IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I If ilM IIM •^ 1^ 1112.2 1^ ^ 2.0 1.8 1-25 1.4 1.6 ■* 6" ► m e /2 ^> m '>> V Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ) A ^^^ ^ <^; : treated this announcement with contempt, while others were alarmed, but all were naturally anxious. When they at length saw the black shadow of the earth seizing the moon within itself, they were all horror-struck, and, hastening to the crew with provisions of all sorts, they begged the intercession of Columbus with the celestial deity that the moon might be restored, promising to serve Columbus faithfully ever after. Columbus, after retiring for some time to consult the deity, as he said, promised them that the curse would be taken ofif from them ; and that, as a sign, the moon would emerge from her 6 THE BOOK OP NATURE confinement, which, when the Indians saw again traversing the heavens, they adored the astronomer, believing him to have supernatural gifts, and to hold an intercouse with heaven, whereby he was informed of what would take place in the skies. The Spaniards suffered no more upon this occasion through famine." — Sat. Mag., 1838. " An eclipse happened during Lord Macartney's embassy to China, which kept the emperor and his mandarins the whole day devoutly praying the gods that the moon might not be eaten up by the great dragon which was hovering about her ; the next day a pantomime was performed, exhibiting the battle of the dragon and the moon, and in which two or three hundred priests, bearing lanterns at the end of long sticks, dancing and capering about, sometimes over the plain, and then over chairs and tables, bore no mean part." — British Cyclopedia, Art. Astronomy. A few years ago, when a grnat comet was visible, the fol- lowing paragraph went the round of the newspapers : "The Correspondancia Autographa publishes a letter from Cochin China, which asserts that the emperor of that country was so alarmed at the comet that he had fastened himself in a tower, with poison and a cord, in order to put an end to his existence in the event of its causing any disaster." But the signs of the heavens have not always been taken by ignorant people as prognostics of calamity. Men have been, and are still, found vain and weak enough to regard them as happy omens connected with the affairs of their own lives. Thus the birth of Romulus was said to have been predicted by a comet. And you will remember that in n AND THE ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 7 the first part of Shakespere's King Henry the Fourth the braggart Glendower says : " At my nativity The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes Of burning cressets, and at my birth The frame and huge foundation of the earth Shook like a coward." The reply that is put m the mouth of Henry Percy, is well calculated to shew the absurdity of such vain-glorious boasting. He says . " Why 80 it would hare done, At the same season, if your mother's cat had But kitten'd, though yourself had ne'er Been born. On the day of the battle of Mortimer's Cross (which was fought in 1461 between the rival armies of York and Lan- caster) there happened one of those remarkable occurrences called parhelia or mock suns. They are owing to a peculiar state of the atmosphere, which deceives the eye much in the same way that a bad piece of glass does by multiplying the appearances of the objects that are seen through it. The poet Drayton, narrating the events of the battle, says : "Three suns were seen that instante to appear, Which soon again shut up themselves in one, Ready to buckle as the armies were ; Which this brave duke took to himself alone. His drooping hopes, which somewhat seem'd to cheere, By his mishaps neare lately overthrowne ; So that thereby encouraging his men Once more he sets the White Rose ' up agen.' " 8 THE BOOK OP NATURE I think sufficient has been given to shew that the power of God has been recognized in the signs of heaven by the unen- lightened of mankind, though it has been with a superstitious and unhealthy vision. There are persons who would keep men ignorant, believing that the contemphtion of second causes takes from their dependence upon God, who is the first. Bacon, in the First Book of his Advancement of Learning, has met the objections of such people : " Will ye," he says, " lie for God as one man will do for another to gratify him ? For certainly God works nothing in nature but by second causes, and to assert the contrary is mere imposture, as it were, in favour of God, and offering up to the author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie. Undoubtedly a superficial tincture of philosophy may incline the mind to atheism ; yet, a further knowledge brings it back to religion.— For on the threshold of philosophy, where second causes appear to absorb the attention, some oblivion of the highest cause may ensue ; but when the mind goes deeper, and sees the dependence of causes and the works of Providence, it will easily perceive, according to the mythology of the poets, that the upper link of Nature's chain is fastened to Jupiter's throne." Let us examine whether we are likely to lose sight of God's power by advancing in the paths of science. To ignorant persons the earth appears to be the principal object in creation. The sun, moon, and stars to them are simply lights, in daily revolution round the earth. But As- tronomy declares that the earth is but one of a number of worlds, of which Jupiter and Saturn are the principal in AND THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 9 point of size. That it would take 1,400 such worlds as ours to equal Jupiter, and 1,000 to equal Saturn. That Jupiter is attended hj four bright moons, Saturn by seven, and Uranus (a planet 80 times larger than the earth) by six. That the sun is a glorious