revolve round the planet Jupiter, so that scarcely any part of his immense orb remains unenlightened, except the poles, whence only the farthest moons can be seen; but light is there least required, because the sun constantly circulates in or near the horizon, and may be kept in view of both poles by the refraction of Jupiter's atmosphere. Saturn is about 780 millions of miles distant from the sun, and travelling at the rate of 18,000 miles every hour, performs his annual circuit in 29 years, 167 days, and 5 hours of our time. He is nearly six hundred times larger than our earth, his diameter being 67,000 miles; and he is rounded by a broad ring, round the outer circumference of which revolve five attendant moons *. The sun shines on one side Saturn's ring for nearly fifteen years without setting, and as long on the other in its turn. The last known planet in our system is Herschel, distant from the sun about 1565 millions of miles, and performing his annual circuit in 83 years, 140 days, and 8 hours of our time, at the rate of 7,000 miles an hour. His diameter being 34,000 miles, he is about eighty times larger than our earth. Dr. Herschel has discovered six attendant moons, and supposes there may be more.

Such is the stupendous grandeur of the planetary system; yet the sun, with all his accompanying planets, forms but a very small part of the universe. Each star, which to us appears scarcely larger or more brilliant than the diamond, equals the sun in magnitude and in splendour, and is in itself a world, and the centre of a planetary system. That they shine with their own and not a borrowed light is demonstrable by their immense distance from the sun, which renders it impossible for them to be illumined

* Dr. Herschel has discovered two other moons belonging to Saturn, so that there are now seven moons attendant on that planet.

by his rays: a cannon-ball shot off from the sun would not reach the nearest fixed star in 600,000. years; hence each may be considered as a sun: and he who imagines that such glorious luminaries were formed to shine with an ineffectual light, can have but a very contracted idea of the Almighty power and wisdom. The number of stars in either hemisphere visible to the naked eye is not more than a thousand; with the assistance of a good telescope three thousand may be perceived, and, could better instruments be procured, there is every probability of thousands. more existing; nay, some very profound philosophers have supposed there are stars at such inconceivable, distances, that their light has not yet reached the earth since its creation, although the velocity with which light passes is a million times greater than that of a cannon-ball. Thus, though a man may measure. the universe with his telescope, he can form only a very inadequate idea of its amazing extent.

What a noble, what an august subject for meditation! Though the mind of man cannot yet bear to soar with the steady flight of the eagle through the boundless regions of space; though he cannot yet grasp within his span the sublime view of orb encircling orb, each in itself a luminary, multiplied without end, attended by millions of worlds, all revolving in matchless order, and harmonious regularity, each in his silent course, with varied motion; some whirling with a rapidity our senses cannot conceive, others less distant performing their circles with less velocity; and all these worlds containing myriads of intelligent beings in different states of felicity and perfectibility.

If then the utmost stretch of the human faculties, the utmost vigour of our reason, cannot comprehend the totality of these works, nor our imagination expand even beyond our own system, how can we pretend to scan that Almighty Being, at whose word order arose out of confusion, chaos was converted into

elements, and the starry spheres began to move through the heavens * ?

JANUARY XIII.

Discoveries which have been made by the Microscope.

THE wonders of nature are displayed in the minutest as well as in the largest objects; whether we consider the structure of the mite, or that of the towering elephant, we shall find her alike excellent; she has formed them both with the same degree of propriety of construction. It is our senses which are not sufficiently acute to perceive the organisation of very small bodies, which often escape our observation, unless we have recourse to foreign assistance. The microscope has opened to us a new world of insects and vegetables; it has shown us, that objects, invisible to the naked eye, exist, having_figure, extension, and different parts; some examples of which we shall produce, that we may have more causes to admire and praise the wisdom and power of God. Every grain of sand when examined by the naked eye appears round, but with the help of a glass we observe each grain differs from the other, both in size and in figure: some of them are perfectly round, others square, some conical, and the major part of an irregular form. What is still more astonishing, by microscopes, which magnify objects millions of times more than their natural size, we can discover, in the

* As the above account differs from the original more than even a liberal translation will authorise, it is right to state, that considerable errors were found, and had been continued by the preceding translators: to correct which, in the present edition, the works of Newton, of Ferguson, and of Euler, have been consulted.-E.

grains of sand, a new animal world; for within their cavities dwell various insects. In cheese are found innumerable animalculæ, called mites, which to the naked eye appear but as points, whilst seen through a microscope they are found to be insects of a very singular form and structure; they have not only a mouth, eyes, and feet, but their transparent_body is covered with long hairs, sharp, and formed like needles*. In the vegetable kingdom we are presented with a thick forest of trees and plants, bearing leaves, branches, flowers, and fruits; the rudiments of all which beautiful objects were once hidden beneath the mold: little as we should have expected to find these in such a bed, as little should we have supposed the dust upon the wings of a butterfly to be minute feathers, or the bloom of a peach to be a collection of insects, had not the microscope furnished us with this intelligence.

Thus we see the power of God is great in those things which ignorance makes us regard as minute; for however small the minutest animalcule appears to us, we have reason to believe there are objects which appear to it as small as it does to us. By the view which we have just been taking, we shall also find the subjects of nature to be much more numerous than we had imagined. Though we are acquainted with many thousand species of plants and insects, how many more are there yet hidden from our re

*The view of a frog through a solar microscope is strikingly beautiful; from the transparency of its skin, the blood is seen to circulate in the vessels in a manner indescribably wonderful and brilliant. The physiologist is likewise indebted to the microscope for his more intimate knowledge of the red particles of the blood; but, owing to a difference of glasses, or some imperfection in the optic nerve, there is yet a dispute whether they are perfectly globular, or circular as to circumference with a plane superficies, in the manner of a flat shilling.-E.

searches! If we could explore the vast abyss of the sea, or search the bottom of rivers, penetrate within the numerous forests, at present the haunt of savages and reptiles, what additions should we not make to our present limited collection, and find new causes to admire the wonderful works of God!

JANUARY XIV.

Advantages of Night.

WHEN the sun has withdrawn his friendly light from us, and darkness has obscured the face of nature, we are doubtless deprived of some pleasures. Nevertheless we have no cause to complain of this arrangement. As the mixture of pleasure and pain, the alternation of good and evil, are wisely ordered; so also we must acknowledge the wisdom and goodness of God in the remarkable variation which is observed in our climate: and we must allow that the seeming inconveniences of the winter nights are compensated by a thousand advantages. Without an occasional privation of sunshine, should we be so well convinced of its great comfort and utility?

Let each returning night recall to our minds the goodness of God, who, for the benefit of mankind, has diffused light and beauty over the face of the earth; let us reflect upon our miserable condition, if each succeeding morn did not ensure the continuance of light. Is not darkness itself, at certain intervals, pleasing, by inviting us to repose and tranquillity under the sweet influence of sleep? How many labourers consume their days and exhaust their strength in toiling for our service, whose work is often attended with disagreeable and painful sensations; to these night is welcome, and they hail the approaching evening with joy, when, free from the unrelenting