22 COSMOS. 



of objects, the most animated narratives of voyages in distant 

 lands will fail to interest and attract us, if they do not touch 

 upon the subjects to which we are most partial. 



As the history of nations if it were always able to trace 

 events to their true causes might solve the ever-recurring 

 enigma of the oscillations experienced by the alternately pro- 

 gressive and retrograde movement of human society, so might 

 also the physical description of the world, the science of the 

 Cosmos, if it were grasped by a powerful intellect, and based 

 upon a knowledge of all the results of discovery up to a 

 given period, succeed in dispelling a portion of the contradic- 

 tions, which, at first sight, appear to arise from the complica- 

 tion of phenomena and the multitude of the perturbations 

 simultaneously manifested. 



The knowledge of the laws of nature, whether we can trace; 

 them in the alternate ebb and flow of the ocean, in the 

 measured path of comets, or in the mutual attractions of 

 multiple stars, alike increases our sense of the calm of nature, 

 whilst the chimera so long cherished by the human mind in 

 its early and intuitive contemplations, the belief in a " discord 

 of the elements," seems gradually to vanish in proportion as 

 science extends her empire. General views lead us habitually 

 to consider each organism as a part of the entire creation, and 

 to recognise in the plant or the animal, not merely an isolated 

 species, but a form linked in the chain of being to other forms 

 either living or extinct. They aid us in comprehending 

 the relations that exist between the most recent discoveries 

 and those which have prepared the way for them. Although 

 fixed to one point of space, we eagerly grasp at a knowledge 

 of that which has been observed in different and far distant 

 regions . We delight in tracking the course of the bold mariner 

 through seas of polar ice, or in following him to the summit of 

 that volcano of the antarctic pole, whose fires may be seen from 

 afar, even at mid-day. It is by an acquaintance with the results 

 of distant voyages, that we may learn to comprehend some of 

 the marvels of terrestrial magnetism, and be thus led to appre- 

 ciate the importance of the establishments of the numerous 

 observatories, which in the present day, cover both hemispheres, 

 and are designed to note the simultaneous occurrence of 

 perturbations, and the frequency and duration of magnetic 

 itorms. 



