proved by the copious fifheries of them carried on along the coafts of Provence and Ita ly. " Many her- rings," fays Father Lamberti* " are fometimes feen in " the Black Sea ; and in the years when this happens, " the inhabitants of the adjacent countries draw a flatter- " ing prognoftic of a plentiful fturgeon fifhing feafon; '* and they deduce the oppofite conclufion from the non- •' appearance of herrings. There was feen in 1642 a " quantity fo prodigious of them, that the Sea having " thrown them on the fhallows which feparate Trebifond " from the country of the Abcaffes, the whole was cov- " ered and furrounded with a bank of herrings, which " was, at leaft, three hand breadths high. The people of " the country were under dreadful apprehenfions, that " the air would be poifoned by the corruption of thefe " fifhes ; but they were prefently followed by enormous " flocks of crows and rooks, which eat up the herrings, " and cured the honeft folks of their terror. The natives " talk of a fimilar appearance before that period, only the " quantity was much inferior." This immenfe glut of herrings is undoubtedly, matter of aftonifhment ; but how is that aftonifhment increafed, when it is confidered, that this column is not the half of * Account of Mingrelia, Thevenot's Collection. STUDY VI. «0J what annually iffue from the Seas of the North ! It fepa- rates at the northern extremity of Iceland, and while one divifion proceeds to diffufe plenty over the fhores of Eu- rope, the other pufhes forward to convey fimilar benefits to the fhores of America. Anderfon informs us, herrings are in fuch abundance on the coafts of Iceland, that a fliallop can with difficulty force its way through the fhoal by dint of rowing. They are accompanied by an incred- ible multitude of pitchers and cod, which renders fifh fo plenty in the ifland, that the inhabitants have them dried, and reduced to meal with a grindftone, to become food for their oxen and horfes. Father Rale, a jefuit, and an American miffionary, fpeaking of the Savages who inhabit between Acadia and Newengland, tells us,* " That they refort, at a cer- " tain feafon, to a river not far diftant, where, for the " fpace of a month, the fifhes force their way upward in " fuch quantities, that, with hands fufficient, fifty thou- " fand barrels might he filled in a fingle day. Thefe are " a fpecies of very large herrings, moft agreeable to the " tafte when frefh. They are preffed upon each other '* to the thicknefs of a foot, and are taken out by pails " full, like water. The Savages dry them for eight or ten " days, and live on them during their whole feed time." This teftimony is confirmed by a great many others and particularly by a Gentleman of Englifh extraction, but a native of America, who has favoured us with a Hif- tory of Virginia. " In Spring," fays he,f " herrings " pufh upwards, in fuch quantities, along the rivulets and " fords of rivers, that it is almoft impoffible to pafs ort '* horfeback without trampling on thofe fifties.....Hence " it comes to pafs, that at this feafon of the year, thofe " parts of the rivers where the water is frefh, are render- " ed fetid by the fifh which they contain. Befides her- * Inftruftive Letters, Vol. xxiii. page jgg. f Hl^ojy of Virgimia, page 20*.' S04 STUDIES OF NATURE. " rings, may be feen an infinite number of fhads, roach, " fturgeon, and a few lampreys, which find their way " from the Sea up the rivers." It would appear, that another column of thofe fifhes iflues from the North Pole, to the eaftward of our Con- tinent, and paffes through the channel which feparates America from Afia, for we are informed, by a miflionary, that the inhabitants of the land of Yaffo go to Japan, to fell, among other dried fifhes,* herrings alfo. The Span- iards, who have been attempting difcoveries to the north of California, find all the nations of thofe regions to be fifh eaters, and unacquainted with every kind of cultiva- tion. Though they landed there only in the middle of Summer, before, perhaps, the fifhing feafon had com- menced, they found pilchers in the greateft abundance, the native country and emigrations of which are the fame, for vaft quantities of a fmaller fize, are taken at Archan- gel. I have eaten of them in Ruffia, at the table of Ma- refchal Count Munich who called them the anchovies of' the North. But as the Northern Seas, which feparate America from Afia, are not much known to us, I fhall purfue this fifh no farther. I muft, however, obferve, that more than half of thofe herrings are filled with eggs, and if the prop- agation were to go on, to its full extent, for three or four generations only, without interruption, the Ocean itfelf would be unable to contain them. It is obvious to the firft glance of the eye, that the herring produces, at leaft, as many eggs as the carp. M. Petit, a celebrated prac- titioner in Surgery and Medicine, has found, by experi- ment, that the two parcels of eggs, of a carp eighteen inch- es long, weighed eight ounces two drachms, which make four thoufand, feven hundred and fiftytwo grains ; and that it required feventytwo of thefe eggs to make up the weight of one grain; which gives a produft of three hun- * Ecclefiaftical Hiftory of Japan, by Father /. Soliar. Book xix. chap. xi. STU DY VI. 20£ dred fortytwo thoufand, one hundred and fortyfour eggs, contained in one roe weighing eight ounces and two drachms. I have been fomewhat diffufe on the fubjeft of this particular fpecies of fifh, not in the view of promoting our commerce, which, by its offices, its bounties, its priv- ileges, its exclufions, renders every article fcarce with which it intermeddles, but in compaffion to the poorer part of the community, reduced, in many places, to fub- fift entirely on bread, while Providence is bellowing on Europe, in the richeft profufion, the moft delicate fifh, perhaps, that fwims in the Sea.* We are not to form our judgment from thofe that are brought to Paris, after the feafon is over, and which are caught on pur coafts; but from thofe which are caught far to the North, known, in Holland, by the name of pickled herrings, which are thick, large, fat, with the flavour of a nut, fo delicate and juicy, that they melt away in the cooking, and are eaten raw from the pickle, as we do anchovies. The South Pole is not lefs productive of fifhes than the North. The Nations which are neareft to it, fuch as the inhabitants of the iflands of Georgia, of New Zealand, of Maire's Strait, of the Terra del Fuego, of Magellan's Strait, live on fifh, and praftice hufbandry of no kind. That honeft Navigator, Chevalier Narbrught, fays, in his Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, that Port Defire, which lies in 470. 48/ South Latitude, is fo filled with pinguins, fea calves, and fea lions, that any veffel touching there, may find provifions in abundance. All thefe animals, which are there uncommonly fat, live entirely on fifh. When he was in Magellan's Strait, he caught, at a fingle draught of the net, more than five hundred large fifhes, refembling the mullet, as long as a man's legs ; fmelts twenty inches long; a gjeat quantity of fifh like the anchovy : In a word, they * More than one epicure has already made this obfervation : But here is another, on which few arc difpofed to dwell, it it this, that i> aJJ cafes, aad iti all countries, the moft centmen things mre the ieft. tc-6 STUDIES OF NATURE. found, of every fort, fuch an abundant profufion, that they ate nothing elfe during their flay in thofe parts. The beau- tiful mother of pearl fhells, which enrich our cabinets, under the name of the Magellan oyfter, are there of a pro- digious fize, and excellent to eat. The lempit, in like manner, grows there to a prodigious magnitude. There muft be, continues he, on thefe fhores, an infinite number ©f fifhes to fupport the fea calves, the pinguins, and the other fowls, which live folely on fifh, and which are all equally fat, though their number is beyond computa- tion. They one day killed four hundred fea lions, in the fpace of half an hour. Of thefe fome were eighteen feet long. Thofe which are only fourteen fwarm by thouf- ands. Their flefh is as tender and as white as lamb, and excellent food when frefh, but ftill better when it has been fome time in fait. On which I muft make this obferva- tion, that the fifh of cold countries only take in fait eafily, and retain, in that ftate, part of their flavour. It feems as if Nature intended thus to communicate to all the Na- tions of the Globe the abundance of the fifheries which iffue from the frigid Zones. The weftern coaft of America, in that fame Latitude, h not lefs amply fupplied with fifh. " Along the whole fea " coaft," fays the Peruvian Garcillafo dela Vega* " from '* Arequipa to Tarapaca, a track of more than two hun- ** dred leagues in length, they employ no other manure " to dung the land, except the excrement of certain fowls, " called fea fparrows, of which there are flocks fo nu- " merous, as to exceed all belief. They inhabit the def- " ert iflands on the coaft, and by the accumulation of " their ordure, they whiten them to fuch a degree, that, " at fome diftance, they might be taken for mountains " covered with fnow. The Incas referved to themfelves " the right of difpofing of thofe iflands, as a royal boon *• to fuch and fuch a favourite province." Now this dung ♦ Hiftory of the Iacas, book, v, chap. iii. JT¥DY VI. •07 ■was entirely the produce of the fiflies on which thofe fowls conllantly fed. " In other countries, on the fame coaft," fays he,* " fuch as that of Atica, of Atitipa, of Villacori, of Mal- " la and Chilca, they dung the land with the heads of " pilchers, which they fow there in great quantities. " They put them in the ground at fmall intervals from " each other, along with two or three grains of maize. •< At a particular feafon of the year, the Sea throws upon " the fhore fuch quantities of live pilchers, that they *' have an abundant fupply for food, and for manure, and " this to fuch a degree, that after thefe demands were fat- " isfied, they could eafily load whole fhips with the o- " verplus." It is obvious that the coaft of Peru is nearly the boun- dary of the emigration of the pilchers which fet out from the South Pole, as the coafts of the Black Sea are the boundary of that of the herrings which iffue from the North Pole. The continuation and direftion of thefe two bands, the pilchers of the South, and the herrings of the North, are1 nearly of the fame length, and their deftinies are, at laft, fimilar. It would appear as if certain Nereids were annually commiffioned to conduft, from the Poles, thofe innumerable fwarms of fifhes, to furnifh fubfiftence to the inhabitants of the temperate Zones ; and that, hav- ing arrived at the termination of their courfe, in the hot Latitudes, where fruits are produced abundantly, they empty the gleanings of their nets upon the fhore. It will not be fo eafy a tafk, I confefs, to refer to the beneficence of Nature the wars which animals wage with each other. Why fhould beafts of prey exift? Suppof- ing me incapable of refolving this difficulty, Nature muft not be accufed of cruelty becaufe I am deficient in mental ability. She has arranged what we do know, with fuch eonfummate wifdom, that we are bound to give her credit * CoBfalt the fapte Work. »o8 STUDIES OF NATURE* for the fame charafter of wifdom, in cafes where we call* not find her out unto perfeftion. I will have the cour- age, however, to declare my opinion, and to offer a reply to this queftion ; and fo much the rather, as it affords me an opportunitv of prefenting fome obfervations which I confider as at leaft new, if not worthy of attention. Firft of all, Beafts of prey are neceffary. What other- wife would become of the carcaffes of fo many animals, which perifh both on the land and in the water, and which they would, confequently, poifon with infeftion. Sever- al fpecies of carnivorous animals, it muft be allowed, de- vour their prey while yet living. But who can tell wheth- er, in this, they do not tranfgrefs the law of their nature ? Man knows very little of his own Hiftory. How is it poffible he fhould know that of the beafts ? Captain Cook obferved, in a defert ifland of the Southern Ocean, that the fea lions, the fea calves, the white bears, the fots, the eagles, the vultures, lived in perfeft concord, no one tribe giving the leaft difturbance to another. 1 have obferved a ,fimilar good agreement among the fool and the frigat of the Ifland of Afcenfion. But, after all, we muft not com- pliment them too highly on their moderation. It was merely an affociation of plunderers; they lived peaceably together, that they might devour, unmolefted, their com- mon prey, the fifhes, which they all gulped down alive. Let us revert to the great principle of Nature. She has made nothing in vain. She deftines few animals to die of old age ; nay, I believe, that fhe permits Man alone to complete his career of life, becaufe his old age alone can be ufeful to his fellow creatures. To what purpofe would ferve, among the brute creation, grandfires deftitute of refleftion, to progeny brought into exiftence in the maturity of their experience ? On the other hand, what affiftance could decrepit parents find among children, which abandon them, the inftant they have learned to fwim, fly, or walk ? Old age would be to them a burthen from which they are delivered by the ferocious animals. STUDY Vl.' £0£ Befides, from their unobftrufted generations would arifea pofterity without end; which the Globe is not fufficient to contain. The prefervation of individuals would in- volve the extinction of fpecies. Animals might always live, I fhall be told, in a propor- tion adapted to the places which they inhabit; but in that cafe they muft ceafe to multiply; and from that moment farewel the loves, the nefts, the alliances, the forefight, and all the harmonies which fubfift among them. Every thing that is born is doomed to die. But Nature, in de- voting them to death, takes from them that which could render the inftant of it cruel. It is ufually in the night time, and in the hour of fleep, that they fink under the fangs and the teeth of their deftroyers. Twenty ftrokes, fent home in one inftant to the fources of life, afford no leifure to refleft that they are going to loofe it. That fa- tal moment is not embittered to them, by any of the feel- ings which render it fo painful to moft of the Human Race, regret for the paft, and folicitude about futurity. Their unanxious fpirits vanifh into the fhades of night, in the midft of a life of innocence, and frequently during the indulgence of the fond illufions of love. Unknown compenfations may, perhaps, farther fweeten this laft tranfition. I fhall obferve at leaft, as a circum- ilance deferving the moft attentive confideration, that the animal fpecies, whofe life is facrificed to the fupport of that of others, fuch as that of infefts, do not appear pof- feffed of any fenfibility. If the leg of a fly happens to be torn away, the goes and comes as if fhe had loft nothing; the cutting off a limb fo confiderable is followed by no fainting, or convulfion, or fcream, or fymptom of pain whatever. Cruel children amufe themfelves with thruft- ing ftraws into their anus; they rife into the air thus em- paled ; they walk about, and perform all their ufual mo- tions, without feeming to mind it. Others take lady birds, tear off a large limb, run a pin through the nerves and car- tilages of the thigh, and attach them with a flip of paper VOL. i. d 4 tlO STUDIES OF NATURX. to a flick. Thefe unfeeling infefts fly humming round and round the flick, unweariedly, and without any ap- pearance of fuffering pain. Reaumur one day cut off the flefhy and mufcular horn of a large caterpillar, which con- tinued to feed as if no mutilation had taken place. Is it poffible to think, that beings fo tranquil in the hands of children and philofophers, endure any feeling of pain when they are gobbled down in the air by the birds ? Thefe obfervations might eafily be extended much far- ther : Particularly to that clafs of fifhes, which have nei- ther bone nor blood, and of thefe confift the greateft num- ber of the inhabitants of the Seas, and they appear to be equally void of fenfibility. I have feen, between the Tropics, a tunny, from the nape of whofe neck one of the failors fcooped out a large flice of the flefh, with a ftroke of the harpoon, which was forced backward to his head, who followed the fhip for feveral weeks, and was outdone by no one of his companions, either in fpeedor in frifkinefs. I have feen fharks, after being ftruck with mufket bullets, return to bite at the hook from which they had juft before efcaped, with their mangled throat. We fhall find, befides, a greater analogy between fifhes and infefts, if we confider that neither have bones nor blood; that their flefh is impregnated with a glutinous liquid, and which likewife appears to be the fame in both, from its emitting the fame odour when burnt; that they do not refpire by the mouth, but by the fides, infefts by the trachea, fifhes by the gills; that they have no audito- ry organ, but hear by means of the nervous impreffion made on their bodies by the commotion of the fluid ele- ment in which they live; that they fee all round the hor- izon from the difpofition of their eyes; that they equally run to the light; that they difcover the fame avidity, and are, for the moft part, carnivorous ; that, in both genera, the female is larger than the male; that thefe throw out their eggs, to an infinite number, without fitting on them : That moft fifhes pafs, on their birth, through the ftate of STUDY VI. Sit infefts, iffuing from their eggs, in form of worms, and even fome in that of frogs, fuch as a fpecies of fifh in Surinam ; that both are cafed in fcales; that many fifhes are provided with beards and horns, like infefts; that both the one and the other contain, in their categories, an incredible variety of forms, peculiar to themfelves; final- ly, that their conftitutions, their metamorphofes, their manners, their fecundity, being the fame, there is a pow- erful temptation to afcribe to thefe two numerous claffes, the fame infenfibility. As to animals which have blood, let Mallebrancke, fay what he pleafes, they are fenfible. They exprefs a fenfe of pain by the fame figns which we do. But Nature has fenced them with thick hides, with long hair, with a plum- age, which proteft them againft external blows. Befides, they are little, if at all, expofed to cruel treatment, ex- cept from the hands of bad men. Let us now proceed to confider the generation of ani- mals. We have feen that the greateft and moft numer- ous fpecies of the Globe, in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, are produced in the North, independently of the heat of the Sun. Let us now enquire, whether the prolific power of fermentation be greater in the South. Certain Egyptians told Herodotus, that particular fpe- cies of animals were formed of the fermented mires of the Ocean, and of the Nile. Whatever refpeft I have for the Ancients, I abfolutely rejeft their authority in Phyfics. Moft of their Philofophers have a fufficiently ftriking re- femblance to our own. They obferved fparingly, and reafoned copioufly. If fome of them, in the view of fpeaking peace to voluptuous Princes, have advanced that every thing proceeded from corruption, and returned to corruption again, others more honeft and fincere have re- futed them, even in the earlieft times. It is not only certain, that corruption produces no one living body, but is fatal to all, efpecially to thofe which have blood, and chiefly to Man. No air is unwholefomc STUDIES OF NATURE. but where there is corruption. How could fuch a prin- ciple have generated in animals, feet provided with toes, nails and claws ; {kins clothed with fo many forts of hair and plumage ; jaws palifaded with teeth cut out into a form adapted, fome for cutting, and others for grinding ; heads adorned with eyes, and eyes furniftied with lids to defend them from the Sun ? How could the principle of corruption have collefted thefe fcattered members ; unite them by nerves and mufcles ; fupport them by bony fub- ftances, fitted with pivots and hinges ; feed them with veins filled with a blood which circulates, whether the an- imal be in motion or at reft ; cover them with fkins fo admirably provided with hairy furs, precifely adapted to the Climates which they inhabit; afterwards, make them move by the combined aftion of a heart and a brain, and give to all thefe machines, produced in the fame place, and formed of the fame flime, appetites and inftinfts fo entirely different ? How could it have infpired them with the fenfation of themfelves, and kindled in them the de- fire of reproducing themfelves by any other method than that which originally gave them exiftence ? Corruption, fo far from conferring life on them, muft have deprived them of it, for it generates tubercles, in- flames the eyes, diffolves the blood, and produces an infi- nite number of difeafes in moft animals which refpire its emanations.* The fermentation of any fubftance what- * Of all corruptions, that of the human flefh is moft noxious. Of this a very fingular inftance is related by Garcillafo de la Vega, in his Hiftory of the Civil Wars of the Spaniards, in the Indies. Vol. i. Part ii. Chap. xlii. He obfcrves, firft, that the Indians, of the Iflands of Barlovento, poifon their arrows, by plunging the points of them into dead bodies ; and then adds, " I fhall relate what I myfelf faw happen in the cafe of one of the " quarters of the dead body of Carvajal, which was expofed on the great " road to Collafuyu, to the fouth of Cufco. We fet out a walking one " Sunday, ten or twelve fchool fellows of us, all mongrels, that is, the •• progeny of Spanifh men by Indian women, the oldeft not above twelve " years of age. Having obferved, as we went along in the open country, «' one of the quarters of Carvajal's body, we took a fancy to go and look f at it, and having come up, wc found it was one of his thighs, the fat of STUDY VI. 21J ever could have formed no one animal, nor even the egg from which it iffued. We find in the dunghills of our great towns, where fo many fubftances ferment, organic ** which had dropped to the ground. The flefh was greenifh, and entirely *' corrupted. While we were examining this mournful fpeftacle, a forward *' boy chanced to fay, I could wager no one here dares to touch it; an- •* other replied, he would. At laft the ftouteft of all, whofe name was «• Bartholomew Monedero, imagining he was going to perform an aft of •• courage, plunged the thumb of his right hand into this putrid limb, " which it eafily penetrated. This bold aftion aftonifhed every one, to *• fuch a degree, that we all run away from him, for fear of infeftion, call- «' ing out, O abominable ! Carvajal will make you pay dear for this rafh- " nefs. He went, however, inftantly to the brook, which was clofe by *' the fpot, wafhed his hand feveral times, rubbing it over with clay, and «' fo returned home. Next day he returned to fchool, where he fhewed »« us his thumb, which was fwollen prodigioufly ; but towards evening the «• whole hand had beeome inflamed up to the wrift ; and next day, which " was Tuefday, the arm had fwelled up to the elbow, fo that he was re- " duced to the neceflity of difclofing the cafe to his father. Profeffional •• men were immediately called in, who had the arm tightly bandaged, a- ** bove the fwelling, and applied every remedy which art and experience «• could fuggeft as a counter poifon. After all, notwithftanding, k nearly •' coft the patient his life ; and he recovered not without fuffering intolera- •• ble pain, after having been for four months fo enfeebled, as to be inc«- *' pable of holding the pen." From this anecdote it may be concluded, how dangerous the putrid e- manations from our church yards muft be to the inhabitants of cities. Pa- rifh Churches in which fo many corpfes are interred, become impregnated with an airfo corrupted, efpecially in Spring, when the ground begins to grow warm, that I confider this as one of the chief fources of the fmall pox, and of the putrid fevers which are prevalent at that feafon. An unfavoury fmell then iflues from it which makes the ftomach rife. I have felt this to an infufferable degree in fome of the principal Churches of Paris. This fmell is extremely different from that produced by a croud of living people, for we are affefted with no fuch fenfatiou in the Churches of Con. vents, where few only are interred. It would be a curious fubjeft of enquiry to Anatomifts, Why the putre- faftion of dead bodies fhould deftroy the animal economy of moft beings, while it makes no derangement in that of carnivorous animals. Many fpe- cies of infefts and fifhes live on carrion. 1 remark that the greateft part of thefe have no blood, which is the firft fluid that corruption lays hold of, and that the apertures through which they breathe are not the fame with thoft by which they take in their food. But thefe reafons, it muft be allowed, arc inapplicable t» vultures, ravons, and ether birds of prey. S14 STUDIES OF NATURE. particles of every fpecies ; entire bodies of animals, blood, plants, falts, oils, excrements, fpirits, minerals, fubftances mbre heterogeneous, and more combined by Man in a ftate of fociety, than ever the waves of the Ocean accu- mulated and confounded on its fhores : There was never found there, however, a fingle organized body. It muft not be affirmed, that the heat neceffary to their expanfion is there wanting, for it exifts in every poffible degree, from ice up to fire. Salts cryftalize in them, and fulphurs are formed. There was picked up in Paris it- felf, fome years ago, fulphur formed by Nature, in ancient dunghills of the time of Charles IX. We fee, every day, that fermentation may be excited in dung to fuch a de- gree, as to catch fire. Nay, its moderate heat is fo fav- ourable to the expanfion of germs, that it is employed for the hatching of chickens. But the combinations of all thefe fubftances never produced any thing living, or organized. What do I fay ? The firft operations of Na- ture, which we wifh to explain, are covered in fo many myfteries, that an egg with an aperture ever fo fmall lofes its prolific power. The flighteft contaft with the exte- rior air, is fufficient to extinguifh in it the radical princi- ples of life. It is neither matter, then, nor degrees of heat, which are wanting to Man, to imitate Nature in the pretended creation of beings ; and this power, ever yOung and aftive, has by no means wafted itfelf, as it ii always exerting itfelf in their reproduction ; a difplay of omnipotence equally wonderful with that of conferring exiftence at the firft. The wifdom with which fhe has fettled their propor- tions, is not lefs worthy of admiration. On a careful ex- amination of animals, we fhall find no one deficient in its members, regard being had to its manners, and the Actua- tion in which it is deftined to live. The large and long bill of the toucan, and his tongue formed like a feather, were neceffary to a bird who hunts for infefts, fcattered about over the humid fands of the American fhores. It «TUDY Vf. *»o was needful that be fhould be provided, at once, with a long mattock wherewith to dig, with a large fpoon to collect, his food, and a tongue fringed with delicate nerves, to enjoy the relifh of it. Long legs and a long neck were neceffary to the heron, to the crane, to the fla- mingo, and other birds, which have to walk in marfhy places, and to feek their prey under the water.' Every animal has feet, and a throat, or a bill, formed in a moft wonderful manner, to fuit the foil which they have to tread, and the food by which they are to be fupported. From the different configurations of thefe, Naturalifts de- rive the charafters which diftinguifh beafts of prey from fuch as live on vegetable fubftances. Thefe organs have never been wanting to the neceffities of animals, and are themfelves indelible as their inftinfts. I have feen, up in the country, ducks brought up at a diftance from water, for feveral generations, which, nev- erthelefs, retained on their feet the broad membranes of their fpecies, and which, on the approach of rain, clapped their wings, fcreamed aloud, called upon the clouds, and feemed to complain to Heaven of the injuftice of Man, who had banifhed them from their element. No animal wants any one neceffary member, or is encumbered with one that is fuperfluous. Some philofophers have confid- ered the fpurs appended to the heels of the hog as ufelefs, hecaufe they do hot bear upon the ground; but this ani- mal, deftined to live in fwampy places, where he delights to wallow, and to make, with his fnout, deep trenches in the mire, would frequently fink under the impulfe of gluttony, had not Nature placed above his heels two prom- inent cxcrefcences, which affift him in getting out again. The ox, who frequents the marfhy banks of rivers, is provided with nearly fimilar weapons. The hippopota- mus, who lives in the water, and upon the banks of the Nile, is furnilhed with a cloven foot, and, above the paf- tern, with two fmall horny fubftances, which bend back- ward as he walks, fo that he leaves on the fand an im- 2l6* Studies of nature; preffion, which feems to have been made by the prefTufc! of four paws. The defcription of this amphibious ani- mal may be feen toward the end of Dampier's Voyages. How was it poffible for enlightened men to mifunder- ftand the ufe of thefe acceffory members, the form of which is imitated by fome of our country clowns, in ftilts; which, from this very refemblance, they call hogs feet\ and which they employ in wading through marfhy ground ? .Thefe fame clowns have, in like manner, imitated that of the pointed and divergent fpurs of the goat's foot, which affift them in fcrambling over the rocks, in their pikes fhod with two iron points, contrived to prevent the back- ward motion of loaded carriages, on the declivity of mountains. Nature, who varies her means with the obftacles to be furmounted, has bellowed the appendix excrefcences on the heels of the hog, for the fame reafon that fhe has clothed the rhinoceros with a hide rolled up in feveral folds, in the midft of the torrid Zone. This clumfy ani- mal has the appearance of being invefted with a threefold mantle : But, being deftined to live in the miry moraffes of India, where he grubs up with his horny fnout the long roots of the bamboo, he would have been in danger of finking, from his enormous weight, had he not been en- dowed with the ftrange faculty of extending, by blowing himfelf up, the multiplied folds of his fkin, and of ren- dering himfelf lighter, by occupying a larger fpace. What to us appears, at firft fight, a deficiency in ani- mals, is, you may reft perfeftly affured a moft wonderful compenfation of Providence ; and it would be, in many cafes, an exception from her general laws, if fhe had any other than the utility and happinefs of the beings which fhe has formed. Hence fhe has given to the elephant a probofcis, which ferves him, like a hand, as he fcrambles over the rougheft mountains, where he delights to live, in picking up the grafs of the field, and the foliage of the STUDY VI. 217 trees, which the thicknefs and inflexibility of his neck would not permit him otherwife to reach. She has infinitely varied, among the animal creation, the means of defence, as well as thofe of fubfiftence. It is impoffible to fuppofe that thofe which move flowly, or which fcream violently, are in a ftate of habitual fuffer- ing : For how could a race of creatures always fickly perpetuate itfelf, nay, become one of the moft univerfally diffufed of the whole Globe ? The fluggard, or floth, is found in Africa, in Afia and in America. His tardinefs is no more a paralytic affeftion, than that of the turtle and of the fnail. The cries which he utters, when you go near him, are not the cries of pain. But among ani- mals, fome being deftined to roam about over the face of the Earth, others to remain fixed on a particular poft, their means of defence are varied with their manners. Some elude their enemies by flight ; others repel them by hiffings, by hideous figures, by poifonous fmells, or lamentable cries. There are fome which deceive the eye, fuch as the fnail, which affumes the colour of the walls, or of the bark of trees, to which he flees for refuge ; oth- ers, by a magic altogether inconceivable, transform them- felves, at pleafure, into the colour of furrounding objefts, as the cameleon. O, how fteril is the imagination of Man, compared to the intelligence of Nature ! He has produced no one thing, in any line whatever, of which he has not borrow- ed the model from her Works. Genius itfelf, about which fuch a noife is made, this creative genius, which our wits fondly imagine they brought into the world with them, and have brought to perfeftion in learned circles, or by the affifiance of books, is neither lefs nor more than the art of obferving. Man cannot forfake the path of Nature, even when he is determined to go wrong. We are wife only with her wifdom : And we play the fool only in proportion as we attempt to derange her plans. vol. i. li. e *l8 STUDIES OF NATURE. The graver of Callot, fo prolific of monfters, never patched up fo many frightful demons, as the ill afforted members of different animals, the beak of the owl, the jaws of the crocodile, the body of the horfe, the wings ot the bat, the fangs and the paws which he has united to the human figure, to render his contrafts more hideous. Our female friends, too, who, fweetly capricious, amnfe them- felves with embroidering fancy flowers on the various ar- ticles of their drefs, are reduced to the neceffity of bor- rowing their patterns from the garden. Examine, on their gowns and handkerchiefs, the fportive produftions of their imagination : There you have the flower of the pink, on the foliage of the myrtle ; rofes on the ftalk of the reed ; pomegranates in the place of ears of corn. Nature alone produces none but rational harmonies ; and afforts, in both animals and plants only parts adapted to the pla- ces, to the air, to the elements, to the ufes, for which fhe has deftined them. Never was a race of monfters beheld iffuingfrom the fublimity of her conceptions. I have frequently heard living monfters announced for exhibition at our fairs ; but I never had the fortune to fee a fingle one, whatever trouble I could take to that effeft. One day a placard was difplayed, at the fair of Saint Ov- ide, " a cow with three eyes, and a fheep with fix feet." I had a curiofity to fee thefe animals, and to examine in- to the ufe which they made of organs and members, to my apprehenfion, entirely fuperfluous. How, faid I to myfelf, Nature plant fix legs under the body of a fheep, when four were amply fufficient to fupport it ? At the fame time, I began to recolleft, that the fly, who is much lighter than the fheep, had fix; and this refleftion, I ac- knowledge, ftaggered me. But having one day obferved a fly which had alighted on the paper before me, I found fhe frequently employed herfelf in alternately brufhing her head and wings with the two fore and the two hinder feet. I then evidently perceived, that fhe had occafion for fix feet, in order to have the fupport of four, while the STUDY VI. SIQ •ther two were applied to the brufhing fervice, efpecial- ly on a perpendicular plane. Having caught, and exam- ined her by the microfcope, I difcovered that the two middle feet had no brufh, but that the other four had. I farther obferved, that her body was covered over with particles of duft, which adhere to it, in the atmofphere through which fhe flies; and that her brufhes were double, furnifhed with fine hairs, between which fhe emitted, and drew back, at pleafure, two claws, fimilar to thofe of a cat, but incomparably fharper. Thefe claws enable the fly to lay hold of the moft polifhed furfaces, fuch as the glafs of mirrors, along which you fee them march upward and downward, without Aiding. I was very curious to fee in what manner Nature had at- tached two new legs to the body of a fheep, and how fhe had formed, in order to put them in motion, new nerves, new veins and new mufcles, with their infertions. The third eye of the cow perplexed me ftill more. I had nothing for it, then, but, like other fimpletons, to part with my money for the gratification of my curiofity. The people were coming out in crowds, from the repofitory of thofe wonders, delighted and aftonifhed with their pennyworth. At laft, I too had the fatisfaftion of contemplating the marvellous fight. The two fuperfluous legs of the fheep were nothing but two fhrivelled pieces ot fkin, cut out like thongs, and hanging down from the breaft, but with- out touching the ground, and incapable of being of any ufe whatever to the poor animal. The pretended third eye of the cow, was a kind of oval wound in the middle of the forehead, without orbit, without apple, without a lid, and without any membrane which prefented one fingle organized part of an eye. I withdrew, without examining whether thefe accidents were natural or artificial, for, in truth, it was not worth the trouble. The monfters which are preferved in cryftal globes filled with fpirit of wine, fuch as pigs with the probofcis of an elephant; children double bodied, or with two 220 STUDIES OF MATURE. heads, which are exhibited in cabinets, with a philofophie myfterioufnefs, prove much lefs a laboured produftion of Nature than the interruption of it. No one of thofe be- ings could poffibly have attained a complete expanfion : And fo far from demonftratlng, that the intelligence which produced them had fallen into a blunder, they at- teft, on the contrary, the immutability of Supreme Wif- dom, which has rejefted them from its plan, by refufing them life. There is a benignity, in the conduft of Nature toward Man, which challenges the higheft admiration : It is this, that in defying him, on the one hand, to infringe the reg- ularity of her laws, to gratify caprice ; on the other, fhe frequently permits him to derange the courfe of fome of them, to relieve his neceflities. For inftance, fhe con- nives at the produftion of the mule from the copulation of the afs and the mare, becaufe that animal is fo fervice- able in mountainous countries, but pofitively forbids the reproduftion to proceed, in order to preferve the primi- tive fpecies, which are of more general utility. It is eafy to difcern, in moft of her works, thefe mater- nal condefcenfions and, May I call them fo ? regal pro- vifions. They manifeft themfelves particularly in the produftions of the garden. We find them in thofe of our flowers which have a profufion of corolla:, as in the double rofe, which is not reproduced by feeds, and which, for this reafon, certain Botanifts have dared to brand with the name of monfter, though it be the fincft of flowers, in the eftimation of all perfons of tafte and fenfi- bility. Naturalifts pretend, that it deviated from the laws of Nature, becaufe it fcorned to conform to their Syftems : As it the firft of laws, which governs the World, had not for its objeft the happinefs of Man 1 But if rofes, and other flowers, which have a fuperabundance of corolla-, are monfters, fruits which have a fuperabun- dance of pulpy flefh, and fugary paftes, of no ufe toward the expanfion of their feeds, fuch as apples, pears, met- STUDY VI, 2S1 »ns and fruits which have no feeds at all, as the pine apple, the banana, the bread fruit, all thefe muft likewife be monfters. The roots which become fo plump in our kitchen gardens, and which are converted into large balls, into fucculent glands, into bulbs farinaceous, and of no effeft toward the expanfion of their ftems, muft, forfooth, be all monfters. Nature feeds the human race, in part, only with this vegetable fuperabundance, and bellows it only as the re- ward of Induftry. However fertile the foil may be, the vegetables of the fame fpecies with thofe which are pro- duced in the garden, degenerate in the uncultivated plain, grow wild, and fpend themfelves in foliage and branches. Is it not, therefore, an inftance of wonderful complaifance on the part of Nature, that fhe fhould transform, under the hand of Man, into pleafant and wholefome aliment, the fame juices which would be converted, in the foreft, into lofty ftems, and tough roots? Where this conde- fcenfion withheld, in vain would man fay to the fap of trees, you fhall flow into the fruit, and you fhall go no farther. To no purpofe would he, in the moft fertile region, prune, crop, nip ; the almond tree would refufc to cover its nut with a flefhy melting pulp, like that of the peach. Nature, from time to time, makes Man a prefent of vari- eties both ufeful and agreeable, which fhe extrafts from the fame genus. All our fruit trees come originally from the foreft, and no one there repcrpetuates itfelf in its fpe- cies. The pear called Saint Germain was found in the foreft of that name, with its well known flavour. Na- ture culled it, like the other fruits of our orchards, from the table of the animal, to ferve it up on that of Man; and that it might be impoffible for us to doubt refpecting her bounty and its origin, it is her fovereign will that the feeds fhould reproduce crabs only. Ah ! if fhe' were to fufpend her particular laws of beneficence in the gardens of our mifcreants, in order to clhibiifh in them her pre- 222 STUDIES OF NATURE. tended general laws, what would be their aftonifhment t9 find nothing reproduced in their kitchen gardens and orchards, but fome miferable wild carrots, pitiful dog rofes, harfh pears, and unfavoury fruits of every fort, fuch as fhe produces, on the mountains, for the coarfe palate of the wild boar! They would, in truth, find ftems of trees lofty and vigorous. Their orchards would be doub- led in fize, and the crops reduced to one half. The fame metamorphofis would take place in the an- imals of their farm yards. The hen, which lays eggs much too large in proportion to her fize, and that for nine months uninterruptedly, contrary to all the laws of incubation among the feathered race, would then fall back into the general order, and would produce, at far- theft, twenty eggs in the courfe ot a year. The hog would, in like manner, lofe his fuperfluous fat. The cow, which yields, in the rich paftures of Normandy, up to twentyfour quarts of milk a day, would give no more than a bare fufficiency to fuckle her calf. To this it is replied, that this profufion of eggs, of fat, and of cream, from our domeftic animals, is the effeft of their copious feeding. But neither does the mare give as much milk as the cow, nor does the duck lay as many eggs as the hen, nor does the afs clothe himfelf with fat like the hog, though thefe animals all feed as plentifully the one as the other. Befides, the mare, the fhe goat, the ewe, the fhe afs, have only two teats, whereas the cow has four. The cow, in this refpeft, deviates, in a very remarkable manner, from the general laws of Nature ; who has ad- julled, in every animal fpecies, the number of teats in the mother to that of the young ; fhe, however, is furnifhed wi,th four paps, though fhe produces but one calf, and very rarely two ; becaufe the two fupernumeraries were deftined to be nurfes to the Human Race. The fow it is granted, has only twelve teats, though fhe is intended to bring up, fometimes, a litter of fifteen or more* Here I T U D Y VI. a«3 the proportion feems defeftive. But if the firft has more teats than are requifite to the number of her family, and the fecond too few for her's, it is becaufe the one is or- dained to prefent Man with the furplus of her milk, and the other with that of her brood. In all countries, pork is the poor man's meat, unlefs religion, as in Turkey, or political confiderations, as in the iflands of the South Sea, deprive him of the benefit of this gift of Nature. I fhall obferve, with Pliny, that of all flefh it is by far the moft favoury. There may be diftinguifhed in it, fays he, up to fifty different relifhes. It is employed in the kitch- ens of the rich to give flavour to every fpecies of ali- ment. In every country, I repeat it, that which is befl is always moft common. Is it not paffing ftrange that, when fo many plants and animals exhibit proportions fo beautiful, adaptations fo wonderful to our neceffities, and proofs fo evident of a Divine Benevolence, we fhould fet about collecting fhape- lefs abortions, pigs with a long probofcis, as if our yards teemed with young elephants, and ceremonioufly arrange them in our cabinets, defigned to exhibit a difplay of Nature ? Thofe who preferve them as invaluable curiof- ities, and deduce from them confequences and doubts refpefting the intelligence of their Author, Do they not difcover as much want of tafte, and act as unfairly, as one who fhould go into the workfhop of a Founder, and pick up the figures which had been accidentally mutil- ated, the bubblings over of the melting pot, and the mere metallic moulds which might lie fcattered about, and triumphantly difplay them as a proof of the Artift's blun- dering ignorance ? The Ancients burnt monfters, the Moderns preferve them in fpirit of wine. They refemble thofe ungracious children, who watch their mother, in the hope of fur- prifing her in a fault, that they may arrogate to them- felves a right to do what they pleafe. Oh ! if the Earth were indeed abandoned to diforder, and that after an in- 224 STUDIES OF NATURE. finity of combinations, there fhould at leaft appear, amidft the monfters which covered it, a fingle body well pro- portioned, and adapted to the neceffities of Man, what a fource of fatisfaftion would it be to creatures at once fenfible and unhappy, to catch but a glimmering of an Intelligence, fome where, who took an intereft in their deftiny ? STUDY VI?. 22^ STUDY SEVENTH. REPLIES TO THE OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE, FOUNDED ON THE CALAMITIES OF THE HUMAN RACE. 1 HE arguments, deduced from the varieties of the Hu- man Race, and from the evils accumulated by the hand" of Nature, by Governments, and by Religions, on the head of Man, attempt to demonftrate, that men have nei- ther the fame origin, nor any natural fuperiority above the beafts ; that their virtues are deftitute of all profpeft of reward, and that no Providence watches over their neceffities, to fupply them. We