48 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



and folidity ; and fliall examine whether it is pof- 

 fible, that, on being all reduced to a ftate of 

 fluidity, they fhould entirely cover the Globe. 



I fhall confider in what manner all the parts of 

 the Earth, that is, the dry land, are diftributed 

 with relation to the Sun ; fo that there (liould be 

 no cavity of valley, nor elevation of rocky moun- 

 tain, but what muft be, at fome feafon of the year, 

 expofed to his rays, and difpofed, at the fame 

 time, in the moft perfeftly adapted order, to mul- 

 tiply, or to mitigate his heat, by it's form, or even 

 by it's colour. 1 will demonftrate that, notwith- 

 ftanding the apparent irregularity of the different 

 parts of this Globe, they are oppofed, with fo 

 much harmony, to the different currents of air, 

 that there is no one but what is, by turns, venti- 

 lated by winds, hot, cold, dry, and humid ; that 

 the cold winds blow moft conftantly into warm 

 countries, and warm winds into cold countries ; that 

 thefe countries, in their turn, re-aél on the air ; fo 

 that the caufe of the winds is not to be fought, ac- 

 cording to the received opinion, in the places 

 whence they proceed, but in thofe which they vifit. 



I fliall, after that, fpeak of the dire6lion of 

 mountains, of their declivities, and of their af- 

 pefts, with relation to the lakes and Seas, whofe 

 emanations their different ridges are all adapted to 



receive ; 



