CHAPTER IV.

THIRD DAY.

_Section_ I.--THE SEA.

Water and land separated -- Formation of the sea -- Its

restrictions -- Extent -- Depth -- Composition -- Saltness

-- Motion -- Tides -- Four states of water -- Circulation --

Religious improvement.

On the _third day_, the earth was drained, and the waters, which before

covered its surface, were gathered into copious receptacles, and called

seas. God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one

place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the

dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he

Seas.” The almighty Creator proceeds to separate, put in order, and

control the element nearest to _light_ and _air_ in quality and use,

and, although not elastic, yet of great power. Probably the air was

used by him as the great agent in gathering the waters into one place.

Thus, instead of the confusion, which existed when the earth and the

water were mixed in one great mass, there is now order; and by their

separation each is rendered useful: the earth affording a habitation

and support for man and the various orders of land animals; and the

water forming an abode for the numerous tribes of living creatures

adapted to subsist in that liquid element.[74]

Previous to this arrangement, the water, being a pure element, was

above the earth. Thus the Psalmist, “Thou coveredst it with the deep

as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains,” so that they

did not appear. “At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder

they hasted away.” At the omnipotent word they started back, and shrunk

away, says Bishop Patrick; like an affrighted slave at the thunder

of his master’s threatenings, if his commands are not obeyed. They

gathered themselves in those places where they now are, which by Moses

are called seas; and there God shut them up, confining them that they

might not return to cover the earth. God “brake up,” for the reception

of the waters, his “decreed place,” that vast concave or hollow in the

earth; “and set bars and doors,” banks and shores, the weak sand to

control this element, which, however it roar and struggle, it cannot

pass.

It is wonderful that the sea, which has a natural disposition, from its

being a purer and lighter element, to be above the earth, should not

overflow it; but the amazing power of Omnipotence retains it within its

prescribed limits. For he has pronounced, “Hitherto shalt thou come,

but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” As if he had

said, Though thy tides flow with mighty strength, though the swelling

billows of thy pride (so the original) rise high in a storm, and dash

against the shore with impetuous force and overwhelming rage, yet here

shall they stop: though they roar and foam, as if irritated at the

opposing strand, yet dare not to approach beyond those limits to thee

assigned; but, obedient to thy Lord and Master, submissively retire.

Here we see the power and dominion of the supreme Being in the kingdom

of nature, whose sway the sea is subject to! Our preservation from its

threatening destruction, by the continual restrictions it is under, is

a perpetual expression of Divine goodness and mercy, and should induce

all men to live always in the reverential fear of God. “Fear ye not

me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have

placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that

it cannot pass; and though the waters thereof toss themselves, yet they

cannot pass over it.”

If we look upon the map of the world, we shall find that the ocean

occupies a considerably greater surface of the globe than the land

is found to do. Although the ocean, properly speaking, is but one

extensive sheet of water, continued over every part of the globe

without interruption; and although no part is divided from the rest,

yet geographers have distinguished it by different names, as the

Atlantic or Western Ocean; the Northern, Southern, Pacific, Indian,

and German Oceans. In this vast receptacle, almost all the rivers of

the earth ultimately terminate. And yet these vast and inexhaustable

supplies do not seem to increase its stores; for it is neither

apparently swelled by their tribute, nor diminished by their failure;

it continues constantly the same. Indeed, the quantity of water of

all the rivers and lakes in the world is nothing compared to that

contained in this prodigious reservoir. And some natural philosophers

have carried their ideas on this subject so far as to assert, in

consequence of certain calculations, that, if the bed of the sea were

empty, all the rivers of the world flowing into it with a continuance

of their present stores, would take up at least 800 years to fill it

again to its present height.[75]

To ascertain the _depth_ of the sea has been found impracticable,

both on account of the numerous experiments which it would be found

necessary to make, and the want of proper instruments for that purpose.

Beyond a certain depth the sea has hitherto been found unfathomable;

and though several methods have been contrived to obviate this

difficulty, none of them has completely answered the purpose. We know

in general that the depth of the sea increases gradually as we leave

the shore; but if this continued beyond a certain distance, the depth

in the middle of the ocean would be prodigious. Indeed, the numerous

islands every where scattered in the sea demonstrate the contrary,

by showing us that the bottom of the water is unequal like the land,

and that so far from uniformly sinking, it sometimes rises into lofty

mountains. If the depth of the sea be in proportion to the elevation

of the land, as has been generally supposed, its greatest depth will

not exceed five or six miles; for there is no mountain six miles

perpendicular above the level of the sea. The sea has never been

actually sounded to a greater depth than a mile and 66 feet; every

thing beyond that, therefore, rests entirely upon conjecture and

analogical reasoning, which, in this case, are in no wise conclusive.

Along the coasts, where the depth of the sea is generally well known,

it has always been found proportioned to the height of the shore; when

the coast is high and mountainous, the sea that washes it is deep;

when, on the contrary, the coast is low, the water is shallow. Whether

this analogy holds at a distance from the shore, experiments alone can

determine.

Water is an uninflammable fluid, says Dr. O. Gregory, and, when pure,

is transparent, colorless, and void of taste and smell. Mr. Cavendish

made a discovery that it is formed by the union of _hydrogen_ and

_oxygen_. It may, therefore, be considered as _oxide of hydrogen_:

oxygen and hydrogen appearing to unite, only in that certain proportion

of which water is the result. In 1798, (observes Mr. Parkes) Mr. Sequin

made a grand experiment for the composition of water. He expended no

less than 25,582 cubic inches (or nearly two hogsheads) of inflammable

air, and 12,457 of vital air. The first weighed 1,039 grains, and

the second 6,210, amounting to 7,249 grains, and the water obtained

amounted to 7,245 grains, or about three-fourths of a wine pint. The

loss was only four grains. Another experiment was afterwards made

by Le Fevre, in which nearly two pounds and a quarter of water was

produced.

The sea water contains a quantity of _salt_, but not in the same

proportions every where. In the torrid zone, where otherwise, from the

excessive heat, it would be in danger of putrefaction, the water is

found most salt; as we advance northward its briny quality diminishes,

till at the poles it is nearly gone altogether. Under the line,

Lucas found that the sea comprised a seventh part of solid contents,

consisting chiefly of sea-salt. At Harwich, he found it yielded 1-25 of

the same matter. At Carlscroon, in Sweden, it contains 1-30 part, and

on the coast of Greenland a great deal less. This gradual diminution

of saltness from the equator to the pole, is not, however, without

particular exceptions. The Mediterranean sea contain 1-22 of the

sea-salt, which is less than the German sea contains. The saltness of

some seas, or of particular parts of the same seas, may be increased,

as Mr. Boyle intimates, from rocks and other masses of salt, either at

the bottom of the sea, or dispersed near their shores.

This phenomenon of the sea perplexed the philosophers before the time

of Aristotle, and surpassed even the great genius of that philosopher.

Father Kircher, after having consulted three and thirty authors

upon the subject, could not help remarking, that the fluctuations

of the ocean itself were scarcely more various than the opinions

concerning the origin of its saline impregnation. Bernadine Gomesins,

(observes Bishop Watson) about 200 years ago, published an ingenious

treatise on salt: in this treatise, after reciting and refuting the

opinions of Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and Aristotle, on the subject in

question, he proposes his own; wherein he maintains, that the sea was

originally created in the same state in which we at present find it,

and impregnated, from the very first, with the salt which it contains.

Indeed, we cannot account for the general saltness of the sea from

second causes; hence we must suppose it has had this property from

the creation. Naturalists assure us, that, though some few species of

fishes thrive in fresh water, and some others live alternately in fresh

and salt, yet by far the greatest number cannot exist out of the sea;

which is a proof that the sea was at the creation impregnated with salt.

The saltness of the sea has been considered by some as a peculiar

blessing from Providence, in order to keep so great an element pure

and wholesome: but facts prove that this property is not capable of

preserving it from putrefaction. Sir Robert Hawkins, one of our most

enlightened navigators, gives an account of a calm, in which the sea

continuing for some time without its usual motion, began to assume a

very formidable appearance. “Were it not (says he) for the moving of

the sea, by the force of winds, tides, and currents, it would corrupt

all the world. The experiment of this I saw in the year 1590, lying

with a fleet about the islands of Azores, almost six months; the

greatest part of the which time we were becalmed. Upon which all the

sea became so replenished with various sorts of gelies, and forms of

serpents, adders, and snakes, as seemed wonderful; some green, some

black, some yellow, some white, some of divers colors, and many of

them had life; and some there were a yard and a half and two yards

long; which had I not seen, I could hardly have believed. And hereof

are witnesses all the companies of the ships which were then present;

so that hardly a man could draw a bucket of water clear of some

corruption. In which voyage, towards the end thereof, many of every

ship fell sick, and began to die apace. But the speedy passage into

our country was a remedy to the crazed, and a preservative for those

that were not touched.”[76] Mr. Boyle informs us, that he once kept a

quantity of sea water, taken from the English channel, for some time

barrelled up; and, in a few weeks, it began to acquire a fetid smell.

He was also assured by one of his acquaintance, who had been becalmed

for about fourteen days in the Indian ocean, that the water, for want

of motion, began to stink; and, that had the calm continued much

longer, the stench would probably have poisoned him. It is the motion,

therefore, and not the saltness of the sea, that preserves it in its

present state of salubrity.[77]

The sea has three kinds of motion: the _first_ is that undulation

which is occasioned by the wind. This motion is evidently confined to

the surface; the bottom, even during the most violent storms, remains

perfectly calm. Mr. Boyle has remarked, from the testimony of several

divers, that the sea is affected by the winds to the depth only of six

feet. It would follow from this, that the height of the waves above

the surface does not exceed six feet; and that this holds, in the

Mediterranean sea at least, we are informed by the Compte de Marsigli;

though he also sometimes observed them, during a very violent tempest,

rise two feet higher.

The _second_ kind of motion is that continual tendency which the whole

water in the sea has towards the west. It is greater near the equator

than about the poles; and, indeed, cannot be said to take place at all

in the northern hemisphere beyond the tropic. It begins on the west

side of America, where it is moderate; hence that part of the ocean has

been called _Pacific_. As the waters advance westward, their motion is

accelerated; so that, after having traversed the globe, they strike

with great violence on the eastern shore of America. Being stopped

by that continent, they turn northward, and run with considerable

impetuosity in the Gulf of Mexico; from thence they proceed along

the coast of North America, till they come to the south side of the

great bank of Newfoundland, when they turn off, and run down to the

Western Isles. This current is called the _Gulf stream_. It was first

accurately described by Dr. Franklin, who remarked also, that the

water in it having been originally heated in the torrid zone, cools so

gradually in its passage northward, that even the latitude might be

found in any part of the stream by means of a thermometer. This motion

of the sea westward has never been explained: it seems to have some

connection with the trade-winds, and the diurnal revolution of the

earth upon its axis.

