THE EARTH. IS 



ken place at that time, it is evident that the exterior 

 parts of the earth must, from the time -of its first for- 

 mation, have been uneven ; for if the earth were one 

 continued plain, it would be no rr^ore than an im- 

 mense morass, and habitable only by frogs and fishes, 

 or creatures of a similar nature. Those inequalities, 

 and this endless variety of hill and dale, mountain 

 and valley, which to the undisccrning eye may ap- 

 pear irregularities, not only diversify the face of this 

 globe with the most beautiful scenery, but are abso- 

 lutely necessary to promote the running off of the 

 waters, which would otherwise stagnate on the ground 

 and convert it into one continued swamp, unfit for 

 vegetation, or the support of any animals except 

 those of the aquatic kind. Thus it is evident that 

 nothing -is the effect of chance, but that every thing 

 displays a grand design, producing the most perfect 

 harmony from apparent irregularity, in such a man- 

 ner as nothing short of infinite wisdom could have 

 either devised or performed. 



" Ail nature is art but unknown to tliee, 



All chance direction which thoti canst not see." 



Every where we see a mixture of hill and dale, of 

 rising grounds and hollows, and even in those parts 

 which seem uniformly level, the absolute evenness of 

 surface extends to a very small distance. In some 

 countries we see mountains of a stupendous height. 

 Mount Blanc, which is generally considered as the 

 highest part of the Alps, is something more than a 

 mile and a half high. This, like many others of the 

 Alpine hills, is perpetually covered with snow ; and 

 no mortal had ever ascended to its top until A. D. 

 1786, when Dr. Paccard and James Balnia, an inhabi- 

 tant of Chamoing, a little town at the foot of the 

 mountains, undertook and performed the difficult task. 

 The year following it was ascended by M. de Saus- 

 sure, a gentleman of Geneva, whose account of his 

 journey is curious and interesting. Mount Blanc is 

 generally supposed to be the highest land in Europe, 

 and by some the highest of the old continent j but 



