increasing and never-satisfied appetite for accumulation and enjoyment.

And so it is, that the very privations and disadvantages, with which man comes into the world, become the means by which the desire of acquiring and improving is stimulated, till he not only equals the lower animals in those gifts, naturally withheld from him, with which Providence had endowed them, but rises far beyond them; and, by means of his mental qualities, deservedly earns for himself the title, which his bodily faculties could never have merited, of being emphatically lord of this nether sphere.

TENTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

II. MAN IN WINTER.-PROVISIONS FOR HIS COMFORT.

Ir is most interesting to look into the various features of that providential administration, by which, under a very peculiar and surprising discipline, the progress of society is advanced, and man rises in the scale of moral and intelligent beings. In the wants of his natural state, as regards the season of winter, we yesterday saw how a stimulus is employed, which, combined, doubtless, with other incentives, induces him to seek, first, necessaries, then conveniences, then comforts and luxuries, till he draws around him the resources of the world, and, by the ever-expanding views of an aspiring mind, calls progressively into action those mental powers, both in himself and his fellows, which might otherwise have lain dormant.

If, from this view of the exercise given to genius and talent, in counteracting the privations of winter, we turn to the provisions which have been bountifully made, in external nature, for affording scope to these faculties, we shall find additional cause of devout admiration.

The first thing worthy of remark, in this department of the subject, is, that, speaking generally, the materials by which exposure to the inclemency of the season may be obviated, lie apparent and abundant in those climates. where such inconveniences are liable to be felt. In proportion as we penetrate into the colder regions, animals are found in greater plenty, whose coats of soft and downy fur, furnished beneficently by their Creator for their own protection, when transferred to the human body, defy the wintry storms. If we approach still nearer the polar circle, we discover a provision which renders even these regions of gloom and intense cold, habitable during the severest part of the year. The enormous tenants of the icy seas, which surround these inhospitable coasts, not only furnish the inhabitants with food; but, being enveloped in immense loads of fat, yield to them all that is needful, both for light and heat, in their dark and chilly winter months. Nay, the very snow, which clothes Nature as in a winding-sheet, and seems to augur nothing but desolation and death, is converted, by the ingenuity of man, into a comfortable habitation, and thus becomes a preserver of life, and a means of enjoyment.

Then, again, if we speak of fuel, how bountiful is Providence in supplying those exhaustless forests of pine in the northern regions of Europe, and those immense fields of coal in Britain, and other similar climates, by which frost is charmed away from the dwellings of the inhabitants! Can we believe it to be without a beneficent design, that such amazing magazines of combustible matter should be deposited within our temperate zones ? And does it not add to the wonder of this provision, that coal is known to be a vegetable production of a climate altogether different from that in which it is found,-a climate probably not inferior in warmth, and in the power of nourishing vegetation, to the most favored of our tropical regions ?* When, and under what circumstances,

* The high temperature of the localities in which the vegetation was produced that has given rise to our coal fields, is inferred from the gigantic size of the ferns, mosses, and other plants, still discovered in the formation.

did that profusion of gigantic trees and plants cover the face of the earth, and luxuriate in the sunshine and the shower of a blessed climate, which, under the name of Surturbrand, has erected the platform on which northern Iceland rears its burning mountain, and spreads its rugged hills and plains; and in Britain, the land of manufactures, and America, that new country, buoyant with youthful enterprise, has laid up those amazing stores of fuel, which many centuries of human toil and industry, can scarcely be said to diminish? A mystery hangs over the subject, which the geologist, with all his zeal and acuteness, shall probably in vain attempt to penetrate; but it is enough for our present purpose to know the fact. By whatever natural catastrophe these ancient woods and forests were submerged, there they are, collected in the most convenient localities, at once for furnishing the means of comfort during the rigors of an ungenial winter, and for affording facilities to the increase of human power, in the cultivation and improvement of the arts of life.* Is it too much to say, that here is the hand of a Paternal Providence?