The _third_, and most remarkable motion of the sea, is the tide; which

is a regular swell of the ocean every 12 hours, accounted for from the

principal of gravitation. The sagacious Kepler long ago conjectured,

that the earth and moon, and every particle of them, mutually gravitate

towards each other, and are the cause of the tides. If, says he, the

earth ceased to attract its waters towards itself, all the water in

the ocean would rise and flow into the moon: the sphere of the moon’s

attraction extends to our earth, and draws up the water. This, at that

time, was mere conjecture; for Sir Isaac Newton was the first who

clearly pointed out the cause of this phenomenon. On the shores of the

ocean, and in bays, creeks, and harbors, which communicate freely with

it, the waters rise above their mean height twice a day, and as often

sink below it, forming what is called a _flood_ and an _ebb_, a _high_

and _low water_. It has been stated, that in the middle of the sea the

tide seldom rises higher than one or two feet; but, on the coast, it

frequently reaches to the height of 45 feet, and, in some places, even

to more. At Plymouth, it is sometimes 21 feet between the greatest and

least depth of the water in the same day, and sometimes only 12 feet.

When the sun and moon act conjointly on the tides, which is at the

change and full of the moon, they are stronger and run higher than at

other times, and are called _spring tides_; but when the sun and moon

are 90 degrees apart, their attractive powers, being in opposition to

each other, occasion the tides to be weaker and lower than at other

times, and these are called _neap tides_. The word _neap_ is derived

from the Saxon; it signifies low, decrescent, and is used only of the

tide. These different heights of tide are observed to succeed each

other in a regular series, diminishing from the greatest to the least,

and then increasing from the least to the greatest, according to the

age and situation of the moon.

“The moon turns ocean in his bed,

From side to side, in constant ebb and flow,

And purifies from stench his watery realms.”

Sir Isaac Newton calculated the attractive powers of the sun and moon

on the tides, and found the attraction of the latter to be about three

times greater than that of the former.

Water is found to exist in four states: namely, solid, or ice;

liquid, or water; vapor, or steam; and in a state of composition

in other bodies. The younger Lemery observes, that ice is only the

re-establishment of the parts of water in their natural state;

that the mere absence of fire is sufficient to account for this

re-establishment; and that the fluidity of water is a real fusion, like

metals exposed to the fire; differing only in this, that a greater

quantity of fire is necessary to the one than the other.

Underneath the poles, water is always solid; there it is similar to the

hardest rocks, and may be formed by the chisel of the statuary like a

stone. The following circumstance, noticed by Bishop Watson, will show

the solidity that water is capable of acquiring when divested of a

large portion of caloric. It is related that at the whimsical marriage

of Prince Gallitzen, in 1739, the Russians applied ice to the same

purposes as stone. A house, consisting of two apartments, was built

with large blocks of ice; and the icy cannon, which were fired in honor

of the day, performed their office more than once without bursting.

During the severe winter of 1740, observes M. de Bomare, a palace of

ice, 52 feet long, 16 wide, and 20 high, was built at Petersburgh,

according to the most elegant rules of art. The river Neva afforded the

ice, which was from two to three feet thick, blocks of which were cut

and embellished with various ornaments. When built up, the different

parts were colored by sprinkling them over with water of various tints.

Six cannons, made of and mounted with ice, with wheels of the same

matter, were placed before the palace; and a hempen bullet was driven

by one of these cannons, in the presence of the whole court, through

a board two inches thick, at the distance of sixty paces. Cowper

remarks,--

“No forest fell,

Imperial mistress of the fur-clad Russ,

When thou wouldst build--no quarry sent its stores

T’ enrich thy walls; but thou didst hew the floods,

And make thy marble of the glassy wave.

Silently as a dream the fabric rose,

Ice upon ice; the well-adjusted parts

Were soon conjoin’d; nor other cement ask’d

Than water interfused to make them one.

Lamps gracefully disposed, and of all hues,

Illumin’d ev’ry side. Long wavy wreaths

Of flowers, that feared no enemy but warmth,

Blush’d on the pannels, which were once a stream,

And soon to slide into a stream again.”

In the most northern part of the Russian territory, the cold is

sometimes sufficient to freeze mercury, or 72 degrees below the

freezing point of water.[78] It is so intense in some seasons, that the

poor inhabitants cannot venture out of their miserable huts but at the

hazard of their lives.

“There, through the prison of unbounded wilds,

Barr’d by the hand of nature from escape,

Wide roams the Russian exile. Nought around

Strikes his sad eye but deserts lost in snow,

And heavy loaded groves, and solid floods,

That stretch athwart the solitary vast

Their icy horrors to the frozen main.”

In Iceland and Germany the thermometer frequently falls to zero, which

is 32 degrees below the freezing point. At Hudson’s Bay it has been

known to sink even 50 degrees lower. When stones or metals, which have

been exposed to such degrees of cold, are touched by the tongue, or

the softer parts of the human body, they absorb the heat from those

parts with such rapidity, that the flesh becomes instantly frozen and

mortified, and the principle of life in them is extinguished. Some

French academicians, who made a journey to the northern end of the

Baltic, and wintered under the polar circle, found it necessary to use

all possible precautions to secure themselves from the dreadful cold

which prevailed. They prevented, as much as possible, the entrance of

the external air into their apartments; and if at any time they had

occasion to open a window or a door, the humidity of their breath,

confined in the air of the house, was condensed and frozen into a

shower of snow; their lungs, when they ventured to breathe the cold

air, felt as if they were torn asunder; and they often heard the

rending of the timber around them by the expansive power of the frost

on the fluid in its pores. In this terrible cold the thermometer

fell to 33 below zero.[79] The most intense cold ever known in the

neighborhood of London was on December 25th, 1796, when the thermometer

indicated 2 below zero.

The ice at each pole of the earth forms an immense cupola, the arch of

which extends some thousand miles over the continents; the thickness

of which, beyond the 60th degree of latitude, is several hundred

feet. Navigators have assigned to detached masses, which are met with

floating at sea, an elevation of from 1,500 to 1,800 feet.[80] There

can be no doubt but that the thickness of these cupolas of ice is much

greater nearer the poles; for astronomy sometimes presents in the

heavens so vast an image of them, that the rotundity of the earth seems

to be considerably affected thereby. Captain Cook could never approach

nearer the south pole, where there is no land, than the 70th degree of

latitude; that is, no nearer than 1,500 miles; and it was only under

the favor of a bay, that he was permitted to advance even so far.[81]

All the results of observations made by navigators, concur in proving

that the temperature of the sea decreases according to the depth; and

that the deepest gulfs are continually covered with ice, even under the

equator. From a late memoir by M. Perron, some say, there is reason to

believe that these mountains of ice at the poles, which have hitherto

impeded the progress of European navigators, have been detached from

the depths of the sea to float at the surface.[82]

When water is converted into ice, it is lighter[83] than when in a

fluid state, which is a circumstance of great importance. Galileo

was the first who observed this. Ice consequently floats upon water,

its specific gravity being to that of water as eight to nine. This

rarefaction seems to be owing to the air-bubbles produced in water

by freezing; and which, being considerably larger in proportion to

the water frozen, render the body so much specifically lighter: these

air-bubbles, during their production, acquire a great expansive power,

so as to burst the containing vessels though ever so strong.

[The specific weight of ice is known to be less than

that of water. Our author assigns a reason not entirely

satisfactory. We must admit that the freezing of the upper

stratum of water, although it may _include_ the air which was

in the water frozen, yet, _it does not expel the air from the

subjacent volumes of water_. Hence the air in the water below

will balance the effects of the air included in the ice.

It is a singular fact, and is regarded as a deviation from

the general rule, that water _expands_ in volume in proportion

as its temperature is _reduced below_ 40° Fahrenheit. It also

expands by raising its temperature above this degree.

The _expansion_ of the volume then, and not the enclosed

air bubbles, is the cause of water being specifically lighter

when converted into ice. But it remains to account for its

expansion by a _reduction_ of temperature.

This is a difficult question. It seems most probable

that this expansion is owing to a peculiar arrangement, of

the particles of water, in the act of crystallization, i.e.

_freezing_. M. Mairan found that the particles of water, in

the act of freezing, arranged themselves constantly at an angle

of 60°, and by this arrangement _increased the bulk_ of the

water thus crystallized.

It is obviously a mistake to attribute the “expansive

power” of freezing to the force of the inclosed air-bubbles:

because the reduction of temperature would reduce this supposed

expansion of the inclosed air. The true cause of the expansion

of ice is supposed above, in the arrangements of the particles

of water in the process of crystallization.

The _power_ which disposes these particles to arrange,

_increases with the reduction of temperature_, until the

disposing power becomes sufficiently great to force every

impediment to the inclination to arrange. Hence the strongest

vessels burst in the process of freezing.

The impediments may restrain the accomplishment of the

arrangement of the particles for a time, but the disposing

power will overcome them, if the reduction of temperature go

on; and when they are overcome _suddenly_, the crystallization

will take place _instantly_. Hence the sudden rending of

vessels, trees, mountain rocks, &c, upon the sudden congelation

of water.

Even when there is no cause to impede crystallization, it

is well known that the _preparation_ to crystallize, or freeze,

may be observed in the liquid; the particles seeming to be

_preparing_ to arrange themselves; and then, at a given stage

of the preparation, they take their places _suddenly_, and thus

we have ice.

This consummation may be retarded, or hastened by

_artificial_ means. Water may be reduced to a lower temperature

by being kept _still_, than when _agitated_. And if it be

cooled down to the lowest possible temperature, _without

congealing_, it may remain fluid at that temperature for a long

time. But if the vessel be _suddenly struck_; or the surface

of the water _touched with a piece of ice_; or _a large piece

of cold metal be brought in contact with the outside of the

vessel; the water will instantly crystallize or freeze in

beautiful crystals_.

These facts establish the above theory. Because, 1. there

is no increased reduction of temperature effected, by striking

the vessel, touching the surface of the water with ice, or the

outside of the vessel with cold metal. 2. There is every reason

to conclude these things _commence the motion_ in the water,

which is at rest, balanced between an inclination to be at

rest, and an inclination to move in arranging the particles;

the motion communicated overcomes this balance in favor of

the disposition to crystallize, and hence the water freezes

instantly, with an expansion of volume.]

It is owing to the _expansion_ of water in freezing, that rocks

and trees are often split during intense frosts. According to the

calculations of the Florentine academicians, a spherule of water, only

one inch in diameter, expands in freezing with a force superior to the

resistance of 13½ tons weight. Major Williams also attempted to prevent

this expansion; but during the operation the iron plug which stopped

the orifice of the bomb-shell containing the freezing water, and which

was more than two pounds weight, was projected several hundred feet

with great velocity; and in another experiment the shell burst. This

property of water is taken advantage of in splitting slate. At Colly

Western, the slate is dug from the quarries in large blocks: these are

placed in an opposite direction to what they had in the quarry, and the

rain is allowed to fall on them: it penetrates their fissures, and the

sharp frost freezes the water, which, expanding with its usual force,

splits the slate into thin layers.[84]

M. Mairan, in a dissertation on ice, attributes the increase of its

bulk chiefly to a different arrangement of the parts of the water

from which it is formed; the icy skin on the water being composed

of filaments, which according to him, are found to be constantly

and regularly joined at an angle of 60°; and which, by this angular

disposition, occupy a greater volume than if they were parallel. He

found the augmentation of the volume of water by freezing, in different

trials, a 14th, an 18th, a 19th, and when the water was previously

purged of air, only a 22d part: that ice, after its formation,

continues to expand by cold; for, after water had been frozen to some

thickness, the fluid part being let out by a hole in the bottom of the

vessel, a continuance of the cold made the ice convex; and a piece of

ice, which was at first only a 14th part specifically lighter than

water, on being exposed some days to the frost, became a 12th part

lighter. To this cause he attributes the bursting of ice on ponds.

