light from other causes, would make them useless. Those stars also which the naked eye cannot discover, from their great distance, would be absolutely of no use; and the purpose ascribed to them would be better supplied by one single star nearer to us, than by so many millions at that distance. As the same reasoning may be applied to all the uses the stars are to us, either in navigation or any thing else, it must be allowed that we could not possibly account for the design of those numerous suns, if no creature except those of our own globe profited by their light and heat. This conclusion appears still more natural, if we reflect more attentively on our solar system. We have already observed, that the moon in many things resembles this earth; that there, as well as here, land and sea, mountains and valleys, islands and gulphs, are to be seen. Such affinities as these authorise us to admit others, and to sup. pose also in the moon, minerals, plants, animals, and rational creatures. The analogy between the moon and the rest of the planets leads us to form the same conjectures of them. And as each star has, to all appearance, like our sun, its particular planets, and as these undoubtedly resemble ours, we in a manner behold around us an innumerable multitude of worlds, each of which has its peculiar laws, arrangement, productions, and inhabitants. How numerous are the works of God! How glorious the starry sky! How great our Creator! Millions of worlds declare his glory, and the intelligent beings they contain acknowledge and adore their Maker. How forcibly does this incline us to join with the heavenly choir, in singing the praise of the Most High, that it may resound over all the universe! How happy the prospect that opens to us of that future state, wherein we shall be acquainted with these worlds, and able to comprehend the wonders of them! How great will be our astonishment in discovering objects quite new to us, or at least very imperfectly known! In what splendour will the divine perfections appear, the power of which extends over a multitude of worlds, while we falsely imagine it reaches only to the little globe we inhabit! What an inexhaustible fund of varied knowledge! What endless subjects for glorifying the Creator and Ruler of all these worlds! JUNE I. Difference between the Works of Nuture and those of Art. WHEN we compare the works of nature with those of art, we find that the former has great superiority over the latter. The consideration alone, that the productions of art are only imitations of nature, is enough to prove this truth beyond a doubt. What artist is there that does not wish to come as near to nature as possible! He is not able to invent, and all he does must have been taught him by nature. How rich, and what variety is there in it! and, on the contrary, how poor and dull is art! In the vast kingdom of nature we find an inexhaustible treasure; and any one of its parts, a stone, a plant, an animal, affords us so many objects worthy of admiration, that, in examining them with the utmost exactness, even to the smallest particle, we cannot discover the slightest imperfection in them. The works of art, on the contrary, are soon exhausted: If they are searched to the bottom, and strictly examined, one soon loses the admiration they at first excited, and discover faults and imperfections not thought of before. What are the most perfect statues in comparison of a single animal, an insect, a worm? Nature is able, of herself, to produce the greatest master-pieces; whereas art It borrows from it all that it has of the beautiful. has nothing of its own; and nature has the first right over every thing. Let us add to this, how much less durable the works of art are than those of nature! When the former have been long destroyed, the others still subsist in all their primitive beauty. How superior is the interior construction of the production of nature to all the works of men! Compare, for example, the most ingenious machine to the mechanism of animals, and you will be struck with admiration at the sight of the miracles of nature, whilst the masterpieces of art will appear a mere bauble. Let us only consider ourselves with attention. The perfect and regular construction of our muscles and arteries; the wonderful circulation of the blood in our veins; the variety and number of movements in our limbs; what proofs of the magnificence of God's works! and how poor and trifling, in comparison, are the productions of man! It would be easy to pursue these remarks, if what has been said was not more than sufficient to teach us the just value of the works of nature. It is true, that self-love carries us so far, that we are but too apt to prefer our own works to all others; and our taste is so depraved, that we look on every thing with disdain and indifference, in which the industry of man has no share. Both these prove our ignorance and ingratitude. Can we be so unjust, as to set less value on a watch, admirably finished by a great artist, than on a ball of snow, made up by a child? In thus robbing the ingenious workman of the honour due to him, should we not prove at the same time our ignorance and folly? That is exactly our case, when we do not properly distinguish between the works of nature and those of art. It is true, that we ought not to despise the productions of art, for they also have their value; but, on the other hand, it would be absurd to consider, them as equal, and still more so, to prefer them, to the works of nature. God made his works so perfect, that through them we might acknowledge his power, wisdom, and goodness. Let us fulfil this great duty, and never give up the contemplation of nature, nor forget the effect such researches ought to have upon us. Let the study of nature be our delight, because it will teach us more and more to know the Creator and Ruler of the world, and will continually excite in us a desire to arrive one day at a perfect knowledge of his works. JUNE II. Leaves of Trees. THE leaves of trees form one of the great beauties of nature. Our impatience to see them bud in spring, and our joy when they at last appear, prove sufficiently that they are the ornaments of our gardens, fields, and woods. How great the pleasure we enjoy in the hot summer days from the refreshing coolness of their delightful shade. Yet, after all, this is certainly the least of the advantages which accrue to us from the foliage of trees: We need only consider the wonderful construction of leaves, to be convinced that they were designed for much more important purposes. Each leaf has certain vessels, which, being pressed close at the end, or in the stalk, extend themselves like ribs within the leaf, and branch out in a thousand ways. There are no leaves without extreme fine vessels, and an astonishing number of pores. For example, it has been observed, that in a sort of box-tree, called palma cereris, there are above an hundred and seventy-two thousand pores on one single side of the leaf. In the open air, the leaves turn their upper side towards the sky, and the under towards the earth, or towards the inside of the plant. To what purpose would this particular arrangement of the leaves be, if they were of no other use but to adorn trees, and to procure us shade? Most certainly the Creator had something much more important in view. The nourishment of plants proceeds directly from the leaves: their pores serve to suck in the moisture or the juices of the atmosphere, and to communicate them afterwards to the whole plant. What wisdom is there in this organization! By these means the plants in dry weather run no risk of wanting nourishment. They receive abundance of refreshing dew, which, falling from the upper leaves, waters those under them, and thus none of this nourishing juice is lost. And as plants perspire greatly, as many experiments shew us, the leaves appear to be the principal organs of this important perspiration. They serve also to introduce into the plant the air it requires. They appear even to contribute to the preservation of the bud which is to shoot the following year: for the eye of the bud is already under the leaf: Undoubtedly it is guarded and preserved by them, at the same time that the quantity of juice, where the leaf joins to the plant, also serves to preserve it. This is the reason that many trees wither and die when their leaves are gathered. It sometimes happens to the mulberry tree, when it is stripped without proper caution to feed silk-worms. This is also the reason that grapes do not ripen, when the vine loses its leaves in summer. Another remark may be made on this subject, which very much opens to us the manner of the plant's growth: The under side of the leaves, always turned towards the ground, is generally of a paler and less bright colour; it is inore rough and spongy than the upper side. Here, again, we discover the wisest purposes: The side of the leaf next the ground is rougher, and consequently more full of pores, in order to suck in so much the better what dew |