fhall enquire into thofe evils, one after another, beginning with fuch as are imputed to Nature; the ne- ceffity and utility of which we fhall endeavour to make appear ; and fhall afterwards demonftrate, that political evils are to be afcribed entirely to deviations from the law of Nature, and conftitute, themfelves, a proof of the ex- iftence of a Providence. Our difcuffion of this interefting fubjeft fhall com- mence with a reply to the objections founded on the va- rieties of the human fpecies. We pretend not to deny, that there are men black and white, copper coloured and pale. Some have a beard, others little, if any. But thefe pretended charafters are accidents merely, as has been al- ready fhewn. Horfes white, bay or black, with frizzled VOL. I. F f *26 STUDIES OF NATURE. hair, as thofe of Tartary, or with fleek, fmooth hair, as thofe of Naples, arc unqueftionably animals of the fame fpecies. The Albinos, or white Negroes, are a fpecies of Lepers ; and no more form a particular race of Ne- groes, than perfons with us who have been marked by the fmall pox form a race of fpotted Europeans. Thouo-h it does not enter into my plan here to detail all the natural adaptations, which may be oppofed to all the accufations of our wretched fyftems of Phyfics, and though I have referved, in the profecution of this under- taking, fome Studies exprefsly devoted to this objeft, as far as my poor ability enables me, I fhall, however, by the way, obferve, that the black colour is a bleffing of Providence to the inhabitants of tropical countries. White reflefts the rays of the Sun, and black abforbs them. The firft, accordingly, redoubles his heat, and the fec- ond weakens it. Experience demonftrates this in a. thouf- and different ways. Nature has employed, among other means, the oppofite effeft of thefe colours, for multiply- ing, or weakening, on the Earth, the heat of the Orb of day. The farther you advance toward the South, the blacker are men and animals ; and the farther you pro- ceed northward, the whiter is the colour of both the one and the other. Nay, when the Sun withdraws from the northern regions, many animals which were there, in Summer, of different colours, begin to whiten; fuch as fquirrels, wolves, hares......and thofe of the fouthern re- gions, to which he is approaching, then clothe themfelves with tints deeper and more abforbent. Such are, in the feathery race, the widow, the cardinal, &c. which exhibit much more powerful colouring, when the Sun approaches toward the Line, than when he is retiring from it, it is therefore, by adaptations of climate, that Nature has made the inhabitants of the torrid Zone black, as fhe has whit- ened thofe of the icy Zones. She has given, befides, an- other prefervative againft the heat to the Negroes who inhabit Africa, which is the hotteft part of the Globe, STUDY VII. *27 principally by reafon of that broad belt of fand which croffes it, and whofe utility we have indicated. She has covered the head of thofe carelefs and uninduftrious tribes, with a fleece more crifp than a tiffue of wool, which effeftually fhelters it from the burning heat of the Sun. They are fo perfeftly fenfible of its accommoda- tion to this purpofe, that they never employ a fubftitute head drefs ; and there is no defcription of Mankind among whom artificial coverings, as bonnets, turbans, hats, &c. are more rare, than among the Negroes. They ufe fuch as are foreign to them, merely as objefts of vanity and luxury, and I do not know of any one that is peculiar to their Nation. The inhabitants of the peninfula of India are as black as they ; but their turbans communicate to the hair, which, but for their head drefs, would, perhaps, be frizzled, the facility of growing and expanding. The American tribes which inhabit under the Line, are not black, it muft be admitted ; they are fimply cop- per coloured. I afcribe this weakening of the black tint to feveral caufes peculiar to their country. The firft is, the univerfal praftice of rubbing themfelves over with roucou {a kind of fweet fcented pafte) which preferves the furface of their fkin from the too vehement impreffion of the Sun. Secondly, they inhabit a country clothed with forefts, and croffed by the greateft river in the World, which covers it with vapours. Thirdly, their territory rifes infenfibly from the fhores of Brafil, up to the moun- tains of Peru ; which, giving it a greater elevation in the Atmofphere, procures for it, likewife, a greater degree of coolnefs. Fourthly, in a word, the Eaft Winds, which blow there inceffantly, night and day, are always contrib- uting to that coolnefs. Finally, the colour of all thofe Nations is fo much the effeft of Climate, that the defcendants of Europeans, fet- tled there, affume the black tint after a lapfe of fome gen- erations. This is evidently perceptible in India, in the pofterity of the Moguls, tribes derived from the extremity 228 STUDIES OF NATURE. of Afia, whofe name fignifies whites, and who arc this day as black as the Nations which they have conquered. Tallnefs of ftature no more characterizes fpecies, be the genus what it may, than difference of colour. A dwarf and a large apple tree proceed from the fame grafts. Nature, however, has rendered it invariable in the Human Species alone, becaufe variety of magnitude would have deftroyed, in the phyfical order, the proportions of Man with the univerfality of her produftions, and becaufe it would have involved, in the moral order, confequences ftill more dangerous, by fubjefting, beyond recovery, the fmaller fpecies of Mankind to the greater. There are no races of dwarfs, nor of giants. Thofe which are exhibited at fairs, are little men contracted, or tall overgrown fellows, without proportion and without vigor. They reproduce not themfelves either in minia- ture or magnitude, whatever pains may have been taken by certain Princes to procure a diftinft propagation ; a- mong others, by the late King of Pruffia, Frederic II. Befides, Do fufficient varieties of proportion of the Hu- man Species iffue from the hand of Nature to merit the diftinftive appellation of dwarfs and giants ? Is there be- tween any two of them fo great a difference, as between a little Sardinian poney and a huge Brabant horfe; as be- tween a fpaniel, and one of the large Danifh dogs which run before our coaches ? All nations have been from the beginning, and ftill are, with very little difference, and very few exceptions, of the fame ftature. I have feen Egyptian Mummies, and the bodies of the Guanches * of the Canary iflands wrap- * Guanches, are the fkeletons, covered with the (kin, of the original inhabitants of the Canary Iflands. The body of the Guancho was depofi;cd in a cavity adapted to its fize, hewn out of the rock. The ftone being of a porous nature, the animal juices were abforbed, or filtered through, and the folid parts, with their natural Ikinny mantle, became indurated, by a pro- cefs of natural embalming, to fuch a degree as to refill the future aflaults of, time. They are ftill exhibited, by the natives of thofe iflands, to llrangers who vifit them, with emotions of pride and veneration ; as the images o» STUDY VII. 22Q ped up in their fkins. I have feen in Malta, in a tomb hewn out of the folid rock, the fkeleton of a Carthaginian, all the bones of which were violet coloured, and which had, perhaps, lain there from the days of Queen Dido. All thefe bodies were of the common fize. Enlightened and fober minded Travellers have reduced to a ftature hardly exceeding our own, the pretended gigantic torm of the Patagonians. I am aware that I have elfewhere alleged thefe fame reafons ; but it is impoffible to re- peat them too frequently, becaufe they overturn, beyond the poffibility of contradiction, the pretended influences of Climate, which are become the principles of our Phyf- ics, and, what is ftill worfe, of our Morality. There were formerly, we are told, real giants. The thing is poffible; but this truth is become to us incon- ceivable, like all others of which Nature no longer fur- nifhes any teftimony. If Polyphemufes, lofty as a tower, ever exifted, every ftep they took in walking muft, in moft foils, have funk into the ground. How could their long and clumfy fingers have milked the little fhe goats, reaped the corn, mowed down the grafs, picked the fruits of the orchard ? The greateft part of our aliments would efcape their eyes as well as their hands. On the other hand, had there been generations of pigr mies, how could they have levelled the forefts to make way for the cultivation of the earth ? They would have loft themfelves among the rufhes. Every brook would have been to them a river, and every pebble a rock. The birds of prey would have carried them off in their talons, their illuftrious anceftors were oftentatioufly difplayed by the Patrician families of Rome. Avarice has, however, infeftcd the Canaries, as well as more enlightened Iflands; and families have been prevailed on to part with their Guanches to the Mufeums of European Collectors of Curiofities, for a little ready money, or in confideration of a large order of wines. Quid non moi uli» peftora coeu, Auri facrj fames! in plain Englifh, T,'a love nfmn'y uill make a man fill lis father. H, II. »3° STUDIES OF NATURE. unlefs they made war upon their eggs, as Homer repre- fents his pigmy race engaged in war with the eggs of cranes. On either of thefe two fuppofitions, all the relations of natural order are burft afunder, and fuch difcords neceffa- rily involve the utter deftruftion of all focial order. Sup- pofe a nation of giants to exift poffeffed of our induftry, and inftigated by our ferocious paflions. Let us place at the head of it, a Tamerlane, and fee what would become of our fortifications and of our armies before their artil- lery, and their bayonets. As much as Nature has affefted variety in the fpecies of Animals of the fame genus, though they were to inhabit the fame regions, and to fubfift on the fame aliments, fo much has fhe ftudied uniformity in the produftion of the Human Species, notwithftanding the difference of Cli- mates and of food. The accidental prolongation of the coccyx, in fome human individuals, has been miflaken for a natural charafter, and a new fpecies of men with tails, has been grafted on a principle fo flimfy. Man may de- grade himfelf to the level of the beaft, by the indulgence of brutal appetite ; but never was his noble form difhon- oured by the tail, the forked feet, and the horns of the brute. In vain is the attempt made to trace an approxi- mation of Man toward the clafs of mere animals, by infen- fible tranfitions. Were there any human race in animal forms, or any animal endowed with human reafon, they would be pub- licly exhibited. We fhould have them in Europe, efpe- cially in times like thefe, when the whole Globe is per- vaded and ranfacked by fo many enlightened Travellers; and when, I do not fay Princes, but puppet players im- port alive into our fairs, the Zebra fo wild, the elephant fo lumpifh, tigers, lions, white bears, nay, up to croco- diles ; which have all been prefented to public infpeftion in London. STUDY VII. «S* Vain is the attempt to eftablifh analogies between the human female, and the fhe ourang outang, from the fitua- tion and configuration of the bofom, from the periodical fexual purgations, from the attitude, and even from a fort of modefty. Though the female ourang outang paffes her life in the woods, Allegrain, furely, as has been ob- ferved, never could have modelled after her, his ftatue of Diana, which is fhewn at Lucienne. There is a much greater difference ftill between the reafon of Man and that of the beafts, than there is between their forms; and that man's muft have been ftrangely perverted, who could ad- vance, as a celebrated Author has done, that there is a greater diftance between the underftanding of Newton, and that of fuch or fuch a man, than between the underftand- ing of this man and the inftinft of an animal. As we have already faid, the dulleft of Mankind can learn the ufe of fire, and the praftice of agriculture, of which the moft intelligent of animals is abfolutely incapable; but what I have not yet faid, the fimple ufe of fire, and the praftice of agriculture, are far preferable to all Newton's difcoveries. Agriculture is the art of Nature, and fire her primary agent. From experience we are affured, that men have acquired by means of this element and of this art a plen- itude of intelligence, of which all their other combina- tions, I venture to affirm, are merely confequences. Our Sciences and Arts are derived, for the greateft part, from thefe two fources, and they do not conftitute a difference more real between the underftanding of one man and a- nother, than there is between the drefs and furniture of Europeans and thofe of Savages. As they are perfeftly a- dapted to the neceffities of the one and of the other, they eftablifh no real difference between the underftandings which contrived them. The importance which we affign to our talents, proceeds not from their utility, but from our pride. We fhould take a material ftep towards its humiliation, did we confider that the animals which have *3a STUDIES OF NATURE. no fkill in agriculture, and know not the ufe of fire, atfai« to the greateft part of the objefts of our Arts and Scien- ces, and even furpafs them. I fay nothing of thofe which build, which fpin, which manufafture paper, cloth, hives, and praftife a multitude of other trades, of which we do not fo much as know. But the torpedo defended himfelf from his enemies by means of the eleftric fhock, before Academies thought of mak- ing experiments in eleftricity; and the limpet underftood the power of the preffure of the air, and attached itfelf to the rocks, by forming the vacuum with its pyramidical fhell, long before the air pump was fet a going. The quails which annually take their departure from Europe, on their way to Africa, have fuch a perfeft knowledge of the autumnal Equinox, that the day of their arrival in Malta, where they reft for twentyfour hours, is marked on the almanacks of the ifland, about the 22cL of Septem- ber, and varies every year as the Equinox* The fwan and wild duck have an accurate knowledge of the Lati- tude where they ought to flop, when, every year they re- afcend, in Spring, to the extremities of the North, and can find out, without the help of compafs or oftant, the fpot where the year before they made their nefts. The frigat, which flies from Eaft to Weft, between the Trop- ics, over vaft Oceans interrupted by no Land, and which regains at night, at the diftance of many hundred leagues, the rock hardly emerging out of the water which he left in the morning, poffeflcs means of afcertaining his Longi- tude, hitherto unknown to our moft ingenious Aftrono- mers. Man, it has been faid, owes his intelligence to his hands : But the monkey, the declared enemy of all induf- try, has hands too. The fluggard, or floth, likewife has hands, and they ought to have fuggefted to him the pro- priety of fortifying himfelf; of digging, at leaft, a re- treat in the earth, for himfelf and for his pofterity, expof- ed as they are to a thoufand accidents, by the flownefs of STUDY VII. 233 their progfeffion. There are animals in abundance fur- niftied with tools much more ingenious than hands, and which are not, for all that, a whit more intelligent. The gnat is furniftied with a probofcis, which is at once an awl proper for piercing the flefh of animals, and a pump by which it fucks out their blood. This probofcis con- tains, befides, a long faw, with which it opens the fmall blood veffels at the bottom of the wound which it has made. He is likewife provided with wings, to tranfport him wherever he pleafes; a corflet of eyes ftudded round his little head, to fee all the objefts about him in every direftion ; talons fo fharp, that he can walk on polifhed glafs in a perpendicular direftion ; feet fupplied with brufhes for cleaning himfelf; a plume of feathers on his forehead ; and an inftrument anfwering the purpofe of a trumpet to proclaim his triumphs. He is an inhabitant of the Air, the Earth, and the Water, where he is born in form of a worm, and where, before he expires, the eggs, which arc to produce a future generation are depofited. With all thefe advantages, he frequently falls a prey to infefts fmaller, and of a much inferior organization. The ant which creeps only, and is furniftied with no weapons except pincers, is formidable not to him only, but to animals of a much larger fize, and even to quadru- peds. She knows what the united force of a multitude is capable of effefting; fhe forms republics; fhe lays up ftore of provifions; fhe builds fubterraneous cities; fhe forms her attacks in regular military array; fhe advances in columns, and fometimes conftrains Man himfelf, in hot countries, to furrender his habitation to her. So far is the intelligence of any one animal from de- pending on the ftrufture of its limbs, that their perfeftion is frequently, on the contrary, in the inverfe ratio of its fagacity, and appears to be a kind compenfation of Nature to make up a defeft. To afcribe the intelligence of Man to his hands, is to deduce the caufe from the means, and talent from the tool with which it works. It is juft as if VOL. 1. G g 234 STUDIES OF NATURE. I were to fay, that Le Sueur is indebted for the happy na- tive graces of his pictures to a pencil of fable's hair; and that Virgil owes all the harmony of his verfes to a feather of the fwan of Mantua. It is ftill more extravagant to maintain, that human reafon depends on Climate, becaufe there are fome fhades of variety in manners and cuftomsi The Turks cover their heads with turbans, and we cover ours with hatsj they wear long flowing robes, and we drefs in coats with fhort fkirts. In Portugal, fays Montagne, they drink off the fediment of wines, we throw it away. Other exam- ples, which I could quote, are of fimilar importance. To all this I anfwer, that we would aft as thefe people, if we were in their country; and that they would aft as we do, were they in ours. Turbans and flowing robes are adapted to hot coun- tries, where the head and body ftand in need of being cooled, by inclofing in the covering of both a greater mafs of air. From this neceffity has arifen the ufe of turbans among the Turks, the Perfians and Indians, of the mitres of the Arabians, of the bonnets like a fugar loaf of the Chinefe and Siamefe, and that of wide and flowing robes, worn by moft of the Nations of the South. From a con- trary neceffity, the Nations of the North, as the Polanders, the Ruffians, the Tartars, wear furred caps and clofe gar- ments. We are obliged to have, in our rainy Climates, three aquedufts upon our head, and garments fhortened, becaufe of the dirt. The Portuguese drink the fediment of wine ; and fo would we do with the wines of Portugal; for in fweet wines, as thofe of hot countries, the moft fugary particles are at the bottom of the cafk ; and in ours, which are fprightly, nothing is at the bottom but mere dregs, the beft is uppermoft. I have feen in Poland, where they drink great quantities of the wines of Hun- gary, the bottom of the bottle prefented as a mark of pref- erence. Thus the very varieties of national cuftoms prove the confiftency of human reafon. STUDY VII. «3| Climate has no greater influence in changing human morality, which is reafon in perfeftion. I admit, at the fame time, that extreme heat and cold produce an effeft on the paffions. I have even remarked, that the hotteft days of Summer, and the coldeft of Winter, were aftually the feafons of the year when moft crimes were committed. The dog days, fay the vulgar, is a feafon of calamity. I could fay as much of the month of January. I believe it muft have been in conformity to thefe obfervations, that ancient Legiflators had eftablifhed, for that critical pe- riod, feftivals defigned to diffipate the melancholy of Mankind, fuch as the feaft of Saturn among the Romans, and the feaft of Kings * among the Gauls. In each Na- tion the feftival was adapted to the public tafte ; among the Romans, it prefented the images of a republic ; a- mong our anceftors thofe of monarchy. But I beg leave, likewife, to remark, that thofe feafons fertile in crimes, are the feafons, too, of the moft fplendid aft ions. This effervefcence of feafon afts on our fenfes, like that of wine. It produces in us an extraordinary impulfion, but indifferently to good and to evil. Befides, Nature has implanted in our foul two powers, which ever balance each other in juft proportion. When the phyfi- cal fenfe, Love, debafes us, the moral fentiment, Ambi- tion, raifes us up again. The equilibrium neceffary to the empire of Virtue ftill fubfifts, and it is never totally loft, except in perfons with whom it has been deftroyed by the habits of fociety, and more frequently ftill by thofe of education. In that cafe, the predominant paffion, • The Feaft of Kings I apprehend, is coeval with the Chriftian Era, and had its origin in the ftar directed vifit of the Eaftern Magi to Bethlehem of Judah, recorded in the beginning of the fecond chapter of the Gofpel according to St. Matthew. We can hardly fuppofe the ancient Gauls fo extremely attached to irregular and unfteady Monarchy, as to inftitute and celebrate annual feafts in honour of it. Whatever may be in this, modern Gauls can fay of the political body, what the Medecin malare lui of Molieie, fays, refpcfting the natural body : We have changed all that. H. H. 236 Studies of nature. having no longer any counterpoife, affumes the command of all our faculties; but this is the fault of fociety, which undergoes the punifhment of it, and not that of Nature. I remark, however, that thefe fame feafons exert their influence on the paffions of Man, by afting only on his moral, and not on his phyfical principle. Though this refleftion has fomething of the air of paradox, I fhall en- deavour to fupport it by a very remarkable obfervation. If the heat of Climate could aft on the human body, it affuredly would be when one is in his mother's womb : For it then afts on that of all animals, whofe expanfion it accelerates. Father du Tertre, in his excellent Hiftory of the Antilles, fays, that in thofe iflands, the period of ge[- tation of all European animals is fhorter than in temper- ate Climates ; and that the hen's eggs are not longer in hatching, than the feeds of the orange in hurtling their fhell, twentythree days. Pliny had obferved in Italy, that they hatch in nineteen days in Summer, and in twentyfive in Winter. In every country, the temperature of Climate haftens, or retards, the expanfion of all plants, and the geftation of all animals, the Human Race excepted : Let this be care- fully remarked. " In the Antilles iflands," fays Father du Tertre, " the white women and the negreffes go with " child nine months, as in France." I have made the fame remark in all the countries through which I have travelled, in the Ifle of France, under the Tropic of Cap- ricorn, and in the extremity of Ruffian Finland. This obfervation is of confiderable importance. It demon- ftrates that the body of Man is not fubjefted, in this ref- peft, to the fame laws with other animals. It manifefts a moral intention in Nature, to preferve an equilibrium in the population of Nations, which would have been de- ranged, had the pregnancy of- the woman been of fhorter duration in hot countries than in cold. This intention is farther manifefted in the admirable proportion fhe main- tains in the produftion of the two fexes, fo nearly equal in. STUDY VII. 937 number, and in the very difference which we find, of one country from another, between the number of males and females : For it is compenfated from North to South, in fuch a manner, that if there be rather more women born to the South, there are rather more men born to the North; as if Nature meant to attraft and to unite Nations, the moft remote from each other, by intermarriages. Climate has an influence on morality, but by no means determines it ; and though this fuppofed determination may be confidcred, in many modern Books, as the funda- mental bafis of the Legiflation of the Nations, there is no one philofophical opinion more completely refuted by hiftoric teftimony. " Liberty," fay they, " has found " her afylum in the lofty mountains ; from the North it " was that the haughty conquerors of the World iffued '* forth. In the fouthern plains of Afia, on the contrary, " reign defpwtifm, flavery, and all the political and mor- " al vices which may be traced up to the lofs of liberty." So then, we muft go and regulate, by our barometers, and thermometers, the virtues and the happinefs of Na- tions ! There is no neceffity to leave Europe, in order to find a multitude of monarchical mountains, fuch as thofe of Savoy, a part of the Alps, of the Apennines, and the whole of the Pyreneans. We fhall fee, on the contrary, many republics in plains, fuch as thofe of Holland, of Venice, of Poland, and even of England. Befides, each of thofe territories has, by turns, nfade trial of different forts of government. Neither cold, nor ruggednefs of foil, infpire men with the energy of liberty, and ftill lefs with the unjuft ambition of encroaching on that of others. The peafants of Ruffia, of Poland, and of the cold moun- tains of Bohemia, have been flaves for many ages paft ; whereas the Angrias, and the Marattahs, are free men and tyrants in the South of India. There are feveral repub- lics on the northern coaft of Africa, where it is exceffive- ly hot. The Turks, who have laid hold of the fineft provinces of Europe, iffued from the mild Climate of A- *3* STUDIES OF NATURE. fia. The timidity of the Siamefe, and of moft Afiatics, has been quoted ; but it is to be imputed, in thofe Na- tions, to the multitude of their tyrants, rather than to the heat of their countries. The Macaffars, who inhabit the ifland of Celebes, fituated almoft under the Line, are pof- feffed of a courage fo intrepid, as the gallant Count Forbin relates, that a fmall number of them, armed with poniards only, put to flight the whole force under his command, at Bancock, con lifting of Siamefe and French, though the former were very numerous, and the others armed with mufkets and bayonets. If from courage we make the tranfition to love, we fliall find that Climate has no more a determining power over Man, in the one cafe than in the other. I might refer myfelf, for proof of the exceffes of this paffion, to the tef- timony of travellers, to afcertain which has the fuperior- ity, in this refpeft, the Nations of the South, or thofe of the North. In all countries love is a torrid Zone to the heart of Man. I muft obferve, that thefe appropriations of Love to the Nations of the South, and of Courage, to the Nations of the North, have been imagined by our Phi- lofophers, as effefts of Climate, applicable only to for- eign nations : For they unite thefe two qualities, as effefts of the fame temperament, in thofe of our heroes to whom they mean to pay their court. According to them, a Frenchman great in feats of love, is likewife great in feats of war ; but this does not hold as to other Nations. An Afiatic, with his feraglio, is an effeminate coward ; and a Ruffian, or any other foldier of the North, whofe Courts give penfions, is a fecond Mars. But all thefe diftinc- tions of temperament, founded on Climate, and fo injuri- ous to Mankind, vanifh into air, before this fimple quef- tion : Are the turtle doves of Ruffia lefs amorous than thofe of Afia ; and are the tigers of Afia lefs ferocious than the white bears of Nova Zembla ? Without going to feek among men objefts of compar- ifon and contraft, from difference of place, we fhall find STUDY VII, *3* greater diverfity in manners, in opinions, in habiliments, nay, in phyfiognomy, between an opera aftor and a ca- puchin friar, than there is between a Swede and a Chinefe. What a contraft is the talkative, flattering, deceitful Greek, fo fondly attached to life, to the filent, ftately, honeft Turk, ever devoted to death! Thefe men, fo very oppo- fite, are born, however, in the fame cities, breathe the fame air, live on the fame food. Their extraftion, we fhall be told, is not the fame ; for pride, among us, af- cribes a mighty influence to the power of blood. . But the greateft part of thofe Janiffaries, fo formidable to the cow- ardly Greeks, are frequently their own children, whom they are obliged to give in tribute, and who pafs, by a reg- ular procefs, into this firft corps of the Ottoman foldiery. The courtefans of India fo voluptuous, and its penitent* fo auftere, Are they not of the fame Nation, and, in many cafes, of the fame family ? I beg leave to afk, In what inftance was an inclination to vice or virtue known to be communicated with the blood ? Pompey, fo noted for his generofity, was the fon of Strabo, infamoufly notorious to the Roman people for his avarice. The cruel Domitian was brother to the gra- cious Titus. Caligula and Agrippina, the mother of Ne- ro, were, indeed, brother and fifter; but they were the children of Germanicus, the darling hope of Rome. The barbarous Commodus was fon to the divine Marcus Aure- lius. What a difference is frequently obfervable in the fame man, between his youth and his mature age ; between Nero, faluted as the Father of his Country, when he mount- ed the throne ; and Nero, execrated as its avowed enemy before his death : Between Titus, ftigmatized with the name of a fecond Nero, in his youth, and Titus at his death ; embalmed with the tears of the Senate, of the Ro- man people, and of ftrangers ; and tranfmitted unanimouf- ly to pofterity as the delight of mankind ? It is not Climate, then, which regulates the morality of Man ; it is opinion, it is education ; and fuch is their 240 STUDIES OF NATURE. power, that they triumph not only over latitudes, but even over temperament. Cefar, fo arnbitious, fo diffolute; and Cato, fo temperate and virtuous, were both of a fickly con- ftitution. Place, Climate, Nation, Family, Temperament, no one of thefe, and in no part of the World, determine men to vice or to virtue. They are every where free to choofe. Before we take into confideration the evils which men bring upon themfelves, let us attend to thofe which are in- flifted by the hand of Nature. It is demanded, Why fhould beafts of prey exift ? They are abfolutely necef- fary. But for them the Earth would be infefted with ca- daverous fubftances. There perifhes, annually, of a nat- ural death, the twentieth part, at leaft, of quadrupeds, the tenth part of fowls, and an infinite number of infefts, moft of the fpecies of which live only one year. Nay, there are infefts jvhofe life is contracted to a few hours, fuch as the ephemera. As the rains convey all thefe fpoils of the land to the rivers, and thence to the Seas, it is, accordingly, on their fhores, that Nature has collefted the animals which are deftined to confume them. Moft of the ferocious animals defcend by night from the mountains, to hunt for their prey in this direftion ; there are even feveral claffes created exprefsly for fuch fituations ; as the whole amphibious race ; for example, the white bear, the otter, the crocodile. It is in hot countries efpecially, where the effefts of cor- ruption are moft rapid and moft dangerous, that Nature has multiplied carnivorous animals. Tribes of lions, ti- gers, leopards, panthers, civet cats, ounces, jackals, hye- nas, condors, &c. refort thither, to reinforce thofe of wolves, foxes, martens, otters, vultures, crows, &c. Le- gions of voracious crabs are neftled in their fands ; the caimans and the crocodiles lie in ambufh among their reeds ; fhell fifh, of innumerable fpecies, armed with uten- fils fit for fucking, piercing, filing, bruifing, roughen the face of the rocks, and pave the borders of their feas ; STUDY VII. *4« clouds of fea fowls hover, with a loud noife, over their fliallows, or fail round and round, at the difcretion of the waves, in queft of food ; the lamprey, the becune, the ca- rang, and the whole fpecies of cartilaginous fifhes, which live only on flefh, fuch as the hygian, the long fhark, the broad thorn back, the flipper, the polypus, armed with air holes, and all the varieties of fea dogs, fwim there in crowds, conftantly employed in devouring the Wreck of bodies thrown upon the fhore. Nature calls in, befides, the-infeft legions to haften for- ward their confumption. The wafps, furniftied with fcif- fars, cut afunder the flefhy parts ; the flies pump out the fluids, the fea worms cut in pieces the bones. Thefe laft, on the fouthern coafts and efpecially at the mouths of riv- ers, are in fuch prodigious quantities, and armed with au- gers fo formidable, that they are capable ot devouring a fhip of war in lefs time than it coft to build her ; and have thereby reduced the maritime Powers to the neceffity of lately fheathing the bottoms of their fquadrons with cop- per, as a fecurity againft their attacks. The wrecks of all thefe bodies, after having ferved for food to the innumerable tribes of other fifhes, fome of which are provided with beaks formed like a fpoon, and others like a pipe, for picking up the very crumbs of this vaft table ; reduced at length, through fuch a feries of di- geftions, into phlegms, into oils, into bitumens, and unit- ed to the,pulps of vegetables, which defcend from all quarters into the Ocean, would reproduce in its waters a new chaoa of putrefaftion, did not the currents convey their diffolution to volcanoes, whofe fires finifh the pro- cefs of decompofition, and give them back *o the ele- ments. For this reafon it is, as has been already indicat- ed, that volcanoes are frequent only in hot countries • that they are all fituated in the vicinity of the Sea, or of groat Lakes ; that they are difpofed at the extremity of their currents ; and that they owe entirely to the purification VOL. i. H h *4* STUDIES OF NATURE. bf the waters, the fulphurs and the bitumens which admin- ifter a conftant fupply to their furnaces. Animals of prey are by no means an objeft of terror to Man. Firft, becaufe moft of them roam abroad only in the night. They have prominent charafters, which an- nounce their approach even before it is poffible to per- ceive them. S,ome favour ftrongly of mufk, as the mar- ten, the civet cat, the crocodile ; others have thrill and piercing voices, which may be heard by night, at a great diftance, as wolves and jackals ; others are diftinguifhed by particoloured fpots, or ftreaks, which are perceptible a great way off, on the yellow ground of their fkin ; fuch are the dufky ftripes of the tiger, and the dark fpots of the leopard. All of them have eyes which fparkle in the dark. Nature has beftowed fome of thefe common figna- tures even on carnivorous and blood fucking infefts ; fuch is the wafp, whofe ground colour is yellow, fur- rounded with rings of black like the tiger, and the gnat, fpotted with white upon a dark ground, who announces his approach by a loud buzzing. Even thofe which attack the human body are furniftied with remarkable indica- tions. They either fmell ftrongly, as the bug ; or pre- fent oppofitions of colour to the places on which they fix, as white infefts on the hair ; or the blacknefs of the flea contrafted to the whitenefs of the fkin. A great many Writers exclaim violently on the cruelty of ferocious animals, as if our cities were liahje to be in- vaded by fwarms of wolves, or, as if bands of lions, from Africa, were, from time to time, making incurfions into our European colonies. They all fhun the habitations of Man, and, as I faid, moft of them ftir abroad only in the night. Thefe diftinftive charafters are unanimoufly at- tefted by Naturalifts^ Hunters and Travellers. When I was at the Cape of Good Hope, M. de Tolback, who was then Governor, informed me, that lions were formerly very common in the adjacent country ; but that fince the STUDY VII. *43 Dutch had formed a fettlement there, you muft travel fifty or fixty leagues up the country before one rs to be feen. After all, What is their ferocity to us ? Even fuppof- ing we were not provided with arms, which they are in- capable of refilling, and with a fagacity far fuperior to all their cunning, Nature has given us dogs able to combat, nay, to fubdue them ; and fhe has moft admirably adapt- ed their fpecies to thofe of animals the moft formidable. In the countries where lions are natives, there is likewife produced a breed of dogs capable of engaging them in fingle combat. I fhall quote, after the ancient, but learn- ed tranflation of Dupinet, what Pliny relates of a dog of this fpecies, which was prefented to Alexander, by a King of Albania.* " King Alexander firft oppofed to " him a lion, which the dog prefently tore in pieces. " After that he ordered to let loofe an elephant, which " afforded him the higheft diverfion that he ever had en- " joyed. For the dog, briftling himfelf up from the " firft, began to wheel about, and fnarl, at the elephant; " then advanced to the attack, fpringing on this fide and " on that fide, with all imaginable circumfpeftion: Now " leaping up to affault, now couching to the right, to " the left, which caufed the elephant to turn and wind " about fo frequently, that he was, at laft, completely " tired out, and fell down with a fhock which made the " ground tremble, on which the dog fprung upon him, w and difpatched. him." I can hardly think this dog could be of the fame race with our lap dogs. The animals formidable to man are more to be feared from their fmallnefs than from their magnitude; there is no one, liowever, but what may be rendered ftibfervient to his benefit. Serpents, centipeds, fcorpions, toads, inhabit fcarcely any other than humid and unwholefome places, from which they keep us at a diftance, more by their hideous figures than by their poifons. S.uch fer- * Pliny's Natural Hiftory, bpok yiii. chap. xX. *44 STUDIES OF NATURE. pents as are really dangerpus, give fignals of their ap-. proach ; fuch are the .rattles of the fnake which bears that name. Few perfons perifh by their fling, and only from their own careleffnefs and imprudence. Befides, our pigs and poultry eat them currently, without fuffer- mg the flighteft inconvenience. Ducks, in particular, devour them with avidity, as they likewife do moft poi- fonous plants. Thofe of the kingdom of Pontus acquir- ed fo much virtue by aliments of fuch forts, which are common there, that Mithridates employed their blood in his famous counter poifons. There are, it is admitted, noxious infefts which prey upon our fruits, our corn, nay, our perfons. But if fnails, may bugs, caterpillars, and locufts, ravage our plains, it is becaufe we deftroy the birds of our groves which live upon them; or, becaufe, that on tranfporting the trees of foreign countries into our owrl, fuch as the great chefnut of India, the ebony, and others, we have. tranfported with them the eggs of thoTe infefts which they nourifh, without importing, likewife, the birds of the fame climate which deftroy them. Every country has thofe peculiar to itfelf, for the prefervation of its plants. I have feen one, at the Cape of Good Hope, called the gardener's bird, inceffantly employed in catch- ing the worms and caterpillars, which he ftuck on the thorny prickles of the bufhes. I have likewife feen, in the Ifle of France, a fpecies of ftarling called Martin, which comes from India, and which lives entirely on lo- cufts, and on other infefts which infeft the cattle. If we were to naturalize thefe birds in Europe, no fcientific difcovery *ver made would be fo beneficial to Man. But the birds of our own groves are ftill fufficient to clear our plains of noxious vermin, provided the bird catchers were laid under a prohibition to entrap them, as they do, by whole coveys in their nets, not to immure them in cages,* but to make food of them. A fancy was jidopted, fome years ago, in Pruflia, to exterminate the STUDY VII. %\g race of fparrows, as inimical to agriculture. Every peaf, ant in the country was fubjefted to an annual capitation tax of twelve heads of that kind of bird, which were em- ployed in the manufafture of faltpetre, for in that coun- try, nothing is fuffered to go to wafte. At the end of the fecond, or, at fartheft, of the third year, it was dif- covered that infefts had devoured their crops, and it was fpeedily found advifable to invite the fparrows from neigh- bouring countries, to repeople the kingdom with them. Thefe birds, it is true, do eat fome grains of corn, when the infefts fail them; but thefe laft among others the weevil, confume the grain by bufhels, nay, by granaries. If, however, it were poffible to extinguifh the whole race of infefts, it would be the height of imprudence to fet about it; for we fhould deftroy, along with them moft of the feathered tribes of our plains, which have no pther fpod for their young while in the neft. As to the animals which fall upon our corn in the granary, and our woollens in the warehoufe, fuch as rats, mice, mites, moths; I find that the former are ufeful in purifying the earth from human excrement, which conftitutes a confiderable part of their food. Befides, Nature has made Man a prefent of the cat, to clear the in- terior of his habitation from thofe vermin. She has en- dowed this animal not only with uncommon agility, and with wonderful patience and fagacity, but alfo with a fpirit of domefticity perfeftly adapted to her employment, The cat attaches herfelf folely to the houfe. If the maf- ter removes, fhe returns alone at night to her old habita-j tion. She differs effentially in this from the dog, who at- taches himfelf folfdy to the perfon of his mafter. The cat has the affeftion of a courtier, and the dog that of a friend; the former adheres to the poffeffion, and the lat- ter to the man. The weevil and the moth, fometimes, comm;t,'it is true, great depredations among our grain and our woollens. Some Writers have told us, that the common hen is fufi ttfr STUDIES OF NATURE; ficient to clear the granaries of them : Poffibly it may be* fo. We have, befides, the fpider and the fwallow, which deftroy them at the feafon when they take wing. I fhall here confider only their political utility. On looking into thofe prodigious magazines where monopo* 1-izers hoard up the provifion and clothing of a whold province, are we not bound to blefs the Hand that created the infeft which obliges them to bring thefe neceffary commodities to market ? Were grain as incorruptible as gold and filver, it would foon become as fcarce. See un- der how many locks and doors thefe metals are feemed. The commonalty would, at length, be completely de- prived of their fubfiftence, if it were as little fufceptible of change as that which is the reprefentative of it. The mite and the moth firft lay the mifer under the neceffity of employing a good many hands in ftirring about and fitt- ing his grain, till they force him at laft to difpofe of it al- together. How many poor wretches would go naked, if the moth did not devour the wardrobes and warehoufes of the rich ! What is moft wonderful here, is, that the articles which minifter to luxury are not liable to perifh by infefts, as thofe which are fubfervient to the moft prefling wants of human life. It is poffible to preferve, without any diminution of value, coffee, filk and cottons, even for ages; but in India, where thefe commodities are real neceifaries of life, there are infefts which quickly corrode them, particularly cotton. The infefts which attack the human body equally o- blige the rich to employ thofe who have nothing, as do- meftics, to keep up cleanlinefs around them. The Incas of Peru exafted even this tribute of the poor ; for in all countries thefe infefts attach themfelves to Man, though it may have been faid, that they did not pafs the line. Befides thefe infefts are rather teafing than noxious ; They draw off the bad blood. As they immoderately increafe only in great heats, they invite us to have re- courfe to bathing, which is fp wholefome, and yet fo STUDY VII. H7 much neglected among us, becaufe being expenfive, it is become an objeft of luxury. After all, Nature has placed other infefts near us, which, deftroy them; thefe are the fpiders.* I have heard of an old officer, who being very much incommoded with bugs, at the Hofpital of the Invalids, permitted the fpiders to multiply round his bed, and thereby got the better of that naufeous vermin. This remedy, 1 am aware, will appear to many perfons worfe than the difeafe. But I believe it poffible to find others more agreeable, in perfumes and oily effences; at leaft, I have remarked, that the odour of vari- ous kinds of aromatic plants puts to flight thofe abomina- ble animals. As toother calamities of Nature's inflifting, Man feels their preffure only becaufe he deviates from her laws. If ftorms fometimes ravage his orchards and his corn fields, it is becaufe he frequenly places them where Nature nev- er intended they fhould grow. Storms fcarcely ever in- jure any culture except the injudicious cultivation of Man. Forefts and natural meadow* never fuffer in the flighteft degree. Befides, they have their utility. Thun- der ftorms purify and cool the air. The hail, with which » I prefume that it is a particular fpecie* of fpider* For I am perfuad- ed that there are as many fpecies of thefe as there are of infefts to be de- ftroyed. They do not all expand nets; fome catch their prey fairly in the chafe, others fucceed by lying in ambufcade. I have feen one in Mal- ta of a very fingular charafter, and which is to be found in every honfe of that ifland. Nature has beftowed on this fpecies of fpider the refern- blance of a fly, in the head and fore part of the body. When fhe per- ceives a fly on the wall, fhe makes her firft approaches in great hafte, tak- ing care always to maintain the higher ftuion. When fhe has got within five or fix inches of her objeft, fhe advances very (lowly, prefcnting to it a treacherous refemblance ; and when fhe has got within the diftance of two or three inches, fhe makes a fudden fpring on her prey. This violent leap, made on a perpendicular plane, muft furely precipitate her to the ground. No fuch thing. You find her again ftill on the wall, whether fhe has made good her blow or miffed it; for previoufly to this great ef- fort, fhe had affixed a cord atop, by which to warp herfelf up again. Cavtefian Philofophers, will you pretend, after this, to pcrfift in main- tain!:.