WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 



bodies, become specifically heavier than it was 

 before, the present constitution of nature would 

 have been materially deranged, and many of our 

 present comforts, and even our very existence, 

 would have been endangered. At whatever time 

 the temperature of the atmosphere became reduced 

 to 32 of the common thermometer, or to what is 

 called the freezing point, the water on the surface 

 of our rivers and lakes would have been convert 

 ed into a layer of ice ; this layer would have sunk 

 to the bottom as it froze ; another layer of ice 

 would have been immediately produced, which 

 would also have sunk to the former layer, and so 

 on in succession, till, in the course of time, all our 

 risers from the surface to the bottom, and every 

 other portion of water, capable of being frozen, 

 would have been converted into solid masses of 

 ice, which all the heat of summer could never 

 have melted. &quot;We should have been deprived of 

 most of the advantages we now derive from the 

 liquid element, and, in a short time, the face of 

 nature would have been transformed into*a frozen 

 chaos. But in the existing constitution of things, 

 all such dismal effects are prevented, in con 

 sequence of the Creator having subjected the 

 waters to a law contrary to that of other fluids, 

 by means of which the frozen water swims upon 

 the surface, and prevents the cold from pene 

 trating to any great depth in the subjacent fluid ; 

 and when the heat of the atmosphere is increased, 

 is exposed to its genial influence, and is quickly 

 changed into its former liquid state. How ad 

 mirably, then, does this exception to the general 

 law of nature display the infinite intelligence 

 of the Great Contriver of all things, and his 

 providential care for the comfort of his creatures, 

 when he arranged and established the economy 

 of nature! 



Variety of Nature. 



As a striking evidence of Divine Intelligence, 

 we may next consider the immense variety which 

 the Creator has introduced into every department 

 of the material world. 



In every region on the surface of the globe, an 

 endless multiplicity of objects, all differing from 

 one another in shape, colour, and motion, present 

 themselves to the view of the beholder Moun 

 tains covered with forests, hills clothed will, ver 

 dure, spacious plains adorned with vineyards, 

 orchards, and waving grain : naked rocks, abrupt 

 precipices, extended vales, deep dells, meandering 

 rivers, roaring cataracts, brooks and rills , lakes 

 and gulfs, bays and promontories, seas and oceans, 

 caverns and grottoes meet the eye of the student 

 of Nature, in every country, with a variety which 

 is at once beautiful and majestic. Nothing can 

 exceed the variety of the vegetable kingdom, 

 which pervades all climates, and almost every 

 portion of ihe dry land, and of the bed of the ocean. 

 The immense collections of Natural History 



which are to be seen in the Muse-im at Paris, 

 show, that botanists are already acquainted with 

 nearly fifty-six thousand different species of 

 plants.* And yet, it is probable, that these form 

 but a very small portion of what actually exist, 

 and that several hundreds of thousands of spe 

 cies remain to be explored by the industry of 

 future ages. For, by far the greater part of the 

 vegetable world still remains to be surveyed by 

 the scientific botanist. Of the numerous tribes 

 of vegetable nature which flourish in the inte 

 rior of Africa and America, in the immense 

 islands of New Holland, New Guinea, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, Java, Ceylon, Madagascar, and 

 Japan ; in the vast regions of Tartary, Thibet, 

 Siberia, and the Burman empire ; in the Philip 

 pines, the Moluccas, the Ladronas, the Caroli- 

 nas, the Marquesas, the Society, the Georgian, 

 and in thousands of other islands which are scat 

 tered over the Indian and Pacific oceans little or 

 nothing is known by the naturalists of Europe, 

 and yet it is a fact which admits of no dispute, 

 that every country hitherto explored produces a 

 variety of species of plants peculiar to itself; and 

 those districts in Europe which have been fre 

 quently surveyed, present to every succeeding 

 explorer a new field of investigation, and reward 

 his industry with new discoveries of the beauties 

 and varieties of the vegetable kingdom. It has 

 been conjectured by some naturalists, on the 

 ground of a multitude of observations, that 

 &quot; there is not a square league of earth, but what 

 presents some one plant peculiar to itself, or, at 

 least, which thrives there better, or appears more 

 beautiful than in any other part of the world.&quot; 

 This would make the number of species of vege 

 tables to amount to as many millions as there are 

 of square leagues on the surface of the earth. 



Now, every one of these species of plants 

 differs from another, in its size, structure, form, 

 flowers, leaves, fruits, mode of propagation, colour, 

 medicinal virtues, nutritious qualities, internal 

 vessels, and the odours it exhales. They are of 

 all sizes, from the microscopic mushroom, invi 

 sible to the naked eye, to the sturdy oak, and the 

 cedar of Lebanon, and from the slender willow 

 to the banian tree, under whose shade 7000 

 persons may find ample room to repose. A 

 thousand different shades of colour distinguish 

 the different species. Every one wears its pe 

 culiar livery, and is distinguished by its own na 

 tive hues ; and many of their inherent beauties 

 can be distinguished only by the help of the mi 

 croscope. Some grow upright, others creep 

 along in a serpentine form. Some flourish for 

 ages, others wither and decay in a few months ; 

 some spring up in moist, others in dry soils ; 

 some turn towards the sun, others shrink and 



Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. July, 1822. 

 p. 48. 



