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ly do more than indicate the vitality of the earth's 

 surface. Man, whom God created as its master, 

 is, as I have before observed, the only organized 

 being which exists in all regions where it is pos- 

 sible for life to derive nutriment, including the 

 fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, the animals 

 which roam in the wood and field, or the vege- 

 tables and fruits which luxuriate in its various 

 regions. Indeed, so widely is man diffused, that 

 Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla in the north, 

 with the Falkland islands, New South Shetland, 

 Kergueland's Land, and a few other tracts in 

 the Southern Ocean, are the only extensive 

 countries w r hich are not known to possess inha- 

 bitants. That climate and situation modify the 

 character of animated beings is not to be denied, 

 but none have either raised the brutes to the dig- 

 nity of rational intelligence, or enabled them to 

 dispute with man the claim to rank as the lord 

 of the creation. Man is far from being the slave 

 of climate or the seasons ; and, " it is only in 

 the apprehension of ignorance and inexperience," 

 as Professor Gillespie eloquently observes, " that 

 his condition, however remotely or approximate- 

 ly situated with regard to the sun, appears whol- 

 ly miserable : for whilst the inferior animals de- 

 generate, or perish under a protracted or distant 

 removal from their native clime arid soil, man 

 alone is found, and is, by an arrangement of Di- 

 vine wisdom, fitted and framed, not only to live, 

 but to enjoy life every where. And thus, as there 

 is not a latitude which does not manifest to its 



