we derive from the agreeable and varied, fragrance of flowers. The goodness of God would have been amply displayed in the creation of flowers alone, which so much delight by their beautiful variety; but he has done more, he has given to the fairest of nature's productions the most grateful fragrance. The scents of flowers are not less exquisite and various than their different shades of colouring; and though it is not easy to determine in what this difference of odour consists, it is very perceptible upon passing from one flower to another. It may be also observed, that their smell is neither potent enough to affect the head, nor so weak as to prevent its pleasing influence. The particles which are continually exhaling from flowers are so light and subtile, that they are easily wafted to a great distance: the perfume which arises from a single grain of amber will scent a very large room; and the smell of the rosemary growing in Provence is perceptible at sea at the distance of twenty miles.

The cause of these exhalations so readily affecting the organs of smell must be attributed to the structure of the nose, which is composed of a cavity formed by bones and cartilages, and is separated into two cavities called nostrils, by a partition, the upper part of which is bony, the lower eartilaginous; the superior part of this cavity communieates with the mouth, and it is lined with a membrane upon which is a very fine expansion of nerves, proceeding from the brain from the os cribriforme or sieve-like bone, so called from its numerous perforations. The odours floating in the air are readily received into the nostrils, and impress the exquisitely sensible membrane with the sensation of smell.

In this structure we may particularly remark the wisdom of the Creator displayed in the formation of the bony plates which terminate the upper part of the nose, and have a twofold use: they prevent injurious substances from entering the passages of respiration whilst we sleep, or are incapable of guarding against them; and they receive the ramifications of the olfactory nerves, numerous branches and filaments of which are dispersed over these lamina, and thus receive the odoriferous particles which enter the nose along with the air. Let us then rejoice and be thankful for this most gracious gift of our heavenly

Father; a gift which procures us the most delightful sensations, and without which nature would lose half her charms. In our walks through the garden, whilst we are gratified with the fragrance of a thousand flowers, let us lift up our hearts in gratitude to that Being who has graciously bestowed upon us these sweet productions of na

ture.

JUNE IX.

Multitude of Animals.

NATURALISTS have calculated that the number of ani. mals upon our globe amounts to about four hundred thousand species. It is supposed, that in the known parts of the earth there are more than four hundred and fifty species of land animals; of birds, six hundred; of fish with scales, two thousand; of shell-fish, three thousand; and of insects distinguishable by the naked eye, upwards of twenty thou sand species; besides those which belong to different kinds of animals, amounting to near one hundred thousand species. And there are immense tribes of insects entirely unknown to us, the number of which may be estimated at two hundred thousand. We must also take account of those which live upon plants; and eighteen thousand varieties of plants, having already been described, if we only allow each to contain four species of insects, the number of these will amount to seventy-two thousand.

This estimate of the number of animals living on our globe, will doubtless appear prodigious; but if we believe with some naturalists that the whole kingdom of nature is every where animated, and filled with living beings, we shall not find it too great. Some physicians have maintained that the diseases which are accompanied with eruptions and pustules, as well as some species of fever, are occasioned by little insects and it is probable that the atmosphere is sometimes peopled with insects, though their extreme minuteness renders it impossible to detect their presence. If we examine any flower, as a rose or a daisy, we shall discover a multitude of insects, and the smallest portion of the earth teems with life; animals are even con

tained in each other. The air, the juices of plants and animals, putrid substances, excrementitious matter, smoke, dry wood, and even the hardest stones, serve as habitations for living creatures.

The sea also seems to be an element composed of animals. The light which is sometimes observed upon it in a summer night, is owing to a multitude of small luminous worms, the particles of which, detached from the body and become putrid, float on the water, and continue to shine as when the animal was alive. Innumerable animalculæ sport in the rays of the sun; and all these little beings are infinitely diversified in their figure, organs, and motions. Such is the number and variety of the beings which inhabit this globe Let us attempt to name all these animals, to enumerate only the individuals of a single species; or enendeavour to calculate the number of herrings, flies, worms, birds, &c. and we shall find ourselves utterly unable to perform what it would be impossible to express by num bers.