- that animal are merely machines ! *48 STUDIES OF NATURE. they are fometimes accompanied, deftroys great quantities of hurtful infefts; and hails are frequent only at the fea- fon when fuch infefts hatch and multiply ; in Spring, and Summer. But for the hurricanes of the torrid Zone, the ants and locufts would render the iflands fituated between the Tropics totally uninhabitable. I have already pointed out the utility, the abfolute ne- ceffity of the volcanoes, whofe fires purify the waters of the Sea, as thofe of the thunder purify the air. Earth- quakes proceed from the fame caufe. Befides, Nature communicates previous notice of their effefts, and of the places where their focufes are fituated. The inhabitants of Lifbon know well that their city has been feveral times fhattered by fhocks of this kind, and that it is im- prudent to build in ftone. To perfons who can fubmit to live in a houfe of wood, they have nothing formidable. Naples and Portici are perfeftly acquainted with the fate of Herculaneum. After all, earthquakes are not univer- fal ; they are local and periodical. Pliny has obferved that the Gauls were not fubjeft to vifitations of this kind ; but there are many other countries which know of them only by report. They are fcarcely ever felt ex- cept in the vicinity of volcanoes, on the fhores of the Sea, or of great Lakes, and only at certain particular portions of the fhore. As to the epidemical maladies of the Human Race, and the difeafes of animals, they are, in general, to be im- puted to corrupted waters. Phyficians, who have in- veftigated their caufes, afcribe them fometimes to the corruption of the air, fometimes to the mildew of plants, fometimes to fogs : But all thefe caufes are fimply effefts of the corruption of the waters, from which arife putrid exhalations that infeft the air, and vegetables, and ani- mals. This may be charged, in almoft every inftance, on the injudicious labours of Man. The moft unwhole- fome regions of the Earth, as far as I am at prefent able to recolleft, are in Afia, on the banks of the Ganges, STUDY VII. 249 from which proceed, every year, putrid fevers, that, in 1771, coft Bengal the life of more than a million of men. They have for their focus the rice plantations, which are artificial morafies, formed along the Ganges, for the culture of that grain. After the crop is reaped, the roots and ftalks of the plant, left on the ground, rot and are transformed into infeftious puddles, from which peftilential vapours are exhaled. It is in the view of preventing thefe pernicious confequences, that the culture of this plant has been exprefsly prohibited in many parts of Europe, efpecially in Ruffia, round Otzchakof, where it was formerly produced in great qnaatities. In Africa, the air of the ifland of Madagafcar is cor- rupted, and from the fame caufe, during fix months of the year, and will ever prefent an invincible obftacle to any European fettlement upon it. All the French colonies which have been planted there, perifhed one after another, from the putridity of the air; and I myfelf muft, with the reft, have fallen a viftim to it, had not divine Provi- dence, by means of which I could have no forefight, pre- vented my intended expedition, and refidence in that part of the world. It is from the ancient miry canals of Egypt, that the leprofy and the peftilence are perpetually iffuing forth. In Europe, the ancient fait marfhes of Brouage, which the water of the Sea no longer reaches, and in which the rain waters ftagnate, becaufe they are confined by the dikes and ditches of the old fait pits, are become conftant fources of diftemper among the cattle. Similar difeafes, putrid and billjous fevers, and the land fcurvy, annually iffue from the canals of Holland, which putrify, in Sum- mer, to fuch a degree, that I have feen, in Amfterdam, the canals covered with dead fifhes ; and it was impoffible to crofs certain ftreets, without obftrufting the paffages of the mouth and nofe with your handkerchief. They have, indeed, forced a kind of current to the ftagnant waters by means of wind mills, which pump them up, and throw vol. 1. 1 i 2,5©. STUDIES OF NATURE. them over the dikes, in places where the canals are lower than the level of the Sea; but thefe machines are ftill far too few in number. The bad air of Rome, in Summer, proceeds from its ancient aquedufts, the waters of which are diffufed among the ruins, or which have inundated the plains, the levels whereof have been interrupted by the magnificent labours of the ancient Romans. The purple fever, the dyfentery, the fmall pox, fo common all over our plains, after the heats of Summer, or in warm and humid fprings, proceed, for the moft part, from the puddles of the peafantry, in which leaves and the refufe of plants putrify. Many of our city diftempers iffue from the layftalls which fur- round them, and from the cemeteries about our churches ; and which penetrate into the very fanftuary. I do not believe there would have been a fingle un- wholefome fpot on the Earth, if men had not put their hands to it. The malignity of the air of St. Domingo has been quoted, that of Martinico, of Porto Bello, and of feveral diftrifts of America, as a natural effeft of Cli- mate. But thefe places have been inhabited by Savages, who, from time immemorial, have bufied themfelves in diverting the courfe of rivers, and choking up rivulets. Thefe labours conftitute even an effential part of their defence. They imitate the beavers in the fortification of their villages, by inundating the adjacent country. Prov- ident Nature, however, has placed thofe animals only in cold Latitudes, where, in imitation of herfelf, they form lakes which foften the air; and fhe has introduced run- ning waters into hot Latitudes, becaufe lakes would there fpeedily change, by evaporation, into putrid marfhes. The lakes which the has fcooped out in fuch Latitudes, are all fituated among mountains, at the fources of rivers, and in a cool Atmofphere. I am the more induced to impute to the Savages the corruption of the air, fo mur- derous in fome of the Antilles, that all the iflands which have beqn found uninhabited were exceedingly whole- STUDY VII. tjt fome; fuch as the Ifle of France, of Bourbon, of St. Helena, and others. As the corruption of the air is a fubjeft peculiarly in- terefting, I fhall venture to fuggeft, by the way, fome fim- ple methods of remedying it. The firft is, to remove the caufes of it, by fubftituting, in place of the ftagnant puddles with which our plains abound, the ufe of citterns, the waters of which are fo falubrious, when they are ju- dicioufly conftrufted. They are univerfally employed all over Afia. Care fhould, likewife, be taken to pre- vent the throwing the bodies, and other offal, of dead animals into the layftalls of our cities; they ought to be carried to the rivers, which will be thereby rendered more productive of fifh. In the cafe of Cities which are not wafhed by rivers to carry off the garbage, or if this method is found otherwife inconvenient, attention fhould be paid, at leaft, to placing the layftalls only to the North and North Eaft of fuch cities, in order to efcape, efpecially during Snmmer, the fetid gufts which pafs over them from the South and South weft. The fecond is, to abftain from digging canals. We are well acquainted with the maladies which have re- fulted from thofe of Egypt, in the vicinity of Rome, and elfewhere, when care is not taken to keep them in repair. Befides, the benefits derived from them are very problematical. To look at the medals which have been ftruck in our own country, on occafion of the canal of Briare, would we not be induced to think that the Strait ot Gibraltar was henceforth to become fuperfluous to the navigation of France ? Granting it to have been of fome little utility to the interior commerce of the coun- try, has the mifchief done to the plains through which it paffes been taken into the account, as a counterbal- ance ? So many brooks and fprings diverted from their courfe, and collefted from every quarter, to be gulped up in one great navigable canal, muft have ceafed to wa- ter a very confiderable extent of land. And can that he 25* STUDIES OF NATURE. confidered as a great commercial benefit, which is injuri- ous to agriculture? Canals are adapted only to marfhy plages. This is the third method of contributing to the reftora- tion of the falubrity of the air. The attempts made in France to dry the marfhes, have always coft us a great many men, and frequently, for that very reafon, have been left incomplete. I can difcover no other caufe for this but the precipitancy with which fuch works are un. dertaken, and the multiplicity of the objefts which they are intended. to embrace. The Engineer prefents his plan, the Undertaker gives in his eftimate, the Minifter approves, the Prince finds the money, the Intendant of the province provides the labourers ; all things concur to the effeft propofed, except Nature. From the bofom of rotten earth arife putrid emanations., which prefently fcat- ter death among the workmen. As a remedy to thefe inconveniencies, I beg leave to throw out fome obfervations, which 1 believe to be well founded. A piece of land entirely covered with water is never unwholefome. It becomes fo, only when the wa- ter which covers it evaporates, and expofes to the air the muds of its bottom and fides. The putridity of a morafs might be remedied as effectually by transforming it into a lake, as into folid ground. Its fituation muft, determine whether of thefe two objefts is to be preferred. If it is in a bottom, without declivity, and without efflux, the in- dication of Nature ought to be followed up, and the whole covered with water. If there is not enough to form a complete inundation, it might be cut into deep ditches, and the fluff dug out thrown on the adjoining lands. Thus we fhould have, at once, canals always full of wa- ter, and little ifles both fertile and wholefome. As to the feafon proper for fuch labours, the Spring and Au- tumn ought to be preferred ; and great care muft be taken to place the labourers, with their faces to windward, and STUDY VII. e53 to fupply, by means of machinery, the neceffity, to which they are frequently fubjefted, of plunging into mires and muds, to clear them away. It has always appeared to me ftrangely unaccountable, that in France, where there are fuch numerous and fuch judicious eftablifhments, we fhould have minifters of fu- perintendance for foreign affairs, for war, the marine, fin- ance, commerce, manufactures, the clergy, public build- ings, horfemanfhip, and fo on, but never one for agricul- ture. It proceeds, I am afraid, from the contempt in which the peafantry are there held. All men, however, are fureties for each other; and, independently of the uniform ftature and configuration of the Human Race, I would exaft no other proof that all fpring from one and the fame original. It is from the puddle, by the fide of the poor man's hovel, which has been robbed of the little brook, whofe ftream fweetened it, that the epidemic plague fhall iffue forth to devour the lordly inhabitants of the neighbouring caftle. Egypt avenges herfelf, by the peftilence arifing out of her canals, of the oppreffion of the Turks, who prevent her inhabitants from keeping them in repair. America, finking under the accumulated ftrokes of Europeans, ex- hales from her bofom a thoufand maladies fatal to Europe, and drags down with her the haughty Spaniard expiring on her ruins. Thus the Centaur left, with Dei'anira, his robe empoifoned with the blood of the Hydra, as a prefent which fhould prove fatal to his conqueror. Thus the miferies which opprefs Mankind, pafs from huts to pal- aces, from the Line to the Poles, from Ages paft to Ages yet to come; and their long and lingering effefts are a fearful voice crying in the ears of the Potentates of the Earth: " Learn to be juft, and not to opprefs the " miferable." Not only the elements, but reafon itfelf, corrupts in the haunts of wrctchednefs. What torrents of error, fear, 2,54 STUDIES OF NATURE. fuperftition, difcord, have broken out in the lower regions of Society, and fwelled to the terror and the. fubverfion of Thrones! The more that men are oppreffed, the more miferable are their oppreffors, and the more feeble is th» Nation which they compofe. For the force which ty- rants employ to fupport their authority at home, is never exercifed but at the expenfe of that which they might em- ploy, to maintain their refpeftability abroad. Firft, from the haunts of mifery iffue forth proftitu- tions, thefts, murders, conflagrations, highway robberies, revolts, and a multitude of phyfical evils befides, which, in all countries, are the plagues that tyranny produces. But thofe of opinion are much more terrible. One man is bent on fubjugating another, not fo much for the fake of getting hold of his property, as to command his admi- ration, his reverence. Ambition propofes to itfelf no boundary fhort of this. To whatever condition he may be elevated, and however low his rival reduced; let him have at his mercy the fortune, the labour, the wife, the perfon, of his adverfary, he has gained no point, unlefs he has gained his homage. It availed Haman nothing to have the life, the goods, of the Jews, at his difpofal: He muft fee Mordecai proftrated at his feet. Oppreffors are thus the oppreffed, and become the arbiters of their own happinefs; and the oppreffed, for the moft part, paying them back injuftice for injuftice, difturb them with falfe reports, religious terrors, dark furmifes, calumnies, which engender, among them, fufpicions, apprehenfions, jealou- fies, feuds, lawfuits, duels ; and, at laft, civil wars, which iffue in their total deftruftion. Let us examine, in the cafe of fome ancient and mod- ern Governments, this reaftion of evils upon each other, and we fhall find its extent to be in proportion to the ills which they bring upon Mankind. On contemplating this tremendous balance, we fhall be conftrained to acknowl- edge the exiftence of Sovereign Juftice. STUDY VII. %$£ Without paying regard to the common divifion of Governments,* into Democracy, Ariftocracy and Mon- archy, which are only, at bottom, political forms that * Politicians, in claffing Governments according to thefe exterior refem- blances in form, have afted precifely as thofe Botanifts do, who comprehend in the fame category, plants which have fimilar flowers or leaves, without paying any attention to their virtues. The Botanift claffes together the oak and the pimpernel; and the Politician the Roman Republic and that of St. Marino. This is not the way of obfcrving Nature, fhe is throughout noth- ing but adaptation and harmony. Her fpirit, not her forms, is the great thing which we ought to ftudy. If in the Hiftory of any People you do not attend to its moral and in- ternal conftitution, which fcarcely any Hiftorian keeps fteadily in view, it will be impoffible to conceive how Republics, apparently well conftituted, have fuddcnly funk into ruin : How others, on the contrary, in which noth- ing but agitation appeared, became formidable : Whence arife the duration and the power of Defpotic States, fo much decried by modern Authors: And, finally, how it came to pafs, that, after the glorious reigns of Marcus Aureliut and of Antonius, which bave been fo highly extolled, the Roman Empire finifhed its progrefs to diffolution. It was, I am bold enough to affirm, becaufe thofe good Princes thought only of preferving the exterior form of the Government. All was tranquillity around them; the form of a Senate remained ; Rome was well fupplied with corn ; the garrifons in the provinces were regularly paid. There was no fcdition, no difturbance, eve- ry thing to appearance went on well. But during this lethargy, the rich were going on in an unbounded accumulation of property, and the people were lofing the little that they had. The great offices of the State were en- grofled by the fame families. In order to have the means of fubfiftence, it was liecefTary for the commonalty to attach themfelves to the Great. Rome contained a populaey of mere menials. The love of Country was extin- guifhed. The wretched did not know of what to complain. No one did them any wrong. All was orderly; but this very order precluded the poffibility of their ever coming to any thing. They did not cut the throats of the citizens, as in the days of Marius and Sylla, but they ftifled them. In all human Society, there are two powers, the one temporal, and the other fpiritual. You find them in all the Governments of the World, in Europe, in Afia, in Africa, and in America. The Human Race is governed in the fame way as the human body. Such is the will of the Author of Nature, in order to the prefervation and happinefs of Mankind. When Nations are oppreffed by the fpiritual power, they refort for proteftion to the temporal; when this laft oppreffes, in its turn, they have recaurfe to the other. When both thefe concur to render them miferable, then arife here- fies in fwarms, fcifms, civil wars, and a multitude of fecondary powers, which balance theabufes «f the twofcrft, till there refults, at length, a gen- 3^6 STUDIES OF NATURE. determine nothing, as to either their happinefs, or their power, we fhall infill only on their moral cbnftitution. Every Government, of whatever defcription, is inter- nally happy, and refpeftable abroad, when it beftows on all its fubjefts their natural right of acquiring fortune and honours: And the contrary takes place, when it re- ferves to a particular clafs of citizens, the benefits which ought to be common to all. It is not fufficient to pre- fcribe limits to the People, and to reftrain them within thefe by terrifying phantoms. They quickly force the perfon who puts them in motion, to tremble more than themfelves. When human policy locks the chain round the ancle of a flave, Divine Juftice rivets the other end round the neck of the tyrant. Few Republics have been more judicioufly conftitut- ed than that of Lacedemon. Virtue and happinefs were feen to flourifh there, during a period of five hundred years. Notwithftanding the mediocrity of its extent, it gave law to Greece, and to the northern,coafts of Afia ; but as Lycurgus had not comprehended in his plan either the Nations which Sparta was to fubdue, or even the Helots, who laboured the ground for her, by them were1 introduced the commotions, which fhattered her Confti- tution, and at length, totally fubverted it. In the Roman Republic there fubfifted greater equal- ity, and proportionally more power and happinefs. She Was, indeed, divided into Patricians and Plebeians ; but as thefe laft were capable of attaining the higheft military dignities, as they poffeffed, befides, an exclufive title to the tribunitial office, the power of which equalled, nay, furpaffed, that of the Confuls, the moft perfeft harmony exifted between the two orders. It is impoffible to ob- ferve, without emotion, the deference and refpeft paid by eral apathy, and the State falls into deflruftion. We fhall prefently go into a thorough inveftigation of this interefting fubjeft, when we come to fpeak of Fiance. We fhall find that, though there is but one which governs, of tight, there are five powers which govern, in faft. STUDY VII. m the Plebeians to the Patricians, during the moft glorious periods of the Republic. They felefted their patrons from among that order; they attended them in crowds on their way to the Senate : When they happened to be poor, they affeffed themfelves, to make up a marriage portion for their daughters. The Patricians, on the other hand, took an intereft in all the affairs of the Plebeians; they pleaded their caufes in the Senate; permitted them to bear their names; adopted them into their families, and gave them their daughters in marriage, when they diftinguifhed themfelves by their virtues. Thefe alliances with Pleb- eian families were not difdained even by Emperors. Au- gttftus gave his only daughter, Julia, in marriage to the Plebeian Agrippa. Virtue fat enthroned at Rome ; and no where elfe upon Earth were altars raifed more worthy of her. A judgment of this may be formed from the re- wards affigned to illuftrious aftions. A criminal was con- demned to be ftarved to death in prifon ; his daughter is allowed permiffion to vifit him there, and keeps him alive by the milk from her own breaft. The Senate, informed of this inftance ot filial tendernefs, voted a pardon to the father, in confideration of the daughter, and on the fpot where the prifon flood, commanded to rear a Temple fa- cred to filial piety. If a perfon condemned was carrying to execution, the fentence was remitted, if a veftal happened to pafs that way. The punifhment, due to criminality, difappeared in the prefence of virtue. If, in battle, one Roman faved another out of the hands of the enemy, he became entitled to the civic croWn. This crown confifted only of oak leaves, nay, it was the only military crown which had nothing golden about it, but it conferred the right of fit- ting, in the public theatres, on the bench adjoining to thofe which were allotted to Senators, who all flood up in deference, on the entrance of him who wore it. It was, fays Pliny, the moft illuftrious of all crowns, and commu- nicated higher privileges than the mural, the obfidional vol. i. k k 3,58 STUDIES OF NATURE. and naval crowns, becaufe there is more glory in faving a fingle citizen, than in taking cities, or in gaining battles. It was the fame, for this reafon, whether the perfon faved was the commander in chief, or a private foldier; but it was not to be earned by delivering an allied King, who might have come to the affifiance of the Romans. Rome, in the diftribution of rewards, diftinguifhed only the citi- zen. By means of fuch patriotic fentiments, fhe conquer- ed the Earth ; but fhe was juft only to her own people; it was by her injuftice to other men, that fhe became weak and unhappy. Her conquefts filled her with flaves, who, under Spartacus, brought her to the brink of deftruftion, and which decided her fate at laft by the arms of corrup- tion, much more formidable than thofe of war. By the vices and the flatteries of the Grecian and Afiatic flaves at Rome, were formed within her bofom the Catilines, the Cefars, the Neros; and while their voice was corrupt- ing the mafters of the World, that of the Goths, the Cimbri, the Teutones, the Gauls, the Allobroges, the Vandals, the" companions of their lot, was inviting their compatriots from the North and from the Eaft, who at length levelled the glory of Rome with the duft. Modern Governments exhibit a fimilar reaftion of equity and felicity, of injuftice and misfortune. In Hol- land, where the People may afpire to every thing, abun- dance pervades the whole States, good order prevails in the cities, fidelity in wedlock, tranquillity in all minds ; difputes and lawfuits are rare in that country, becaufe ev- ery one is content. Few European Nations poffefs a terri- tory fo contracted, and no one has extended her power fo far : Her riches are immenfe : She maintained fingly fuc- cefsful war againft Spain in all its fplendor, and after- wards againft France and England united : Her commerce extends over the whole Globe : She poffeffes powerful colonies in America, thriving fettlements in Africa, for- midable kingdoms in Afia. But if we trace up to their fource the calamities and the wars with which (he has STUDY VII. 255 been vifited for two centuries, it will be found that they proceed from the injuftice of fome of her fettlements in thofe countries. Her happinefs and her power are not to be attributed to her republican form of Government, but to that community of benefits, which fhe prefents in- diferiminately to all her fubjefts, and which produces the fame effefts in defpotic Governments, of which we have had reprefentations fo frightful. Among the Turks, as" among the Dutch, there is no fuch thing as quarrelling, or calumniating, or Healing, or proftitution in the cities. Nay, there is not to be found, perhaps, over the whole Empire, a fingle Turkifh woman carrying on the trade of a courtezan. There is, in the general mind, neither reftleflhefs nor jealoufy. Every man fees, without envy, in his fuperiors, a felicity attaina- ble by himfelf, and he is at all times ready to lay down his life for the Religion and Government of his Country. Their force abroad is by no means inferior to the perfec- tion of their union at home. With whatever contempt our Hiftorians may expofe their ignorance and ftupidity, they have aftually made themfelves mafters of the fineft provinces of Afia, of Africa, of Europe, nay, of the Em- pire of the Greeks themfelves, with all their wit and learn- ing, becaufe the fentiment of patriotifm, which unites them, is fufficient to baffle all the talents and all the taftics in the world. They have undergone, however, frequent convulfions from the revolting of the conquered Nations; but the moft dangerous proceed from their feebleft adver- faries, from thofe very Greeks, whofe property they plun- der with impunity, and whofe children they annually car- ry off, as a tribute to recruit the Seraglio. From thefe fame children iffue, by a reafting Providence, moft of the Janizaries, the Agas, the Pachas, the Bafhaws, the Viziers, which opprefs the Turks, in their turn, and render them- felves formidable even to their Sultans. Jt is this fame community of hopes and of fortunes prefented, without diftinftion, to all conditions of men, 26o STUDIES OF NATURE. which has given fo much energy to Pruffia, whofe inter- nal police, and victories abroad, have been fo highly cele- brated by our political Writers, though its Government is ftill more defpotic than that of Turkey ; for the Prince there is abfolute mafter at once in temporals and in fpir- ituals. The Republic of Venice, on the contrary, fo well known for her courtezans, for the reftleffnefs and jealoufy of her Government, is extremely feeble externally, though fhe is of higher antiquity, in a fituation more advanta- geous, and under a much finer fky than Holland. Venice is a maritime power in the Mediterranean, hardly ac- knowledged as fuch in modern times, whereas Holland is enlivening the whole Earth by her commerce ; becaufe the firft has reftrifted the rights of humanity to the clafs of Nobility, and the fecond has extended them to the whole people, It is, farther, from the influence of this unjuft partition, that Malta, with the fineft port in the Mediterranean, fit- uated between Africa and Europe, in the vicinity of Afia, and fwarming with a young Nobility of undaunted cour- age, will ever remain the laft Power in Europe, becaufe the People there are reduced to nothing. I fhall here take occafion to obferve, that hereditary nobility in a State deftroys, at once, all emulation in both the nobly and ignobly born. It is deftroyed in the firft, becaufe, being entitled by birth to pretend to every thing, they have no need to call in the affifiance of merit ; and in the fecond, being excluded from every pretenfion to rife, no degree of merit could avail them. This is the po- litical vice which has undermined the power of Portugal, and that of Spain ; and not the monaftic fpirit, as fo many Writers haveafferted. The monkifh order was all powerful from the times of Ferdinand and Ifabella. It was a Monk who decided at Court, the expedition of Chriftopher Co- lumbus in queft of a new World, the conqueft of which quadrupled in Spain the number of Gentlemen, Not * STUDY VII. 261 Spanifh foldier went over to America, but gave himfelf out, on his arrival there, for a man of family, and who, on his return to Spain, with money in his pocket, did not make good his title. The fame thing fhewed itfelf among the Portuguefe, who made conquefts in Afia. The mili- tary order, in both thefe Nations, at that time performed prodigies, becaufe the career of ambition, in feats of arms, was then open to the commonalty. But ever fince it has been fhut againft them, by the prodigious number of gen- tlemen with which thefe two States abound, the balance has turned in favour of the monaftic order, and conferred upon it a tribunitial Power. However wonderful our political fpeculations may rep- refent the threefold counterbalancing powers which con- ftitute the Government of Great Britain, it is to the vio- lent agitations of thofe powers we muft afcribe the perpet- ual quarrels which difturb her happinefs, and the venality which has, at length, corrupted her. The Commons, I grant, form one of her Houfes of Parliament, but the right of fitting in it as a reprefentative, being reftrifted to perfons poffeffed of fuch a revenue, its doors muft, of courfe, be fhut againft the admiffion of many a wife head, and be open to fome not entirely of that defcription. An Alcibiades and a Cataline might have made a fhining figure there ; but a Socrates, the juft Ariftides, Epaminondas, who transferred the Empire of Greece to Thebes, Attilius Regulus, who was called from the plough to the Diftator- ftiip, Menenius Agrippa, who fettled the difpute between the Senate and People ; no one of thefe could have pro- cured a feat, becaufe he had not an eftate in land worth fo much a year. Britain would deftroy herfelf by her very boafted Conftitution, did fhe not prefent a common ca- reer to every citizen, in her Marine. All the Orders of the State concur in this point of union, and give it fuch a preponderancy, that it fixes their political equilibrium. Whoever could deftroy the Marine of England, would annihilate her Government. This unanimous concur- 26ft STUDIES OF NATURE.' rence of the whole Nation toward the cultivation of one fingle Art, has raifed it to a height of perfeftion hitherto unattained in any other Country, and has rendered it the fole inftrument of her power. If we glance a look on the other States which bear the name of Republic, we fhall find internal diforder, and ex- ternal weaknefs, increafing in proportion to the inequality of the citizens. Poland has referved to the Nobility ex- clufively, all the authority, and left her Commonalty in themofb deteftable flavery ; fo that war, which eftablifh- es, between the citizens of one and the fame Nation, a community of danger, eftablifhes, between thofe of Po- land, no community of reward. Her Hiftory exhibits nothing but a long feries of bloody quarrels between Pa- latinate and Palatinate, City and City, Family and Family, which have always rendered her extremely miferable. The greateft part of the Nobility themfelves are there re- duced to fuch wretchednefs, that they are obliged, for a fubfiftence, to ferve the Grandees in the moft contempti- ble employments, as our own Nobility formerly did un- der the feudal Government, and as is the cafe to this day in Japan : For wherever the peafantry are flaves, the yeo- manry are menials. The calamity has, at length, over- taken Poland, in our own days, which would have fallen upon her long ago, had not the Kingdoms which fur- round her laboured then under the fame defefts in their feveral Conftitutions. She has been parcelled out by her neighbours, in defpite of her long political difcuffions, as the Empire of the Greeks was by the Turks, at a time when certain priefts, who had got poffeffion of the pub- lic mind, were amufing them with theological fubtilties. In Japan, the wretchednefs of the Nobles is in propor- tion to their tyranny. They formed at firft a feudal Gov- ernment, which it is fo eafy to fubvert, as well as all thofe of the fame nature ; for the firft of the feudal Chiefs who afpired at the fovereignty, effected his purpofe by a fingle battle. He curtailed their power of determining their STUDY VII. 26j{ quarrels by civil wars, but left them in full poffeflion of all their other privileges ; that of abufing the peafants, who there are mere flaves, the power of life and death o- ver all who are in their pay, even over their wives. The mafs of the people, who, in extreme mifery, have no way of fubfifting, but by intimidating or corrupting their ty- rants, have produced, in Japan, an incredible multitude of bonzes, of all fefts, who have erefted temples on every mountain ; comedians and drolls, who have theatres fet up at every crofs ftreet of their cities ; and courtezans in fuch fhoals, that the traveller is peftered with them on every high road, and at every inn where he flops. But this very people fet fuch a high value on the confideration exafted of them by the Nobility, that if fo much as a crofs look paffes between two of them, fight they muft ; and if the infult be any thing ferious, it is abfolutely neceffary that both parties fhould rip up each other, under pain of infamy. To this hatred of its tyrants we muft impute the lingular attachment which the Japanefe expreffed for the Chriftian Religion, becaufe they hoped it was to efface, by its morality, diftinftions fo abominable between man and man : And to popular prejudices we muft refer, in the Nobility, of that Country, the contempt which they expreffed on a thoufand occafions, for a life rendered fo precarious from the opinion of another. A fage equality, proportioned to the intelligence, and to the talents ot all her fubjefts, has, for a long time, ren- dered China the happieft fpot on the Globe : But a tafte for pleafure having there, at laft, produced a diffolution of the moral principle, money, the inftrument of procur- ing it, is become the moving principle of the Govern- ment. Venality has there dividend the Nation into two great claffes, the rich and the poor. The ancient ranks which, in that Country, elevated men to all the public of- fices, ftill exift, but the rich only aftually fill them. This vaft and populous Empire having no longer any patriot- ifm, but what confifts in certain unmeaning ceremonies, 264 STUDIES OF NATURE. has been, oftener than once, invaded by the Tartars, who were invited into the Country by the calamities which the People endured. The Negroes, in general, are confidered as the moft unfortunate fpecies of Mankind on the face of the Globe. In truth, it looks as if fome deftiny had doomed them to Haver v. The ancient curfe, pronounced by Noah* is by fome believed to be ftill aftually in effeft: " Curfed be " Canaan ! a fervant of fervants fhall he be unto his " brethren." They themfelves confirm it by their tra- ditions. If we may give credit to a Dutch Author, of the name of Bofman, " the Negroes of the Guinea coaft al- " lege, that GOD, having created blacks and whites, pro- " pofed to them the power of choofing between two things, " namely, the poffeffion of gold, and of the art of reading " and writing ; and as GOD gave the power of the firft " choice to the blacks, they preferred gold ; and they left " learning to the whites, which was accordingly granted " them. But that the Creator, provoked at the appe- " tite for gold which they had manifefted, immediately " paffed a decree, that the whites fhould have eternal do- " minion over them, and that they fhould forever be " fubjeft to their white brethren as flaves.t" I do not * Genefis, chap. ix. ver. 25. + Bofman's voyage to Guinea, letter x. This decifion of modern Negroes is highly to their honour. They feem to feel the ineftimable value of knowl- edge. But could they have feen, in Europe, the condition of moft men of literature, compared with that of men who poffefs gold, their tradition would have been completely reverfed. Similar opinions may be traced through other African black tribes, par- ticularly among the blacks of the Cape cle Verd Iflands, as may be feen in the excellent account given of them by George Robert. Tnis unfortunate Navigator was obliged to flee for refuge to the Ifland of St. John, where he received from the inhabitants the moft affefting proofs of generofuy and hofpitality, after having undergone the moft atrocioufly cruel treatment from his countrymen, the Englifh pirates, who plundered bis veffel. It muft, however, be acknowledged, that if fome African tribes excel us in moral qualities, the Negroes, in general, are very inferior to other N'a- tions in thofe of the underftanding. They have never to this day difcover- STUDY VII. *6S biean to fupport, by Sacred Authority, nor by that which thefe unfortunate wretches themfelves furnifh, the tyranny Which we exercife over them. If the malediftion of a Father has been able to extend fuch an influence over his pofterity, the benediftion of GOD, which, under the Chriftian Religion, extends to them as well as to us, re- eftablifhes them in all the liberty of the law of Nature. The precept of Chriftianity, which enjoins us to confider all men as brethren, fpeaks in their behalf, as in behalf of ed the addrefs of managing the elephant as the Afiatics have done. They have carried no one fpecies of cultivation to its higheft degree of perfeftion. They are indebted for that of the greateft part of their alimentary vegeta- bles to the Portuguefe, and to the Arabians. They praftife no one of the liberal Arts, which had made, however/fome progrefs among the inhabi- tants of the New World, who are much more modern than they. Nature has placed them on a part of the Continent, from whence they might with cafe have penetrated into America, as the winds which blow thither are eafterly, that is, perfeftly fair ; but fo far from that, they had not even difcovered the iflands in their vicinity, fuch as the Canaries and the Cape de Verds. The black Powers of Africa have never to this hour difcovered genius equal to the conftruftion of a brigantine. So far from attempting to extend their boundaries, they have permitted ftrangers to take poffdfion of all their coafts. For in ancient times, the Egyptians and Phenicians fettled on their eaftern and northern lhores, which are now in poflcflion of the Turks and Arabians. And for fome ages paft, the Portuguefe, the Englifh, the Danes, the Dutch and the French, have laid hold of what re- mained to the Eaft and to the South, and to the Weft, fimply for the purpofe of getting flaves. It muft needs be, after all, that a particular Providence fhould have pre- ferved the patrimony of thefe children of Canaan, from the avidity of their brethren, the children of Shem and Japhet; for it is aftonifhing, that perfons fuch as we are, the fons of Japhet in particular, who, as be- ing younger brothers, were hunting after fortune all the world over, and who, according to the benediftion of Noah, our Father, were to extend our lodging even into the tents of Shem, our elder brother, (hould never have eftabliftied colonies, in a part of the world fo beautiful as Africa is, fo near us, in which the fugar cane, the coffee plant, and moft of the pro- duftions of Afia and America can grow, and, in a word, where flaves are the produce of the foil. Politicians may afcribe the different charafters of Negroes and Europeans to whatever caufes they pleafe. For ray own part, I fay it on the moft perfect, conviftion, that I know no book, which contains monuments more authentic of the Hiftory of Nations, and of that of N'»ture, than the Book of Genefis. VOL. I. Ll fi>66 STUDIES OF NATURE. •ur own countrymen. If this were the proper place, I could demonftrate how Providence enforces, in their favour, the laws of univerfal juftice, by rendering their tyrants, in our colonies, a hundred times more wretched than they are. Befides, How many wars have been kindled among the maritime Powers of Europe, on account of the Afri- can flave trade ? How many maladies, and corruptions of blood in families, have not the Negroes produced a- mong us ? But I fhall confine myfelf to their condition in theif own country, and to that of their compatriots who abufe their power over them. I do not know that there ever exifted among them a fingle Republic, except it were, perhaps, fome pitiful Ariftocracy along the weftern coaft of Africa, fuch as that of Fantim. They are under the dominion of a multitude of petty tyrants, who fell them at pleafure. But, on the other hand, the condition of thofe kings is rendered fo deplorable by priefts, fetichas, grigris, fudden revolutions, nay, the very want of the common neceffaries of life, that few of our common fail- ors would be difpofed to cha nge ftates with them. Be- fides, the Negroes efcape a confiderable proportion of their miferies, by the thoughtleffnefs of their temper, and the levity of their imagination. They dance in the midft of famine, as of abundance ; in chains, as when at liberty. If a chicken's foot infpires them with terror, a fmall flip of white paper reftores their courage. Every day they make up, and pull to pieces their gods, as the whim ftrikes them. It is not in ftupid Africa, but in India, the ancient wif- dom of which ftands in fuch high reputation, that the mif- eries of the Human Race are carried to their higheft e*x- cefs. The Bramins, formerly called Brachmans, who arc the priefts there, have divided the Nation into a variety of Cafts, fome of which they have devoted to infamy, as that of the Parias. No one will doubt that they have ta- Jten care to render their own facred. No perfon is wot- S-T U D Y VII. 167 thy to touch them, to eat with them, much lefs to contraft any manner of alliance. They have contrived to prop up this imaginary grandeur by incredible fuperftitions. From their hands have iffued that infinite number of Gods, of monftrous forms, which fcare the human imag- ination all over Afia. The Commonalty, by a natural re aftion of opinions, render them, in their turn, the moft miferable of all mankind. They are obliged, in order to fupport their reputation, to wafh themfelves from head to foot, on the flighteft contamination by contaft ; to under- go frequent and rigorous failings; to fubmit to penances the moft horrible, before idals which they themfelves have rendered fo tremendous. And as the people are not permitted to intermix blood with them, they conftrain, by the power of prejudice over the tyrants, their widows to burn themfelves alive, with the body of the dead hufbahd. Is it not, then, a very horrible condition, for men reputed wife, and who give law to their Nation, to be witneffes of the untimely death, in circumftances fo fhocking, of their female friends and relations, ot their daughters, their filters, their mothers ? Travellers have cried up their knowledge : But is it not an odious alternative for enlightened men, either»to terrify perpetu- ally the ignorant, by opinions which, at the long run, fubjugate even thofe who propagate them ; or, if they are fo fortunate as to preferve their reafon, to make a fhameful and criminal ufe of it, by employing it to difi. feminate falfehood ? How is it poffible for them to efteem each other ? How is it poffible to retire within themfelves, and to lift up their eyes to that Divinity, of whom, as we are told, they entertain conceptions fo fublime, and of whom they exhibit to the People reprefentations fo abominable ? Whatever may be, as far as their ambition is concern- ed, the melancholy fruit of their policy, it has drawn in its train the mifery of this vaft Empire, fituated in the fineft region of the Globe. Their military is formed of *68 STUDIES OF NATURE. the Nobility, called Nai'rs, who poffefs the fecond rant in the State. The Bramins, in order to fupport them- felves by force, as well as by guile, have admitted them to a participation in fome of their privileges. Hear what Walter Schouten fays, ot the indifference expreffed by the common People toward the Nai'rs, when any mifchiet befals them. After a bloody encounter, in which the Dutch killed a confiderable number of thofe who had taken the fide of the Portuguefe : " No outrage or in- fult," fays he,* " was offered to any artifan, peafant, " fifherman, or other inhabitant of Malabar, not even in " the rage of battle. They, in confequence, never thought " of flight. A great many of them were potted at dif- " ferent places, merely as fpeftators of the aftion ; and " they appeared to take no manner of intereft in the fate " of the Nai'rs." I have been an eyewitnefs of the fame apathy in NaT tions, whofe Nobility forms a feparate clafs, among others, in Poland. The Commonalty of India fubjeft the Nai'rs, as well as the Bramins, to their fhare of the miferies of opinion. The Nai'rs are incapacitated to contraft legit- imate marriages. Many of them, known by the name of Amocas, are obliged to facrifice themfelves in battle, or on the death of their kings. They are the viftims of their unjuft honour, as the Bramins are of their inhuman religion. Their courage, which is merely profeffional fpirit, far from being beneficial to their Country, is fre- quently fatal to it. From time immemorial, it has been defolated by their inteftine wars; and it is fo feeble ex- ternally, that handfuls of Europeans have made fettle- ments in it, wherever they pleafed. At the clofe of the war in 1762, a propofition was made in the Parliament of Great Britain, to make the complete conqueft of it, and to pay off the national debt, with the riches which might have been extracted out of it; and this the Pro,- * Voyage to the Eaft Indies, vol. i, page, 367. STUDY VII. ±69 pofer undertook to effeft, if he was landed in India with an army of five thoufand Europeans. The bold- nefs of the enterprize aftonifhed no one of his compat- riots, who were acquainted with the weaknefs of that Country, and it was laid afide, as is alleged, merely from the injuftice of it. In France, the people never acquire any fhare in the Government, from Julius Cefar, who is the firft Writer that has made this obfervation, and who is not the laft politician that has availed himfelf of it, to render him- felf eafily its mafter, down to Cardinal Richlieu, who levelled the feudal power. During this long interval, our Hiftory prefents nothing but a feries of diffenfions, of civif wars, of diffolute manners, of affaffinations, of Gothic laws, of barbarous cuftoms; and furnifhes noth- ing interefting to the Reader, let the Prefident Henault, who compares it to the Roman Hiftory, fay what he will. It is not merely becaufe the fiftions of the Romans are more ingenious than ours ; it is becaufe we do not find in our Hiftory that of a people, but only the hiftory of fome great family. From this, however, muft be excepted the Lives of fome good Kings, fuch as thofe of St. Louis, of Charles V, of Henry IV ; and of fome good ,Mcn, who are in- terefting to us, for this very reafon, that they interefted themfelves in behalf of the Nation. In every other cafe, it is impoffible to difcover about