Lesson xx.] FROST. 11$ 



account of congelation, its process must also be 

 slow. 



The late Count Eumford (whose reasonings on 

 this point are very ingenious, and have been far 

 extended) draws from the circumstance an obser- 

 vation 'which I cannot forbear presenting to my 

 young readers. " Suppose," says he, " that in 

 '* the general arrangements of things it had been 

 " necessary to contrive matters so that water 

 " should not freeze in winter, or that it should 

 " not freeze but with the greatest difficulty, 

 " very slowly, and in the smallest quantity pos- 

 ts sille ; how could this have been most readily 

 effected ? 



" Those who are acquainted with the law of the 

 " condensation of water, on parting with its heat, 

 " have already anticipated me in these specula- 

 " tions ; and it does not appear to me that there 

 " is any thing which human sagacity can fathom, 

 " within the wide-extended bounds of the visible 

 " creation, which affords a more striking or more 

 " palpable proof of the wisdom of the CREATOR, 

 f{ and of the special care he has taken in the gene- 

 " ral arrangement of the universe to preserve ani- 

 " mal life, than this wonderful contrivance : for 

 ** though the extensiveness and immutability of 

 ** the general laws of Nature impress our minds 

 " with awe and reverence for the Creator of the 

 " universe, yet exceptions to those laws, or parti- 

 " cular modifications of them, from which we are 

 tl able to trace effects evidently salutary or advan- 

 " tageous to ourselves and our fellow-creatures, 



afford 



