63 GENERAL VIEW OP NATURE. 



phenomena, by penetration into the play of obscure forces, 

 and by, an animated representation in which the visible 

 spectacle may be reflected back as in a faithful mirror, to 

 conceive and to describe the whole creation (TO nav) in a 

 manner befitting the dignity of the word Cosmos in its sense 

 of universe, order of the material world, and beauty or 

 ornament of that universal order. May the immeasurable 

 diversity of the elements which crowd together into the 

 picture of Nature not be found to impair the harmonious 

 impression of repose and unity, which is the ultimate aim 

 of every literary or purely artistic composition ! 



I propose to begin with the depths of space and the 

 remotest nebulae, and thence gradually to descend through 

 the starry region to which our solar system belongs, to the 

 consideration of the terrestrial spheroid with its aerial and 

 liquid coverings, its form, its temperature and magnetic 

 tension, and the fulness of organic life expanding and 

 moving over its surface under the vivifying influence of 

 light. Such a universal sketch, though drawn with only a 

 few strokes of the pencil, must comprehend from the un- 

 measured celestial spaces, to those microscopic animal and 

 vegetable organisations which inhabit our pools of standing 

 water and the weathered surfaces of our rocks. All that 

 can be known by the senses, and all that a persevering 

 study of nature, in every direction, has revealed up to the 

 present time, constitute the material from which the repre- 

 sentation is to be drawn. This representation must contain 

 within itself the evidence of its fidelity and truth. It does 

 not require for its completeness the enumeration of all 

 animated forms, or of all natural objects or processes ; on 

 the contrary, order and harmony must be maintained by 