Here we have abundant cause to admire the infinite power of the Creator, who alone has produced all these creatures, and who still continues to support and to preserve them. Consider the food these various tribes of animals require; if they only lived by destroying one another, nature would every where present scenes of cruelty and slaughter. But fortunately, the number of carnivorous animals is few, and these are useful in devouring the careases that, lying about and becoming putrid, would infect the air. The vegetable kingdom, however, is more properly designed for the nourishment of animals; and almost every species has some particular kind of plant which it makes choice of: and that every species of animals may have food proportionate to their nature, they are distri buted in different countries of the earth. And how beautiful is the arrangement of nature! One tree is larger than many thousand plants, and yet it occupies only the space of a few feet in the earth; and many animals, birds, and insects find in it their abode and nutriment.

How merciful are the cares of Providence for animals, in surrounding them with a fluid suited to their respective natures! And will the atheist dare to say that there is no God? Senseless man! Go and ask of the beasts, and the

will teach thee; of the fowls of the air, and they will tell thee: speak to the reptiles of the earth, and they will inform thee; unto the fishes of the sea, and they will de elare unto thee the ways of the everlasting God. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."

JUNE X.

Immensity of the Firmament.

APPROACH, Oman! and contemplate the firmament: regard those vast bodies which nightly illumine the heavens ; endeavour to count them, and thy sight will be confused, whilst thine eyes survey the infinite multitude of stars. Call to thy assistance the powers of the telescope, and millions of new worlds will present themselves to thy view. Continue thy observations, and attempt to number these luminaries; thy ideas will be confounded, and thou wilt be convinced that no known numbers can express the multitude of all the stars which bespangle the firmament. It is true that at a very early period nien began to turn their attention to the stars, and to ascertain their numbers; but since the invention of telescopes new discoveries have proved the imperfection of former calculations, and shown the difficulty, if not impossibility, of our gaining a certain knowledge of this important subject. To count the stars seems to be an enterprise as impracticable as that of numbering the grains of sand on the sea shore.

The invention of telescopes has enabled us to obtain. much more information than we otherwise could have done; but the most exact observations made through their means tend to convince us that our powers are too limited to discover all the heavenly bodies. One of the most ancient astronomers enumerated only one thousand and twenty-six stars, and his catalogue was afterward increased to one thousand and eighty-eight. The number is now considerably angmented: by means of instruments, we learn that the long and luminous tract seen in the heavens, and called the

Milky Way, is composed of innumerable stars; and we also know that where but a single star was formerly seen, by the assistance of a telescope we now discover many, and two constellations alone display more stars than were before observed in the whole heavens.

Such considerations as these enlarge our ideas of the universe. And if our admiration of the immensity of the divine power be increased by these discoveries, how much greater will it be, when we consider the magnitude of those stars, which, notwithstanding their prodigious distance, are perceptible by the naked eye. The most exact and indubitable calculations inform us, that a cannon-ball, shot off from the nearest fixed star, would fly seven hundred thousand years before it reached our globe.

Some of these globes, being nearer to us, appear larger than the rest, and are on that account called stars of the first magnitude; the next to these are called stars of the second magnitude, because, being at a greater distance, their magnitude appears less. The next to them in lustre are of the third magnitude, and so on to the sixth, the smallest visible to the naked eye.

Creator of heaven, and sovereign Ruler of worlds! Father of angels and of men! how my soul loves to stretch forth her pinions, and wing her imaginary flight beyond the confines of mortality, unto the regions of day; where for a space forgetting the cares and vexations of an anxious existence, she contemplates with rapture Thee, the Author of light, and wishes that her faculties were vast as the extent of heaven, and unlimited as the regions of space, that she might comprehend Thy sublimity, and raise her thoughts from those innumerable worlds, the offspring of Thy power, unto Thee, the sanctuary of grace and the source of glory! But whilst we are travelling through life's uncertain path, such desires cannot be realized; we cannot comprehend Infinity; and these aspirations of a noble and exalted soul are obliged to yield to our imperfect nature: but they strongly evince the soul's ethereal es sence, and lead us to expect the joyful moment when, de

The distance from us to the nearest fixed star is computed at 32,000,000,000,000 of miles, being farther than a sannon-ball would fly in seven millions of years.-E.