SLEEP AND DEATH. 336 



pletely riveted to some particular subject, that the person is 

 entirely insensible to the presence of surrounding objects. 



15. One great object of education is to give the will power 

 over the attention.) The mind that cannot command this 

 faculty^is in a deplorable condition for all the higher pur- 

 poses of reflection and knowledge for which it is intende^l 

 Without it, perception exercises itself in vain ; the memory 

 can lay up no store of ideas ; the judgment draw forth no 

 comparisons ; the imagination must become blighted and 

 barren ; and in proportion as a person has no command 

 over his attention, in that degree must he be an idiot. 



16. It is the will of Providence that all organized beings 

 must perish. For a while, life maintains a successful con- 

 flict with the chemical laws of matter ; but at length its re- 

 sistance becomes weaker and weaker, till, sooner or later, 

 those functions cease which have enabled us to withstand 

 the destructive influences by which we are surrounded. 



17. (The duration of life varies, not only in the animal but 

 in the vegetable kingdom.) (As a general rule, where the 

 growth is slow, the period of decrease is proportionably 

 slow ; and where it is rapid, decay as rapidly supervenes^ 

 The gourd that sprang up in a night, perished also in a 

 night. 



18. ^There are two kinds of death, natural and accidental.) 

 Natural death, or that of old age, is caused by a gradual 

 decay and wearing out of all the organsjjaccidental death, 

 or such as is occasioned by accident, cuts off* existence pre- 

 maturelyy The natural period of life differs in different 

 individuals ^being influenced by a variety of circumstances ; 

 such as the original constitution ; habits of life ; and the 

 health of the locality where a person is situated? 



19. \he natural period of life, has not materially differed 

 since the time of the floody " The days of our years," says 

 the Psalmist, " are threescore and ten ; and if by reason of 

 strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour 

 and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away." This 



