46 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Again,—the man of knowledge, even when shrouded in darkness, 
and in solitude, where other minds could find no enjoyment, can en¬ 
tertain himself with the most sublime contemplations. He can 
trace the huge globe on which we stand flying through the depth of 
space, carrying along with it its vast population, at the rate of sixty 
thousand miles every hour, and, by the inclination of its axis, bring¬ 
ing about the alternate succession of summer and winter, spring and 
harvest. By the aid of his telescope he can transport himself to 
wards the moon, and survey the circular plains, the deep caverns, 
the conical hills, the lofty peaks, the shadows of the hills and vales, 
and the rugged and romantic mountain scenery which diversify the 
surface of this orb of night. By the help of the same instrument he 
can range through the planetary system, wing his way through the 
regions of space along with the swiftest orbs, and trace many of the 
physical aspects and revolutions which have a relation to distant 
worlds. He can transport himself to the planet Saturn, and behold 
a stupendous ring, 600,000 miles in circumference, revolving in ma¬ 
jestic grandeur every ten hours around a globe nine hundred times 
larger than the earth, while seven moons, larger than ours, along 
with an innumerable host of stars, display their radiance, to adorn 
the firmament of that magnificent world. He can wing his flight to 
the still more distant regions of the universe, leaving the sun and all 
his planets behind him, till they appear like a scarcely discernable 
speck in creation, and contemplate thousands and millions of stars 
and starry systems, beyond the range of the unassisted eye, and 
wander among suns and worlds dispersed throughout the boundless 
dimensions of space. He can fill up, in his imagination, those blanks 
which astronomy has never directly explored, and conceive thou¬ 
sands of systems and ten thousands of worlds, beyond all that is visi¬ 
ble by the optic tube, stretching out to infinity on every hand,— 
new creations incessantly starting into existence—peopled with in- 
telligences of various orders, and all under the superintendence and 
government of the “ King Eternal, Immortal, and Invisible,” whose 
power is omnipotent, and the limits of his dominions past finding 
out. 
It is evident that a mind capable of such excursions and contem¬ 
plations as I have now supposed, must experience enjoyments infi¬ 
nitely superior to those of the individual whose soul is enveloped in 
intellectual darkness. If substantial happiness is chiefly seated in 
the mind, if it consists in the vigorous exercise of its faculties, if it 
depends on the multiplicity of objects which lie within the range of 
its contemplation, if it is augmented by the view of scenes of beauty 
and sublimity, and displays of infinite intelligence and power, if it is 
connected with tranquility of mind, which generally accompanies in¬ 
tellectual pursuits, and with the subjugation of the pleasures of sense 
to the dictates of reason—the enlightened mind must enjoy gratifi¬ 
cations as far superior to those of the ignorant, as man is superior 
in station and capacity to the worms of the dust. 
In order to illustrate this topic a little further, I shall select a few 
facts and deductions in relation to science which demonstrate the in¬ 
teresting nature and delightful tendency of scientific pursuits. 
Every species of rational information has a tendency to produce 
pleasing emotions. There is a certain gratification in becoming ac¬ 
quainted with objects and operations of which we were formerly ig¬ 
norant, and that, too, altogether independent of the practical tenden¬ 
cy of such knowledge, of the advantages we may expect to reap 
from it, or the sensitive enjoyments with which it may be accom¬ 
panied. A taste for knowledge, a capacity to acquire it, and a 
pleasure accompanying its acquisition, form a part of the constitu¬ 
tion of every mind. The Creator has implanted in the human mind 
a principle of curiosity, and annexed a pleasure to its gratification to 
excite us to investigations of the wonders of creation he has pre¬ 
sented before us, to lead us to just conceptions of his infinite perfec¬ 
tions, and of the relation in which we stand to him as the subjects 
of his government. We all know with what a lively interest most 
persons peruse novels and romances, where hair-breadth escapes 
mysterious incidents, and tales of wonder are depicted with all the 
force and beauty of language. But the scenes detailed in such 
writings produce only a momentary enjoyment. Being retraced as 
only the fictions of a lively imagination, they pass away like a dream 
or a vision of night, leaving the understanding bewildered and desti¬ 
tute of any solid improvement. In order to improve the intellectu¬ 
al faculties while we gratify the principle of curiosity, it is only re¬ 
quisite that we direct the attention to facts instead of fictions ; and 
when the real scenes of the universe are presented in an interesting 
aspect, they are calculated to produce emotions of wonder and de¬ 
light even superior to those excited by the most highly-wrought tales 
of fiction and romance. The following facts and considerations will 
perhaps tend to corroborate this position. 