what the Government was employing itfelf : It fludied the intereft only of the Nobility. The Country was fubjugated fucceffively by the Romans, the Francs, the Goths, the Alains, the Nor- mans. The facility, with which France embraced Chrif- tianity, is a proof that fhe fought, in religion, a refuge from the miferies of flavery. To this fentiment of con- fidence the Clergy is indebted for the firft rank which it obtained in the State. But the Clergy foon degenerated from its firft fpirit; and fo far from meditating the dc- ifcru&ion of tyranny, enlifted under the banner of tyrants ^ I/O STUDIES OF NATURE. adopted all their cuftoms; affumed their title*; appro- priated to itfelf their rights and their revenues ; and even made ufe of their arms to maintain interefts which were in fuch direft oppofition to its morality. A great many churches had their knights and their champions, who fup- ported their claims in fingle combat. N It would be unfair to impute to religion, the mifchiet occafioned by the avarice and the ambition of her minif- ters. She herfelf affifts us in detefting their faults, and enjoins us to be on our guard againft them. The greateft Saints, St. Jerom,* among others, have expofed and con- demned the vices of the clergy, with more vehemence than ever modern Philofophers have done. Much has, been written of late to difcredit religion, with a view to diminifh the power of priefts. But, univerfally, wher- ever fhe has fallen, their power has increafed. Religion herfelf alone reftrains them within due bounds. Obferve in the Archipelago, and elfewhere, how many fraudulent and lucrative fuperftitions have been fubftituted by the Greek Papas and Caloyers, in place of the fpirit of the Gofpel! Befides, whatever reproach may be eaft upon our own clergy, they have their anfwer ready, namely, that they have been, in all ages, like the reft of their com- patriots, the children of this world. The Nobles, Mag-, iftrates, Soldiers, nay, the Kings themfelves, of former times, were no better than they. They have been accufed of promoting every where the fpirit of intolerance, and of aiming at fuperiority, by preaching up humility. But moft of them, repelled by the world, carry, into their profeffional corps, that fpirit of intolerance of which the world fet the example, and of which they are the viftims ; and their ambition, fre- quently, is a mere confequence of that univerfal ambition, with which national education, and the prejudices of fo- ciety, infpire all the members of the State. Confult his Letters. STUDY VII. *7* Without meaning to make their apology, and much lefs fatirically to inveigh againft them, or any body of men whatever, whofe evils it was not my wifh to difcov- er, except for the purpofe of indicating the remedies which feem to me to be within their reach. I fhall here confine myfelf to a few refleftions on religion, which is, even in this life, the avenger of the wicked, and the con- folation of the good. The world, in thefe days, confiders religion as the con- cern only of the vulgar, and as a mere political contriv- ance to keep them in order. Our Philofophers ftate, in oppofition to it, the philofophy of Socrates, of Epitletus$ of Marcus Aurelius ; as if the morality of thofe fages were lefs auftere than that of Jesus Christ ; and as if the benefits to be expefted from it were better fecured than thofe of the Gofpel ! What profound knowledge of the heart of man; what wonderful adaptation to his neceffities; what delicate touches of fenfibility, are treaf- ured up in that divine Book ! I leave its myfteries out of the queftion. Part of them, we are told, have been taken from Plato. But Plato himfelf borrowed them from Egypt, into which he had travelled ; and the Egyp- tians were indebted for them, as we are, to the Patriarchs. Thefe myfteries, after all, are not more incomprehenfible than thofe of Nature, and than that of our own exiftence. Befides, in our examination of them, we inadvertently miflead ourfelves. We. want to penetrate to their fource, and we are capable only of perceiving their effefts. Ev- ery fupernatural caufe is equally impenetrable to man. Man himfelf is only an effeft, only a refult, only a com- bination for a moment. He is incapable of judging of divine things according to their nature, his judgment of them muft be formed according to his own nature, and from the correfpondence which they have to his neceffi- ties. If we make ufe of thefe teftimonies of our weaknefs, and of thefe indications of our heart, in the ftudy of re- §7* studies of natures ligion, we fhall find that there is nothing that can pretend to that name, on the face of the Earth, fo perfeftly adapt* ed to the wants of human nature, as the religion of the Bible. I fay nothing of the antiquity of-its traditions. The Poets of moft Nations, Ovid among the reft, have fung the Creation, the happinefs of the Golden Age, the indifcreet curiofity of the firft woman, the miferies which iffued from Pandora's Box', and the Univerfal Deluge, as if they had copied thefe Hiftories from the Book of Genefis. To the Mofaic account of the Creation, and the recent exiftence of the World, have been objected the antiquity and the multiplicity of certain lavas in volcanoes. But have thefe obfervations been accurately made ? Volcanoes muft have emitted their fiery currents more frequently in the earlier ages, when the Earth was more covered with forefts, and, when the Ocean, loaded with its veg- etable fpoils, fupplied more abundant matter to their furnaces. Befides, as I have faid in the courfe of this Work, it is impoffible for us to diftinguifh between what is old and what is modern in the ftrufture of the World. The hand of Creation muft have manifefted the imprefs of ages upon it, from the moment of its birth. Were we to fuppofe it eternal, and abandoned to the laws of mo- tion fimply, the period muft be long paft when there could not have been the fmalleft rifing on its furface. The aftion of the rains, of the winds, and of gravity, would have brought down every particle of Land to the level of the Seas. It is not in the works of GOD, but in thofe of men, that we are enabled to trace epochs. All our monuments announce the late Creation of the Earth which we in- habit. If it were, I will not fay, eternal, but of high an- tiquity only, we fhould, furely, find fome produftions of human induftry much older than from three to four thouf- and years, fuch as all thofe that we are acquainted with. We have certain fubftances on which time makes no study vii. Vt very perceptible alteration. I have feen, in the poffef- fion of the intelligent Count deCaylus, conftellation rings ot gold, or Egyptian ''talifmans, as entire as if they had juft come from the hand of the workman. Savages, who have n6 knowledge of iron, are acquainted with gold, and fearch after it, as much for its durability as for its fhin- ing colour. Inftead, then, of finding antiques of only three or four thoufand years, fuch as thofe of the moft ancient Nations, We ought to poffefs fome of fixty, of a hundred, of two hundred thoufand years. Lucretius, who afcribes the Creation of the World to atoms, on a fyftem of Phyfics altogether unintelligible* admits that it is quite a recent produftion. Prjeterea, fi nulla fuit genitalis ori'gd Terra'i & cceli, femperque eterna fuere, Cur fupra bellum Thebanum, & funera Trojae, Non alias alii quoque res cecinSre Poet*. De rerun Natura, Lib. v. tier. 325.* " Had Heaven and Earth known no beginning of exifU i( ence, but endured from eternity, Why have we no Po- " ets tranfmitting to us the knowledge of great eventSj il prior to the Theban war, and the downfall of Troy ?"• The Earth is filled with the religious traditions of our Scriptures : They ferve as a foundation to the religion of the Turks, the Perfians, and the Arabians : They extend Over the greateft part of Africa : We find them again in India, from whence all Nations and all Arts originally proceeded : We can trace them in the ancient and intri- cate religion of the Bramins ;t in the Hiftory of Brama, * Thus imitated: If genial Nature gave the Heavens no birth, And from eternal ages roll'd the Earth, Why neither wars nor Poets—Sages, tell, Till Honur fung, how mighty Heclor fell ? t See Abraham Rogers, his Hiftory of the Manners of the Bramiht, VOL. I. M w 274 STUDIES OF NATURE. or Abraham ; of his wife Sarai, or Sara ; in the incarna^ tions of Wiftnou, or of Chriftnou ; in a word, they are diffufed even among the favage tribes which traverfe A- merica. I fay nothing of the monuments of our religion, as uni- verfally diffufed as her traditions, one of which, inexpli- cable on the principles of our Phyfics, proves a general Deluge, by the wrecks of marine bodies fcattered over the furface of the Globe; the other, irreconcileable to the laws of our Politics, attefts the reprobation of the Jews, difperfed over all regions, hated, defpifed, perfecutcd, without Government, without a Country ; neverthelefs, always numerous, always fubfifting, and always tenacious of their Law. To no purpofe have attempts been made to trace refemblances between their condition, and that of feveral other Nations, as the Armenians, the Guebres, and the Banians. But thefe laft mentioned Nations hardly emigrate beyond the confines of Afia: Their numbers are extremely inconfiderable: They are neither hated nor perfecuted by other Nations; they have a Country ; and, finally, they have not adhered to the religion of their an- ceftors. Certain illuftrious Authors have ftated thefe fupernatural proofs of a Divine Juftice, in a very ftrik- ing light. I fhall fatisfy myfelf with adducing a few more, ftill more affefting, from their correfpondence to Nature, and to the neceffities of Mankind. The morality of the Gofpel has been challenged, be- caufe Jesus Christ, in the country of the Gadarenes, permitted a legion of demons to take poffeffion of a herd of two thoufand fwine, which were thereby precipitated into the Sea, and choked. " Why," afk the objeftors, " ruin the proprietors of thofe animals ?" Jesus Christ afted in this as a Legiflator. The perfons to whom the fwine belonged were Jews; they tranfgreffed, therefore, the Law which declares thofe animals unclean. But here again ftarts up a new objeftion, levelled at Mofes. *' Why are thofe animals pronounced unclean ?" Be- ST U DY VII. iyg «aufe, in the Climate of Judea, they are fubjeft to the leprofy. But here is a frefh triumph for our Wits. " The Law of Mofes," fay they, li was, then, relative to " Climate; it could be at moft, of confequence, a mere " political conftitution." To this I anfwer, that if I found in either the Old Teftament, or the New, any ufage whatever which was not relative to the Laws of Nature, I fhould be ftill more aftonifhed. It is the charafter of a Religion divinely infpired, to be perfeftly adapted to the happinefs of Man, and to Laws antecedently enafted by the Author of Nature. From this want of correfpon- dence, all falfe religions may be detected. And as to the point in queftion, the Law of Mofes, from its privations, was evidently intended to be the Law of a particular Peo- ple; whereas that of the Gofpel, from its univerfality, muft have been intended for the whole Human Race. Paganifm, Judaifm, Mahometanifm, have all prohibit- ed the ufe of certain fpecies of animal food ; fo that if one of thofe religions fhould become univerfal, it would produce either total deftruftion, or unbounded multipli- cation ; each of which evidently would violate the plan of the Creation. The Jews and Turks profcribe pork ; the Indians of the Ganges reverence the heifer and the peacock. There is not an animal exifting which would not ferve as a Feticha to fome Negro, or as a Manitou to fome Savage. The Chriftian Religion alone permits the neceffary ufe of all animals ; and prefcribcs abftinence from thofe of the Land, only at the feafon when they are procreating, and when thofe of the Sea abound on the fhores, early in the Spring.* * Is it poffible to abftain from fmiling ? No, the prejudices of education, in a good man, excite a ferious emotion, in a benevolent mind. Brought up in the habit of abftinence from animal food, during the feafon of Lent, good M. de Saint Pierre takes it for granted, that this is an inftitution of Chriftianity, and endeavours ingenioufly to reconcile it to a law of Nature. But the truth is, the Gofpel contains no fuch injunction ; and the univerfal- ity of tlrat rcl'gion is ftill greater titan even the enlarged mind of our A*« ?76 STUDIES OF NATURE. All religions have filled their temples with carnage, and immolated to Deity the life of the brute creation^ The Bramins themfelves, fo full of compaffion to the beafts, prefent to their idols the blood and life of men. The Turks offer in facrifice camels and fheep. Our Re- ligion, more pure, if we attend merely to the matter of the facrifice, prefents in homage to GOD bread and wine, which are the moft delicious gifts which He has beftow- ed on Man. Nay, here we muft obferve, that the vine^ which grows, from the Line up. to the fifty fecond degree of North Latitude, and from England to Japan, is the moft widely diffufed of all fruit trees; that corn is almoft the only one of alimentary plants which thrives in all Climates ; and that the liquor of the one, and the flour of the other, is capable of being preferved for ages, and of being tranfported to every corner of the Earth. All religions have permitted to men, a plurality of women in marriage : Chriftianity permitted but one, long before our Politicians had obferved that the two fexes are thor apprehended, in one refpeft at leaft. How can it be imagined, that Jesus Christ, in faffing fo long in the Wildernefs, intended to fet the ex- ample of an annual abftinence of the fame duration, to his difciples ? What Jew ever thought of making Mofes a pattern in this fame refpeft ? But while 1 regret the power of prejudice in another, let me take care that my own be overcome ; or if any remain, that they be harmlefs, or rather on the fide of virtue. In the very next paragraph, our Author is betrayed into a fimilar miftake, refpefting the nature and defign of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, by the phrafein ufe, in that Chureh whofe communion he had, from education, adopted. That ordinance is, in Roman Catholic countries, denominated the facrifice of the mafs. Carried away by the word facrifice, M. de Saint Pierre is led to reprefent the Chriftian Worfhipper as prcfenting to GOD, in the Sacrament, an offering of bread and wine. But it is not fo. He is com- manded to take and eat, to take and drink, in rememhiance of Chr ist. The facrifice which Chriftianity demands, and which every fincere communicant prefents to GOD, is the living facrifice of himfelf, which St. Paul calU our reafonable fervice. We meet, however, with a beautiful train of thought, in what follows, refpefting the elementary part of the inftitution, ftrongly cha- rafteriftic of a pious, penetrating, and comprehensive mind ; and which the devout Proteftant may perufe to advantage. H. H. STUDY VII. 927 born in nearly equal numbers. All have boafted of their genealogies ; and, regarding with contempt moft Other Nations, have permitted their votaries, when they had it in their power, to reduce them to a ftate of flavery. Ours alqne has protefted the liberty of all men, and has called them back to one and the famedeftination, as to one and the fame origin. The religion of the Indians promifes pleafure in this world; that of the Jews, riches; that of the Turks, conqueft : ours enjoins the praftice of virtue, and promifes the reward of it in Heaven, Chriftianity alone knew that our unbounded paffions were of divine original. It has not limited love, in the heart of Man, to wife and children, but extends it to all Mankind: It cir- cumferibes not ambition to the fphere of a party, to the glory of one Nation, but has direfted it to Heaven and Immortality : Our Religion intended that our paffions {hpuld minifter as wings to our virtues.* So far from * Religion alone gives a fublime charafter to our paflions. It diffufes charms ineffable over innocence, and communicates a divine majefty to grief. Of this I beg leave to quote two inftances. The one is ext'rafted from an account, not in very high eftimation, of the Ifland of St. Erini, (chap, xii.) by Father Francis Richard, a jefuit miflionary ; but which con- tains fome things that pleafe me from their native fimplicitv. Of the other I was an eye witnels. «« After dinner " fays Father R'chard, " I retired to St. George's, which " is the principal Church of the Ifland of Stamphalia. There one of the V Papas prefented to me a book of the Gofpels, in order to difcover if I «' could read their language as well as I fpakc it. Another came and aflod " me, Whether our holy father the Pope were a married man. But 1 was " ftill more amufed by the queftion of an old woman, who, after looking " fteadilyat me for a confiderable time, befought ne to tell her if I really " believed in GOD and in the Holy Trinity. Yes, faid I, and to give he'r " full affurance of it, I made the fign of the crofs. O! how glad I am, " fays the, that you are a Chriftian! We had fome doubt of it. On this I {' pulled from my bofom the crofs which I wore: The wotnci}, quite " tranfported with joy, exclaimed, Why (hould we any longer call in '• queftion his being a good Catholic, feeing he wo: fhips the crols! After •' her, another applied to me, of whom I afked, Whether Ihe had a mind to «• confefs. How ! replied fhe, Would it not be a fin to confefs to fuch " gentlemen as you ? No, faid I, for though I am French, ! confefs in <• $r«ek. I will go, replied fhe, and a& qur Blfaop, In 4 little w.hil« 878 STUDIES OF NATURE. uniting us on Earth, to render us miferable, it is fhe who burfts afunder the chains by which we are held captive. How many calamities has fhe foothed! how many tears " frte returned, per feci ly delighted at having obtained his permiffion. Af- " ter confeffion, I gave her an Agnus Dei, which fhe went about and fhew- *' ed to every one, as a curiofity which they had never feen before. I was " prefently befet by a multitude of women and children, who preffed me " to give them fome. I anfwered, that thofe Agnufes were given only te " fuch as had confefled. In order to gain their point, they inftantly offcr- «' ed to confefs, and wanted to do fo by pairs ; that is to fay, a young girl '• with her female confident, a young man with his bofom friend, whorti •' they denominate uoi^nrtwot, Adelphopeithon, confidential brother, al- '• leging as a reafon, that they had but one heart ; and that, therefore, '* there ought to be nothing fecret between them. It was with difficulty " I could feparate them ; however they were under the neceffity of fubmit- •« ting." Some years ago, I happened to be at Dieppe, about the time of the au- tumnal Equinox ; and a gale of wind having fprung up, as is common at that feafon, I went to look at its effefts on the fea fhore. It might be about noon. Several large boats had gone out of the harbour in the morning, on afifhing expedition. While I was obferving their manoeuvres, I perceived a company of country lades, handfome, as the Cauchofes generally are, com- ing out of the city, with their long, white head dreffes, which the wind fet a flying about their faces. They advanced playfully to the extremity of the pier, which was, from time to time, covered with the fpray which the dafhing of the waves excited. One of them kept aloof, fad and thoughtful. She looked wiftfully at the diftant boats, fome of which were hardly per- ceptible, amidft a very black Horizon. Her comrades, at firft, began t» rally, with an intention to amufe her: What, faid they, Is your fweetheart yonder ? But finding her continue inflexibly penfive, they called out, Come, Come, don't let us flop any longer here! Why do you make yourfelf fo un- e«fy ? Return, return with us ; and they refumed the road that led to town. The young woman followed them with a flow pace, without making any reply, and when they had got nearly out of fight, behind fome heaps of pebbles which are on the road, fhe approached a great crucifix, that ftands about the middle of the pier, took fome money out of her pocket, drop- ped it into the little cheft at the foot of the crols ; then kneeled down, and with clafped hands, and eyes lifted up to Heaven, put up her prayer. The billows breaking with a deafening noife on the fhore, the wind which agi- tated the latge lanterns of the crucifix, the danger at fea, the uneafinefs on the land, confidence in Heaven, gave to the love of this poor country girl, an extent, and a dignity, which the Palaces of the Great cannot communu $ate to their paflions. STUDY VII. lyg has fhe wiped away ! how many hopes has fhe infpired, when there was no longer room for hope ! how many doors of mercy thrown open to the guilty ! how many fupports given to innocence ! Ah ! when her altars arofe amidft our forefts, enfanguined by the knives of the Dru- ids, how the oppreffed flocked to them in queft of an afy- Ium ! How many irreconcileable enemies there embrac- ed with tears! Tyrants, melted to pity, felt, from the height of their towers, their arms drop from their hands. They had known the Empire only of terror, and they faw that of charity fpring up in its room. Lovers ran thither to mingle vows, and to fwear a mutual affeftion, which fhould furvive even the tomb. She did not allow a fin- gle day to hatred, and promifed eternity to love. Ah ! if this Religion was defigned only for the confolation of the miferable, it was, of courfe, defigned to promote that of the Human Race! Whatever may have been faid of the ambition of the Church of Rome, fhe has frequently interpofed in behalf of fuffering humanity. I produce an inftance taken at random, and which I fubmit to the judgment of the Read- er. It is on the fubjeft of the African flave trade, which is praftifed without fcruple by all the Chriftian and mar- itime Powers of Europe, and condemned by the Court of Rome. " In the fecond year of his miflion, Merolla was " left alone at Sogno, by the death of the Superior Gen- It was not long before her tranquillity returned; for all the boats gained the harbour a few hours afterward, without having faftained the flighteft in- jury. Religion has been frequently calumniated, by having the blame of our political evils laid to her charge. Hear what Montagne, who lived in the midft of thofe civil wars, fays on this fubjeft : " Let us confefs the truth : " Whoever fhould make a draught from the army, even the moft legally " embodied, of thofe who ferve from the zeal of a religious affeftion, and " add to them, fuch as regard only the proteftion of the laws of their " Counfry, or the fervice of the Prince, would find it difficult to make up " of them one complete company of foldicrs." Effiys, Book ii. chap. xii. pa^e 317. *8o STUDIES OF NATURE. " eral, whofe place Father Jofeph Buffeto went to fill at " the Convent of Angola. Much about the fame time, " the Capuchin miflionaries received a letter from Car- " dinal Cibo, in the name of the facred College. It con- " tained fevere reproaches on the continuation of the fale " of flaves, and earneft remonftrances, to put an end, at " laft, to that abominable traffic. But they faw little ap- " pearance of having it in their power to execute the or- " ders of the Holy See, becaufe the commerce of the " Country confifts entirely in ivory and flaves.*" All the efforts of the miflionaries iffued fimply in an exclu- lion of the Englifh from a fhare of the traffic. The Earth would be a paradife, were the Chriftiaii Religion producing Univerfally its native effefts. It is Chriftianity which has abolifhed flavery in the greateft part of Europe; It wrefted, in France, enormous pof- feflions out of the hands of the Earls and Barons, and de- ftroyed there a part of their inhuman rights, by the ter- rors of a life to come. But the people oppofed ftill a- nother bulwark to tyranny, and that was the power of the1 Women. Our Hiftorians are at pains to remark the influence' Which fome women have had under certain reigns, but never that of the fex in general. They do not write the Hiftory of the Nation, but merely the Hiftory of the Princes. Women are nothing in their eyes, unlefs they are decorated with titles. It was, however, from this fee- ble divifion of Society, that Providence, from time to time, called forth its principal defenders. I fay nothing of thofe intrepid females, who have repelled, even by arms, the in- vaders of their country, fuch as Joan of Arc, to whom Rome and Greece would have erefted altars : I fpeak of thofe who have defended the nation from internal foes, much more formidable ftill than foreign affailants ; ot * Extraft from the General Hiftory of Voyages, by the Abbe" Prevofl, Book xxii. page 180 : Merolla. A. D. 1633. STUDY Vlt. 281 thofe who are powerful from their weaknefs, and who have nothing to fear, becaufe they'have nothing to hope. From the fceptre down to the fhepherdefs's crook, there is, perhaps, no country in Europe where women are treated fo unkindly by the Laws, as in France ; and there is no one where they have more power. I believe it is the only kingdom of Europe where they are abfolutely excluded from the throne. In my country, a father can marry his daughters, without giving them any other por- tion than a chaplet of rofes : At his death, they have all together only the portion of a younger child. This un- juft diftribution of property is common to the clown as to the gentleman. In the other parts of the kingdom, if they are richer, they are not happier. They are rather fold, than given, in marriage. Of a hundred young wom- en, who there enter into the married ftate, there is not, perhaps, one who is united to her lover. Their condition was even ftill more wretched in former times. Cefar, in his Commentaries, informs us, " That the hufband had " the power of life and death over his wife, as well as " over his children ; that when a man of noble birth hap- " pened to die, the relations of the family affembled ; if " there was the flighteft fhadow of fufpicion againft " his wife, fhe was put to the torture as a flave ; and if " found guilty, was condemned to the flames, after a pre- " vious procefs of inexpreflible fuffering.*" What is Angularly ftranga, at that very time, and even before, they enjoyed the moft unbounded power. Hear what the good Plutarch fays on the fubjeft, as he is com- municated to us, through the medium of the good Amyot. " Before the Gauls had paffed the Alps, and got poffef- " fion of that part of Italy which they now inhabit, a vio- " lent and alarming fedition arofe among them, which if- " fued in a civil war. But their wives, juft as the two " armies were on the point of engaging, threw themfelves • Gallic War, book vi, VOL, I. N n 1&2 STUDIES OF NATURE. " into the intervening fpace ; and taking up the caufe o£ " their diffenfjon, difcuffed it with fo much wifdom, and •' decided upon it with fuch moderation and equity, that " they gave complete fatisfaftion to both parties. The " refult was an unanimous return to mutual benevolence, " and cordial friendfliip, which reunited not only city to " city, but family to family : And this with fo much ef- " feft, that ever fince, they invariably confult their wives, " on all deliberations, whether refpefting war or peace ; " and they fettle all difputes and differences with neigh- " bours and allies, conformably to the advice of the worn- " en. Accordingly, in the agreement which they made " with Hannibal, when he inarched through Gaul, among " other ftipulations, this was one, that if the Gauls fhould " have occafion to. complain of any injury done them by " the Carthaginians, the caufe was to be fubmitted to the " decifion of the Carthaginian Officers and Governor* " ferving in Spain ; And if, on the contrary, the Cartha.- " ginians could allege any ground of complaint againft " tlie Gauls, the matter fhould be left to the determina- " tion of the Wives of the Gauls.*" It will be difficult to reconcile thefe two clafhing au- thorities, unlefs we pay attention to the reaftion of human things. The power of women proceeds from their oppref- fion. The commonalty, as oppreffed as they, gave them their confidence, as they had given theirs to the people. Both parties were wretched, but mifery attracted them to- ward each other, and they made a common flock of woe. They decided with the greater equity, that they had noth- ing to gain or lofe. To the women we muft afcribe the fpirit of gallantry, the thoughtleffnefs, the gaiety, and, a- bove all, the tafte for raillery, which have, at all tjmes, charafterized our Nation. With a fong fimply, they have oftener than once made our tyrants tremble. Their bal- lads have fent many a banner into the field, and put many Plutarch, vol. ii. in folio : Virtuoas Aftiens of Women j page 25J. study vn. aS'gj a battalion to flight. It is by them that ridicule has ac- quired fuch a prodigious influence in France, as to hav# become the moft terrible weapon which it is poflible to "my " poor mother is very ill. There is not a mefs of broth " to be had in all our parifh. We are going to that " church in the bottom, to try if the Cure of this par- " ifh can find us fome. I am crying becaufe my little " fifter is not able to walk any farther." As fhe fpake, fhe wiped her eyes with a bit of canvas, which ferved her for a petticoat. On her raiting up the rag to her face, I could perceive that fhe had not the femblance of a fhift. VOL. I. • 9 2QO STUDIES OF NATURE. ^The abjeft mifery .of thefe children, fo poor, in the midft of plains fo fruitful, wrung my heart. The relief which I could adminifter to them was fmall indeed. I myfelf was then on my way to fee mifery in other forms. The number of wretches is fo great, in the beft can- tons of this province, that they amount to a fourth, nay, to a third of the inhabitants in every parifh. The evil is continually on the increafe. Thefe obfervations are founded on my perfonal experience, and on the teftimony of many parifh minifters of undoubted veracity. Some Lords of the Manor order a diftribution of bread to be made, once a week, to moft of their peafantry, to eke out their livelihood. Ye ftewards of the public, refleft that Normandy is the richeft of our provinces ; and extend your calculations, and your proportions, to the reft of the Kingdom ! Let the morality of their financier fuperfede that of the Gofpel; for my own part, I defire no better proof of the fuperiority of Religion to the reafonings of Philofophy, and of the goodnefs of the national heart to the enlarged views of our policy, than this, that notwith- ftanding the deficiency imputable to our laws, and our errors in almoft every refpeft, the State continues to fup- port itfelf, becaufe charity and humanity almoft conftantly interpofe in aid of Government. Picardy, Brittany, and other provinces, are incompar- ably more to be pitied than Normandy. If there be twentyone millions of perfons in France, as is alleged, there muft be then, at leaft, feven millions of paupers. This proportion by no means diminifhes in the cities, as may be concluded from the number of foundlings in Pa- ris, which amounts, one year with another, to fix or feven thoufand, whereas the number of children, not abandoned by their parents, does not exceed, in that city, fourteen or fifteen thoufand. And it is reafonable to fuppofe, that among thefe laft, there muft be a very confiderable pro- portion, the progeny of indigent families. The others are partly, it muft be admitted, the fruit of libertinifm ; but STUDY VII. 291 Irregularity in morals proves equally the mifery of the people, and even more powerfully, as it conftrains them at once to renounce virtue, and to ftifle the very firft feelings of Nature. The fpirit of finance has accumulated all thefe woes on the head of the People, by ftripping them of moft of the means of fubfiftence ; but, what is infinitely more to be regretted, it has fapped the foundations of their mo- rality. It no longer efteems or commends any but thofe who are making a fortune. If any refpeft be ftill paid by it, to talents and virtue, this is the only reafon, it confid- ers thefe as one of the roads to wealth. Nay, what, in the phrafe of the world is called good company, has hardly any other way of thinking. But I fhould be glad to know, whether there be any honourable method of making a fortune, tor a man who has not already got money, in a country where every thing is put up to fale. A man muft, at leaft, intrigue, unite himfelf to a party and flat- ter it, fecure puffers and proteftors ; and for this purpofe he muft be difhoneft, corrupt, adulate, deceive, adopt another man's paflions, good or bad, in a word, let him- felf down in one fhape or another. I have feen perfons attain every variety of fituation ; but, I fpeak it without referve, whatever praife may have been beftowed on their merit, and though many of them really had merit, I never faw any one, even of the ftrifteft honour, raife himfelf and preferve his fituation, but by the facrifice of fome virtue. Let us now look at the reaftions of thefe evils. The people ufually balance the vices of their oppreffors by their own. They oppofe corruption to corruption. From the prolific womb of vulgar debauchery iflues a monftrous fwarm of buffoons, comedians, dealers in lux- ury of every fort, nay, even men of letters, who, to flat- ter the rich, and fave themfelves from indigence, extend diffipation of manners and of opinions to the remoteft ex- 2Q* . STUDIES OF NATURE. tremity of Europe. In the clafs of the unmarried vulgar, we find the moft powerful bulwark oppofed to rank and wealth. As this is a very numerous body, and compre- hends not only the youth of both fexes, who, with us, do not form early marriages, but an infinite number of men befides, who, from peculiarity of condition, or want of fortune, are deprived, as youth is, of the honours of So- ciety, and of the firft pleafures of Nature, they conftitute a formidable affociation, which has all reputations at their mercy, together with the power of difturbing the peace of all families. Thefe are the perfons who retail, for a dinner, that inexhauftible colleftion of anecdotes, favour- able or unfavourable, which are, in every inftance, to reg- ulate public opinion. It is not in the power of a rich man to marry a hand- fome wife, and enjoy himfelf at home in his own way; thofe perfons lay him under the neceffity, unlefs he would be laughed at, that is, under pain of the fevereft evil which can befal a Frenchman, of making his wife the central point of all fafhionable fociety ; he muft exhibit her at all public places; and adopt the manners which his ple- beian diftators think proper to prefcribe, however con- tradiftory they may be to Nature, and however inconfift- ent with conjugal felicity. While, as a regularly em- bodied army, they difpofe of the reputation and the pleaf- ures of the rich, two of the columns attack their fortune in front, in two different ways. The one employs the method of intimidation, and the other that of feduftion. I fhall not here confine my refleftions to the power and wealth gradually acquired by feveral religious orders, but extend them to their number in general. Some pol- iticians pretend, that France would become too populous, were there no convents in it, Are England and Hol- land overpeopled, where there is no fuch thing ? It be- trays, befides, little acquaintance with the refources of Nature. The more inhabitants any country contains, the more produftive it is. France could maintain* perhaps, STUDY VII. 2Qg four times more people than it now contains, were it, like China, parcelled out into a great number of fmall freeholds. We muft not form our judgment of its fer- tility from its iinmenfe domains. Thefe vaft, deferted diftrifts yield only one crop in two years, or, at moft, two in three. But with how many crops, and how many men, are fmall tenements covered ! Obferve, in the vi- cinity even of Paris, the meadow land of St. Gervais. The foil is, in general, of a middling quality ; and not- withftanding, there is no fpecies of vegetable which our Climate admits of, but what the induftry of cultivation is there capable of producing. You fee at once fields of corn, meadow grounds, kitchen gardens, flower plots, fruit trees and ftately foreft trees. I have feen there, in the fame field, cherry trees growing in potatoe beds; vines clambering up along the cherry trees, and lofty wal- nut trees rifing above the vines; four crops, one above another, within the earth, upon the earth, and in the air. No hedge is to be feen there, feparating poffeflion from poffeflion, but an inter communication worthy of the Golden Age, Here a young ruftic, with a bafket and ladder, mounts a fruit tree, like another Vertumnus; while fome youno- girl, in a winding of the adjoining valley, fings her fono- loud enough to be heard by him, prefenting the image of another Pomona, If cruel prejudices have ftricken with fterility and folitude a confiderable part of France, and henceforth allot the poffeflion of a great Kingdom to a little handful of proprietors, how is it that, inftead of Founders of new orders, Founders of new colonies do not arife among us, as among the Egyptians and the Greeks ? Shall France never have to boaft of an Inachus, and of a Danaiis ? Why do we force the African tribes to culti- vate our lands in America, while our own peafantry is ftarving for want of employment at home ? Why do we not tranfport thither our miferable poor by families ; children, old men, lovers, coufins, nay, the very church- *94 STUDIES OF NATURE. es and faints of our villages, that they may find in thofe far diftant lands, the loves and the illufions of a coun- try. Ah! had liberty and equality been invited to thofe regions, where Nature does fo much with moderate cul- tivation, the cottages of the New World would, at this day, have been preferable to the palaces of the Old. Will another Arcadia never fpring up in fome corner of the Earth ? When I imagined I had fome influence with men in power, I endeavoured to exert it in projefts of this nature; but I have never had the felicity of falling in with a fingle one, who took a warm intereft in the happinefs of Mankind. I have endeavoured to trace, at feaft, the plan of them, as a legacy to thofe who fhall come after me, but the clouds of calamity have fpread a gloom over my own life; and the poffibility of enjoy- ing happinefs, even in a dream, is no longer my portion. Politicians have confidered war itfelf as neceffary to a State, becaufe, as they pretend, it takes off the fuperflux of Mankind, In general, they have a very limited knowl- edge of Human Nature. Independent of the refources of the fubdivifion of property into fmall allotments, which every where multiply the fruits of the Earth, we may reft affured, that there is no country but what has the means of emigration within its reach, efpecially fince the difcovery of the New World. Befides. there is not a fingle State, even among thofe which are beft peopled, but what con- tains immenfe trafts of uncultivated land. China and Bengal are, I believe, the countries on the Globe which contain moft inhabitants. In China, neverthelefs, are ma- ny and extenfive deferts, amidft its fineft provinces, be- caufe avarice attrafts thofe who fhould cultivate them, to the vicinity of great rivers, and to the cities, for the con- veniency of commerce. Many enlightened travellers have made this obfervation. Hear what that honeft Dutchman, Walter Schouten, fays of the deferts of Bengal. " Toward the South, a] STUDY VII. 295 *c long the fea coaft, at the mouth of the Ganges, there is *' a very confiderable extent of territory, defert and un- " cultivated, from the indolence and inaftivity of the in- " habitants, and alfo from the fear which they are under " of the incurfions of thofe of Arracan ; and of the croc- ** odiles and other monfters which devour men, lurking " in the deferts, by the fides of brooks, of rivers, of mo- " raffes, and in caverns.*" Obftacles very inconfidera- ble, it muft be allowed, in a Nation where Fathers fome- times fell their children for want of the means of fup- porting them ! Bernier, the phyfician, remarks likewife, in his travels over the Mogul Empire, that he found a great many, but deferted iflands, at the mouth of tlie Ganges. We muft afcribe, in general, to the exceflive number of bachelors, that of profligate women; which univer- fally are in exaft proportion to each other. This evil, too, is the effcft of a natural reaftion. As the two fexes are born and die in equal numbers, every man comes into the world, and leaves it, in company with his female. Every man, therefore, who prefers celibacy to the married ftate, dooms a female, at the fame time, to a fingle life. The ecclefiaftical order robs the fex of fo many hufbands ; and the focial order deprives them of the means of fub- fiftence. Our manufactures and machinery, fo ingeni- oufly induftrious, have fwallowed up almoft all the arts by which they were formerly enabled to earn a liveli- hood. I do not fpeak of thofe who knit ftockings, em- broider, weave, &c. employments which, in better times, fo many worthy matrons followed, but which are now entirely engroffed by perfons bred to the bufinefs, but we have, forfooth ! taylors, fhoemakers, male hairdreflV ers for the ladies. Wc have men milliners, dealers in linen, gauze, muflin, gum flowers. Men are not afham- ed to affume to themfelves the eafy and commodious oc- * Walter Sihoutcn's Voyage to the Eaft ladies, vol. ii. page 154. BQ6 STUDIES OF NATURE. cupations, and to leave to the poor women, the rougnef and more laborious. We have female dealers in cattle, in pigs, driving through fairs on horfeback : There are others who vend bricks, and navigate barges, quite em- browned with the fun ; fome labour in quarries. We meet multitudes, in Paris, fweating under an en- ormous load of linen, under heavy water pails, blacking fhoes on the quays ; others yoked, like beafts, to little carts. Thus the fexes unfex themfelves ; the men dwin- dle into females, the women harden into men. The greateft part of females, in truth, would rather turn their charms to account than their ftrength. But what mif- chief is every day produced by women of the town! What conjugal infidelity, what domeftic plunder, what quarrelling, beating, duelling, do they occafion ! Scarcely has night begun to fpread her curtain, when every ftreet is inundated with them ; every place of refort fwarmsi with thefe unhappy creatures; at every corner they lie in wait for their prey. Others of them, known by the name, now of fome confideration among the vulgar, of kept mifireffes, loll it away to the opera and playhoufe, in magnificent equipages. They take the lead, at the balls and feftivals of the better fort of our trades folks. For them, in part, arife in the fuburbs, in the midft of gar* ens in the Englifh tafte, gay alcoves in the Egyptian ftile. Every one of them bent on melting down a fortune. It is thus GOD punifhes the oppreffors of a People, by the oppreffed. While the rich are dreaming that they are expending their fubftance in tranquillity, men fpringing from the dregs, plunder them in their turn by the* tor- ments of opinion : If they are fo fortunate as to efcape thefe, fall they muft into the hands of abandoned women; who, if they fhould happen to mifs the fathers, make fure 6f indemnifying themfelves upon the children. An attempt has been made, for fome years paft, to give encouragement to virtue, in our poor country girls, by feftivals called Rofieres (rofe feafts;) for as to thofe who STUDY VII. S97 are rich, and our city dames in bufinefs, the refpeft which they owe to their fortune, permits them not to |mt themfelves on a level with the female peafantry, even at the foot of the altar. But you who bellow crowns on Virtue, are you not afraid of blighting the prize by your touch ? Know you not that among Na- tions who really honoured virtue, the Prince only, or the voice of the Country, prefumed to confer the crown ? The proconful Apronius refufed the civic crown to a foldier who had merited it, becaufe he confidered this privilege as belonging only to the Emperor. Tiberius beftowed it, finding fault with Apronius for not having done it, in quality of Proconful.