body, 1,000,000 times larger than the earth : that it is in fact so large that if its centre were placed where the centre of the earth now is, its body would fill the spac ' between us and the moon's orbit, and extend 200,000 miles beyond. That round this sun the earth and planets revolve, in different periods, and with diflferent degrees of velocity : the earth being hurled through space at the rate of 20 miles a moment. These declarations are established — they are truths. Are they not calculated to enlarge our opinion of God's power ? But let us come to probabilities founded upon them, and sim- ilar truths, and we shall be lost in amazement at the extent of that power. There is every reason to believe that the fixed stars are suns resembling our sun, and that each of them has worlds revolving round it, similar to our world, and teeming, as our world does, with life— for God has made nothing in vain. And probability does not end here. And, that you may quite understand what I am about to statt. suppose yourselves upon an immense plain, at night, standing in the midst of a vast number of lights, some scores in breadth, but many thousands in length ; and that at different positions upon this plain there 10 THE ROOK OF NATUllE arc similar groups of lights. You will readily conceive that those lights on either side of you will stand out, clear and distinct ; that those immediately before you will be distin- "uishable ; but that the individuality of those more remote will be lost in their united blaze. Now our sun is supposed to be one of a vast number of suns arranged in a somewhat similar manner to the lights we have been talking about. On either side of us the stars arc distinct^ seen. Above us is a broad band of light, commonly called tne Milky Way, which seen through a powerful tele- scope is found to be composed of myriads of stars. At dif- ferent points of the sky there are masses of light of a similar nature to the Milky Way. They have received the name of nebulce from astronomers. And it was the opinion of the great Herschel that the whole of them was in motion round some central point. Let me now call your attention to the structure of the earth on which we live. I will not trouble you with theories respecting the mode of its formation ; but will simply point out some of the indications of the stupendous nature of the revolutions it has undergone, and of the wonderful power the Almighty has displayed in directing its vicissitudes to tho ffood of his creatures. By Him the valleys have been exalted, for the mountains were once the bed of the sea. Marine fossils maybe gathered from the tops of some of our highest hills. A t\ # AND TUB ATTRIBUTES OF flOD. 11 4 \ The coal beds, to which England owes much of her great- ness, arc the remains of vast forests of pines, cacti, euphor- bias, ferns, and palms— or rather, of plants resembling those species— that have been buried in some convulsion of nature. The remains of 300 different kinds of plants, having no living I'eprcsentatives, have been found in the coal measures. The secondary limestones appear to be almost entirely composed of the remains of shell fish. In one piece of rock, weighing only an ounce and a half, 10,000 microscopic shells have been counted. Skeletons of animals that could not exist in the present state of our globe, of enormous size and marvellous form, dragons and reptiles, and unwieldy mammals, are constantly met with in our stone quarries. Countless ages must have elapsed since they were buried in the sand and mud, that were afterwards converted into stone. And how wonderfully is the power of God exhibited in the 100,000 different kinds of plants that clothe the surface of the earth, and in the countless millions of living things that people earth, and air, and sea. God is not great in great things only. His power is equally displayed in the animacule whose ocean is a drop of water, and in the monster 100 feet in length that tempests the mighty deep. It is seen alike in the dwarf alpine willow, of which " half a dozen trees, with all their branches, leaves, flowers, and roots, might be compressed between two of the pages of 12 THE BOOK OF NATURE a lady's pocket-book without touching each other,'' and in the mighty Banyan tree of the Nerbudda, which has given shel- ter to an army of 7,000 men. Space does not limit God's power. The larger our telescope the greater are the wonders we command : the more powerful our microscope the more numerous are the objects we discover. There are creatures living upon other creatures, as the ticks upon sheep— these are called parasites ; now the microscope has revealed a parasite of a parasite. I think, then, we may see that the Omniscience, the Om- nipresence, and the Omnipotence of God are stamped upon his works. The heathen have seen this, for the idols brought from Nineveh by Mr. Layard, have the wings of eagles, and the bodies of lions : " the subUmest images that could be borrowed from Nature to denote the power and ubiquity of God." The Second Part shall contain illustrations of Qod's Wisdom. We judge of the wisdom of God in the operations of Nature from the wonderful adaptation of the means to the end. It is apparent wherever we turn our eyes. The flowers of the field, the beasts of the earth, the fowls that fly in the open firmament of heaven— all things that God hath made, behold they are very good ; in tvisdom He hath made them all— the earth is full of his riches. I will call your attention in this part of my work to the I AND THE ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 13 plants particularly. They afford abundant indications of God's wisdom, and they perform no mean part in the econo- my of nature. They form the connecting link between ' animate and inanimate matter. Animals are taken from the earth ; and