Several philosophers have been very desirous to experience how far the

expansive force of freezing water might be carried. “An iron gun of an

inch thickness,” says M. Haüy, “filled with water and exactly closed,

having been exposed by Buot to a strong frost, was found to be burst

in two places at the end of twelve hours. The Florentine philosophers

were able, by means of the same cause, to burst a sphere of very thick

copper; and Musschenbroek, having calculated the effort which would

occasion the rupture, found that it would be capable of raising a

weight of 27,720 pounds.”

“Colonel E. Williams, of the Royal Artillery, when at Quebec, in the

years 1794 and 1795,” says Dr. O. Gregory, “made many experiments.

He filled all sizes of iron bomb-shells with water, then plugged the

fusee-hole close up, and exposed them to the strong freezing air of the

winter in that climate; sometimes driving in the iron plugs as hard as

possible with a sledge-hammer: and yet, though they weighed near three

pounds, they were always forced out by a sudden expansion of the water

in the act of freezing, like a ball impelled by gunpowder, sometimes

to the distance of between 400 and 500 feet: and when the plugs were

screwed in, or furnished with hooks and barbs, by which to lay hold of

the inside of the shell, so that they could not possibly be forced

out; in that case the shell was always split in two, though its

thickness of metal was about an inch and three quarters. It is further

remarkable, that through the circular crack, round about the shells

where they burst, there stood out a thin film or sheet of ice, like a

fin; and in the cases where the plugs were projected by freezing water,

there suddenly issued from the fusee-hole a bolt of ice of the same

diameter, and stood over it sometimes to the height of eight inches

and a half. Hence we need not be surprised that excessive frost should

cause the ice to split rocks, and other solid substances.”[85]

It was necessary for the preservation of the world, that water should

in this instance be subjected to a law different from that of other

substances which change from fluid to solid. The wisdom and goodness

of the great ARTIFICER of the world will manifest itself in this

arrangement, if we consider what would have been the consequences had

water been subject to the general law, and like other fluids, become

specifically heavier by the loss of its caloric. In winter, when the

atmosphere became reduced to 32°, the water on the surface of our

rivers would have sunk as it froze; another sheet of water would

have frozen immediately, and sunk also; the ultimate consequence of

which would have been, that the beds of our rivers would have become

repositories of immense masses of ice, which no subsequent summer could

unbind; and the world would shortly have been converted into a frozen

chaos. How admirable the wisdom, how skilful the contrivance, that by

subjecting water to a law contrary to what is observed by other fluids,

as it freezes it becomes specifically lighter, and, swimming upon the

surface, performs an important service by preserving a vast body of

caloric in the _subjacent_ fluid from the effects of the surrounding

cold, ready to receive its own accustomed quantity on the first change

of the atmosphere?[86]

Owing to the distance of this globe from the sun, and to the vast

mountains of ice at the poles, the atmosphere over a large portion of

the earth is at times reduced to so low a temperature, that, if it

were not for a wise provision of nature, all vegetable life must be

destroyed. Caloric has always a tendency to equilibrium; therefore, if

the temperature of the air be lowered, the earth cools in proportion:

but when the atmosphere is reduced to 32°, the water which it held

in solution becomes frozen, and precipitates in the form of snow on

the earth, covering it as with a carpet, and thereby preventing the

escape of that caloric which is necessary for the preservation of

those families of vegetables that depend on it for their support and

maturity. Be the air ever so cold, the ground, thus covered, is seldom

reduced below 32°, but is maintained equably at that temperature for

the purpose above mentioned.[87] Homer has described a shower of snow,

and its extensive effects, in a fine strain of poetry.

“In Winter’s bleak uncomfortable reign,

A snowy inundation hides the plain:

Jove stills the winds, and bids the skies to sleep;

Then pours the silent tempest thick and deep:

And first the mountain tops are covered o’er,

Then the green fields, and then the sandy shore;

Bent with the weight the nodding woods are seen,

And one bright waste hides all the works of men:

The circling seas alone, absorbing all,

Drink the dissolving fleeces as they fall”--POPE.

Snow is furnished with the power of absorbing and combining with a

large portion of oxygen, which gives it its fertilizing property. The

snow melting and penetrating into the softened earth communicates to it

oxygen, and this oxygen promotes the germination of seeds. The carbon

of the earth combining with the oxygen, is converted into carbonic

acid, and thereby acquires more solubility; while the water contributes

to excite that activity which had been rendered dormant in the roots

by the cold. It is this property of carbon which deprives water of the

superabundant oxygen that would render it prejudicial to health, and

unfit for the purposes of life. Thus what would otherwise be injurious

to us is improved by the ground, and gives at the same time power and

activity to the mould. How multiplied are those means which infinite

wisdom and goodness employ for the preservation of the productions of

Nature![88]

Ice at 32° must absorb 140° of caloric before it can become a fluid;

or such a quantity as would raise a body of water of equal bulk with

itself from 32° to 172°. For instance: “Take any quantity by weight of

ice or snow at 32°, and mix it with an equal weight of water heated

exactly to 172°. The snow instantly melts, and the temperature of

the mixture is still only at _thirty-two_ degrees. Here the water is

cooled 140°, while the temperature of the snow is not increased at

all; so that 140° of caloric have disappeared. They must have combined

with the snow; but they have only melted it, without increasing its

temperature. Hence it follows irresistibly that ice, when converted

into water, absorbs and combines with 140° of caloric. Water then,

after being cooled down to 32°, cannot freeze till it has parted with

140° of caloric; and ice, after being heated to 32°, (which is the

exact freezing point), cannot melt till it has absorbed 140° more of

caloric. This is the cause of the extreme slowness of these operations.

There can be no doubt, then, but water owes its fluidity to its latent

caloric, and that its caloric of fluidity is 140°.”[89] And all this

arrangement in nature, connected with the operation of these elements,

is immediately under the control and direction of the infinitely wise

and almighty Creator of the universe. “He sendeth forth his commandment

upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool:

he scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like

morsels: who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and

melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.”

Drops of rain, falling through a cold region of the atmosphere, are

frozen and converted into hail; and thus the _hail_ is produced by

_rain_. When it begins to fall, it is _rain_; when it is falling, it

is converted into _hail_; so that it is literally true, that _it rains

hail_. The further a hail-stone falls, the larger it generally is;

because, in its descent, meeting with innumerable particles of water,

they become attached to it, are also frozen, and thus its bulk is

continually increasing till it reaches the earth.[90] A storm of hail

fell near Liverpool, in Lancashire, in the year 1795, which greatly

damaged the vegetation, broke windows, &c, &c. Many of the stones

measured five inches in circumference. Dr. Halley mentions a similar

storm of hail in Lancashire, Cheshire, &c, April 29, 1697, that for

sixty miles in length, and two miles in breadth, did immense damage,

by splitting trees, killing fowls and all small animals, knocking

down men and horses, &c, &c. Mezeray, in his History of France, says,

that in Italy, in 1510, there was for some time a horrible darkness,

thicker than that of night; after which the clouds broke into thunder

and lightning, and there fell a shower of hail-stones which destroyed

all the beasts, birds, and even fish of the country. It was attended

with a strong smell of sulphur, and the stones were of a blueish color,

some of them weighing one hundred pounds weight. The Almighty says to

Job--“Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved

against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war.” While

God has such artillery at his command, how soon may he desolate a

country, or a world![91]

The aqueous fluid is in continual circulation. The constant _round_

which it travels, says Dr. Paley, and by which, (without suffering

either adulteration or waste,) it is continually offering itself to

the wants of the habitable globe, is much to be admired. From the sea

are exhaled, by the heat of the sun, into the air, those vapors which

are there condensed into clouds: these clouds are dissolved into rain

and dew, or into snow and hail, which are but rain congealed, by the

coldness of the air, and descend in showers, which, penetrating into

the crevices of the hills, supply the springs: which springs flow in

little streams into the valleys; and there uniting, become rivers,

which rivers, in return, feed the ocean. So there is an incessant

circulation of the same fluid; and not one drop probably more or less

now than there was at the creation. A particle of water takes its

departure from the surface of the sea, in order to discharge certain

important offices to the earth: and, having executed the service which

was assigned to it, returns to the bosom which it left.[92] Thus, as

one of the greatest of naturalists says, “All the rivers run into the

sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers

come, thither they return again.”

Water, when taken up by the atmosphere, is not in an aqueous state, but

is converted into vapor by the efficiency of heat, and then combines

with more than five times the quantity of caloric than is required to

bring ice-cold water to a boiling heat, and occupies a space 800 times

greater than it does when in the form of water. A large portion of the

matter of heat combining chemically with water, renders it specifically

_lighter_; which is the cause of its rising and mixing with the

atmosphere. The waters on the face of the earth would be dissipated in

vapor by a small degree of heat, if we had no atmosphere. Under the

pressure of the atmosphere water boils at 212°, but in vacuo it boils

when heated only to 67°. On the contrary, if additional pressure be

given to water by a Papin’s digester, it may be heated to 400°, without

producing ebullition. However long we boil a fluid, in an open vessel,

we cannot make it in the smallest degree hotter than the boiling

point.[93] When arrived at this point, the vapor absorbs the heat, and

carries it off as fast as it is generated. When water is received into

the atmosphere, if the air be warm, it becomes so far changed by its

union with the matter of heat as to be perfectly invisible. In this

state it occupies a space 1,400 times greater than its ordinary liquid

state.

After vapor has remained some time in the atmosphere, it becomes in a

measure condensed; and the particles of water of which it is composed

unite, and form hollow vesicles, which accumulate together and produce

clouds. How this is effected, those who have attentively considered

the subject are not agreed. Dr. Thomson, after well investigating the

matter, concludes, from all the facts, that “the formation of clouds

and rain cannot be accounted for by a single principle with which

we are acquainted.” It is, however, says Mr. Parkes, probable that

_electricity_ alone is the primary cause. Saussure conjectures that it

is the electrical fluid which surrounds these vesicles, and prevents

them from dissolving in the air. And the idea of the formation of

clouds by the agency of electricity was mentioned by Volta, and also by

Dr. Franklin.

[It is allowed by all, that clouds are formed by the

aqueous vapors which are held suspended, or in solution, by

the atmosphere. It is not a settled question, whether the air

holds these vapors in solution, or merely suspended; and thus,

keeping the particles asunder, prevents their condensation.

This aqueous vapor is _invisible_ when perfectly in union

with the air. When it begins to separate from the air, it

becomes visible by condensation, in the form of _clouds_,

_mists_, and _fogs_. When it is perfectly separated and

sufficiently condensed it becomes _rain_, and when the

temperature is sufficiently low to freeze the condensed drops,

they become _snow_, or _hail_.

The above process is quite intelligible, but the _agent_ of

this condensation is, perhaps, inexplicable. It is impossible

to solve all the phenomena of the formation of clouds, by

supposing the vapors condensed by a reduction of temperature,

produced by the warmer volumes of clouds rising into the

regions of colder ones. For we know the natural tendency of the

warmer strata of air, from the neighborhood of the earth, is to

rise, with its watery particles, to colder regions. Hence there

would be a constant condensation, which would seem to require a

constant deposition of rain, or mist; or, at least, a constant

accumulation of clouds.

