ment necessary to support a healthy man in one day, only the fiftieth part is converted into his own substance; all the rest passing off by perspiration and other excretions. Hence also it may be inferred, that in ten years there will not remain many of the same particles that now constitute our bodies. And at length, when they shall have passed through all their different changes, they will be converted into dust, till the blessed day of the resurrection, when they will undergo that happy and final revolution that will place them in a state of eternal rest.

NOVEMBER XXII.

THE GREATNESS OF GOD IS PERCEPTIBLE IN THE LEAST THINGS.

He who loves to meditate upon the works of God will not only trace him in the immense spheres which compose the system of the universe, but also in the least bodies of insects, plants, and metals. He will find and adore the divine wisdom in the spider's web, as he would in that power of attraction which preserves the planets in their orbs. These researches are facilitated by the use of the microscope, which discovers to us new worlds, where we may admire in miniature much that will excite our admiration; and those who have not had opportunities of using these instruments will at least read with pleasure some account of microscopic objects.

Let us first consider the inanimate world. Let us observe the mosses and small herbs which nature produces in such abundance. How numerous are the subtile parts and delicate fibres contained in these plants! How diversified their form and appearance! How innumerable their species! Let us think upon the immense number of minute parts of which every body whatever is composed, and which may be separated from it. If a hexagonal body of an inch square contains a hundred millions of visible parts, who can calculate all the parts contained in a mountain? If a million globules of water can be suspended at the point of a needle, how many ought there to be in a spring, a well, a river, a sea? If from a lighted taper there are emitted in the space of one second more particles of light than there are grains of sand on the whole earth, how many ignited particles ought there to pass from a large fire in the space of one hour? If a grain of sand contains several millions of particles of air, how many must there be in the human body? If we can divide a single grain of copper into millions of parts, without arriving at the elements of matter; if odoriferous bodies can exhale fragrant particles enough to perfume the air at a great distance, without the body losing any thing of its weight; the human mind would require an eternity merely to reckon the prodigious number of these particles.

If we now pass to the animal creation, our views will be infinitely extended. During the summer, the air swarms with living creatures;

each drop of water is a little world, teeming with inhabitants; every leaf is a colony of insects; and every grain of sand serves as an abode to multitudes of animate beings. Every plant, seed, and flower, nourishes millions of creatures. Every person must have seen those innumerable swarms of gnats, flies, and insects, which collect together in a very small space: what prodigious hosts of them must then live, enjoy themselves, and multiply upon the surface of the earth, and in the immense extent of the atmosphere! How many myriads of insects, worms, and reptiles, must creep upon the earth, or be contained within its bosom! a number so great as to be known to God alone. How splendidly manifest is his power, when we think of the multitude of parts which form these little creatures, of whose very existence many men are entirely ignorant! Were we not assured of it by daily experience, could we imagine that there are animals which, being a million of times smaller than a grain of sand, have yet organs of nutrition, motion, and generation! There are shellfish so minute, that, seen through a microscope, they scarcely appear so large as a grain of barley; and yet they are living animals, with secure habitations, whose different folds and cavities form so many chambers. How very small is a mite; and yet, almost imperceptible as it is, seen through a microscope, it is found to be a hairy animal, perfect in all its limbs, of a regular form, full of life and feeling, and provided with all the organs necessary to it! Though this animal nearly escapes our perception, it possesses a multitude of parts much smaller: and what is still more wonderful, is, that the glasses which enable us to discover so many faults and imperfections in the most finished productions of men, only more plainly indicate the regularity and perfection of these minute creatures. How inconceivably fine and delicate are the threads of a spider! It has been calculated, that thirty-six thousand would not more than make the thickness of a thread of common sewing silk. Each of the six papillæ, whence the spider draws that glutinous liquor with which it forms its web, is'composed of a thousand insensible pores, through which so many threads pass, so that each visible thread of the spider is composed of six thousand smaller ones.

Great as these wonders may appear, they are far short of those we should discover, were it possible to obtain glasses of greater magnifying powers; and even then we could never reach the limits of the creation, though our microscopes magnified objects many millions of times more than they now do. The more we contemplate the works of God, the more will the proofs of his power be multiplied. We are confounded by the two extremes of nature, the great and the small; and we scarcely know whether to admire the Creator most in the immense spheres which roll their orbs in the heavens, or in those minute productions which are almost imperceptible to our eyes.

Let us, then, henceforth regard the contemplation of the works of God as our most delightful employment. The trouble that we take in investigating them will be amply compensated by the pure and innocent pleasures which they will procure us. We shall have an

ardent desire awakened in our minds to arrive at those blessed regions, where we shall require neither microscope nor telescope to discover and to become acquainted with the wonders of God; where all his works will be presented to the eye in unveiled beauty, and where we shall distinguish in each object its relations, structure, and destination; where hymns of praise will be chanted by immortal spirits, in celebration of the Creator of the universe; and where all distinctions between great and little will be lost in one grand whole, that will fill our souls with joy, love, and admiration.

NOVEMBER XXIII.

GRADUAL INCREASE OF THE COLD.

The cold begins now to increase perceptibly. With the past month, much of the autumnal warmth has departed. It is already colder, and the shorter the days become, the more will the earth lose its heat. This we daily experience, and it requires only a slight degree of attention to discover in this arrangement the wisdom and goodness of God.