when they die they return to the earth. In Ufe they are sustained by earthy particles. It is the plant that converts the earth into food for man and beast. The mode of this conversion is simple and beautiful. The spon^oles* of the plant absorb the juices of the soil ; these juices ascend the stem ; when they reach the leaves they are brought into contact with the air, which, by a chemical process, converts them into what is c&Wed proper juice. This juice descends between the old wood and the bark, and hardens into new wood. The vegetable substances thus secreted are four : gum, sugar, fecula, and lignine. But the all-wise God has modified these in the most marvellous way to supply the various wants of his creatures. The bare enumeration of the necessaries and luxuries we obtain from plants would occupy no inconsiderable portion of time. I will mention but a few, whose origin is least familiar to the majority of people : Sago is obtained from the stem of the Landan tree, which grows in the Moluccas. Tapioca, from the tubers of the Jatropha Manihot, an Amer- ican plant. __^____ • The minute openings at the ends of the fibres of the roots. 14 THE BOOK OP NATURE Arrow-root, from the underground stem of the Maranta At- undinacea, a kind of reed growing in the East and West Indies. Cloves are the flower-buds of the CaryophylluB aromaticiis, a tree which grows wild in the Moluccas. Cinnamon is the bark of a kind of laurel (^Lauras cinnamo- mum) found in the eastern parts of Asia. The Nutmeg is the seed of Myrutica officinalis; and Mace is the covering which separates it from the husk. Ginger is the root of a kind of flag (^Zingiber officinale), cul- tivated in the East Indies. Camphor is a gum obtained from a forest tree, the Zaurus camphora, of which extensive groves are met with on the banks of the Canton river in China. Capers are the leaf buds of a shrub (^Capparis spinosa), a native of the south of Europe. Cayenne is the ground pod of the red Capsicum of India. Plants that are hurtful to some animals are beneficial to others. The horse, the sheep, and the goat feed upon the water-hemlock of Europe, which is certain poison to the cow. The larva of Alstroemeriana (a moth) feeds upon the hemlock — upon that which poisoned Socrates. The stinging nettle is the favourite food of numerous insects, among others, of the caterpillers, of the beautiful Red Admiral and Peacock but- terflies. " Even bees, the little almsmen of spring bowers, Know there is richest juice in poison-flowers."— ^eofa. '4 ) AND THE ATTEIBUTES OF GOD. 15 All parts of plants afford food to one living thing or another. Consider the oak, which is more prolific in animal life, sup- plying more insects with food than any other tree. Nearly 2,000 kinds of living things derive their sustenance from it. The grubs of various kinds of Cynips feed upon the roots, the branches, the buds, and the flower-stalks. The leaves supply food to a variety of caterpillars, and to the cockchafer or oakweb-beetle. The bark is the residence of Scolytus pyg- moeus, and the very timber is eaten by the grub of the stag- beetle. Is not the wisdom of God to be seen in the economy by which nothing is wasted, and every want supplied ? Another important office that vegetation is found to per- form is the purification of the air. The air is composed of various gases, the principal of which are oxygen and carbonic acid. Animals in respiration consume oxygen, and discharge car- bonic acid ; but plants consume carbonic acid and discharge oxygen, and thus the balance is maintained. I will conclude this portion of my work with an instance of God's wisdom, as it is exerted for the reproduction of the plant. The Valisneria spiralis is a plant that grows under water. It is a native of the South of Europe. Its flowers are dioe- cious. To secure the fertility of the plant, it is necessary that the pollen or fine dust of the male flower should be brought in contact with the female blossoms ; but how is this \ 16 THE BOOK OF NATURE to be accomplished? It is effected in this manner: The female blossoms have long stalks, twisted like the spring of a bird-trap. When these blossoms are ready for the action of the pollen the stalks untwist until the flowers float upon the surface, where they open. The male blossoms are in the shape of bladders, and have very short stalks ; but when the pollen they contain is ripe they detach themselves from these, rise to the surface, surround the females, and expand. The female blossoms are closed as soon as their fertilization is ac- complished; their stalks are gradually coiled up; and the seed is perfected beneath the surface of the water. The third part shall contain illustrations of the Goodness of God. God, without disturbing the general order of things, could have given every plant as offensive a smell as that of the stinking hellebore, as bitter a taste as that of rue, and as un- attractive a colour as that of the navelwort. He could have rendered every sight hideous to man, and every sound dis- cordant, instead of making, as He has done, " all nature beauty to his eye, and music to his ear." Herein is a strik- ing instance of God's goodness. Another may be seen in the fact, that a severe winter is usually accompanied by an unusual supply of hips and haws and other berries, the winter food of birds. " A great haw year, A great snaw year," says the north countryman. Indeed, so apparent is God's AND THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. IT providential care^ such mitigating circumstances attend what would otherwise he great calamities, so well is " the back fitted for the burden," that men have coined several proverbs to express their sense of God's goodness in this respect. — The most beautiful of these is, perhaps, " Qod temper 9 the wind to the shorn lamb.