OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 29 



above described, and having arrived within fifteen or 

 twenty miles of the coast, I hove to at four in the 

 morning till the day should break, and then bore up ; 

 for although it was very ha2y, we could see before 

 us a couple of miles or so. About eight o'clock it 

 became so foggy that I did not like to stand in far- 

 ther, and was just bringing the ship to the wind 

 again before sending the people to breakfast, when 

 it suddenly cleared off, and I had the satisfaction of 

 seeing the great Sugar Loaf Rock, which stands on 

 one side of the harbour's mouth, so nearly right 

 ahead that we had not to alter our course above a 

 point in order to hit the entrance of Rio. This was 

 the first land we had seen for three months, after 

 crossing so many seas and being set backwards and 

 forwards by innumerable currents and foul winds." 

 The effect on all on board might well be conceived 

 to have been electric ; and it is needless to remark 

 how essentially the authority of a commanding 

 officer over his crew may be strengthened by the 

 occurrence of such incidents, indicative of a degree 

 of knowledge and consequent power beyond their 

 reach. 



(22.) But even such results as these, striking as 

 they are, yet fall short of the force with which con- 

 viction is urged upon us when, through the medium 

 of reasoning too abstract for common apprehension, 

 we arrive at conclusions which outrun experience, 

 and describe beforehand what will happen under 

 new combinations, or even correct imperfect experi- 

 ments, and lead us to a knowledge of facts contrary 

 to received analogies drawn from an experience 

 wrongly interpreted or overhastily generalised. To 