This gradual increase of cold is necessary to prevent the indisposition, and perhaps the total destruction of our body. If the cold that we experience during the winter months came suddenly with the commencement of autumn, we should be benumbed, and the suddenness of the change might be fatal to us. As it is, we are very liable to catch cold in the cool summer evenings; how, then, would it be, if we suddenly passed from the burning heat of summer to the piercing cold of winter? How mercifully has the Creator provided for our health and our lives in thus granting us, in those months which immediately succeed the summer, a temperature that gradually prepares our bodies to bear more easily the increase of cold? What would become of those animals whose constitution cannot bear a great degree of cold, if winter suddenly came without any previous preparation? The greater part of birds and insects would perish in a single night, and with them their eggs and their young: whereas, by the gradual augmentation of the cold, they have time to make the necessary preparations for their preservation. The autumnal months, which separate the winter from the summer, warn them to quit their abodes, and repair to warmer climates, or to seek out places where they may pass quietly and in safety the rough season.

It would be equally fatal to our fields and our gardens, if they were to be suddenly deprived of the summer heat: all plants, and particularly exotics, would inevitably perish; and the spring could no more yield us flowers, nor the summer fruits.

It is, therefore, but just that we should acknowledge in this arrangement the wisdom and the goodness of God; and not regard it as a matter of little consequence, that from the last days of summer to the

commencement of winter, the heat as gradually diminishes as the cold increases. These insensible revolutions were necessary, that we and all other creatures might be able to subsist, and that the earth might continue to open to us her rich stores. Let the presumptuous man, who so often dares to blame the laws of nature, only displace one single wheel in the vast machine of the creation, and he will soon have occasion to feel the injury he has done, and learn to his sorrow, that though he might disorganize the arrangements of nature, he could never amend them. Let us, then, receive it as a truth, that nothing is made without just reason; and no revolution happens without a sufficient preparation. All material events gradually succeed each other; all are preserved in the most regular order; and all take place exactly at the appointed time: order is the great law with which God rules the universe; and hence it is that all his works are so beautiful, invariable, and perfect.

If it was our constant occupation to study this beauty and perfection in the works of God, and to acknowledge in every season of the year the traces of his divine power and goodness, we should hear no more of those foolish complaints by which we dishonour our Creator; but we should ever find order, wisdom, and goodness, even in those productions where we only expected to discover disorder and imperfection; and we should say, from the fullest conviction, ‘All the paths of the Lord are truth and mercy; all his conduct towards his creatures love and kindness; and may we ever revere his covenant, and cherish his precepts.'

NOVEMBER XXIV.

SNOW.

During winter we frequently see the ground covered with snow. Every body observes it fall, but very few people give themselves the trouble to inquire into its nature and uses. Such is too generally the case with those objects which daily come under our notice, and from which we derive very considerable advantages. Often, indeed, the very things most deserving of our attention are those which we chiefly neglect. Let us henceforth be more rational, and begin by devoting some moments to the consideration of snow.

It is formed by very subtile vapours, which being congealed in the atmosphere, fall down in flakes more or less thick. In our climates these flakes are pretty large; but we are informed, that in Lapland they are sometimes so small as to resemble a fine dry powder. This is doubtless caused by the extreme cold which prevails there; and it is also remarked, that in our own country the flakes are greater in proportion as the cold is less severe, and they become less when it freezes strongly. The little flakes generally resemble hexagonal stars; sometimes, however, they have eight angles, and at others ten, and some of them

have an irregular shape. The best way of observing them is to receive the snow upon white paper: hitherto, little has been said of the cause of these different figures. The whiteness of snow may be thus accounted for it is extremely light and thin, consequently full of pores, and these contain air: it is farther composed of parts more or less thick and compact; and such a substance does not admit the sun's rays to pass, neither does it absorb them; on the contrary, it reflects them very powerfully, and this gives it that white appearance which we see in it.

Snow, as it falls, is twenty-four times lighter than water, which may be proved by melting twenty-four measures of snow, and they will be found to produce but one of water. Snow evaporates considerably, and the greatest degree of cold does not obstruct this evaporation. It has been doubted whether snow ever falls at sea; but those who have navigated the northern seas in winter affirm that they have there seen much snow. It is well known that high mountains are never entirely without snow; and though a small portion of it is sometimes melted, new flakes soon replace it. The air being much warmer in the plains than it is on the mountains, it may rain on the one while it shows on the other.

Snow has several uses. As the cold of winter is much more destructive to the vegetable than to the animal kingdom, plants would perish if they were not preserved by some covering. God has then designed that the rain, which, during the summer, descended to refresh and reanimate the plants, should fall in winter like soft wool, to cover and protect them from the injuries they must otherwise have sustained from the frost and the winds. When the snow melts, it becomes a fruitful moisture to the earth, and at the same time washes away from the winter seeds and plants every thing that might prevent or injure their growth; and any superabundance of melted snow that then remains, goes to supply the rivers and springs that suffered during the winter.

These reflections may suffice to convince us of the goodness of God manifested in the meteor of which we have just treated; and let us raise our hearts in joy and gratitude to that beneficent God, who even from clouds and snow pours down blessings and abundance upon the earth.

NOVEMBER XXV.

SLEEP OF ANIMALS DURING THE WINTER.

Nature being deprived of so many creatures, which in summer rendered her lively and cheerful, now appears gloomy and dead. Most of the animals which have disappeared are buried during the winter in a profound sleep. This is the case with caterpillars, Maybugs, ants, flies, spiders, snails, frogs, lizards, and serpents. It is an