CONCLUSION. 



HAVING endeavoured to point out the changes on 

 the face of nature, during the varying year., we shall 

 conclude our labours with the following impressive 

 extract from St. Pierre. 



a We have attempted, in the course of this work/'* 

 says this amiable writer, 4 < to treat of the harmonies 

 of the sun and moon with animated beings ; but these 

 harmonies are inexhaustible. All animals, in short, 

 have the phases of their life regulated by those of 

 the sun and moon. Scarcely does the orb of day sink 

 tinder the horizon, when all animals are struck with 

 lethargy, with the exception of those to whom night 

 is the season of excursion. The wakefulness of the lat- 

 ter proves, as well asa number of other effects of nature, 

 that sleep is not a mere mechanical result of the absence 

 of the sun. Insects now take refuge in the hearts of 

 plants; birds, nestling- in foliage, repose with their 

 heads under their wings ; a flock of sheep retires to 

 rest under the shelter of a hedge, and the watchful 

 dog, who guards them, sinks into slumber, after hav-. 

 ing turned his body several times round. All the 

 functions of intelligence are suspended, in the ab- 

 sence of that orb which produces its images ; nay, 

 several of the smaller insects find their existence ter- 

 minated by the setting sun; for the ephemeral fly 

 does not see a second dawn. Soon, ho we very comes 



* Harmonies of Nature, 



Bb 



