THE COTTON PLANT. 335 



work of creation and the work of grace revealed in the 

 word of God. Proofs corroborative of the authenticity 

 of the Bible, have been gathered from those very sources 

 which formerly were applied to by the skeptic for his 

 sharpest weapons ; and at this moment, (such is the secu- 

 rity with which Christianity may regard the progress of 

 knowledge,) there does not exist in our own country, nor, 

 so far as I am aware, in any other, one philosopher of 

 eminence who has ventured to confront Christianity and 

 philosophy, as manifestly contradictory. May we not 

 venture to hope that, in a very short time, the weak darts 

 of minor spirits, which from time to time are still permit- 

 ted to assail our bulwarks, will be also quenched, and the 

 glorious Gospel, set free from all the oppositions of sci- 

 ence falsely so called, shall walk hand in hand over the 

 earth with a philosophy always growing in humility, be- 

 cause every day becoming more genuine. C. J. C. D. 



TWELFTH WEEK— MONDAY. 



VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES USED FOR WEAVING. THE COTTON- 

 PLANT. 



The cotton-plant, another vegetable substance, exten- 

 sively used in manufactures, differs materially from that 

 already described, in its properties, appearance, and hab- 

 its. Instead of being generally diffused over temperate 

 climates, it belongs more properly to the torrid zone, and 

 the regions bordering on it ; and instead of being chiefly 

 confined to one species, as to its peculiar and useful qual- 

 ities, its varieties seem scarcely to have any limit, extend- 

 ing from an herb* of a foot or two in height, to a treef 



* Gossypium herbaceum, or common herbaceous cotton-plant. 



t Bombax ceiba, or American silU cotton-tree. — [The Baobab, or 

 Adansonia di^itata, an enormous and long-Hved tree, also belongs to 

 this family. But it is incorrect to call these trees " varieties " of the 

 cotton plant. They are nearly allied to it, indeed, but they stand in dif- 

 ferent divisions of the great order of inahace e, or mallows ; and the 

 downy contents of their pods are of little use compared with true cotton. 

 — Am. Ed.] 



