ASTRONOMY, 233 



pletely unchanged. Priests are seen paying divine honors to the 

 Scaraboeus, or beetle, placed upon an altar; an insect which is said to 

 have been typical of the sun, either because it changes its appearance 

 or place of abode every six months, or because it is wonderfully 

 productive. Dr. Russell, of whose account of these ruins we have availed 

 ourselves, laments that both these temples, though well preserved, are 

 almost concealed amongst the heaps of dirt and rubbish ; indeed, the 

 entrance of the larger one is occupied by several mud cottages belonging 

 to the villagers, and the interior chambers of the sekos are indiscrimi- 

 nately used as sinks, granaries, or stables. 



" To what base uses may we coine, Horatio ?" 



ASTRONOMY. 



THE Heavens afford the most sublime subject of study which can be 

 derived from science. The magnitude and splendour of the objects, 

 the inconceivable rapidity with which they move, and the enormous 

 distances between them, impress the mind with some notion of the 

 energy which maintains them in their motions, with a durability to which 

 we can see no limit. Equally conspicuous is the goodness of the great 

 FIRST CAUSE, in having endowed man with faculties, by which he can 

 not only appreciate the magnificence of His works, but trace with pre- 

 cision the operation of His laws, use the globe which he inhabits, as a 

 base wherewith to measure the magnitude and distance of the sun and 

 planets, and make the diameter of the earth's orbit the first step of a 

 scale by which he may ascend to the starry firmament. 



Such pursuits will enable the mind at the same time to inculcate 

 humility, by showing that there is a barrier which no energy, mental or 

 physical, can ever enable us to pass ; that however profoundly we may 

 penetrate the depths of space, there still remains innumerable systems 

 compared with which those apparently so vast must dwindle into insig- 

 nificance, or even become invisible; and that, not only man, but theglobe 

 nay, the whole system of which it forms so small a part might be annihi- 

 lated, and its extinction be unperceived in the immensity of creation. If 

 such be the subjects contemplated by this beautiful science (and who can 

 doubt it), how delightful the means by which we can arrive at this 

 great consummation ! The Copernican or Newtonian philosophy being 

 admitted to be the only accurate system by which we can be guided in 

 pursuing our study of Astronomy, we shall pass over all the speculative 

 theories of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians (the first cultivators 



