112 TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



from places where it is superfluous, to others 

 where it is deficient. 



We are so constituted, however, that these 

 crises impress almost every one with a feeling of 

 awe. The deep lowering gloom of the thunder- 

 cloud, the overwhelming burst of the explosion, 

 the flash from which the steadiest eye shrinks, 

 and the irresistible arrow of the lightning which 

 no earthly substance can withstand, speak of 

 something fearful, even independently of the 

 personal danger which they may whisper. They 

 convey, far more than any other appearance 

 does, the idea of a superior and mighty power, 

 manifesting displeasure and threatening punish- 

 ment. Yet we find that this is not the language 

 which they speak to the physical enquirer : he 

 sees these formidable symptoms only as the 

 means or the consequences of good. What 

 office the thunderbolt and the whirlwind may 

 have in the moral world, we cannot here discuss : 

 but certainly he must speculate as far beyond the 

 limits of philosophy as of piety, who pretends to 

 have learnt that there their work has more of evil 

 than of good. In the natural world, these ap- 

 parently destructive agents are, like all the other 

 movements and appearances of the atmosphere, 

 parts of a great scheme, of which every discover- 

 able purpose is marked with beneficence as well 

 as wisdom. 