Again: On this theory, the nights would be cloudy and

rainy: as the vapors raised during the day would be condensed

by the superior coldness of the night succeeding. Moreover, it

is well known that great rains fall in very warm weather, and

when a _rise_ of temperature is observed.

These, and other considerations, have induced many persons

to have recourse to _electricity_ to solve this difficult

question, and various observations seem to countenance the

idea that it may be the remote agent of the formation of

clouds, by producing a sudden rarefaction of the air, which

would, of course, produce a sudden reduction of temperature;

the consequence of which would be a rapid condensation of the

watery particles in combination with the air. This condensation

would form clouds, and if sufficiently rapid and extensive, a

fall of rain would ensue.

This supposition is much strengthened by a fact of common

observation, viz: _when clouds are impending over us, but no

rain falling, a sudden shower comes down instantly upon a

flash of lightning._ In this case it is so obvious that the

lightning had an immediate agency, that none can doubt, who

ever observed the phenomenon.

The _electrified_ state of _clouds_, _fogs_, and _mists_,

is considered strong proof in favor of this theory. Clouds are

almost always highly charged with electricity, and sometimes so

highly charged as to become _luminous_, and very destructive.

On the 11th of August, 1772, about midnight, a bright cloud

was observed covering a mountain in the district of Cheribon,

in the island of Java, at the same time several reports were

heard like those of a gun. The people who dwelt upon the upper

parts of the mountain not being able to fly fast enough, a

great part of the cloud, almost three leagues in circumference,

detached itself under them, and was seen at a distance rising

and falling like the waves of the sea, and emitting globes of

fire so luminous, that the night became as clear as day. The

effects of it were astonishing; every thing was destroyed for

seven leagues round; the houses were demolished; plantations

were buried in the earth, and 2,140 people lost their lives.

_Ency. Brit. Article_, CLOUDS.

In another case, October 29th, 1757, in the island of

Malta, a little after midnight, there was seen to the South

west of the city Melita, a great black cloud, which, as it

approached, changed its color, till at last it became like a

flame of fire mixed with smoke. A dreadful noise was heard on

its approach, which alarmed the whole city. It passed over the

port, and came first on an English ship, which in an instant

was torn to pieces, and nothing left but the hulk; part of

the masts, sails, and cordage were carried to a considerable

distance along with the cloud. The small craft were sunk

instantly. It demolished a part of the city, and passed over to

Sicily, but did no injury there as it was previously exhausted.

Several hundred were killed. _Ency. Brit. Article_, CLOUD.]

The principle of evaporation is the primary cause of all rain, mist,

dew, &c. The ocean loses many millions of gallons of water hourly by

evaporation. The Mediterranean alone is said to lose more by it, than

it receives from the Nile, the Tiber, the Rhone, the Po, and all the

other rivers that fall into it. When Dr. Halley made his celestial

observations upon the tops of the mountains at St. Helena, he found

that the quantity of vapor which fell there (even when the sky was

clear) was so great, that his observations were thereby much impeded:

his glasses were so covered with water through the condensation of the

vapors, that he was obliged to wipe them every ten minutes. In order to

determine, with some degree of accuracy, how much water would be raised

in vapor in any space of time, he took a vessel of water salted to the

same degree with that of sea-water, in which he placed a thermometer,

and by means of a pan of coals brought the water to the same degree of

heat as would be produced by the sun in summer: he then affixed the

vessel of water with the thermometer in it, to one end of a pair of

scales, and exactly counterpoised it with weights on the other. Then,

at the end of two hours, he found by the alteration in the weight of

the vessel, that a sixtieth part of an inch in the depth of the water

was gone off in vapor; and therefore, in twelve hours, one-tenth of an

inch would have gone off. From this experiment the Doctor calculates

(in as accurate a manner as the subject will admit of) the quantity of

water raised by evaporation from the Mediterranean Sea, to be at least

five thousand two hundred and eighty millions of tons of water in a

day; and from the river Thames twenty millions three hundred thousand

tons per day, on the average.

This water is conveyed by the winds to every part of the continents:

these it fertilizes in the form of rain, and afterwards supplies the

rivers, which flow again into the sea. In our climate, evaporation is

found to be about four times as much from the vernal to the autumnal

equinox, as from the autumnal to the vernal. Heat facilitates all

solutions; and the greater the difference between the temperature

of the air and the evaporating surface, the greater will be the

evaporation. Bishop Watson found that, even when there had been no rain

for a considerable time, and the earth had been dried by the parching

heat of summer, an acre of ground dispersed into the air above 1,600

gallons of water in the space of twelve hours of a summer’s day. A

little reflection would convince any one of the importance of the

principle of evaporation. Innumerable instances of its use might be

adduced; suffice to add, that without it neither grass nor corn could

be sufficiently void of moisture to lay up for use. Our clothes when

washed could not be dried; neither could a variety of the most common

operations, which conduce much to our comfort and convenience, be

performed without it.

It is evident that water exists in the atmosphere in abundance, even in

the driest seasons, and under the clearest sky. By the experiments of

Saussure, it appears, that a cubic foot of atmospheric air will hold

eleven grains of water in solution. From this property of the air we

derive many advantages. It has a tendency to preserve every thing on

the face of the earth in a proper degree of moisture. It appears, from

the experiments of some aëronauts, that the air is much drier in the

higher regions than it is near the surface of the earth.

When two opposite currents of air meet, of different temperatures,

the vapors are sometimes condensed thereby, and rain ensues. It may

be remarked, that if the temperature of our atmosphere had been 212,

or upwards, rain could never have fallen on the earth; for the water

taken up by evaporation would have been converted into a _permanently_

elastic fluid. Such is the necessity of rain, that it _alone_ not only

affords a proper degree of moisture to the vegetable creation, but

is of service in bringing the soils into a fit state to perform their

office. Dry earth of itself is ineffective; but when _moistened_ it

has the property of decomposing atmospheric air, and of conveying its

oxygen to the roots of those plants which vegetate within it. We are

indebted to Humboldt for the knowledge of this fact. It is impossible

ever to contemplate the various ways in which the different operations

of nature are made to correct and balance each other, without being

struck with the infinite comprehension of the Divine Mind, which could

thus foresee the tendency of every law which it was about to establish.

How many cases are there in which the slightest oversight would have

produced the destruction of the world!

The effects of vapor have furnished a new moving force to mechanics,

says Haüy, which it required no ordinary genius to have created, and to

have measured its energy. This science, during a long time, had only

employed water as a moving force, by availing itself of its natural

course, or by judiciously managing its fall, so as to subject it to the

operation of machines which is regulated by an impulsion continually

renewed. The experiments made upon the force of water reduced to

vapor, gave birth to the idea of applying that vapor so much the more

advantageously to the same purpose, because independently of its

great energy, it may be transported wherever it is called for by the

interests of commerce and industry.

The execution of steam-engines has had, like that of all other

machines, its different epochs, to which successively corresponded new

degrees of perfection. To diminish, as far as possible, the quantity

of vaporisation requisite for the effect in contemplation, and to make

a moderate use of the combustible; to combine with this chief economy

that of substance and of workmanship, by contracting the dimensions of

the pieces without diminishing their utility; to prevent explosions,

by the wisest precautions adopted in the management of an agent whose

power becomes destructive when it is not limited: these are in general

the objects which have fixed the attention of engineers, and have

excited among them a laudable kind of rivalship.[94]

In no invention, either for ingenuity or utility, has modern genius

been more conspicuous than in the invention of the steam-engine.

The amazing power wielded by man, by this means, is just matter

of astonishment and wonder. In no part of the kingdom have these

stupendous machines been brought to greater perfection, either in size

or principle, than in the mining counties of Cornwall and Devon. The

largest ever built has lately been erected at Chacewater mine, in the

county of Cornwall, by Mr. S. Moyle, of that place, and is for size and

efficiency, as well as neatness, without a parallel. This stupendous

machine is equal to 1,010 horses; it works day and night in pumping dry

a mine of 100 fathoms deep, and of a large extent: and the quantity of

water pumped out in one minute, and the column consequently lifted,

is greater than any other machine of the kind ever erected. The whole

reflects the greatest credit on the abilities of the engineer, and

forms an interesting object to all those who are curious in mechanism,

or who may visit the mines of Cornwall.[95]

A very ingenious naturalist suggests the idea, that subterraneous

fire, and steam generated from it, are the true and real causes of

earthquakes. And he thinks the elasticity of steam and its expansive

force, are every way capable of producing the stupendous effects

attributed to earthquakes, when it is considered that this expansive

force of steam is to that of gunpowder as 140 to 5. He also apprehends

that subterraneous fire must, at different times, have existed

universally in the bowels of the earth, and that in union with water,

or by the expansive power of steam, it has produced the immense

continents, as well as the mountains of our globe.[96] There are,

in the Memoirs of the Paris Academy of Sciences for the year 1707,

some observations communicated by Vauban, from which it results that

140 pounds of water converted into vapor, would produce an explosion

capable of blowing up a mass of 77,000 pounds, while 140 pounds of

powder could only produce a similar effect upon a mass of 30,000.

Water would be the purest of all drinks, says Sturm, were it as

absolutely simple body; but on the other hand, its medicinal virtue

would be reduced to nothing. If we consider the manner in which water

nourishes plants, it is easy to presume that it communicates the

nutritious juices which it contains, to men and animals in the same

way. Water is not very nutritive by itself, but being very subtile, it

dissolves the nutritious parts of aliments, is a vehicle for them, and

carries them along into the minutest vessels. It is consequently the

most wholesome drink; and is essentially necessary to men and animals;

and its salutary effects are felt, where all other liquids are found

hurtful to health. “The water of Egypt,” says the Abbé Mascrier, “is

so delicious, that one would not wish the heat to be less, or to be

delivered from the sensation of thirst. The Turks find it so exquisite,

that they excite themselves to drink of it by eating _salt_. It is a

common saying among them, that if Mahomed had drank of it, he would

have besought God that he might never die, in order to have had this

continual gratification. When the Egyptians undertake the pilgrimage of

Mecca, or go out of their country on any other account, they speak of

nothing but the pleasure they shall have, at their return, in drinking

of the waters of the Nile. There is no gratification to be compared to

this: it surpasses, in their esteem, that of seeing their relations

and families. All those who have tasted of this water, allow that they

never met with the like in any other place. When a person drinks of it

for the first time, he can scarcely be persuaded that it is not a water

prepared by art: for it has something in it inexpressibly agreeable and

pleasing to the taste; and it should have the same rank among _waters_,

that _champaigne_ has among _wines_. But its most valuable quality is,

that it is exceedingly salutary. It never incommodes, let it be drank

in what quantity it may: this is so true, that it is no uncommon thing

to see some persons drink three buckets full of it in a day, without

the least inconvenience! When I pass such encomiums on the water of

Egypt, it is right to observe, that I speak only of that of the _Nile_,

which indeed is the only water, drinkable, for their _well-water_ is

detestable and unwholesome. _Fountains_ are so rare, that they are a

kind of prodigy in that country; and as to _rain-water_, that is out of

the question, as scarcely any falls in Egypt.”