*' The life of the large white butterfly, of England, affords a curious insight to natural history to those who have not, studied the subject; and it shews the goodness of God m two different lights, as it is exemplified 1st. In the protection of insects. 2nd. In the prevention of an undue increase of them. The large white butterfly (^Pieris Brasaicce) feeds upon the juices of flowers. How wonderful, then, is the instinct which teaches it to lay its eggs upon the cabbage — a plant totally different from those which supply its own food ; but the one most suited to the wants of its caterpillars ! Every one of the eggs it lays is under the care of Providence ; for be it remembered, that that egg, minute as it is, bears an infinitely larger proportion to the human frame than that frame does to the universe ; and the life of the grub within the egg a far larger proportion to human Hfe than that life does to eternity. In about three weeks after the egg has been Ijwd, the cater- pillar breaks forth. It grows rapidly, changing its skin three or four times before it reaches its full size. It changes the skin of its whole body^ even to the eyes. 18 THE BOOK OP NATURE It is necessary that the caterpillar should be a glutton, for it has to prepare and strengthen itself for a fast of many months' duration. Accordingly it eats voraciously. It has many enemies. The most formidable of these is the ichneu- mon fly. This is a small black insect which settles on the caterpillar's back, bores a hole in its skin, and lays its eggs in the wound. The caterpillar lives on ; the eggs of the ichneu- mon are hatched ; the grubs feed upon the fatty portion of the caterpillar, growing as it grows. The time comes for the unfortunate insect to take its chrysalis state, and it seeks a convenient spot for the change ; but the ichneumon grubs, finding no more food in preparation, hold a grand carnival upon its vitals, eat their way through its skin, and wrap them- selves in their silken cocoons for the winter. But supposing the insect to have escaped the birds, the ichneumons, and its other enemies, it casts its caterpillar skin and legs, and ap- pears a limbless chrysalis, suspended by a thread to the near- est object in a most remarkable way. It spends the winter securely protected from the cold, and in spring bursts forth into life and beauty. The various means of escape from their enemies, with which God has provided his inferior creatures, exemplify his good- ness in a remarkable manner. The jointed armour, the offensive weapons (the stin^, the nippers, the poisonous bristles, &c.), the high motive power, the forbidding aspect — assumed or laid aside at will — are so many preservatives which, as a rule, fail only when an undue AND THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 19 increase of the creatures that possess them renders a partial destruction of those creatures necessary to the comfort of the higher orders of existences. I have alluded to the habits of the ichneumon. The cater- pillar of the puss moth (^Cerura vinuld) is furnished with an extraordinary means of repelling the attacks of this formid- able foe. It has a double tail, the branches of which can be opened till they form a considerable angle. These branches are furnished with red thongs, and are a pair of perfect whips, which can be used by their owner with considerable vigour to lash its enemies away. The striking resemblance borne by many insects to objects met with in their habitats, is a great safeguard to them. The caterpillar of the peppered moth {Amphidasis Betvr larid) is found on young oaks in England. It is the coun- terpart of an oak twig. Its colour is green ; it is several inches in length ; when at rest it clings to a branch by its hind legs, and holds itself stiff and straight. Its head is brown and bifid, and exactly resembles two unopened leaf- buds. Rosel remarks upon the consternation of his gardener who attempted to break off, from a plant he was pruning, a thing which proved to be endued with feeling and motion — a caterpillar allied to the species I have mentioned. The sword-grass moth (^Calocampa exoleta) in repose re- sembles a knotty piece of wood ; and the lappet moth ( Gait- tropacha quercifolia), a bunch of dried leaves. As far as we can judge, insects are incapable of feeling i THE BOOK OP NATURE. acute pain. You may run a pin through a sleeping moth without disturbing it. You may turn the tail of that vo^^^. cious insect, the dragon-fly, to its mouth, and it will make a meal of it. A crane-fly will fly away, and follow its instincts, and live out its life, though half its legs be gone. At the same time we have no reason to infer that insects do not thoroughly enjoy their existence. Who that has stood by an ant-hill or a bee-hive, and watched its busy inhabitants, could doubt that there were very powerful interests and desires known to the little beings who laboured so industriously and so well ? And enjoyment lies in the possession of interest and in the satisfaction of desire. The last proof of God's goodness that I shall allude to, is the very power (which we have been considering throughout this work) which creation has of drawing us to the Creator. God will not have us forget Him. We are surrounded by monitors charged by Him with messages of love. Every feature of the fair face of nature is an index to nature's God. We contemplate its beauties, and we are irresistibly led to consider the perfection of Him from whom they sprung, until we are ready to exclaim with the poet — " These are thy wondrous works, Parent of Good, Almighty, thine this universal frame, Thus wondrous fair — thyself how wondrous thou I Unspeakable, who sit'st above these heavens, To us invisible, or dimly seen In these thy lowest works, yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine. , : *.