BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEtf. 168 



Perhaps some of our readers may be surprised at 

 the bare mention of the weight of a substance, which 

 has been proverbially compared to a trifle for its 

 lightness, and they may wonder still more when we 

 speak of its elasticity, when they have been taught 

 to consider it an unresisting medium; but what will 

 such think when we boldly assert, that we are lite- 

 rally plunged into a sea of air, and of such gravity 

 and pressure, as to be equal, on the body of a man 

 of moderate size, to the weight of 20,000 Ibs? "< Tre- 

 mendous consideration," says the reflective Hervcy, 

 " should the ceiling of a room, or the roof of a house, 

 fall upon us with half that force, what destructive 

 effects must ensue! Such a force would infallibly 

 drive the breath from our lungs, or break every bone 

 in our bodies; yet so admirably has the divine wis- 

 dom contrived this aerial fluid, and so nicely coun- 

 terpoised its dreadful power, that we receive not the 

 slightest hurt; we suffer no manner of inconvenience; 

 we even enjoy the load. Instead of being as a moun- 

 tain on our loins % it is like wings to our feet, or like 

 sinews to our limbs. Is not this common ordination 

 of Providence, thus considered, something like the 

 miracle of the burning bush, whose tender and com- 

 bustible substance, though in the midst of flames, 

 was neither consumed nor injured r" 



But how are we to account for this miraculous pre- 

 servation? It is owing to the elasticity or spring of 

 the internal air within all bodies, which, although 

 small in proportion, is wisely made to balance, resist, 



