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leaves, flowers, and fruits of a tree or shrub, though astonishingly varied in their figure and appearance, are yet all so much alike, that they can easily be referred to their parent species. Of all the animals of a kind, each has its peculiarities; but every individual can at once be recognised by the naturalist's practised eye. Thus has the Author of all things so blended variety and uniformity together, as to delight, yet not bewilder us, with exhaustless novelty; to enable us to class His works into great groups of genera and species, and thereby to exercise our powers of reason and observation, in tracing the delicate resemblances and disagreements that meet us in all our inquiries. In the classification of these resemblances and disagreements, philosophy is mainly employed; and but for them, the active and inquiring mind of man would find no motive for the exertion of its loftier powers. We live and move in a world of inanimate substances, infinitely diversified in form, color, and chemical properties, and intermingled with organic structures that ascend from the extreme of simplicity to all that is wonderful and complex in contrivance, and that possess almost every conceivable diversity in their essential qualities as well as their modes of existence; and to bring order out of this seeming confusion; to observe, to generalize, and to classify; to note the limitless variety of created things, and yet to discover the Divine harmony that pervades them all, is the noble province of the philosopher, and even of the humblest lover of Nature, who would enjoy aright the objects of his love, and adore with due intelligence the great Author and End of all.

O Lord! every quality of Thy works is the result of Infinite Wisdom. The grand diversities of the seasons, with all their distinguishing characteristics, the beautiful harmony, and unlimited variety of nature, alike evince Thy goodness, and demand the cheerful gratitude of man.

J. D.

TWELFTH WEEK-MONDAY.

IV. FROST.-EFFECTS OF IT IN THE NORTHERN REGIONS.

In passing from our own temperate climate, to higher latitudes, the rigors of winter are exhibited in a more unmitigated form, and the injurious effects of cold become more apparent. A slight sketch of the state of these regions, in relation to the phenomena of frost, may not be uninteresting.

Many of our readers are rendered familiar with the appearances of nature in the northern regions, by a perusal of the writings of our modern voyagers. From these, some facts have already been selected, relative to the state of the vegetable and animal worlds, in the countries they visited; but, in the description of the influence of frost in that dreary climate, I prefer having recourse to an author less generally known. Captain Middleton gives a graphic and minute account of the effects of cold in the neighborhood of Hudson's Bay, during winter, which is applicable, but with considerable aggravation, to the state of places still nearer the pole, where a dreary uniformity reigns. I shall abridge this narrative, so as to afford a condensed view of the subject, in its most striking features.

The ground was frozen, even in summer, to the greatest depth that had been penetrated, which, however, was not more than ten or twelve feet. No unfrozen spring of water could be found; and the lakes and rivers became, in winter, one solid cake of ice, fixed to the ground, when they did not exceed the depth of twelve feet. In large lakes and rivers, the ice was sometimes broken by "imprisoned vapors," and the rocks and trees, and even the joists and rafters of their buildings were not unfrequently burst with a noise as loud as the firing of a broadside by a man-of-war. If beer or water was left by the

bedside, in cans, or bottles, or even in copper pots, in a severe night, they were sure to be split in pieces before morning, by the expansive power of the ice in freezing. The air was filled with innumerable particles of ice, very sharp and angular, and plainly perceptible to the naked eye. All inland waters were frozen fast by the beginning of October, and continued so till the beginning of May. Corona and parhelia, that is, halos and mock suns, were frequently observed. The aurora borealis was seen almost nightly. It shone with a surprising brightness, darkening all the stars and planets, and covering the whole hemisphere with a beautiful tremulous lustre. Seaward, the immense icebergs which crowded the scene, added greatly to the interest of the prospect. Some of these immense aggregations of ice are said to have been immersed a hundred fathoms* below the water, while they towered nearly a hundred feet above its surface, and extended in circumference to three or four miles.