* Have you been inform- ed in what refpeft virginity was held among the Romans ? The Veftals had the maces of the Praetors borne before them; We have mentioned, on a former occafion, that their prefence, merely, beftowed a pardon on the crim- inal going to execution, provided, however, the Veftals could affirm, that they did not pafs that way exprefsly for the purpofe. They had a particular bench allotted them at the public feftivals; and feveral Empreffes re- quefted, as the higheft honour they could afpire to, per- miflion to fit among them. And our Paris trades people, too, crown our ruftic Veftals !t Noble and generous ef* fort! They bellow a garland of rofes upon indigent vir- tue, in the country 5 while, in the city, vice flaunts about glittering with diamonds. On the other hand, the punifhments of guilt appear to me as injudicioufly adjufted as the rewards of virtue* We too frequently hear called aloud in our ftreets thefe terri- ble words, Thefentence of condemnation! but never, The fentence of reward. Crimes are repreffed by infamous * Annals of Tacitus, book iii. year 6. + They condefcend, likewife, to permit them to eat at the fame tabic with themfelves, for that day. See the journals of the fcftivity, which break •ut into raptures on this occafion. VOL. I. P p «q8 STUDIES ©F NATURE. punifhments. A fimple brand inflifted, inftead of re- forming the crjminal, frequently plunges him deeper in guilt, and not Seldom drives his whole family headlong into vicious courfes. Where, let me afk, can an unhap- py wretch find refuge, who has been publicly whipped, branded and drummed out ? Neceffity has made him a thief; indignation and defpair will hurry him on to mur- der. His relations, difhonoured in the public eftimation, abandon their home, and become vagabonds. His lifters give themfelves up to proftitution. Thefe effefts of the fear, which the hangman impreffes on the lower orders, are confidered as prejudices which are falutary to them. But they produce, as far as I am able to judge, unfpeakable mifchief. The vulgar extend them to aftions the moft indifferent, and convert them in- to a bitter aggravation of mifery. Of this I witnefled an inftance on board a veffel, in which I was a paffenger, on my return from the Ifle of France. I obferved that not one of the failors would eat in company with the cook of the fhip ; they hardly deigned even to fpeak to him. I enquired the reafon of this at the Captain. He told me, that being at Pegu, about fix months before, he had left this man on fhore, to take charge of a warehoufe which the people of the country had lent him. When night came on, thefe people locked the door of it, and carried home the key with them. The ftorekeeper being on the infide, and not having it in his power to go out to difbur- then nature, was under the neceffity of eating himfelf in a corner. Unfortunately, this warehoufe was likewife a church. In the morning the proprietors came and open- ed the door ; but obferving that the place was polluted, they fell upon the poor ftorekeeper, with loud exclama- tions, bound him faft, and delivered him over to the exe- cutioner, who would have immediately hanged him, un- lefs the Captain of the veffel, feconded by a Portuguefe Bifhop and the King's brother, had haftened to interpofe in his behalf, and faved him from the gallows. Front STUDY VII. 899 that moment, the failors confidered their countryman as degraded, from having paffed, as they alleged, through the hands of the hangman. This prejudice did not exift among either the Greeks or Romans. There are no traces of it among; the Turks. the Ruffians #nd the Chinefe. It does not proceed from a fenfe of honour, nor even from the fhame of guilt ; it is attached only to the fpecies of punifhment. The decapi- tation of a man for the crimes of treafon and perfidy, or being fhot for defertion, are confidered as no fligma oh the family of the perfon thus punifhed. The people, funk below their level, defpife that only which is peculiar to themfelves, and fhew nopity in their decifions, becaufe they are miferable. The wretchednefs of the lower orders is, therefore, the principal fource of our phyfical and moral maladies. There is another, no lefs fertile in mifchief, 1 mean the education of children. This branch of political economy engaged, among the Ancients, the attention of the greateft Legiflators. The Perfians, the Egyptians and the Chinefe, made it the bafis of their Government. On this founda- tion Lycurgus reared the fabric of the Spartan Republic. We may even go fo far as to affirm, that wherever there is no national education, there is no durable legiflation. With us, education has no manner of reference to the conftitution of the State. Our moft celebrated Writers, fuch as Montagne, Fenelon, John James Rouffeau, have been abundantly fenfible how defeftive our police is, in this refpeft : But defpairing, perhaps, of effefting a re- formation, they have preferred offering plans ot private and domeftic education, to patching up the old method, and adapting it to all the abfurdities of the prefent ftate of Society. For my own part, as I am tracing up our e- vils to their fource, only in the view of-exculpating Na- ture, and in the hope that fome favoured genius may one day arife to apply a remedy, I find myfelf farther engaged. 39° STUDIES OF NATURE. to examine into the influence of education on our particu- lar happinefs, and on that of our Country in general. Man is the only fenfible being who forms his reafon on continual obfervations. His education begins with life, and ends .only with death. His days would fleet away in; a ftate of perpetual uncertainty, unlefs the novelty of obr jefts, and the flexibility of his brain gave, to the impreff- fions of his early years, a charafter not to be effaced. At that period of life are formed the inclinations and the aver- fions which influence the whole of our exiftence. Our firft affeftions are likewife the laft. They accompany us through the events with which human life is variegated. They reappear in old age, and then revive the fenfibilities of childhood with ftill greater force than thofe of mature age. Early habits have an influence even on animals, to fuch a degree, as to extinguifh their natural inftinft. Ly- curgus exhibited a ftriking example of this to the Lacede- monians, in the cafe of two hounds taken from the fame litter, in one of which education had completely triumph- ed over Nature. But I could produce ftill ftronger in- ftances in the Human Species, in which early habit is found triumphant, fometimes, even over ambition. Hiftory furnifhes innumerable examples to this purpofe; I beg leave to produce one which has not yet obtained a place in the hiftoric page, and which is, apparently, of no great importance, but is highly interefting to myfelf, becaufe it brings to my recolleftion perfons who were juftly dear to me. When I was in the Ruffian fervice, I frequently had the pleafure of dining at the tahle of his Excellency M. a\e Villebois* Grand Mafter of Artillery, and General of * Nicolas de Villebois was a native of Finland, but defcended from a French family originally from Brittany. In the battle of Frankfort, he turned the tide of viftory decidedly in favour of Ruffia, by charging the Pruffians a.t the head of a regiment of fufileers pf the artillery, of which he was then Colonel. This aftion, joined to bis perioral merit, procured hira the blue ribbon of St. Andrew, and foon after the place of Grand Mafter •i the Ordnance, which he held at the time of my arrival in Ruffia. STUDY VII. 301 the corps of engineers to which I belonged. I obferved that there was every day ferved up to him a plate of fomething gray coloured, I could not tell what, and fimi- lar, in form, to fmall pebbles. He ate very heartily of this difh, but never prefented it to any one at table; though his entertainments were always given in the moft elegant ftyle, and every other difh indifcriminately recom- mended to his guefts, of whatever rank. He one day per- ceived me looking attentively at his favourite mofs; and aflced, with a fmile, if I would pleafe to tafte it. I ac- cepted his offer, and found that it confifted of little balls of curdled milk, falted, and befprinkled with anife feeds, but fo hard and fo tough, that it coft me inexpreflible ex- ertion to force my teeth through them, but to fwallow them down, was abfolutely impoffible. Though hit credit was then on the decline, he procured me an admiflioji into the fervice of her Imperial Majefty Catharine II, and did me the hon- our of prefenting me to her as one of the officers of his corps of engineers. He was making arrangements, in concert with General Daniel de Bofquet, Commander in Chief of the corps of engineers, for my farther promotion in it. They both employed all their powers of perfuafion to retain me in that fervice, and endeavoured to render it agreeable by every affeftionate and polite attention, and by affurances of an honourable and advantageous eftablifhment. But the love which I bare to my country, in whofe fer- vice I'had previoufry engaged, and to which I ftill wifhed to devote my fer- vices, a fond wifh, fed with vain hopes, by men of very high charafter, induced me to perfift in demanding my difmiffiou, which I obtained, with Captain's rank, in 1765. On leaving Ruffia, I made an effort to ferve my country, at my own ex- penfe, by joining that party in Poland which France had efpoufed. There I was expofed to very great rifks, having been made prifoner by the Polo. nefe Ruffian party. On my return to Paris, I prefented memorials re- fpefting the ftate of things in the North, to the Minifter of Foreign Affaijs, in which I predicted the future partition of Poland, by the Powers contig- uous. This partition aftually took place fome years afterward. I have fince endeavoured to deferve well of my country by my fervices, both mil- itary, in the Weft Indies, in my capacity of Captain of the royal engineers, and literary, in France, and I add, with confidence, by my conduct like- wife : But I have not, hitherto, enjoyed the felicity of experiencing, in my fortune, that fhe has been pleafed gracioufly to accept the various facrificoj which I faw it my duty to make to h«r. g08 STUDIES OF NATURE. " Thefe are," faid the Grand Mafter to me, " the ,c cheefes of my native country. It is a tafte which I " acquired in my boyifh days. I was accuftomed, when " a child, to feed with the peafants on thefe coarfe milk " beverages. When I am travelling, and have got to a " diftance from great towns, on coming near a country " village, I fend on my fervants and carriages before; " and then my great delight is to go unattended, and care- " fully muffled up in my cloak, into the houfe of the firft " peafant on the road, and devour an earthen pot full of " curdled milk, fluffed full of brown bread. On my laft " journey into Livonia, on one of thefe occafions, I met " with an adventure, which amufed me very highly. " While I was breakfafting in this ftyle, in comes a man " finging checrJy, and carrying a parcel on his fhoulder. " He fat down by me, and defired the landlord to give " him a breakfaft fuch as mine. I afked this traveller fo " gay. whence he came, and which way he was going. / " am afailor, fays he, and juft arrived from a voyage to " India ; I difembarked at Riga, and am on my return to " Herland, which is my native country, where Tiiave not " been thefe three years. Ifliallfiay there till I have /pent " theft hundred crowns, pulling out a leathern bag, and " chinking the money. I afked him feveral queftions a- " bout the cpuntries he had feen, which he anfwered ve- " ry pertinently. But, faid I to him, What will you do^ " when your hundred crowns are gone?—Oh ! fays he, / •' will return to Holland, embark again for India, earn a~ " nother bag of crowns, come back and enjoy myfelf in " Herland, in Franconia, my native country." The good " humour and thoughtleffnefs of this fellow diverted me " exceedingly," continued the. Grand Mafter. " To con- " fefs the truth, I envied his fituation." Wife Nature, in giving fo much force to early habits, intended that our happinefs fhould depend on thofe, who are moft concerned to promote it, that is, our parents; for on the affeftions which they, at that feafon, infpire, STUDY VII; jdj depends the affeftion which we are one day to be called upon to return. But, with us, as foon as the child is born, he is transferred to a mercenary nurfe. The firft bond which Nature intended fhould attach him to his parents, is burft afunder before it is formed. The day will come, perhaps, when he will behold the funeral proceffion of thofe who gave him birth, leave his father's door, with as much indifference as they faw his cradle turned out. He may be recalled home, it is true, at the age when the gra- ces, when innocence, when the neceffity of having an ob- jeft of affeftion fhould fix him there forever. But he is permitted to tafte thofe fweets only to make him feel, in a little while, the bitternefs of having them taken away from him. He is fent to fchool; he is put to board far .from home. There he is doomed to ftied tears which no ma- ternal hand is ever more to wipe away. It is there he is to form friendihips with ftrangers, pregnant with regret and repentance ; and there he muft learn to extinguith the nat- ural affeftions of brother, of fifter,. of father, of mother, which are the moft powerful, and the fweeteft chains by which Nature attaches us to our Country. After this firft horrid outrage committed on his young heart, others equally violent are offered to his underftand- ing. His tender memory muft be loaded with ablatives, with conjunftions, with conjugations. The bloffom oi human life is facrificed to the metaphyfical jargon of a dead language. What Frenchman could fubmit to the torture of learning his own in that manner ? And if there be thofe who have exercifed fuch laborious patience, Do they fpeak better than perfons who have never endured fuch drudgery ? Who writes beft, a lady of the Court, or a pedantic grammarian ? Montagne, fo replenifhed with the ancient beauties of the Latin tongue, and who has giv- en fo much energy to our own, congratulates himfelf on never having underfiood what the word vocative meant. To learn to fpeak by grammar rules, is the fame thing with learning to walk by the laws of equilibrium. It is 3©4 STUDIES OF NATURE* praftice that teaches the grammar of a language, and the paflions are our beft inftruftors in the rhetoric of it. It if only at the age, and in places where they expand, that the beauties, of Virgil and Horace are felt, a thing which our moft celebrated college tranflators never dreamt of< I recolleft that when I was at fchool, I was for a long time ftunned, as other boys are, by a chaos of barbarous terms ; and that, when I happened to catch a glimpfe, in the Author I was ftudying, of any ftroke of genius which met my reafon, or any fentiment which made its way to my heart, I kiffed the book for joy. It filled me with aftonifhment to find that the Ancients had common fenfe, I imagined that there muft be as great a difference between their reafon and mine, as there was in the conftruftion of our two languages. I have known feveral of my fchool- fellows fo difgufted at Latin Authors, by thofe college ex- planations, that, long after they had bidden farewel to the feminary, they could not bear to hear their names men* tioned. But when they came to be formed by acquaint- ance with the world, and by the operation of the paflions, they became perfeftly fenfible of their beauties, and re- forted to them as the moft delightful of all companions. It is thus that children, with us, become ftupified; and that an unnatural conftraint is ufed to reprefs a period of life all fire and aftivity, transforming it into a ftate, fad, fedentary, and fpeculative, which has a difmal influence on the temperament, by ingrafting maladies without num- ber upon it. But thefe, after all, amount only to the produftion of languor, and phyfical evils. But they are trained to vice; they are decoyed into ambition under the guife of emulation. Of the two paflions which are the moving principles of the human heart, namely, love and ambition, the laft is by far the moft durable, and the moft dangerous. Am- bition is the laft that dies in the aged, and our mode of education puts it prematurely in motion in the young. It would be infinitely better to aflift them in direfting STUDY vin 3Qg fehelr early tender affeftions toward an amiable objeft. Moft are deftined, one time or another, to feel the power of this gentle paffion. Nature has, befides, made it the firmeft cement of Society. If their age, or rather, if our financial manners forbid a commerce of early love, their young affeftions ought to be directed into the channel of friendfliip, and thus, as Plato propofes in his Repub- lic, and as Pelopidas affefted at Thebes, battalions of friends might be formed among them, at all feafons pre- pared to devote themfelves in the fervice of their Coun- try.* But ambition never rifes except at the experife of a- nother. Give it whatever fpecious name you pleafe, it is ever the fworn enemy of all virtue. It is the fource of vices the moft dangerous and deteftable ; of jealoufy, of hatred^ of intolerance and cruelty ; for every one is difpofed to gratify it in his own way. It is forbidden to all men by Nature and Religion, and to the greateft part of fubjefts by Government. In our colleges, a lad is brought up to empire, who muft be doomed,, for life, to fell pepper. The young people, the hope of a great Na- tion, are there employed, for, at leaft, feven years, in learn- ing to be the firft in the art of declamation, of verfifica- * Divide & impera (divide and govern) is a faying, I believe, of Mathia* vel't. Judge of the goodnefs of this maxim, from the miferable ftate of the country which gave it birth, and where it has been reduced into praftice. Children, et Sparta, were taught only to obey, ta love virtue, to lov« their country, and to live in the moft intimate union, till they were divid- ed in their fchools into two claffes, of Lovers and Beloved. Among the oth- er Nations of Greece, education was arbitrary } it confifted of a great va- riety of exercifes, of eloquence, of wreftling, of running, of pythian, of Olympic, of ifthmian prizes, &c. Thefe frivolities foftcred undue partiali- ties. Lacedemon gave Law to them all : And while the firft, on going to engage in the battles of their country, needed the ftimulus of pay, «f ha- rangues, of trumpets, of clarions, to excite their courage, it was neceffary, on the contrary, to reprefs the ardor of the Lacedemonians. They went to battle, unftimulated by mercenary considerations, by eloquent addreffes, to the found of the flute, and finging, in one grand aoncert, the hymn of the two twin brothers, Caftor and Pollux. VOL. I. Q q g06 STUDIES OF NATURE. tion, of prattling. For one who fucceeds in thefe trivial purfuits, how many thoufands lofe, at once, their health and their Latin ! It is emulation, we are told, which awakens talents. It would be an eafy tafk to demonftrate, that the moft cele- brated Writers, in every walk of literature, never were brought up at college, from Homer, who was acquainted with no language but his own, down to John James Rouft feau, who was a very indifferent Latin fcholar. HoW many young men have made a brilliant figure in the run of the claffes, who were by and by totally eclipfed in the vaft fphere of Literature ! Italy is crowded with colleges and academies ; but, Can fhe boaft, at this day, of fo much as one man eminently diftinguifhed ? Do we not fee there, on the contrary, talents diftrafted, by ill affort- cd focieties, by jealoufies, by cabals, by intrigues, and by all the reftleffnefs of ambition, become enfeebled, and melt away ? I think I am able to perceive ftill another reafon of this decline ; it is, that nothing is ftudied in thofe femin- aries but the methods and forms of learning, or what, in the Painter's phrafe, is called manner. This ftudy, by fixing us in the track of a mafter, forces us out of the path of Nature, which is the fource of all talents. Look to France, and obferve what are the arts brought there to the higheft perfeftion ; and you will find that they are thofe for which there is no public fchool, no prize, no academy : Such as milliners, jewellers, hair dreffers, cooks, &c. We have, it is true, men of high reputation in the liberal arts, and in the fciences ; but thefe men had acquired their talents before they were introduced into academies. Be- fides, Will any one venture to affirm, that they are equal to thofe of preceding ages, who appeared before acade- mies exifted ? After all, admitting that talents are formed in colleges, they would not for that be lefs prejudicial to the Nation ; for it is of inconceivably more importance ttkat a Country fhould poffefs virtue rather than talents,an4 STUDY VII. 3«>7 men happy, rather than men renowned. A treacherous glare covers the vices of thofe who fucceed in our Col- leges. But in the multitude who never fucceed, fecret jealoufies, malicious whifpers, mean flatteries, and all the vices of a negative ambition are already in a ftate of fer- mentation, and ready to burft forth, at the command of their leader, upon the World. While depravity is thus taking poffeffion of the hearts of children, fome branches of education go direftly to the perverfion of their reafon. Thefe two abufes always walk hand in hand. Firft, they are taught to deduce falfe confequences. The Regent informs them that Jupiter, Mercury and Apollo, are gods : The Parifh minifter tells them that they are demons. The profeffor affures his pu- pil, that Virgil, who has fo nobly fupported the doftrine of a Providence, is got, at leaft, to the Elyfian Fields, and that he enjoys in this world the efteem of all good men : The Cure informs him, that this fame Virgil-was a pagan, and muft certainly be damned. The Gofpel holds a con- tradiftory language in another refpeft ; it recommends to the young man to be the laft ; his college urges him by all means to be the firft : Virtue commands him to de- fcend ; education bids him rife. And what renders the contradiction ftill more glaring to the poor lad, it fre- quently proceeds, efpecially in the country, from one and the fame mouth: For the fame good Ecclefiaftic, in many places, teaches the claflics in the morning, and the cate- chifm at night. I can very eafily conceive how the matter may be ar- ranged, and contradiftions reconciled, in the head of the Regent; but they muft of neceffity confound and perplex all the ideas of the Learner, who is not paid for compre- hending, as the other is, for retailing them. The cafe is much worfe, when fubjefts of terror are employed, where nothing ought to be adminiftered but confolation : When application is made to them, for ex- ample, at the age of innoeence, qf the woes pronounced by 308 STUDIES ©F NATURE, Jesus Christ, againft the Pharifees, the doftors, and the other tyrants of the Jewifh nation ; or when their ten- der organs are fhocked by certain monftrous images fo common in our churches. I knew a y©ung man who, in his infancy, was fo terrified with the dragon of St. Mar- guerite, with which his preceptor had threatened him in the village church, that he aftually fell fick of horror, be- lieving that he faw the monfter conftantly at his pillow, ready to devour him. His father, in order to quiet his difturbed imagination, was under the neceffity of appear- ing fword in hand to attack the dragon, and of pretending that he had killed him. Thus, as our method is, one er- ror was driven out by another. When grown up, the firft ufe which he made of his reafon was to refleft, that the perfons cntrufted with the formation of that faculty, had impofed upon him twice. After having elevated a poor boy above his equals, by the title of Emperor, and even above the whole Hu- man Race, by that of Son of the Church, he is cruelly brought low by rigorous and degrading punifhments. " Among other things," fays Montagne^* " that part of " the police of moft of our fchools, has always given me " much offence. They ought, at all hazards, certainly '* with much lefs difadvantage, to have adopted the ex- " treme of indulgence. Youth immured prefents the moft " horrid of all gaols. To punifh a child before he is de- " bauched, is an infallible method to debauch him. If *' you happen to pafs when the leffon is delivering, you '* hear nothing but the cries of poor children undergoing •' chaftifement, and the ftorming of mafters intoxicated " with rage. What a method to infpire with the love of " learning, thofe tender and timid fpirits, to drive them ." to it with furly looks, and birchen armed hand ! Un- " juft, pernicious proceeding ! Add to this, what Quin- V tilian has well remarked on the fubjeft, that this impe- * Effays, book i. chap. 35. STUDY VII. 3°9 *' rious authority is pregnant with the moft dangerous M confequences, particularly from the mode of chaftife- " ment. How much more decent an appearance would " their claffes exhibit, ftrewed with flowers and verdant •' boughs, than with the fragments of bloody rods ! I *' would have portrayed in them, Joy, Gaiety, Flora, the " Graces, as the Philofopher Speufyppus had in his fchool. " Where fhould their improvement be looked for, but 4* where their pleafure is ?*" I have feen, at college, many a pretty creature ready to fall into a fwoon with pain, receive on their little hands, Up to a dp.zen of fharp ftrokes. I have feen, by the in- fliftion of this punifhment, the fkin feparated from the tip of their fingers, and the bare flefh expofed. What fhall be faid of thofe infamous punilhments, which pro- duce a difgraceful effeft, at once, on the morals of both fcholars and regents, and of which a thoufand examples might be adduced ? It is impoffible to enter into any de- tail, on this fubjeft, without putting modefty to the blufh. And yet they are employed by priefts. They reft on a paffage from Solomon's writings, of this import, " He " that fpareth the rod hateth the child." But who knows whether the Jews themfelves praftifed corporal punifh- ment after our fafhion ? The Turks, who have retained a great part of their ufages, hold this in deteftation. It has been diffufed over Europe only by the corruption of the Greeks of the Lower Empire, and it was introduced there by the Monks. If the Jews aftually employed it, Who can tell but their ferocity might proceed from this part of their education ? * Michael Montagne is likewife, one of thofe men who were not educated at college ; the time of his continuance there, at leaft, was very fhort. He was inftrufted without tailing corporal punifhment, and without emulation, under the paternal roof, by the gentleft of fathers, and by preceptors whofe memory he has precioufly embalmed in his writings. He became, by means of an education fo diametrically oppofite to ours, one of the beft, an^ one of the moft intelligent men of the Nation. flO STUDIES 91 NATURE. Befides, there are in the Old Teftament many advices never intended for our ufe. We find in it paffages of very difficult explication, examples dangerous, and laws impracticable. In Leviticus, for example, the ufe of fwine's flefh is prohibited. It is reprefented as a crime worthy of death, to violate the Sabbath day, by working upon it; that of killing an ox * without the camp is for- bidden under a like punifhment, &c. St. Paul, in his Epiftle to the Galatians, fays pofitively, that the Law of Mofes is a Law of fervitude ; he compares it to the flave Hagar> whom Abraham repudiated. Whatever refpeft may be due to the Writings of Solomon, and to the Laws of Mofes, we are not their difciples, but the difciples of Him, who faid, " fuffer little children to come to Me ; " forbid them not;" who bleffed them, and faid that in order to enter into the kingdom of Heaven, we muft be- come like them. Our children, fubverted by the vices of a faulty edu- cation, become falfe reafoners, knavifh, hypocritical, en- vious, ugly and wicked. In proportion as they increafe in age, they increafe alfo in malignity and the fpirit of contradiction. There is not a fingle fchoolboy who knows any thing of the laws of his Country, but there are fome who may have heard talk about thofe of the Twelve Ta- bles. No one of them can tell how our own wars are condufted ; but many are able to entertain you with fome account of the wars of the Greeks and Romans. Not one of them but knows that fingle combat is prohibited ; and many of them go to the fencing fchools, where the only thing taught is to fight duels. They are fent thither, we are told, merely to learn a graceful carriage, and to walk like gentlemen ; as if a gentleman muft walk in the pofi- tions of tierce and quarte, and as if the gait and attitude of a citizen ought to be that of a gladiator. * In what part of the Mofaic Inftitution, could our Author poffibly find thrs penal ftatute ? It is, furely, unncceffary to give infidelity a groundlefs triumph. H. H. ITUDY VII. j!l Others, deftined to funftions more peaceful, are put t6 fchool to learn the art of difputation. Truth, they grave- ly tell us, is ftruck out of the collifion of opinions. There may be fomething like wit in the expreffion. But, for my own part, I fhould find myfelf incapable of diftinguifh- ing truth, if I met with her in the heat of a difpute. I fhould fufpeft that I was dazzled either by my own paf- fion, or that of another man. Out of difputations have arifen fophifms, herefies, paradoxes, errors of every kind. Truth never fhews her face before tyrants ; and every man who difputes would be a tyrant if he could. The light of truth has no refemblance to the fatal corufcations of the thunder, produced by the clafhing of the elements, but to the brightnefs of the Sun, which is perfeftly pure only when Heaven is without a cloud. I fhall not follow our youth into the World, where the greateft merit of ancient times could be of no manner of fervice to him. What fhould he make of his magnani- mous, republican fentiments under a defpotifm ; and of thofe of difintereftednefs in a country where every thing is bought and fold ? What ufe could he make even of the impaflible philofophy of a Diogenes, in cities where beg- gars are taken up, and fent to the houfe of correftion ? Youth would be fufficiently unhappy, even fuppofing it to have preferved only that fear of blame, and that defire of commendation, under which its ftudies were conduct- ed. Influenced from firft to laft by the opinion of anoth- er, and having in itfelf no fteady principle, the fillieft of women will rule over him with more unbounded empire than his profeffor. But, let us fay what we will, the col- leges will be always full. All I pretend to plead for is, that children fhould be delivered, at leaft, from that te- dious apprenticefhip to mifery, by which they are deprav- ed, at the happieft and moft amiable period of their exift- ence, and which lias afterward fo much influence on their charafters. Man is born good. It is fociety that renders §13 STUDIES OF NATURE.' him wicked ; and our mode of education prepares the* way for it. As my teftimony is not of fufficient weight to bear out an affertion of. fo much importance, I fhall produce fev- eral which are not liable to fufpicion, and which 1 fhall extraft at random from the Writings of Ecclefiaftics, not in conformity to their opinions, which are dictated by thejr condition, but refulting from their perfonal experi- ence, which, in this refpeft, abfolutely deranges their whole theory. Here is one from Father Claude d' Abbeville, a Capuchin Miflionary, on the fubjeft of the children of the inhabi- tants of the Ifland of Maragnan, on the coaft of Brafil; where we had laid the foundations of a colony, whofe fate has been fimilar to that of fo many others, which have been loft by our want of perfeverance, and by our unhappy di- vifions, the ufual and natural confequence of injudicious education. " Farther, 1 know not whether it be from the " lingular affeftion which fathers and mothers here bear " to their children, but certain it is, they never fay a word " which can poffibly give them the flighteft uneafinefs ; " they are left at perfeft liberty to do juft what they " pleafe, and to take their own way in every cafe, with- " out any apprehenfion of reproof whatever. It is, ac- " cordingly, a moft aftonifhing appearance, and what has " often excited admiration in myfelf, and many others," (and with good reafon) " the children hardly ever do any " thing that can difpleafe their parents ; on the contrary, " they are at pains to do every thing which they know, " or imagine, will be agreeable to them.*" He after- wards prefents a very favorable portrait of their phyfical and moral qualities. His teftimony is confirmed by John de Lery, as far as it refpefts the Brafilians, whofe manners are the fame, • Hiftory of the miffion of Capuchin Fathers to the Ifland of Maragnao, •hap. xlvii. STUDY VII. 31$ and who are in the near neighbourhood of that ifland. I beg leave to produce another, that of Anthony Biet, Supe- rior of the Miffionary Priefts, who, in the year 1652, went over to Cayenne, another colony loft to us from the fame caufes, and fince indifferently fettled. It is on the fubjeft of the children of the Galibis Savages.* " The mother takes great delight in nurfing her child. " There is no fuch thing known among them as giving " odt their children to be nurfed by a ftranger. They " are fond of their children to excefs. They bathe them " regularly every day in a fountain or river. They do " not fwaddle them, but put them to fleep in a little bed '' of cotton, made exprefsly for the purpofe. They al- " ways leave them quite naked : Their progrefs in growth " is perfeftly wonderful; fome are able to walk alone at " the age of eight or nine months. When grown to a " certain age, if they are incapable of Walking upright, *' they march along on their hands and feet. Thofe " people love their children to diftraftion. They never " chide nor beat them, but permit them to enjoy perfect *' liberty j which they never abufe by doing any thing " to vex their parents. They exprefs great aftonifh- *' ment when they fee any of our people correft their *• children." Here is a third, extrafted from the work of a Jefuit, I mean Father Charlevoix, a man of various and extenfive learning. It is a paffage from his Voyage to New Orle- ans, another colony which we have fuffered to fall to nothing, through our divifions, a confequence of our moral conftitution, and of our fyftem of education. He is fpeaking, in general, of the children of the Savages of North America. " Sometimes,t as the means of correfting their faults, " they employ prayers and tears, but never threatenirigs..< * Voyage to the EquinoftiaJ. Countries, book iii. page 390. + Hiftorical Journal of North America. Latt. xxiii. Aug. ijtitt VOL. I. R r 34 STUDIES Of NATURE. " A mother, who fees her daughter behave improperly, *' falls a crying. The daughter naturally afks what is " the matter with her, and fhe fatisfies herfelf with re- " plying, You difiionour me. This mode of reproof fel- " dom fails to produce the effeft intended. Since, how- " ever, they have had a little more commerce with the " French, fome of them begin to chaftife their children ; " but fcarcely any except among thofe who are Ckrifiians, " or who are fixed in the colony. The fevereft punifh- " ment ufually inflifted by the Savages, for correfting " their children, is to throw a little water in their face.... " Young women have been known to hang themfelves, " for having received from a mother fome flight repri- t( mand, or a few drops of water thrown in the face; " after giving warning of what they were going to do, " in thefe words, Youjhall no longer have a daughter." It is very amufing, to obferve the embarraffment of this Author, in attempting to reconcile his European prejudices with his remarks as a traveller ; which pro- duces perpetual contradiftions in the courfe of his Work. " It would feem," fays he, " that a childhood fo badly " difciplined, muft be fucceeded by a very turbulent and " very corrupted youth." He admits that reafon direfts thofe people earlier than it does other men ; but he af- cribes the caufe of it to their temperament, which is, as he alleges, more tranquil. He recollefts not the pathetic reprefentations which he himfelf has exhibited of the fcenes that their paflions prefent, when they expand and exalt themfelves in the bofom of peace, in their national affemblies, where their harangues leave all the art of our Orators far behind, as to juftnefs and fublimity of imag- ery ; or amidft the fury of war, where they brave, in the face of fire and faggots, all the rage of their enemies. He does not choofe to fee, that it is our European education ■which deftroys our temper, for he acknowledges, in an- other place, that thefe fame Savages, brought up after *ur manner, become more wicked than others. There STUDY VII. gi£ are paffages in his Work, in which he prefents the moft affefting elogium of their morality, of their amiable qual- ities, and of their happy life. He fometimes feems to envy their condition. Time permits me not to give at large thofe different paffages that may be read in the Book from which the a- bove extraft is made, nor to produce a multitude of other teftimonies, refpefting the different Nations of Afia, which demonftrate the perceptible influence that gentlenefs of education has on the phyfical and moral beauty of man- kind, and which muft be, in every political conftitution, the moft powerful bond of union among the members of the State. I fhall conclude thefe foreign authorities by a touch which good John James Rovffeau could not have given with impunity, and which is extrafted word for word from the work of a Dominican ; I mean the agreeable Hif- tory of the Antilles, by Father du Tertre, a man replete with tafte, with good fenfe and humanity. Hear what he fays of the Caraibs, whofe education refembles that of the nations which I have been defcribing.* " On mentioning the word Savage," fays he, " moft " people will figure to themfelves a fpecies of men, bar- " barous, cruel, inhuman, deftitute of reafon, deformed, " tall as giants, hairy like bears; in a word, rather mon- '* tier* than rational beings; though, in truth, our Sava- " ges are fuch only in name, juft as the plants and the " fruits which Nature produces without culture in forefts " and deferts ; for thefe too we denominate wild or fav- '* age, though they poffefs the real virtues and properties " in their native force and vigor, which we frequently " corrupt by art, and caufe to degenerate by tranfplanta- *' tion into our gardens......It is of importance," adds he afterwards, " to demonftrate in this treatife, that the Sav- " ages in thefe iflands, are the moft content, the happieft, • Natural Hiflorv of the Antilles, vol. ii. treatife vii. chap, i. feet. i. 3^ STUDIES OE NATURE. " the leaf vicious, the moft fociable, the leaft deformed " and the leaft tormented by difeafe of any people in thfr " world." If we trace among ourfelves the hiftory of a villain's life, we fhall find that his infancy was always very mifer- able. Wherever I have found children unhappy, I al- ways obferved they were wicked and ugly ; and wherev- er I faw them happy, there likewife they were beautiful. and good, la Holland and Flanders, where they are brought up with the greateft gentlenefs, their beauty is iingularly remarkable. It is from them that the famous fculptor, Francis the Flemifh, borrowed his charming models of children ; and Rubens, that frefhnefs of colour- ing which glows on thofe of his piftures. You never hear them, as in our cities, uttering loud and bitter cries; ftill lefs do you hear them threatened with the rod by their mothers and nurfes, as with us. They are not gay, but they are contented. You obferve on their countenance an air of tranquillity and fatisfaftion which is perfeftly enchanting, and infinitely more interefting than the boif- terous mirth of our young people when they are no long- er under the eye of their fathers or preceptors. This calmnefs is diffufed over all their aftions, and is the fource of a happy compofure which charafterizej their whole future life. I never faw any country where parental tendernefs was fo ftrikingly expreffed. The children, in their turn, repay them, in their old age, the indulgence with which they were treated in helplefs in- fancv. By bonds fo endearing are thefe people attached to their country, and fo powerfully that we find very few of them fettling among ftrangers. With us, on the con- trarv, fathers like better to fee their children fprightly than good, becaufe in a conftitution of ambitious fociety, fpirit raifes a man to the head of a party, but goodnefs makes dupes. They have colleftfons of epigrams com- pofed by their children ; but wit being only the percep- tion of the relations of fociety, children fcarcely ever,. STUDY VII. 3*7 have any but what is borrowed. Wit itfelf is frequent- ly, in them, the proof of a miferable exiftence, as may be remarked in the fchoolboys of our cities, who ufually are fprightlier than the children of the peafantry ; and in fuch as labour under fome natural defeft, as lamenefs, hunchbackednefs, and the like, who, in refpeft of wit, arc ftill more premature than others. But, in general, they are all exceedingly forward in point of feeling; and this reflefts great blame on thofe who degrade them, at an age when they frequently feel more delicately than men. Of this I fhall produce fome inftances, calculated to demonftrate that, notwithftanding the defects of our po- litical conftitutions, there ftill exift, in fome familiesj good natural qualities, or well informed virtues, which leave, to the happy affeftions of children, the liberty of expanding. I was at Drefden, in 176,5, and happened to go to the Court Theatre : The piece performed was, The Father. In qame the Eleftrefs, with one of her daughters, who might be about five or fix years of age. An officer of the Sax- on guards, who had introduced me, faid in a whifper, V That child will intereft you much more than the play." In faft, as foon as fhe had taken her feat, fhe retted both hands on the front of the box, fixed her eyes on the ftage, and remained, with open mouth, immoveably attentive to the performers. It was a truly affefting exhibition ; her face, like a mirror, reflefted all the different paffions which the drama was intended to excite. You could fee, in fucceflion, depifted upon it, anxiety, furprife, melan- choly, forrow ; at laft, as the intereft increafed from fcene to fcene, the tears began to trickle copioufly down her little cheeks; accompanied with fhivering, fighing, fob- bino-; Till it became neceffary at length to carry her out of the box, for fear of her being ftifled. My companion informed me, that as often as this young princefs attend- ed the reprefentation of a pathetic piece, fhe was obliged to retire, before it came to the crifis. 3*8 STUDIES OF NATURE. I have witneffed inftances of fenfibility ftill more af- fefting, in the children of the common people, becaufe they were not produced by any theatrical effeft. As I was taking my walk, fome years ago, through the Pre St. Gervais, about the fetting in of winter, I obferved a poor woman, lying along the ground, employed in weeding a bed of forrel; clofe by her was a little girl, of fix years old at moft, Handing, motionlefs, and quite impurpled with the cold. I addreffed myfelf to the woman, who betrayed evident fymptoms of indifpofition, and enquired into the nature of her malady. " Sir," faid fhe to me, '• for three months paft, I have fuffered very feverely " from the rheumatifm ; but my difeafe gives me much " lefs pain than that poor child: She will not quit me " a fingle moment. If I fay to her, fee, you are quite " benumbed with cold, go within doors and warm your- " felf; fhe replies : alas! mother, if I leave you, your " complaints will be your only companion." Another time, being at Marly, I went into that mag- nificent park, and amufed myfelf in the woods with look- ing at the charming group of children who are feeding, with vine boughs and grapes, a fhe goat which feems at play with them. At no great diftance is an inclofed pavillion, where Louis XV, in fine weather, fometimes went to enjoy a collation. Being caught in a fudden fhower, I went in for a few moments to fhelter myfelf. I there found three children, who interefted me much more than the children in marble without doors. They were two little girls, uncommonly handfome, employed with lingular aftivity, in picking up round the arbour, the fcattered flicks of dry wood, which they depofited in a bafket that flood on the King's table, while a little boy, all in tatters, and extremely lean, was devouring a morfel of bread in a corner. I afked the talleft, who might be a- bout eight or nine years old, what fhe intended to do v.'ith that wood, which fhe was fo bufily collecting. She fcTUDY VII. 319 Teplied, " Look, Sir, at that poor boy, there; he is very " miferable ! He is fo unfortunate as to have a ftepmoth- " er, who fends him «ut, all day long, to pick up wood: " If he carries none home, he is beaten feverely ; when " he happens to have got a little, and is carrying it off, " the Swifs at the park gate takes it from him, and ap- ** plies it to his own ufe. He is half dead with hunger, ** and we have given him our breakfaft." Having thus fpoken, fhe and her companion filled the little bafket; helped him up with it on his back, and ran away before their unhappy friend to the gate of the park, to fee if he could pafs unmolefted. Foolifh Inftruftors! Human nature, you tell us, is corrupted : Yes, but you are the perfons who corrupt it by contradictions, by unprofitable ftudies, by dangerous ambition, by fhameful chaftifements; and by an equita- ble reaftion of divine Juftice, that feeble and unfortunate generation will one day give back to that which oppreffes it, in jealoufies, indifputes, in apathies, and in oppofitions of taftes, of modes, and of opinions, all the mifchief which it firft received. I have explained, to the beft of my ability, the caufes, and the reaftions of our evils, in the view of vindicating Nature from the charge of having produced them. I propofe, at the clofe of this Work, to exhibit the pal- liatives and the remedies. They will, no doubt, prove vain and inefficient fpeculations: But if fome Minifter fhall have the courage, one day, to undertake, to render the Nation internally happy, and powerful abroad, I can venture to predift, that this will be effected neither by plans of economy, nor by political alliances, but by re- forming its manners, and its plan of education. He nev- er will make good this revolution, by means of punifh- ments and rewards, but by imitating the proceffes of Na- ture, who always carries her point by reaftion. It is not t» the apparent evil that th» remedy muft be applied, but g«0 STUDIES OF NATURE* to its caufe. The caufe of the moral power of'gold; 1$ in the venality of public officers; that of the cxceflive' fuperabundance df indolent tradesmen in our cities, is irt the impofts which degrade the inhabitants of the country ; that of the beggary df the poor; is in the overgrown prop- erty of the rich; that of the proftitution of young women, is in the celibacy of the men; that of the prejudices of the Nobility, in the refentments of the Vulgar; and that of all the evils of fociety, in the torments inflifted on children. For my own part, I have fpoken out; and if I could have fpoken to the Nation in one vaft affembly; from fome point df the Horizon1 where Paris is difcernible, I would have pointed out to my Country, on the one part, the monuments of the rich ; the thoufands of voluptuous palaces in the fuburbs, eleven theatres, the fteeples of a hundred and thirty four convents, among which arife! eleven wealthy abbeys ; thofe of a hundred and fixty other churches, twenty df which are richly endowed chapters i And, on the other part, I would have pointed out the monuments of the Wretched ; fifty feven colleges, fixteen courts df juftice, fourteen barracks, thirty guard houfes, tWentyfix hofpitalsj twelve prifons or houfes of correc- tion. I would 'have difplayed the magnificence of the gardens, of the courts, df the greens, of the inclofures, and of the dependencies, of all thefe vail edifices, accu- mulated on a fpace of ground lefs than a league and a half in diameter. I would have demanded, whether theh reft of the Kingdom is diftributed in the fame propor- tion as the Capital : Where are the properties of thofe who ffupply it with food, with clothing, with the means of lodgings of thofe who defend it ; and what at laft, is left for the multitude, to maintain citizens, fathers of families, and happy men ? Oh! ye moral and political Powers, after having fhewn you the caufes and the effefts of our evils, I would have proftrated myfelf at your feet. STUDY VII. 33 i iihcl would have expefted, as the reward of truth, the fame recompenfe which the peafant of the Danube ex- pefted from the irifatiable powers of Rome.