ON THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE. 



are multitudes of animated beings which no man 

 can number, invisible to the unassisted eye, and 

 dispersed through every region of the earth, air, 

 and seas. In a small stagnant pool which in 

 summer appears covered with a green scum, 

 there are more microscopic animalcules than 

 would outnumber all the inhabitants of the earth. 

 How immense then must be the collective num 

 ber of these creatures throughout every region 

 of the earth and atmosphere ! It surpasses all 

 our conceptions. Now, it is a fact that, from 

 the elephant to the mite, from the whale to the 

 oyster, and from the eagle to the gnat, or the 

 microscopic anirnalcula, no animal can subsist 

 without nourishment. Every species, too, re 

 quires a different kind of food. Some live on 

 grass, some on shrubs, some on flowers, and 

 some on trees. Some feed only on the roots of 

 vegetables, some on the stalk, some on the leaves, 

 some on the fruit, some on the seed, some on 

 the whole plant; some prefer one species of 

 grass, some another. Linnceus has remarked, 

 that the cow eats 276 species of plants and re 

 jects 218 ; the goat eats 449 and rejects 126 ; 

 the sheep eats 387 and rejects 141 5 the horso 



number would amount to 151 millions and a half. 

 The migratory pigeon of the United States flies in 

 still more amazing multitudes. Wilson, in his 

 &quot;American Ornithology,&quot; says, &quot;Of one of these 

 immense flocks, let us attempt to calculate the 

 numbers, as seen in passing between Frankfort on 

 the Kentucky and the Indian territory. If we sup 

 pose this column to have been one mile in breadth, 

 and I believe it to have been much more, and that it 

 moved four hours at the rate of one mile a minute, 

 the time it continued in passing would make the 

 whole length 240 miles. Again, supposing that each 

 square yard of this moving body comprehended three 

 pigeons, the square yards multiplied by s would 

 give 2,230,272,000,&quot; that is, two thousand two hun 

 dred and thirty millions and two hundred and se- 

 renty-two thousand, nearly three times the number 

 of all the human inhabitants cf the globe, but which 

 Mr. Wilson reckons to be far below the actual 

 amount. Were we to estimate the number of ani 

 mals by the scale here afforded, it would amount to 

 several hundreds or thousands of times more than 

 what I have stated in the text. For if a sinirle flock 

 of pigeons now alluded to in only one district of the 

 earth, amounts to so prodigious a number, how 

 many thousand times more must be the amount of 

 the same species in all the regions of the globe ! In 

 the above calculations, it is taken for granted that 

 pigeons fly at the rate of from 30 to 60 miles an hour, 

 and it is found by actual experiment that this is the 

 case. In 1830, 1 10 pigeons were brought from Brus 

 sels to London, and were let fly on the 19th July, 

 at a quarter before nine A. M. One reached Ant 

 werp, 16 miles distance, at 18 minutes past 2, or in 

 5 1-2 hours, being at the rate of 34 miles an hour. 

 Five more reached the same place within eight mi 

 nutes afterwards, and thirteen others iu the course 

 of eight hours after leaving London. Another went 

 from London to Maastricht, 260 miles, in six hours 

 and a quarter, being at the rate of nearly 42 miles 

 an hour. The golden eagle sweeps through the at 

 mosphere at the rate of 40 miles an hour, and it has 

 &amp;gt;een computed that the Swift flics, at an average, 

 500 miles a day, and yet finds time to feed, to clean 

 Useif, and to collect materials for its nest with ap 

 parent leisure. Such are the numbers of this species 

 of animated beings, and such the powers of rapid 

 motion which the Creator has conferred upon them, 

 powers which man, with all his intellectual facul 

 ties and inventions, has never yet been able to attain. 



eats 262 and rejects 212; and the hog, more 

 nice in its taste than any of these, eats but 72 

 plants and rejects all the rest. Yet such is the 

 unbounded munificence of the Creator, that ali 

 these countless myriads of sentient beings arc 

 amply provided for and nourished by his bounty! 

 &quot; The eyes of all these look unto Him, and he 

 openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of 

 every living being.&quot; He has so arranged the 

 world, that every place affords the proper food 

 for all the Hving creatures with which it abounds. 

 He lias-furnished them with every organ and ap 

 paratus of instruments for the gathering, pre 

 paring, and digesting of their food, and has en 

 dowed them with admirable sagacity in finding 

 out and providing their nourishment, and in en 

 abling them to distinguish between what is 

 salutary and what is pernicious. In the exercise 

 of these faculties, and in all their movements, 

 they appear to experience a happiness suitable 

 to their nature. The young of all animals in 

 the exercise of their newly acquired faculties, the 

 fishes sporting in the waters, the birds skimming 

 beneath the sky and warbling in the thickets, the 

 gamesome cattle browsing m the pastures, the 

 wild deer bounding through the forests, the in 

 sects gliding through the air and along the 

 ground, and even the earth-worms wriggling in 

 the dust, proclaim, by the vivacity of their 

 movements and the various tones and gesticula 

 tions, that the exercise of their powers is con 

 nected with enjoyment. In this boundless scene 

 of beneficence, we behold a striking illustration 

 of the declarations of the inspired writers, that 

 &quot; the Lord is good to all,&quot; that &quot; the earth is 

 full of his riches,&quot; and that &quot; his tender mercies 

 are over all his works.&quot; 



Such are a few evidences of the benevolence 

 of the Deity as displayed in the arrangements of 

 the material world. However plain and obvious 

 they may appear to a reflecting mind, they are 

 almost entirely overlooked by the bulk of man 

 kind, owing to their ignorance of the facts of na 

 tural history and science, and the consequent- 

 inattention and apathy with which they are ac 

 customed to view the objects of the visible 

 creation. Hence they are incapacitated for 

 appreciating the beneficent character of the 

 Creator, and the riches of his munificence ; and 

 incapable of feeling those emotions of admira 

 tion and gratitude which an enlightened contem 

 plation of the scene of nature is calculated to 

 inspire. 



4. An enlightened and comprehensive survey 

 of the universe presents to us a view of the rust 

 multiplicity of conceptions and the injinite y divr.~- 

 sifted ideas which have been formed in the Divim 

 Mind. 



As the conceptions existing in the mind of an 

 artificer are known by the instruments he con 

 structs, or the operations he performs, so the 

 ideas which have existed from eternity in the 



