NATURAL HISTORY. 



57 



and reflective powers, and the phenomena which 

 result from its various properties and modifica 

 tions the meteors which appear in its different 

 regions thunder and lightning, winds, hail, rain, 

 clouds, rainbows, parhelias or mock-suns, mete 

 oric stones, the aurora boreaiis, luminous arches, 

 ignes fatui, the mirage, the fata morgana, hur 

 ricanes, monsoons, whirlwinds and waterspouts, 

 sounds and echoes. 



In prosecuting our survey of sublunary nature, 

 we would next advert to the various orders of 

 the vegetable tribes their anatomical structure 

 the circulation of their juices the food by 

 which they are nourished the influence of light 

 and air on their growth and motions their male 

 and female organs their periods of longevity 

 iheir modes of propagation their diseases and 

 dissolution iheir orders, genera, and species 

 their immense variety their influence on the 

 salubrity of the atmosphere the relation which 

 their roots, leaves, and fruits bear to the wants 

 of man and other animals, in supplying food, 

 clothing, and materials for constructing habita 

 tions the gums and resinous substances they 

 exude the odours they exhale the variety of 

 colours they exhibit the vast diversity of forms 

 in which they appear and the beauty and va 

 riety which they spread over the whole face of 

 nature. 



The mineral kingdom would next require to be 

 surveyed. We would inquire into the facts which 

 have been ascertained respecting the earthy, sa 

 line, inflammable, and metallic substances which 

 are found on the surface and in the bowels of 

 the earth their specific and distinguishing cha 

 racters the elementary principles, or simple 

 substances, of which they are composed the 

 regions of the earth where the respective mine 

 rals most frequently abound and the ends 

 which they are designed to accomplish in the 

 constitution of the globe. We would consider, 

 more particularly, the various metals, such as 

 iron, copper, lead, tin, gold, silver, bismuth, zinc, 

 &c. in reference to the substances with which 

 they are united in their native ores the changes 

 produced upon them by the action of oxygen and 

 the different acids their combustibility their 

 combination with phosphorus, sulphur, and car 

 bon ; and the various compounds into which they 

 may be formed their important uses in the arts 

 which minister to the comfort and embellishment 

 of human life their relation to the multifarious 

 necessities of man and the wisdom and good 

 ness of the Creator, as displayed in their ar 

 rangement in the bowels of the earth, and in 

 the admirable properties of which they are pos 

 sessed. In these details, the natural history 

 of Iron would hold a prominent place. In point 

 of utility, it claims the highest rank in the class 

 of metals, and is intrinsically more v aluible than 

 gold and silver, and all the diamonds of the East. 

 There is scarcely a mineral substance in the 



whole compass of nature, which affords a more 

 striking instance of the beneficial and harmo 

 nious adaptation of things in the universal sys 

 tem. We would, therefore, consider it in reference 

 to its vast abundance in all parts of the world 

 the numerous substances into which it enters 

 into combination its magnetical property its 

 capability of being fused and welded the nu 

 merous useful utensils it has been the means 

 of producing its agency in carrying forward im 

 provements in art and science, in the civilization 

 of barbarous tribes, and in promoting the progress 

 of the human mind ; and the aids which it affords 

 to the Christian missionary in heathen lands. 



Having surveyed the inanimate parts of the 

 terraqueous globe, and its appendages, we might 

 next direct our attention to the animated tribes 

 with which it is peopled. Beginning at Man, 

 the head of the animal creation, we would de 

 tail the principal facts which have been ascer 

 tained respecting his structure and organicai 

 functions the muscular movements of the hu 

 man body, the system of bones, nerves, veins, 

 and arteries ; the process of respiration ; and the 

 organs of vision, hearing, smelling, tast.ing, and 

 feeling, by which he holds a correspondence 

 with the material world the modifications which 

 appear. in his corporeal frame and in his mental 

 faculties, during the periods of infancy, puberty, 

 manhood, and old age the causes and phenomena 

 of sleep and dreaming the varieties of the human 

 race, in respect of colour, stature, and features 

 the deviations from the ordinary course of nature, 

 which occasionally occur, in the case of monsters, 

 dwarfs, and giants the moral and intellectua. 

 faculties and those distinguishing characteristics 

 which prove the superiority of man over the other 

 tribes of animated nature. 



The inferior ranks of the animal creation 

 would next demand our attention. We would 

 take a survey of the numerous tribes of Quadru 

 peds, Birds, Fishes, Serpents, Lizards, and In 

 sects, in reference to the characteristic marks by 

 which the different species are distinguished, 

 their food and habitations the different modes 

 in which they display their architective faculty, 

 in constructing places of abode for shelter and 

 protection the clothing with which they are 

 furnished their sagacity in finding out the pro 

 per means for subsistence and self-preservation 

 their hostilities their artifices in catching their 

 prey, and escaping their enemies their modes 

 of propagation their transformations from one 

 state and form to another their migrations to 

 different countries and climates their various 

 instincts their care in rearing and protecting 

 their young their passions, mental characters, 

 and social dispositions their language, or modes 

 of communication with each other their capaci 

 ties for instruction and improvement their dif 

 ferent powers of locomotion the adaptation of 

 all their organs to the purposes for which they 



