Geography. 349 



that the living principle is never extinguished. Since 

 the atoms of matter are indestructible, as far as we 

 know, it is difficult to believe that the spark which 

 gives to their union life, memory, affection, intelli- 

 gence, and fidelity, is evanescent. Every atom in 

 the human frame, as well as in that of animals, 

 undergoes a periodical change by continual waste 

 and renovation ; the abode is changed, not its in- 

 habitant. If animals have no future, the existence 

 of many is most wretched ; multitudes are starved, 

 cruelly beaten, and loaded during life; many die 

 under a barbarous vivisection. I cannot believe that 

 any creature was created for uncompensated misery; 

 it would be contrary to the attributes of God's 

 mercy and justice. I am sincerely happy to find 

 that I am not the only believer in the immortality 

 of the lower animals. 



***** 

 When I was taught geography by the village 

 schoolmaster at Burntisland, it seemed to me that 

 half the world was terra incognita, and now that a 

 new edition of my " Physical Geography " is re- 

 quired, it wiH*be a work of great labour to bring it 

 up to the present time. The discoveries in South 

 Africa alone would fill a volume. Japan and China 

 have been opened to Europeans since my last 

 edition. The great continent of Australia was an 