In the first place, ilie number of effects produced by a single princi¬ 
ple in nature is calculated to excite emotions of admiration and de* 
light. From the simple principle of gravitation, for instance, pro¬ 
ceed all the beauties and sublimities which arise from the meander¬ 
ing rills, the majestic rivers, and the roaring cataracts—it causes 
the mountains to rest on a solid basis, and confines tho ocean to its 
appointed channels—retains the inhabitants of the earth to its sur¬ 
face, and prevents them from flying off in wild confusion through the 
voids of space—it produces the descent of the rains and dews, and 
the alternate flux and reflux of the tides—regulates the various 
movements of all animals—forms mechanical powers—gives impul¬ 
sion to numerous machines—rolls the moon round the earth, and 
prevents her from flying off to the distant regions of space—extends 
its influence from the moon to the earth, from the earth to the moon, 
and from the sun to the remotest planets, preserving surrounding 
worlds in their proper courses, and connecting the solar system with 
other worlds and systems in the remote spaces of the universe. 
When a stick of sealing wax is rubbed with a piece of flannel, it at¬ 
tracts feathers or small bits of paper; when a long tube of glass, or a 
cat’s back, is rubbed in the dark, it emits flashes of fire, accompa¬ 
nied with a snapping noise. Now, is it not delightful to a rational 
mind to know, that the same principle which causes wax or amber 
■ to attract light substances, and glass tubes or cylinders to emit 
sparks of fire, produces the lightnings of heaven and all the sublime 
henomena which accompany a violent thunder-storm, and, in com- 
ination with other agents, produces also the fiery meteor which 
sweeps through the sky with its luminous train, and the beautiful 
coruscations of the aurora borealis 1 There are more than fifty 
thousand different species of plants in the vegetable kingdom, all 
differing from one another in their size, structure, flowers, leaves, 
fruits, mode of propagation, internal vessels, medicinal virtues, and 
the odors they exhale. Who would imagine that this immense as¬ 
semblage of vegetable productions which adorns the surface of earth 
in every clime, with such a diversity of forms, fruits and colours, and 
the result of the combination of four or five simple substances vari¬ 
ously modified by the hand of the Creator 1 Yet it is an undoubted 
fact ascertained from chymical analysis, that all vegetable substan¬ 
ces, from the invisible mushroom which adheres to a spot of mouldi¬ 
ness, to the cedar of Lebanon and the banian-tree, which would cov¬ 
er with its shade an army of ten thousand men—are solely compo¬ 
sed of the following natural principles—caloric, light, water, air, and 
carbon. 
Again, is it not wonderful that the invisible atmosphere should 
compress our bodies every moment with a weight of more than 30,- 
000 pounds without our feeling it, and the whole earth with a weight 
of 12,043,468,800,000,000,000 pounds, or five thousand billions of 
tons; that this pressure is essentially necessary to our existence, 
and that a small quantity of air within us, which would not weigh 
above a single ounce, by its strong elastic force counteracts the ef¬ 
fects of this tremendous pressure upon our bodies, and prevents our 
being crushed to pieces—that the same cause prevents our habita¬ 
tions from falling upon us and crushing us to death, without which 
our glass windows would be shattered to atoms, and our most state¬ 
ly edifices tumbled into ruins 1 —that this atmosphere is at the same 
time performing an immense variety of operations in nature and in 
art—insinuating itself into the pores and sap-vessels of plants and 
flowers—producing respiration in all living beings, and supporting 
all the processes of life and vegetation throughout the animal and 
vegetable creation—that its pressure produces the process of what 
is called suction and cupping —causes snails and periwinkles to ad¬ 
here to the rocks on which they are found—gives effect to the adhe¬ 
sion of bodies by means of mortar and cement—raises water in our 
forcing-pumps and fire-engines—supports the quicksilver in our ba¬ 
rometers—prevents the water of our seas and rivers from boiling and 
evaporating into steam—and promotes the action of our steam-en¬ 
gines while raising water from deep pits, and while propelling ves¬ 
sels along seas and rivers ? 
In the next place, science contributes to the gratification of the 
human mind by enabling us to trace, in many objects and operations, 
surprising resemblances, where we should least of all have expected 
them. Who could at first sight, imagine that, the process of breath¬ 
ing is a species of combustion, or burning—that the diamond is noth¬ 
ing else than carbon in a chrystalized state, and differs only in a 