* * * * *

Having attended to the situation and properties of water in the world

of nature, we shall now show that by this element is represented the

blessings of Divine grace in the moral or spiritual world. God is

the _fountain of living waters_, ever-living, all-sufficient, and

incessantly flowing; like waters, arising and issuing from a spring,

which continue during the whole year: not like waters that proceed only

from some excess of rain, such as land-floods, or those flowing down

from hills, which in the winter season run in torrents, but in the

heat of summer are dried up and fail. Such uncertain waters are well

expressed by Job--“My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and

as the stream of brooks they pass away; which are blackish by reason

of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: what time they wax warm they

vanish: when it is hot they are consumed out of their place. The paths

of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. The

troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. They

are confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were

ashamed.” He alludes to those merchants who travelled in companies or

caravans, with beasts of burden, through the deserts of Arabia; who,

having in the winter observed and marked out in certain places on the

road great pools of water, or copious streams locked up in the valleys

by severe frosts; so that, when travelling the same road in summer,

they expected finding water there still to refresh themselves and their

thirsty camels; but, to their great grief and consternation, instead

of pools or brooks of water, found heaps of dry sand, occasioned by

intense heat. But God is a fountain which sends forth streams of

blessings in all seasons, and never fails. The _living waters_ which

proceed from him as their fountain, are not stagnant, or dead, but

running, like those that issue from springs which are never dry, and

possess the most refreshing and invigorating properties.

The element of water is used for washing and purifying the body; so the

operation of Divine grace on the soul removes its moral defilement.

All the purifications by water under the law, were outward expressions

of this inward cleansing. Thus those important words by the prophet

Ezekiel, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean;

from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you:

a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within

you.” Accordingly the Psalmist says, “Thou shalt wash me, and I shall

be whiter than snow.” He also prays, “Create in me a clean heart, oh

God; and renew a right spirit within me.” As purity is necessary for

enjoying communion with God in all his instituted ordinances, he says,

“I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar,

oh Lord.” Similar language is used in the New Testament. Our Lord said

to Peter, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me.” The apostle

Paul, after mentioning several immoral characters to the Christians at

Corinth, says, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye

are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and

by the Spirit of our God.”

Our Lord gave himself for us, not only that he might redeem us from

all iniquity, but also that he might purify us unto himself a peculiar

people. This cleansing, washing, and purifying the soul from sin, is,

in the Holy Scripture, attributed to the virtual efficacy of his blood.

“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” “Unto

him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”

The primary effect of his blood is the expiation of sin; and, as a

consequence thereof, the remission of it. “This is my blood which is

shed for the remission of sins.” “In whom we have redemption through

his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Now by the blood of Christ in

these places we are to understand his sufferings, which were completed

in the shedding of his blood on the cross.

* * * * *

_Section_ II.--THE EARTH.

Surface of the Earth -- Mountains -- Fertility of Plants --

Dissemination of Seeds -- Preservation of Plants -- Adaptation

to different Climates -- Number of vegetables -- Succession of

vegetables -- Remarkable Trees -- Sensitive Plants -- Kitchen

vegetables -- Garden flowers -- Religious Improvement.

The dry land and the seas constitute what is called the _terraqueous

globe_; what proportion the superficies of the sea bears to that of the

land, cannot be easily ascertained; but, as one observes, the earth

and the water exist in a most judicious proportion to each other.

According to the most exact calculations, the surface of the earth is

199,512,595 square miles; and that of the sea is to the land as three

to one. There is no certain measurement of the proportion of land and

water which the parts within the polar circles contain. The superficies

of the sea appearing so large, may lead some persons to suppose, that

the proportions between the land and water are not wisely adjusted; and

that had there been less sea and more dry land, this would have been

more adapted to the accommodation and service of mankind. As such a

supposition as this tends to arraign the wisdom of God, so it proceeds

from ignorance of natural philosophy. For, as Dr. Keill asserts, “if

there were but half the sea that now is, there would be also only half

the quantity of vapors; and, consequently, we could have no more than

half so many rivers as there now are, to supply not only all the dry

land we have at present, but half as much more; for the quantity of

vapors which are raised, bears a proportion to the surface whence they

are raised, as well as the heat which raised them. The wise Creator so

prudently ordered it, that the sea should be large enough to supply

vapors sufficient for all the land, which it would not do if it were

less than it now is.”[97] The Scriptures speak of God as making all

things in number, weight, and measure; as proceeding in his works with

the greatest exactness. “He hath measured the waters in the hollow of

his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust

of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the

hills in a balance.” Those who wish to see this further illustrated,

would do well to consult Ray’s “Wisdom of God manifested in the works

of the Creation,” and his “Physico-theological Discourses.”

The stately mountains, that lift their lofty heads above the clouds,

serve for very beneficial purposes. Does the bold atheist call them

blemishes, and irregularities in the formation of the earth? Surely

he never considered how necessary they are, for arresting the clouds

in their flight, and conveying their waters through imperceptible

channels, till they meet in some common receptacle, whence they burst

out in springs to fertilize the lower grounds, and afford refreshing

streams for man and beast. “This,” says Mr. Halley, “seems to be the

design of the hills, that their ridges, being placed through the midst

of the continents, might serve as it were for alembics, to distil

fresh water for the use of man and beast; and that their heights might

give a descent to those streams to run gently, like so many veins of

the microcosm, to be more beneficial to the creation.” They are, says

Mr. Ray, “for the generation and maintenance of rivers and fountains,

which--on the hypothesis that all proceed from rain water--could not

subsist without them, or but rarely. So we should have only torrents,

which would fail in summer, or in any dry season, and nothing to trust

to, but stagnating water, reserved in pools and cisterns. The great

inconvenience resulting from this I need not take pains to show. I say

that fountains and rivers would be but rare, were there no mountains.

For the whole dry land being but one continued mountain, and ascending

all along from the sea to the mid-land, as is undeniably proved by

the descent of rivers even in plain countries; the water sinking into

the earth, may run under ground, and, according as the vein leads it,

break out in the side of this mountain, though the place, as to outward

appearance, be a plain. There are huge ridges and extended chains of

mountains directed for the most part to run east and west; by which

means they give admittance and passage to the vapors, brought by the

winds from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; but stop and inhibit their

excursions to the north and south, either condensing them on their

sides into water, by a kind of external distillation; or by straitening

and constipating them, compelling them to gather into drops, or descend

down in the rain.”

After the waters had subsided, the land appeared, dry and fit for

vegetation. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb

yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind,

whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth

brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the

tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind.” Here we

rise to organized and vegetative bodies. At the Divine command, herbs,

plants, trees, and all the almost endless varieties of the vegetable

world, bearing their several seeds and fruits, according to their

different kinds, immediately began to appear. Thus before God formed

any living creature to dwell upon the earth, he provided abundantly

for its sustenance. “Now as God delights to manifest himself in the

little as well as the great,” says a celebrated commentator, “he has

shown his consummate wisdom in every part of the vegetable creation.

Who can account for, or comprehend, the structure of a single tree or

plant? The roots, the stem, the woody fibres, the bark, the rind, the

air-vessels, the sap-vessels, the leaves, the flowers, and the fruits,

are so many mysteries. All the skill, wisdom, and power of men and

angels, could not produce a single grain of wheat!”

Dr. Hales, in his Statistical Essays, has observed, that the substances

of vegetables appear, by a chemical analysis, to be composed of

sulphur, volatile salt, water, and earth, which are all endued with

mutually attracting powers; and also of a large portion of air, which

has a wonderful power of strongly attracting in a fixed state, or

of repelling in an elastic state, with a power which is superior to

great compressive forces.[98] By the infinite combinations, action,

and reaction of these principles, all the operations in animal and

vegetable bodies are effected. These active aërial principles are very

serviceable in carrying on the work of vegetation to its perfection

and maturity; not only in helping, by their elasticity, to distend

each ductile part, but, also, by enlivening and invigorating their

sap, where, mixing with the other mutually attracting principles, they

are, by gentle heat and motion, set at liberty to assimilate into the

nourishment of the respective parts. The sum of the attracting powers

of these mutually acting and re-acting principles, is, while in this

nutritive state, superior to their repelling power; by which the work

of nutrition is gradually advanced by the nearer and nearer union of

these principles from a less to a greater degree of consistency, till

they are advanced to that viscid, ductile state, whence the several

parts of vegetables are formed; and are, at length, firmly compacted

into hard substances, by the flying off of the watery diluting vehicle:

but when they are again disunited by the watery particles, their

repelling power is thereby become superior to their attracting power,

and the union of the parts of vegetables is so thoroughly dissolved,

that putrefaction commences.

God has endued the vegetable creation with the astonishing power

of multiplying itself by seeds, slips, roots. &c. ad infinitum: it

contains in itself all the rudiments of the future plants through

their endless generations. The celebrated Linnæus, in an “oration

concerning the augmentation of the habitable earth,” which proceeds on

the supposition of the existence of a sexual system in the vegetable

world, shows how from one plant of each species the immense number

of individuals now existing might arise. He gives some instances of

the surprising fertility of certain plants; as, of the elecampane,

one plant of which produced 3,000 seeds; of spelt, 2,000; of the

sun-flower, 4,000; of the poppy, 3,200; of tobacco, 40,320: and one

grain of Turkey-corn produces 2,000 others! But supposing any annual

plant producing yearly only two seeds, even of these, after 20 years,

there would be 1,048,576 individuals. For they would increase yearly

in a double proportion, _viz._ 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, &c. The seed of the

_elm_, as a learned author observes, affords a remarkable instance of

the prolific power with which the vegetable creation is endued, to

multiply its different species. “This tree produces one thousand five

hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds; and each of these seeds

has the power of producing the same number. How astonishing is this

produce! At first one seed is deposited in the earth; from this one a

tree springs, which in the course of its vegetative life produces one

thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds. This is the

first generation. The second generation will amount to two trillions,

five hundred and ten thousand and fifty-six billions. The third

generation will amount to fourteen thousand six hundred and fifty-eight

quadrillions, seven hundred and twenty-seven thousand and forty

trillions! And the fourth generation from these would amount to fifty

one sextillions, four hundred and eighty-one thousand three hundred

and eighty-one quintillions, one hundred and twenty-three thousand one

hundred and thirty-six quadrillions! Sums too immense for the human

mind to conceive; and when we allow the most confined space in which a

tree can grow, it appears that the seeds of the third generation from

one elm would be many myriads of times more than sufficient to stock

the whole superficies of all the planets in the solar system!”

While many plants and trees may be propagated by branches, buds,

suckers, and leaves fixed in the ground; so concerning the

dissemination of seeds after they come to maturity, the Author of

nature has wisely provided in various ways; this being absolutely

necessary, since without it no crop could follow. The stalks and stems

favor this purpose; for these raise the fruit above the ground, so that

the winds, shaking them to and fro, widely disperse the ripe seeds.