* » As a fequel to this. Study, may be read that which terminates the third Volume of this Work. VOL. I. S S J2t 8TUD1ES OF NATURE. STUDY EIGHTH. REPLIES TO THE OBJECTIONS AGAINST A DIVINE PROVIDENCE, AND THE HOPES OF A LIFE TO COME, FOUNDED ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD, AND THE MISERIES OF A PRES- ENT STATE. VV HAT avails it me," fome one will fay, " that my " tyrants are punifhed, if I am ftill to be the viftim of " tyranny ? Is it poflible that fuch compenfations fhould " be the work of GOD ? Great Philofophers, who have " devoted their whole life to the ftudy of Nature, have " refufed to acknowledge its Author. Who hath feen " GOD at any time ? What is it that conftitutes GOD ? " But taking it for granted that an intelligent Being di- " refts the affairs of this Univerfe, Man affuredly is a- " bandoned to himfelf: No hand has traced his career: '* As far as he is concerned, there are, apparently, two " Deities ; the one inviting him to unbounded enjoy- " ment, and the other dooming him to endlefs privation; " one God of Nature, and another God of Religion. He " is totally uncertain whether of the two he is bound to " pleafe; and whatever be the choice which he is deter- •' mined to make, how can he tell whether he is rendering " himfelf an objeft of love or of hatred ? " His virtue itfelf fills him with doubts and fcruples ; " it renders him miferable, both inwardly and outwardly ; " it reduces him to a ftate of perpetual warfare with him- STUDY VIII. 321 •' felf, and with the world, to the interefts of which he is " obliged to make a facrifice of himfelf. If he is chafte, •' the world calls him impotent; if he is religious, he is " accounted filly; if he difcovers benignity of difpofition " to thofe around him, it is becaufe he wants courage ; if " he devotes himfelf for the good of his country, he is a '* fanatic ; if he is fimple, he is duped ; if he is modeft, '* he is fupplanted ; he is every where derided, betrayed, " defpifed, now by the philofopher, and now by the dev- " otee. On what foundation can he build the hope of " a recompenfe for fo many ftruggles and mortifications ? " On a life to come ? What affurance has he of its ex- " iftence ? Where is the traveller that ever returned " from thence ? " What is the foul of man ? Where was it a hundred " years ago ? Where will it be a century hence ? It ex- •* pands with the fenfes, and expires when they expire. v What becomes of it in fleep, in a lethargy ? It is the " illufion of pride to imagine that it is immortal: Nature " univerfally points to death, in his monuments, in his " appetites, in his loves, in his friendfhips : Man is uni- " verfally reduced to the neceffity of drawing a veil over •' this idea. In order to live lefs miferable, he ought to " divert himfelf, that is, as the word literally imports, he " ought to turn afide from that difmal perfpeftive of woes " which Nature is prefenting to him on every fide. To " what hopelefs labours has fhe not fubjefted his mifera- " ble life ? The beafts of the field are a thoufand times " happier; clothed, lodged, fed by the hand of Nature, " they give themfelves up without folicitude to the in- " dulgence of their paflions, and finifh their career with- " out any prefentiment of death, and without any fear of " an hereafter. "If there be a GOD who prefides over the deftiny of " all, he muft be inimical to the felicity of the Human " Race. What is it to me that the Earth is clothed with " vegetables, if I have not the fhade of a fingle tree at my 3»4 STUDIES OF NATURE. " difpofal ? Of what importance are to me the laws of " harmony and of love, which govern Nature, if I be^ " hold around me only objefts faithlefs and deceiving $ *' or if my fortune, my condition, my religion, impofe *' celibacy upon me ? The general felicity, diffufed over " the Earthy ferves only as a bitter aggravation of my " particular wretchednefs. What intereft is it poflible *' for me to take in the wifdom of an arrangement which " renovates all things, if, as a confequence of that very " arrangement, I feel myfelf finking, and ready to be loft " forever ? One fingle wretch might arraign Providence, " and fay with Job, the Arabian :* Wherefore is light " given to him that is in mifery ; and life unto the bitter " in foul? Alas! The appearances of happinefs have been •' difclofed to the view of Man, only to overwhelm him *' with defpair of ever attaining it. If a GOD, intelli- •* gent and beneficent, governs Nature, diabolical fpirits " direft and confound, at leaft the affairs of the children ** of men." I fhall, firft, reply to the principal authorities, on which fome of thofe objeftions are fupported. They are extract- ed, in part, from a celebrated Poet, and a learned Philof- opher, namely Lucretius, and from Pliny, Lucretius has clothed the Philofophy of Empedocles and Epicurus in very beautiful verfes. His imagery is enchanting; but that Philofophy of atoms, which adhere to each other by chance, is fo completely abfurd, that "wherever it appears, the beauty of the poetry is impaired. Tor the truth of this, I confidently refer to the judgment of his partifans themfelves. It fpeaks neither to the heart nor to the underftanding. It offends equally in its principles, and in the confequences deduced from them. To what, we may afk him, do thofe primary atoms, out of which you conftruft the elements of Nature, owe their exiftence ? Who communicated to them the firft move^ * Job, chap, iii, ver. 20. 6TUDY VIII. 9*4 ment ? How is it poflible they fhould have given to the aggregation of a great number of bodies, a fpirit of life, a fenfibility and a will, which they themfelves poffeffed not. If you believe, with Leibnitz, that thofe monads, or unities, have, in truth, perceptions peculiar to themfelves, you give up the laws of chance, and are reduced to the neceffity of allowing to the elements of nature, the intelli- gence which you refufe to its Author. Defcartes has, in truth, fubjefted thofe impalpable principles, and, if I may be allowed the expreffion, that metaphyfical duft, to the laws of an ingenious Geometry ; and after him, the herd of Philofophers, feduced by the facility of erefting all forts of fyftems with the fame materials, have applied to them, by turns, the laws of attraftion, of fermentation, pf cryftallization; in a word, all the operations of Chem- iftry, and all the fubtilties of dialeftics : But all, with e- qual fuccefs, that is, with none whatever. We fhall de- monftrate, in the article which follows this, when we come to fpeak of the weaknefs of Human Reafon, that the meth^ od adopted in our Schools, of rifing up to firft caufes, is the perpetual fource of the errors of our Philofophy, in phyfics as well as. in morals. Fundamental truths refem- ble the ftars, and our reafon is like the graphometer. If this inftrument, conftrufted for the purpofe of obferving the heavenly bodies, has been deranged however {lightly ; if from the point of departure, we commit a miftake of the minuteft angle imaginable, the error, at the extremity of the vifual rays, becomes abfolutely incommenfurable. There is fomething ftill more ftrange, in the method which Lucretius has thought proper to purfue : Namely, that, in a Work, the profeffed objeft of which is to ma- terialize the Deity, he fets out with defying matter. In this he has himfelf given way to an univerfal principle, which we fhall endeavour to unfold, when we come to ad- duce the proofs of the Divinity from feeling ; it is this, that we find it impoffible powerfully to intereft mankind, 3*4 studies of nature. whatever be the objeft, without prefenting to the Mind, fome of the attributes of Deity. Before he attempts, therefore, to dazzle the underftanding, as a Philofopher,. he begins with fetting the heart on fire, as a Poet. Here is a part of his exordium. ..........Hominum divumque voluptas, Alma Venus, cocli fubter labemia figna Quae mare navigerum, qua: terras frugiferentes Concelebras, per te quoniam genus omne animantum Concipitur, vifitque exortum luinina folis, Te dea, te fugiuntventi, te nubila cceli, Adventuque tuo, tibi fuaves daedala tellui Submittit flores, tibi rident sequora ponti, Placatamque nitet diffufo lumine caelum. Quae quoniam rerum naturam fola gubernai, Nee, fine te, quidquam dias in luminis oras Exvritur, neque fit lattum, neque amabile quidquam, Te fociam ftudeo fcribendis verfibui effe, Quos ego de rerum natura pangere conor. Quo magis aeternum, da diftis, diva, leporem. Effice ut in terra fera munera militiai Per maria ac terras omnes fopita quiefcant; Nam tu fola potes tranquilla pace juvare Mortales, quoniam belli fera munera Mavorj. Ai mipotens regit, in gremium qui fsepe tuum fe Rejicit, aetcrno devi&us vulnere amoris. Nunc, tu diva, tuo recubantera corpore fanfto Circumfufa fuper, fuaves ex ore loquelas Funde, petens placidam Romanis, inclyta pacem : Nam neque nos agere, hoc patriai tempore iniquo, Poffumus aequo animo. De Rerum Natura, lib. x • I fhall endeavour, as well as I can, to give a plain profe tranflation of thofe beautiful verfes. ** ---------Delight of men and gods, gracious Venus t *' who prefideft over the fail bearing Ocean, and the fer- " tile Earth, while the hofts of Heaven glide majeftically " filent around ; fince by thy prolific virtue, the whole ** animal creation teems with life, and turns the opening STUDY viif. 335 * eyeball to the light of the Sun; at thy approach, O ** Goddefs, the winds are hufhed, the vapours that ©b- " fcure the face of the fky difperfe, the variegated ground " fpreads a carpet of enamelled flowers underneath thy " feet; the Waters of the deep fmile with joy, and the " placid fky is overfpread with a milder light......Seeing, " then, that thou reigneft, fole Emprefs of Nature; fince " without thee no living creature arifes into day, or pof- ce feffes the capacity of receiving or communicating de- " light, how gladly would I a flume thee as my aflbciate " in the arduous undertaking on which I now enter—an " enquiry into the nature of things....Give, then, O God- " defs, fomewhat of thy unfading grace to my {trains. " And grant, meanwhile, that the din of battle may ceafe ** over every land, over every fea: For with thee it refts " to reduce the troubled world to peace ; fince Mars, all " powerful in arms, direfts the thunder of war; who " frequently retires well pleafed from the enfanguined " plain, to folace himfelf in the foft dalliance of thy un- " cloying love......In thofe fond moments, when affeftion " can deny nothing, intrcat him to have compaflion on " his own Rome and thine, and beftow on it lafting tran- '* quillity ; for how can the voice of the philofophic " Mufe be heard amidft the confufed noife of civil dif- " cord?*" * Mr. Crteck and Mr, Dryden have both tranflated this paffage of Lucretius. It would have faved me a little labour, had I dared to transcribe from ci- ther of their poetical verfions. But, every thing confidered, I have ventur- ed rather to hazard one of my own. If it fhall be deemed deficient in po- etical merit, two qualities, at leaft, it poflefTes; it conveys enough of tbe fenfe of the Original, to anfwer the purpofe of its being quoted in this Work, and it cannot poffibly give offence to any modeft ear. Vinos, all hail! of Gods and men the pride; Mov'd by whofe pow'r, the heav'nly bodies glide, In myftic round ; thine is the teeming Earth, To Thee the fwelling Ocean owes his birth: Source of all life ! thou breath'ft the living foul, And kindleft joy " from Indus to tha Pefc," 3*8 STUDIES OF NATURE. Lucretius is, in truth, conftrained to admit, in the fe- quel of his Poem, that this goddefs, fo wonderfully be- neficentt is direftly chargeable with the ruin of health, of fortune, of parts, andj fooner or later, with the lofs of reputation: That, from the very lap of the pleafures which fhe bellows, there iflues a fomething which embit- ters enjoyment, which torments a man, and renders him miferable. The unfortunate Bard himfelf fell a viftim to this, for he died in the very prime of life, either from exceflive indulgence, according to fome, or poifoned, ac- cording to others, by an amorous potion adminiftered by the hand of a woman. In the paffage above quoted, he afcrifres to Venus the creation of the world; he addreffes prayers to her; he beftows on her perfon the epithet of facred ; he invefts At thy approach the noify tempefts ceafe, The air grows pure, and all the World is peace; For Thee the Spring her flow'ry mantle weaves, For Thee Autumnus piles his golden fhcaves: The placid Deep reflects a clearer ray, And Sol emits through Heaven a brighter day. Since, Goddefs, thus all own thy fov'reign pow'r 3 Since, without Thee, none fees the natal hour ; Without Thee nought of fair, of fweet, is feen, Delight of Nature ! Univerfal Queen! Vifit thy bard with fome celeftial dream; Be Thou, my Mufe, for Nature is my theme. Around my lays thy winning graces fhed, So fhall immortal honours crown my head. Meanwhile, command a troubled world to reft. Bid the fierce foldier calm his angry breaft. Let Sea and Land thy genial influence feel; Let placid Nations at Thine altar kneel. Befmear'd with blood, and fick of war's alarms, Soothe back fierce Mars to thy all conqu'ring arms: Tell him how Rome now bleeds at every vein; Let thy fweet voice reftore the gentle reign, Of golden Saturn. Bid the trumpet ceafe, Let all in Rome ; and all the World be peace. H. H. STUDY VIII. 32S ricr with a charafter of goodnefs, of juftice, of intelli- gence, and of power, which belongs to GOD only ; in a word, the attributes are fo exaftly the fame, that, fuppreff- ing only the word Venus, in the invocation of his Poem, you may apply it almoft entirely to the Divine Wifdom. There are even points of refemblance, fo ftriking, to the reprefentation given of it in the Book of Ecclefiafticus, that I cannot refrain from exhibiting the counterpart, that the Reader may have it in his power to make the com* pari fon. Ecclefiaft. Vulgate Latin Verfion. 3» 4, 5> Ego ex ore Altiffimi prodivi, primogenita ante omnem creaturam; ego feci in coelis ut oritur lumen indeficiens, & fi- cut nebula texi omnem terram. Ego in altifilmis habitavi,& thro- nus meusin columna. nubis. 6, 7, 8, 9. Gyrum cceli circui- vi fola & profundum abyffi pen- etravi ; in fluftibus ambulavi, & in omni terra fteti & in omni populo; & in omni populo prima - tum habui. Et omnium excel- lentium & humilium corda vir- tnte calcavi, Sc in his omnibus requiem quafivi, & in haereditate domini morabor. chap. xxiv. Common Englifh Verfion. 3. I came out of the mouth off the Moft High, and covered the earth as a cloud. 4. I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar. 5. I alone eompaffed the cir- cuit of Heaven ; and walked in . the bottom of the Deep. 6. Ir. the waves of the fea, and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a poflef- fion. 7. With all thefe I fought reft: And in whofe inheritance fhall I abide i 13. Qiiafi cedrus exaltata turn 13. I was exalted like a cedttr in Libano, & quafi cypreflus in in Libanus, and as a cyprefs Monte Sion. tree upon the mountains of Her- mon. 14. Quafi palma exaltata fum in 14. I was exalted like a palm. Cades, & quafi plantatio rofae in tree in Engaddi, and as a rofe VOL, I. T t 33® studies of n ature. Jericho. Quafi oliva fpeciofa in plant in Jericho, as a fair olire campis, & quafi platanus exal- tree in a pleafant field, and grew tata/um juxta aquam in plateis. up as a plane tree by the water. i€. Ego quafi terebinthus ex- tendi ramos meos, & rami mei honoris & gratiae. 17. Ego quafi vitis fructifica- vi f uavitatem odoris, et flores mei fruftus honoris & honeftatis. 18. Ego mater pulchra; dilec- tionis, & timoris, & agnitio- nis, & fanftas fpei. In me gratia omnis via & veritatis, in me omnis fpes vitae & virtutis. 19. Tranfitead me, omnesqui concupifcitis me, & generationi- bus meis implemini. 20. Spiritus euim meus fuper mei dulce, & haereditas mea fu- per mei & favum. 16. As the turpentine tree, I ftretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace. 17. As the vine brought I forth pleafant favour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 18. I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope : I therefore be- ing eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him. 19. Come unto rae, all ye that be defirous of me, and fill your- felves with my fruits. 20. For my memorial is fweet- er than honey, and mine inherit- ance than the honeycomb. ," Out of the mouth of the Almighty proceeded I. Before any created being knew that it exifted, I was. If there be in Heaven a light never to be extinguifhed, I commanded it to arife. If the Earth is involved in clouds, I commanded the vapour to afcend. The lof- ty places of the Earth are my habitation ; and my throne is in the cloudy pillar. In folitude I make the round of the ftarry Heavens ; I plunge to the bot- tom of the vaft abyfs, and walk majeftic under the waves of the Sea. On every land the fole of my foot alights, and I travel from fhore to fhore. Wherever I appear, my fovereignty is acknowledged. In the great- nefs of my might, I have fubdued the heart of the humble and of the proud. I have fought for a place STUDY VIII. JJl " of habitation in the mid ft of them ; but I will fix mine " abode only in the heritage of Jehovah....I have lift- " ed up myfelf as a cedar upon Mount Lebanon, and as " the cyprefs tree on the hills of Zion. My branches *' have been exalted to the Heavens, like the palm trees " of Kadelh, and as the bloffoms of the rofe which fur- " round Jericho. I am beautiful as the olive on the " brow of the hill, and majeftic as the plane tree, in an " open place, by the fountains of water.....I have extend- " ed my boughs as the terebinthus ; my branches are '• branches of honour and grace. I have put forth, as the " vine, bloffoms of the fweeteft perfume, and my buds " have produced the fruits of glory and abundance. I " am the parent of holy love, of fear, of knowledge, and " of facred hope ; I alone point out the road that is fafe " and eafy ; and unfold truths that give delight ; in me " repofes all the expeftation of life and virtue. Come " to me, all ye who love me ; and ray never ceafing pro- " duftions fhall fill you with rapture ; for my fpirit is " fweeter than honey, and my diftribution of it far fupe- " rior to the cells of the honeycomb." This feeble tranflation is after the Latin profe verfion, itfelf a tranflation from the Greek, and it again from the Hebrew. It is not to be doubted, therefore, that in pafl- ing through fo many ftrainers, much of the grace of the original muft have evaporated. But even as it is, it pof- feffes a decided fuperiority, in refpeft of pleafantnefs and fublimity of imagery, over the verfes of Lucretius, who appears to have borrowed his principal beauties from this paffage. And here 1 difmifs that Poet : The exordium of his performanee is a complete refutation of it. Pliny takes the direftly oppofite courfe. In the very threfhold of his Natural Hiftory, he affirms, that there is no God, and the whole of that Work is an elaborate de- monftration of the being of GOD. His authority muft neceffarily be of confiderable weight, as it is not that of a Poet, to whom opinions are a matter of indifference, pro.-. 332 STUDIES OF NATURI, vided he can produce a ftriking pifture ; nor that of a fee- tary, obftinatcly determined to fupport a party, whatever violence may be done to confcience ; nor, finally, that of a flatterer, making his court to vicious Princes. Pliny wrote under the virtuous Titus, and has dedicated his, Book to him. He carries to fuch a height, the love of truth, and contempt of the glory of the age in which he Jived, as to condemn the viftories of Cefar, in. Rome it- felf, and when addreffing a Roman Emperor. He is re- plete with humanity and virtue. He frequently expofes to cenfure the cruelty of mafters to their flaves, the lux- ury of the great, nay, the difjolute conduft of feveral Em- preffes. He fometimes pronounces the panegyric of good men ; and exalts even above the inventors of arts, perfons Who have rendered themfelves illuftrious by their Continency, their modefty, and their piety. His Work, in other refpefts, is a combination of bril- liancies. It is a real Encyclopedia, which contains, as it ought, the hiftory of the knowledge, and of the errors of his time. Thefe laft are fometimes imputed to him very un- juftly, for he frequently brings them forward, merely in the view of refuting them. But he has bfcen abufed by the Phyficians, and the Apothecaries, who have extrafted the greateft part of their prefcriptions from him, becaufe he finds fault with their conjeftural art, and with their fyftematic fpixit. He abounds, befides, in curious infor-, jnation, in profound views, and interefting traditions; and, what renders his performance invaluable, he uniformly ex- preffes himfelf in a pifturefque manner. With all this tafte, judgment and knowledge, Pliny is an atheift, Na- ture, from whofe capacious ftores, he has derived fuch •various intelligence, may addrefs him in the words of Ce- far to Brutus : What, you too, my fon ! Pliny I love, and I efteem : And if I may be permitted fo fay, in his juftification, what I think of his immortaj Work, I believe it to be falfified in the paffage where he is made to reafon as an athfeft. Ail his commentators, a- study vni. 333 gree in thinking, that no one Author has fuffered more from the unfaithfulnefs of tranfcribers, than he has done ; and. this to fuch a degree, that copies of his Natural Hif- tory exift, in which there are whole chapters entirely dif- ferent. Confult, among others, what Mathiola fays on the fubjeft, in his commentaries on Diofcorides. 1 fhall here take occafion to obferve, that the Writings of the Ancients, on their way to us, have paffed through more than one unfaithful language, and what is much worfe, through more than one fufpicious hand. They have met with the fate of their monuments, among which their tem- ples have been moft of all degraded. Their books have, in like manner, been mutilated chiefly in thofe paffages which are favourable to religion, or the reverfe. An in- ftance of this we have, in the tranfcription of Cicero's Treatife on the Nature oj the Gods, in which the objec- tions againft Providence are omitted. Montagne upbraids the firft Chriftians with having fup- prafled, on account of four or five articles which contra- difted their creed, a part of the Works of Cornelius Taci- tus, " though," fays he, " the Emperor Tacitus, his re- " lation, had, by exprefs edifts, furniftied all the libraries (i in the World with them.*" In our own days, Do we not fee how every party ex- erts itfelf to run down the reputation, and the opinions of the party which oppofes it ? Mankind is, in the hands of religion and philofophy, like the old man in the fable, be- tween two dam,es of different ages. They had both a mind to trim his locks, each in her own way. The young- er picked carefully out all the white hairs, which fhe could npt bear ; the old o*e, for an oppofite reafon, as carefully removed the black : The confequence was, his head was fpeedily reduced to complete baldnefs. It is impoflible to adduce a more fatisfaftory demon- stration of this ancient infidelity of the two parties, than * Eftays, book ii- c*»aP- *&• 334 STUDIES OF NATURE. an interpolation to be found in the Writings of Flavius Jofephus, who was contemporary with Pliny. He is made to fay, in fo many words, that the Meffiah was juft born ; and he continues his narration, Without referring, fo much as once, to this wonderful event, to the end of a voluminous hiftory. How can it be believed that Jofe- phus, who frequently indulges himfelf in a tedious detail of minute circumftances, relating to events of little im- portance, fhould not have reverted a thoufand and a thou- fand times, to a birth fo deeply interefting to his Nation, confidering that its very deftiny was involved in that e- vent, and that even the deftruftion of Jerufalem was only one of the confequences of the death of Jes'us Christ? He, on the contrary, perverts the meaning of the prophe- cies which announce Him, applying them to Vefpafian and to Titus ; for he, as well as the other Jews, expefted a Meffiah triumphant. Befides, had Jofephus believed in, Christ, Would he not have embraced his Religion ? For a fimilar reafon, Is it credible that Pliny fhould commence his Natural Hiftory with denying the exiftence of GOD, and afterwaids fill every page of it, with expa- tiating on the wifdom, the goodnefs, the providence, the majefty of Nature ; on the prefages and premonitions, fent exprefsly from the Gods ; and even on the miracles divinely operated through the medium of dreams ? Certain favage tribes have likewife been adduced as affording examples of atheifm, and every fequeftered cor- ner of the Globe has been for this purpofe explored. But obfeure, remote tribes were no more intended to ferve as an example to the human race, than certain mean and ob- fcure families, among ourfelves, could be propofed as proper models to the Nation ; efpacially when the pTO- feffed objeft is to fupport, by authority, an opinion which is neceffarily fubverfive of all fociety. Befides, fuch af- fertions are abfolutely falfe. I have read the hiftory of the voyages from .which they are extrafted. The travel- lers acknowledge, that they had but a tranfient view of STUDY VIII. 835 thofe people, and that they were totally unacquainted with their languages. They took it for granted, that there could be no religion among them, becaufe they faw no temples ; as if any other temple were neceffary to a be- lief in GOD than the temple of Nature ! Thefe fame trav- ellers likewife contradift themfelves ; for they relate, that thofe Nations, whom they elfewhere reprefent as defti- tute of all religion, make obeifiince to the Moon, at the change, and when full, by proftrating themfelves to the Earth, or by lifting up their hands to Heaven : That they pay refpeft to the memory of their forefathers, and place viands on their tombs. The immortality of the foul, ad- mitted in whatever manner you will, neceffarily fuppofes the exiftence of GOD. But if the firft of all truths flood in need of teftimony from men, we could colleft that of the whole Human Race, trom geniufes the moft exalted, down to the loweft ftate of ignorance. This unanimity of teftimony is of ir- refiftible weight ; for it is impoffible that fuch a thing fhould exift on the Earth as univerfal error. Hear what the fage Socrates faid to Euthydemus, who expreffed a wifh to have a complete affurance that the Gods exifted : " Know, affuredly, that I told you the truth,* when I '* declared the exiftence of the Gods, and afferted, that " Man is their peculiar care : But expeft not that they " fhould affume a fenfible appearance, and prefent them- " felves before you ; fatisfy yourfelf with the contempla- " tion of their works, and with paying them adoration ; " remember that this is the way in which they make " themfelves known unto men : For of all the heavenly " powers whofe liberality towards us is fo great, no one " ever becomes the vifible difpenfer of his own bounty ; " and the great GOD himfelf, who created the Univerfe, " and who fuftains that vaft fabric, all the parts of which » Xtntphon'i Memorable Things »f Socrates, book iv. 336 STUDIES OF NATURE. " are adjufted in perfeft beauty and goodnefs ; He whto " conftantly watches over it, and takes care that it fhall u not wax old, and fall into decay through length of du- " ration, but always fubfift in immortal vigor * ; He who '* alfo, with power uncontrolable, conftrains the whole to " obey his will ; and that with a promptitude which far " furpaffes our imagination: He, I fay, is abundantly • Socrates had made a particular ftudy of Nature ; and although hi* judg* mint, refpefting the duration and prefervation of her works, may be contrary to that of our philofophy, which confiders the Globe of the Earth, efpecially, as in a progrefuvc ftate of ruin, it is in petfeft hifrmony with that of the Holy Scriptures, which give us pofuive affurances that GOD upholds it, and who our own experience on the fubjeft, as I have already fhewn. We have little rea- fon to undervalue the phyfical knowledge of the Ancients, except ia fo far al it was reduced to fyftem. We ought to recollect that they had made moft cf the difcoveries which the Moderns boaO: as all their own.Thc Tufcan Philof- ophers underflood the art of conjuring down the thunder. Good King Numa made experiments on this fubjeft. Tullus HoftiliuS took a fancy to imi- tate, but fell a viftim to his attempt, from want of underftanding how to conduft the expetiments in a proper manner. (Confuk Plutarch.) Philo* lavs, the Pythagorean, advanced, long before Copernicus, that the Sun was the centre of the World ; and before Chriftopher Columbus, tnat our Earth confifted of two Continents, that on which we are placed, and the oppofite to it. Sev- eral Philofophers of Antiquity maintained, that comets were ftars which pur- fued a regular courfe. Pliny himfelf fays, that they all move in a northerly di- reftion, which is generally true. It is not yet, however, two hundred years, fince comets were believed, in Europe, to be vapors which caught fire in the intermediate regions of tbe air. The general belief, about that period, like- wife, was, that the Sea furnifhed a fupply of water to the fountains and rivers, by a piocefs of filtraiion through the pores of the FartU, though it is faid in a hundred paffages of Scripture, that by the rains their fources are kept flowing. Of this we now have the moft complete conviftion, by accurate obfervations on the evaporations of the Ocean. The monuments which the Ancients have tranfmitted to us in Architeftur*, Sculpture, Poetry, Tragedy* Hiftory, will e%er ferve as models to us. Wc are indebted to them befides for the inveDtiou of almoft all the other Arte ; and it is prcfumable that thefe Arts had the fame fuperiority over ours, which their liberal Arts have. As to the natutal Sciences, they have not left us any objeft of comparifon ; befides, tbe Priefts, who were chiefly employed in the cultivation of them, carefully concealed their knowledge from the people. There is little room to doubt, that they purTeffed, on this fubjeft, an illumination far tranfeending ours. Confult what the judicious Sir William Temple has faid of the magic of the ancient Lgyptiaus, STUDY Vtll. $37 rt vifible in all thofe wonders of which He is the Au- " thor. But let our eyes attempt to penetrate to his " throne, and to contemplate all thefe mighty operations in " their fource, here He muft be ever invifible. " Obferve, for a moment, that the Sun, who feems ". defignedly expofed to the view of the whole Creation, " permits no one, however, fteadily to behold him : The " man who dares to make the rafh attempt, is inftantly " punifhed with blindnefs. Nay, more, every inftrument " employed by the Gods is invifible. The thunder is " darted from on high ; it dafhes in pieces every thing it " meets : But no one can fee it fall, can fee it ftrike, " can fee it return. The winds are invifible, though we " fee well the ravages which they every day commit, and " feel their influence the moment that they begin to blow. " If there be any thing in Man that partakes of the di- " vine Nature, it is his foul. There can be no doubt " that this is his direfting, governing principle, neverthe- " lefs, it is impoffible to fee it. From all this be inftruft- '* ed not to defpife things invifible : Be inftrufted to " acknowledge their powers^ in their effefts and to honour " the Deity." Newton, who purfued his refearches into the Laws of Nature fo profoundly, never pronounced the name of GOD, without moving his hat, and otherwife expreffing the moft devout refpeft. He took pleafure in recalling this fublime idea, even in his moments of conviviality, and confidered it as the natural bond of union among all Nations. Corneille le Bruyn, the Dutch Painter, relates, that happening to dine one day at his table, in company with feveral other foreigners, Newton, when the defert was ferved up, propofed a health to the Men of every Country who believe in GOD. This was drinking the health of the Human Race. Is it poflible to conceive, that fo many Nations, of languages and manners fo very different, and, in many cafes, of an intelligence fo con- tracted, fhould believe in GOD, if that belief were the VOL. i. u u 338 STUDIES OF NATURE. refult of fometradition, or of a profound, metaphyficar difquifition ? It arifes from the fpeftacle of Nature fim* ply. A poor Arabian of the Defert, ignorant as moft of the Arabians are, was one day afked, How he came to be affured that there was a God ? "In the fame way," re- plied he, " that I am able to tell, by the print impreffed " on the fand, whether it was a man or a beaft which " paffed that way.*" It is impoffible for Man, as has been faid, to imagine any form, or to produce a fingle idea of which the model is not in Nature. He expands his reafon only on the reafons which Nature has fupplied. GOD muft, there- fore, neceffarily exift, were it but for this, that Man has an idea of Him. But if we attentively confider, that ev^ ery thing, neceffary to Man, exifts in a moft wonderful adaptation to his neceffities, for the ftrongeft of all rea- fons, GOD likewife muft exift, He who is the univerfal adaptation of all the focieties of the Human Race. But I fhould wifh to know, In what way, the perfons who doubt of his exiftence, on a review of the Works of Nature, would defire to be affured of it ? Do they wifh that he fhould appear under a human form, and affume the figure of an old man, as he is painted in our church- es ? They would fay, This is a man. Were He to in- veft himfelf with fome unknown and celeftial form, could we in a human body fupport the fight ? The complete and unveiled difplay of even a fingle one of his works on the Earth, would be fufficient to confound our feeble or- gans. For example, if the Earth wheels around its axis, as is fuppofed, there is not a human being in exiftence, who, from a fixed point in the Heavens, could view the rapidity of its motion without horror; for he would be- hold rivers, oceans, kingdoms whirling about under his feet, with a velocity almoft thrice as great as that of a cannon ball. But even the fwiftnefs of this diurnal rota- * Travels through Arabia, by Monf. d' Arvieux, STUDY VIII. 339 tion is a mere nothing : For the rapidity, with which the Globe defcribes its annual circle, and hurls us round the Sun, is feventy five times greater than that of a bul- let fhot from the cannon. Were it but poflible for the eye to view through the fkin, the mechanifm of our own body, the fight would overwhelm us. Durft we make a fingle movement, if we faw our blood circulating, the nerves pulling, the lungs blowing, the humours filtrating, and all the incomprehenfible affemblage of fibres, tubes, pumps, currents, pivots, which fuftain an exiftence, at once fo frail and fo prefumptuous ? Would we wifh, on the contrary, that GOD fhould manifeft himfelf in a manner more adapted to his own na- ture, by the direft and immediate communication of his intelligence, to the exclufion of every intervenient mean ? Archimedes, who had a mind capable of fuch intenfe application, as not to be difturbed from his train of thought, by the fack of Syracufe, in which he loft his life, went almoft diftrafted, from the fimple perception of a geometrical truth, of which he fuddenly caught aglimpfe. He was pondering, while in the bath, the means of dif- covering the quantity of alloy which a rafcally goldfmith had mixed in Hiero's golden crown ; and having found it, from the analogy of the different weight of his own body, when in the water, and out of it, he fprung from the bath, naked as he was, and ran like a madman through the ftreets of Syracufe, calling out, I have found it! I have found it I When fome ftriking truth, or fome affefting fentiment, happens to lay hold of the audience at a theatre, you fee fome melted into tears, others almoft choked with an op- preffed refpiration, others quite in a tranfport, clapping their hands, and ftamping with their feet; the females in the boxes aftually fainting away. Were thefe violent agitations of fpirit to go on progreflively but for a tew minutes only, the perfons fubjeft to them might lofe theii reafon, perhaps their life. What would be the cafe, then, 34° STUDIES OF NATURE. if the Source of all truth, and of all feeling, were to com- municate himfelf to us in a mortal body ? GOD has placed us at a fuitable diftance from his infinite Majefty ; near enough to have a perception of it, but not fo near as to be annihilated by it. He veils his intelligence from us under the forms of matter ; and He reftores our con- fidence refpefting the movements of the material world by the fentiment of his intelligence. If at any time He is pleafed to communicate himfelf in a more intimate manner, it is not through the channel of haughty Science, but through that of our virtue. He difclofes himfelf to the fimple, and hides his face from the proud. " But," it is afked, " What made GOD ? Why fhould " there be a God ?" Am I to call in queftion his exift- ence, becaufe I am incapable of comprehending his ori- gin ? This ftyle of reafoning would enable us to conclude, that man does not exift : For, Who made men ? Why lhould there be men ? Why am I in the world in the eighteenth century ? Why did 1 not arrive in fome of the ages which went before ? And, Wherefore fhould I not be here in thofe which are to come ? The exiftence of GOD is at all times neceffary, and that of Man is but contingent. Nay, this is not all; the exiftence of Man is the only exiftence apparently fuperfluous in the order eftablifhed upon the Earth. Many iflands have been dif- covered without inhabitants, which prefented abodes the moft enchanting, from the difpofition of the valleys, of the waters, of the woods, of the animals. Man alone de- ranges the plans of Nature: He diverts the current from the fountain ; he digs into the fide of the hill; he fets. the foreft on fire; he maffacres without mercy every thing that breathes; every where he degrades the Earth, which could do very well without him. The harmony of this Globe would be partially deftroy- ed, perhaps entirely fo, were but the fmalleft, and, feem- ingly, moft infignificant, genus of plants to be fuppreffed; for its annihilation would leave a certain fpace of ground STUDY VIII. 34j deftitute of verdure, and thereby rob of its nourifhment the fpecies of infeft which there found the fupport of life. The deftruftion of the infeft, again, would involve that of the fpecies of bird, which in thefe alone finds the food proper for their young ; and fo on to infinity. The total ruin of the vegetable and animal kingdoms might take its rife from the failure of a fingle mofs, as we may fee that of an edifice commence in a fmall crevice. But if the Human Race exifted not, it would be impoffible to fuppofe that any thing had been deranged : Every brook, every plant, every animal, would always be in its place. Indolent and haughty Philofopher, who prefumeft to de- mand of Nature, wherefore there fhould be a God, why de- mandeft thou not rather wherefore there fhould be men ? All his Works fpeak of their Author. The plain which gradually efcapes from my eye, and the capacious vault of Heaven which incompaffes me on every fide, convey to me an idea of his immenfity ; the fruits fuf- pended on the bough within reach of my hand, announce his providential care ; the voice of the tempeft proclaims his power ; the conftant revolution of the feafons difplays his wifdom; the variety of provifion which his bounty makes, in every climate, for the wants of every thing that lives, the ftately port of the forefts, the foft verdure of the meadow, the grouping of plants, the perfume and enamel of flowers, an infinite multitude of harmonies, known and unknown, are the magnificent languages which fpeak of Him to all men, in a thoufand and a thoufand different dialefts. Nay, the very order of Nature is fuperfluous: GOD is the only Being whom difordcr invokes, and whom hu- man weaknefs announces. In order to attain the knowl- edge of his attributes, wc need only to have a feeling of our own imperfeftions. Oh ! how fublime is that prayer,* * See Flacourt's Hiftory of the Ifland of Madagafcar, chap. xliv. page |8a. You will there find this prayer, cmbariafftd wiih many circumlocu- tions, but conveying the meaning which I have excelled, It is wonderful- 34* STUDIES OF NATURE. how congenial to the heart of Man, and ftill in ufe a- mong People whom we prefume to call Savages! " O " Eternal! Have mercy upon me, becaufe I am pafling " a\.ay : O Infinite ! becaufe I am but a fpeck : O Moft " Mighty ! becaufe I am weak : O Source of Life ! '" becaufe I draw nigh to the grave : O Omnifcient! " becaufe I am in darknefs : O All bounteous ! becaufe " I am poor : O All fufficient! becaufe I am nothing." Man has given nothing to himfelf : He has received all. And " He who planted the ear, fhall He not " hear ? He who formed the eye, fhall He not fee ? He " who teacheth Man knowledge, fhall not he know ?" I fhould confider myfelf as offering an infult to the un- derftanding of my Reader, and fhould derange the plan of my Work, were I to infill longer on the proofs of the exiftence of GOD. It remains that I reply to the objec- tions raifed againft his goodnefs. It needs muft be, we are told, that the God of Nature fhould differ from the God of Religion, for their Laws are contradictory. This is juft the fame thing with fay- ing, that there is one God of metals, another God of plants, and another of animals, becaufe all thefe beings are fubjefted to laws peculiar to themfelves. Nay, in all the kingdoms of Nature, the genera and the fpecies have other Laws befides, which are particular to them, and which, in many cafes, are in oppofition among them- felves ; but thofe different Laws conftitute the happinefs of each fpecies in particular; and they concur, in one grand combination, in a moft admirable manner, to pro- mote the general felicity. The Laws which govern Man are derived from the fame plan of Wifdom which has conftrufted the Univerfe. ly ftrangi- that Negroes fhould have difcovered all the attributes of Deity >n the imperfections of Man. It is with juft reafon that the Divine Wif- dom has laid of itfelf, that it relied on all nations : Et in omni terrafteti, (3 in omni populo; & in omni populo primatum habui. In every land among every people, I fixed my ftation ; and obtained the chief place am:d(l th« Nations, Ecci.es, chap. xxiv. STUDY VIH. M3 Man is not a being of nature perfeftly fimple. Virtue, which ought to be the great objeft of his purfuit on the Earth, is an effort which he makes over himfelf, for the good of Mankind, in the view of pleafing GOD only. It propofes to him, on the one hand, the Divine Wifdom as a model; and prefents to him, on the other, the moft fecure and unerring path to his own happinefs. Study Nature, and you will perceive that nothing can be more adapted to the felicity of Man and that Virtue carries her reward in her bofom, even in this world. A man's con- tinency and temperance fecure his health ; contempt of riches and glory, his repofe : And confidence in GOD, his fortitude. What can be more adapted to the con- dition of a creature expofed to fo much mifery, than modefty and humility. Whatever the revolutions of life may be, he has no farther fear of falling, when he has taken his feat on the loweft ftep. Let us not complain that GOD has made an unfair diftribution of his gifts, when we fee the abundance and the ftate in which fome bad men live. Whatever is on the Earth moft ufeful, moft beautiful, and the belt, in every kind of thing, is within the reach of every man. Obfcurity is much better than glory, and virtue than talents. The Sun, a little field, a wife and children, are fufficient to fupply a conftant fucceflion of pleafures to him. Muft he have luxuries too ? A flower prefents him colours more lovely than the pearl dragged from the abyffes of the Ocean ; and a burning coal on his hearth has a brighter luftre, and, beyond all difpute, is infinite- ly more ufeful, than the famous gem which glitters on the head of the Grand Mogul. After all, What did GOD owe to every man ? Water from the fountain, a little fruit, wool to clothe him, as much land as he is able to cultivate with his own hands. So much for the wants of his body. As to thofe of the foul, it is fufficient for him to poffefs, in infancy, the love of his parents; in maturity, that of his wife; in old 344 STUDIES OF NATURE. age, the gratitude of his children ; at all feaforts, the good will of his neighbours, the number of whom is re- ftrifted to four or five, according to the extent and form of his domain; fo much knowledge of the Globe as he can acquire by rambling, half a day, fo as to get home to his own bed at night, or, at moft, to the extremity of his domeftic horizon ; fuch a fenfe of Providence as Na- ture beftows on all men, and which will fpring up in his heart fully as well after he has made the circuit of his field, as after returning from a voyage round the World. With corporeal enjoyments, and mental gratifications like thefe, he ought to be content ; whatever he defires beyond thefe, is above hi* wants, and inconfiftent with the diftributions of Nature. It is impoffible for him to acquire fuperfluity but by the facrifice of fome neceffary; public confideration he muft purchafe at the price of do- meftic happinefs; and a name in the world of Science, by renouncing his repofe. Befides, thofe honours, thofe attendants, thofe riches, that fubmiflion which men fo eagerly hunt after, are defired unjuftly. A man cannot obtain them but by plundering and enflaving his fellow citizens. The acquifition of them expofes to incredible labour and anxiety, the poffeffion is difturbed by incef- fant care, and privation tears the heart with regret. By pretended bleffings fuch as thefe, health, reafon, con- fcience, all is depraved and loft. They are as fatal to Fmpires as to families : It was neither by labour, nor in- digence ; no, not even by wars, that the Roman Empire fell into ruin ; but by the accumulated pleafures, knowl- edge, and luxury of the whole Earth. Virtuous perfons, in truth, are fometimes deftitute not only of the bleffings of Society, but of thofe of Nature. To this I anfwer, that their calamities frequently are pro- ductive of unfpeakable benefit to them. When persecut- ed by the world, they are frequently, they are ufually, in- cited to engage in fome illuftrious career. Affliftion is the path of great talents, or, at' leaft, that of great virtues, STUDY VIII. 345 which are infinitely preferable. " It is not in your pow- " er," faid Marcus Aurelius, " to be a Naturalift, a Poet, " an Orator, a Mathematician ; but it is in your power " to be a virtuous man, which is the beft of all." I have remarked, befides, that no tyranny ftarts up, of whatever kind, refpefting either fafts or opinions, but a rival tyranny inftantly ftarts up in oppofition, which counterbalances it; fo that virtue finds a protec- tion from the very efforts made by vice to opprefs and crufh it. The good man frequently fuffers : It is admit- ted ; but if Providence were to interpofe for his relief, as foon as he needed it, Providence would be at his difpofal; in other words, Man would have the direftion of his Maker. Befides, virtue, in this cafe, would merit no praife : But rarely does it happen that the virtuous man does not fooner or later behold the downfall of his tyrant. Or fuppofing the worft that can happen, that he falls a viftim to tyranny, the boundary of all his woes is death. GOD could owe Man nothing. He called him from nonexiftence into life; in withdrawing life, He only re- fumes what He gave : We have nothing whereof to com- plain. An entire refignation to the will of GOD ought, in ev- ery fituation, to foothe the foul to peace. But if the il- lufions of a vain world fhould chance to ruffle our fpirit, let me fuggeft a confideration which may go far toward reftoring our tranquillity. When any thing in the order of Nature bears hard upon us, and infpires miftruft of its Author, let us fuppofe an order of things contrary to that which galls us, and we fhall find a multitude of con- fequences refulting from this hypothefis, which would in- volve much greater evils than thofe whereof we complain. We may employ the contrary method, when fome imag- inary plan of human perfe6tion would attempt to feduce us. We have but to fuppofe its exiftence, in order to fee innumerable abfurd confequences fpring up out of it. This twofold method, employed frequently by Socrates, VOL. I. \vw 346 STUDIES OF NATURE. rendered him viftorious over all the fophifts of his time* and may ftill be fuccefsfully employed to confute thofe of the age in which we live. It is at once a rampart which defends our feeble reafon, and a battery which lev- els with the duft all the delufion of human opinions. If you wifh to juftify the order of Nature, it is fufficient to deviate from it; and, in order to refute all human fyftems, nothing more is neceffary than to admit them. For example, complaints are made of death: But if men were not to die, what would become of their pofterity ? Long before now there would not have been room for them on the face of the Earth. Death, therefore, is a benefit. Men complain of the neceffity of labouring: But unlefs they laboured, how could they pafs their time ? The re- putedly happy of the age, thofe who have nothing to do, are at a lofs how to employ it. Labour, therefore, is a benefit. Men envy the beafts the inftinft which guides them : But if, from their birth, they knew, like them, all that they ever are to know, what fhould they do in the World ? They would faunter through it without intereft, and without curiofity. Ignorance, therefore, is a benefit. 