SJS 



lately needful for mankind. In our lungs it ventilates 

 the blood, qualifies its warmth, promotes the uniiual ser 

 cretions. We might live even months, without the 

 light of the sun, yea, or the glknJnering of a tar, 

 \Vh< reas, if we are deprived but a few minutes of this, 

 we sicken, we faint, we die. The same universal nurse 

 has a considerable share in cherishing the se \cral uifoes 

 of plants. It tranvitibc:> vegetable vigour into tiie trui'k 

 of an oak, and a blooming gaiety into the leaves of 

 a rose. 



" The air likewise conveys to our uostjrils the ex- 

 tremely subtil effluvia which exhale from odoriferous 

 bodies : particles so small, that they elude th most 

 careful hand. But this receives and transmits the invi- 

 sible vagrants, without losing even a single atom ; enter- 

 taining us with the delightful sensations that arise from 

 the fragrance of flowers, and admonishing us <o with- 

 draw from an unwholesome situation, to beware of per- 

 nicious food* 



" The air by its undulating motion conducts to our 

 ear all the 'diversities of sound. While danger is at a 

 considerable distance, this advertises us of its approach ; 

 and with a clamorous, but kind importunity, urges us to 

 provide for our safety. 



" The air wafts to bur sense all tbe modulations of 

 music, and the more agreeable entertainments of con- 

 versation. It distributes every musical variation with the 

 utmost exactness, and delivers the message of the speaker 

 with the most punctual fidelity : whereas without tlus in- 

 tcrnuutio, all would be sullen and unmeaning silence. 

 We should neither be charmed by the harmonious, nor 

 improved by the articulate accents. 



" How gentle are the breezes of the air when uucon- 

 fined ! but when collected, they act with such immense 

 farce, as is sufficient to w4iirl round the hugest wheels, 



