earth's surface, as neither to obstruct by their bulk the operations going on upon it, or to be beyond the reach of moderate labour, when the necessities of man call aloud for their use.

How inconvenient would it have been, and what small space left for cultivation, had these useful layers of Stone and Lime, Coal and Clay, been promiscuously scattered about in our fields and vineyards, or plied up in uncouth, naked, and deformed masses, without the slightest depth of soil for a covering; and how inaccessible to human labour and ingenuity, or to what an expence of loss of time must man have been put in coming at them, had they been sunk miles instead of feet into the bowels of the earth? Reflecting upon these things, we have good reason to exclaim, In goodness, as well as "in wisdom hast Thou made them all!"

CHAP. III.

THE FORM OF THE EARTH."

“O Nature! all-sufficient, over all!

Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works!'

On returning from our subterraneous excursion, our attention is naturally directed to the shape or form of that stupendous fabrick, which contains so many convenient apartments, and is enriched by so many valuable materials; and were we to trust to appearances as they present themselves to our limited

powers of vision, we might be led to conclude (as was the opinion of some of the ancients,) that the earth is a wide extended flat, bounded by the hori

zon.

This belief, however, is now completely exploded, and the figure of the earth demonstrated to be globular, by the voyage of a number of circumnavigators, from the days of the famous Magellan down to those of our illustrious countryman, Captain Cook.

By these voyagers it has been fully ascertained, that a vessel leaving Europe in a certain direction, may return to the point from whence she set out, without altering her course farther than is necessary to avoid intervening obstacles, or give her, what the sailors call sea room.

The spherity of the earth is also apparent from the circumstance, that two ships at sea, sailing in contrary directions till they lose sight of each other, first do so by the disappearance of the hulls and lower rigging, and afterwards of the higher sails and topmasts. The roundness, from North to South, is evident from the sinking of northern stars to the horizon, till they actually disappear to those who travel far southward; and from East to West by the difference of sun-rise in proportion as we go east. ward or westward.

The form of the earth being therefore proved by arguments the most incontrovertible, to be that of a globe or sphere, permit us here to pause and acknowledge the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, as manifested in that particular form. This wisdom

and goodness is highly apparent, when we consider that this is the most capacious, compact, and durable of all figures, the most convenient for a body in motion, for the equal distribution of light and heat, for the proper disposal of land and water, as well as for the beneficial influence of the winds.

The earth, which is the habitation of so many creatures, must be sufficiently capacious not only to contain them, but what is necessary for their preservation; and being, as it were, the basis of this sublunary creation, it must be so firmly and compactly girt together, as to be beyond the reach of accident to destroy any of its parts, till the fiat shall have gone forth, that Time shall be no more.

Had it been of an Angular form, the points of the angles behoved to have been considerably weakened by their distance from the centre of gravity, and consequently would have been in continual danger of being loosened, or flying off, by the rapidity of the earth's diurnal motion round its axis; or, had it been possible for them to have remained, what resistance must these angles have occasioned in the performance of that motion! What a continual state of perturbation and tempest in the air must they have caused! How incommodious to the diffusion of light and heat, and for the wise and useful distribution of the waters!

The Surface of the Earth.

In casting our eyes abroad over the face of the earth, we observe it covered with two great bodies

of Land and Water; but as it is to the appendages and productions of the former we mean first to direct our thoughts, we will leave the consideration of Nature's mighty Reservoir, and the wonders of the Ocean, to an after occasion, and will proceed to consider the magnificent scene which the dry land presents.

The first thing that here strikes the imagination is that wonderful diversity every where observable and those numerous inequalities so conspicuous on its surface. On one part, we behold the gently rising hillock, scarcely perceptible amidst the surrounding level; in another, the tremendous precipice, yawning horribly over the mountain's brow! Here a deep-sunk glen, imbosomed among rocks, recedes from the eye, and screens the little rivulet that glides along its bottom; there, the lofty summits of the Andes and the Alps, with cloud capt tops wrapt in garments of perpetual snow, bid defiance to vegetation or smile above the blast in sunshine, while the reverberating sound of distant thunder proclaims the raging of the storm below.

In one place we behold the pleasantly sheltered meadow, decked in all its luxuriance of herbage, and in a another a wide naked waste, or sea-like fen, losing itself in the distant prospect. Here, broad and rapid rivers separate nations at variance; there the purling stream, partly fordable, and partly surmounted by the convenient bridge, unites and connects those who enjoy the mild blessings of peace. Here a vast tract of uncultivated heath stretches

across the districts of the mountains, while lakes of considerable magnitude lave their basis, and cover by their limpid waves the interjacent vallies.

We have just been considering the earth as a globular body. But how, it may be asked, are we to reconcile this with those unequal appearances observable on its surface? To this we answer, that the elevation of the highest mountain bears no more proportion to the diameter of this wonderful structure, than the inequalities on the rind of an orange does to its bulk; and although these may render it, comparatively speaking, a little uneven, they do nothing to subtract from the beauty of its appearance, or the general roundness of its figure.

Deformities, indeed, they cannot be called; for if the human mind delights in variety, these inequalities present us with a variety the most pleasing and picturesque; and if the contemplative philosopher is captivated by the multiplicity of nature's productions, these furnish food for the most keen researcher into the wonders of creation. But a gratification of taste for the sublime and beautiful were not the only objects the Creator had in view in this diversity of the earth's surface.

Mountains and Vallies.

These have other great and important uses. Is Health the greatest of all earthly blessings?-to one class of valetudinarians the mountain breeze is beneficial, while to another the genial warmth of the