42 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



numberless ancient buildings have been submerged, and 

 for ages the inhabitants have ventured no longer to build 

 near the sea-coast. 



For the sea also has its strange motions like the firm 

 land gentle, progressive oscillations which return at stated 

 periods, or act with sudden force. In the South Sea, we 

 are told, the bottom of the sea rises and sinks in regular 

 alternation ; the same occurs near the coast of Chili, 

 teaching us by land and by water, the inconstancy of 

 the present order of things, and the changes to which, 

 at great intervals, the outlines of our continents are 

 probably subject. Truly He alone, who is our God, He 

 changes not. 



Thus, all is life and motion in the earth, on the earth 

 and around it. What a source of incessant movement 

 is even the sun alone! From the bottom of the ocean 

 it raises high into the air the rivers that are to water 

 the two worlds. The sun orders the winds to distribute 

 them over continents and islands, and these invisible chil- 

 dren of the air carry them under a thousand capricious 

 forms from land to land. They spread them across the 

 sky in golden veils and purple hangings; they raise them 

 into huge dark domes, threatening deluge and destruction. 

 They pour them in tempestuous torrents upon high 

 mountains ; they let them drop gently upon the thirsty 

 plains. Now they shape them in beautiful crystals of 

 snow, and now shower down pearls of peerless beauty 

 in clear, transparent dewdrops. However whimsical their 

 service seems to be, each part of our globe receives, 

 nevertheless, year by year, only its proper and good pro- 



