118 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



And in this place we cannot pass without noticing 

 how different our modern voyages from those un- 

 dertaken by the ancients, who, even in the mildest 

 climates, and in seas the least tempestuous, ventured 

 only from their harbours in the summer months! 

 and for this we are indebted to the Loadstone. It 

 is the faithful and unerring guide which now con- 

 ducts the pilot with so much certainty in the un- 

 bounded ocean, and enables the merchant to trans- 

 port his goods at such a trifling expence, that a 

 ship of six hundred tons burden, and navigated by 

 between thirty and forty men, can be made to tran- 

 sport as many goods at a time, as would require 

 upwards of twelve hundred horses and a propor- 

 tionate number of men to manage them! What a 

 difference in point of saving, were it no more than 

 the victuals and provender made use of by such a 

 number of men and horses ! 



By the invention of navigation, and the discovery 

 of the magnet, we are enabled to correspond with 

 the most uncultivated barbarian in the isles of the 

 sea, and hold converse, as it were, with those who 

 dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth. By means 

 of these, savages the most distant may be humanized 

 and instructed in the knowledge of the arts and sci- 

 ences, and a way opened up for the more universal 

 spread of the gospel. 



In short, it is impossible to enumerate the benefits 

 to be derived from the wonderous fluid. As the 

 medium of traffic, and the great depot of so many 

 finny treasures, it gives employment to thousands. 



