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cule, tree, shrub, herb, and vegetable form, however large 
or minute, on the whole extent of this earthly orb. 
And what would the earth have been, had it been formed 
in every respect as it is, but without an atmosphere? It 
might have continued to roll on in its orbit, and perform its 
diurnal revolutions as at present, but what a blank would 
its surface be, compared with that which it now exhibits? 
It would be one wide scene of desolation, or at least of des- 
titution, and an imperturbable death-like silence would 
reign over all its ample bounds;—all would be a dead, sterile, 
naked wilderness. No eye would’see the alternate change 
of light and darkness; no voice of congratulation would 
hail the dawning morn, or view with delight the varied hues 
of the declining day.—No forests would wave to the breeze ; 
no pine would crown the mountain rock, nor shrub ner herb 
adorn the valley or the river’s bank.—No sounds would fill 
the empty void ;—the ocean flood would sweep on in silence ; 
for without air, there can be no sound :—neither animal nor 
plant could inhabit the dreary domain; for, without air, no 
animal nor plant can live-—The dead region would possess 
no trace of the forming hand of Deity, in those mighty ex- 
amples of his power, wisdom, and beneficence, the organ- 
ized kingdoms of nature. 
Thus lifeless, barren, destitute, would have been this 
earthly ball which we inhabit, and which, as it is, forms so 
glorious a contrast to what we may conceive to be the state 
of a world ungifted with an atmosphere. Instead of a pic- 
ture of inanity and desolation, how different are its present 
circumstances! How numerous the species of vegetables ; 
how various their forms and colours; how important their 
uses; how ample the green envelope with which they at 
once clothe and beautify the globe; how infinite the exam- 
ples they offer to us of divine workmanship and inscrutable 
wisdom ! 
