DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. It5 



sons and climates, day and night; that this globe 

 has its surface furrowed and ridged with various 

 inequalities, the waters of the ocean occupying 

 the depressed parts : that it is surrounded by an 

 atmosphere, or spherical covering of air; and that 

 various other physical agents, moisture, electri- 

 city, magnetism, light, operate at the surface of 

 the earth, according to their peculiar laws. This 

 surface is, as we know, clothed with a covering 

 of plants, and inhabited by the various tribes of 

 animals, with all their variety of sensations, wants, 

 and enjoyments. The relations and connexions 

 of the larger portions of the world, the sun, the 

 planets, and the stars, the cosmical arrangements 

 of the system, as they are sometimes called, de- 

 termine the course of events among these bodies; 

 and the more remarkable features of these ar- 

 rangements are therefore some of the subjects for 

 our consideration. These cosmical arrangements, 

 in their consequences, effect also the physical 

 agencies which are at work at the surface of 

 the earth, and hence come in contact with terres- 

 trial occurrences. They thus influence the func- 

 tions of plants and animals. The circumstances 

 in the cosmical system of the universe, and in the 

 organic system of the earth, which have thus a 

 bearing on each other, form another of the sub- 

 jects of which we shall treat. The former class of 

 considerations attends principally to the stability 

 and other apparent perfections of the solar system ; 



