Tides---facts relating to them---the common theory of The preceding theory of tides further compared with Minerals--rocks and stones the effect of crystallization Chymical characters of metals and semi-metals---in The present continents formerly covered by the ocean ---hence their varied surface, and the abun- dance of calcareous stones and shells---some moun- tains co-eval with the world, others formed from 2 LETTERS TO A TRAVELLER AMONG THE ALPS. LETTER I. I REJOICE that you are at length returned from your tour into Italy, and that you have once again taken up your abode in the beautiful and truly philosophic region of Geneva. It is a wise measure. It is placing your time at a profitable interest. Health and fortune were yours before. Nothing was wanting to fill up the measure of your riches, but that you should fix upon the spot, where you could with facility obtain the means of acquiring that knowledge, which you are so eagerly pursuing, and which, if your perseverance be proportioned to your zeal, you will not fail to attain. VOL. I. A You You need not be told, that to a wise man, who possesses a determined spirit of industry, scarcely any thing in the whole circle of human knowledge will appear unattainable. Application is all that is necessary; but that, I fear, is much more frequently wanting than ability. We do not in general feel it ourselves; but, idleness is the infirmity to which, above all others, we are most apt to yield without resistance. Is there a pursuit in which we engage, which does not at first cost us a struggle with this secret foe? How few, in truth, are the instances in which it does not subdue our best resolutions! This inert tranquility of spirit, when indulged, becomes a malignant supineness, which lulls and cheats us into sluggish procrastination. In every instance in which it gains the ascendancy, it entails upon us an irreparable loss. In a word, it fetters those powers which were given to man for better purposes; and, as his evil genius, would substitute itself in the place of every possible kind of good. "Nous avons plus de paresse dans l'esprit que dans le corps," said a French philosopher-and he said justly. In the country, where you are now about to recommence your amusements and your studies, I need not inform you, that you will find, not only a concentrated, and an unique aggregation of almost all the wonders of the natural world, but an industry and an urbanity, which render all those singular advantages not only pleasing, but of positive and universal utility to mankind. Would you seek for the awful and the enchanting, where is the spot in which they more profusely abound? Should less sublime, though perhaps more instructive objects, rather attract your attention, where are there governments of more liberty-people of more chearfulness-or happiness and plenty more equably diffused? Switzerland, for here I must include the whole compass of the Helvetic chain, is a most captivating spot! No man of honest feelings can see it, without glowing emotions of admiration and delight. Genius, for ages, has established herself in this favourite spot. Philosophy and liberty seem indigenous to the soil. |