NATURE AND NATURAL HISTORY 



meaning, and the grandeur of the voyage we are 

 making on its surface. The imaginary and hoped- 

 for other world occupies my thoughts very little. 

 There is so much to know here, so much to enjoy, 

 so much to engage every faculty of the mind and 

 develop every power of the body, such beauty, such 

 sublimity, and such a veil of enchantment and 

 mystery over all — how can one ever tire of it, or 

 wish for a better? I am in love with the earth. With 

 all its hostile forces and forbidding features, — its 

 deserts, its jungles, its killing heats and frigid zones, 

 its storms and earthquakes, its wars, and famines, 

 and contagious diseases, — I am; thankful that my 

 lot was not cast on any other planet. It is the best 

 possible world, undoubtedly, for such beings as we 

 are, and is slowly becoming better adapted to human 

 life — ripening on the vast sidereal tree whose fruit 

 is worlds and systems. How much it has ripened in 

 the historic period who can tell? No doubt it has 

 ripened somewhat in ten thousand years. But every 

 geologic period has undoubtedly seen some im- 

 provement, with temporary set-backs during the 

 ice age, or ice ages. But these ages sculpturing 

 the surface, pulverizing the rocks, and changing 

 the rivers — filling up and wearing down — seem 

 like workmen preparing the landscape for a more 

 abundant harvest. 



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