INFORMATION EVERY WHERE. 97 



found some substance of the greatest importance 

 and value, which used on former occasions to be 

 despised. Therefore, as we must beware of neg- 

 lecting small things, so also we must not refrain 

 from observing and examining any thing, though 

 that thing may be neglected or despised, or even 

 derided ; for a thing, which is any or all of these, 

 may contain the substance of the most valuable dis- 

 covery that it is possible for us to make. There is 

 no substance and no event independent and of it- 

 self alone. They belong to the great family of 

 nature and the vast succession of appearances; and, 

 whatever their aspects may be to our mere gaze, 

 they may have a long tale to tell of the past, and 

 a most important revelation to make of the future. 

 To the unreflecting observer, the chalky cliffs of 

 Kent, with their dispersed nodules of flint, may 

 seem very dull and senseless instructors ; and yet 

 those beds of chalk have once been sea shells, and 

 those flints have once been sponges ; so that the 

 two together tell us that those very cliffs, which 

 now stand beetling over the ocean, must at some 

 period or other have been far below its surface. 

 Indeed, there is not a substance with which we meet, 

 or an appearance that can strike any of the senses, 

 but which, if we will hear it, has got an interesting 

 story ; and whether we visit places thickly tenanted 

 with animals, places thickly planted with vege- 

 tables, the barren wilds, the ocean shores, the wide 

 expanse of its waters, or the wastes of drifting 

 sand, nay, even if we could mount up from the 

 earth altogether, and visit the region of clouds, we 

 should find enough to exercise all our observation, 

 occupy all our thoughts, and gratify and delight us 

 to the full measure of our capacity for enjoyment. 



