180 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



taking fire as they approach, are made to form those 

 beautiful appearances called northern and southern 

 lights, which, although they are oft invisible by the 

 thickness of the weather, at other times amuse the 

 inhabitants, even of our climate, in clear frosty wea- 

 ther; and these merry dancers, as the vulgar call 

 them, are no doubt of infinite service to the people 

 of the polar regions, by imparting a lengthened, if 

 not uninterrupted supply of that light and cheerful- 

 ness, of which they would otherwise be deprived 

 during their protracted winter. 



Were it not for the beneficial operations of the 

 electric spark, which is always ready at the com- 

 mand of its Maker, to kindle these combustible ma- 

 terials before they become sufficiently accumulated 

 to involve the whole in one universal conflagration, 

 the world, it is probable, would long ere now have 

 been destroyed by fire. There is no occasion (ac- 

 cording to the opinions of some theorists) for calling 

 in the aid of a comet to complete this work of de- 

 struction. The Almighty has only to suspend the 

 operations of his fiery meteors, and the elements will 

 soon become sufficiently inflammatory to catch fire 

 by a single spark; so that, in fact, those terrific mo- 

 nitors of the gazing crowd, instead of being certain 

 indications that an incensed Deity is about to inflict 

 the effects of his hot displeasure on a guilty world, 

 according to the language of philosophy and the 

 whispers of religion, are rather convincing tokens 

 that " His mercy is not yet clean gone, that the Lord 

 has not forgotten to be gracious." 



