Relative insignificance of Man to the Universe. 



miles an hour in its orbit, is sufficient to convince any 

 unprejudiced person of his own transient physical 

 existence and his comparative physical feebleness and 

 insignificance. Hitherto, man has largely been accus- 

 tomed, through the influence of uncorrected impressions- 

 and other causes, to view all nature as having been, 

 expressly provided for him, but science informs us that 

 whilst this Earth is suitable for his abode, and Nature 

 ministers to his necessities and pleasures, it is only on 

 condition that he first obeys the great laws of matter 

 and energy, and adapts himself to their requirements. 

 The operation of those laws often ruthlessly destroys 

 thousands of men by pestilence, famine, drought, and 

 other great calamities, and man can do nothing which 

 is incompatible with them without suffering a penalty.. 

 Science shews that man is but one out of at least 

 320,000 different species of animals; it also discloses 

 the fact that the entire human population of this 

 globe constitute only about one 50,575,785 millionth 

 part of the Earth, and proves to us that the Earth 

 itself is but a speck in the Universe, one out of at 

 least 75 millions of worlds ; and that not only is it 

 merely a planet revolving round the Sun, but that 

 the Sun is only one of a multitude of Suns, and is 

 itself, with all its planets, revolving round a still more 

 distant centre in space. 



There is scarcely a faculty man possesses, which is 

 not immeasurably limited in comparison with the 

 powers and capabilities of inanimate nature. His 

 physical energy, when compared with that of the 