'The other ills of Nature are equally neceffary. Pain of body, and vexation of fpirit, which fo frequently crofs the path of life, are barriers, erefted by the hand of Na- ture, to prevent our deviating from her Laws. But for pain, bodies would be broken to pieces on the flighteft fhock : But for chagrin, fo frequently the companion of our enjoyments, the mind would become the viftim of every fickly appetite. Difeafes are the efforts of temper- ament to purge off fome noxious humour. Nature em- ploys difeafe not to deftroy the body, but to preferve it. In every cafe, it is the confequence of fome violation of her Laws, phyfical or moral. The remedy is frequently obtained by leaving her to aft in her own way. The reg- imen of aliments reftores our health of body, and that of men, tranquillity of mind. Whatever may be the opin- ions which difturb our repofe in fociety, they almoft al- STUDY VIII. 347 ways ranifh into air in folitude. Sleep itfelf fimply dif- pels our chagrin more gently, and more infallibly, than a book of morals. If our diftreffes are immoveable, and fuch as break our reft, they may be mitigated by having recourfe to GOD. Here is the central point toward which all the paths of human life converge. Profperity, at all feafons, invites us to his prefence, but advertfiy leaves us no choice. It is the means which GOD em- ploys to force us to take refuge in Himfelf alone. But for this voice, which addreffes itfelf to every one of us, we fhould foon forget Him, efpecially in the tumult ot great cities, where fo many fleeting interefts clafh with thofe which are eternal, and where fo many fecond caufes fwallow up all attention to the Firs-t. As to the evils of Society, they are no part of the plan of Nature ; but thofe very evils demonftrate the exiftence of another order of things : For is it natural to imagine, that the Being good and juft, who has difpofed every thing on the Earth to promote the happinefs of Man, will permit him to be deprived of it, without punifhing the wretch who dared to counteract, his gracious defigns ? Will He do nothing in behalf of the virtuous, but unfor- tunate, man, whofe conftant ftudy was to pleafe Him, when He has loaded with bleffings fo many mifcreants who abufe them ? After having difplayed a bounty which has met with no return, will He fail in executing necef- fary juftice ? " But," we are told, " every thing dies with us. Here " we ought to believe our own experience; we were " nothing before our birth, and we fhall be nothing after " death." 1 adopt the analogy ; but if I take my point of comparifon from the moment when I was nothing, and when I came into exiftence, What becomes of this argu- ment ? Is not one pofitive proof better than all the nega- tive proofs in the world ? You conclude from an unknown paft to an unknown future, to perpetuate the aothingnefs of Man; and I, for my part, deduce mv confequence 348 STUDIES OF NATURE. from the prefent, which I know, to the future, which I do not know, as an affurance ot this future exiftence. I proceed on the prefumption of a goodnefs and a juftice to come, from the in fiances of goodnefs and juftice which I aftually fee diffufed over the Univerfe. Befides, if we have, in our prefent ftate, the defire and the prefentiment only of a life to come ; and if no one ever returned thence to give us information concerning it, the reafon is, a proof more fenfible would be incon- fiftent with the nature of our prefent life on the Earth. Evidence on this point muft involve the fame inconve- niences with that of the exiftence of GOD. Were we affured by fome fenfible demonftration, that a world to come was prepared for us, I have the fulleft conviftion that all the purfuits of this world would from that inftant be abandoned. This perfpeftive of a divine felicity, here below, would throw us into a lethargic rapture. I recolleft that on my return to France, in a veffel which had been on a voyage to India, as foon as the fail- ors had perfeftly diftinguifhed the land of their native country, they became, in a great meafure, incapable of attending to the bufinefs of the fhip. Some looked at it willfully, without the power of minding any other objeft; others dreffed themfelves in their beft clothes, as if they had been going that moment to difembark ; fome talked to themfelves, and others wept. As we approached, the diforder of their minds increafed. As they had been ab- fent feveral years, there was no end to their admiration of the verdure of the hills, of the foliage of the trees, and even of the rocks which fkirted the fhore, covered over with feaweeds and moffes; as if all thefe objefts had been perfeftly new to them. The church fpires of the villa- ges where they were born, which they diftinguifhed at a diftance up the country, and which they named one after another, filled them with tranfports of delight. But when the veffel entered the port, and when they faw on the quays, their friends, their fathers, their mothers, their STUDY VIII. 349 wives and their children, ftretching out their arms to them with tears of joy, and calling them by their names, it was no longer poflible to retain a fingle man on board; they all fprung afhore, and it became neceffary, according to the cuftom of the port, to employ another fet of mariners to bring the veffel to her moorings. What, then, would be the cafe, were we indulged with a fenfible difcovery of that Heavenly Country, inhabited by thofe who are moft dear to us, and who alone are moft worthy, of our fublime affeftions ? All the laborious and vain folicitudes of a prefent life would come to an end. The paffage from the one world to the other being in ev- ery man's power, the gulf would be quickly fhot: But Nature has involved it in obfcurity, and has planted doubt and apprehenfion to guard the paffage. It would appear, we are told by fome, that the idea of the immortality of the foul, could arife only from the fpeculations of men of genius, who, confidering the com- bination of this Univerfe, and the connexion which pref- ent fcenes have with thofe which preceded them, muft have thence concluded, that they had a neceffary connexv- ion with futurity ; or elfe, that this idea of immortality was introduced by Legiflators, in a ftate of polifhed fo- ciety, as furnifhing a diftant hope, tending to confole Mankind under the preffure of their political injuftice. But, if this were the cafe, how could it have found its way into the deferts, and entered the head of a Negro, of a Carai'b, of a Patagonian, of a Tartar ? How could it have been diffufed, at once, over the iflands of the South Seas, and over Lapland; over the voluptuous regions of Afia, and the rude Climates of North America; among the in- habitants of Paris, and thofe of the new Hebrides ? How is it poflible that fo many Nations, feparated by vaft O- ceans, fo different in manners and in language, fhould have unanimoufly adopted one opinion ; Nations which frequently affeft, from national animofity, a deviation from the moft trivial cuftoms of their neighbours ? 350 STUDIES OF NATURE. All believe in the immortality of the foul. Whence could they have derived a belief fo flatly contradicted by their daily experience ? They every day fee their friends die; but the day never comes when any one reappears. In vain do they carry viftuals to their tombs; in vain do they fufpend, with tears, on the boughs of the adjoining trees, the objefts which in life were moft dear to them ; neither thefe teftimonies of an inconfolable friendfhip, nor the vows of conjugal affeftion, challenged by their drooping mates, nor the lamentations of their dear chil- dren, poured out over the earth which covers their re- mains, can bring them back from the land of fhadows. What do they expeft for themfelves, from a life to come, who exprefs all this unavailing regret over the afhes of their departed favourites ? There is no profpeft fo inimi- cal to the interefts of moft men ; for fome, having lived a life of fraud, or of violence, have reafon to apprehend a ftate of punifhment; others, having been oppreffed in this world, might juftly fear, th^t the life to come was to be regulated conformably to the fame deftiny which prefided over that which they are going to leave. Shall we be told, It is pride which cherifhes this fond opinion in their breafts ? What, is it pride that induces a wretched Negro, in the Weft Indies, to hang himfelf, m the hope of returning to his own country, where a fecond ftate of flavery awaits him ? Other Nations, fuch as the iflanders of Taiti, reftrift the hope of this immortality, to a renovation of precifely the fame life which they are go- ing to leave. Ah! the paflions prefent to Man far dif- ferent plans of felicity ; and the miferies of his exiftence, and the illumination of his reafon, would long ago have deftroyed the life that is, had not the hope of a life to come been, in the human breaft, the refult of a fupernatur- al feeling. But wherefore is man the only one of all animals fub- jefted to other evils than thofe of Nature ? Wherefore fjjould he have been abandoned to himfelf,, difpofed as ho STUDY VIII. 35 < ts t6 go aftray ? He is, therefore, the viftim of fome ma- lignant Being. It is the province of Religion to take us up where Phi- lofophy leaves us. The nature of the ills which we en- dure, unfolds their origin. If rhan renders himfelf un- happy, it is becaufe he would, himfelf, be the arbiter of his own felicity. Man is a god in exile. The reign of Saturn, the Golden Age, Pandora's box, from which if- fued every evil, and at the bottom of which hope alone re- mained ; a thoufand fimilar allegories, diffufed over all Nations, atteft the felicity, and the fall, of a firft Man. But there is no need to have recourfe to foreign tefti- monies. We carry the moft unqueftionable evidence in ourfelves. The beauties of Nature bear witnefs to the exiftence of GOD, and the miferies of Man confirm the truths of Religion. There exifts not a fingle animal but what is lodged, clothed, fed, by the hand of Nature, with- out care, and almoft without labour. Man alone, from his birth upward, is overwhelmed with calamity., Firft, he is born naked ; and poffeffed of fo little inftinft, that if the mother who bare him, were not to rear him for fev- eral years, he would perifh of hunger, of heat, or of cold. He knows nothing but from the experience of his pa- rents. They are under the neceffity of finding him a place where to lodge, of weaving garments for him, of providing his food for eight or ten years. Whatever en- comiums may have been paffed on certain countries for their fertility, and the mildnefs of their climate, I know of no one in which fubfiftence of the fimpleft kind does not coft Man both folicitude and labour. In India, he muft have a roof over his head to fhelter him from the heat, from the rains, and from the infefts. There, too, he muft cultivate rice, weed it, threfh it, fhell it, drefs it. The banana, the moft ufeful of all the vegetables of thofe countries, Hands in need of being watered, and of being hedged round, to fecure it from the attacks of the wild beafts by night. Magazines muft likewife be provided, 352 STUDIES OF NATURE. for the prefervation of provifions during thofe feafonS when the Earth produces nothing. When Man has thus collefted around him every thing neceffary to a quiet and comfortable life, ambition, jealoufy, avarice, gluttony, in- continency, or languor, take poffeflion of his heart. He perifhes almoft always the viftim of his own paffions. Undoubtedly, to have funk thus below the level of the beafts, Man muft have afpired at an equality with the Deity. Wretched mortals! Seek your happinefs in virtue, and you will have no ground of complaint againft Nature. Defpife that ufelefs knowledge, and thofe unreafonable prejudices, which have corrupted the Earth, and which every age fubverts in its turn. Love thofe Laws which are eternal. Your deftiny is not abandoned to chance, nor to mifchicvous demons. Recal thofe times, the re- col leftion of which is ftill frefh among all Nations. The brute creation every where found the means of fupport- ing life ; Man alone had neither aliment, nor clothing, nor inftinft. Divine wifdom left Man to himfelf, in order to bring him back to GOD. She fcattered her bleffings over the whole Earth that, in order to gather them, he might ex- plore every different region of it; that he might expand his reafon by the infpeftion of her works, and that he might become enamoured of her from a fenfe of her bene- fits. She placed between herfelf and him, harmlefs pleaf- ures, rapturous difcoveries, pure delights and endlefs hopes, in order to lead him to herfelf, ftep by ftep, through the path of knowledge and happinefs. She fen- ced his way on both fides, by fear, by languor, by remorfe, by pain, by all the ills of life, as boundaries deftined to prevent him from wandering and lofing himfelf. The mother, thus, fcatters fruit along the ground to induce her child to learn to walk; fhe keeps at a little diftance ; fmiles to him, calls him, ftretches out her arms towards STUDY 'vill, 3^3 him : But if he happens to fall, fhe flies to his afliftance, fhe wipes away his tears, and comforts him. Thus Providence interpofes for the relief of Man, fup- plying his wants in a thoufand extraordinary ways. What would have become of him in the earlieft ages, had he been abandoned to his own reafon, ftill unaided by experi- ence ? Where found he corn, which at this day confti- tutes a principal part of the food of fo many Nations, and which the Earth, while it fpontaneoufly produces all forts ot plants, no where exhibits ? Who taught him agricul- ture, an art fo fimple, that the moft flupid of Mankind is capable of learning it, and yet fo fublime, that the moft intelligent of animals never can pretend to praftife it ? There is fcarcely an animal but what fupports its life by vegetables, but what has daily experience of their repro- duction, and which does not employ, in queft of thofe that fuit them, many more combinations than would have been neceffary for refowing them. But, On what did Man himfelf fubfift, till an I/is or a Ceres revealed to him this blefling of the flues ? Who fhewed him, in the firft ages of the World, the original fruits of the orchard, fcattered over the forefts, and the alimentary roots concealed in the bofom ot the Earth ? Muft he not, a thoufand times, have died of hunger, be- fore he had collefted a fufficiency to fupport life, or of poifon, before he had learned to feleft, or ©f tatigue and reftleffnefs, before he had formed round his habitation grafs plots and arbours ? This art, the image of creation, was referved for that Being alone who bare the impref- fion of the Divinity. If Providence had abandoned Man to himfelf, on pro- ceeding from the hands of* the Creator, What would have become of him ? Could he have faid to the plains, Ye unknown forefts, fhew me the fruits which are my inher- itance ? Earth, open, and difclofe, in the roots buried un- der thy furface, my deftined aliment ? Ye plants, on which my life depends, manifeft to me your qualities, and VOL. I. XX 154 STUDIES OF NATURI. fupply the inftinft which Nature has denied ? Could he have had recourfe, in his diftrefs to the compaffion of the beafts, and, ready to perifh with hunger, have faid to the cow, Take me into the number of thy children, and let me fhare, with thy offspring, the produce of one of thy fuperfluous teats ? When the breath of the North wind made him fhiverwith cold, Would the wild goat and timid fheep have run at his call to warm him with their fleeces ? Wandering, without a proteftor, and without an afylum, when he heard by night the howlings of ferocious animals demanding their prey, Could he have made fupplication to the generous dog, and faid to him, Be thou my de- fender, and I will make thee my flave ? Who could have fubjefted to his authority fo many animals which flood in no need of him, which furpaffed him in cunning, in fpeed, in ftrength, unlefs the hand which, notwithftanding his fall, deftined him ftill to empire, had humbled their heads to the obedience of his will ? How was it poflible for him, with a reafon lefs infalli- ble than their inftinft, to raife himfelf up to the very Heavens, to meafure the courfe of the ftars, to crofs the Ocean, to call down the thunder, to imitate moft of the Works and appearances of Nature ? We are ftruck with aftonifhment at thefe things now ; but I am much rather aftonifhed, that a fenfe of Deity fhould have fpoken to his heart, long before a comprehenfion of the Works of Nature had perfected his underftanding. View him in the ftate of nature, engaged in perpetual war with the ele- ments, with beafts of prey, with his fellow creatures, with himfelf ; frequently reduced to fituations of fubjec- tion which no other animal could poffibly fupport ; and he is the only being who difcovers, in the very depth of mifery, the charafter of infinity, and the reftleffnefs of im- mortality. He erefts trophies ; he engraves the record of his achievements on the bark of trees ; he celebrates his funeral obfequies, and puts reverence on the afhes of STUDY vin. 355 his forefathers, from whom he has received an inheritance fo fatal. He is inceffantly agitated by the rage of love or of ven- geance. When he is not the viftim of his fellow men, he is their tyrant : And he alone knows that Juftice and Goodnefs govern the World, and that Virtue exalts Man to Heaven. He receives, from his cradle, none of the prefents of Nature, no foft fleece, no plumage, no defen- sive armour, no tool, for a life fo painful and fo labori- ous ; and he is the only being who invites the Gods to his birth, to his nuptials, and to his funeral obfequies. However far he may have been mifled by extravagant opinions, whenever he is ftruck by unexpefted burfts of joy or grief, his foul, by an involuntary movement, takes refuge in the bofom of Deity. He cries out : Ah, my GOD ! He raifes to Heaven fuppliant hands, and eyes bathed with tears, in hope of there finding a Father. Ah ! the wants ot Man bear witnefs to the providence of a Su- preme Being. He has made Man feeble and ignorant, on- ly that he may flay himfelf on his ftrength, and illumin- ate himfelf by his light ; and fo far is it from being true, that chance, or malignant fpirits, domineer over a World, where every thing concurred to deftroy a creature fo wretched, his prefervation, his enjoyments, and his em- pire, demonftrate, that, at all times, a beneficent GOD has been the friend, and the proteftor of human life. 35^ STUDIES OF NATURE. STUDY NINTH. OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE METHODS OF OUR REA- SON, AND THE PRINCIPLES OF OUR SCIENCES. X HAVE difplayed, from the beginning of this Work, the immenfity of the ftudy of Nature. 1 there propofed new plans, to aflift us in forming an idea of the order which fhe has eftablifhed in all her various kingdoms : But, checked by my own incapacity, all that I could pre- fume to promife was, to trace a flight fketch of what ex- ifts in the vegetable order. However, before I proceed- ed to lay down new principles on this fubjeft, I thought myfelf called upon to refute the prejudices which the World, and our Sciences themfelves, might have diffufed over Nature, in the minds of my Readers. I have, ac- cordingly, exhibited a faint reprefentation of the goodnefs of Providence to the age in which we live, and the abjec- tions which have been raifed againft it. I have replied to thofe objeftions, in the fame order in which I had ftated them, pointing out, a» I went along, the wonderful har- mony which prevails in the diftribution of the Globe a- bandoned, as fome would have it, to the fimple Laws of motion and of chance. I have prefented a new theory of the courfes of the Tides, of the motion of the Earth in the Ecliptic, and of the Univerfal Deluge : And I am now going to attack, in my turn, the methods of our Reafon, and the Elements of wr Sciences, before I proceed to lay down fome princi- STUDY IX. 357 pies, which may indicate to us a certain path to the dif- covery of Truth. But let it be underftood, that if, in the courfe of this Work, and particularly in this article, I have combated our natural Sciences, it is only fo far as fyftem is con- cerned : I give them full credit on the fide of obfervation. Befides, I highly refpeft the perfons who devote them- felves to the purfuit of Science. I know nothing in die world more eftimable, next to the virtuous man, than the man of real knowledge, if, however, it be poffible to fep- arate the Sciences from Virtue. What facrifices and pri- vations does not the cultivation of them demand ! While the herd of Mankind is growing rich and renowned by agriculture, commerce, navigation and the arts, it has been frequently feen, that thofe who cleared the way for all the reft, lived in indigence themfelves, unknown to, and dif- regarded by, their contemporaries. The man of Science, like the torch, illuminates all around him, and remains himfelf in obfcurity. I have attacked, then, neither the Learned, whom I honour, nor the Sciences, which have been my confola- tion through life ; but had time permitted, I would have difputed every inch of ground with our methods and our fyftems. They have thrown us into fuch a variety of ab- furd opinions, in every branch of fcientific refearch, that, I do not hefitate to affirm, our Libraries, at this day, con- tain more of error than of information. Nay, I could venture to wager, that were you to introduce a blind man* into the King's Library, and let him take out any book * The word in the original is, a Quinze vingt. The Quinze vingt at Pa- ris is a royal foundation of Saint Louis, for the relief of jifteen fcore, that is, three hundred blind perfons : Hence, in the Parifian phrafe, any one, in general, afiliftcd with the want of fight, is denominated a Quinze vingt. Tlie King's Library is another eftablifhment, which rcfkfts the bigbeil honour on the French Government. It was founded by the famous Car- dinal de Richiieu ; who, however, transferred the credit of it to the Prince. The building is erefted in the very centre of the Metropolis, and contains a moft magnificent collection of bocks and manufciiptSj in all languages, and 35* STUDIES OF NATURE. at a venture, the firft page of that book on which he may chance to lay his hand, fhall contain an error. How many probabilities fhould I have in my favour, among romance writers, poets, mythologifts, hiftorians, panegyr- ifts, moralifts, naturalifts of ages paft, and metaphyficians of all ages and of all countries ? There is, in truth, a very fimple method to check the mifchief which their o- pinions might produce ; it is to arrange all the books which contradift themfelves, by the fide of each other ; as thefe are, in every walk of literature, almoft infinite in number, the refult of human knowledge, as far as they convey it, will be reduced almoft to nothing. By our very methods of acquiring knowledge, we are deluded into error. Firft, to fucceed in the fearch of Truth, we ought to be entirely exempted from the influ- ence of paffion ; and yet, from our earlieft infancy, the paflions are wilfully fet afloat, and thus reafon receives an improper bias from the very firft. This maxim is laid down as the fundamental bafis of all conduft, and of all opinion, Make your fortune. The effeft of this is, we no longer prize any thing but what has fome relation to this appetite. Even natural truths vanifh out of fight, be- caufe we no longer contemplate Nature, except in ma- chines or books. In order to our believing in GOD, fome perfon of confequence muft affure us there is one. If Fenelon fays it is fo, we admit it, becaufe Fenelon was preceptor to the Duke of Burgundy, an Archbifhop, a man of quality, and addreffed by the title of My Lord. We are fully con- vinced of the exiftence of GOD by the arguments of Fenelon, becaufe his credit reflefts fome upon ourfelves. I do not mean to affirm, however, that his virtue contrib- relative to every art and fcience; of drawings, models, mathematical in- ftruments, &c. It is opened on certain days of the week, and for a con- fiderable part of the day, for the infpe&ion and ufe of ftrangers as well as natives. And, even in Paris, I faw no petty officer, on duty at the Libra- ry, hold out his hand for a fee. H. H. STUDY IX. 269 uied nothing to the force of his reafoning : But no far- ther than as it Hands in connexion with his reputation and his fortune ; for were we to meet this fame virtue in a water porter, its luftre would fade in our eyes. To no purpofe would fuch a one furnifh proofs of the exiftence of a GOD, more unanfwerable than all the fpeculations of Philofophy, in a life labouring under contempt, hard, poor, laborious, exhibiting uniform probity and fortitude, and paffed in perfeft refignation to the will of the Su- preme : Thefe teftimonies fo pofitive, are of no confider- ation at all with us; we eftimate their importance from the celebrity which they have acquired. Let fome Em- peror be difpofed to adopt the Philofophy of this obfcure man, his maxims will be immediately extolled in every book that is puhlifhed, and quoted in every academical thefis ; engraved portraits of the Author would decorate every pannel, and his bull in plafter of Paris grace every chimney, he fhould be an Epidetus, a Socrates, a John James Rotiffeau. But fhould a period come, in which arofe men, of as high reputation as thefe, in favour with powerful Princes, whofe intereft it might be, that there fhould be no GOD, and who, in order to make their court to fuch Princes, denied his exiftence ; from the fame effeft of our education, which engaged us to believe in GOD, on the faith of Fenelon, Epicletus, Socrates and John James Rouffeau, we would renounce our belief, on the credit of the others, being men of fuch high confideration, and, be- fides, fo much nearer to us. It is thus our education warps us : It difpofes us indifferently to preach the Gof- pel or the Alcoran, according as our intereft is concern- ed in the one or in the other. Hence arofe this maxim fo univerfal and fo pernicious, Primo vivere, deinde philofophari—" To live firft, and " feek wifdom afterward." The man who is not ready to give his life in exchange for wifdom, is unworthy of gfJo STUDIES OF NATURE. knowing her. Juvenal's fentiment is much more ration- al, and deferves lather to be adopted : Summum crede nefas vitam pratferre pudori : Lt propter vitam, vivendi perdere caufas.* " The blackeft of crimes, believe it, is to prefer life to " honour ; and for the fake of a few paltry years of mere " exiftence, to facrifice that which alone makes life defir- " able." I fay nothing of other prejudices which oppofe them- felves to the inveftigation of truth, fuch as thofe of ambi- tion, which ftimulate every one among us to diftinguifh himfelf; and this can hardly be done except in two ways; either by fubverting maxims the moft undoubted, and the moft firmly eftablifhed, in order to fubftitute our own in their place ; or by making an effort to pleafe all parties, from uniting opinions the moft contradiftory ; and this* taking the two cafes together, multiplies the ramifications of error to infinity. Truth has, farther, to encounter a multitude of other obftacles on the part of powerful men, who can make an advantage of error. I fhall confine my- felf to thofe which are to be imputed to the weaknefs of our reafon, and fhall examine their influence on our ac- quirements in natural knowledge. It is eafy to perceive, that moft of the Laws which we have prefumed to affign to Nature, have been deduced fometimes from our weaknefs, fometimes from our pride. I fhall take a few inftances, as they happen to occur to my thoughts, and which are confidered as moft indubitably certain. For example, we have fettled it, that the Sun muft be in the centre of the planets, in order to regulate * Imitated thus : The word of crimes, believe it, generous youth, Is to buy life, by felling facred truth : Virtue's the gem of life, the Sage's ftore ; But life is death, when honour is no more. STUDY IX. 361 their motion, becaufe we are under the neceffity of plac- ing ourfelves in the centre of our perfonal concerns, for the purpofe of keeping an eye over them. But if, in the Cafe of the celeftial fpheres, the centre naturally belongs to the moft confiderable bodies, How comes it about that Saturn and Jupiter, which greatly exceed our Globe in magnitude, fhould be at the extremity of our vortex ? As the fhorteft road is that which fatigues us leaft, we have taken upon us to conclude, that, in like manner, this muft be the plan of Nature. Confequently, in order te fpare the Sun a journey of about ninety millions of leagues, which he muft every day perform, in giving us light, we fet the Earth a fpinning round its own axis. It may be fo ; but if the Earth revolves round itfelf, there muft be a great difference in the fpace paffed through by two cannon balls, fhot off at the fame inftant, the one to- ward the Eaft, and the other toward the Weft ; for the firft goes along with the motion of the Earth, and the fecond goes in the oppofite direftion. While both are flying in the air, and removing the one from the other, each proceeding at the rate of fix thoufand fathoms in a minute, the Earth, during that fame minute, is outflying the firft, and removing from the fecond, with a velocity which carries it along at the rate of fixteen thoufand fath- oms ; this ought to put the point of departure twentytwo thoufand fathom behind the ball which is flying to the Weft, and ten thoufand fathom before that which is fly- ing to the Eaft. I onee propofed this difficulty to a very able Aftrono- mer, who confidered it as almoft an infult. He replied, as the cuftom of our Doftors is, that the objeftion had been made long before, and refolved. At length, as I entreat- ed him to have compaffion on my ignorance,, and to give me the folution, he retailed to me the pretended experi- ment of a ball dropped from the top of a fhip's maft, when under fail, and which falls on deck clofe to the mail, notwithftanding the fhip's progreffive motion. «* The Vol. 1. y y 362 STUDIES OF NATURE. " Earth," faid he, " carries along, in like manner, the ro- " tation of the two balls, in its own movement. Were " they to be fhot off in a perpendicular direftion, they " would fall back precifely on the point from whence " they were emitted." As axioms are not very expen- five, and ferve to cut fhort all difficulties, he fubjoined this as one: " The motion of a great body abforbs that " of a fmall." If this axiom be founded in truth, repli- ed I, the ball dropped from the top of the maft of a fhip under fail, ought not to fall back clofe to the bottom of the maft ; its motion ought to be abforbed, not by that of the veffel, but by that of the Earth, which is far the great- er body. It ought to obey only the direftion of gravity ; and, for die fame reafon, the Earth ought to abforb the motion of the bullet which is going along with it toward the Eaft, and force it back into the cannon from which it iffued. I was unwilling to pufh this difficulty any farther; but I remained, as has frequently happened to me, after the moft luminous folutions of our fchools, ftill mose perplex- ed than I was before. I began to call in queftion the truth of not only a fyftem and of an experiment, but what is worfe, of an axiom. Not that I rejeft our planetary fyftem, fuch as it is given us; but I admit it for the fame reafon which at firft fuggefted it. It is from its being the belt adapted to the weaknefs of my body, and of my mind. I find, in faft, that the rotation of the Earth, ev- ery day, faves the Sun a prodigious journey ; but, in oth- er refpefts, I by no means believe that this fyftem is that of Nature, and that fhe has difclofed the caufes of mo- tion to men, who are incapable of accounting for the movement of their own fingers. I beg leave to fuggeft fome farther probabilities in fa- vour of the Sun's motion round the Earth. «* The Af- " tronomers of Greenwich, having difcovered that a ftar " of ^Taurus has a declination of two minutes, every " twentyfour hours; that this ftar not being dim, and STUDY IX. • 363 " having no train, cannot be confidered as a Comet, com- '• municated their obfervations to the aftronomers of Pa- " ris, who found them accurate. M. Meffier was appbint- " ed to make a report of this to the Academy of Sciences, " at their next meeting.*" If the Stars are Suns, here then is a Sun in motion, and that motion is a prefumption, at leaft, that ours may move. The liability of the Earth may be prefumed, on the other hand, from this circumftance, that the diftance of the Stars never changes with refpeft to us, which muft perceptibly take place, if we performed every year, as is alleged, a round of fixtyfour millions of leagues in diam- eter through the Heavens ; for in a fpace fo vaft, we muft, of neceffity, draw nigher to fome, and remove from others. Sixtyfour millions of leagues, we are told, dwindle to a point in the Heavens, compared to the diftance of the Stars. I am much in doubt as to the truth of this. The Sun, which is a million of times greater than the Earth, prefents an apparent diameter of only fix inches, at the diftance of thirtytwo millions of leagues from us. If this diftance reduces to a diameter fo fmall, a body fo im- menfe, it is impoffible to doubt, that double the diftance, namely, fixtyfour millions of leagues, would diminifh it ftill much more, and reduce it, perhaps, to the apparent magnitude of a Star ; and it is far from being impoffible, that, on being thus diminifhed, and on our ftill removing fixtyfour millions of leagues farther, he would entirely difappear. How comes it to pafs, then, that when the Earth approaches, or removes to this diftance from the Stars in the Firmament, in performing ifc annual circle, no one of thofe Stars increafes or diminifhes in magni- tude with refpeft to us. I fubmit fome farther obfervations, tending to prove, that the Stars have, at leaft, motions peculiar to thera- * Extract from tjie Courier de L'Europe, Friday, 4th May, 17 81.. 364 STUDIES OF NATURE. felves. The ancient Aftronomers have obferved, in the Neck of the Whale, a Star which prefented much variety in its appearances, fometimes it appeared for three months together, fometimes during a longer interval; fometimes its apparent magnitude was greater, fometimes fmaller. The time of its appearances was irregular. The fame Af- tronomers, report, that they had obferved a new Star in the Heart of the Swan, which from time to time difappear- ed. In the year 1600, it was equal to a Star of the firft magnitude; it gradually diminifhed, and at length difap- peared. M. Cajfini perceived it in 16,55. *l increafed for five years fucceffively; it then began to decreafe, and reappeared no more. In 1670 a new Star was obferved near the head of the Swan. Father Anfelm, a Carthafian friar, and feveral other Aftronomers, made the obferva- tion. It difappeared, and became again vifible in 1672. from that period, it was feen no more till 1709, and in 1713 it totally difappeared. Thefe examples demonftrate, that the Stars not only have motions, but that they defcribe curves very differ- ent from the circles and the ellipfes which we have af- figned to the heavenly bodies. 1 am fully perfuaded, that there is among thefe the fame variety of motion, as between thofe of many terreftrial bodies; and that there are Stars which defcribe cycloids, fpirals, and many other curves, of which we have not fo much as an idea. I muft proceed no farther on this ground, for fear of appearing better informed refpefting the affairs of Heaven, than thofe which are much nearer to us. All that I in- tended was to expofe my doubts and my ignorance. If Stars are Suns, then there muft be Stars in motion ; and, furely, ours may be in motion as well as they are.* * I now leave the Reader to refleft on the total dilappearance of thofe Stars. The indents had obferved feven Stars in the Pleiades. Six only are now peiceptible. The feventh difappeared at the fiege of Troy. Ovid fay$, it was fo affefted by the fate of that unfortunate city, as, from grief, :u cover its face with its hand, 1 find, ia the book of jfoi, a curious paf- STUDY IX. rfi$ It is thus that our general maxims become the fources of error ; for we never fail to charge with diforder what- ever feems to recede fiom our pretended order. That which I formerly quoted, namely, that Nature, in her op- erations, takes always the fhorteft road, has filled our Phyfics with falfe views innumerable. There is nothing however, more flatly contradicted by experience. Na- ture makes the waters of the rivers to meander through the Land, in their progrefs to the Sea, inftead of tranf- mitting them in a ftraight line. She caufes the veins to perform a winding courfe through the human body ; nay, fhe has perforated certain bones exprefsly, in order to af- ford a paffage to fome of the principal veins into the in- terior of the ftronger limbs, to prevent their being expof- ed to injury by external concuffions. In a word, fhe ex- pands a roufhroom in one night, but takes a 'century to bring an oak to perfeftion. Nature very feldom takes the neareft road, but fhe always takes that which is beft adapted to the purpofe. This rage for generalizing has dictated to us, in every branch of Science, an infinite number of maxims, fen- tences, adages, which are inceffantly contradifting them- felves. It is one of our maxims, that a man of genius catches every thing at a glance, and executes all by one fingle Law. For my own part, I confider this fublime method of obferving and executing, as one of the ftrong- eft proofs of the weaknefs of the human mind. Man never can proceed with confidence but in one fingle path. fage, which feems to prcfage this difappearance : It is chap, xxxviii. ver. jji. Xumquid conjungerc valebis micantesftellas pleiadas, aut gyrum artluri po;e- ris diftifare ? " Will it be in thy power to unite the brilliant Stars, the *' Pleiades ; and to turn afidc the great Bear from its courfe?" This is the impoit of the tranflation of M. le Maitre de Sacy. However, if I might venture to give an opinion after that learned man, I would put a different fenfe on the cor.clufion of the poffage. Gyrum artluri dif/ipart, means, in my opinion, •« to diffipate the attraction of the arftic pole." I here repeat what I have already obferved, that the Book «f Job ^s replenifhed with B.cft profound knowledge of Nature. g66 STUDIES OF NATURE. As foon as a variety prefent themfelves, he becomes per- plexed, and goes aitray ; he is at a lofs to afcertain which he ought to purfue : That he may make fure of not devi- ating, he admits only one to be right; and, once engaged, right or wrong, pride ftimulates him forward. The Au- thor of Nature, on the contrary, embracing in his infi- nite intelligence, all the fpheres of all beings, proceeds to their produftion by Laws as various as his own in- exhauftible conceptions, in order to the attainment of one fingle end, which is their general good. Whatever contempt Philofophers may exprefs for final caufes, they are the only caufes which he permits us to know. AH the reft He is pleafed to conceal from us ; and it is well worthy of being remarked, that the only end which He difclofes to our underftanding, is alfo the fame with that which he propofes to our virtues. One of our moft ordinary methods, when we catch fome effeft in Nature, is to dwell upon it, at firft, from weaknefs, and afterwards, to deduce from it an univerfal- principle, out of vanity. If after this we can find means, and it is no difficult matter to apply to it a geometrical theorem, a triangle, an equation, were it but an a-\-b, this is fufficient to render it for ever venerable. It was thus, that, in the laft age, every thing was explained on the principles of the corpufcular philofophy, becaufe it was perceived that fome bodies were formed by intus fufecption, or an aggregation ot parts. A feafoning of Algebra, which they found means to add to it, had in-' vefted it with fo much the more dignity, that moft of the reafoners of thofe times underftood nothing of the matter. But being indifferently endowed, its reign was of fhort duration. At this day, we do not fo much as mention the names ot a long lift of learned and illuftrious gen- tlemen, whom all Europe then concurred in covering "• nil laurels. Otheis having found our that air preffed, fet to work with every fpecies of machinery to demonftrate that air STUDY IX. fand appears to be a fecretion from the rock. Is it the rock, then, which is an element ? But it has the ap- pearance in its turn, of being an aggregation of fand, as we fee it to be in maffes of free ftone. Whether of the two, fand or rock, was the principle of the other ? and, Which took the precedency in the formation of the Globe ? Sup- pofing us poffeffed of authentic information as to this par- ticular, What ground have we gained ? There are rocks formed of aggregations of all forts. Granite is compofed of grains; marbles and calcareous ftones, of the pafte of fhells and madrepores. There are likewife banks of fand, compofed of the wreck of all thefe ftones : I have feen the fand of cryftal. Shell fifh, which feem to give us fome light refpefting the nature of calcareous ftone, by no means indicate to us the primitive origin of that fubftance ; for they them- felves form their fhells of the refufe that fwims in the Seas. The difficulties increafe as you attempt to explain the formation of fo many various bodies iffuing out of the Earth, and nourifhed by it. In vain you call to your af- fiftance analogies, affimilations, homogeneities, and hete- rogeneities. Is it not ftrange, that thoufands of fpecies of refinous, oily, elaftic, foft and combuftible vegetables, fhould differ fo entirely from the rugged and ftony foil which produces them ? The Siamefe Philofophers eafily get rid of all embarraff- ment on the fubjeft, for they admit, in Nature, a fifth ele- ment, which is wood. But this fupplement is incapable of carrying them very far ; for it is ftill more aftonifhing, that animal fubftance fhould be formed of vegetable, than that this laft fhould be formed of foflil. Which way does it become fenfible, living and impaffioned ? They admit, I grant, the interpofition of the Sun's aftion. But how is it poffible that the Snn fhould be, in animals, the caufe of any moral affeftion ; or, if you like the phrafe better, of any paffion, when we do not fee it cxercifing a difpof- STUDY IX. 379 ing influence even on the component parts of plants ? For example, its general effeft is to dry that which is hu- mid. How comes it to pafs, then, that in a peach ex- pofed to its aftion, the pulp externally fhould be melting- ly plump, and the nut within extremely hard; whereas the contrary takes place in the fruit of the cocoa tree, which is replenifhed with milk inwardly, and clothed ex- ternally with a fhell as hard as a ftone ? Neither has the Sun more influence on the mechanical conftruftion of animals : Their interior parts, which are moft conftantly moiftened with humours, with blood and marrow, are frequently the hardeft, fuch as the teeth and the bones ; and the parts moft expofed to the aftion of his heat are often very foft, as hair, feathers, the flefh and the eyes. Once more, How comes it to pafs, that there is fo little analogy between plants tender, ligneous, liable to putrefaftion, and the Earth which produces them ; and between the corals and the madrepores of ftone, which form banks fo extenfive between the Tropics, and the fea water in which they are formed ? To all appearance, the contrary ought to happen : The water ought to have pro- duced foft plants, and the earth folid plants. If things exift thus, there muft, undoubtedly, be more than one good reafon for it ; I think I have a glimpfe of a very tolerable one : It is this, that if thefe analogies aftuallv took place, the two elements would in a fhort time become uninhabitable ; they would foon be overwhelmed by their own vegetation. The Sea would be incapable of breaking madrepores of wood, and the air of diffolving forefts of ftone. The fame doubts might be ftarted, refpefting the na- ture of Water. This element, we allege, is formed of fmall globules, which roll one over another ; that it is to the fpherical form of its elementary particles we ouo-ht to afcribe its fluidity. But if thefe are globules, there muft be between them intervals and vacuities, without which they could not be fufccptible of motion. How comes it 3»o STUDIES OF NATURE. to pafs, then, that water is incompreffible ■? If you apply to it a ftrong compreffing power in a tube, it will force its way through the pores of that tube, though it be of gold ; and will burft it, if of iron. Employ what efforts you pleafe, you will find it impoffible to reduce it to a fmaller fize. But fo far from knowing the form of its compo- nent parts, we cannot fo much as determine that of the combined whole. Does it confift in being expanded into invifible vapours in the air, as the dew, or collefted into mift in the clouds, or confolidated into maffes in the ice, or finally, in a fluid ftate, as in the rivers, Fluidity, it is faid, forms one of its principal charafters. Yes, becaufe we drink it in that ftate, and becaufe, under this relation, it interefts us the moft. We determine its principal char- after, as we do that of all the objefts of Nature, for the reafon which; I have already fuggefted, from our own moft craving neceffity ; but this very charafter appears foreign to it : For it owes its fluidity only to the aftion of the heat ; if you deprive it of this, it changes into ice. It would be very Angular, fhould it be made to appear, after all our fundamental definitions, that the natural ftate of water was to be folid, and that the natural ftate of earth was to be fluid : Now this muft aftually be the cafe, if water owes its fluidity only to heat, and if earth is nothing but an aggregation of fands united by different glues, and at- trafted to a common centre, by the general aftion of gravity. The elementary qualities of air, are not of more eafy determination. Air, we fay, is an elaftic body : When it is fhut up in the grains of gunpowder, the aftion of fire dilates it to fuch a degree, as to communicate to it the power of hurlung a globe of iron to a prodigious diftance. But how could it have been, with all this elafticity, com- preffed into the grains of a crumbling powder ? If you put even any liquid fubftance into a ftate of fermenta- tion in a flafk, a thoufand times more-air will be feparat- fd from it, than you could force into the veffel without ST U DY IX. 381 breaking it. How could this air be confined in a fub- ftance foft and fluid, without difengaging itfelf by its own aftion ? The air, when loaded with vapours, we farther fay, is refrangible. The farther we advance to the North, the more elevated does the Sun appear over the Horizon, a- bove the place which he aftually occupies in the Heavens. The Dutch mariners, who paffed the Winter of 1597, in Nova Zembla, after a night of feveral months, faw the Sun reappear fifteen days fooner than they expefted his return. All this is very well. But if vapours render the air re- frangible, Why is there no Aurora, nor twilight, nor any durable refraftion of light whatever, between the Tropics, not even on the Sea, where fo many vapours are exhaled by the conftant aftion of the Sun, that the Horizon is fometimes quite involved in mi ft by them ? The light is not refrafted, fays another Philofopher, by the vapours, but by the cold ; for the refraftion of the Atmofphere is not fo great at the end of Summer, as at the end of Winter, at the autumnal Equinox, as at the vernal. I admit the truth of this obfervation ; however, after very hot days in Summer, there is refraftion to the North, as well as in our temperate Climates, and there is none between the Tropics : The cold, therefore, does not ap- pear to me to be the mechanical caufe of refraftion, but it is the final caufe of it. This wonderful multiplication of light, which increafes in the Atmofphere, in proportion to the intenfenefs of the cold, is, in ray apprehenfion, a con- fequence of the fame Law which tranfmits the Moon into the northern figns, in proportion as the Sun forfakes them, and which caufes her to illuminate the long nights of our Pole, while the Sun is under the Horizon ; for light, be of what fort it may, is warm. Thefe wonderful harmo- nies are not in the nature of the Elements, but in the will of Him who has eftablifhed thorn in fubordination to tlie neceffities of beings endowed with fenfibility. 