The pericarpium, a pellicle or thin membrane encompassing the fruit or

grain of a plant, is generally shut at the top, that the seeds may not

fall before they are shaken out by stormy winds. Wings are given to

many seeds, by the help of which they fly far from the mother plant,

and frequently spread over a large tract of country. These wings

consist either of down, as in most of the composite-flowered plants;

or of a membrane, as in birch, alder, ash, &c. Several kinds of fruits

are endued with a remarkable elasticity, by the force of which the

ripe pericarpies throw the seeds to a great distance; as wood-sorrel,

spurge, phyllanthus, and dittany. Other seeds or pericarpies are rough,

or provided with hooks, as hounds-tongue, agrimony, &c; so that they

are apt to stick to animals which pass by them, and by this means are

carried to their holes, where they are both sown and manured. Berries,

as well as other pericarpies, are by nature allotted for aliment to

animals; but, with this condition, that while they eat the pulp, they

shall sow the seeds: for when they feed on it, they either disperse

them at the same time; or, if they swallow them, they are returned

unhurt. The mistletoe always grows on other trees, because the thrush

eating its seeds, casts them forth with its dung. The cross-bill living

on fircones, and the haw-finch feeding on pinecones, sow many of their

seeds.

The structure of plants contributes essentially both to their own

preservation, and that of others. But the wisdom of the Creator appears

very remarkable in the manner of the growth of trees. For as their

roots descend deeper than those of other plants, provision is thereby

made that they shall not rob them too much of nourishment;[99] and

what is still more, a stem, not above a span in diameter, often shoots

its branches very high; these bear perhaps many thousand buds, each of

which is a plant, with its leaves, flowers, and stipulæ. Now if all

these grew on the plain, they would take up a thousand times as much

space as trees do; and, in this case, there would scarcely be room in

all the earth for so many plants as at present trees alone afford.

Besides, plants that shoot up in this way are more easily preserved

from cattle by a natural defence: their leaves also, falling in autumn,

cover the plants growing about them against the rigor of the winter;

and, in the summer, they afford a pleasing shade, not only to animals,

but to plants, against the intense heat of the sun. We may add, that

trees, like all other vegetables, imbibe water from the earth: which

does not circulate again to the root, but being dispersed like small

rain, by the transpiration of the leaves, moistens the plants that grow

around. Many plants and shrubs are armed with thorns, as the buckthorn,

sloe, carduus, cotton-thistle, &c: these serve to keep off animals,

which otherwise would destroy their fruit. At the same time, they cover

many other plants, especially of the annual kind, under their branches.

Nay it has frequently been observed on commons where furze grows, that

wherever a bush was left untouched for some years by the inhabitants a

tree has sprung up, being secured by the prickles of that shrub from

the bite of cattle. So that while adjacent grounds are robbed of plants

by voracious animals, some may be preserved to ripen flowers and

fruit, and stock the surrounding parts with seeds which otherwise would

be quite extirpated. All herbs cover the ground with their leaves, and

by their shade hinder it from being totally deprived of that moisture

which is necessary to their nourishment. Mosses, which adorn the most

barren places, do, at the same time, preserve lesser plants when they

begin to shoot, from cold and drought; as is evident in gardens, where

plants are preserved in the same way. They also hinder the fermenting

earth from forcing the roots of plants upwards in the spring; like what

happens annually to trunks of trees, and other things put into the

ground. Hence very few mosses grow in warm climates, the same necessity

not existing in those places.

The great Author of all things intended that the whole earth should be

covered with plants, and that no place should be void or barren. But

since all countries have not the same changes of seasons, and every

soil is not equally adapted to every plant; therefore, that no place

should be without some, he gave to each of them such a nature as might

be chiefly accommodated to their own climate: so that some of them can

bear intense cold, others an equal degree of heat; some delight in dry

ground, others in moist, &c. Hence plants grow where the seasons of the

year and the soil are friendly to their constitution. Grasses, the most

common of all plants, can bear almost any temperature of air: in this

the good providence of the Creator particularly appears; for all over

the globe they are necessary for the nourishment of cattle. The same

is observed in relation to our most common grains. Thus neither the

scorching sun, nor the pinching cold, hinders any country from having

vegetables. Nor is there any soil which does not bring forth many kinds

of plants. Deserts and sandy places are adorned with trees and plants.

If we connect the vast fecundity of vegetables with their number,

how bountiful will the great Author of nature appear! Solomon had a

comprehensive knowledge of the different species of plants, for he

“spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto

the hyssop that springeth out of the wall;” but his writings on this

subject, not being quoted by any ancient author, nor the least fragment

remaining, are entirely lost. Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher, who

succeeded Aristotle in his school at Athens, where his name became so

celebrated that he was attended by two thousand pupils, wrote a work

entitled “The History of Plants,” in which above 500 different plants

are described. Dioscorides, a Grecian by birth, but under the Roman

empire, a physician and botanist in the time of Nero, being near 300

years posterior to Theophrastus, describes about 600 plants. Pliny

the elder,[100] in his voluminous work entitled “The History of the

World,” gives descriptions of above 1,000 different species of plants.

Hieronymus Bock, or Bouc, a German, generally known by the name of

_Tragus_, in 1532, published a History of Plants, in which he describes

800 species.

From later botanical researches, we learn, that the bountiful

Creator has enriched the earth with about 20,000 different species

of vegetables. The following statement of the progress of botanical

knowledge has recently been given to the public. Messrs. Humboldt

and Boupland, the celebrated travellers, have collected in their

five years’ travels through South America, 3,800 species of plants,

of which upwards of 3,000 were new, and absolutely unknown before

to the botanists of Europe. We are at present acquainted altogether

with 44,000 species of plants; while the whole number mentioned by

the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians, does not exceed 1,400. It is worth

remarking, that the vegetable productions of the new world seem to have

been in an inverse ratio, both in point of number and luxuriance, to

those of the animal kingdom. In North America, for instance, the number

of lofty trees is far greater than in Europe. In the former country,

there are found 137 species of trees, whose trunks exceed the height

of 30 feet; while in Europe there are scarcely 45 species. But it is

singular there are no firs to be found on any part of the mountains of

South America, between the tropics, though they are very abundant in

North America. The reason why Magnolias, and other equinoxial plants,

appear so far north in America, is, that as far as lat. 48 deg. the

summers are 9 degrees (of Fahrenheit) hotter than in the corresponding

European latitudes. The winters, however, are more than proportionably

colder. At Philadelphia the summer is as hot as at Rome; while the

winter corresponds with that of Vienna. At Quebec, the summer is warmer

than at Paris; the winter colder than at St. Petersburgh. Beyond Lake

Superior, and at Hudson’s Bay, it is said that the earth is perpetually

frozen at the depth of three feet from the surface, which prevents the

inhabitants from digging wells. The same thing happens in Siberia,

on the banks of the Lena; while in South America there are cities at

a greater height than the highest summit of the Pyrenees, and houses

more elevated than the Peak of Teneriffe, the region, in Europe, of

perpetual congelation. To this we may add, that Linnæus, the celebrated

botanist, divided all plants into classes, the classes into orders, the

orders into genera, and the genera into species: and the species, we

are told, amount perhaps to 40,000, or 50,000, or more!

The fertility of the earth has been continued from the creation,

through every successive period, to the present time. Plants spring

up, grow, flourish, ripen their fruit, wither, and at last, having

finished their course, die, and return to the dust again, from whence

they first took their rise. Thus black mould, which covers the earth,

is generally owing to dead vegetables. For all roots descend into the

sand by their branches, and after a plant has lost its stem, the root

remains; but this too rots at last, and changes into mould. Thus this

kind of earth is mixed with sand, by the arrangement of nature, nearly

in the same way as dung thrown on fields is wrought into the earth by

the industry of the husbandman. But the earth offers again to plants

from its bosom what it has thus received. For when seeds are committed

to the earth, they draw to themselves, accommodate to their nature,

and turn into plants, the more subtile parts of this mould by the

co-operation of the sun, air, and rain; so that the tallest tree is,

properly speaking, nothing but mould wonderfully compounded with air

and water, and modified by a virtue communicated to a small seed by the

Creator. From these plants, when they die, just the same kind of mould

is formed as gave birth to them originally; whence fertility remains

continually uninterrupted. Whereas the earth could not make good its

annual consumption, unless it were constantly recruited by new supplies.

That the Author of nature had so constituted the world that none of the

elements should be subject to destruction, might have been supposed by

the ancients; but, till the present advanced state of the science of

chemistry, no proof of this interesting fact could have been adduced.

Of the indestructibility of matter it may be remarked, that provision

has been made even for the restoration of the fallen leaves of

vegetables, which rot on the ground, and, to a careless observer, would

appear to be lost for ever. Berthollet has shown by experiment, that,

whenever the soil becomes charged with such matter, the oxygen of the

atmosphere combines with it, and converts it into carbonic acid gas.

The consequence of this is, that this same carbon in process of time

is absorbed by a new race of vegetables, which it clothes with a new

foliage, and which is itself destined to undergo similar putrefaction

and renovation to the end of time.

The selection of a few remarkable trees and plants will serve to

impress the reader with a sense of the wisdom and power of God, as

displayed in the vegetable kingdom. As rivers and brooks are very

seldom found in deserts and sandy places, many of the trees growing

there distil water; and, by that means, afford great comfort both to

man and beast. Thus the _Tillandsia_, which is a parasitical plant,

growing on the tops of trees in the deserts of America, has its leaves

turned at the base into the shape of a pitcher, with the extremity

expanded; in these the rain is collected, and preserved for the use of

men, beasts, and birds. The water-tree in Ceylon produces cylindrical

bladders, covered with a lid; into these is secreted a most pure

and refreshing water. There is a kind of cuckow-pint in New France,

of which, if a person break a branch, it will afford him a pint of

excellent water. How wise, how beneficial is the adaptation of plants

to the inhabitants of those countries where they grow!

On the top of a rock, in one of the Canary Islands, says Glass, in

his History, grows the _Fountain Tree_, called, in the language of

the ancient inhabitants, _Garse_, (sacred or holy tree,) which for

many years has been preserved sound, entire, and fresh. Its leaves

constantly distil such a quantity of water as is sufficient to furnish

drink to every living creature in Hierro; nature having provided this

remedy for the drought of the island. It is situated about a league

and a half from the sea. Nobody knows of what species it is, only

that it is called _Til_. It is distinct from other trees, and stands

by itself. The circumference of its trunk is about twelve spans, the

diameter four, and in height from the ground to the top of the highest

branch forty spans: the circumference of all the branches together, is

one hundred and twenty feet. The branches are thick and extended: the

lowest commence an ell from the ground. Its fruit resembles the acorn,

and tastes something like the kernel of a pine-apple, but is softer and

more aromatic. The leaves of this tree resemble those of the laurel,

but are larger, wider, and more curved; they come forth in perpetual

succession, so that the tree always remains green. On the north side

of the trunk, are two large tanks, or cisterns, of rough stone, or

rather one cistern divided, each half being twenty feet square, and

sixteen spans in depth. One of these contains water for the drinking of

the inhabitants; and the other that which they use for their cattle,

washing, and such like purposes. Every morning, near this part of

the island, a cloud or mist arises from the sea, which the south and

easterly winds force against the fore-mentioned steep cliff, so that

the cloud, having no vent but by the gutter, gradually ascends it,

and from thence advances slowly to the extremity of the valley, where

it is stopped and checked by the front of the rock, which terminates

the valley, and then rests upon the thick leaves and wide-spreading

branches of the tree, from whence it distils in drops, during the

remainder of the day, until it is at length exhausted, in the same

manner that we see water drip from the leaves of trees after a heavy

shower of rain. This tree yields most water in those years when the

Levant or easterly winds have prevailed for a continuance, for by these

winds only the clouds or mists are drawn hither from the sea. A person

lives on the spot near where this tree grows, who is appointed by the

council to take care of it, and its water; and is allowed a house to

live in, with a certain salary. He every day distributes to each family

of the district, seven pots or vessels full of water, besides what he

gives to the principal people in the island.