The following amusing account is given of the clothing with which Captain Middleton and his companions defended themselves from the intense cold. "For our winter dress, we make use of three pairs of socks, of coarse blanketing or frieze, for the feet, with a pair of deer-skin shoes over them; two pairs of thick English stockings, and a pair of cloth stockings upon them; breeches lined with flannel; two or three English jackets, and a fur or leathern gown over them; a large beaver cap, double, to come over the face and shoulders; and a cloth of blanketing over the chin; with yarn gloves, and a large pair of beaver mittens, hanging down from the shoulders before, to put our hands in, which reach up as high as our elbows."

I shall conclude this description of the rigors of a northern climate, with the interesting account given of a ground-swell in the ice, on the northern coast of Labrador, in Dr. Brown's History of the Propagation of Christianity.' A party of Moravian missionaries were

* This is probably an exaggeration

engaged in passing across an arm of the sea, on sledges drawn by dogs. The first alarm was given by some passing Esquimaux, and afterwards by their own attendants; but the approach of danger was at first scarcely perceptible, except on lying down, and applying the ear close to the ice, when a hollow grating noise was heard ascending from the abyss. By and by the wind rose to a storm, and the swell had increased so much, that its effects on the ice were extraordinary, and really alarming. "The sledges, instead of gliding smoothly along, as on an even surface, sometimes ran with violence after the dogs, and sometimes seemed with difficulty to ascend a rising hill. Noises, too, were now distinctly heard, in many directions, like the report of cannon, from the bursting of the ice at a distance. Alarmed by these frightful phenomena, our travellers drove with all haste towards the shore; and, as they approached it, the prospect before them was tremendous. The ice, having burst loose from the rocks, was tossed to and fro, and broken in a thousand pieces against precipices, with a dreadful noise which, added to the raging of the sea, the roaring of the wind, and the driving of the snow, so completely overpowered them, as almost to deprive them of the use both of their eyes and ears. To make the land was now the only resource that remained; but it was with the utmost difficulty that the frightened dogs could be driven forward; and, as the whole body of the ice frequently sank below the summits of the rocks, and then rose above them, the only time for landing was the moment it gained the level of the coast-a circumstance which rendered the attempt extremely nice and hazardous. Both sledges, however, succeeded in gaining the shore, though not without great difficulty. Scarcely had they reached it, when that part of the ice from which they had just escaped, burst asunder, and the water, rushing up from beneath, instantly precipitated it into the ocean. In a moment, as if by a signal, the whole mass of ice, for several miles along the coast, and extending as far as the eye could reach, began to break and to be overwhelmed by the waves. The spectacle

was awfully grand. The immense fields of ice, rising out of the ocean, clashing against one another, and then plunging into the deep with a violence which no language can describe, and a noise like the discharge of a thousand cannon, was a sight which must have struck the most unreflecting mind with solemn awe. The brethren were overwhelmed with amazement at their miraculous escape; and even the pagan Esquimaux expressed gratitude to God for their deliverance."*

TWELFTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

V. FROST.-ITS AGENCY IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS.

I HAVE already mentioned, that water suddenly expands in the process of freezing; now the force with which the expansion takes place is immense, as has been proved by various experiments. The barrel of a gun, and even the body of the strongest cannon, when filled to the muzzle with water, and tightly screwed up, have been found to burst under this process in a hard frost; and, indeed, there does not appear to be any known power in the material world strong enough to resist it. This property seems to be one of the most active agents in breaking down rocks and diminishing the height of mountain ranges, particularly in regions distant from the equator. The water which penetrates the fissures of the rocks during the early part of the winter, is converted into ice, and, by the sudden expansion which then takes place, rends the solid rocks asunder, with a noise which is heard at the distance of many miles; and, where the surface happens to be precipitous, and the equilibrium is destroyed, the detached masses, on the melting of the ice, by the return of spring, fall over with a tremendous

* Brown's History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heaen, vol. ii. p. 51.

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