478 THE MOUNTAIN. 



discovered, and appears an ardent advocate for, and enthu- 

 siastic indorser of, the Alleghany Mountain plateau as a 

 place with " all the requisites for a comfortable and cura- 

 tive summer residence," and a "rural retreat for the in- 

 firm," far " from the deleterious agency of heat and ma- 

 laria," and possessing more essential elements of a perfect 

 summer resort than any other part of the continent of 

 North America. 



Hence the solemn import of the words, on the streamer 

 of the flag-staff of the next book of the " Mountain," JEscu- 

 lapius, namely, The significance of the Alleghany Moun- 

 tain as the site of a Sanitarium, or retreat for the sick, 

 arranged by Infinite Wisdom. And hence, also, arrives the 

 grand corollary from all the foregoing arguments and demon- 

 strations, the inevitable "Doctorial uses of the Mountain 1" 



END OF BOOK ATLAS. 



This ends the Book Atlas, or Natural Science of the 

 Mountain. Why dive so deep in rocks, or soar so high in 

 air ? Only to make good the promise to try to dovetail some 

 knowledge of the mountain, a protuberance of the venerable 

 spheroid, into universal science. The natural objects (sci- 

 ences) of a spot are its furniture as a medium of existence 

 or habitat for living creatures. A hurried invoice has been 

 made of some of these effects, exhibiting so much for the 

 body. Natural history contains supernatural history, for 

 "Nature is the spirit analyzed and at rest," and the final 

 cause of any existence being the object or end for which 

 created, much has also been indicated for the soul, who, 

 with queenly power, will make out her own case. But 

 who was Atlas, and what of him ? The brawny-backed 

 Titan was, according to Hesiod, (Theog., 50T, etc.) "a son 

 of Japetus and Clymene, and a brother of Menoetius, Pro- 



