342. STUDIES OF NATURE. 



the heart; finally, the excretory organs in the 

 fouthern part, in which the greateft Seas, the vafl 

 receptacles of the alluvions of Continents, are fitu- 

 ated; and where wc, likewife, find the greatefb 

 number of volcanos, which may be confidered as 

 the excretory organs of the Seas, whofe bitumens 

 and fulphurs they are inceffantly confuming. Be- 

 fides, the Sun, who fojourns five or fix days lon- 

 ger in the Northern Hemifphere, feemed to pre- 

 fent to me a farther, and a more marked, refem- 

 blance to the body of an animal, in which the 

 heart, the centre of heat, is fomewhat nearer to 

 the head, than to the lower extremities. 



Though thefe contrafis appeared to me fuffi- 

 ciently determinate to manifeft an order on the 

 Globe, and though I perceived fomething fimilar 

 in vegetables, diftinguiflied as they are into two 

 parts, oppofite in functions and in forms, fuch aa 

 the leaves and the roots ; I was afraid of giving 

 fcope to my imagination, and of attempting to ge- 

 neralize, through the weaknefs of the human 

 mind, the Laws of Nature peculiar to each exift- 

 cnce, by extending them to kingdoms, which were 

 not fufceptible of the application. 



But 1 ceafed to doubt of the general order of 

 the Globe, when, with two halves in contraft, 1 

 found two others in confonance. I was flruck 



with 