382 STUDIES OF NATURE. Fire prefents to us phenomena ftill more incomprehen- sible. Firft of all, Is fire matter ? Matter, according to the definitions of Philofophy, is that which is divifible in length, breadth and depth. Fire is divifible only in per- pendicular length. Never will you divide a flame, or a ray of the Sun, in its horizontal breadth. Here, then, is matter divifible only in two dimenfions. Befides, it has no gravity, for it continually afcends ; nor levity, for it defcends, and penetrates bodies ever fo much below it. Fire, we are told, is contained in all bodies. But, being of a confuming nature, How does it not devour them ? How can it remain in water without being extinguifhed ? Thefe difficulties, and feveral others, induced Newton to believe that fire was not an element, but certain fubtile matter put in motion. Friftion, it is true, and collifion, elicit fire from feveral bodies. But how comes it, that air and water, though agitated ever fo much, never catch fire ? Nay, How comes it that water even gets cold by motion, though its fluidity is entirely owing to its being impreg- nated by fire ? Contrary to the nature of all other motions, Wherefore does that of fire go on in a conftant ftate of propagation, inftead of meeting a check. All bodies lofe their motion by communicating it. If you ftrike feveral billiard balls with one, the motion is communicated a- mong them, it is divided and loft. But a fingle fpark of dire difengages, from a piece of wood, the igneous particles, or the fubtile matter, if you will, which are contained in it, and the whole together increafe their rapidity to fuch a degree, as to make one vaft conflagration of a whole foreft. We are not better acquainted with the negative qualities. Cold, they tell us, is produced by the abfence of heat : But if cold is merely a negative quality, How is it capa- ble of producing pofitive effefts ? If you put into water a bottle of iced wine, as I have feen done in Ruffia, oftencr than once, you fee, in a fhort time, ice of an inch in thick- nefs cover the outfide of the bottle. A block of ice dif, STUDY IXi jj8g fufes cold all over the furronnding atmofphere. Dark- nefs, neverthelefs, which is a privation of light, diffufes no obfcurity over furrounding light. If you open, in a day of Summer, a grotto at once dark and cool, the fur- rounding light will not be in the leaft impaired by the darknefs which it contained ; but the heat of the adja- cent air will be perceptibly diminifhed by the cold air which iflues from it. I am aware of the reply ; it will be faid, if there is no perceptible obfcuration in the firft cafe, it is owing to the extreme rapidity of light, which replaces the darknefs ; but this would be increafing the difficulty, inftead of removing it, by fuppofing that dark- nefs, too, has pofitive effefts, which we have not time now to animadvert upon. It is, however, on fuch pretended fundamental princi-' pies, that moft of our fyftems of Phyfics are reared. If we are in an error, or in a ftate of ignorance, at the point of departure, it cannot be long before we go aftray on the road ; and it is really incredible with what facility, after having laid down our principles fo flightly, we repay our- felves in confquences, in vague terms, and in contradicto- ry ideas. I have feen, for example, the formation of thunder ex- plained in highly celebrated phyfical trafts. Some de- monftrate to you, that it is produced by the collifion of two clouds, as if clouds, or foggy vapours, ever could pro- duce a collifion J Others gravely tell you, that it is the effeft of the air dilated by the fudden inflammation of the fulphur and of the nitre which float in the air. But, in order to its being capable of producing its tremendous ex- plofions, we are under the neceffity of fuppofing, that the air was confined in a body which made fome refiftance- If you fet fire to a great mafs of gun powder in an uncon- fined fituation, no explofion follows. I know very well that the detonation of thunder has been imitated, in the experiment of fulminating powder ; but the materials em- ploved in the compofition of it have a fort of tenacity. 3*4 STUDIES OF N ATUR E. They undergo, on the part of the iron ladle which con- tains them, a refifiance againft which they fometimes aft with fo much violence as to perforate it. After all, to imitate a phenomenon is not to explain it. The other effefts of thunder are explained with fimilar levity. A« the air is found to be cooler after a thunder ftorm, the ni- tre, we are told, which is diffufed through the Atmofphere, is the caufe of it ; but, Was not that nitre there before the explofion, when we were almoft fuffocated with heat ? Does nitre cool only when it is fet on fire ? According to this mode of reckoning, our batteries of cannon ought to become glaciers in the midft of a battle, for a world of nitre is kindled into flame on fuch occafions ; they are un- der the neceffity, however, of cooling the cannon with vinegar ; for, after having been fired off twenty times, in quick fucceffion, it is impoffible to apply your hand to the piece. The flame of the nitre, though inftantaneous, powerfully penetrates the metal, notwithftanding its thick- nefs and folidity. The heat, it is true, may likewife be occafioned by the interior vibration of the parts. Whatever may be in this, the cooling of the air, after a thunder ftorm, proceeds, in my opinion, from that ftratum of frozen air which furrounds us, to the height of from twelve to fifteen hundred fath- oms ; and which, being divided and dilated at its bafe, by the fire of the ftormy clouds, flows haftily into our At- mofphere. Its motion determines the fire of the thunder, to direft itfelf, contrary to its nature, toward the Earth. It produces ftill farther effefts, which neither time nor place permit me at prefent to unfold. It was affirmed, in the laft age, that the Earth was drawn out at the Poles ; and we are now pofitively told, that it is flattened there. I fhall not at prefent enter into an exam- ination of the principles from which this laft conclufion has been deduced, and the obfervations on which it has been fupported. The flattening of the Earth at the Poles has been accounted for from a centrifugal force, to which IT U D Y IX. 3&<5 likewife its motion through the Heavens has been afcrib- ed; though this pretended force, which has increafed the diameter of the Earth at the Equator, has not the power of raiting fo much as a ftraw into the air. The flattening of the Poles, they tell us, has been afcer- tained, by the meafurement of two terreftrial degrees, made at a vaft expenfe, the one in Peru, near the Equa- tor, and the other in Lapland, bordering upon the polar Circle.* Thofe experiments were made, undoubtedly, by men of very great capacity and reputation. But per- fons of at leaft equal capacity, and of a name as high in the republic of Science, had demonftrated, upon other principles, and by other experiments, that the Earth was lengthened at the Poles. Cajfini eftimates at fifty leagues, the length by which the axis of the Earth exceeds its di- ameters, which gives to each of the Poles twentyfive leagues of elevation over the circumference of the Globe. o We fhall certainly enlift under the banner of this illuftri- ous Aftronomer, if we confider the teftimony of the eye as of any weight; for the fhade of the Earth appears oval over its Poles, in central eclipfes of the Moon, as was ob- ferved by Tycho Brhae and Kepler. Thefe names are a holt in themfelves. But without confidering any name as an authority, where natural truths are concerned, we may conclude, from fimple analogies, the elongation of the axis of the Earth. If we confider, as has been already faid, the two Hemifpheres as two mountains, whofe bafes are at the Equator, the fummits at the Poles, and the Ocean, which alternately flows from one of thefe fummits, as a great river defcending from a mountain, we fhall have, under this point of view, objefts of comparifon which may af- fift us in determining the point of elevation from which the Ocean takes its rife, by the diftance of the place where • It is evident, that the conclufion, from thofe very meafurementa, •ught to have been, that the Earth is leogthened at the Poles. See the Ex- planation of the Piates; VOL. I. Bkb 386 STUDIES OF NATURE. its courfe terminates. Thus the fummit of Chimboraco, the moft elevated of the Andes of Peru, out of which the „ river of the Amazons iflues, having a league and one third nearly of elevation, above the mouth of that river, which is diftant from it, in a ftraight line, about twenty- fix degrees, or fix hundred and fifty leagues,* jt may be thence concluded, that the fummit of the Pole muft be el- evated above the circumference of the Earth nearly five leagues, in order to have a height proportioned to the courfe of the Ocean, which extends as far as the Line, ninety degrees diftant, that is to fay, two thoufand, two hundred and fifty leagues, in a ftraight line. If we farther confider, that the courfe of the Ocean does not terminate at the Line, but that when it defcends in Summer from our Pole, it extends beyond the Cape of Good Hope, as far as to the eaftern extremities of Afia, where it forms the current known by the name of the wefterly Monfoon, which almoft encompaffes the Globe, under the Equator, we fhall be under the neceffity of afligning to the Pole, from which it takes its departure, an elevation proportioned to the courfe which it is def- tined to perform, and of tripling, at leaft, that elevation, in order to give its waters a fufficient declivity. 1 put it down, then, at fifteen leagues : And if to this height we add that of the ices which are there accumulated, the en- ormous pyramids of which over icy mountains, have fometimes an elevation of one third above the heights which fupport them, we fhall find that the Pole can hard- ly have lefs than an elevation of the twentyfive leagues above the circumference which Caffmi affigned to it. Obelifks of ice, ten leagues high, are not difproportion- ed to the centre of cupolas of ice two thoufand leagues in diameter, which, in Winter, cover our northern Hem- ifphere ; and which have likewife, in the fouthern Hem- ifphere, in the month of February, that is, in the very Midfummer of that Hemifphere, prominent borders, ele- vated like promontories, and three thoufand leagues, at STUDY IX. 387 leaft, in circumference, according to the relation of Cap- tain Cook, who coafted round them in the years 1773 and 1774. The analogy which 1 eftablifh between the two Hem- ifpheres of the Earth, the Poles, and the Ocean which flows from them, and two mountains, their peaks, and the rivers which there have their fources. is in the order of the harmonies of the Globe, which exhibits a great number of fimilar harmonies on a fmaller fcale in the Continents, and in moft iflands, which are Continents in miniature. It would appear, that Philofophy has, in all ages, af- fefted to find out very obfcure caufes, in order to explain the moft common effefts, in the view of attrafting the ad- miration of the vulgar, who, in faft, fcarcely ever admire any thing, but what they do not comprehend. She has not failed to take the advantage of this weaknefs of man- kind, by infolding herfelf in a pompofity of words, or in the myfteries of Geometry, the better to carry on the de- ception. For how many ages did fhe ring, in our fchools, the horror of a vacuum which fhe afcribed to Nature ? How many fagacious pretended demonftrations of this have been given, which were to crown their authors with never fading laurels, but which are now gone to the land of forgetfulnefs ? She difdains, on the other hand, to dwell on fimple ob- fervations, which bring down to the level of every capac- ity, the harmonies which unite all the kingdoms of Na- ture. For example, the Philofophy of our day refufes to the Moon all influence over vegetables and over animals. It is, neverthelefs, certain, that the moft confiderable growth of plants takes place in the night time ; nay, that there are feveral vegetables which flower only during that feafon ; that numerous claffes of infefts, birds, quadru- peds, and fifhes, regulate their loves, their hunting matches, and their peregrinations according to the different phafes of the orb of night. But what, degrade Philofophers to 3*8 STUDIES OF NATURE. the experience of gardeners ard fifhermen ! What, conde- fcend to think and talk like fuch groundlings! If Philofophy denies the influence of the Moon over the minuter objefts of the Earth, fhe makes it up amply, by conferring on her a very extenfive power over the Globe itfelf, without being over fcrupulous about the felf- contradiftion. She affirms, that the Moon, in pafling over the Ocean, preffes upon it, and thus occafions the flux of the tides on its fhores. But how is it poffible that the Moon fhould comprefs our atmofphere, which only extends, they fay, to a fcore of leagues, at moft, from us ? Or, admitting a fubtile matter, and poffeffed of great elaf- ticity, which fhould extend from our Seas as far as to the globe of the Moon, How could this matter be compreffed by it, unlefs you fuppofe it confined in a channel ? Muft it not, in its aftual ftate, extend to the right and to the left, while the aftion of the planet found it impoffible to make itfelf felt on any one determinate point of the cir- cumference of our Globe ? Befides, Why does not the moon aft on lakes, and feas of fmall extent, where there are no tides ? Their fmall- nefs ought no more to exempt them from the influence of her gravitation, than deprive them ot the benefit of her light. Why are tides almoft imperceptible in the Mediterranean ? Wherefore do they undergo, in many places, intermittent movements, and retardations of two or three days ? Wherefore, in a word, toward the North, do they come from the North, from the Eaft, or from the Weft, and not from the South, as was obferved, with furprife, by Martens, Barents, Linfchotten and Ellis, who expefted to fee them come from the Equator, as on the coafts of Europe ? The principal movements of the Sea, it muft be allow- ed, take place, in our Hemifphere, at the fame times with the principal phafes of the Moon ; but we ought not from thence to conclude their neceffary dependance, and (till lefs explain it by Laws which are not demon ftratec*. STUDY IX. 8»f The Currents and the Tides of the Ocean proceed, as I think I have proved, from the effufion of the ices of the Poles; which depend, in their turn, on the variety of the courfe ot the Sun, as he approaches lefs or more toward either Pole : And as the phafes of the Moon are them- felves regulated by the courfe of the Orb of Day, this is the reafon why both take place at the fame time. Farther, the Moon when full has, as we have already obferved, an effeftive and evaporating warmth : She muft aft, therefore, on the polar ices, efpecially when at the full.* The Academy of Sciences formerly maintained that her light did not warm, after experiments made on her rays, and on the ball of a thermometer, with a burn- ing mirror. But this is not the firft error into which we have been betrayed by our books, and our machinery, as we fhall fee when we come to fpeak of the decompofition of the folar ray by the prifm. Neither is it the firft time that an affembly of Literati have, without examination, adopted an opinion on the authority of perfons who made experiments with much formality and ftatelinefs. And this is the way that errors get into vogue. The one in queftion has, however, been completely refuted, firft at Rome, and afterward at Paris, by a very fimple experi- ment. Some one took a fancy to expofe a veffel full ot water to the light of the Moon, and to place one fimilar to it in the fhade. The water in the firft veffel was evap- orated much fooner than that in the fecond. To no purpofe do we exert all our induftry and inge- nuity ; we can lay hold of nothing in Nature, except re- fults and harmonies : Firft principles univerfally efcape us. And, what is worft of all, the methods of our Sci- ences have exercifed a pernicious influence on our mor- als and on religion. It is very eafy to miflead men with refpeft to an intelligence which governs all things, when • This obfervation was nude more than fixtccn hundred years ago. " The Moon produces thaw ; diffolving all ices and frofis by the humid' M ity of her influence." Pliny s Natural Hiftory, Book n. chap. ici. 39© STUDIES OF NATURE. nothing is prefented to them as firft caufes but mechan- ical means. Alas! it is not by thefe that we fhall be able to find our way toward that Heaven, which we pre- tend to know fo well. The greateft of Mankind have call an eye thitherward as their laft afylum. Cicero flat- tered himfelf with the hope of being, after death, an in- habitant of the Stars; and Cefar, from that elevation, to prefide over the deftiny of Rome. An infinite number of other men have limited their future happinefs to a fu- perintendence of maufoleums, groves, fountains; and others to a reunion with the objefts of their loves. As for us, What are we now hoping for from Earth and from Heaven, where we fee nothing beyond the levers of our pitiful machines ? How ! as the reward of our virtues, is our deftination to mount no higher than this, to be confounded with the elements ! What, thy foul, O fublime Fenelon ! to be exhaled in inflammable air ; and to have had on the Earth the fentiment of an order which did not exift even in the Heavens! How, among thofe Stars fo luminous, is there nothing but material Globes; and in their motions, fo conftant and fo varied, nothing but blind attraftions ? How ! Every thing around us infenfible matter and no more; and intelligence given to Man, who could give himfelf nothing, only to render him miferable ! How ! and can we have been deceived by the involuntary fenti- ment which makes us raife our eyes to Heaven, in the ag- ony of forrow, there to folicit relief! The animal, on the point ot clofing his career, abandons himfelf to his nat- ural inftinfts. The flag at bay feeks refuge in the moft fequeftered fpot of the forefts, content to yjeld up the roving fpirit which animates him, under their hofpitable fhades. The dying bee forfakes the flowers, returns to expire at the door ot her hive, and to bequeath her focial inftinft to her beloved Republic. And Man, following the bent of his reafoning powers, can he no where find, in the widely extended univerfe, any thing worthy of re- STUDY IX. 39I ceiving his departing fighs ; not even inconftant friends, nor felfifh kindred, nor an ungrateful Country, nor a foil ftubboin to all his labours, nor a Heaven indifferent to to crimes and to virtue ? Ah ! it fs not thus that Nature has apportioned her gifts. We bewilder ourfelves with our vain Sciences. By driv- ing the researches of our underftanding up to the very principles of Nature, nay, of Deity, we have ftifled, in the heart, all feeling of both the one and the other. The fame thing has befallen us which once befel a peafant who was living happily in a little valley in the heart of the Alps. A brook, which defcended from thofe moun- tains, fertilized his garden. For a long time he adored, in tranquillity, the beneficent Naiad who kept his ftream perpetually flowing; and who increafed its quantity and its coolnefs as the Summer's heat increafed. One day a fancy ftruck him, that, he would go and difcover the place where fhe concealed her inexhauftible urn. To prevent his going aftray, he begins with purfuing upward the track of his rivulet. By little and little he rifes upon the mountain. Every ftep he takes, in afcending, difcov- ers to him, a thoufand new objefts ; plains, forefts, riv- ers, kingdoms, boundlefs Oceans. Tranfported with de- light, he proceeds in flattering hope of fpeedily reaching the bleffed abode where the Gods prefide over the def- tiny of this World. But, after a painful fcramble, he arrives at the bottom of a tremendous glacier. He no longer fees any thing around him but mifts, rocks, tor- rents, precipices. All, all has vanifhed. Sweet and tranquil valley, humble roof, beneficent Naiad! His pat- rimony is now reduced to a cloud, and his divinity to an enormous mafs of ice. It is thus that Science has condufted us through feduc- tive paths, to a termination fo fearful. She drags after her in the train of her ambitious refearches, that ancient malediftion pronounced againft the firft man who fhould »qa studies of nature. dare to eat the fruit of her forbidden tree,* " Behold, fh« " man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." He fhall not, therefore, " put forth his hand, and take1 «' alfo of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." What literary, political, and religious fquabbles have our pre- tended Sciences excited ! How many men has fhe pre- vented from living even a fingle day ! The fublime genius and the pure fpirit of Newton, af- furedly, could not have flood ftill at the boundary pre- fcribed to a vulgar mind. On obferving the clouds re- ferring from every quarter to the mountains which fep- arated Italy from the reft of Europe, he would have in- ferred the attraftion of their fummits, and the direftion of their chains, conformably to the bafons of the Seas, and to the courfes of the winds : He would thence have inferred equivalent difpofitions for the different fummits of the Continent and of the Iflands : He would have feen the vapours arifing out of the bofom of the Seas of Amer- ica, and conveying, through the air, fecundity to the cen- tre of Europe, fixing themfelves in folid ice on the lofty pinnacles of the rocks, in order to cool the Atmofphere of hot countries ; undergoing new combinations, to pro- duce new effefts : And returning, in a fluid ftate, to wafh their former fhores, diffufing, in their myfterious prog- ress, unlimited abundance, in a thoufand different chan- nels. He would have obferved, with admiration, the conftant impulfion communicated to fo many various movements, by the aftion of one fingle luminary, the Sun, placed at the diftance of thirtytwo millions of leagues : And, inftead of fruitlefsly rambling after the habitation of a Naiad, at the fummit of the Alps, he would have prof- trated himfelf before that GOD whofe providence em- braces the concerns of a whole Univerfe. In order to ftudy Nature with underftanding, and to advantage, all the parts muft be viewed in their harmony Genefis, chap, iii, ver. sj. STUDY IX. 393 and connexion. For my part, I, who do not pretend to be a Newton, am determined never to leave the borders of my rivulet; I fhall fet up my reft in my humble valley, and employ myfelf in culling fome herbs and flowers; happy if I am able to form of them fome garlands to dec- orate the entrance of that ruftic Temple, which my feeble hands have prefumed to rear to the Majefty of Nature !* * The fyftem of the harmonics of Nature, which I am proceeding to un- fold, is, in my opinion, the only one which is within the reach of Man. It was firft difplayed by Pythagoras of Samos, who was the father of Philof- ophy, and the founder of that feci; of Philofophers who have been tranfmit- ted to us by the name of Pythagoreans. Never did a fucceffion of men a- rife fo enlightened, as thofe Sages were, in the natural Sciences; and none whofe difcoveries refleft higher honour on the human underftanding. There exifted, at that time, Philofophers, who maintained that water, fire, air, at- oms, were the principles of things. Pythagoras infilled, in oppofition to this doftrine, that the principles of things were the adaptations and the pro- portions of which the harmonics were compofed, and that goodnefs and in- telligence conftituted the nature of GOD. He was the firft who gave to the Univcrfe the epithet of xoa//.©j, mundus, becaufe of its order. He maintained that it was governed by a Providence; a fentiment perfeftly conformable to the tenor of our Sacred Books, and to experience. He invented the five Zones, and the obliquity of the Zodiac. He taught that the Torrid Zone was habitable. He afciibcd earthquakes to the water. In faft, their focufes, as well as thofe of volcanoes, as we have already indicated, are always in the vicinity of the Sea, or of fome great !ake. He believed that each of the Stars was a World, containing an Earth, an Air, and a Heaven; and even in his time, this had been an anciently re- ceived opinion; for it is to be found in the verfes of Orpheus. Finally, he difcovered the fquare of the hypothenufe, which has ferved as a bafis to an infinite number of geometrical theorems and folutions. Philolaus, of Crotona, one of his difciples, maintained, that the Sun re- eeived the fire diffufed ove r the Univerfc, and reverberated it, which af- fords a better explanation of his nature than the perpetual emanations of li»ht and heat which we afcribe to him, wi thout repaiation, ar.d without cxhauftion. He held that. Comets were Stars, which reappeared after a cer- tain revolution. jEcetes, another Pythagorean, maintained the exiftence of two Continents, that which we inhabit, and one oppofite to it; an idea ap- plicable only to America. Thefe Philofophers believed, that the foul of Man was a harmony com- pofed of two parts ; the one reafonable, the other irrational. They placed the firft in the head, and the other round the heart. They contended for its immortality; arid taught, that at the death of the man, his foul ictur'1"*. VOL. I. Cce 394 Studies of nature. to the Soul of the Univerfe. They approved of divination by dreams and augury, and condemned that which is performed by means of facrifices. They had fuch a ftrong fenfe of humanity, that they abftained from fhed- ding the blood even of animals, and from eating their flefh. Nature rewarded their virtues, and the gentlenefs of their manners, by innumerable difcoveries, and bellowed on them the glory of having as fol- lowers, Socrates, Plato, Archytas of Tarentum, who invented the fcrcw, Xe- nophon, Epam'mndas, who was educated by Lyfis the Pythagorean, and the good King Kuma, who taught the Tufcan priefts to conjure down the thun- der : In a word, ftie conferred on them all the luftre that Philofophy, Lit- erature, the Military Art, or Royalty itfelf, can communicate to tilt moft favoured of mortals. Pythagoras has been calumniated, as having given encouragement to cer- tain unmeaning fuperllitions; among others, abftinence from the ufe of beans, &c. But, as truth is frequently under the neceffity of prefenting herfelf to men under a veil, the great Philofopher, under this allegory, con- veyed to his difciples an advice to abftain from public employments, be- caufe it was then the cullom to make ufe of beans, in voting at the eleftion of Magistrates, A very celebrated Writer, of modern times, who feems to look with an evil eye on every man of illuftrious reputation, has prefumed to attack the charafter of Xenophon, in whom were united almoft all the eminent quali- ties which can dignify human nature; piety, purity of manners, military fkill and valour, and eloquence. His ftyle is fo fwectly flowing, that the Greeks beftowed on him the appellation of the Athenian Bee. This great man has been lately cenfured, on the ground of that celebrated retreat, by which he brought back ten thoufand Greeks into their own Country, from the very extremity of Perfia, having performed a march of eleven hundred leagues through a hoftUe country, and amidft foes innumerable. It has been afferted, by a man of great learning, that the retreat of thia renowned General, was an effeSt of the good nature, or the piety, of Artax- erxes ; and he has, of confequence, treated the route which Xenophon pur- fued, by the north of Perfia, as a fuperfluous precaution.----But is it cred- ible that the King of Perfia, intentionally, fhewed indulgence to the Greeks, when we know, that, by a perfidious piece of cruelty, he had put to death twentyfive of their chief men ? How was it poffible for thofe Greeks to have returned by the fame road which they went, confidering that every thing in this track had been put in motion to intercept them, and that tht Perfians had, through its whole extent, deftroyed the villages ? Xenophon de- feated all their precautions, by directing his march through a track of which they had no forefight. For my own part, I confider this military expedition as the moft illuftri- ous that ever was atchieved ; not only from the innumerable conflifts, croff- ings of rivers, forced marches over mountains, in the face of myriads upoo myriads of enemies, through which it was accomplifhed : But, becaufe it ■was not fullied by a finale aft of injuftice, and had no other objeft in view STUDY ix. 39,5 but tbe prefervation of citizens. All that are held in high renown among the Warriors of Antiquity, have confidered the retreat of the ten thoufand as a mafter piece in the military art. There is a fingle expreffion tranfmitted to us, which will forerer cover it with glory, uttered in an age, and among a People, by which the Science of War was carried to the height of perfec- tion, and in a fituation which admitted not of diflimulation : I mean an ex- preffion of Anthony, when entangled in the country of the Parthians. That General, who poffeffed great military talents, and had at that time the com- mand of an army of a hundred and thirteen thoufand men, of whom fixty thoufand were aftually Roman citizens, obliged, as Xenophon was, to make a retreat in the face of the Parthians, and twenty times on the point of fail- ing in his attempt, frequently exclaimed, witk a figh ! 0 the ten thoufand, [See Plutarch. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME, PRINTED AT WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, by THOMAS, SON 6j? THOMAS. SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. =••<••••<>•■ A General Wafhington, Prefident of the United States. A. AIdenRd.Timothy,jun.Marblehead Alexander Rev. Caleb, Mendon AHine Benjamin, Boffort Anderfon James, Dorchefler Andrews Jofeph G, Bofton Aaftin Nathaniel, Charleftown BBOT Benjamin, Exetef Abbot John, Cambridge Adams Eli, Dublin (N. H.) Bofton Northfield Allen James, Efq. Allen Samuel C, BaKER Luke, Bofton Batch William, Cambridge Baldwin Rev. Thomas, Bofion Baldwin Loammi, Efq. Woburn Bancroft James, Boffon Bartlett Jofeph, Cambridge Barnett Samuel Wells, Bofton Barnett William Reynolds, Bofton Burwell Edwin, Efq. Richmond, V. Bardwell Reuben, Conway- Barber Thomas, Bofton Barhans Rev. D, Lanefborough Barker Jofeph, Middleton Bafs Benjamin, Hanover Bayfey Samuel P, Bofton Baylis Hon. Wm. Efq. Dighton Bazin John, Bofton Bennoch John, Bofton Binney Horace, Cambridge B. Bigelow Abraham, Efq. Cambridge Bigelow Rufiis, Bofton Blagge Samuel, Bofton Blake Jofeph, jun. Efq. Bofton Blake Francis, Efq. Gloucefter Blake George, Efq. Bofton Blake Nathaniel, Dorchefler Blake John W, Bratdeborough Bowdoin Hon. James, Efq. Boftort Bowdoin Mrs. Bofton Bradbury Charles, Bofton Bradifli Ebenezer, juft. Hallowell Breck John, Northfield Brinley Robert, Bofton Brown John, Bofton Brown Samuel, M. B. Bofton Brooks Samuel, Efq. Exeter Bullard Ifaac, Efq. Dedham Burk John D, Bofton V^ABOT John, Callender John, Efq Camp Rev. John, Cary Lucius, Carter James, jun. Chaddock Calvin, Chandler John, Efq. Chandler Nathan, Clark John J, Clement Thomas, jun Beverly Bofton Canaan, N. Y. Providence Bofton Rochefler Peterfham Lexington Providonce, • Bofton c. D. Coffin Micajah, Cole Thomas, Coleman William, Cooper Samuel, Efq. Crafts Ebenezer, Craigie Andrew, Efq. Crofs Jofeph, Cufhing John, Cufhing George A, Cutler James, Nantucket Cambridge Greenfield Bofton Craftfbury Cambridge Bofton Bofton Bofton Bofton DANA hon. Francis,Efq. Cam. Davis Aaron, Roxbury Dana Samuel, Efq. Groton Davis Ifaac, Northborough Dunlap Andrew, jun. Watertown Davis Elijah, Bowdoinham Davis John, Efq. Bofion Davis Samuel, Bath Davis John, Efq. for Plymo. Library Davidfon O, Bath Davis Edward, jun. Bofton Dean Paul, Shrewfbury Davis William I, Bofton Dean Stephen, Raynham SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. Dean William, Salem Dehon Theodore, Cambridge Devereux Humphryi Cambridge Dickafon Thomas, jun. Efq. Bofton Dorr John, Bofton Dummer Nathaniel, Efq. Hallowell T? ] iLcKLEYRev.Jofeph.n.n. Boft. Edes Edward, j«n. Bofton Edwards Wm. Efq. Northampton Eliot Gen. Simon, Bofton E. Dunbar Elijah, Efq. Cantoi Dunbar Jefle, Scituatc 1 Duport Peter L, Bofton Dwight Rev. Timothy, D.D. Pref. ident of Yale College, N. Haven Dwight Thomas, Springfield Eliot Rev. John; Bofton Eliot Dr. Ephrairn; Bofton Evans Rev. Ifrael, Cone. N. H. F. T ALES Samuel, Efq. Tauntorl Fifher John, Portfmouth Fifke James, Greenwich Fitch James, Putney Cjr ILL Hon. Mofes,Efq. Princet. Gillefpie Thomas, Waltham Gilmore Oliver, Raynham Gannet Caleb, A.M. Cambridge Gannet Barzillai, A.M. Pittfton Gardner John, Efq. Milton trarraux Francis, Bofton Gerry Hon. Elbridge, Efq. Camb. Geyer Frederic William Efq. Bofton Goodwin Nathaniel, Plymouth Gordon William, Amherft, N. H- Fobes Rev. Perez, LL.D. Raynham Freeman Samuel, Efq. Portland French Jonathan, jun. Cambridge Gore John, Gorham John, Efq. Grainger Gideon Gray Edward, Efq. Green Caleb, Greene David, Gridley Samuel, Grifwold Solomon, Gummer James, Gurney David, Bofton Charleftown Litchfield Bofton Nantucket 6 Bofton Bofton Efq. Windfor Bofton Middleborough H. MALL Willhm, Bofton Harris Rev.ThaddeurM, Dorcheft. Harper John, Lvnn Hatch Jabez, Efq. Bofton Hayden Horace, New-York Henfliaw Samuel, Efq. Northampt. Hewes Robert, Bofton Hitchcock Rev. Enos, D.D. Provi. Hinginfon Stephen, jun. Bofton Hilliard Jofeph, Cambri ^ge Hilliard Timothy, Cambridge Holbrook Dr. Amos, Milton Holcomb Rev. Reuben, Sterling J ACKSON James, Bofton Jarvis William, Bofton Jarvis Jofeph, Lanefborough Jermey Samuel, Exeter J- Hollowell Benjamin, Bofton Holyoke Samuel, Boxford Howard Rev. Simeon, D.D. Boft. Howard Rev. Zechariah, Canton Howard Daniel, Cambridge Howe Jonah, Efq. Shrewfbury Hubbard John, Readfield Hughes James, Efq. Hunt William Efq. Watertown Hunt Ebenezer, Efq. Northampton Hunt David, Northampton Hurd John, Efq. Bofton Hunnewell Jonathan, Bofton Jenks William, A. B. Bofton Jones Ebenezer, Weftminfter Jones William, Efq. Concord Ingham Joftiua, Bofton SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. Ki .NOX hon. Gen. Henry^Boft Shelton Charles, Kidder John, I ATHROP John Ladd William, Lawrence William, Lee Nathaniel C, Lenox John, Leonard A, Lincoln Hon. Benj. Efq King WTiHiam, Topfham Bofton Kollock Lemuel, Efq. Savannah Boilon Kuhn Jacob, Bofton L. Bofton Livermore Ed w. St, Loe, Efq. Portf. Eft Cambridge Bofton Bofton Bofton Bofion Hincham MASON Jona. jun. Efq. Brookl. Mafon Daniel, Chelfea,' Mather Samuel, Efq. Bofton Mellen Rev. John, Hanover Mellen Rev. John, jun, Barnftable Morrifcy Paul, Bofton M. Lloyd James, jun. Efq. Bofton Lodge Giles, Bofton Loring Braddick, Bofton Loring Jofeph, jun. Bofton Loring James, Bofton Lucas John, Efq. Brookline Morton Perez, Ffq. Bofton Morton Nathaniel, Freetown Morfe Rev.Jedidiah,n. d. Charleft. McKean Jofeph, A.M. Berwick Murray Rev. John, Bofton, N. N. EWELL Rev.Jonathan, Stow Neil Thomas, Newell Andrew, Bofton Nevett H. William, Newell Andrew, Bofton Norton Samuel, Efq. OTIS HarrifonGray, Efq. Boft. *Otis Samuel A, A ACKARD Rev.Hez.Chelmsf. Peters Daniel, Packard Rev. Afa, Marlborough Bofton Bofton Worcefter Ifland College Bofton Bofton Hingham Newburyport Paine Robert, Efq. Paine Thomas, Paine Samuel, Efq. Park Calvin, R. Parfons Ebenezer, Efq. Bofton Parfons Samuel G, Newburyport Partridge George, Efq. Duxbur.y Phelps Charles P, Efq. Phillips William, jun. Efq Phillips Jonathan, jun. Pickering Hon. Tim. Efq Pickering John, jun,, Pickering William, Bofton Bofton Bofton Bofton Philad, Cambridge Cambridge Peck John, Perkins Thomas H, Perkins Samuel G, jerkins John, QuiNCY Jofiah, Efq Pickman William, Efq. Salem Piclpnan Benjamin, jun. Efq. Salem R, .EED Nathan, Rice Merrick, Rice Nathan, Richardfon James, Richmond Rev. Edw. Bofton Pierce Proclor, New Salem Bofton Pierce Jofeph, jun. Bofton Bofton Pintard John, Efq. Newark Bofton Pollock Allan, Bofton Prebble Edward, Bofton Bofton Quinby Henry R. Lexington Rogers John, Gloucefter Rogers Daniel Denifon, Bofton RoiTeter Eraftus, Lynn Rowe John, Efq. Gloucefter Ruffell Mrs. Elizabeth, Bofton p-fell Benjamin, Major, Bofton fell John Miller, Efq. Boft0n Lancafter Hingham Lynn Houghton A/f iltnn SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. S. ►UMNER Increafe, Efq. Roxb Salifbury Samuel, Salifbury Stephen, Sangar Calvin, Sharp Edward, Shaw Jonathan, jun. Shaw William I, Sheaf George M, Efq. Sheridan Owen, Simonds Jofeph, Efq. Simpfon John, Simpfon Jonathan, Efq Smith William, Efq. Smith Rev. Elia$, Smith Standfafl, Smith John, Smith'Nathan, Smith Ebenezer, Bofton Worcefter Sherburne Bofton Raynham Cambridge Portfmouth Bofton Lexington Bofton Cambridge Fayetteville N, C. Woburn Bofton Newbury Cornifh, N. H. New Marlboro' Savage Samuel P, Efq. Wefton Sawyer A, Cambridge Sears David, Bofton Selfridge Thomas O, Cambridge Snow Elifha, Cambridge Snow Gideon, Georgetown, R. 1. Soderftrom Richard, jun. Bofton Soley John, jun. Bofton Sprout James, Efq. Taunton Stillman Rev. Sam1, d.d. Bofton Stimfon Jeremiah, Bofton Stimfon John, Bofton Stoddard Amos, Hallowell Storer i.benezer, Efq. Bofton Story Jofeph, Cambridge Stoughton Don Juan, Efq. Bofton Sullivan John L, Bofton Sullivan William, Efq. Bofton Swan James, Efq. Dorchefler T. 'Tuckerman Jofeph, Cambridge Tudor William, Efq. Bofton Turnbull Robert, Cambridge Turner Dr. John, Freetown Turner William, Bofton V. Portland Vinton Jofiah, jun. Boftop Bofton w. ALLEY Tho. jun. Bofton WhitmanJCilborn, Efq. 1 APPAN Rev. Dav. d. d. Camb. Taylor John, Efq. Northampton Thaxter Dr. Thomas, Hingham Thayer David Bofton Towner William, Efq. Williamfton Vaughan G. E, Villiers Mopf. W Walley John, Bofton Wallach Mofes, Bofton Ware Dr. George, Dighton Warren Rey. Jofeph, 'Portland Wafhburn Oliver, Raynham Waterhoufe Benjamin, m.d. Camb. Watfon George, Bofton Waterman Fofter, a.m. Bofton Welch Frapcis, Bofton Weld Elias, Boxford Wendell Hon. Oliver, Efq. Bofton Weft Rev. Samuel, Whipple Dr. Jofeph, Whipple Jonathan, Duxbury Warren Cohaffett Bofton Bofton 6 Worcefter Whiting Thurfton, Whittington Will™, jun Willard Rev. Jofeph, d.b. Pr.H.C. Willard Rev. Jofeph, Portfmouth Willis Silvanus, Townsfield Williams John, Bofton Williams John, Conway Williams John Chandler, Efq. Pittsf. Williams Tho*. jun. Efq. Roxbury Winflow Ifaac Major, Wolcot Alexander, Efq. Woodhead William, Wright Jofiah, Jun. Bofton Windfor Bofton Woburj Y OUNG John, Cambridge Y. BOOKS Publifticd by JOSEPH NANCREDE, No. 49, Marlborough Street, Boston. THE STUDIES OF NATURE, translated from the French of J. H. B. de St. Pierre, by H. Hunter, D.D. y vols. 8vo. fine wove paper, embellifhed with plates. «** This -very ingenious, interefting and inftrucT.ve tier I has, fince its frft publication, t?:.ie through four fucceffive impreffions, under the author s immediate infpeiiion ; bifida a variety of pirated editions in different parts of the European continent. "No book difplays a more fublime Theology ; inculcates a purer morality, or breathes a more ardent and expanfive philanthropy. St. Pierre bus enabled us to contemplate this univerfe ivitb other eyes ,• has furnijbed new arguments to COMBAT ATHEISM ; has rftablijbed, beyond tbe power of contradiclion, t.'.-e docjrine of a Univerfal Providence ; has excited a warmer in- tereft in favour offuffering humanity, and has difcovered fources unknown before of moral and intellectual enjoyment" THE NAVAL GAZETTEER ; being a complete Geographical Dictionary, containing a full and accurate account, alphabetically ar- ranged, of all the Countries and Iflands in the known world ; fhowing their latitude, foupdings, and ftations for anchorage; with a particular defcription of the feveral Bays, Capes, Channels, Coves, Creeks, Currents, Gulfs, Harbours, Havens, Lakes, Oceans, Races, Rivers, Roads, Rocks, Sands, Shoals, Sounds, Straifs, Tides, Variation of the Compafs, &c. 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