* Dr. Buckland, after stating that iron is frequently associated with coal in the subordinate beds of the transition series, concludes a chapter on this subject, with the following interesting observations. "The important uses of coal and iron in administering to the supply of our daily wants, give to every individual amongst us, in almost every moment of our lives, a personal concern, of which but few are conscious, in the geological events of these very distant eras. We are all brought into immediate connexion with the vegetation which clothed the ancient earth, before one half of its actual surface had yet been formed. The trees of the primeval forests have not, like modern trees, undergone decay, yielding back their elements to the soil and atmosphere, by which they have been nourished, but, treasured up in subterranean storehouses, have been transformed into enduring beds of coal, which, in these later ages, have become to man the sources of heat, and light, and wealth. My fire now burns with fuel, and my lamp is shining with the light of gas, derived from coal that has been buried for countless ages in the deep and dark recesses of the earth. We prepare our food, and maintain our forges and furnaces and the power of our steam-engines, with the remains of plants of ancient forms and extinct species, which were swept from the earth ere the formation of the transition strata was completed. Our instruments of cutlery, the tools of our mechanics, and the countless machines which we construct, by the infinitely-varied applications of iron, are derived from ore, for the most part coeval with, or

Fuel implies the use of fire, and this leads us to look at some of the properties of that wonderful element, which, on the hearth and in the lamp, contributes so materially to the comforts of winter. This is the very same element, which, by its subtile and all-pervading powers, gives light and warmth to the world, and the effects of which, the poet of the Seasons so beautifully describes, in speaking of the adorable power and goodness of the Creator, when he says, that His mighty hand "Works in the secret deep; shoots, steaming, thence The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring; Flings from the sun direct the flaming day; Feeds every creature; hurls the tempest forth; And, as on earth the grateful change revolves, With transport touches all the springs of life."

In the treatise on Heat, published in the 'Library of Useful Knowledge,' there are the following introductory observations, which describe, in a popular manner, some of the most obvious effects of this remarkable agent. "In all our excursions over the surface of the globe, innumerable objects excite our admiration, and contribute to our delight. But whether our gratitude is awakened by the verdure of the earth, the lustre of the waters, or the freshness of the air, it is to the beneficial agency of heat (under Providence) that we are indebted for them all. Without the presence and effects of heat, the earth would be an impenetrable rock, incapable of supporting animal or vegetable life; the waters would be for ever deprived of their fluidity and motion, and the air of its elasticity and its utility together.

"Heat animates, invigorates, and beautifies all Nature. Its influence is absolutely necessary, to enable plants to grow, put forth their flowers, and perfect their fruits. It is closely connected with the powers of life, since animore ancient than, the fuel, by the aid of which we reduce it to its metallic state, and apply it to innumerable uses in the economy of human life. Thus from the wreck of forests which waved upon the surface of the primeval lands, and from ferruginous mud that was lodged at the bottom of the primeval waters, we derive our chief supplies of coal and iron, those two fundamental elements of art and industry which contribute, more than any other mineral production of the earth, to increase the riches, and multiply the comforts, and ameliorate the condition of mankind."-Buckland's B. T., vol. i. pp. 66, 67.

mated beings lose their vitality when heat is withdrawn. Such is the universal influence of this powerful agent in the kingdoms of Nature; nor is this influence diminished in the provinces of art. It is with the aid of heat that rocks are rent, and the hidden treasures of the earth obtained. Matter is modified ten thousand ways by its agency, and rendered subservient to the uses of man, furnishing him with useful and appropriate instruments, warm and ornamental clothing, wholesome and delicious food, needful and effectual shelter."

Heat is the principle of fire, under whatever modification it may appear; and nothing can be more worthy of admiration, than the fact, that an element of such tremendous power, whose operations are on so vast a scale, and whose mastery is so fearful, should yet be capable of being subjected to the service of man, in the most menial offices, and, in that capacity, should become so mild and tractable. What human mind, in the wildest flights of its fancy, could, previous to experience, have conceived the existence of an agent, which appals nature with its angry roar, and, rending the clouds, darts in livid bolts from heaven to earth, or uprears mountains in its throes, and, opening the solid crust of the globe, overwhelms whole regions with torrents of melted rock, poured forth like water; or, more amazing still, which displays its might and glory, in shedding the effulgence of day over the smiling earth, and regulating the changes of the seasons, and calling the wonders of vegetation from the solid land, while it causes the liquid seas to flow, which performs all these wonders, and a thousand more, and yet is so entirely under the control of man, and so subservient to his use, that it remains meekly glimmering amidst smouldering ashes in the grate, ready, at his command, to cheer and enlighten his winter evenings, by blazing from a taper, or to employ its obsequious powers, for whatever purpose of culinary preparation, or of genial warmth, his necessities or enjoyments may require. What amazing power and wisdom is here, tempered, not less wonderfully, with all the tender condescension of Paternal kindness!