In Cockburn’s Voyages we find the following account of the _Dropping

Tree_, near the mountains of Vera Paz, in America. “On the morning of

the fourth day we came out on a large plain where were numbers of fine

deer, and in the middle stood a tree of an unusual size, spreading its

branches over a vast compass of ground. Curiosity led us up to it; we

had perceived, at some distance, the ground about it to be wet, at

which we began to be somewhat surprised, as well knowing there had no

rain fallen for near six months past, according to the certain course

of the season in that latitude; that it was impossible to be occasioned

by the fall of dew on the tree, we were convinced, by the sun having

power to exhale all moisture of that nature a few minutes after his

rising. At last, to our great amazement, as well as joy, we saw water

dropping, or, as it were, distilling fast from the end of every leaf of

this wonderful (nor had it been amiss, if I had said miraculous) tree;

at least it was so with respect to us, who had been laboring four days

through extreme heat without receiving the least moisture, and were now

almost expiring for the want of it. We could not help looking on this

as liquor sent from heaven to comfort us under our great extremity. We

catched what we could of it in our hands, and drank very plentifully

of it, liking it so well, that we could hardly prevail with ourselves

to give it over. A matter of this nature could not but excite us to

make the strictest observations concerning it; and accordingly we staid

under the tree near three hours: we found that we could not clasp its

body by five times. We observed the soil where it grew to be very

stony; and upon the nicest inquiry we could afterwards make, both of

the natives of the country, and the Spanish inhabitants, we could not

learn that there was any such tree known throughout New Spain, nor

perhaps all America over.”

The _Tallow Tree_, mentioned by Du Halde in his History of China, grows

in great plenty in that country, producing a substance much like our

tallow, and serving for the same purposes. It is about the height of a

cherry tree; its leaves are in form of a heart, of a deep shining red

color, and its bark very smooth. Its fruit is enclosed in a kind of pod

or cover, like a chestnut, and consists of three round white grains,

of the size and form of a small nut, each having its peculiar capsule,

and within that a little stone. This stone is encompassed with a white

pulp, which has all the properties of true tallow, as to consistence,

color, and even smell; and accordingly the Chinese make their candles

of it, which doubtless would be as good as those in Europe, if they

knew how to purify this vegetable as we do the animal tallow, and make

their wicks as fine. All the preparation they give it, is to melt it

down, and mix a little oil with it, to make it softer and more pliant.

It is true, their candles made of it yield a thicker smoke, and give a

dimmer light than those of ours; but these defects are owing in a great

measure to the wicks, which are not of cotton, but only a little rod or

switch of dry light wood, covered with the pith of a rush, wound round

it, which, being very porous, serves to filtrate the minute parts of

the tallow, attracted by the burning stick, and which by this means is

kept burning.

The _Tea Tree_ is a native of China, of very slow growth; it has a

black, woody, irregular, branched root, and rises to a fathom high, or

rather more. Its leaves are very thick set, without any regularity,

and are, in substance, like those of the morella cherry tree; but,

when young, they resemble, except in color, the spindle tree, with red

berries, called _euonymus_. The larger leaves are about two inches

long, and one broad. The method of gathering them is one by one, lest

they should be torn. The first gathering begins at the middle of the

first moon, immediately before the vernal equinox; these leaves are

scarcely full opened, being only of two or three days growth; but

they are accounted the best, fetch the best price, and are called the

flower of the tea; but, by the Chinese, _veui boui_, or bohea tea. The

second gathering begins about a month after, and the last gathering is

in June; the leaves of the gatherings are sorted into three several

classes, according to their size and goodness, and sold accordingly.

After the leaves are gathered, they are the same day carried to the

work-house, and roasted over a slow fire in an iron pan; and, that they

may be thoroughly and equally dried, the roaster keeps them continually

stirring with his hands, then takes them out, with a shovel like a fan,

and commits them to the rollers, who roll them with the palms of their

hands in small parcels, till they are equally cooled, and the sharp

yellow and greenish juice is quite discharged. They are then poured

upon a mat, and sorted a second time into different classes according

to their goodness, and those that are less curled or burnt are taken

out.--It is said that the Dutch were the first importers of tea into

Europe, about the year 1606, for which they exchanged dried sage with

the Chinese: and though the English did certainly about the same time

gain a knowledge of this plant, we do not find that the government

took any cognizance of it till the Restoration, when in 1660, a duty

of eight-pence per gallon was laid on the liquor made, and sold in all

coffee-houses.

The _Coffee Tree_ is a native of the Indies, grows surprisingly quick,

and its body is naturally of an upright form; its leaves are something

like those of the common bay, but curl at the end and hang downwards.

The blossoms first appear in July, when they show themselves in bunches

at the joints, near the ends of the branches; they are much like

the flowers of the jessamine, but have the addition of some yellow

_apices_, which are loose on the top of the blossom, and a _style_

which shoots out near half an inch above it. The fruit appears about

October, which hangs on the tree till the next July before it is ripe:

it is then gathered and prepared for the market, or for propagating

other plants. Coffee is, perhaps, one of the greatest blessings, among

those that are not really necessaries of life, that Providence has

granted to mankind; and, considering its beneficial qualities as well

as its agreeable properties, it should be ranked among the most elegant

plants, in foliage, blossom, and fruit. It is a wholesome, pleasant,

and cheap beverage, and of great use in many disorders. The origin of

the use of coffee is stated to be as follows. A prior of a monastery

in the part of Arabia where this berry grows, having remarked that the

goats which eat of it became extremely brisk and alert, resolved to try

the experiment on his monks, of whom he so continually complained for

their lethargic propensities. The experiment turned out successful;

and, it is said, it was owing to this circumstance that the use of this

Arabian berry came to be so universal.

The _Banian Tree_ is a native of several parts of the East Indies. It

has a woody stem, branching to a great height and vast extent, with

heart-shaped entire leaves, ending in acute points. Of this tree the

following lines of Milton contain a description equally beautiful and

just.

“There soon they chose

The fig tree; not that tree for fruit renown’d,

But such as at this day to Indians known

In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms,

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

The bended twigs take root and daughters grow

About the mother tree, a pillar’d shade,

High over arch’d and echoing walks between;

There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,

Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds

At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.”

The banian tree, or Indian fig, is perhaps the most beautiful of

nature’s productions in that genial climate, where her luxuriance is

displayed with the greatest profusion and variety. Some of these trees,

as they are continually increasing, and, contrary to most other things

in animal and vegetable life, seem to be exempted from decay, grow to

an amazing size. Every branch projecting from the main body throws out

its own roots, at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the

ground; these continually grow thicker till they reach the surface; and

there striking in, they increase to large trunks, and become parent

trees, shooting out new branches from the top; these at length suspend

their roots, which, swelling into trunks, produce other branches:

thus continuing in a state of progression as long as the earth, the

first parent of them all, contributes her sustenance. The Hindoos

are peculiarly fond of this tree; they view it as an emblem of the

Deity, from its long duration, outstretching arms, and overshadowing

beneficence; they almost pay it divine honors, and

“Find a fane in every sacred grove.”

Near these trees the most esteemed pagodas are generally erected; under

their shade the brahmins spend their lives in religious solitude; and

the natives of all casts and tribes are fond of recreating in the cool

recesses, beautiful walks, and lovely vistas of this umbrageous canopy,

impervious to the hottest beams of a tropical sun.

A description of a tree in the island of Java, called the _Upas_, or

Poison Tree, is given to the public by a surgeon belonging to the

Dutch East India Company, of the name of Foersch, who was stationed at

Batavia, in the year 1774. Surprising its this account may be, it is

accompanied by so many public facts, and names of persons and places,

that it is somewhat difficult to conceive it fabulous. The Upas grows

about seven leagues from Batavia, in a plain surrounded by rocky

mountains, the whole of which plain, containing a circle of ten or

twelve miles round the tree, is totally barren. Nothing that breathes

or vegetates can live within its influence. The bird that flies over

it drops down dead. The beast that wanders into it expires. The whole

dreadful area is covered with sand, over which lie scattered loose

flints and whitened bones, Thus,

“Fierce in dread silence on the blasted heath,

Fell Upas sits!”

This tree may be called the emperor’s great military magazine. In

a solution of the poisonous gum which exudes from it, his arrows

and offensive weapons are dipped; the procuring, therefore, of this

poisonous gum, is a matter of as much attention as of difficulty.

Criminals are only employed in this dreadful service. Of these, several

every year are sent with a promise of pardon and reward if they procure

it. Hooded in leather cases, with glass eyelet-holes, and secured as

much as possible from the foul effluvia of the air they are to breathe,

they undertake this melancholy journey, travelling always with the

wind. About one in ten escapes, and brings away a little box of this

direful commodity!

Every one skilled in natural history knows, that the mimosæ, or

sensitive plants, close their leaves, and bend their joints, on

the least touch. This is truly astonishing: but hitherto no end or

design of nature has appeared from these motions; they soon recover

themselves, and the leaves are expanded as before. Dionæ Muscipula, or

Venus’s Fly Trap, is a newly discovered sensitive plant; and shows that

nature may have some view towards its nourishment, in forming the upper

joint of its leaf like a machine to catch food. Upon the middle of this

lies the bait for the unhappy insect that becomes its prey. Many minute

red glands, that cover its inner surface, and which, perhaps, discharge

some sweet liquor, tempt the poor animal to taste them; and the instant

these tender plants are irritated by its feet, the two lobes rise up,

grasp it fast, lock the two rows of spines together, and squeeze it to

death. Further, lest the strong efforts for life, in the creature thus

taken, should serve to disengage it, three small erect spines are fixed

near the middle of each lobe among the glands, that effectually put an

end to all its struggles. Nor do the lobes ever open again, while the

dead animal continues there. But it is nevertheless certain that the

plant cannot distinguish between an animal and a mineral substance; for

if we introduce a straw, or a pin, between the lobes, it will grasp it

full as fast as if it were an insect. This plant grows in America, in

wet shady places, and flowers in July and August. The largest leaves

are about three inches long, and an inch and a half across the lobes:

the glands of those exposed to the sun are of a beautiful red color;

but those in the shade are pale, and inclining to green. The roots are

squamous, sending forth few fibres, and are perennial. The leaves are

numerous, inclining to bend downwards, and are placed in a circular

order; they are jointed and succulent; the lower joint, which is a kind

of stalk, is flat, longish, two-edged, and inclining to heart-shaped.

In some varieties, they are serrated on the edges near the top. The

upper joint consists of two lobes, each lobe is of a semi-oval form,

with their margins furnished with stiff hairs, like eye-brows, which

embrace or lock in each other when they are inwardly irritated. The

upper surfaces of these lobes are covered with small red glands, each

of which appears, when highly magnified, like a compressed arbutus

berry. Among the glands, about the middle of each lobe, are three very

small erect spines. When the lobes enclose any substance, they never

open again while it continues there. If it can be shoved out, so as

not to strain the lobes, they expand again; but if force is used to

open them, so strong has nature formed the spring of their fibres,

that one of the lobes will generally snap off, rather than yield. The

stalk is about six inches high, round, smooth, and without leaves,

ending in a spike of flowers. The flowers are milk-white, and stand,

on foot stalks, at the bottom of which is a little painted bractea, or

flower-leaf.

There is not an article in botany more admirable than a contrivance,

visible in many plants, to take advantage of good weather, and to

protect themselves against bad. They open and close their flowers and

leaves in different circumstances; some close before sun-set, some

after; some open to receive rain, some close to avoid it. The petals

of many flowers expand in the sun; but contract at night, or on the

approach of rain. After the seeds are fecundated, the petals no longer

contract. All the trefoils may serve as a barometer to the husbandman;

they always contract their leaves on an impending storm. Some plants

follow the sun, others turn from it. Many plants, on the sun’s recess,

vary the position of their leaves, which is styled, the _sleep of

plants_. A singular plant was lately discovered in Bengal. Its leaves

are in continual motion all day long; but when night approaches; they

fall down from an erect posture to rest.[101]

A plant has a power of directing its roots for procuring food. The red

whortle-berry, a low evergreen plant, grows naturally on the tops of

our highest hills, among stones and gravel. This shrub was planted in

an edging to a rich border, under a fruit wall. In two or three years

it over-ran the adjoining deep-laid gravel walk, and seemed to fly from

the border, in which not a runner appeared. An effort to come at food,

in a bad situation, is extremely remarkable, in the following instance.

Among the ruins of New Abbey, formerly a monastery in Galloway, there

grows on the top of a wall, a plane tree, about twenty feet high.

Straitened for nourishment in that barren situation, it several years

ago directed roots down the side of the wall, till they reached the

ground ten feet below; and now the nourishment it afforded to those

roots during the time of their descending, is amply repaid, having

every year, since that time, made vigorous shoots. From the top of the

wall to the surface of the earth these roots have not thrown out a

single fibre, but are now united in a single root.

Plants, when forced from their natural position, are endowed with the

power to restore themselves. A hop-plant, twisting round a stick,

directs its course from south to west, as the sun does. Untwist it, and

tie it in the opposite direction, it dies. Leave it loose in the wrong

direction, it recovers its natural direction in a single night. Twist

the branch of a tree, so as to invert its leaves, and fix it in that

position, if left in any degree loose, it untwists itself gradually,

till the leaves be restored to their natural position. What better can

an animal do for its welfare? A root of a tree meeting with a ditch

in its progress, is laid open to the air. What follows? It alters its

course, like a rational being, dips into the ground, surrounds the

ditch, rises on the opposite side to its wonted distance from the

surface, and then proceeds in its original direction. Lay a wet sponge

near a root laid open to the air; the root will direct its course

to the sponge. Change the place of the sponge; the root varies its

direction. Thrust a pole into the ground at a moderate distance from

a climbing plant; the plant directs its course to the pole, lays hold

of it, and rises on it to its natural height. A honeysuckle proceeds

in its course till it be too long for supporting its weight; and then

strengthens itself by shooting into a spiral. If it meet with another

plant of the same kind, they coalesce for mutual support, the one

screwing to the right, the other to the left. The claspers of briony

shoot into a spiral, and lay hold of whatever comes in their way for

support. If, after completing a spiral of three rounds, they meet with

nothing, they try again, by altering their course.

By comparing these and other instances of seeming voluntary motion

in plants, with that share of life wherewith some of the inferior

kind of animals are endowed, we can scarce hesitate at ascribing

the superiority to the former: that is, putting sensation out of

the question. Muscles, for instance, are fixed to one place as much

as plants are; nor have they any power of motion, besides that of

opening and shutting their shells; and in this respect, they have no

superiority over the motion of the sensitive plant: nor does their

action discover more sagacity, or even so much, as the roots of the

plane tree, mentioned by Lord Kames.[102]

Beckmann’s History of Inventions and Discoveries presents us with an

interesting account of Kitchen Vegetables and Garden Flowers, collected

from numerous authorities; some parts of which I shall now transcribe,

and incorporate with information derived from other sources.

Our foreign kitchen vegetables have, for the most part, been procured

from the southern countries, but chiefly from Italy; and the number of

them has rapidly increased, in the course of the last two centuries.

Many of them require laborious attention to make them thrive in our

climate. On the other hand, some grow so readily, and increase so much

without culture, even in the open fields, that they have become like

indigenous weeds, as is the case with hops, which at present abound

in our hedges. Some plants, however, both indigenous and foreign,

which were formerly raised by art and used at the table, are no

longer cultivated, because we have become acquainted with others more

beneficial.

Among many which were formerly cultivated, but at present are no longer

esteemed, are the following. Winter-cresses, _erysimum barbarea_;

common alexander, _smyrnium olosatrum_, which in the seventeenth

century was used instead of celery; bulbous chærophyllum, the roots of

which are still brought to market at Vienna, where they are boiled and

eaten as salad. Rampion, _phyteuma spicata_, was formerly used in like

manner. The earth nut, the tuberous roots of the _lathyrus tuberosus_,

which grows wild in many parts of Germany, is still cultivated in

Holland and in some districts on the Rhine. Rocket, _brassica eruca_,

in Italian, _ruchette_, the young leaves of which were eaten by our

forefathers as salad, and is still retained in Italy. And there are

several others either but imperfectly known or little regarded.

Among the kitchen vegetables of which no certain traces are to be found

in the works of the ancients, is spinage, _spinacea oleracea_. Its

native country is unknown; but the name is new, and certainly derived

from the nature of its prickly seeds. As far as I know, it first occurs

in the year 1351, among the food used by the monks on fast-days; and at

that time it was written _spinagium_ or _spinachium_.

The ancients were acquainted with curled cabbages, and even with

some of those kinds which we call _broccoli_. Under this term is

understood all those species, the numerous young flower heads of which,

particularly in spring and autumn, can be used like cauliflowers.

The broccoli used at present was however first brought from Italy to

France, together with the name, about the end of the sixteenth century.

Our cauliflower, about the same time, was first brought from the Levant

to Italy; and in the end of the seventeenth century was transplanted

thence to Germany. For a long time the seeds were procured annually

from Cyprus, Candia, and Constantinople, by the Venetians and Genoese,

who sent them to every part of Europe, because at that time the art

of raising seed was not understood. The seeds of cauliflowers were

brought from Italy to Antwerp, where no seed was raised, or such only

as produced degenerate plants. Prosper Alpinus, in the year 1588, found

abundance of this vegetable in Egypt, and from his account there is

reason to conjecture it was then very little known in Europe. Conrad

Gesner seems not to have been acquainted with it; at any rate it is not

mentioned by him in a list of the cabbage kind of plants. Even in the

time of Bauhin, it must have belonged to those vegetables which were

scarce; because he has been so particular in naming the garden in which

he saw it. Von Hohberg, who wrote about 1682, says that cauliflower, a

few years before, had been brought to Germany for the first time.--It

would be difficult to define all the species of the cabbage kind, the

leaves and flowers of which were used by the ancients as food; but

it would be a task still more arduous to determine those that have

esculent roots.

Potatoes were first imported into Europe, in the year 1565, by Hawkins,

from Santa-Fe, New Mexico, Spanish America. They were planted for

the first time in Ireland, by Sir Walter Raleigh, who had an estate

in that kingdom. The natural history of the potatoe was so little

understood, that a total ignorance which part of the plant was the

proper food, had nearly ruined any further attention towards its

cultivation. For perceiving green apples appear on the stems, these

were first supposed to be the fruit; but on being boiled, and finding

them unpalatable, or rather nauseous, Raleigh was disgusted with his

acquisition, nor thought any more of cultivating this plant. Accident,

however, discovered the real fruit, owing to the ground being turned

over, through necessity, that very season; and to his surprise, a

plentiful crop was found under ground, which being boiled, proved

nourishing to the stomach, and grateful to the taste. On its utility

being known, its cultivation became general through Ireland. It found

its way to this kingdom, and was first planted on the western coast,

in consequence of a vessel containing some potatoes, being wrecked at

the village of Formby, in Lancashire; a place still famed for this

excellent vegetable.

Asparagus was first planted in England in the year 1662, in the reign

of Charles II. Artichokes were first introduced about the same time.

Cos lettuces were originally brought from the island of Cos, near

Rhodes, in the Mediterranean. Turnips were brought into this country

from Hanover. In the time of Henry VIII, several kinds of fruits and

plants were cultivated in England, as apricots, and a fine gooseberry

from Flanders; also salads, carrots, and other edible roots. These

vegetables were before this period imported from Holland and Flanders.

So that Queen Catherine, to procure a salad, had to dispatch a

messenger to fetch it from those countries. Fruit seems to have been

scarce in the time of Henry VII. In an original manuscript, signed by

himself, and kept in the Remembrance office, it appears that apples

were not less than one or two shillings each, and that a red one cost

two shillings. The great plenty and variety of vegetables displayed

upon modern tables, through every month in the year, evidently shows

what superior blessings we enjoy, in this respect, compared with those

of our forefathers.

Some of the flowers introduced into our gardens, and now cultivated

either on account of their beauty, or the pleasantness of their smell,

have been procured from plants which grew wild, and which have been

changed, or, according to the opinion of florists, improved by the art

of the gardener. The greater part of them however came originally from

distant countries, where they grow in as great perfection as ours,

without the assistance of man. It is probable that the modern taste for

flowers came from Persia to Constantinople, and was imported thence

to Europe for the first time, in the sixteenth century. At any rate,

many of the productions of our flower-gardens were conveyed to us by

that channel. Clusius and his friends, in particular, contributed very

much to excite this taste; and the new plants brought from both the

Indies by travellers who frequently visited these countries, tended

to increase it. That period also produced some skilful gardeners, who

carried on a considerable trade in the roots and seeds of flowers; and

these, likewise assisted to render it more general. Among these were

John and Vespasian Robin, gardeners to Henry IV, of France, and Emanuel

Sweert, gardener to the emperor Rodolphus II, from whom the botanists

of that time procured many rarities, as appears from different passages

of their works.

Simon de Tovar, a Spanish physician, brought the tuberose to Europe

before the year 1594 from the East Indies, where it grows wild in Java

and Ceylon, and sent some roots of it to Barnard Paludanus, who first

made this flower publicly known, in his annotations on Linschoten’s

voyage. The full tuberoses were first procured from seed by one Le

Cour, at Leyden, who kept them scarce for some years, by destroying

the roots. The propagation of them in most countries is attended with

difficulties: but in Italy, Sicily, and Spain, it requires no trouble;

and at present the Genoese send a great many roots to England, Holland,

and Germany. The oldest botanists classed them among the hyacinths, and

their modern name _polianthes tuberose_ was given them by Linnæus in

his Hortus Cliffortianus.

The auricula, _primula auricula_, grows wild among the long moss

covered with snow, on the confines of Switzerland and Steyermark,

whence it was brought to our gardens, where, by art and accident, it

has produced more varieties than any other species of flower. I do not

know who first transplanted it from its native soil. Pluche says only

that some roots were pulled up by Walloon merchants, and carried to

Brussels. However, this is certain, that it was first cultivated with

care by the Flemings, who were very successful in propagating it. In

the time of Clusius, most of the varieties of the auricula were scarce.